#be taking for that. but in the meantime i will work on my mindfulness techniques ❤️ amen

[kohakhearts]

saw a post on here about giftedness and now im annoyed about the existence of special ed and gifted programs again

[roseareeh]

ooo can i request Casual with Billy? congratulations!!

Casual | Billy Hargrove x Reader

Notes: Thank you!! Of course you can! This is based on my current song fics, so anyone else can request song prompts based on this post

Words: 760

Warnings: Sex scenes. MDNI

"Oh fuck, Billy!", you moaned loudly while he had his face buried between your thighs.

Billy had you spread out in the back of his car. Like most days after practice, he needed you after a rough training session. Your hands were gripping his hair in an attempt to get him closer. The noises he made while eating you out were just as messy as his technique. "I'm gonna cum!", you squealed. "Fuck, fuck, fuck!" Your breathing got more irregular than before as you felt an orgasm wash over you. "Billy!", you squealed while he let you ride your orgasm out on his mouth.

"Good job, baby.", he said in a low tone once you finished. Billy patted your upper leg once before helping you put on your clothes again and driving you home.

"Max asked if you wanna go shopping with her.", he said as he parked in your driveway. Your eyes lit up as you looked over; he noticed the hopeful glimmer in your eyes. "I'd love to! Ask here when she has time, I'll make it work." In the meantime, Billy lit a cigarette. "I'll tell her." He reached over to open your passenger door. "Remember, this is casual." With that, you left his car.

He always said the same thing when dropping you off. "It's casual." Every single damn time. But how casual could it be when you hang out with his sister and he invited you to dinner with his family?

"Shh, we have to be quiet.", Billy hushed you while putting a hand over your mouth. The two of you went to his bathroom for a quickie - which meant he put you up on the counter, pulled your panties off and fucked you against the bathroom mirror. He kept thrusting his entire length into you, which made it hard to stay quiet. You moaned against his hand when he hit your g-spot over and over again. "My family is downstairs, be a good girl and stay quiet." How could you stay quiet when he hit that magic spot so perfectly? But you just nodded with teary eyes. Fuck, he knew just how to make you see stars.

You wrapped your legs around his waist to keep him in as deep as possible while you calmed down from the mind-shattering orgasm. "Good girl.", Billy cooed before removing his hand from your mouth. He helped you get dressed before you walked back downstairs to dinner with his dad and step-mom.

"You're right, I can't stand your dad.", you told Billy while he drove you home. His dad is someone he told you was an asshole from the second he mentioned him. "He was playing nice today, you don't know the half of it.", Billy said while parking in your driveway. "Max asked me to go to the arcade with her.", you told him while unbuckling your seatbelt. There it was again, the glimmer in your eyes. "Remember baby, just casual."

Yeah, yeah. Just casual. That's why he treated you like a girlfriend.

Max and you had a blast at the arcane. You waited on the sidewalk with her for Billy to pick her up. "Personally, I think all boys are stupid.", you told Max while she complained about Lucas again. But your statement confused her. "Isn't Billy your boyfriend?" You sighted and picked up a piece of gravel from the ground to play with it. "No, he's not." Max was even more confused now, but she knew just what to say. "He's stupid, too."

Billy parked right next to you two and got out. "Get in, shitbird.", he told Max. With one last hug to you, she got in the car. Meanwhile, Billy went up to you and kissed you. A deep kiss. The kind boyfriends give their girlfriends.

"Thanks for taking her out.", he husked before leaning down to your ear. "You're the best casual one could have."

If it's so casual, how come you were around his family? How come you hung out with Max and talked about her boy problems with her? How come he kissed you like that?

When he stood up straight again, your hand worked faster than your brain. To make it short, you slapped him right across the face.

"I'm not your casual if you treat me like a girlfriend, Billy.", you said. Max was looking at you in awe from the passenger side, but you didn't know what. "Get over your dumb commitment issues. I'm not your casual."

You left him standing there, dumbfounded at what just happened.

[hybbart]

This is perhaps a strange question, but do you have the sketch/lineart/framework/whatever the heck it's called that you use when you draw Tango? I decided I want to learn to draw, and my thought process was, "Ah yes, the easiest way is to try and copy my favourite Tangos cause I know how they look," and it is going... poorly xD.

Alternatively, do you have any advice on how to learn and develop a style, or how to get/keep going?

A reference sheet? I have a couple various ones, though at this point i don't really use a reference unless I need to sample colours, and I'm currently working on a colour reference for myself. Besides the point I suppose... I'll put them at the very bottom of the cut so scroll right past my ramblings if you want to.

As for advice. My advice is do not try developing a style if you are just starting out. style is the last thing that should be on your mind if you're just starting out. Style is something that happens naturally as you grow and learn what you like and get used to your tools, and being able to intentionally create a style is an advanced skill that requires the skill to draw in various styles, strong basics, self-awareness, and proper self-critique.

The rest of this is going to be very incoherent and long winded and backwards so I apologize.

The most important thing to improving is to get over yourself. You need to look at someone else's art and be able to admit it's better than yours or has a quality you wish yours had without that being a statement of self-deprecation. You need to be able to look at your own art and pick out what it is you don't like about it without using it to beat yourself up. You can't improve if you get demotivated by the information required to adjust your course.

If you must, find something in each drawing that you like and focus on learning how to recreate that. If you find yourself with a drawing that you genuinely find nothing you like about it you stop drawing and restart, because that drawing is worthless to you once you recognize that. Analyze why you don't like it, figure out what's causing you to draw that way, ask what you might prefer instead and what the difference between them is, and figure out how to draw what you want instead. The important thing is that when you examine your art and other's art you're using as inspiration you don't instead use it as a tool to put yourself down.

My shadows are flat and poorly angled, and I draw everything lopsides, and I can say those things as simple facts of my art. These are things I still do, and I use tools to fix them, like turning my tablet or using editing tools, or looking up references. If I want to know a certain technique I reach out to other artists I see using said technique and asking, or I research it myself. In the meantime I experiment and accept this flaw in my art. There's other things to like. The important thing is you don't allow your lack of knowledge to demotivate you from correcting that lack of knowledge.

The best thing you can do is ask yourself what you like about art, and what you want to do. It's a bit difficult for me to help with this sort of thing because I've literally always drawn my whole life, so helping someone who is actively choosing to take up drawing isn't my realm of expertise. But art is communication and connection and self-expression. What do you want to express through your art and what medium is that expression best done in, what do you want to convey, what do you want to share that you simply cannot without art.

It's a bit daunting, those sound like profound questions, but honestly they're not. When I draw fanart usually what I wanna communicate is "I like these characters when they do this", and more often than not it's "I really liked this line/palette".

These incomplete character sketches have sat in my main D&D folder and I think about him at least once a month entirely because I was so happy with his proportions and the concept of a dewclaw heel. I ended up reusing the heel in these Jimmy designs.

It can be anything and changes with each piece. Drawing let's me express what I love and emphasize what I love about it or show it from my perspective. I'll use this raau page as an example.

This is actually based on a shop that I've gone to since I was a child, so it's a space that I've seen and thought about many times. Though it's changed, for ease of drawing and to fit into the setting of raau and for the sake of composition, but the things that are important to me are still here. The ceiling that feels slightly claustrophobically low, the rainbow coordinated shirts, the club covers shaped like animals, every inch of the shop being utilized for merchandise until you can barely see the walls, the nook shape of the section, the fluorescent lights with this specific covering that's very "soulless office job" but to me is also the playroom at my grandma's house and how both have no windows.

I wanted to preserve particular qualities of the atmosphere of the place, in order to express that in this image. That vibe that I could not describe in words to anyone who hasn't experienced it themselves so the best I could normally do is describe it and hope it sparks a similar enough memory. But with visual art I can use lightning, context, and composition to simply express it better. I can create the experience for someone else.

Sometimes writing is better at it than words, and sometimes both are needed, so I learned both. Sometimes music is better than either and I'm screwed because I can't do music. That's besides the point though.

When you're starting out you can have a hard time grasping what about a piece compels you. That's why you need to learn to critique art as you learn to draw, and that's also why tracing and copying is good.

Here's an example of me trying out @lunarcrown's art style. I made a collage and traced my favourite frame's shapes to "get my hands on it", if you will, before trying it out on my own, starting with similar poses usually. What I learned from this is I really like how Lunar does hair, actually even though this was a study of Tango I took notes on how she does Jimmy's hair and applied it to my Scar, Impulse, and Skizz, because I'm awful at short men's hairstyles.

I also cemented one of the reasons I love her art is because it does have some qualities that I already incorporate into mine, like the streamlining between flushed materials such as her Tango's skin and skin-tight shirt, or my Tango's sleeves and gloves.

If you know what you like about something it's easier to work towards incorporating it into your own art without simply copying someone else's. And starting out by copying as a way to play around with someone's art the same way an engineer pulls something apart is helpful in doing so.

Which leads me further back into simply go somewhere and draw what you see. The drawing does not have to be good, but being able to just take a sketchbook and see something that scratches your brain and mimic it is important to developing the above skills. Being able to translate reality into an image is important to developing your skills and understanding the fundamentals of breaking things down. Being able to look at something moving or possibly far away and look down and draw it anyways by breaking down its shapes is important in developing your ability to use references.

Drawing is also mostly muscle memory. So it's important to draw things over and over again. You can do this how you want, you're always going to hit a wall where you end up having to sit there and draw circles 50 times on a page to remember how to draw circles like you're trying to get a dry pen to work. You will do this before almost every serious picture. Find a way for you to enjoy this process.

The biggest most important rule about art, though, is that there is not rules. Go about things however you want for whatever reason you want. If you enjoy doing something a certain way do it that way, if you hate a particular process eliminate it. Sometimes the result outweighs a miserable process, if having something look a certain way is more important then suck it up and do so. If you care more about enjoying a motion than what the end result is then do so. You have to ask yourself what you care about in art.

For now, though, if you're just starting out. The best thing you can do is draw a lot of circles and cubes and fruit. It's an unfortunate truth that the best foundation is learning realism, because it's just going to teach your the fundamentals the best, and all abstraction is... well, an abstraction.

Of course, as just said, there is no rules, and if you genuinely do not enjoy drawing those things like me, then you can simply not. It helps improvement the fastest but if it makes you miserable in a way that isn't backed by passion then that's counterproductive. Forcing yourself only really works if you're passionate enough about what you're doing to overcome the temporary discomfort of learning, so if you're satisfied with just being able to mimic something more abstract in the beginning do exactly that and explore what would make you passionate enough to be willing to draw things you aren't stoked about for an end result. You might never be, but that's also fine, you don't have to strive to be the world's greatest artist to justify drawing.

Also accept that you're absolutely going to change your mind on things. What felt like a great line to draw you're going to hate the next day. It's up to you if you leave it be or fix it, neither's the right answer. I tend to lean towards leaving it personally, even when it drive some up a wall, simply because I have very momentary inspiration and don't like returning to old pieces once I'm done with them. Some people will return to a picture over and over again fixing it every time they think of something. Whatever floats your boat.

tl;dr figure out what you enjoy doing with art and just do that as much as you like. Improve by finding new things you want to do with art. Combine as you see fit to create art.

...

okay time for references:

I try to keep my designs simple because the style I developed for mcyt art was intended for animations. I've drifted a bit but in general I keep to simple shape-defined designs with long lines, flat colours, and minimal wrinkles. It's intentionally flat in many ways in order to create more satisfying lines, like the collar of his shirt or the way his hands ' gradient is done with the line art.

Tango is both round and angular, basically he's an almond. His shape is ambiguous in much of his clothing, with very understated joints. This gives him a move cartoony elastic sort of vibe, like he's just a pipe cleaner that can bend any which way, or a piece of rubber that might stretch.

I avoid bogging him down with logic for that reason, his hair is styled like hair but it has the appearance and moves like fire. Which is it? Who knows. Where are his organs? I haven't drawn them so they don't exist.

[rosieofcorona]

hiii!

i am so so fascinated by your art, it's absolutely mesmerising. i'm very curious of your process! would you mind sharing your speed-paint and walking us through it? no pressure ofc tho! i'm asking as a beginner/intermediate (?) artist trying to learn and grow :3

hi buddy, thank you so much! 💖

i don’t really do speed painting (mostly bc i often work in fits and starts over many weeks) but i do have a few time lapse videos posted here, here, and here from recent months that might help! they're all from the same piece but there's some variety in technique, and i think they're a good example of the difference that pose & palette make, even if the changes are subtle.

my process usually consists of a reference stage (i love to make a little vision board with lots of poses, expressions, paintings I'm trying to channel, etc.), a very messy sketch stage (for me these are never meant to be pretty, just functional in terms of shape and composition- they are a map to the destination, not the destination itself!), and a coloring stage over top of the sketch. for coloring, i have a few palettes saved for various skin tones, which takes a lot of the guesswork out of it. there is also a secret fourth stage sometimes, in which i get very frustrated and give up for like six months and come back with totally fresh eyes. there is no shame in the fourth stage. it happens to everybody.

all my favorite reference tools are here and can be used interchangeably for traditional and digital art:

i will try to do a longer time lapse on my current piece and try to figure out how to add an audio walkthrough, but i hope this is helpful in the meantime! 💕

[lostinthewiind]

Miracle Worker

Doc Bryan - Generation Kill

Rating: All ages

Drawing in a deep breath to keep your hand from shaking, you focused all your attention on the laceration you were treating. The cut wasn't too deep, but it was beside the woman's eye and you had to be careful not to cause any further damage.

When you and Doc Bryan had set up a quick and dirty medical station in the village, civilians had flocked to you within minutes, crying out for medical attention or even things like water and food. It was moments like these that truly made you feel like the marines were actually making a difference.

"Bryan, have you got any steri strips in your bag?" you asked. "I've got to close this wound."

"Let me check." Bryan reached into his medical bag and sifted around before pulling out the strips. "Here."

When the strips appeared over your shoulder, you took them with a thankful nod. Bryan then bent over behind you, head hovering just over your right shoulder as he watched you work; the two of you were always observing each other, eager to learn techniques the other possessed.

"I think if you-" Bryan's soft voice in your ear was cut off when you pressed the strip down right where he was pointing. "Yeah, that should hold until she can get to an actual hospital."

"If she can get to an actual hospital," you corrected.

"Yeah." He sighed. "If."

Once the wound was cleaned and closed up, you sent the mother on her way and decided to take a quick break before sending the next patient in. In the meantime, Bryan had settled back into his seat and a small boy no older than 10 had approached him.

You smiled into the water bottle you were drinking from as Bryan handled the child with care, gently guiding him into the chair across from his and carefully examining the scrapes on his elbows and knees.

"That's it, you're gonna be okay," Bryan whispered words of encouragement despite knowing the child most likely had no idea what he was saying. "I'll just take a quick look, okay?"

When he looked at the kid expectantly, the boy gave an enthusiastic nod and smiled. Bryan smiled back, the corners of his eyes wrinkling with the genuine reaction. It had been a while since you had seen him smile like that.

"Need a hand?" You offered your water to Bryan after he had finished cleansing the scrapes the best he could.

"I think I'll be okay." He took the water from you. "Thanks."

Wanting to get through as many patients as possible before the order eventually came to move out again, you summoned the next citizen in line. After treating a couple of minor cuts, you looked over to see Bryan finally sending the little boy in his way with a couple of bandages around his limbs and a water bottle in his hands.

Some people might consider it a waste of time to spend so much time treating one single patient, but you greatly admired the way Bryan was able to slow down his care and focus on making his patients comfortable—even in the middle of an actual war zone.

As he exhaled slowly, a look of relief spread across Bryan's face. That was when he caught you staring and that wide smile from before returned. "What?" He cocked a brow at you. "Something on my face?"

"No, no." You waved him off and busied yourself with tidying up your workspace. "It's nothing."

"Well, it must have been something." He stood up and began to help you clean. "We've worked together too long now for me not to know when something's on your mind."

You chuckled softly. "I just like watching you work with kids. You have a way with the little ones. That's all."

"You're just as good with kids as I am," he told you. "I would know. I watch you work with them all the time."

"Oh, so you watch me work all the time?" you teased.

Bryan's face flushed. "What, that's not what I-" He laughed. "I'm sorry, who just caught who staring?"

"Guilty as charged." You held your hands up in surrender. "It's okay if you watch me work. I'm very good at my job. Kind of a miracle worker, if you will."

Bryan laughed again; this time a deeper, richer sound erupted from his core. "I will not."

"Shame." You smirked. As you and Bryan finished cleaning and got ready for the next patients, you couldn't help but let your mind wander. "Do you plan on having kids of your own?"

Bryan narrowed his eyes at you. "That's a bit presumptuous, don't you think? At least buy me dinner first before we start discussing children."

"Oh, my God." You shook your head. "You know what? Forget I asked."

You heard Bryan chuckle under his breath as the two of you waved for the next civilians in line to enter the small medical tent. While you treated a young girl for a split lip and missing teeth, Bryan assessed a small boy's possibly broken arm.

"I've always pictured myself as a father," he said out of the blue, deciding to answer your earlier inquiry. "But it's hard to think about settling down and having kids while still in the marines. I couldn't live with myself if I was an absent father."

You hummed. "So quit the marines."

"You know as well as I do that's easier said than done."

"Very true." You sat back in your chair and wiped the sweat from your brow. "Quite the dilemma."

"Yeah" He kept his eyes trained on the boy's arm. "What about you?"

You took a few moments to think about that while you irrigated the girl's mouth. "Maybe someday, if I find the right person. I'm just sort of playing it by ear right now."

"Fair enough. And what does 'the right person' look like to you?"

You smirked as you sent the girl on her way and removed your gloves. "Well, for starters, they'd have to be good with kids."

Bryan nodded. "Obviously."

"They'd have to understand my line of work."

"A must."

"Preferably they'd be in the exact same line of work, actually."

"Oh?" He finally looked up at you, an expecting glint in his eyes.

"And finally ..." you paused, "... they'd have to believe I was a miracle worker."

Bryan's face fell for a split second before that same winning smile returned. "Hate to break it to you, but you might die alone."

"Maybe." You shrugged and shared a knowing look with him. "Or maybe not."

[maxiglow]

hey! how are you doing? I hope you are good 🩷 well, can I ask for advice if you are doing okay and if it's fine with you? what do you recommend doing when you pass through intense tough days? like, when it's not something super traumatic but was still intense to take a toll on you and you keep replaying things on your mind? thank you 🌷

hey sweet angel! firstly, i'm sorry for not answering before, i was on hiatus ( ; ω ; ) i hope this still reaches you in a way that helps~

those intense-but-not-quite-trauma days… i know them so well. they stay in your chest. they replay on loop like, the moment passed, but your brain won't stop thinking about it.

as someone who lives with pathological obsessive thoughts, i really get what you’re feeling so i’m not gonna throw generic “just journal and breathe” tips at you like that’s gonna magically fix it. you wanna know the one thing that actually helps me?

time.

and i know that sounds frustrating because you want it to stop now, not in two weeks or three months. but the truth is: time softens those thoughts until they stop. it slows down the noise. it helps your brain realize that you made it through

in the meantime? you can try grounding techniques, small rituals, loud songs that interrupt the spiral. you can write about. you can let it sit with you without demanding it to leave, but mostly… you just have to wait and trust that it will pass because it will

my last obsessive loop lasted two whole months. two months thinking about one single thing, over and over again all the time. but it stopped. eventually, it always stops

the most honest advice i can give you is to be patient. don’t fight it too hard. time is doing quiet work inside of you. you’re allowed to feel shaken by things that didn’t “seem that big.” you’re allowed to rest after emotional noise

sending so much love your way! i’m proud of you for reaching out ヽ(~_~(・_・ )ゝ

[honourablejester]

D&D Deity Spotlight: Gaerdal Ironhand

The Shield of the Golden Hills, Gaerdal Ironhand, has no use for amusements, and she doesn't deign to smile at any prank except those of Garl Glittergold. Gaerdal obsesses about defense and vigilance, and she is an expert in fortification, siege tactics, combat, and traps.

Instead of bustling about as gnome deities normally do, Gaerdal has a tendency to dig in and hide out, and in many tales Garl finds it difficult to convince her to leave her home to join the others on adventures. Some legends say this reluctance is due in part to an escapade that cost her the loss of her hand. Flandal and Nebelun worked together to replace it with a stronger one made of iron, but her resentment over the mishap lingers.

Gnomes build their homes in hidden and defensible places because Gaerdal teaches them these techniques. Every secret door, spy hole, and intruder alarm in a gnome warren is a tribute to Gaerdal's principles.

--- Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes (2018)

Right. First things first. I love the gnome pantheon? Like, all of it. I know some people find them annoying, the whole trickster, Br’er Rabbit thing they’ve got going. And they have made several messes, absolutely.

(Sidenote: I kind of find it funny that two separate gnome gods stole the hearts of two separate princes of elemental evil, in one case turning said prince evil in the process. Callarduran Smoothhands stole the heart of Ogremoch, prince of evil earth, and turned it into a smooth stone to control earth elementals, turning Ogremoch evil, while Flandal Steelskin stole the heart of Imix, prince of evil fire, to power his mithral forge. You’ve got to love that the pantheon apparently has a habit of casually stealing the hearts of elementals and making problems for everyone else).

But. I love them. I love Garl sodding Glittergold, he’s just a great deity to throw out there to create problems for people. I love Nebelun the Meddler, a trickster among tricksters, a constant absent-minded source of chaos and invention. I love Callarduran himself for looking out for the deep gnomes, one of my favourite ancestries in the game. I love Baravar Cloakshadow, the sneaky tricksy rogue of the pantheon, who is always the last to join Glittergold’s shenanigans because he has to bloody find her first. I love the whole pantheon. They’re out there genially fucking shit up for everybody, and I salute them.

So why am I picking, again, the most dour of them here? The one with no use for amusements, the one who hates pranks unless they’re by her best friend, the one who drags her heels going on adventures unless heavily persuaded?

Because every group needs that one friend who plans ahead, who takes care of the practical things, who makes sure the homework gets done. Gaerdal’s over here on the kind of dwarfy end of the gnome pantheon? She’s the one armouring them up so that, when the enemies the entire rest of her pantheon drag home at them arrive, they’ll bounce off her defenses. She’s the one making sure they can survive what everyone else calls down on them.

I also enjoy the hint of bitterness and trauma. The reason she’s so reluctant to adventure, and so focused on security, is that she’s the one who’s paid for the ‘escapades’ of the pantheon. She was the one maimed for them, the one now bearing a prosthetic hand. Which, yes, the pantheon rallied around to make her that prosthetic, but still. She was the one who paid. So if Garl wants her to go on more adventures, he’d better be really damn persuasive. And in the meantime, she’ll focus on keeping everyone safe.

Plus. I also just really enjoy abjuration magic, wards, and secrets, so her being essentially the gnome pantheon’s trap master and security expert is fantastic to me. Secret doors and spyholes and traps and fortifications. She is quite dwarfy? Very dwarfy gnome. I love her a lot.

If you often find yourself playing the one practical character in a party of pranksters. If you’re the rogue or the ranger who thinks to set up tripwires, or the wizard who thought to pack Alarm or Leomund’s Tiny Hut. If you’re the sort of character who likes to keep a backup plan in their back pocket for when shit inevitably goes tits up. If you’re a fervent believer that prevention is better than cure. If you like playing the tank, letting enemies exhaust themselves on your defenses before you mop them up. If you maybe hold on to your grudges that little bit longer than people around you think you should.

In any and all cases, Gaerdal Ironhand has your back.

[wyervan]

hiiii just wanna start off by saying I love your art style and general vibes ✨️ I'm a stay-at-home partner always in search of fun things to do, and I've recently gotten back into art after not engaging with it since I was a kid (largely because your sun n moon fixation rubbed off on me 😭). I've never tried digital art and it looks cool! Do you have any advice for a beginner like me?

Oh it makes me so happy when people say I inspired them to start creating again 😭 The DCA and the fandom brought me out of my own years-long artistic funk last spring. Clown power, yeehonk 🤠 🤡

I’m planning a significantly longer post in response to an ask I got ages ago all how I learned to draw the way I do, so lookout for that.

But in the meantime, here’s a couple things I can think of off the top of my head:

Specific tools don’t matter much. I currently use Procreate and would recommend it if you have an IPad. It’s an extremely simple but effective program.

On desktop, I use Clip Studio Pro, but Krita is another program I’ve used and liked AND it’s completely free.

I do also have loads of experience with Photoshop and other Adobe products but can’t recommend them at the price, not to mention they’re not super beginner friendly.

Hardware-wise, I almost exclusively use my IPad to draw because it’s so portable. I also have a Huion Kamvas pen tablet monitor that hooks up to my desktop. But I started doing digital art with a dinky lil Wacom tablet that was less than $100. There’s definitely a bit of a disconnect at first, not looking at where you’re drawing but rather on a screen, but you get used to it.

Bottom line is to use whatever tools are convenient and comfortable for you! I even know of a great artist that exclusively draws with their mouse. I realized I hated sitting at a desk and that stopped me from practicing digitally. I got an IPad and now it’s much easier for me to work comfortably on what I love.

Point two I’d like to make is take advantage of the capabilities of working digitally. This means using the godsent undo button to your heart’s content. Download fun brushes to play with and add texture. Use perspective grids. Turn on line stabilization so your strokes are extra smooth. Like what you’ve sketched so far but want to try something different? Duplicate the layer and work from there so you can go back to the old version if you change your mind. Radically change the colors or values with adjustment layers. Use clipping masks. Abuse the liquify tool.

A lot of this might sound like gobbledygook to a digital art beginner but just googling any of this terminology will get you loads of tutorials and information for your specific setup. Also I’m happy to go into details about specific digital art techniques I’ve picked up with over a decade and a half of experience.

Finally, and most importantly—make what you want to see in the world AND what feels good to make. This ofc is not exclusive to digital art, but I always want to stress this to new artists. I realized after I got into the DCA fandom that I had been letting shame, fear, and perfectionism keep me from creating the content I was really interested in making. But then man, idk. Frickin’ robot clowns amirite ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ it’s like there was a secret agent sent into my brain and he uploaded a DCA virus into my mainframe or smth idk hacker style. tktktktkt. they’re in.

Anyway. Hope this helps! Feel free to send another message if u have more questions :3

[meanderforth]

Hey, folks! 

In the last update, I detailed the techniques used to port the levels from the old GameMaker version of Meander Forth to the Godot engine.

I had hoped to have a playable build of the game ready for patrons by the time this post rolled around, but it's not quite ready yet. There are still some finishing touches and known issues I need to work out. I can safely say it will be available soon, however!

In the meantime, here are some updates regarding the game:

Outskirts Progress:

First and foremost, I've made some more headway on the outskirts stage, populating it with NPC's and story events!

As the opening stage of the game, the Outskirts area serves as an introduction to the game's mechanics, world, story, and characters.

It opens with a scene of three friends (Isaak the human, Scotty the fox, and Garret the otter) getting reacquainted after some time apart.

As the stage progresses, Garret bumps into a variety of quirky characters, such as his sister Emerald and his brother Parlo, who seem elated that Garret is finally out-and-about.

If you've played the Teak's Tall Tale demo, you may recognize some familiar faces! Meander Forth picks up right where that one left off.

It seems Garret's friends are worried about something, however. It must be important, if they have their own cutscene areas!

Not everyone has some long-winded diatribe, of course. Some just spout what's on their mind. And that's okay.

Admittedly, this stage has a lot of dialog. In fact, it probably has the most out of any stage in the game! Despite the blocky aesthetic, my goal is to create a world that feels "alive." I want players to really get a sense of what this world means to Garret... and what it means for it to be stolen away from him.

Godot 4.3

Since the last update, I have upgraded the game's engine from Godot 4.2 to Godot 4.3.  The previous version had a lot of issues regarding pixel art positioning and scaling, causing art on the screen to shimmer and jitter. 4.3 fixes this issue, giving the game a smoother feel.

A by-product of this update is that the framerate can now be uncapped without introducing ugly visual artifacts. An option to choose your desired framerate will be added to the settings menu for those with faster monitors.

School Stuff

As of the writing of this post, the Fall 2024 semester of my college has begun! Admittedly, I'm taking this semester off from school. I have completed all-but-two of the classes in my program, and neither of them will be available until Spring.

Thankfully, I have been allowed to continue my front-desk job at the school's tutoring center, so I will be able to support myself with that, and even work on some STEM-related projects such as this one in the downtime.

Admittedly, development may slow down a bit as I get adjusted, but rest assured the pace will pick back up when I get used to the new schedule.

Thank you for reading! I hope to see you in the next update. Hopefully I'll have something playable ready by then. After that, it'll be time to create the second part of this level: the Forest area. (Note: These areas will have better names in the final game, haha!)

Note: This is a cross-post from my p*treon blog. The original can be found here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/3-sept-2024-111383422

[muggycuphead]

VBA - Squiggle effect concepts

Taking a moment away from the Drunk FancyJanuary to post this

So, as you guys might've assumed by the fact there are different "sketchbooks" in VBA such as chalk, charcoal and plenty more, there are different types of squiggles that, due to being incompatible material-wise w/ FPM, will cause him a series of reactions depending on the material and his body's own resistance towards it. Mind you, these squiggle effects aren't permanent, as long as he doesn't succumb to it, his own immune system will release the squiggle out (as if it's drained out or smth, gotta think that one too, oops) he will go back to his normal self, though it will leave short-term sequels that could be washed out with normal squiggles (yes they spawn on these worlds too, just not as multiple as back at home) So I did a small concept list of what they are and how he looks when he's under the effect of each Now, about these effects, let me give you a brief summary regarding each. Though there might be some missing effects (ie. digital squiggles from what i can remember rn), but in the meantime: *Crayon Squiggle Effect: -Hallucinations and tripping +Fluid movement and reflexes, ridiculous enough to give second-hand embarrassment that drops good points of ATK accuracy Basically FPM if he did shrooms, the moment he goes touchy touchy, the guy's gone from this plane of consciousness It's not too bad...as long as it's not a super squiggle(?), too many of these could wreck his psyche a bit too much (though not more than Venos' doing...but whatever that's for another day) *Watercolor Squiggle Effect: -Slowdown effect and weakness in ATK

+Can perform psychic powered attacks (to a tier)

TAROT BONK

The effect is mostly based on the fact watercolor, as a technique, is a pretty…slow material to work with (at least imo)

*Chalk Squiggle Effect: -Weak defense and lower jumping, paralyzation is enhanced if you stand still for too long -"Smoke curtain" + Short-term freezing touch when attacking

Minecraft skeleton husks like

Also Frozono

*Oil Squiggle Effect: -Fleaky mobility,broken aim and lackey balance +Can take grip on solid projectiles (ie. mice ammunition) and retrieve them if force allows it

^Imagine having this on world 3, coming across a mouse and when the guy shoots you go like

grab

S k a d o o s h

yeet

That’d be kinda neat

Kinda shit counter towards the main three problems but eh, you can’t win them all sometimes

*Highlighter Squiggle Effect: -Inner acid outburst, HP drains as a defense mechanism to avoid further, irreversible damage +Can poison anyone that tries to attack him if they get to touch him

One of the worst effects you can get…especially if you’re a no damage try-hard lmao

And boy does it hurt

Don’t wanna imagine what a super squiggle would feel like for this one…yikes *Unstable Graphite Squiggle Effect:

-Physical deformities and clouded judgement

+Slight increase of strength and reaction (can be a – without self-control)

I really need to tone it down with the ManlyBadassHero gameplays, don’t I…

This one’s from the same place that one down there’s from, and if you saw who’s the antagonist back in my old post, you could figure why this one’s the way it is

Still, y’all fucked up Garfield in the Lovecraft machine, why can’t I do the same huh

*Paper Squiggle Effect:

+”Ghost mode” –physical body goes on a ‘catalepsy’ like state (he’s not dead, his vital signals are just harder to detect via simple examination); invisible to any other sketch beings, except for psychics/paper beings

-Cannot attack or get damaged physically; core is exposed to psychic/paper damage

Next level shrooming…nah not really

*Sanguine Squiggle Effect:

-Human torch, HP drains faster if you stand still

+Automatic sprint and jump boosts (can become a – if not controlled properly); any attack towards him will partially backfire onto the perpetuator by lighting him on fire (sparks will fly off him in order to do so)

Not as terrible as the HL squiggle but it’s still pretty painful…so much for getting the SMB fire flower

Also this one design and the next were made beforehand, but I have them in a different sketchdump so…maybe some other day I guess

*Charcoal Squiggle Effect:

-Senses have been swapped; he can now see the noises and hear the figures that come near him based on the speed they come to him –faster, quicker to notice, and the opposite- (remember the drug brownies guy that called 911 cuz he though he was dead and said he could “see sounds” and “hear colors”? Yeah, I took that and made it a legit thing here –mostly was when I revisited it, I was like “wait this is half of how the charcoal effect goes, let’s just make it like this instead” and boom, here we are), but his eyes can’t see the entirety of the environment itself

+Can turn outside attacks into graphite or charcoal HP, kind of like a power drain-conversion sort of situation (the later needs it to ‘taint it’ so to speak, hence the charcoal fumes coming out of him)

Why is this my favorite effect-

I’m considering doing an animation regarding that very 911 call with this guy sometime in the future…but I’m not sure

[debtsunpaid]

i'm still going apeshit over my new guy while i write their backstory but i'm being a perfectionist about it, so in the meantime here's a few lil things about klavier:

formerly an astrophysicist working for the ESA (and one-time astronaut, but that wasn't always the plan). their colleagues remember him best for their mental math prowess, his ferocity in advocating for their team & their project, the six separate times he almost knocked himself out on the wing of their own spaceplane, and the very, very formal weekly dinners they hosted that no one ever expected to be that formal bc he brought them up like inviting friends over to watch the game on sunday.

re: the dinners: they love to cook for people. love it. very picky about the process and doesn't often like other people helping them (he takes hosting and courtesy towards houseguests very seriously), but doesn't mind people watching or taste-testing. he doesn't do it as much these days, because all the joy was really in the social aspect & he considers themself too dangerous to get close enough to people to invite them over, but they'll still pull out absolutely flawless cutting technique when applicable.

met their fiancée (magdalena) in university bc he was arguing with a professor in the law library where she worked. she came over to tell them to shut the fuck up, and he jumped so badly that she felt guilty later & went back over to apologize, to which he Also apologized & suggested that hitting him with one of the heavier books would have been equally effective. they started talking about each other's work & majors, were going to part ways when the library closed, then awkwardly ended up walking the same way home. to the same apartment complex. for a while after that, whenever klavier went to the library while magdalena was working, she'd catch his eye and pretend to line up a shot with the heaviest book she had on hand, which always made them laugh.

currently a drifting adjunct professor & substitute teacher, as well as an occasional german, spanish, & math tutor. he tends to focus more on teaching/talking about mathematics these days rather than astrophysics, though they've done a few physics lectures here and there; if asked why, they'd say it's because he's still hiding from the german government + MI-6 and it's smarter to avoid being found within his field of expertise. but really it's because the last time they knew what was real & what wasn't was in 1990, the world's ideas about the cosmos have changed drastically since then, and he no longer feels like an expert in anything, or like he even knows the world they're standing on, let alone any worlds elsewhere.

CLIFF NOTES ON THE GOD PROBLEM: klavier was psychically bonded with jallakuntilliokan during his first (and only) spaceflight on the spaceplane hermes because their orbit put them Directly over the geotroniks facility where the magi caecus were firing the fear machine, at the exact moment when john constantine, zed, and marj were completing their ritual to summon its anima (other godly half) and negate its intended damaging influence on the world. but while the beings themselves balanced out, the summoning rituals did not (pagan nation involved 3 people, geotroniks involved 2), and they could not co-exist unevenly in the world, so jallakuntilliokan had to draw on more psychic energy in order to even things out.

luckily for jalla, there was a spaceplane with 3 powerful potential psychics perfectly aligned with the ley lines that it drew its power from, courtesy of string-pulling and secret testing led by the UK magi caecus and klavier's own mother for over a year prior. it was a flimsy backup plan based on the (so they thought) astronomically slim chance the summoning would fail, with the intention that the spaceplane would be intentionally crashed into the facility and some poor suckers would be sacrificed for enough psychic potential + public shock & alarm to rev the fear engine all the way up to its purpose. they just didn't count on jallakuntilliokan sniffing out the supply first.

the other two astronauts were fried, but klavi survived; the burst severely damaged the hermes and it crashed back to earth, veering off course and hitting the baltic sea. all klavier remembers is the burst, seeing his colleagues burn out, the agonizing sensation of something segmenting their brain like an orange, and then being dragged out of the ocean later. he was then secretly held by the german government for three years in the hopes of determining what the fuck had happened & what was now wrong with him, until jallakuntilliokan shoved their consciousness into the Dreaming long enough to take hold of the body and bust out. he's been on the run ever since, all but convinced there's an alien living in his skull, unaware that he's playing host to a god.

[sunnyanddumb98]

Take notes

The unknown has always been good to me; it's always a new friend, a new view, things that have always been there, like colours in a bubble, but I had never really noticed. There is so much to do and so few hours. The unknown has always been kind and patient with me. When I learn it, I look forward to meeting it again and again.

But the unknown today, at twenty-five years old, sitting in this sand-filled bunk bed the size of a coffin, which I paid thirty euros to share with eight other people; it was all that mattered, everything necessary, everything worth asking for, everything in the immediate future. All I'm aware of is what I'm not, what I lack, that is the unknown.

The unknown, my friend, wasn't hiding in dark alleys at night leading to hidden bars, nor in a bottle of tequila on a group of guys' couch. It wasn't the shadows I wasn't allowed to explore when I was ten, nor the countries from some foreign movie I watched when I was sixteen. The unknown wasn't anyone who crossed my path, it wasn't anything I had in mind.

It was everything I used to be sure of: where I would sleep, what I would eat, which project I would work on, whether I would laugh that day, my friends, my face, my skin, the color of my hair, and my taste in movies, music, books, and how I spent my free time; it all blurred into a great mystery that I didn't care to solve but wanted to have resolved.

I hope the unknown appears as it used to, that child who approached me on the playground, lifetimes ago, various stage changes and cast members before. What I didn't know wasn't something to think about; all I saw, sitting at the foot of the slide, were feet in front of me. He stopped and looked at the blood on my knee, blocking the sunset from my face. With my hand extended, I asked for something he gladly gave: help.

A friend is a moment of extended contemplation over time. You look, notice an entity that isn't you or your acquaintances, and realize how different and foreign it is. You compare things you didn't think to compare. That contemplation stretches over time, and you don't want to let it go; devise plans, techniques, and tricks to make it last.

I've been walking domesticated for a few years, extending the contemplation until we all became equal. In the meantime, I've been desperately searching, Manic Panic apple green in my hair like bait. All those who fell for the trap were already tamed.

They didn't know who my next boss would be, my next hair colour, or even my favourite colour. They knew things like who Claudia and Felix's next boss would be Peeta and Katniss's favourite colour, and where Peralta and Santiago would sleep tonight, but not much about me.

They knew my current hair colour; just like I knew who my last boss was and how they simply appeared, how I used to have a favourite colour, one day I saw it and wanted to recreate it forever, and how I used to sleep in a bed that I'm a hundred percent sure I didn't buy.

What? Where? When? And even why got lost in the timeline, a hundred frames to the left with no rewind tools. I didn't take notes or pay much attention to how things unfolded. And now, I don't know how to get to know the unknown, my kind friend who was always there, disappeared.

The unknown wasn't these faces I passed by, nor in random tarot cards; maybe it was lost. So I opened the door and ran to find it. The unknown wasn't anywhere, not in any signs I passed, not in the shop windows. Where was it? It was always so easy to find. The unknown wasn't even in that church, praying to be found soon by me.

I lifted all the carpets where I had hidden dust and opened all the curtains and doors in my path. The soles of my feet burned; I had been searching for days. I watched as every statistic on my phone went up and then down: my step count, my sleep time, my heart rate, my calorie intake, and the time I spent staring at that screen itself.

Maybe the unknown wasn't close; perhaps it was trying to hide on purpose. If only I knew how much I needed it. So I asked every profile picture I knew, 'Hello! It's me. I hope you're well. I was wondering if you've seen it. Maybe you have it. Please, if you find it, give it back to me.'

Everything I knew was falling apart as if this were a race where each day had more distance to cover than distance covered. Every day, more questions with no one to answer them.

Breathing heavily, congested nose and watery eyes, I realized I knew nothing. I couldn't even read the street name where I stood through the tears. Finally, my legs gave way, and I fell to the grass.

I took off my shoes to see my bleeding feet, surprised I hadn't noticed. I stayed there for a long time, just thinking about the pressure in my chest and the sound of my slow breath.

The sky was blue, the leaves rustled in the light autumn breeze, and suddenly, a bubble floated by. I knew everything about beads; I learned from them when I used to chase them around.

The benches were made of wood, wood painted red, red faded by the sun and cracked by the time. I had never been here before but I could read the street names. And if I wanted to, I could perfectly live here. But I don't like the humidity or the dirt.

In that way, one certainty after another returned. I got to know everything in my sight again. This time, I made sure to remember and take note of how everything happened. That way, the next time I lose the unknown, I can dismiss what I already knew.

[iivocom]

Is It Just Me, or Did January Last Five Minutes?

You blink, and suddenly it's February. Weren't we all just clinking glasses and making grand plans for the new year? Time's doing that thing again where it slips through our fingers like sand. I promised myself I'd up my blogging game from a modest once a month to every Sunday. Inspired by a surprisingly productive Q4 last year, I was all set to flood your screens with wit, wisdom, and maybe a meme or two. Yet here I am, staring at the blinking cursor, searching for that elusive spark.

Sleepless in... Everywhere

Lately, sleep and I have been like acquaintances who pass each other on the street with a nod. Did you know that lack of sleep can mimic the effects of alcohol intoxication? Fun times, except without the karaoke bravery. Thomas Edison infamously believed sleep was a waste of time—a leftover from our cave-dwelling days. He might've invented the lightbulb, but I'm starting to think he left us in the dark about the joys of a good night's rest.

Stuck in a Rut? Let's Dig Out Together

Ever find yourself in a creative rut so deep you consider setting up camp? Maybe roasting some marshmallows over the embers of your dwindling motivation? You're not alone. The average person experiences a slump every now and then. The trick is to embrace it—acknowledge that sometimes our brains just need a break. Albert Einstein would play the violin to relax his mind when he hit a dead end. Perhaps it's time I dust off that old guitar.

Productivity Hacks I Might Actually Try

I've been flirting with the idea of adopting some productivity hacks. Maybe the Pomodoro Technique, where you work in focused bursts with short breaks. Or perhaps bullet journaling to organize the chaos. Leonardo da Vinci kept a notebook with him at all times to jot down ideas—everything from inventions to grocery lists. If it's good enough for the Renaissance man, it's worth a shot, right?

Pinterest: My Latest Rabbit Hole

On a lighter note, Pinterest has become my digital playground. It's amazing how pinning a few recipes can spiral into curating a dream home complete with a garden you'd need a team of landscapers to maintain. Did you know Pinterest has over 400 million active users? That's a lot of vision boards! If you're as addicted as I am, feel free to check out my boards. Fair warning: it's a eclectic mix of fitness routines I'll attempt (eventually), recipes that make my mouth water, and DIY projects that may or may not end in glue-gun disasters.

Keeping It Evergreen

There's plenty happening in the world—topics that ignite fiery debates and news that age about as well as avocado toast. I've steered clear of politics and fleeting headlines, aiming instead for content that stands the test of time. Evergreen articles are like the little black dress of blogging—always in style, always appropriate.

Embracing the Art of Nothing

So here we are, chatting about everything and nothing. And you know what? That's okay. Life isn't always about big revelations or profound insights. Sometimes, it's about these simple moments—acknowledging where we are and sharing a virtual cup of coffee. Perhaps I'll take a page out of Jane Austen's book: “To sit in the shade on a fine day, and look upon verdure, is the most perfect refreshment.”

Netflix, Here I Come

I think it's time to indulge in a bit of screen time. With a plethora of new movies and series released, there's no shortage of storytelling to dive into. Who knows? Maybe my next post will be a review or a reflection sparked by a compelling narrative. Storytelling has a way of reigniting that creative flame.

Until Next Time

If there's one thing I've learned, it's that creativity isn't a faucet you can turn on at will. It's more like a cat—you think it's lost interest, and then it curls up in your lap out of nowhere. So here's to embracing the ebb and flow, to taking breaks when we need them, and to finding inspiration in unexpected places. In the meantime, if you have any tips on conquering sleep deprivation or escaping ruts, drop them in the comments. Let's navigate this journey together.

And if you're scrolling through Pinterest at 2 a.m. like me, don't hesitate to say hi.

[transagainstautogynephiles]

Even though I’m socially able to pass as an FTM, I’m very glad my mother warned me against becoming a life long patient (especially since I already am one for genetic and chronic conditions) and so I didn’t follow through with any medical transitioning.

On top of that I’m autistic, a lot of TIFs are autistic, and having autism often comes with a lot of comorbidities like eds, mcas, dysautonomia, and so forth. So taking testosterone would further cause strain on the body’s health especially if it’s already impaired. It would just hurt the body more by throwing its hormonal balance off. As listed by the posters above, it’s so harmful to the body in a variety of ways. It’s just another type of self harm to cope with patriarchal standards like most cosmetic procedures are. There are ways to look androgynous or masculine without self harm. In the past I’ve taken up weightlifting to build my back and shoulders for instance.

I wish the TRA community wouldn’t promote harmful drugs and would instead focus on dismantling the patriarchal systems that hurt us and push us to want to change ourselves. Even if if dismantling the systems will take a long time we should in the meantime be working on ways to negate the current patriarchal social reinforcement that causes our dysphoria. We need to work on self acceptance and reforming the way we live our lives to liberate ourselves from society’s misogynistic ways that push dysphoria on us.

I personally try to only interact with women most of the time, I live a mostly separatist life irl and it’s really helped cut my dysphoria in half. It’s not completely gone because of being exposed to this society and it’s media, but it’s still a relief to live around mostly only feminist or at least strong minded women.

I think rebuilding stronger women’s communities even with TRAs constantly shutting them down is the way to go to help with healing dysphoria. You don’t have to say they’re afab only, you can just set up vetting systems and say that the males didn’t fit the requirements because of other traits. You can just say their personality doesn’t match the type of community you are trying to build for whatever reason. Men already do that to women to keep them out of their spaces, so we just have to reverse engineer their technique so it benefits us. Say they exhibit more entitled personalities or too much self-centeredness to be a good fit for your group. Healing is a long and mentally strenuous process, but I find living a woman-centered life helps the process, so if we need to play dirty to keep our safe havens afab only, to keep ourselves safe and healthy, then so be it.

Testosterone in a female body has more risks, and more serious risks, than estrogen in a male body.

It also causes more physical changes, which make detransition more difficult. The majority of male detransitioners get off scott free and are able to integrate back into society as males relatively easily.

This means that women (females) are suffering the brunt of transition-related health concerns, as well as the brunt of social issues post detransition.

At the same time, men (males) are the loudest and most influential people in the trans community. They are the ones pushing policies. They are the ones making decisions at the high level. They’re often the ones in charge of trans advocacy organizations and sometimes even gender clinics. The ones with the least skin in the game are making decisions for and speaking over the ones who have the most to lose.

Clearly this is a recipe for disaster. And it’s just one more axis of the oppression of females by males.

[pricklenettle]

Talk Shop Tuesday: What's one goal that you're working towards and what steps are you taking to try to achieve that goal? Why is this goal something you want to achieve? <3 -@fieldsofview

I know I’m answering this on Wednesday, forgive me

And wow, this is a hard one. Art for me is honestly mostly a pressure release valve. I enjoy doing it and if I don’t produce something creative I will go crazy. That said, word is getting around my local community that I can produce decent art that is nice to look at. This is very wonderful and nice for me because I apreciate these people wanting my work and being willing to pay me for it.

a difficulty that arrises that I am facing right now is motivating myself to actually work on fulfilling their requests. In the back of my mind art is something fun to do when you don’t need to do anything else, not actually useful for anyone. And that isn’t quite true. I really want to attend to those pieces with the care and attention they deserve. But it’s difficult when I’m frozen by indecission and mortally terrified of messing it up. so a major goal of mine would be to wittle down that nervousness and manage the procrastination when it crops up.

this is easier said than done, as many folks have found out for themselves, I’m sure. If I ever figure it out I’ll keep you posted

In the meantime I try to set a schedule for when I work on stuff, I try to use materials and techniques I am already comfortable with, and I rely on the people in my life to poke and prod me when those due dates start looming

[drsumitzclinic]

How do I know if my back pain is serious? Dr. Sumitz's back pain treatment clinic is here to help

In this hustling life, we mostly overlook the minor pains, but some persistent pain can be serious. As per the doctors, 9 in 10 patients absolutely don’t know the cause, and this may lead to a severe issue. Osteoarthritis, osteoporosis, and loss of cartilage are some of the issues that take birth in the meantime and are challenging to get treated effortlessly.

Are you looking for a permanent solution to back pain treatment? With the assistance of an expert doctor at the Dr. Sumitz clinic for back pain treatment baner, you can kickstart your breakthrough journey.

Before heading towards the orthopedic clinic in Pune, take a glimpse at the red flags that you should not overlook if your lower back pain is serious or not. 

An orthopedic surgeon in Baner has suggested the following points: if you find this, don’t wait for a long time.

The back is the foundation of the body, and it helps to normalize daily activity. Along with that, it helps in making decisions, coordination, and various other system activities for effective well-being.

The causes of back pain can be numerous, like poor posture, prolonged sitting issues, improper lifting, overactivity, fractures, and any kind of sprain. During household chores or while working in an office, the sudden jerk and lack of motion result in back pain issues. Along with that, don’t overlook these signs that we are mentioning below.

Pain lasts more than four weeks

If the back pain persists for more than four weeks, then you should consult with your orthopedic surgeon in Baner right away.

Pain, mainly at night

After whole-day activity, once you lay down on the bed for sound slumber but the back pain knocks you off for a whole night, then it is time to visit an orthopaedic clinic as soon as possible.

Weakness or numbness

Pain costs a lot to the human body, and it disturbs the overall mental and physical equilibrium. The back pain can also cause weakness and numbness to continue the daily activity effortlessly.

Nerve compression down the legs

The pain radiates down from the back to below the knee, then results in nerve compression that leads to an instant visit to the orthopaedic clinic.

Severe pain with sitting and lying down on the bed

Back pain takes a toll on the human body, and consistent pain can make sitting and slumbering more difficult so that a patient can stay awake the whole night.

What are the treatments for persistent back pain?

Back pain can occur at any age, and that is why it is important to choose treatments that will affect the human body in the future. As per the orthopedic doctor in Pune, physiotherapy is the most efficacious treatment for back pain.

Physiotherapy treatment is effective for people of all ages, and once the doctor diagnoses the situation, they proceed with the number of sessions needed for better relief. In their sessions, there are multiple therapies that a patient is going through, like:

Joint mobilization 

Cold or heat therapy

Posture education 

Electrotherapy, ultrasound therapy, and TENS

Traction

Cognitive-behavioral techniques

The sessions are based on the situation and severity of the back pain. The physitoehrapist never makes a quick decision, and they assess the situation with the cooperative efforts of the orthopedic doctor and then recommend further

On the other hand, the other effective method for back pain treatment is medication. Once you visit the orthopedic surgeon in Pune, he will examine the situation and then advise on some of the effective medicines that help the patient relieve pain.

To get this whole process done in an efficacious manner, patients must research the top orthopedic doctors in Pune who are reliable and have also examined this kind of situation before with patients. The expert orthopedic listens to the patient with a cautious mind and assesses the overall situation and its origin point.

Avoid bone or joint surgery or replacement treatment at an early stage, or if the situation is not severe, because once it is done, it takes time to recover fully and also requires effort to put on a pedestal of good health.

Wrapping Up!

Back pain is the most common issue, but make sure it does not last longer than four weeks. Understanding the causes and the timely treatment is needed to avoid any other severe bone and joint issues. Bones and joints are the foundation of the human body, and it is necessary to seek assistance from the right orthopedic doctor in Pune to make them healthy and strong.

Dr.Sumitz Clinic is a renowned orthopedic clinic in Pune, and they have been assisting the majority of the patients with back pain treatment. So if you are someone who is wondering about the most effective solutions for your back pain, then visit the clinic or book an appointment. Don't let the back pain take a toll.