#but next time I should use a reference image to study...

[funkyfishpaste]

Whatever, go my scarab ominous Tenna sketch!

[eroscomet]

Picking Up Pieces That Aren't Yours

Chapter three- Closer

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Pairing: Tara Carpenter x Fem!Reader

Warning: Explicit, Warning 18+ content, swearing, fingering (Tara receiving), kissing.

Word Count: 2.3k+

A/N: Hey, lovelies, needed to update this real bad. BEAR WITH ME YALL, this is my first like smut that I have basically officially put out there. I hope you guys enjoy it and honestly, I was very nervous to post this update but I have left you guys starved of this story for too long. Making this chapter was a rollercoaster of emotions for me, I did not know that writing smut could be so bashful or even sheepish, but it really was. Good news as well, Make it Right will have an update soon! Very nervous to put this chapter out there but it was going to happen sooner or later. By the way, for future reference, this will be a g!p reader. Just letting you guys know that. Thank you so much for all the support and this one's for you guys!

Proof read.

Minors DNI

╰┈➤ Series Masterlist

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Your head felt like it had been reeling since the moment that you and Tara were back in contact. You felt wrong for allowing her to get the better of you when she had been somewhat intoxicated. The guilt was practically eating at you because not only had you hooked up with her, you couldn’t stop thinking about it. Throughout each of your classes, every time you tried to force yourself to focus on the teacher's words or even the work in front of you, all you could think about was that night.

Your mind was plagued by all that the shorter girl had become under your touch. It felt selfish to have done such a thing and still think of her this way afterwards. No matter how long you tried to shove every image of the girl that night, heat pooled in your lower stomach. It was undeniable. Yet, every time that you had been around the girl from then on, you felt the care for her far stronger than any lust. It was easy to create a fantasy of her but when it came down to it, face to face, all you could do was want to protect her and care for her any way that you could.

“You stare a lot.” Tara said with a hum, she hadn’t even been looking up. She was instead focused on the textbook in front of her, still she felt your eyes on her.

“Ah, sorry..” You replied bashfully as you let out a small breath. Part of you wondered if she had even remembered that night. Maybe she had been angry that when she woke up, you hadn’t been there.

The thing was that when you had woken up the next morning after that night, the more you stared at her peacefully sleeping face, the more guilty you felt for having let yourself lose control. You’d spent an hour that morning, wondering what you should do before having finally settled on leaving some water bottles on her nightstand as well as some pain-killers to take when she’d wake up to a headache she would be bound to have. You didn’t know whether she’d remember, so you left a simple note saying that you had taken care of her the previous night.

“I wasn’t saying that I was bothered by it,” Tara said as her eyes flicked up to where you were sitting in front of her.

“Oh..” Was all you could think to muster up in reply. Should you ask if she remembered? Should you wait until she brings it up? You didn’t want to be a dick and make her think that she was a simple hookup and that was all.

An awkward silence fell upon the both of you as the two of you continued to study. That was until the silence was broken by Tara.

“So…” She began as she scribbled some notes into her notebook, her eyes pried away from yours at all cost, “Do you remember-”

“Yes.” You replied, not even knowing if she was asking what you were thinking she was asking. Her eyebrow had momentarily shot up at the quick reply.

“You didn’t even let me finish.” She said with a light laugh, “Unless, something’s on your mind?”

“Uh,” Your throat suddenly felt dry as you tried to think of the right words to use, “What happened a couple of nights ago..?”

“Hm.”

Her reply seemed too dry. Maybe she didn’t want to talk about it? Maybe she was in fact angry at you for having left?

“What?”

“I just..thought you didn’t remember, that’s all.”

“Of course, I do.” Your reply felt pathetic to your own ears. It left you feeling as if you were desperate. Despite your inner thoughts, a small smile played on her lips.

A silence fell upon the both of you before you had spoken up again, “I’m sorry for leaving that morning. I didn’t know if you’d want to.. I don’t know. I guess I didn’t know if you’d want to remember what had happened.”

“I’ve always thought of you too sweet, that’s why I felt a bit suspicious of it.”

“I’m not the type to do that, I promise. I just thought it was more on your end… I was confused, you know? Confused if you think it's a one-time mistake.”

“Doesn’t have to be. I mean, I don’t think it was a mistake. I’m sort of…glad it was you.”

You felt your heart almost beat out of your chest at the revelation that you hadn’t thought about. It felt like what you had heard was a part of another restless dream where Tara felt the same way about you. For a moment, you were stuck in your thoughts as you contemplated whether or not this was a dream or a joke. That was until you felt your pencil being taken from your hand as you turned your head to look over at the girl, you were sure that now you had somehow died and been sent to heaven.

The look in her eyes, she was close enough for you to count every freckle that adorned her cheeks perfectly. The way her lips had slightly twitched as if she were about to speak but instead decided not to. The two of you spent a moment staring at each other, your face drawing impossibly closer to hers. The feeling of her breath mingling against your own, her eyes darted down at your lips allowed your mind to begin wandering places. Taking action to one of those many thoughts as you shut your eyes and leaned forward into a kiss.

After feeling Tara returning your kiss, you hummed into the kiss, leaning into the touch of her hand on your cheek. You felt weak, weaker than you ever had. It felt almost helpless the way that your mind couldn’t draw any other thought but the dark haired girl kissing you. Kissing you as if she wanted you just as badly as you wanted her. Your hands felt limp, futile to every attempt of moving them to not seem awkward. It felt as if Tara had been reading your mind because her hands had grabbed yours and guided them under her shirt.

“Wait-” You managed to mutter breathlessly as you pulled away from the kiss, “Are you sure about this?”

“Still as caring as ever. Gosh, yes, L/N, I’m sure.” Tara replied with a breathless laugh, slightly shaking her head. “Must you always be so good?”

A soft smile on your lips as you felt her own on yours once again before you could’ve replied to her words. You returned the now hungrier kiss.

“There’s nothing wrong with being good.” You had mumbled against her lips as you continued to kiss her.

She hadn’t replied this time, her hands simply guiding yours further up her shirt and to the curve of her clothed breast. Your fingers had toyed with the hem of her bra, a small whine came from her in response. Her hands moving away from yours and up your own shirt, feeling out the planes of your skin. Her fingers felt persistent, whereas your own took their time and were more gentle. Unaware of the girl’s growing impatience, your hand moved to the back of her bra, carefully unclasping it. 

It had now hung loosely to her skin under her shirt, you took this as your chance to gently allow your thumbs to focus on the buds of her nipples. Immediately receiving a reaction from the girl, a soft whimper against your lips that felt all too sweet. Your mind had temporarily fled to the thought that someone else had too been in this position. You felt your gut slightly twist before pushing away the thought and allowing yourself to at least enjoy this while you can. While she had graced you with the opportunity to do so.

Your nimble fingers were quick against her buds, her breathing becoming ragged. Her mouth felt hot and wet, a reflection of your own as the kiss came to an end. Her eyes were fluttered shut as she allowed soft sighs to escape her, enjoying your touch. You’d seen and felt her back arch slightly with twitches into your touch. Her own hands had paused under your shirt, seemingly had lost its focus and purpose she’d once had with the touch. Quickly, one of your hands had left from under her shirt, moving to your lips where your tongue darted out to wet them before returning it to her nipple.

Tara’s head slightly tipped back at the newfound sensation you’d given her, your other hand moving down her abdomen to the hem of her sweatpants. You knew better than to tease the girl but you couldn’t help yourself, your fingers gently pressing against her clit over the fabric. The soft gasp that left Tara’s lips and the expression on her face made you want to examine every expression and sound she’d offer you with every touch you gave her.

“Don’t tease. Please.” She had breathed out ever-so-softly. Who were you to go against what she wanted? You wanted nothing but to please the girl of your dreams.

You were quick as you had carelessly pushed aside her notebook and text book that was on her desk. Swiftly lifting the shorter girl onto the desk, she lifted her hips slightly, giving you access to pull her sweats down. Your eyes were trained on her as you disregarded her sweatpants onto her bed. One of your hands pushed apart her legs as the other pulled aside her panties, not caring to remove them. You could hear every sweet sigh and soft whimper that escaped her mouth at your every touch, and it drove you completely insane.

A finger swiped through her folds, feeling the wet mess that she had become. You felt a surge of pride and a want– no, a need to give Tara everything she wanted. You allowed two fingers to delve past her folds and into pussy, a soft groan leaving your own lips at the tightness. A guttural moan leaving her, you watched as her head tipped back against the wall. Your fingers were quick, pumping to her every moan and obvious need with the way her hips had begun to buck against your hand. Your thumb pressing circles into her clit as your fingers continue to pump, your other hand raising her shirt to focus on her breasts as well.

With another lick of your fingers, you toyed and played with the bud of her nipple. You wanted to give her all the pleasure you knew she was deserving of. Your lips finding hers as you pulled her into a kiss, muffling her kisses that she now let out into your mouth. With the quickened pace of your fingers from each hand, you took note that it was getting harder for the girl to keep up with the kiss. You pulled away and immediately began working on peppering kisses against her neck, trying and finding her sweet spot. Your teeth grazed her neck as your mouth began to suck on the sensitive part of her neck. 

You felt her back arching into you and her body buzzing and writhing with pleasure from your touch. Taking note of how Tara was getting closer by the way her moans and breath fell relentlessly from her lips.

“Close-” She managed to say, pairing with a broken moan which only pushed you to quicken your pace.

“Shit, shit, shit- I’m cumming!” Tara’s voice cried out as she shut her eyes tightly, her body uncontrollably shaking under your touch.

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 A few minutes later and the two of you were sitting together at her dining room table eating pizza which you had ordered Tara.

“A true gentlewoman.” She said with a hum before

taking a bite of her pizza.

“Aftercare is important.” You replied with a small shrug as you took a bite of your own pizza.

“So, you're saying that you’ll stay longer?”

“Do you want me to?”

“Is that even a question?”

“Maybe you're right. I'll stay then.”

After the two of you had finished eating, you made your way back over to her room. Now, your arms wrapped around the shorter girl who buried her face into your chest. All felt calm, a stark contrast of what had happened about an hour or two earlier. You felt yourself wanting to stay in this moment, in the safety of the bubble you two created in her room. Tara was slowly falling asleep, you took it upon yourself to further soothe the girl by rubbing her back gently and pressing gentle kisses to her forehead. 

“Thank you for this.” She mumbled softly against your chest, slightly muffled.

“You don’t have to thank me, Tar.”

“Tar. I always liked when you called me that.”

“I'll forever call you that if you want me to.”

“I’d like that.”

You itched to ask the girl what all of this meant. What your relationship was like now. Is it friends? More than that, friends with benefits? Maybe…it could be something more than that as well, lovers? You pushed down the thoughts and the itch to ask, wanting to not ruin this perfect bubble the two of you have created.

“Tell me something. Anything.” Tara murmured softly

“You're soft.” It was the first thing that came to mind and the first thing that fled your mouth. A small light laugh had escaped Tara’s lips.

“What’s funny?” You asked curiously.

“It’s just that… I'm not sure I've ever been called or described that way.”

“Glad to be the first, and it’s true.”

“You're sweet.” Her words made a soft smile creep onto your face.

“Look who’s talking.”

“Oh, you're just a flatterer.”

“Can we not flatter each other?”

“I suppose so.”

“Sleep, you're tired.” Your eyes scanned the girl’s face, she was obviously a bit drained. A hand came up to gently caress her face as the other one continued to rub her back. Which had lulled her further into a sleepy state, she only nodded at your words. For the entire time that you stayed at her apartment, you held her and whispered sweet nothings that you knew she couldn’t hear in her sleep, but whispered them anyway.

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A/N: I'M NERVOUS BUT I HOPE YOU GUYS ENJOYED. Again, thank you for all the support and also look around for Make it Right chapter three coming out as well. Bear with me and this, this is my first smut published. However, I had to get it out of the way for upcoming chapters. Thank you all so much for everything, bye lovelies!

[vocalsynthtextposts]

do you have any pictures that can be used as a reference for idiot bug? i'd love to draw him sometime next month :^) hope you're doing well

ohhh i would be so honored omg...!!!!! here's his main reference art and a wip of his 3d model!!

and some extra doodles of him + rambling about him

essentially, he's a robot who was made in the image of a living person, but all the expectations to be like that person, or better than them, or just... to be all sorts of things in general, it made him develop a lot of insecurities. he comes up with detailed plans about how robots will take over the world to replace humanity, and tries to recruit the other robot UTAU characters into his ultimate plan. everyone thinks he's crazy. he has every disease and should be killed.

his gender is up to interpretation. i default to he/him pronouns for him but any are fine. i also like to ship him with adachi rei because i think she would be endlessly interested by how pathetic he is and would want to study him, but i like to see any pairing...

please feel free to draw him in pain or distress. if anything, i would prefer for him to be going through some kind of unimaginable horror at all times

[toa-archive]

Nari Design Path

We're now on the final of the trio and we're finishing up with Nari! Part of the reason she's last is there is So Much and given smacked straight into the image limit it was the right call. Think she is also a great reminder that there is no "central hub" for finding information scattered across multiple artists with some being lost over time. The only place that is anything like that is the Dreamworks vault, all this is by one dedicated person who despite doing their best can still miss things.

As ever with these it is far from impossible something else will belatedly turn up. Should this occur, wherever it is added will have a [/edit xx/xx/xxxx] which includes a date marker. Just makes it easier to find the “new” thing :)

Much like with Skrael opening with these guys again if for flow reasons this time round. Francisco Ruiz Velasco had his own stab at a bunch of wizards which are nigh impossible to pin down if it was for any of the Arcane Trio specifically or not. This one will very understandably appear in all three as there could well be a Nari potential here for all we know.

Source goes to Linkedin so may require an account.

Next up is Yingjue Chen's initial forest wizard concepts which you may recognise from the Bellroc thread. We've even got some deer ankles going!

Source

Her next iteration is Nari as we know her for the most part if more "adult" in appearance, longer hair, possible deer ankles and lots of veils.

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The "adult" Nari has popped up one other time namely through Francisco Ruiz Velasco doing his own exploration of the nature wizard and funky magic vines.

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After this it was decided to make Nari "younger" and more childlike in stature though at this point still keeping everything else about her design. Fandom has generally fallen into two camps as either seeing her as a literal child sharing a weird spot with Skrael there or as a small adult. This is in part why the quotation marks are being used. Next to her here is the nature wizard design recast as Bellroc before they went off to a different artist. This is Yingjue Chen again!

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For some reason have the left image entirely on its own and not entirely sure why. Anyway.

On the right is more veil tests that were tried out until it was decided it would be cost prohibitive, a common reason for cape loss in animation. Her hair was shrunk into the snazzy braid for the same reason. Her design would have further tweaks before settling, notably in the legs and how the leaf plates fit together if you compare the above and the below.

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After this we have Nari's paint over a Leo Sanchez Studios model complete with callouts! Thinks ended up being tweaked a little bit more which really shows how iterative the process of concept to final design can be. Bonus is good reference particularly for that braid.

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This is the point where you will see some creative work arounds for the image limit. Prior to his website being changed, Ivan Gozali had a bunch of sketches, some Bellroc sketches and a Jilaire beatboard. The Nari ones are still accessible through instagram if small. These are a smidge bigger though have been grouped into twos because of aforementioned limit.

He does mention a very interesting tidbit however:

Some character studies of Nari. Early in production we didn’t have much to go on. There were several design iterations, we even had several name changes. I was never much of a “concept” artist so please excuse with these off-proportion drawings. I always find joy exploring character behaviours and attitude.

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In addition there was this little animation which is on both instagram and on his tumblr. There he says:

Nari character from Wizards, inspired by a ‘feral boy’ character from Road Warrior, which was a good jumping point, but I’m mostly inspired by @glenkeaneprd Tarzan test.

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Also by one of the storyboarders we have this series of art by Bianca Siercke. Completely non-canon these were part of figuring out her character and no doubt helped the boarders figure her out best for drawing as well.

Source

This can of course also mean rock fists. Specifically in this case to quote:

"Nari playful personality was especially fun because of how it might effect her fighting style". "This was one of the explorations I did to figure out what kind of magic she might use".

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"This was an exploration of how Nari's magic might change depending on her mood".

Given she can use plants like a telephone according to Aaron, murder hands seem fair even if they were just part of figuring her out.

Source

"These were explorations trying to find Nari's personality and magic ideas. They're non canon".

This is the last one! Ironically enough the seeds did come back in a sense in the form of her potted plant in Rise of the Titans.

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Decided to add a trio of bonuses just for fun. You might have noticed the Order pops up in the Wizards credits sequence though unlike Trollhunters and 3Below, it is not Headless Studios. They were drawn in a similar way though! They are by Alison Donato.

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Now firmly onto RotT related artwork, these various disguises for Nari are by Betsy Bauer painted over Yingjue Chen's original! Should you so desire you can have chav Nari in your works and point to this as to why.

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Thanks to Andy Murray we have a paint and orthographic turnaround of the chosen Nari in a giant beanie. Gives a good look at the t-posing model as well should you need it.

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This is also a great excuse to yet again break out Francisco Ruiz Velasco's Order band poster again! Some imagery shenaniganry was done purely to ensure this got in here again.

Source goes to Linkedin so may require an account.

Returning to Yingjue Chen a moment, Nari's staff! This and Alison Donato's credits paintings are the only currently known artwork of it. It might not have been used much but she does very much have a stick just like the others.

Source

In the previous two design paths this is about when the Art of Wizards panel gets pointed to with the really tiny screenshot. In a unique twist to Nari and as a boon when smacked into the image limit, we have the full-sized versions of the very art shown there!

Next to the very tiny Nari is the left most vine.

And beside it is both the "flame" and the beam that will be used to bass boost the Heart of Avalon specifically. The below was originally on Betsy Bauer's website though is no longer available. Why things are saved off :)

Do you recall the green butterflies/moths Nari seemingly produced out of nowhere while at Hex Tech? Well thanks to Isaac Orloff we have their orthographic and their glowy effects!

Source

Moving onto the RotT spell front, when Betsy Bauer revamped her website it came with some brand new art we hadn't seen previously. Not only does it show her potted plant unfurling and name it as a passion flower, there's an additional view of Nari in her "Fish fear me" hat.

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We have that same flower exploding into a massive vine. Even has a callout specifically to Betsy Bauer's spell effects which is neat! This one is by Sean Wang.

Returning to Andy Murray a moment, we have the glow up eye effect for Nari. While not shown here for image limit reasons, the mind swap between Douxie and Nari effects plus the ripping him outta there is on the same sheet. The one below, which is purely Titan related has been cropped for fitting this post reasons only.

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This is the Arcane Circle for Nari which is shown on the Earth Titan. The Genesis Seal marker is on the same row as Bellroc so is not shown here. As above it has been cropped for fitting this post reasons only. This time they are once again by Sean Wang.

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Sean Wang also has this on her website showing additional effects and the rune usage on Nari specifically. The artwork on the left is from one of Alfonso Blaas' colour keys which shows the Genesis Seals being opened.

Source

Nearly there now! While mentioned earlier and to fit with the format of the other two posts, one of Nari's in development names was Ilnara which we found out thanks to Bianca Siercke.

To close up on a fun note, Yingjue Chen has a headcanon of "adult" Nari having Excalibur which Schildwand went and cosplayed!

Source

With the trio now complete, all the link hops between now work! When this is uploaded please allow chance for the links to Nari to be updated on the other posts.

Bellroc - Nari - Skrael

[hussyknee]

Made in the USA: Wage Theft, Fraud and Hidden Sweatshops

Unrolled twitter thread by derek guy (@dieworkwear)

4 Oct 24 • Read on X

ALT enabled on all images. Video has closed captions but is not transcribed.

Not trying to create a pile-on here. But let's talk about why something might still be made in unethical conditions even though it bears a "made in USA" tag. 🧵

The first thing to understand is that not all workers are covered by US labor laws. You might assume that workers get paid a minimum wage (after all, it says "minimum"). In fact, many garment workers in the US toil under what's known as the piecework system.

Piecework means you get paid not by the amount of time you work but the number of operations you complete. This system should be familiar to many of you. As a writer, I get paid per word. The pay is the same whether it takes me 100 or 10 hours to write a 1,000 word article.

My situation is fine bc I get paid enough to eat. But for a garment worker, the pay structure can be peanuts: three cents to sew a zipper or sleeve, five cents for a collar, and seven cents to prepare the top part of a skirt. These are real numbers for LA-based garment workers.

Piecework is how companies skirt minimum wage laws. Among labor organizers, the term "wage theft" refers to the difference between what a worker should have earned under min wage laws and what they actually earned through the piece rate system.

This system is incredibly common. A 2016 UCLA Labor Center study showed the median piece-rate worker in Los Angeles scrapes together $5.15 per hour—less than half the state’s mandated minimum wage. Labor conditions are also very bad: poor ventilation, dusty air, rats and mice.

A Federal Department of Labor investigation the same year found that 85 percent of Los Angeles garment factories were breaking labor laws. In 2016, these violations amounted to $1.3 million in back wages owed to 865 workers in a sample of 77 factories. This is wage theft.

In 2021, labor organizers won a fight to get piecework banned in California. But two years later, it's still incredibly common. I interviewed an LA-based garment worker who toils 12 hrs a day for $50. She sleeps in the corner of a kitchen. From my article in The Nation:

Currently, there's a new fight get piecework banned nationwide through the FABRC Act. I would link, but Twitter throttles threads that have outbound links, so I would prefer if you Google how you can support this legislation. Or follow @GarmentWorkerLA for more info.

The other reason why a "made in USA" tag may not mean much has to do with how the label is applied.

When you see this label inside your garment, what do you assume? Think about this before moving on to the next tweet.

The Federal Trade Commission has pretty strict rules on who gets to apply that label. For clothes, the item has to be cut and sewn in the US using materials that were made in the US. The FTC tries to match its rules with the common understanding of what "made in US" means.

If you're a giant company like Levi's or LL Bean, you may have lawyers who are advising you on these rules. This is why you see labels like "imported," which means the item was made abroad. Or "made in the US from imported materials" when they can't meet the MiUSA standard.

But it's incredibly common for companies to violate FTC rules. In 2022, the FTC fined the pro-Trump brand Lions Not Sheep $211k for labeling their t-shirts "made in USA" when the shirts were actually imported from China and other countries.

The company was basically importing blanks from China, ripping out the "made in China" label, screen printing the shirt in the US, and then applying a new screen-printed "made in US" label. CEO Sean Whalen claimed he was being persecuted for his pro-Trump views.

But the whole thing started bc Whalen made a video about how his customers are price sensitive, so he imports blanks from China. That's what kicked off the FTC investigation. So while this mislabeling is common, it's hard to get caught unless you make a video about your crimes.

The truth is that making a t-shirt in the USA according to FTC standards will result in a relatively expensive garment. Heddels and Velva Sheen both produce shirts in the US from US grown cotton. The first is $26; second is $90 for a two-pack.

Once you add things such as screenprinting—or if you want a more unique cut and not just basic blanks—the costs go up. This is why Bikers for Trump sourced their merch from Haiti. They knew their customers would not pay an extra $8 for true made-in-USA production.

Today, there are countless companies that make merch for other organizations. They source their t-shirts from a variety of places—some made in the US, most not—and then screenprint a design and fulfill orders. This way, the other org doesn't have to do any work but marketing.

When you see a screenprinted t-shirt for $20, ask yourself: Where was the material grown? Where were the yarns spun? Where was the cutting, sewing, and finishing performed? Where was the screenprinted done? What were the wages and labor conditions along these steps?

I'm not a nationalist, so I don't prioritize American jobs over foreign ones. But I do care about fair wages and labor protections. Just because something was made abroad doesn't mean it was made in a sweatshop. Just because it was made in the US doesn't mean fair wages.

Paying more for a garment is also no guarantee of ethical manufacturing. But when the price of a garment is so low, you leave little on the table for workers. Just because you see a $20 t-shirt that says "made in USA" doesn't mean it was made fairly.

Please don't harass the person who posted that original tweet. My intention is not to cause harm or stress for anyone. Only to help shed light on what goes into garment manufacturing, fair labor, and labeling. Hopefully, you will consider these issues when shopping.

For the inevitable question: "How do I make sure my clothes were made ethically?" This is very difficult to answer in a thread. My simplest answer is that we should elect pro-worker politicians, fight for pro-labor laws, and empower unions so workers can advocate for themselves.

--------------------End----------------------

TL; DR: Doesn't matter if it's the US, if it's not union it's probably a sweatshop. And not all merch is priced high because of fair labour conditions (looking at Taylor Swift and Beyoncé). Look for supply chain transparency.

[xuune]

Hii first of all, I FUCKIN LOVE YOUR ART! ITS GORGEOUS AND IM SURE EVERYONE CAN UNDERSTAND YOU REALLY GIVE YOUR SOUL INTO THAT🤧 Your color palette looks so good, What do you pay attention to when painting? (Like when do you think its better to use multiply or something like that and etc.)

first off, I'M HAPPY YOU CAN TELL THAT I PUT MY SOUL INTO MY ART!!! im genuinely in love with drawing and am always finding ways to make creating art enjoyable and impress myself with what i can achieve and learn :D

second, thanks for asking your question!! i dont mind answering it, but my response is quite long. here's my thinking process:

(you specified layer modes like multiply, so im gonna gear my answer towards that a bit) 1. REFERENCE SEARCHING IS KING. color is actually extremely hard for me, so i search around for artworks with palettes i'd like to use and study how an artist uses it. some situations i have a clear idea of what i want, but usually the images in my head are extremely vague, so i borrow palettes from various other artworks that fit the vibe of what i want. an example is this one. my main palette reference were from these artworks. im looking at this artist's use of high saturates and how drawings are overlayed on top of each other. while looking at references, im asking myself how is this artist using warm/cools, where are these warm/cools placed, if their illustration used any form of texturing (like halftones, hatching), how do they use their palette to render form/shape/gradient, when/where do they saturate/desaturate their colors. those questions inform my decisions when using colors too.

2. USING LAYER MODES WHEN NECESSARY. i used to be reliant on multiply for everything, which atp i dont do since i can definitely push colors more first before using layer modes. only when i feel like my current colors are lacking do i start tinkering with tone curves and/or brightness/contrast/hue/saturation/luminosity settings. and if that doesn't work, then i start using layer modes. using layer modes do help with achieving certain effects, color corrections, or when i want to fuck around and find out. i think having a better understanding of what these modes can do makes you more decisive on how you can properly utilize them and to achieve a particular look (like using multiply for a cel shaded style). here's an example:

this leads into my next point:

3. BALANCING OUT VALUES. big thing that makes an illustration hard to read is if values blend together which affects the hues and contrast. i check for what elements need to be distinguished from one another and if it can be read clearly. using layer modes can either help with this or not help at all. it's very dependent on the type of layer mode. here's this example where i applied pin light:

back to #2, there are various instances where i'm using layer modes for quick color corrections and/or to help with readability:

other times, i start off having my entire subject in gray and to figure out main shadow/lights (similar to the multiply cel shaded process i linked ealier). im thinking about what this should look like if i only used 2 value tones:

when in doubt though, i check my artwork in grayscale to ensure values aren't overly blended into each other, especially if i didnt start with grayscale like this one:

painting for me takes into consideration a lot of different aspects. im thinking about how colors should interact, where/when to give contrast, checking/balancing out values, etc, but im also making it a time to study off of how other artists use their colors through the references i collected.

hope this answered your question! lmk if there's more :]

[mystycalypso]

do you have any advice for drawing in the ok KO artstyle? Awesomesauce AU btw I’m actually going to eat it

Okay so, I'm gonna try to do my best to do this- like professionally ig? Because I know saying "Dude I just fuckin go in" does not help anyone at all ever. I spent the last couple drawings I did over analyzing how I draw just for you guys.

And so you get the full explanation, I'm going to do a screenshot edit for this. It's basically how I draw in the style but just with a few extra steps to show how I've accidentally fooled people into thinking shots exist in the show when- they don't.

We're gonna use this shot of Carol, because the redesigns for Rad and Enid aren't done yet, and I like her posing.

This is the brush I use, at size 1-2px depending on the line thickness, canvas size, etc. If you're unsure how thick yours should be, try drawing over one of the lines on another layer/in another colour, does it match the original lineart pretty closely? Then you're golden. (Please note this brush kind of sucks with the bucket tool sometimes, especially with dark colours, so I recognize the lasso fill tool)

Now, shape language is very important in ok ko, (it's one of the reasons I love it so much) and every character is made up of very distinct shapes for themselves. If you can draw squares and circles, you're basically golden.

Here's a sort of- quick breakdown of the parts. Sometimes your squares might be more rounded, or your ovals a little more square, but this is generally how I break it down.

Now let's turn the opacity down on our original shot, add a layer and use our shape language to put Laserblast on top

Okay, not bad, but the issue now is he's still built like Carol. But that's okay, now that we know generally how the pose is laid out, we can adjust it to fit his proportions. If you're unsure of what those proportions are, try taking a shot of the character and drawing the shapes over them. THIS IS NOT TRACING. Breaking art down into shapes is vital to style studies and you're only using the original to understand how things are broken down.

Bam! Much better! And you can still see the squares, circles, and triangles he's made up of. Now we're gonna hide the scene beneath our sketch and lower our sketch opacity. If you have a reflection sheet of the character you wanna draw, that's probably already helped you with proportions, but it'll also be important to stay on model. (However, keep in mind, the model is not the Bible for this show's art style, and feel free to break away if it helps exaggerate the emotion or action you want to show.

In my case, my reference image is "Date Night Laserblast" for how he styles his hair, and his outfit.

BOOM SHAKALAKA, YES COB- Sorry

Anyway, you may have noticed his property got adjusted a little between the pose sketch and this one, that's totally normal. Sometimes you don't realize something looks off until after you're basically done sketching, and so you adjust the pose and sizes as necessary. Lasso tool is a digital artists best friend guys. (Admittedly normally I do all of this in one sketch layer, so if that works better for you guys too go for it, but I wanted to easily illustrate the differences for ya) Alright, now with everything but your final sketch hidden, turn the opacity down once more, and do your lineart!

Hell yeah! Next we're gonna colour in our flats. Now in most cases that'll just be- the normal colours of the character, but in this scene there's lighting changes. In most cases you can probably find an image to colour pick from of the character in a similar light, but if not you're just gonna have to use some colour theory. Which- there's way better tutorials on online, I cannot explain colour theory despite it being the part of art I've actually spent time studying.

Don't worry if the flat colours look a little funky on their own. Now we add a clipping mask to our flats, and add the highlights (most scenes/drawings won't require this, because they don't have fancy lighting) in this case like the shading, it's going to lean blue.

Now, you're gonna make a copy of this alone, if you're using ibis "Add from canvas" is what I use, or "Add layer from folder" if you have everything in a folder. Then unhide your background and cover up anything you don't want seen (I can't show that along because I've only got 10 images to explain this) I always do it on a separate layer just too erase any mistakes easier. It's basically a bunch of colour picking and continuing the background.

If you're not trying to make a screenshot edit, you don't need to do this next step. All it's for is to help create that imperfect look a real snip from the show would have. You wouldn't expect the lines to be perfect and crisp when you zoom in.

Finally, take your copy of your character, in this case LB, and use the transform tool, drag the top right corner down until he's about half size (make sure you still have your original version/layers visible as well. Then click okay before transforming the tool again until they line up properly. DO NOT JUST UNDO YOUR TF OR DRAG IT IN AND OUT. It will look blurry, we want this. Turn that layer down to about 20-25% opacity. (your lines should look clean zoomed out, but slightly fuzzy when you zoom in) You should be left with something like this!

As for more general tips, don't be afraid to look at lots of references. The wiki practically knows my fingerprints from how often I look up shots to reference and my gallery is full of images I've saved to help me. Second, practice makes perfect. If you look back even to my earlier posts from this year, you can see a lot of improvements in how I draw the show's style. And there are still characters I want to get better at drawing. (The kids like Fink and K.O. especially)

And finally, as silly as it might seem, don't focus too hard on it! Ian said that one of the major design philosophies of this show was to make it look like doodles. Keep your hands loose and have fun making it look silly! Using and leaning into that philosophy has helped me improve drawing these characters so much. Even during serious-looking scenes, I'm not worried if the shot will look exactly a certain way, but treat it like a quick angsty sketch in my notebook. Don't worry about making it look perfect because the show isn't meant to look perfect.

[gomzdrawfr]

Good afternoon! I really like your art, especially with Nikolai. I don't often see any content on it, and that's why it's very nice to see. Can I ask you how you draw hair and other items of clothing? It's just that in the future I also want to practice drawing to draw my favorite characters. 🌹

Hi there thank you! :D

Uhhh I tried my best to compile my way of drawing things, take this as a reference because I'm not a professional by any means and a lot of things I do are very much simplified and dialled down to fit my chibi style :3 but I'm flattered that you ask me, I like sharing my process sometimes!

alright first off with hair, we'll take Nik for example. For me I usually try to make sure the hair flows from the same origin (refer the red arrow on chibi Nik), this will make sure the hair looks consistent and neat. For me I usually like to add more volume and floff to hair to make it cuter (exaggerated feature), so I do that by making the hair thicker or more curly. What really brings the hair together imo is the side burn, all the cod characters have it so study how they look like (like how Price's one will be connected to his beard, while Nik's end in a neat line). Lastly, look at the characters and ask yourself what are their prominent features? Like for Soap, it's his mohawk. For Nik? It'll be his high widow's peak and the neat slick back look. If it is hard to draw it yourself, trace over the reference photo to get an idea, then draw it yourself again on the side, it'll allow your hand to recognize the shape and flow better.

Hair can be individualized according to your own artstyle, for example @/nekrosmos (hi hehe) draw Nik's end of the hair curling inwards (link of the example). Studying other artist's way of drawing characters can help ease the process of finding your own, if ya wanna look at Nik fanart I highly recommend @/shkretart's page (example used is from here) (also would recommend their post about how they draw heads here, because from there you can see how they plot down the shape of the hair as well)

also! something I like to do is showing the character's emotions through hair as well :3

example:

see how the Price in lower opacity has his hair jagged because he's horrified by the taste of shamrock + my OC dishevelled hair because she's cranky/angry

uhhh when it comes to clothes I don't really have much advice because I....don't draw a lot of variety of clothings XD

I think most importantly if you can get the torso shape correctly the clothings wouldn't be much of an issue since ya can just follow references (see 2nd photo with the square + inverted triangle method, reference used: valiants, pignk). Like the hair, I just take the what I think are prominent features of an outfit then remove the gear (see Ghost below for example).

I think the only thing I can comment on are creases?? even so I'm still a newbie at this but yeah again, tracing over images to study them is what I do most of the time, especially when I'm doing a non-chibi art. Whenever I feel like the sleeves looks weird, I try to find a similar pose, draw over the crease, see what went wrong then implement it on my own art. I think what really changed my mind was it's not just about the lines of the clothes inside, you should take account of the creases that creates the fold on the outline. You can watch this video by emiliodekureart if you want a more detail explanation! (I follow a lot of their tutorials cuz it's simplified and easy to understand and follow :3) (another ref is Morpho Clothing folds and creases if you wanna learn in depth)

Okay, say you got the torso, shape and creases down, what's next? Textures! the way you add details or color a clothing can make small but noticeable differences. Here's how I approach a clothing using my commission works as examples below.

Similar to hair, first I see what's the most obvious feature of the reference photo which are the pattern lines and patterns. Usually with wool or animal fur or any material that's fuzzy I like to add the " lines to my doodles.

For this example we're looking at suits, so the materials are usually harder that's why the edges of the clothes will be sharper (see Ghost's shoulder ends and elbows). Add in details like lines/patterns to show different materials. Sometimes you can overlay the shades with textures, which all can be found online to add that feel to it, yk? (like Soap's pants and this hat)

Lastly, you can always change the way you want to draw based on the references, you don't have to follow it 100%, scroll through sites to find one you like and tweak it!

hope these are helpful!

[forecast0ctopus]

Any advice on drawing McCoy? I’m not used to drawing ancient wrinkley bastards (affectionate) and it’s surprisingly tough v-v

FOR SURE lmao i made. a diagram. just a warning that i am going to be irritating and long winded because u just hit a topic i really like sorry lmao

so first off i did some traces just to show whats there vs redraws to show my interpretation

ive said this on other asks but again jsyk, tracing isnt bad!! its a tool. theres some stuff with intellectual property and whatnot but using tracing to study shapes and forms is a really valuable practice.

also just taking some time to learn facial structures and anatomy is super useful, reading what bones and muscles are where and how they interact with one another. taking this info and staring in the mirror and moving your face around and thinking about it. just really furthers understanding of how the face works. trying to sound normal about this but i love anatomy and motion and physics and whatever

anyways im going to go through all the numbered points so there's no confusion. 1. forehead lines - self explanatory. more prominent when brows are raised 2. crows feet - at the outer corners of the eyes, more prominent when smiling or squinting 3. nasolabial folds - the folds that go from the corners of the nose to the corners of the mouth. more prominent when the mouth is wide, like smiling 4. brow furrow - self explanatory, most prominent when brows are furrowed. mccoy tends to have two right next to his eyebrows, kirk has one in the middle. everyones face works different lmao 5. chin crease - caused by how the chin and lower lip interact. 6. nasojugal groove - start from the inner corners of the eye and can extent over the cheeks. everyone has these and idk why people dont like them i think theyre really cool!!!! but Society. i guess. :/ 7. eye bags - caused by the skin sagging beneath the eyes. mccoy isnt even that old in tos i think hes meant to be mid 40s by the end of the 5 year mission, hes just got really prominent eye bags lmao 8. idk what the name is for these, but when the mouth is wide and pushes the skin to the sides, these folds sometimes form outside of the nasolabial folds 9. philtrum - the groove above the upper lip. i dont usually draw this but mccoy's struck me as prominent enough that i usually draw it on him 10. masseter - the muscle that moves the jaw up and down. its a pretty rugged muscle and while i wouldnt say mccoy's is especially prominent, it kind of extends that nasojugal groove from certain angles/positions 11. orbicularis oris - mouth muscle, usually easier to see when lips are pursed or frowns are pulled. mccoy's is pretty prominent from 3/4ths or side, his mouth tends to protrude in profile 12. this isnt a muscle but more of a line defining the planes of the face, but since i drew it i felt i should explain lmao

a few points:

im an animator i tend to exaggerate and emphasize certain things so i usually make him more square.

i like to combine eyebags and crows feet for brevity/flow, same with nasojugal grooves, eyebags, and masseter lines. my approach is always subject to change based on pose, expression, reference image, etc.

i take out details that i deem redundant or cluttering and keep what details i need to make things feel Right

all this info is applicable to any character of any age, its just in how you apply it and facial proportions that willl change how old a character is perceived to be

there's a lot more with drawing a Character rather than an Actor, just because the features are there doesnt necessarily mean things will feel correct? its very much in the mannerisms and poses and expressions

i only went over my approach to his likeness but not really body type or posing or anything idk if u want that i could always try to answer that later haha

_______________

anyways all that info kind of exists nebulously in my brain while i draw its not like im sitting there thinking Must Draw. Nasolabial Fold...... i jsut do what feels right with the visual info i have. also i love specificity in faces.... i dont like to be a hater but when every character is drawn the same it pisses me off a little lmao. so

also dont take my word as The Only Way to do anything i just draw how i like to draw and no one should feel like these are things that Must be done to be a good artist or anything do whatever the hell u wanna do

[jusst-you-race]

gewis + 38 please☺️

okay it took me a couple days to get around to this sorry! hope you enjoy some law school awkward gewis <3 from this prompt list! (happy for more requests now that I have time for them)

“I like your laugh.”

George hastily scoops up his belongings as Toto dismisses them. He shoves his notebook and laptop into his bag, wincing at himself at the haphazard way they jostle around, and then hurries to the front of the lecture hall using all the elbow he feels he can get away with before people think he’s rude. Even so slightly out of breath he stops in front of the lecturer.

“Toto. I just had a question about that decision you told us to read for next class. I was having trouble finding it so I’m not sure I took the reference down correctly, can I just double check it?”

Toto smiles at him apologetically before he swings his bag over his shoulder.

“Sorry, George, I have to run. Lewis should be able to help with that though.” And with that he sweeps out of the lecture hall, leaving George at the mercy of his TA.

Lewis has already been slightly swarmed by other students asking questions, most of which George assumes aren’t actual questions and just desperate bids for Lewis’ attention. 

Normally George avoids asking Lewis his questions; it’s just easier to go to Toto when everyone else is wary of their lecturer and desperate to talk to the TA. And, though George is loath to admit it, he does also think Lewis is the most beautiful man he’s seen. George isn’t great at talking to beautiful men. But, his studies are important to him, so he swallows down the vague butterflies in his stomach (and internally bemoans their existence) and loiters around the edges of the slowly thinning crowd around Lewis. 

Eventually, everyone else has had their questions patiently answered, and Lewis turns his gap toothed smile on George. George smiles awkwardly back. 

“How can I help, George?” 

Heat rises in his cheeks at the revelation that Lewis knows his name. George swallows.

“I just wanted to double check the reference for the decision Toto wants us to read. I couldn’t find it, so I must have noted it down wrong.” 

Lewis smiles kindly at him before flipping through his own notes. He makes a soft noise, and holds out a piece of paper pointing to a line.

“Here, is this the one you meant?” 

George has to lean in closer to Lewis to see where he’s pointing, and it takes him a second to actually read what’s on the page, too distracted by the scent of Lewis’ cologne he can now make out. 

“Oh. I had the year wrong.” He pulls a pen out of his pocket and quickly scribbles the correct reference on the back of his hand. Lewis snorts.

“Careful with that,” he says, nodding at George’s hand when George looks up questioningly. “I once ended up with my reading imprinted on my face after a nap and no one told me for half a day.”

The image of Lewis, usually so composed and put together, walking around with pen on his face is so bizarre to George that it startles a laugh out of him before he can even try to tamp it down. Thankfully, Lewis chuckles along with him. George looks down to put his pen away and is about to thank him, when Lewis clears his throat.

“I like your laugh.” 

George’s head snaps up. There’s a mischievous glint in Lewis’ eye, but he doesn’t seem disingenuous. George feels his face start to go bright red. 

“Uh. Thanks? Um. You too.” He cringes at his own response. Lewis’ mouth quirks up in an amused (maybe even fond? George doesn’t dare read that much into it) smile. “Well,” George continues, still flustered. “I better...” He waves vaguely at the door, before awkwardly moving towards it, still half turned towards Lewis.

“See you next class, George.” 

George nods stiltedly, and then all but runs out of the room.

[godbirdart]

I don't know if this is a dumb question or not, but I always wanted to study my favorite artists and their art. However, I don't really know how to do it or where to start? Can you give any tips for that? Thanks for responding heh!

not a dumb question at all!! all artists do studies - it's one of the fundamentals you're taught in school! [most of the time, anyway]

a couple things i want to preface this with: we live in an era where art theft is a super-rampant problem. some artists are gonna be flattered you want to study them, and others are gonna have a kneejerk reaction that someone might be trying to plagiarize their work. it's an unfortunate reality, but it is what it is. if you're doing 1:1 art studies based on an online artist's work, unless you ask permission from that artist, or make it super aggressively painfully clear that it is indeed an art study, keep those studies private.

if an artist is prominent enough online and their fans recognize the work that you're studying, those fans may also accuse you of art theft on the artist's behalf; even if the artist doesn't mind / even if theft is not your intention. again - unfortunate reality, but this is the world we live in.

i don't want to scare you off from doing art studies! i think it's fair to say a large number artists don't mind if people want to do art studies based on their work - it's just a lot of artists are so conditioned from having to deal with people stealing their work and claiming it as their own that they may bite your head off out of habit.

BUT THAT ASIDE, there are a variety of ways to do art studies, such as:

1:1 reference, looking at the Thing and drawing it

Interpretation and application, applying the technique as you draw

Tracing [yeah i SAID IT. we'll talk about this below]

1:1 reference is straightforward. You look at the piece that you want to study, and you eyeball it as you try to replicate it on your own canvas.

this was drawn SUPER fast for this example image so greymon's gonna look wonky as i'm only half paying attention, but you get it.

next up, interpretation / application. if you've got a grasp on the technique, or are following a tutorial, here is where you apply it! depending on What you're trying to emulate, it can take dozens or hundreds of test runs to get the application down. try, try again. keep looking at your reference or following the tutorial. you'll get there!

again hurried sketches for this post, but here is Luger as a style study - specifically taking notes on how the character is Drawn [ie; the nose shape, the way the cheek fluff swoops up to the ear, etc] and applying that to the drawing.

Finally, Tracing. The age-old Forbidden Technique. Now, tracing comes with specific guidelines, and they include but are not limited to the following:

Tracing is a form of practice, but it is for the benefit of your muscle memory learning and should be treated as such.

Pretty obvious, but you should not claim traced work as your own original creation. Don't post traced work anywhere, offline or online, not even if it's labelled as an art study. Once you're done with it, throw it out. Delete it. Do not keep traced work. Deleting traces should be a mental checkpoint of: "okay, you've absorbed that information. now go grab a blank canvas and apply what you've learned".

If practising by tracing, it should be done sparingly. If you rely on tracing for every art study you're not gonna learn to draw it yourself; kind of like using training wheels for a bike. You may gain the muscle memory for how to peddle, but you're not going to learn how to balance unless you try it on your own.

an important note about studying an artist's style:

If you like an artist's work, it can be be beneficial to pinpoint the specific elements you like instead of the whole style. I say this largely because many growing artists try to emulate just one artist's work at a time. There's not really anything wrong with this, we all gotta learn somehow, but it CAN be the difference between developing your own style quicker, or unintentionally looking like you're ripping off your favourite artist. I'm not gonna get into "Style Theft", i really don't care to get into it, but if you're studying just one artist's style it can potentially be a detriment to your identity as an artist online.

While you're studying, pick out what you like about the artist's work. Do you like the way their lineart looks? How they shade? Is it a particular feature or way they draw something? Focus on those key elements if that's what's got you latched onto their work. It also helps if you can find tutorials or brushes that the artist may have used or that look similar to what you're aiming for in your own work.

All artists styles are an amalgamation of what's inspired them over the years; little bits and pieces of what they've learned from watching / studying others. at some point their style may flourish into something completely unrecognizable from their roots, but over the years you can see how they arrived there. Your style should be a celebration of your path of an artist! even if you aren't happy with your art now, it can only grow from here.

btw here are a handful of my study inspos - some of which I'm still studying even today! i take most of my inspo from animation.

i wish you much success in your art studies!!! ;w;

[puggnugget]

Moon Flower - Chapter Seven

Warnings: Angst

Word Count: 4,959

Writers Notes: Hey guys <3 Thank you all for being so patient while I navigate my grief over the loss of my childhood friend. It's been a really weird time for me, and I haven't been as creative or willing to write - which is depressing in and of itself. I'm hoping I'll hop back on the saddle sooner rather than later with more frequent postings. But until then, thank you to all those who have supported me, sent a kind word, and offered to be an ear. You're all so amazing.

********************************************

"The cherry wine seems to have vanished, that can only mean one thing," Gale chuckled as he sat next to Talice, peering into the contents of her goblet.

"Brooding?" Talice laughed softly, taking a sip of her wine.

"Like a little storm cloud." Gale smiled, his eyes trailing over to her. She certainly seemed more receptive to his probing than she had in the past.

With talks of their inevitable descent into the Underdark come morning, Gale was not surprised to see Talice lose herself in her own thoughts and grow more distant as the night went on.

He took a sip of his brandy as he assessed her demeanor, recalling the time Astarion had assumed Talice hailed from the Underdark. When she was asked about it, she seemed to have little understanding about the connections of the Drow people and the Underdark itself. He wondered just how much had been kept hidden from her all this time.

"Have you been to the Underdark before, Gale?" Talice asked, bringing her knees to her chest as her eyes trailed to the ground.

"No, I haven't. But I have read an abundance of books on the subject at hand, do you have questions?" Gale asked, his tone eager.

Talice paused for a moment, contemplating what she should ask.

"The two Drow I have seen, the dead one in the grove and Minthara. They both had red eyes, is that common among my people?" She asked, her voice hardly a whisper.

"Well, that in itself is a complicated subject.." Gale paused, taking time to consider how he would approach the subject.

"A Drow with red eyes is indicative of a Drow whom is Lolth sworn." He said, studying her expression as her brows began to furrow in confusion.

"Lolth sworn? That woman in the grove - Kagha - she referred to me as Lolth's child." Talice spoke, trying to understand the connection.

Gale wanted to approach the subject lightly, it was growing abundantly clear to him that Talice knew nothing of Drow history or their respective deities and factions. He shifted as he considered how to best explain such a heavy topic without upsetting her, perhaps there was no way around it.

"Lolth, the Queen of Spiders - she is considered the most influential Goddess of your people. Cold, cruel, and calculating, it is said she takes great joy in the suffering of others. She has worked to pit your people against one another for thousands of years. Drow are considered her play-things, she promises great power to those who serve her. The Lolth-sworn carry her divine mark, her red eyes." Gale spoke carefully as he selected his words, gauging Talice's reaction.

Talice had seen the images of Lolth, buried in the back of Minthara's mind the first time they had connected. She took a long swig of her wine as she listened to Gale, trying to absorb every word yet not quite understanding the weight that they carried. Gale seemed hesitant to continue, shifting his weight as he watched Talice's fingers trail the rim of her goblet.

"You can continue, truly. I want to know more." Talice urged him, a soft plea as her eyes flicked to his. She didn't just want to know more, she needed to know more.

"It is said Lolth was once known as Araushnee, whom had three children. Eilistraee, the youngest daughter is the opposing faction to Lolth's rule and her hold on the Drow people. For reasons unknown to us mortals, Araushnee fell from grace and became Lolth." Gale watched her carefully as his words fell upon Talice's ears.

"Eilistraee, the Goddess of redemption, moonlight, beauty, song, dance - and much more. Her worshippers often exiles of Lolth's tyranny, she wishes to lead her people away from the darkness. They are often referred to as Seldarine Drow." Gale had begun to speak with enthusiasm, getting lost in his own words along the way.

Talice couldn't help but watch him as he relaxed into his ramblings, his eyes set on the starry sky above. That familiar heat creeping across her cheeks as she suddenly realized how close they were, how vulnerable she felt in this moment. A mixture of emotions stirred within her, feelings of hope, confusion, longing, as she watched Gale begin to fill in the blanks of her missing pieces.

Gale paused in his ramblings, now suddenly aware of Talice's gaze. A sudden stillness fell before them as they locked eyes, a creeping flush crawling up his neck as his heart began to pound.

"Ehm. S-sorry, I think I was getting carried away there. I didn't mean to overwhelm you," he stuttered.

"You didn't. It's funny," Talice let out a soft giggle.

"What is?" Gale asked, raising an eyebrow.

"When we first met, I had wished everyday for your endless talking to cease. Now, I feel like I could listen to you talk the day away." Her voice was soft, a shy but coy smile pulling at the edges of her lips as she stole another glance in his direction.

"O-oh. Well, I'm certainly glad my charm has managed to shine through." He jested, shifting his weight as his eyes trailed to her lips.

"Something like that," Talice laughed.

Another pause lingered between them for a moment.

"I have to ask, Talice. How is all of this sitting with you?" Gale asked, a bit perplexed as the revelations of her people seemed to have no effect, at least not outright.

"To be honest, I don't quite know yet. I have only ever known what it means to be half High Elf. When I see my reflection, or people refer to me as a Drow - it almost doesn't fit with how I see myself. Truth be told, I don't even know how I see myself. I don't know where I fit in all of this, Lolth-sworn, Seldarine - right now I can't make sense of it." Her eyes trailed away as she spoke, her fingers wondering the grooves of her goblet, realizing this was the first time she had spoken candidly on such matters.

"I don't think I do know myself in any sense of the word, High Elf or otherwise. Before this all started, I hadn't seen my real face in.. well, years, if I had to guess. My father made it clear I would never be good enough as long as I remained a 'repugnant Drow'. I suppose I believed him." She sighed heavily, as if the words themself were releasing a great weight off of her chest.

Gale's hand slowly crawled through the blades of grass, softly interlacing his fingers with hers. There was an ache in his chest as she spoke, a desire to bare her pain and carry it for her. He understood what it meant to not feel good enough under the weight of an oppressive force. To question your worth, your very identity, to feel as though you would never achieve greatness. He opened his mouth to speak several times only to pause, he wanted to comfort her, vow to keep her safe, help her in anyway he could but in this moment words were failing him.

"For what it's worth, its ehm.. it's a very good face. I enjoy u-uhm, looking at it. Good Gods, I-I'm sorry - I'm usually so much better at this." He stammered as he glanced nervously at their laced fingers, his cheeks a hot scarlet hue.

Talice's body was buzzing in response to his touch, the tips of her ears burning. She clung to every word that fell from his lips.

"What I think I-I'm trying to say is.. you are good enough, Talice. You are incredibly brave in the face of adversity, smart, and your heart is kind. You are a force to be reckoned with, all on your own merit." Gale whispered, gazing into her eyes.

A moment of silence lingered between them, the air thick and heavy. A tear rolled down Talice's cheek as she stifled a sob that lodged in the back of her throat, refusing to release it.

"O-oh, Gods - I'm sorry! Did I say something wrong?" Gale gasped, cupping her face in his hand as his thumb worked to wipe away the tear. His mind racing, wondering if he had said something that had hurt her.

Talice let out a soft chuckle as she watched the wizard panic, a deep heat knotting low in her belly as he caressed her face.

"No, you needn't apologize, you didn't say anything wrong at all.." she paused as their eyes locked, her reassurance bringing him a small sense of relief.

Gale's body stiffened as Talice leaned in, his heart beat thumping loudly in his ears as the orb began to flutter to life in a lavender haze - excited by her approach, her warmth.

Her soft lips pressed firmly against his cheek as his body remained frozen and rigid. Talice pulled back slightly, her lips so close to his he could practically taste the tartness of the cherry wine on her breath as she hovered there for a moment.

"Thank you, for being sweet," she whispered.

"O-of course, anytime." Gale spoke quickly as he pulled away, one hand cupping the orb to hide its glow.

Talice sighed, a sense of frustration building within her as Gale had pulled away from the connection yet again. Was it his Goddess that hindered him, or did he just not feel the same? Talice wondered.

Perhaps she didn't even truly know her own feelings? Afterall, it could be a lingering effect of the magic within the weave. She had never been with a man, let alone kissed one - she was no expert when it came to matters of the heart or courting. Perhaps the sudden pining was futile, maybe they were better as friends? Her eyes trailed over to him once again, he looked so uncomfortable.

"Ehm, was there anything else you wished to ask?" Gale questioned as he avoided her gaze, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Nothing comes to mind right now, perhaps another time." She said as she got up, stretching.

"I'll see you in the morning," Talice offered a curt smile before making her way to her tent.

Gale's eyes followed her, a sense of relief and confusion taking hold of him as she departed. The orb was hard to conceal and finally quieted once she left, allowing him some room to breathe. But her demeanor had changed by the end of the conversation, perhaps he had dove into Drow history too quickly and upset her? He mulled the thought over with a sip of brandy. There had been an undeniable tension in the air after she had kissed his cheek. He had wanted to close the gap, to kiss her - but the orb had become too excited at the thought. He pinched the bridge of his nose and let out a frustrated sigh, he had never been one to choke on his words - so why now? why her?

******************************************************

"It's.. almost hauntingly beautiful," a breath caught in Talice's throat as she took in the sights around her.

Colossal glowing fungi in various colors stretched as far as she could see, illuminating the darkness that wished to envelope them. Each species of mushroom humming the same tune but carrying a different tone, as if they had their own distinct personalities that separated them from one another. She had never seen anything quite like it. Large crystal formations broke forth from the earth and jutted upwards. The rivers were as black as obsidian gemstones, flowing silently towards a still lake. Talice knelt down, dipping her finger tip in the water - it was colder than ice and offered her no reflection to gawk at. It was hard to believe the dangers the group had warned her of when everything seemed so beautiful and quiet around her. Is this truly where her people came from, having never seen the light of day? What would life have been like for her had she grown up here?

The sense of something watching her from beyond the shadows was the only thing to slowly pull her from her sense of wonder. A slow creeping sense of dread causing the hairs on the back of her neck to stand.

"Keep your wits about you, this place is beautiful but incredibly unforgiving," Gale warned the group as they continued to walk.

The air itself was stale and cold, carried on a soft draft that followed them throughout the chasms as they ventured further into the dark.

"Glad to be home?" Astarion jested as he elbowed Talice.

"Absolutely," Talice laughed sarcastically, refusing to acknowledge that she did find a sliver of humor within his words.

"Don't be shy if you find yourself needing a hand to hold, darling. Perhaps we can join the things that go bump in the dark down here." Astarion teased, his eyes flashed with mischief.

Talice's cheeks flushed at his forwardness, especially since it was within ear shot of the rest of the group.

"Astarion!" Talice laughed nervously as she quickened her pace.

"I'm only joking my dear, besides, I'm not interested in virgins. You all get so clingy once the deed is done," he shrugged as he flashed a smile.

Talice's eyes darted away from him, her face a brilliant crimson red that reached the tips of her ears.

"Oh! How delightful, you really are.. aren't you? Of course, it all makes sense now!" He laughed, reveling at the idea.

"Gods, Astarion bite your tongue before I call upon Talos himself to smite you," Talice pinched the bridge of her nose, trying to control the embarrassment that squirmed within her.

"Fine, fine. You're off the hook.. for now." He laughed as he playfully raised both hands as if he were surrendering to her.

"Ahem! This is hardly the time or place to discuss.. such matters," Gale interrupted, his tone a higher pitch than usual.

Talice's gaze was pulled to the side as a shadow darted across the corner of her vision.

"What was that?" she halted, turning to the direction of where she had saw the figure.

"I think we are being followed," Shadowheart whispered, her shoulders tensed as she scanned the darkness.

Talice listened carefully to their surroundings but all she could hear was the low humming of the illuminated fungi and the constant dripping of moisture from stalactites.

"Keep your head on a swivel," Karlach urged as they continued to walk.

Talice could not shake the feeling that someone or something was watching her every step, shrouded by the shadows themselves. Even as they set up camp to rest for the evening, her eyes continued to scan the darkness in an attempt to detect even the slightest hint of movement.

"I'm sure Scratch will alert us if he notices anything, you should take a break and get something to eat," Gale said as he approached, giving Scratch a quick pat on the head as he passed him by.

Talice's eyes remained fixed on the darkness ahead, trying to ignore Gale's presence. It would be easier to cast her feelings aside if she didn't have to look at him.

"You're brooding and I see no wine, shall I fetch you some?" he chuckled as he stood beside her.

She could feel his gaze wash over her, that warm and inviting pull beckoning her to indulge yet she resisted. The feelings and the dynamics of their relationship had grown too complicated, she didn't wish to make sense of them any longer.

"No, thanks." Talice spoke with a flat tone as she wrestled with her feelings.

Gale paused as he studied Talice, she clearly wasn't acting like her usual self.

"Everything alright?" He asked, almost hesitant.

"Yeah, I'm fine." She replied quickly.

"Are you sure? Have I said something to offend y-"

"Maybe I will get some grub, keep watch here will you? Thanks." Talice interrupted, her words quick and controlled as she began to walk towards the fire pit.

Gale stood there in an almost stunned silence. Perhaps she felt on edge in the Underdark after all he had reveled to her and she needed time to process? But why wouldn't she look at him? He folded his arms as he contemplated the matter, a sense of hurt present within him at the idea of her keeping distance.

"Trouble in paradise, wizard?" Astarion smirked as he stood beside Gale.

"I'm not quite sure," Gale said, continuing to ponder.

"You're clearly keen on our friendly Drow companion, why have you not tried to bed her yet?" Astarion clasped his hands behind his back as he swayed with curiosity.

"Gods above, Astarion!" Gale's eyes snapped towards Astarion, his cheeks flushed at the boldness of his question.

"Well?" Astatrion continued to press.

"If you must know I have a bit of class. I would want to do things the right way, maybe with a little pizzazz to woo her. I'm not going to run at her with my trousers around my ankles like you have." Gale's tone was jagged, his eyes narrowed at Astarion.

Astarion let out a sharp laugh as he placed a hand on his chest.

"Please, I certainly have more charm than you give me credit for. The both of you look like a pair of bumbling idiots stepping on one another's feet as you dance around the idea of courtship." Astarion continued to laugh.

"It's a delicate matter that requires a delicate approach!" Gale insisted.

"Perhaps, but I fail to see how moving at a snails pace is beneficial. The both of you seem so.. pent up. Why not take the plunge and live a little?" Astarion asked as he raised an eyebrow.

Gale paused, his gaze trailing over to Talice who sat by the fire.

"The orb, I.. can't." Gale mumbled.

"If I get.. ehm, excited.. the orb could erupt." He trailed off.

Astarion let out a shrill laugh at Gale's admission, teetering on disbelief.

"You're joking!" Astarion gawked at Gale.

"I'm not." Gale assured, his tone flat.

"So it's a proverbial chastity belt of sorts?" Astarion's eyes widened with curiosity.

"Along those lines, I suppose." Gale muttered, his head hung low.

"You poor wretched thing, I can't begin to imagine." Astarion tutted.

Gale rolled his eyes at Astarion's mock concern, growing annoyed.

"Oh come now, don't be so angry my friend. I can keep her warm for you until you solve your.. little issue." Astarion smirked as he poked Gale's chest.

Gale smacked Astarion's hand away with an angry and deliberate swipe.

"She's not a loaf of bread to be passed around at dinner time!" Gale hissed through his teeth.

"Oh? I'm sure I could have just a nibble.." Astarion teased.

"Gods, show her some respect. Are you even truly interested in her?" Gale asked, panic began to rise in his throat as the idea of them together swirled in his mind.

"Not overly, but who knows - I may get bored." Astarion shrugged, indifferent.

"I swear, i will literally incinerate you." Gale seethed.

******************************************

With no morning sun to greet them so far below the Earth's surface, Talice awoke feeling groggy and confused. No sky loomed above, no sun hung lazily in the air - only dripping stalactites on a cold rocky surface. As beautiful as she thought the Underdark was, she was already beginning to miss the surface and it's warmth.

The group had found a colony of Myconids, grieving the loss of their young after being attacked by a group of Duergar. Their Sovereign requested their assistance in cleansing the 'rot' that plagued them by the lakes edge. Talice found herself almost entranced by the Myconids, the buzzing of a collective hive mind filling the air with spores around her. They were a curious but peaceful people that she found herself eager to help.

As the group headed away from the Myconid colony, the familiar sensation of being watched tugged at Talice's senses. Her eyes darting across every shadow as they walked, a sense of dread sat low in her belly like a rock.

Talice squinted as she peered into the distance, the outline of a run down village began to emerge from the edges of the darkness. Old, rotting wood fences circled make shift houses. Young sussur bark trees sprang forth from the blackened soil, illuminating the path forward.

"That's far enough, Drow!" an unfamiliar voice called from above on a rickety wooden platform.

Talice's eyes shot up towards the source of the voice. A young female Drow peered down at her, bow and arrow drawn with shaking hands. She paused a moment as she studied Talice through narrowed eyes, paying little attention to the others within the group.

"Stay there, keep your hands off your weapons!" The stranger demanded as she gestured for someone to approach.

Talice stood frozen, her heart thumping loudly in her chest at the sight of the other Drow. Her mind quickly going over what Gale had taught her a few days prior. Were they Lolth sworn, or Seldarine? She wondered. The Drow above her was too far away to assess the color of her eyes to make any kind of conclusion.

A shabby old gate opened slowly, creaking loudly as it did. Two figures emerged from behind it, a short, older woman and a tall slender man - both of Drow descent.

They approached Talice and her companions with caution, their stride slow and careful.

Talice's heart continued to thrum loudly, the beat now nestling in her ears as she began to shake.

"You're no child of Lolth," the older woman spoke, coming to a halt a few feet away. Her body seemed to relax as she peered into Talice's eyes.

"I have never laid eyes on you before, are you a surface dweller?" The woman raised an eyebrow as she waved her hand at the archer above, causing her to stand down.

"Yes, ma'am." Talice muttered nervously, shifting her weight between the soles of her feet as she continued to shake.

"You needn't call me ma'am, no need to stand on formality here. You may call me Veldrinne, this is Zyroth." The woman spoke softly, sensing Talice's apprehension as she gestured to the tall man that stood next to her.

"And you are?" Veldrinne asked.

"Talice. Nice to.. meet you?" Talice's voice quivered nervously as she reluctantly reached out her hand to meet Veldrinne's.

"You carry the eyes of a Seldarine, free of Lolth's tyranny. You walk among friends here, child. You needn't have fear of us. My Goddess, Eilistraee, welcomes you to our enclave with open arms. You may find respite here if you so choose, that goes for your friends as well." Veldrinne smiled warmly, her glowing purple eyes full of curiosity as she gazed up at Talice.

A sense of relief and confusion washed over Talice as Veldrinne spoke, her smile was warm and her words kind. She was a much older Drow, her face weathered by the passage of time. Short, jagged strands of white hair curled around her pointed ears, her robes old and tattered clad with the symbol of a dancing woman wielding a sword before a full moon.

"Thank you, we appreciate your hospitality," Talice smiled softly, suddenly feeling overwhelmed as her gaze drifted between Veldrinne and Zyroth.

"Please, allow us to show you around the village. Are you in need of shelter?" Zyroth asked, as he ushered the group through the gate.

"That would be most appreciated, you are too kind," Shadowheart smiled, pleased with the offer.

Talice followed behind Veldrinne and Zyroth, almost dazed as she walked down the stone path. Curious eyes peeked behind corners and windows as the group continued to walk, hushed whispers shared between the Drow inhabitants echoed softly against stone.

There were small gardens with jet black soil that grew various glowing fungi and roots. A small herd of Deep Rothe cattle that appeared almost sickly grazed lazily behind a make shift fence. The houses were small and shack like in quality, built with splintering scrap planks and rusty nails. Talice wondered how this village came to be, were all these people seeking refuge from Lolth's rule?

A small boy peered at them from behind a fence, his eyes brimming with curiosity as he gazed upon the group. Had he never seen surface dwelling races before? Talice wondered.

The air around the village was damp, the smell of freshly tilled soil earthy and strong lingered within the soft breeze.

"We grow and harvest what we can, some of us scavenge beyond the walls of the village if we find ourselves in dire need." Veldrinne spoke as she passed by the small gardens.

"We have built a simple life for ourselves here, free of Lolth's slavery. But it does come with hardship.." Veldrinne trailed off.

An incline with stone stairs that were riddled with cracks lead up to a small stone temple, a tiny graveyard attached to its side. A beautiful stone statue of a slender woman wielding a sword with long flowing hair stood firm at the center of the graveyard. Talice could not avert her gaze from the stone woman's, was this Eilistraee? She thought.

"That is where we give praise and offerings to our divine Lady, Eilistraee. Do you worship her as well, Talice?" Veldrinne turned to face her for a moment.

"O-oh. Um, no - my patron God is Talos." Talice mumbled, almost embarrassed to acknowledge the stark difference between them.

"Most interesting, that's not something you hear every day." Veldrinne chuckled as she continued to walk. Talice shifted uncomfortably, as if Talos's eyes were upon her once again, casting down judgment.

"We have a mess hall where you can eat, and this cabin is vacant - you are more than welcome to utilize it." Zyroth smiled softly as he gestured to the shack. It was old and worn down, but spacious enough to accommodate the groups numbers.

"That is incredibly kind of you all, thank you, truly." Gale piped up, Talice seemed to be in a state of shock as she continued to take in her surroundings.

It was a vastly different life compared to her experiences on the surface. It was her who felt foreign amongst those in the village, despite their similarities in appearance. Talice had no memories of her mother, but she liked to imagine that maybe she lived in a village just like this. Perhaps her mother even worshipped Eilistraee? Her father had taken Talice before she was even a year old, duty bound by Talos to teach her to wield his divine magic and submit to his will. She didn't even know her name.

"How about you lot get washed up, dinner will be ready shortly. It's not often we get visitors - at least not friendly ones." Veldrinne beamed at the idea as she spoke.

"That sounds great, thank you." Talice said, a soft smile pulling at the corner of her lips.

***************************************

The interior of the cabin was chilly and drab, the smell of rotting wood pungent and undeniable. It was certainly spacious enough to house them all comfortably, mostly due to the lack of furnishings. There were a few cots made with scrap planks of wood and tarnished linen fabric that smelt of mothballs. In the center of the cabin sat an aged hearth with a rusty pot and ladle filled with cob webs, it had been a lifetime since the hearth was last disturbed.

Zyroth was kind enough to bring them a bucket of water from the well and some firewood, seemingly unfazed by the state of the cabin.

"Gods, this is just depressing," Astarion groaned.

"Could be worse, we could be in Avernus - I don't mind the cold. Besides, these people don't have much and they were still kind enough to house us." Karlach shrugged.

Talice's eyes trailed around the interior, her heart heavy as she considered how these people struggled just to get by. Why didn't they travel to the surface to start a new life? What kept them rooted in this village? She couldn't help but wonder.

Gale ignited some wood and tossed it in the hearth, the crackling flame chasing away the cold that nipped eagerly at their skin.

"This must be a lot for you, Talice." Shadowheart spoke in a low tone as she prepared some water to boil.

"Yeah.. I'm struggling to find the words to describe how I feel." She said, leaning closer to the fire to embrace its warmth.

"The night is young, I'm sure you'll find your footing." Shadowheart smiled softly.

"I hope so," Talice chuckled nervously, her eyes trailing over to Gale who was watching her intently.

"I think you're doing remarkably well, for what it's worth." Gale added.

"Thanks, I appreciate that." Talice spoke flatly as she turned her attention away from Gale to the now boiling water. His words were sweet and reassuring, but she was tired of trying to understand if they were rooted in something more than friendship. Still, she could feel his gaze on her skin and it made her shudder.

Gale's brows furrowed slightly at her reaction, why was she acting so closed off towards him? So reserved? Now was not the time to press the issue, that would have to come later, he thought. His eyes lingered on her for a moment, the soft orange glow of the fire illuminating her before him. She was so beautiful, he wanted nothing more than to tell her that. Perhaps Astarion had been right, he had been moving at a snails pace since he felt the first flicker of desire for her. He chewed on his bottom lip as he considered how he would approach the subject, a nervous tremble shooting up his spine.

[littleguypumpkinsheep]

Horses

I saw your dm, I will answer it here! @diosfat-tits

I’m not sure how practical or useful any of this information is going to be, but I’ll explain how I learned (and am still learning) to draw horses.

USE. REFERENCES. Your horse references should be of them in casual poses, or poses that horses are frequently in. Do Not attempt the dynamic or wild poses when you’re first learning. They may look cool, but it’s not giving you the basic information you need to draw any horse in the future. You want to know how their anatomy looks the majority of the time.

Study your images. Trace over the major shapes you see in each horse. What makes a horse look like a horse? Their weird head and snout slope is a unique shape. Ears are a unique shape. Legs. Etc. Find those shapes. They will be your horse landmarks.

Just Draw a horse from reference. Take your time and try to study what you see and put it to paper. It’s okay if your horses look bad. Draw 10 million of them. It’s okay. Look at your drawing and the image, compare them, and make notes about major differences you see or areas you aren’t happy with. Try to improve those areas with your next horse.

Draw a horse from memory/what you know. Don’t use a reference this time. Draw what you know about how a horse looks from your studies. Don’t stress out about it, just draw. After, pull up a reference and take notes on what you missed. Study those areas.

[randomyuu]

(A)void - A fanart

OH MY GOOOOOD

This fic, (A)void by tafih ignites my love for Yuuji to a whole new level.

A platonic reader insert??? Focusing on Reader’s love for Yuuji while adopting every kid as time goes? Sign. Me. The. Fuck. Up.

Chapter 1 had me floored. The way Mirei (the reader) is introduced to the class, how Mirei noticed Yuuji, and slowly realising she really, really loves Yuuji is just—fuck. I love all these moments.

And after Yuuji ate Sukuna, the pain she felt knowing the distance that grew between them, I felt that too. My goodness, Mirei mirrored my feelings for Yuuji a bit too well it’s kinda scary.

Always contemplating whether I should adopt him or be his best friend instead. Or both.

Gosh, the things I would do for this boy.

Okay, now my thoughts during drawing :D

Reader-insert is always a tricky thing to draw. I always pictured them as either an OC or a grey androgynous character with “Y/N” on their face. So to draw this character, that can be relatable to any reader, is really tricky. I never really inserted myself into a reader-insert fic, always saw them as their own entity, so it’s hard to decide on their appearance.

Even with all the descriptions present in the fic, I still struggle. Also I have to look up Japanese teacher summer outfits with appropriate hairstyles, etc etc because I can’t fully trust anime as my point of reference lmao

(I also rarely watch slice-of-life animes so I don’t have much stored reference in my brain to begin with lol)

Also, short sleeves are so hard to draw, wtf? I don’t understand  _:(´ཀ`」 ∠):_

It took me multiple tries to decide on poses and appearances, but I think the end result is alright! Could be better, but I’m satisfied for now.

And then Yuuji. Man, I honestly don’t know if this boy is ambidextrous, right-handed or left-handed. I tried looking into some images and he has used both so honestly Idk. I just want to say forgive me for any inaccuracies in this drawing, both from JJK's standpoint and Japanese culture in general orz

It’s hard to research only in the English language. I shouldn’t have stopped my Duolingo lessons years ago ∠( ᐛ 」∠)＿

On another note, Ozawa is really cute! I didn’t expect I would have fun drawing her character. I thought it’d be Yuuji but no, it’s Ozawa! And also Wasuke. Currently I’m studying middle-aged male characters, so drawing him is just part of the practice!

On another, another, note, all of the drawn moments are my favourite ones in the first chapter. That chapter is my favourite so far, I honestly could read multiple chapters only with Mirei teaching in Yuuji’s school and interacting with the Itadoris. I love reading how Mirei slowly gets closer and closer to Yuuji and Wasuke so much.

I just—I could cry gushing about Yuuji and Mirei’s platonic relationship, it’s so cute, so heartwarming, got my soul buzzing in delight, just AAAAHHHHHH—

Aight, that’s it for now. I have reached a speechless state and no longer know what to say except incoherent screaming noises. See you next time!

[slushiecafe]

had a migraine so i did some horse studies. sounds counter productive but studying horse anatomy is an effective de-stressor for me! my process was a rough trace of the larger shapes, then use the image and the trace as references for a freehand rough sketch, then redline, and finally a cleanup sketch where i practice where to use lines vs shading to convey form, and finally draw the hair (my fav part)

first one was a warmup, and i realized i struggled a lot with the wrist-hoof joints and the shapes of the back legs. so the second one i chose a reference that would really force me to take on their details. i realized that i should study the head on its own next. in general i learned a lot and i think i’ll feel a little more comfortable drawing mlp stuff next time

[duhragonball]

Dragon Ball Super Manga ch.88-90

The 2023 Dragon Ball Apocrypa Liveblog concludes with the DBS manga's adaptation of the Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero motion picture.

First up, we have this three-chapter prologue/prequel thing starring Goten and Trunks in their lankey teen bodies. It's well-made, but I'm not impressed. Find out the reason why... inside!

Okay, as the image above shows, this is all about the boys' playing superheroes while they're in high school... just like Gohan did way back in Dragon Ball Z. The main difference seems to be that there's two of them doing it this time, and their motives are a little more frivolous. Gohan came up with Great Saiayaman because he just couldn't help but foil crimes, and the costume allowed him to save the day without giving away his identity. Goten and Trunks also want to keep a low profile, but they mostly seem to be doing this shtick because they're on a superhero kick lately. They call themselves "Saiyaman X1 and X2", but their act mainly imitates their hero, Cleangod, who has a franchise of movies, video games, and so forth.

The added wrinkle is that they're also trying to keep this thing a secret from their families, as Bulma and Chi-Chi wouldn't approve of the boys screwing around like this when they should be studying. I guess it was okay when Gohan did it, but times have changed, and Trunks in particular isn't doing so hot on his report cards.

That does keep things mildly interesting. For example, you'd expect the boys to use costume changing watches like Great Saiyaman had, except they don't want Bulma to find out. So Trunks asks Pilaf to make them instead, and Pilaf can't make them as quickly, so Trunks doesn't get his until chapter 88 is half-over, and Goten's isn't ready until chapter 89. And you know, it probably would make things a lot simpler for Goten and Trunks to avoid the Saiyaman stuff altogether if they don't want their moms to find out, since they've seen this trick before. But they're doing it anyway, I guess because they're just that deep into the Cleangod fandom.

However, this still feels like a retread of a storyline we've already seen. Reading this, I feel like I've gotten too old for Dragon Ball. I know that isn't true. I'm looking forward to whatever happens in Chapter 101 onward, and Daima seems promising, even if it wasn't what I had in mind. There's always something interesting around the corner... but I see stories like this one that are more interested in rehashing older material, and it just feels tired and stale. Younger fans may not mind at all, but I see this and wonder if all we have left is just rehashing ideas we've already seen before.

Besides all of that, I'm not a big fan of high school stories, and there's a healthy dose of Trumai... and let's just get this out of the way before we go any further: I'm not that interested in the whole "next generation" thing.

I know there's a lot of fans who really dig the whole idea of exploring what happens to Goten, Trunks, Marron, Uub, Bulla, and Pan. I respect that, but I've never been very invested in any of them. I liked what we got out of them in DBZ, but that's about it. Let me kind of single out Goten so I can discuss this more easily. For the sake of argument, let's just call the "next generation" concept "Big Goten", since it features the teenage or adult version of the character, as opposed to the little guy in the Buu Saga and most of Super. Trunks, Marron, and the rest can be lumped into this, but it's easier to just refer to one character.

Basically, this 3-chapter arc is probably the best "Big Goten" story by default. Your other options are the End of Z episodes which barely do anything with him, or that one GT episode where he fights Baby and gets possessed. Or the Super Hero movie, where he's barely in it.

And yet, we have this 3-chapter arc, and Goten's basically playing sidekick to Trunks. That's not a huge problem in itself. You'd expect these two to be side-by-side, but it's mainly a Trunks story. He's trying to get Mai to go out with him, but she's part of the Pilaf gang living at Capsule Corp, and they have to be useful or Bulma will kick them out. So she's too busy repairing these "helper robots" that malfunctioned recently. Trunks thinks he can investigate the case as Saiyaman X-1 and get Mai the weekend off so she can date him. Goten's just sort of along for the ride. He enjoys the superhero bit, and he likes goofing off with Trunks, so it's all good.

And honestly, you could probably switch these two around and have Goten be the one trying to solve crimes to go on a date, while Trunks is the supportive wingman. But that's the problem. We have this one story, and they both kind of have to share it, and it really doesn't matter which one of them gets the lead.

Like, in this arc, we learn a little more about Teen Trunks. He's not doing well scholastically, he lacks Bulma's talent with computers or science, and... he's still carrying a torch for Mai for some reason. Oh, and he's afraid of ghosts now. It's not much to go on, but at least he gets something. All we find out about Goten in this thing is that he likes Cleangod, just like Trunks. Oh, and Teen Marron has a brief appearance where it turns out she really likes Cleangod too. Also several of Goten and Trunks' classmates enjoy Cleangod. And Dr. Hedo likes Cleangod. You know, that's how you develop your characters, right? You make them all like the same thing.

The point I'm getting at is that for years I've heard that Big Goten is this untapped well of great story ideas and this arc finally gets around to that and... it's pretty underwhelming. That's the big idea? Superheroes? Again? It worked for Gohan because it was a fresh idea when he did it. And it worked for Dr. Hedo because it helped set him apart from Dr. Gero. But all it does for Goten and Trunks is give them another set of clothes. Trunks is still pining for Mai and Goten is still just happy to be here. It's not enough. It's not nearly enough.

So let's move on. The boys head into town one night to investigate the Helper Robots that are mysteriously disappearing. Turns out they've been hijacked by Dr. Hedo's Alpha series androids. Strictly speaking, the Alphas are just corpses stolen from a morgue, reanimated with cybernetics. Remember those goons working at the convenience store in the beginning of Super Hero? Well this is the same group of guys. Hedo's problem is that he's fare more brilliant than Gero ever was, but he lacks the resources and funding to make the kinds of androids that he wants to make. The Alphas are functional, but only just. Their brains are defective, and you can probably only steal so many bodies from the morgue before the cops get wise to you. So Hedo's big idea is to hijack the Helper Robots and use them to manufacture sushi packages for profit. He could build something more efficient for this, but this will have to do until he gets the cash.

Oh, I forgot to talk about how Pilaf built the Helper bots. I'm not clear on what they do, but there's a lot of them in the city, and apparently Pilaf pitched the idea to Bulma and she okayed it. At first I was surprised to read this, but then I remembered that Pilaf had his own Dragon Radar way back in the day. It wasn't as sophisticated as Bulma's, but it goes to show that Pilaf knows his way around technology. This isn't some new thing they slapped onto his character, like Trunks suddenly being afraid of ghosts.

For a second, it looks like Goten and Trunks are discovered by the Alphas, but it turns out Trunks' pals from school have snuck into the production floor, and they're the ones who get discovered, so Trunks has to go in and save them. Except his superhero wristwatch malfunctions, so Goten has to take out the lights to cover for him.

Trunks cleans house, even defeating Alpha 12, who was the strongest guy on Hedo's team. When Hedo himself arrives to find his base wrecked, his only clue is that it was trashed by someone who goes to "Blue Hal" High School. It's a major setback for Hedo, but what really upsets him is that Trunks took an important disc from his safe. Hedo wants to recover it above all else. Ironically, Trunks isn't even that concerned about the disc, since all he really cares about is disrupting whatever Hedo was doing to the Helper Robots. That way he can get his date with Mai, except it won't. Even more ironically, Mai still has to work on Saturday night, because she and the Pilaf Gang have to repair all the Helper Robots Trunks smashed in Hedo's base. Whoops!

Later, Trunks tries to use Bulma's computer to access the data on the disc he took from Hedo's sushi packaging shop. He briefly sees information related to Cell, but he doesn't recognize its significance, probably because he only knows Cell from hearing about it through his family. Anyway, the disc gives the computer a virus, which Bulla removes because that's her big character defining moment in this story. She's basically a carbon copy of Kid Bulma from the Jaco manga, but at least she's not another Cleangod fan.

Anyway, Bulma had decided to start sending Mai to school along with Trunks. Apparently she realized it might be awkward if anyone noticed Mai working for Capsule Corp. and not going to school. This just now came up? I mean, the Pilaf Gang have been here for a few years at least. If anything, it would have been more awkward when Mai was younger, right? I mean, I get it, this is just a way to get Mai involved in the story, but still...

There's also another new student in Trunks' class: Baytah. Trunks' friend Rulah takes an immediate liking to him, but this is pretty clearly a new android created by Dr. Hedo. The Alpha series was no match for Saiyaman X-1, so he created a new Beta class to infiltrate Blue Hal High School and find out who X-1 really is. Beta begins to suspect Trunks, since he displays some above-average performance on the basketball court, but he can't find a way to prove it without giving himself away.

So here we have this weird scene where they're getting soup for lunch, and Trunks is sad that he can't get extra. Then Beta pretends to trip or something, and throws his soup into the air. I guess the idea was that Trunks would have to use super powers to dodge it, or he'd get it all over his nice school clothes. But instead Trunks just sort of shifts to one side and the soup miraculously lands in his bowl. And he's happy because he gets extra soup? How does it all fit in one bowl, though? Is the lunch lady only filling them up halfway? This whole bit is really contrived, is what I'm trying to say.

Somewhere along the way, Mai figures it out and explains it to Trunks, so they know Beta is looking for Saiyaman X-1. So he knows to be careful about showing off his powers, but Goten just picks up a truck during recess to get a tennis ball back for his classmates. See, Trunks, this is how you get the ladies. Mai is like 55 years old. She doesn't care, but if you pick up a truck or two, all these teenage girls will go wild. Right now, these two girls are thinking about how much they wish they were trucks, being held in Goten's mightly-yet-gentle hand.

Anyway, now Beta is convinced that Goten is the one he's after, and Hedo tells him to attack and get the disc.

So Beta reveals he has a goofy superhero suit of his own, but Goten can't fight seriously because he doesn't have a transformation watch yet. Fortunately, Trunks does, so he shows up as X-1 and quickly slips Goten the new watch Pilaf must have made last night.

I'm not thrilled with Beta's design, but I like the concept. Faced with both Saiyamen, he deploys Beta 2, which is a robotic exosuit that can separate and fight in two modules. The Betas are here for the disc, but neither Goten or Trunks has it. Mai does, because Trunks gave her his bag while he ran off to pee or whatever excuse he had to switch costumes.

So Trunks has to save Mai from the Betas, and as he catches her, she briefly mistakes him for Future Trunks, the only version of Trunks Mai seems to have any interest in. The Saiyamen clean house, and the day is saved. Trunks very nearly tells Mai that he was X-1 all along, but Goten stops him before he can spill the beans in front of the whole school.

Okay, but what's the point? I mean, Goten just lifted a truck with one hand a minute ago? More importantly, Great Saiyaman was revealed to be Goten about ten years earlier. Not that I expect these students to remember that, but that's my point: Gohan was worried about everyone finding out he had super powers, and in the end no one cared.

I mean, there's still the matter of not wanting Bulma and Chi-Chi to find out what they're up to, but that sort of doesn't matter? I mean, the moms just want their kids to study more and screw around less. It doesn't really matter if they're playing superhero or going fishing. Their moms know they aren't studying, because they've got the report cards to prove it.

Back at Hedo's (other) base, he realizes he underestimated the Saiyamen, and realizes that he'll have to build even better androids to defeat them. And he's taken a liking to the Saiyamen's costumes, particularly their capes, so the implication here is that the Gammas' designs were inspired by Goten and Trunks' antics in this story.

Later, we finally get to that convenience store we saw briefly in Super Hero. Hedo still needs money, especially if he plans to build something to defeat the Saiyamen, so he puts three of his Alphas to work at the "Mammal Mart". It's Krillin who makes the bust, and for some reason Mai is there too.

Despite his lofty plans for better androids, the best Hedo can manage is to send more Beta series androids after Goten and Trunks. Beta 7 looks like an Elvis impersonator, and he intercepts Goten's school bus, but Goten changes into X-2 and beats him. Apparently this sort of thing has been going on for a while now.

Mai takes Goten aside and reveals to him that they're being watched by a tiny spy-robot. After the Beta-1 incident at school, Mai investigated and learned that Dr. Hedo is a famous scientist in the area, and she believes he's behind all of this. Apparently he's already figured out Goten and Trunks are the Saiyamen, since he's been sending Beta androids to harass them.

Mai's plan is to defeat Hedo by using the school dance to lure him into a trap. The organizers have arranged for a live appearance by Cleangod at the dance, which... seems kind of odd for a high school dance, but nothing about this super-hero business really makes any sense to me.

Like, okay... I've been a comic book fan for over thirty years. I just read a bunch of Golden Age Captain Americas a few months ago. I think I know the genre pretty well, and nothing Dragon Ball Super does with the concept really rings true to me.

In the first place, the Dragon Ball characters are already superheroes. I went from Batman to Superman to Marvel to Dragon Ball Z, and it was a pretty smooth transition. I never stopped liking the other stuff that came before, so it's not like my tastes changed all that much. I just see DBZ as a natural extension of the same stuff I liked in Marvel and DC.

It made sense when Gohan became Great Saiyaman because the only trope he hadn't done yet was the secret identity thing, and the only reason it had never come up before was that he'd never needed one before then. Once he got into high school, he suddenly had friends he wanted to keep secrets from, so he did the same thing Clark Kent did in 1938.

But then you have Goten and Trunks doing it because they think it's neat, and they're fans of Cleangod, who is a fictional character to them. And this is probably because Hedo was doing the same bit in the movie, where he would wear a costume and do the poses because he was imitating other fictional superheroes. So the idea seems to be less about the superhero genre as I know it, and more of this ironic "Let's be comic book nerds and do cosplay, and also we have super powers so we can do more than just pose in the suits."

Which... fine, I guess. The thing is, I don't understand the fascination with Cleangod. I mean, it makes sense for Hedo to be an enormous fanboy, because he's a nerdy scientist. I'm a nerdy scientist, so I can relate. He wants Cleangod's autograph, and I'm running an anime blog in my late 40's.

But Goten and Trunks are not nerds. Neither, it seems, are most of their classmates. They all seem like fairly normal teens, mostly interested in dates and school stuff and snooping around abandoned factories or whatever. But this high school dance is going to feature a live appearance by a man in a superhero costume. That's the sort of thing a circus would do to get small children to show up.

Is this an ironic thing? Like, did Goten and Trunks start out thinking Cleangod was cringy kidstuff, and they just kept getting deeper into the fandom until they started liking it for real? Is that what's happening?

Sorry, I was explaining Mai's plan. Okay, so Cleangod will be doing a meet-and-greet at a high school dance party. Okay. Dr. Hedo is a huge mark for Cleangod, so Mai is certain he will crash the party just to meet Cleangod and get his autograph. And she plans to be there when he does, so she can shut him down once and for all.

And she gets to go to this dance, because she's attending with...

...Trunks. He wanted to ask her to this thing, but she asked him instead, so he's all a-flutter over this, never realizing that she's just using him to get at Hedo. Except.... she's attending this school now. She doesn't need a date to get in. Hedo is the one who has to find some way to get access to the building, because he's not a student.

I like Mai's armor in this scene, although it really never comes into play. Also, Trunks brought Hedo's disc with him, because.... I have no idea. Maybe he doesn't want to risk losing it?

As expected, Hedo does show up for this thing, and I guess it's because Beta-1 is still registered as a student? I'm more confused about this signing event in the middle of a dance floor. This just feels like a hot mess. Trunks and Hedo bond over their mutual love of Cleangod... wait, I thought Trunks was excited about getting to go on a date with Mai? Priorities, Trunks!

Anyway, Hedo confides to Trunks that he had a Cleangod autograph before, but it was stolen, so he's here to get another one. Hold on, doesn't Hedo know Trunks is X-1? I mean, he was sending androids after Goten, so he must know he's X-2, right?

Mai tries to get Hedo, but then Beta shows up, and Rulah explains that he got back into the school, so she asked him to the dance. I really like Rulah. She doesn't know what's going on, but there's a new boy in town and she's gonna make time with him. She's like an Archie character.

Then the cops show up. Yeah, just draw your guns in a big crowd of children, Krillin, that makes a ton of sense.

Hedo uses a smokebomb to escape and everyone chases after him. By the time Cleangod comes out to make his big appearance, everyone is gone except Mai, who isn't impressed. That's the thing I can't square with all of this. The running gag seems to be that superheroes are both cool and uncool at the same time. People were lining up to see this guy, but the punchline is that he totally sucks? I guess? Characters will praise Goten and Trunks' costumes and then later characters will call them corny.

Like, which is it? That's the thing about superhero comics, at least from my perspective. In the real world, you either think Batman's awesome or he's a giant dork in a fursuit. Fine. But in the Batman mythos, just about everyone takes him seriously because he's a mysterious badass. I get it, Cleangod's basically Adam West working car-shows in the 1970's, but Saiyaman X-1 and X-2 are the real thing. They fought robots in the middle of the football field in front of everyone. I mean, no one called Goten corny when he lifted that truck.

Oh, by the way, Dr. Hedo's jalopy is awesome.

Krillin (reluctantly) brings Goten and Trunks along to chase down Hedo, and he fills them in on the situation. The cops have been after Hedo because they think the Red Ribbon Army is trying to stage a comback and they want to contact him. That.... doesn't quite square with the movie, but we'll talk about that later.

Anyway, they get to Hedo's (third?) base and he's got a dinosaur android to stop them. This is the biggest, strongest one he's made so far, but it's still not very sophisticated, simply because Hedo lacks the resources to build anything better.

It gives the Bio-Broly Buster Crew a little trouble, but Krillin disables it with a kienzan, and then Goten and Trunks take it out with a double-team move. And Hedo's going to jail.

So what about that disc? Turns out it never mattered. Hedo memorized all the information on it a long time ago, so the disc itself had no value to him. What he wanted was the case, which contained, in addition to the disc, his prized Cleangod autograph. Remember? The one he told Trunks got stolen? They didn't know it at the time, but Trunks was the one who stole it in Chapter 88.

And that's really dumb, because Trunks did try to investigate the disc in Chapter 89. He didn't get very far, but he still had to open the case it was in, so you'd think he would have noticed the Cleangod autograph inside. I mean, another character might not have paid any attention to it, but Trunks is a huge fan of Cleangod himself.

And if Hedo truly had no use for the disc, why didn't he throw it away a long time ago? In this scene, he says he discarded it, but he must have only done that in the last few minutes, before Krillin showed up to arrest him, since Trunks had the disc before the dance. This whole thing is supposed to be clever, but it's kind of dumb.

Anyway, this whole caper explains how Hedo got sentenced to prison at the beginning of Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero. He could have been given a longer sentence, but according to this story, he agreed to return some of the Alphas back to the families of the corpses he built them out of. This is supposed to be funny, but it's just kind of bizarre. Like, are we saying Hedo resurrected the corpses? I thought the idea was he just used a dead body to build Alpha 12. But this seems to suggest Alpha 12 remembers his former existence. That's kind of fucked up.

Like I said at the beginning, there's a lot that is well done here. Toyotaro's art is on-point as usual, and there's some great action scene with Goten and Trunks. I think the big highlight of the arc were all of the side characters we see at their school, like Rulah and the others. Trunks' math teacher looked pretty cool. The problem is that they were never going to be the focus of this or any other story. It's taken years for Toei or Shueisha to do anything with Goten or Trunks, so their pals may never see the light of day again.

And that's what disappoints me about this arc, because it may have been the one chance of getting a good teen Goten and Trunks arc, and they blew it on this. Did we really need a backstory on Hedo's prison sentence? Did anyone leave the theater not understanding why he was in jail? Was anyone confused as to how he came up with the designs for Gamma 1 and 2's costumes? No. We didn't need this.

One of these days, there will be an official Big Goten story that gets it right. But this ain't it, chief.