#currently looking through some old art and redrawing it ^^

[artsy-imogen]

✩ been a while since I drew some Kirby :D✨💕

[mod-jazzy]

I was asked so! Here are my silly lil prompts for my personal month challenge thing!!!

NOTE: This is not a official thing or what have you, I was just asked to share the prompts for my lil self challenge, so I am! This is my own personal little challenge because I've had these prompts since 2019 and I want to use them

I'll put under a readmore because it is... like. 30 things lmao

Day 1: First Askblog OC The first blog OC you made! Day 2: Most recent askblog OC Can be a side or main character, just the most recent OC you've made for a blog! Day 3: The Modsona Draw your modsona! Self love n all that Day 4: Redraw a silly/funny askblog panel Find a old silly/funny or shitpost panel from one of your blogs and redraw it! Day 5: Evolution scene Draw your OC evolving! Can be past event, future event or something that already happened for a silly redraw! Day 6: Blog Swap Draw one of your blog OCs as a character on one of your other blogs! If don't have more than one blog, switch up their role with someone else on your current blog! Day 7: Favoritism wins Draw your absolute favorite OC from your blog! Indulge a little Day 8: "Nothing bad happens" What would your OC look like if their plot had nothing bad happen Day 9: Redraw a sad panel Redraw a old sad panel! Last prompt was too cheery, redraw that angst with your updated abilities! Day 10: Favorite Magic Anon Blast from the past, relive that glorious magic anon Day 11: Easiest OC to draw Draw that easy fellow, relax a little! Day 12: Difficult OC to draw Back on that grind, draw that one guy who is the absolute most difficult for you!! Day 13: Redraw your least favorite panel We all have that one panel that just, didn't come out right. Try again! Maybe it'll be nice to see your improvement.. or maybe you'll hate it again. Anyways, chop chop Day 14: Injury Draw that dramatic/important injury your character went through. Past, present or future! Day 15: Beach episode What it says on the tin, we love a filler episode. Can be plot relevant but hey, they deserve to relax too Day 16: Favorite blog Draw some fan art for your favorite blogger! Whether they are a friend, inspiration or what have you! Extra challenge: redraw some old fan art you did for them Day 17: Plot Changer That one moment... the thing that made everything twist. That really hit a hard turn in your storyline! Can be past, present or possible future! Day 18: Scrapped Idea What was that scrapped concept again? Or was it a character.. or even something as silly as a slight design change? Day 19: What's a God to a Blogger Most of us have that one god. That one important guy in the sky... or the ocean.. or under a truck... man pokemon is weird. Day 20: Canon Compliant Stylization is so interesting and unique!... but strip that away. Be close to pokemon canon. Day 21: Shiny Beam A easy one... make that little guy shiny!!... Oh they are already shiny?... well then undo that. Silly. Day 22: Dream interaction What's a interaction with your characters that you would really love to see or are excited for? Can be within your own storyline or a interaction with someone else Day 23: Real World Sighting Draw your OC(s) in a real life photo! Bonus points if its a photo you took. Take this chance to go for a nice walk and take some pretty pictures!.... touch grass. Day 24: A spoiler that.. wouldn't make sense to others That's right. Be vague. Spoil a little bit in the most vague manner. It's always fun to see others speculate. Day 25: In blog ship Draw your favorite ship within your own blog! Friendship/romantic ship/hate ship... Just whatever one makes you smile Day 26: Out of blog ship Same prompt as 25.. But with your OC and someone ELSE'S! again, friendship/romantic ship/etc etc! Day 27: Different Art Medium! That's right. Draw/sculpt/etc your OC in a different art medium than normal. This will either be fun or horrifying for you Day 28: The Inspiration VS the OC Draw your OC with their inspiration! Can be the storyline that inspired them... or the character that desired them! Etc etc Day 29: Song drawing Yeah that's right. Draw your OC/Blog with the song that you associate them with! As a treat Day 30: Redraw first blog post / Thank you Cliche ending alert!! Redraw your first ever askblog panel you have ever made. Not the first post on a more recent blog.. no. THE FIRST ONE. EVER. Or be corny and draw a heartfelt thank you to all of your friends and followers you made Or hell.. maybe even both

[luciddreams-art]

Wooo! I’m surprised I got these done that fast… well I gotta a lot of time on my hands now lol.

anyways, these characters are from this YouTube/pinterest character maker thingy.

anyways I think her name is Emily Artist? Artsy? I forgot lol-

but she’s who I got the idea from! Tbh it’d very fun to make OCs this way… especially since I get very burnt out from trying to make OCs… how do people somehow have like 100 of them? I like I kinda only have… like 6 or 7… wait it’s probably a bit more considering my welcome home oc’s family… eh…

anyways, I have been getting burnt out a lot more, since I feel like I’m getting a bit unhappy with my art style sometimes, and the fact that idk what to draw and when I draw it, it just seems bad. I’m currently going through that, “There is many ways I want to express myself artistically, but I can’t find a good outlet and because I want something to show to you guys.”

I know there isn’t technically any pressure for me to draw or create, it’s just a weird mental thing I have… like there is so many things I’m trying to do at once that I don’t get anything done.

ANYWAYS! Somewhat a story I gave for these two, basically Beatriz Skinner is a Flapper/Show Girl if you will, but also a business women! …maybe even on the illegal side of business but I haven’t fully decided yet, hahahah.

Waldo Moss, Ice Cream Parlor owner, anddd Beatriz’s friend/business partner, He’s a friendly face, serving up ice cream with a big Ol’ Smile! Don’t be fooled though, even if he doesn’t look like the brightest bulb, he is VERY cunning, Unlike Beatriz, he will actually get his hands dirty. I wouldn’t say he’s a traditional gentleman, I feel like he’s way more energetic and more… not southern? Like he seems like he would be a guy who would be so nice and helpful to a default, but he’s actually just playing along.

anyways… I really like this, idk why, lol for some reason, stories that are set in the 20s automatically attract me, I have another story about a detective who solved murders that is also set in the 1920s, ofc I’ve been thinking about polishing it back up since I made it last year (2023) for a writing project… who knows, maybe I’ll join up the two stories, eh?

this was part of the challenge btw! This isn’t the full thing so I recommend checking out Emily artsy(?) on YouTube, her video is what inspired me.

also, i didn’t add the hair swoop on Waldo’s head on his fully colored body, let’s just say his hair went through some major redrawing (cuz his old hair was uglyyyyy) when I was coloring, so just pretend that the hair swoop is there lol!

[bitethetablet]

documenting a few of my art block fixes

1. just draw something absolutely silly something you can never get serious about and don’t get stressed about it turning out bad

2. go to this online gallery of official sonic character art and redraw some poses

3. normal art pose website if that’s more your style

bonus: actual human being photo refs found here and here

4. look at these neat aesthetics

5. search for more digital art brushes if you’re tired of your current ones

6. color palettes

7. redraw old art

8. look through this royalty free stock image site (aiart can be filtered out)

9. look through littlefleamart’s clothing tag

10. use one of these character hc generators

11. expand the music you listen to and draw something based on a song

12. design a piece of clothing / furniture based on whatever you want

13. i’ve heard of people avoiding the eraser tool / undo button for improvement but i’ve never suceeded at following said rule

14. take a break. I KNOW I KNOW ITS BEEN (insert how many days here) SINCE YOUVE DRAWN SOMETHING it’s ok. it’s chill.

15. if you’re drawing a room or setting find blank images of it first, then add in individual images of things that would be there (ex: get a blank room then find transparent images of a bed, wardrobe, carpet, table, etc etc) for reference, or make it in minecraft

16. turn your art into scanimation (aka barrier grid animation or stereography) (flash warning (?)

[dennydraws]

Le Tag!?

Last Song: Indila - Love Story I've recently discovered this song and the piano version has been living in my head for a while now. I occasionally replay it at work while imagining fluffy scenarios... :")

Favorite Colour: Pinks forever!

Last Book: Mamnik ... a Bulgarian author book which I really, really wish it would get an EN translation some day cause it was such a good thriller mixed with slavic mythology!

Last Movie: Sonic 3 (It was so good... T^T)

Last TV Show: Severance Season 2 (I'm still watching it!)

Sweet/Spicy/Savory: Savory and Spicy! Ironically, I'm not a sweets person :D;; Very little sweet does the trick for me.

Last Thing I Searched for Online: ... Suikoden 1 recruitment guide cause I forgot where Maximillian and Sanchez show up.. :D;;;;

Current Obsession: SUIKODEN!!! Replaying my childhood faves which shaped me as an artist and writer is a big thing for me. Seeing the series being revived makes me hopeful that I may in fact see answers to some questions! I'm at the final boss of Sui1 and I'm so happy with the love and care the remasters got...

It also made me look through old drawings I did as a kid. Back when I had just finished Suikoden 2 for a first time and I immediately went to make some OCs and write a story inspired by the game and to this day I consider it one of my most beloved works xD; It's been...well, about 20+ years now, I want to redraw some of them and re-read my notes. Obviously my writing was what you'd expect from a 15 year old but it's still near and dear to my heart. Maybe I'll share some of the redesigns when I get to them... :'D;;;

Looking Forward To:

Starting Suikoden 2 this weekend! My fave game ever... T^T

Redrawing some old characters! I'm hungry for traditional arts! And I bought some copic ink refills cause some markers started to give in...after over 5 years no less.

Walking more now that the weather is getting better! I've been thinking to try listening to audiobooks cause I have about 40 minutes walk to work every day :D;; and I rather listen to something better than cars passing by.

Sketching Chapter 16 of The Sneric Comic... with Suikoden into my hands, I may take a bit to get back into the head space for it again but I'm excited to resume it cause next chapter is so satisfying!

---

Tagged by: @spotofmummery Thank you, friend ~

Tagging: @pjarox @sunnyluma @luridel @celestialspark @yoiku Anyone who wants to go for it!

[whorecoded]

Make a tier list of your sonas pleaseeee

OMG an ask. in my inbox... HI!!! i can do this but it took me a minute to really think . heres my list! with pics for fun :3 i will say that this is actually so hard because my sonas reflect different parts of us collectively not just the host, dirk's. like while they are explicitly dirk's sonas he did try to put a lot of thought into representing more than just him. thats also part of the reason each sona is based on aesthetics. darling is lovecore, dizzie is scene, nova is space, chorus is angelcore and reve is dreamcore. all of these are things we collectively enjoy and represent different parts of us, although we do also have a collective sona lol. i will also say we love all our sonas so dearly like aughghgh

1) darling - i feel like once i got her design down drawing her just became so natural and cmon. he is so pretty you cant look at him and tell me you DONT want him. be for real! not only that but lovecore is just so fun and like come onnn the horns and the heart bun and the cute locs like. also shes been really helpful for us to explore drawing our ACTUAL body type and not just like an Attempt at making her Slightly bigger. hes hot as fuck and people love him and he is fat, like us, and it makes us happy to think about :3

2) reve - I JUST MADE THIS GUY but its so fucking cute are you squidding me. i LOVE how he looks and im so so satisfied with the colors and just the theme looks so .. well thought out LOL. which is rare for us and also the unicorn / fae theme it has going on is really fun for us because we identify with a Lot of different things therian/kin/system wise. not only that but reve is meant to represent our more neurodivergent tendencies. he hides his eyes because he has a Stare that many would describe as offputting. he's not keen on masking behaviors like stimming or needing personal space or music to help him throughout the day, and this is something we've been trying to be better about

3) nova - nova was the first to be created out of these 5 goobers and theyre currently undergoing another revamp. weve always felt his design was cute but a little bland, im going to be updating his design to blend it more with his first designs! shes getting her chest fluff back :3 once i add some of the details we miss about stars old designs im sure that they'll be on par with reve, space themes are OUR JAM!! and we identify very heavily with space and stars, so we're excited to give him back some old starry patterning too. heres an icon of him below by a lovely artist showcasing his older patterning! such a cutie !!

4) dizzie - dont get me wrong i love dizzie a lot especially with his banger new hairstyles, i think he's adorable and we finally got his pattern down but BY GOD was it a challenge. dizzie has probably gone through the most overt revamping, weve been figuring it out and i can pretty confidently say we are in love with his current design, we just have to draw him more <3

5) chorus - i feel so bad putting chorus at the bottom of the list because angel themes are also so uscore but we barely draw him :( this will change soon because with the lore we're giving these 5 theyre all gonna be interacting with one another in the band they have, as well as the counterpart band we made for them! chorus is the bassist in the band gummypawz that all 5 of these guys are in and it has a counterpart in the band mourning maws that is like evil chorus LOL. his name is judas and theyre very gerard way / frank iero coded <3 all that to say chorus is actually a really good sona for us to do vent art with, we actually did a redraw of something we did last year using chorus last night, so have that!

anyways THANK YOU FOR THIS OPPORTUNITY TO YAP im so fucking sorry that it got this long i know this was probably way more than you were expecting but im a grade A yapper and i will not shut the fuck up about my guys. everyone ask me questions about them forever and ever please 😄 also an apology for if any of this was incomprehensible im currently a little bit maybe possibly High. THANK YOU AGAIN!!!

[thebrightestlodge]

I'm currently watching Mandy because I recall you really liked it, and it's so cool to recognize so many details I find in your art and Godcleaver! It makes it even more interesting! If you feel inspired to say some things that you found particularly inspiring, I do want to hear! But you don't have to! I just wanted to thank you for making me discover this movie!

I must warn, it isn't even a "I really like it". It's a "rewired me on a level to the point of it's jsut my world". I'm glad it can be recognized as a huge influence! It's my fav movie so it's very near and dear to me, I have two old art pieces for it I did even (I might recolour the first pic and redraw the second). I'm glad you discovered it! It's really underrated for sure.

As for inspiration? Putting it under a read more because it will be insanely rambling and spoilers but know this is like ...a movie that is so important to me and IS me

There's a lot to the film that really speaks to what you see in my art. Music being it's own breathing heaving beast, a silent participant in the plot. The use of violent visceral colours like I'm staring at a bruise under blacklight that scratches such specific parts of the brain that frames this in an alien way, even if it's "the real world". Characters not being bad got being rightously angry and it drives them to the point of frenzy.

Dead wife/sad man stories are incredibly boring but something about this really spins the framing to the point I wouldn't even say it's one of those movies. Mandy is so fleshed out and important. We know who she is, we know she's had an incredibly horrible life before we met her/she met Red, but even with it, we see the sort of quiet cool person she is. She's someone we want to know. Dead partners in movies are so bland that we really in a way can't figure why we want to avenge them. We FEEL for her, we know who she is so the weight of her dead hits harder than anything. The death scene is incredible too, where it's jsut the throbbing synth, no sounds beyond that. We the the sleeping bag shaking and thrashing and we know what's happening, but nothing is ever exploitative on her part. We view the scene through the spectators and all their winding emotions, from Red's horror, the cultist's glee, the young girl, and Jeremiah's silent anguish and hate.

Mandy's dream sequence and the scene of ehr and Red talking of the starlings, another visit into these characters worlds, says so much without forcing a backstory. Red is almost an interesting foil here. We have just enought to figure what sort of character he is. He maybe was military/para-military and he has a drinking issue (by the scenes of him refusing a beer and him looking in the bathroom for a secret vodka bottle). He's a blank enough slate though that it let's us get to be the ones to experience Mandy. He truly loves and cares for her and we get to feel it because in how he is written and how scenes between them are shot, we ARE Red, with our own issues brought in.

Now to the meat of this situation. Mandy's death really is what makes the movie special because in how it's written and even stated by Panos Cosmatos himself, she IS the film. When Mandy dies, we no longer exist in our world. Mandy has moved into a another plane. She is Galactus and has devoured our world and we live in hers. The movie's sharp grinding as we start to peak into the phantasmagorical horror shifts because Mandy is being affected. When she gets high, everything is warped. When she dies, plots are set in motion.

My aggressive belief is when Red tastes the Biker's swill, Mandy takes him over. Not to say Red wasn't first motivated in revenge! He's the one to seek out his old friend and his weapon, he forges The Beast, he drives out to fight the bikers. We see though in the face of all this, he's jsut so emotional about it. His haunting response after Mandy dies, stumbling into the house and then the howling and chugging in the bathroom. When he's chained up and nailed to the floor in the house the bikers take over, he's jsut sobbing. Even fighting those two bikers, he all mania and emotion tearing them up. The moment he tastes the swill though? Something shifts. When he faces the main biker, there's no emotion, jsut quiet stalking, until the mention of "SHE'S ...STILL ...BURNING!"

Theory continues, we see Mandy in visions from Red, these nightmare shots of her rotting away, her adrift in the lake we see them in in the beginning, and extracting a jewel from an animal's corpse. It's like she speaks from whatever void she has now taken. The book Mandy reads is made for the movie, BUT I managed to track the fake cover. A story of a man stealing the power of witches stolen from a she-wyrm. A lone female warrior trudges to stop him. Fits the theory enough. When Red finds the Chemist, inferred to the the creator of the sludge, the way he speaks to Red is interesting. We don't have enough fo Red's character to know, but we have enough of Mandy's to make this scene interesting.

Chemist: Jovan Warrior, sent forth from the eye of the storm

-Mandy mentions in the beginning of her favourite planet being Jupiter, especially because of the eternal storms. Jove was one of the many names of the Roman god Jupiter.

Chemist: Oh man, they wronged you! Why they gotta be like that? You exude a cosmic darkness ...

-This is definitely inference because, as said, it's not like Red can't experience this, but it's so pointed. Mandy, destroyed by this cult that saw something in her, and the starling story, and the dream of the dead deer fetus. Something in her sits, dark and heavy, like the music tracks.

Red does not speak this whole time, but the Chemist talks as if there's conversation. The Chemist, so shot into another existence, maybe he IS talking with Mandy, on another level we can't comprehend. He sees the folding of worlds

When we go to find the cultists, another interesting thing comes up. The one cultist who never really comes off as feeling purposeful and involved is the young girl. The one who is willing to let Jeremiah blow her head off, the one he calls for after being upset about seeing Mandy. When Red kills Swan, the girl just watches. Mandy did see her there and maybe a kindred spirit of sorts, two people violently affected by events then and now in their lives. Maybe it's because she wasn't as malicious, who knows. Maybe it's Mandy who spares.

And finally, the last confrontation ...

In a way, I think Mandy killed Jeremiah first. His seduction and obsession, trying to impress her. Mandy is sent ROCKETING with how high she is and the scene where he speaks with ehr, their faces constantly melded, some sort of different thing is happening. Sure it's style for the movie and perhaps I can't put into words, but "You're a special one, Mandy" has meaning here. When he finally sheds his coat and is front of her, naked and showing her whatever he thinks passes for the divine, she laughs. It's a chuckle into a laugh into a cackling furious howl, ebcause we're seeing she's knowing she's pissing him off ow. This moment, he's crushed in front of his constant followers. He's embarrassed. In the spirit, I think he dies here, it's the first time someone tells him no and ridicules him.

In our final confrontation, it's the first time since the sludge, we hear him speak. A garbled, laid-over second voice

"The psychotic drowns ...while the mystic swims ...

You're drowning. I'm swimming."

When ahd our last Mandy dream already happen. Mandy taking a jewel from some great beast. This is the final act of revenge, killing the last monster. Jeremiah's desperation to make it up, but there's no emotion facing this, no mania or sadness. Red crushes his head, the garbling speaking

"I am your god now"

The movie ends with Red driving off. We see Mandy next to him in the Camaro and we see a vision. A shot of teh first time they met. And with all we know and all we've seen, this is finally the end. The manic iconic grin of Red looking to her as we driveoff into this alien fantasy landscape. The final bit of the film stating they are reborn into this carnal new world. They become one here finally.

And I mean, you can add your trans narratives in here, or even just state they are trans. Something about the total take of bodies, two sharing in one body, being whatever you choose to headcanon them as. I don't remember the thoughts I had on this, will edit when I remember, but I think it's a very trans film.

We're swallowed into this world of Mandy's. I know Red wears the Tiger shirt but I think Lizzie represents Mandy more. The tiger set loose into the Pacific Northwest is jsut what it is. We're watching her and Red's love become one huge angry beast, their love isn't corrupted. A frenzy and compassion and caring between two broken people that becomes so ravenous after this trauma, it takes chunks out of this world and rebuilds it, sharpens its fangs so it can devour the violators who encroached. A winding grizzled thing that pulses like the beatof the soundtrack. I jsut think it's a cool movie, sorry for any tangents or my being incoherent when talking about it.

Stream this, sound of the summer

[mono-chrono]

Happy (approximate) 3 years to this post! I can't believe its been this long, and yet simultaneously, I can't believe how far I've come in the past three years. As such, I've decided to finally buckle down and redraw an old favorite of mine!

Gonna get a bit sappy so I'll put it below the cut

The original heist drawing was something that affected me so much. Not in numbers on here, but in satisfaction after drawing for so long. This year marks a decade of me drawing seriously, and looking at my old work makes me both cringe and overwhelmingly happy that I've kept at it for so long.

The original drawing was among some of the first I made with my current setup on FireAlpaca, and believe it or not, it was actually around when I found out how to hit my stride with it. It was also around a turning point in my art when I started getting further in my exploration and started attempting more ambitious things, even if it may not have always worked out.

But above all else, it was a special piece to me. I drew it around the time a community I was desperately clinging on to was dying, and by my friends, it was a well liked drawing! Its a nice, happy memory of before the chats dying, I was able to make one last, happy memory.

As of this year, that community is back again! I honestly could not be happier. It's much smaller, but its a community of friends. I cannot be happier about it. I joined that community 7 years ago, back when I was still in middle school, and through the highs and lows of it, I made a promise to never leave it.

Gods this is corny. If anyone actually ends up reading this, hi! Thank you so much! The TL;DR of that whole little ramble is that The Heist in general set off a whole phase in my life, and through it all, I'm incredibly grateful to it for that, even if it may not be the best work in writing or art.

I hope whoever you are, whatever you're doing, you have a great day! I primarily make these things to make myself and my friends laugh, but if I can bring some stranger, somewhere out there some semblance of joy with what I make, I'd be extremely happy.

I hope everyone has a good one out there.

[twotangledsisters]

What has been your top 10 favourite pieces of art you have drawn and why?

Oooh, that's hard!

But I'll give it my best shot! I'm gonna try going from least fave to fave but... no an excuse science!

10.- Cass and Caine Sketch

Starting with a sketch feels a bit wrong but this WIP is still on my to-do-list despite being from Feb of last year, almost an entire year old now, and there's very little I want to change about the initial sketch.

I dunno why this sketch came out so well, but the body language just reads for me in a way I don't usually capture.

9.- This set

It's definitely cheating to include three drawings one but... they wouldn't make it individually, but the set? Amazing. Especially because they're over a year old, they're from August of 2023 and I don't know if I could re-create art this good today?? I can't say it's luck because I did three of them one after the other.... but did some art deity lend me a hand without me noticing? Maybe.

8.- Cass and Caine again!

This one is pretty self-explanatory. It's a simple piece, nothing too amazing skill-wise, but the colours, the placement, it's a piece I am still super proud of and remains my ipad background to this day :D

7.- Cassandra with swords

Another piece that's not too complex but just comes together beautifully. Was my icon on ao3 up until a few days ago!

6.- The mermaid and the pirate

This is my current desktop background and while I could definitely do this better now, I still really love the colours in this piece, the story it tells and the composition :D

5.- This ArtFight for @maitaitiu

THIS ONE.

This is for my inner-child.

I love pokemon, it was definitely amongst (if not the very first) the first fandoms I was ever in. And it was through watching pokemon speedpaints on youtube that I got into digital art, opened up a Deviantart account, starting publishing drawings done on the pc with my mouse on there, made friends, kept drawing.... pokemon is my origin story yet I hadn't drawn them in YEARS.

So this piece for ArtFight with all the little details just made me think, wow, my younger self would be so IMPRESSED XD

Plus it makes me want to pick up my ds or switch and play some more XD

4.- Another ArtFight Attack (for Demon2000)

This combining of my chibi style and the geometric edges works soooo well. I still think this is perfect, I would not change anything. And it's the predecessor of my current style, it's what made me realise how much I like sharp edges in my art and vibrant colours :D

It even has the combination of gradients and cell-shading!

3.- Cass and Fidella

This is my most popular piece of art and while I wasn't 100% at the time... I now see it. I'm especially proud of the colours and OWL :D

Love owl.

2.- Cassandra in Coronation Dress

I think this is the best drawing of Cassandra I've ever done, even if it's not a very obvious one because it's in a pretty dress and very leaning into my own AUs. But that's a good thing, it's more my art than the piece before this.

Her expression in this, how good her face looks, the shimmering fabric of the dress.... I love everything about this piece (except maybe the background, it needs a background which is why....)

1.- Captain!

It having a background and being a scene (screenshot redraw for the win!) just makes this piece stand out.

Another piece where there really isn't anything I'd change.

(although I'd like to get better at background before next year!)

So yeah.... I think those are probably my ten best pieces.

Definitely a lot more older art than I expected but I just haven't had the right brain for creativity recently so my art is definitely a lot more flat than it could be.

But that's fine.

Creative journeys are never linear :D

[tea-ddie]

Something that may or may not be clear about my book, Ballyhoo, on a surface level, is for how long it's been in the works. People who've known me for several years will remember the very first draft of the comic from 2018/2019. That version was specifically made for Webtoon and has been more-or-less scraped for the current version of the story. Because of that, all of Ballyhoo's characters have gone through pretty big changes—not just in their design/my art style evolution/etc, but also in their occupation, some elements of their backstory, and more. I've started working on Book 2 and have been making some new concept art. I realized as I looked to the future of the project, it was a good time to look back. This post will go through three of the main characters: Evelyn, Marjorie, and Oretta, and explain how we got to where we are in Ballyhoo.

Evelyn Golubev

2018: Evelyn was one of the very first characters I ever created for this story. She was originally the femme-fatale-type—her girlfriend had just mysteriously gone missing. She worked at a vaudeville-type club as a dancer and, besides being somewhat hot, ominous and foreboding in the way that a femme-fatale must be, that was about it. I was still definitely trying to understand my art style and struggled a lot with making the hair look as "natural" as I wanted. Her outfits all leaned pretty heavily femme and her makeup was heavy... but uncanny as I didn't fully understand how to color makeup on a face then.

2024: Evelyn Golubev, or better known by her stage name, "Evelyn Gold," still works at a vaudeville club, but beyond dancing, also sings and performs at other bars and clubs across the city of Portapolis. She is the frontwoman of her Baby Blue Band, which is the house-band at local lesbian bar, the Lilac. Although she still holds some of her femme-fatale vibes, I wouldn't necessarily describe her as a "femme" in the queer spaces she occupies. She wears custom blue suits at the club and brings a swagger that would make any girl blush to her performances. In both versions of her character, she holds a few secrets that she protects fiercely, but in the currently version of the story, the consequences of these secrets coming out feels more intense. Overall, I think her character has become more refined and deliberate in the story.

Marjorie Miller

2018: Oh, Marjorie. Her role in the story has shifted pretty significantly from the first drafts of the story—in this earliest drawing, she's pictured singing at what was a lesbian house party. She was always a bit desperate—trying to fit into a space that wasn't really for her. I knew she had grown up outside the city, probably in a more rural area, and was trying hard to fit into more classy and elegant circles. She mostly functioned as a background character in the lesbian scene who held a secret that would help solve the mystery (because of course this story was always a mystery).

2021: This was about at the time I was re-developing the story and laying out the groundwork for a new version of the comic. Despite scrapping the house parties, I wanted to redraw that specific scene... mostly because I liked her dress. Marjorie's hair, similar to Evelyn, was something I became more comfortable drawing with time. In 2021, you can see me trying to separate the way her somewhat messy waves and curls fell. Like I said, at this point I knew the house party scene with Marjorie wasn't going to happen, but I wasn't sure what her exact role would be. Was she a hopeful performer? Someone who performed alongside Evelyn in the Vaudeville club? Something else entirely? What was her life like when she wasn't singing? Well...

2024: Marjorie Miller is a married woman, living her perfect, heterosexual, suburban housewife life with her dearest husband George. This might seem like a hard pivot—it also feels like a hard pivot to her old friends Oretta and Evelyn, both of whom she's mostly fallen out of touch with. Despite the changes in her life, she is content with how it's worked out for her, or at least pretends to be. Still, beneath the picture-perfect surface is a woman who was, in every version of the story, desperate to fit-in and who is living a life that feels out of her depth.

Oretta Adams

2018/19: I don't have a drawing for this, but my earliest ideas for Oretta included her arriving in Portapolis on a train. This was always her introduction and it's how she arrives to the city in Ballyhoo, too. Back then, I knew she was an old friend of Marjorie's and Evelyn's who would open up an aspect of the mystery and story that both of them wanted to keep hidden for whatever reasons. I'm sure this sounds woefully underdeveloped—and that's because at that time, it really was. However, this was around the time where I started to have an inkling that maybe the trio's shared past was in the circus.

2021: Because her introduction was so vivid in my mind, a lot of Oretta's early concept art is her at the train station. Pictured in 2021 is a more relaxed version of Oretta: she smokes, she's dressed very casually and comfortably, and, of course, she has her suitcase. It was important to me that she always dressed for comfort and for herself first and foremost. This is part of why Oretta's outfits in the current story consist of a lot of 40s work-pants and sweaters.

2024: As I started writing the comic in 2021/22, it became shockingly apparently that Oretta was the main character of the story. Her being the factor that opens up secrets multiple people wanted to keep hidden put her in a prime place to act as both outsider and instigator. Oretta, Marjorie, and Evelyn share a background in circus performance and it started to make sense that she would be a writer/playwright, taking her experience in showbiz to a backstage role. And it is her play—possibly inspired by past events—that triggers the main events of the story. Her play is a catalyst for too many things coming out, and everyone seems to have a good reason for wanting to make sure the show will not go on.

In Conclusion...

Ballyhoo has been a long time in the works! I hope this is interesting, or maybe even inspiring for those starting longer stories? Things will take time, but it will be worth it. I'm really happy that Ballyhoo: Book One is out there in the world, and I'm honestly so excited to get to keep working on this project. I might do more posts like this about other characters or other aspects of the story—again, it's been in development for what seems like a pretty long time and I have a lot of thoughts about how different aspects of the story have played out.

[the-space-jesus]

♪ Art dump!! ♪

My stuff isn't the best but here's some things that turned out decent/good! I have explanations for all of them, just look at the number that it says on the picture and uhh yeah I think you get it.

Ok they're kind of all over the place so I'm happy that I added the numbers. ANYWAYS!!

1- Hako is a silly little character that I've had for like a year or more now. Basically, he's a demigod/Half-God, a son of Ares (his dad hates him). Ares forces him to go through the same dreams every night, where he wears a helmet with "BLOODSHED"/"CAEDES" on it (which he also has IRL), and he has to fight and stuff. He also has a friend, son of Hermes, named Victory. Love them!!

2- Anastasia, my femme self rep! I don't have an ushanka (Russian trapper hat) yet, but I am going to buy one when I get paid. Very excited already, it's been my dream for like two years now!

3- Little sketch I did whilst listening to Hansel. No backstory or anything, well the backstory of the song. Just wanted to draw something eerie and long haired! (And experiment with how the hair and earrings move when the head is turned!)

4- The same 'character' as number 3, except a full body.

5- Anatomy practice. Overly simplified version of my character Alexandra/Sasha. In one universe she's this cool secret spy thing, in the other she's a gay theatre kid XD.

6- Ricky as a Zolarian in my style! (RTC obviously)

7- Redrew some very very old characters from a short story I wrote like a year ago called Blood On Snow (I'm so edgy I know). The top one doesn't have a name (it's in I-perspective) and is chronically depressed and dies and stuff and the bottom one is their guardian angel Dawn (don't mind his jawline PLEASE).

8- Two of my cat OC's!! Once again, a redraw from a year ago when I first made them. They both look a little different now and have much much more backstory and story and lore and their universe and other OC's in it are fully fleshed out. Top one is Smiley, bottom one is Eris.

9- My blogsona!! Yeah no that's it.

10- Two characters from this story I'm currently writing called Dark Is The Night (based on a Soviet era song). The left one is Aleksandr and the right one is Dmitri, yes I make 90% of everything I do Slavic ANY QUESTIONS? Basically they're uhh G A Y and have different thoughts of their relationship..wheras Dmitri is super wholesome and just loves spending time with Aleksandr and that they understand eachother n stuff, Aleks is..well..uhh..the fact that I had to block out his thoughts says enough I think.

WHEN WILL I STOP YAPPING ANYWAYS THANKS FOR PUTTING UP W ME!!

[petra-creat0r]

Annual Update 2024

Alright everyone! New year, new updates for all my stuff!

Starting with ...

AtDFF and AYC

(The new signatures for my main art, AtDFF, and AYC)

As some, and by that I mean most of you have probably noticed, I rebooted AtDFF... again. I technically started a revamp all the way back in 2020 where I was redrawing the older updates to better match the current style and reformat the asks and text for better readability, but that didn't impede on the main updates (well, besides putting more onto mine and the rest of the team's work load.)

The Reboot

This past year though, I made the decision to completely reboot the comic for a few reasons. One was an attempt to renew my motivation, another was wanting to rework some of the lore, yet another was being inspired by @askfallenroyalty to remake the comic and post to ComicFury, but I think the main factor was... I wasn't all that happy with it. I think I kept comparing it to other comics, especially Fallen Royalty, which is my own issue, please don't go blaming anyone else. I knew I could do better, especially after over 5 years working on this, but now looking back, part of me feels that, rebooting it again is, in a way, diminishing those years. Even with the 2020 revamp, prior to it you could go through the updates and really look at how my art has progressed, and though true you can still scroll and find the old updates, it's just... not quite the same. Same can be said for the 2023 reboot.

Does that mean I'm going back on the reboot? No. I already have the next updates planned (I just haven't had a chance to work on them that often) and I really like the new lore of the world that I've come up with. I just think this will be the last time I ever reboot the comic. Whatever happens, happens, and I need to just roll with it. Even if what happens is our little roadtrip getting derailed into a corn field again, lol.

Comic Fury and New Comic?

With that said, what do I have in store for the new reboots of AtDFF and AYC? (yes AYC got rebooted too, I just haven't posted the first update like I did with AtDFF) Well, I mentioned a Comic Fury, which surprise. Both AtDFF and AYC have their own Comic Fury pages now! Don't worry, I still plan on posting to Tumblr as well, but now you can also find them on Comic Fury. Along with another comic I'm planning to do (eventually), Undertale-ish: The Comic. Ever wonder what Ish Frisk's journey through the Underground was like? Want to see what happened in most (not all) of their 800 runs? Want to see this child grapple with their self insecurities, perfectionism, and the responsibility of having full control over time and an entire civilization's lives in the palm of their hand? Want to see Chara as a ghost? Well that's what you'll get with Undertale-ish: The Comic! Coming I don't know since I such at scheduling and time management for these things!

Schedule

Speaking of scheduling! When are any of these comics coming out? Well... I just said I suck with schedules, and I can't promise really... anything when it comes to release but like... I know I for sure would like to release things... regularly? Even with the start of the reboot, I started it in April, and that stuff extended until at least August. Every summer I naively think "Oh! I'm gonna have so much time to work on the comic!" and then I get a summer job. Because I'm nearly 20 and going to college and even if I'm still living under my parent's roof, I can't entirely rely on my dad to pay my tuition. Only for half the year. Then during the school year, I have classes, and I feel burned out by the time I get home, and- It's a whole thing I need to find someway to work around or else nothing gets done and my brain just screams at itself. So, I think scheduling is something I'm gonna figure out throughout January, and try and get a backlog of updates ready throughout February to April or May so maybe we can start posting again in summer. Does that feel like a long wait? Even being near a year from the first update of the AtDFF reboot? Yes. But also I'm trying to over estimate and give myself the time and space I need while still attending college, and I wouldn't just be working on one comic update, but multiple. I'm trying to give myself space and some grace instead of making promises that feel hollow after a while of being unfufilled.

Lack of Motivation and How to Fix

Another thing to address, is my motivation when it comes to these series. I don't think it's accurate to say I've felt completely unmotivated to work on either comic, I mean, I was motivated for some of the beginning of last year to full on overhaul them, but I will say that, these comics have started to feel like a job. It's been something I've felt for a couple years now, where I've been having less fun with the comic as it's begun to feel like actual work. Believe me, I'm super excited for some of the later plot points of both AtDFF and AYC, and I love Undertale-ish and these characters but to get to those points or character moments, it feels like I'm slogging through what comes before it, which isn't good. This is something that sure, rebooting helped for a bit, before I got caught up in school and other stuff, but it's not a permanent solution and I've felt myself slipping back into the comic feeling like a job.

So how might I remedy this? Well, I think the solution might lie in another series I started this year, Drawing Junior Secret Squad until Chapter 3. Even if DJSSuC3 is more Deltarune focused, I've enjoyed drawing Chicago and my other fankids pretty much daily as, there's not that much pressure on it. Definitely not like there is with AtDFF or AYC. I don't have to line, or even color them since, they're just little doodles. I don't have to worry about missing a day since, I'll just do multiple the next day. They're quick, they're easy, I can just draw whatever idea I have with the characters I want, I'm having fun. Back when Ask the Dreemurr-Font Family was nothing but an ask chat on Amino, that's what I did it for. For fun. I wasn't worried with popularity or being like other creators, I just did silly little character driven roleplays for fun. I think that's been my issue with the comics. They aren't fun anymore. They're work because, I feel it's my job to tell this story rather than just... telling it because I want to. So, I think going forward, I'm gonna try to have more fun with the comics and Ish in general. For you all, that's probably gonna look like more sketches and doodles getting posted and maybe even just sharing small comics based off ideas that pop into my brain or from roleplays that happened in my server. Little things to help me regain the enjoyment I had with these comics and world.

Deltarune: Fool's Fate

I think that's all I've got to say on the Undertale based comics, so how about now we move onto something Deltarune related? As I was doing DJSSuC3, I introduced an idea called Deltarune: Fool's Fate. Aka, Chicago and Co's adventures through the Dark Worlds after Kris denied their destiny. So far, this has just been little doodles, character designs, and a roleplay I've been doing in my discord server. I've been having quite a bit of fun with that RP, we're nearly to the end of what would be the first "chapter" and have been fighting Dorothy, the secret boss of the Attic Dark World and who some of y'all might recall I made a real life doll of when my old computer finally kicked the bucket earlier this month. (I've still yet to make her dress or crown) I think roleplays have always been the thing I find the most enjoyable when it comes to character exploration as, I don't have to spend forever drawing comics and I get to sorta live through the characters. It's something I've been doing for characters from even before I was in this fandom. With the Fool's Fate roleplay too, I've also got to come up with elements that could feasibly be in an actual video game without, you know, actually coding a video game.

I don't know where Fool's Fate will go from here, while it'd be cool to have it be an actual fangame, I don't have that sort of skill. Nor the budget to pay a team. (My team for the comics is really just a bunch of friends I convinced to help me out for free.) Even with a sprite comic, it'd be too much. So, for now, it'll likely just remain a concept and roleplay. But, who knows. Maybe someday I could make it into something. I mean, after watching this year's Underevent I wanted to.

Other stuff

With all the UTDR stuff out of the way, what about some of my other stuff? (Because, surprise, Undertale and Deltarune aren't the ONLY things I do. Just the things I hyperfixate on the most.) Well, I've got my Fakemon region, Azmayca, POW-R, Dragon Riders, and Kinder Eyes which I started last summer. I don't really have any plans for them, asides from bugging people for ideas and doodling whenever I'm in the mood. However I think starting this year, I'm gonna try to post more of the doodles I make. Either ones in my sketchbook since DJSS gave me the confidence to post sketchy silly little doodles like that, or sketch doodles I draw digitally as warm ups. Though who knows. Maybe a hyperfixation swing some time during the summer will cause me to actually try to do something crazy like outline the whole Azmayca region and hypothetical game. Hopefully not something like that though. Making the evolutions of my redesigns of the starters might be nice.

Commissions

Another thing I'd like to finally do next year is update my commissions sheet. It's something I've had in the work for a while now, and was working on along side launching the comic updates. But, like the comics, school and work got in the way so... I sorta forgot about it. Regardless! I'm gonna try to post my updated sheet some time within the next few months, it's mostly just been havin to draw or find recent examples of my work. Hopefully then I'll actually get some more commissions because, um *looks at the whooping $3.94 in my checking account* I could really use the extra money. I might work during the summers and get grade payments from my dad but, that stuff is to pay my tuition and some of my lunches during the semester, and even with lunches, 500 dollars is spread thin through 17, 16 ish weeks. That's like, only $30 a week, which is maybe enough to cover buying lunch at the campus food court like, once or twice from the food court. Maybe three times if I'm lucky and conservative with my spending. Not to mention that $300 of that went to my new laptop, and even if I should be getting $300 from a paycheck I was never paid back when I worked at Arby's 3 summers ago, I still haven't gotten that gift card in the mail so... Yeah. If I was living on my own, I'd be screwed. Which is why commissions and Patreon are like, my only source of income during the school year. (I still need to look into getting an on campus job for this upcoming semester but that's its own whole big can of worms.)

Patreon

Speaking of Patreon, that's another goal I want to set. Actually posting to it again. I had a burst early last year were I was regularly posting to Patreon with early access chapters of The Puppet and the Real Boy (before I retconned that with Fool's Fate) and thanks to my only Patreon ever @kierangecko, I managed to make around $50 bucks which ended up being used to help get blanks for some of my Christmas gifts for people (thank you Gecko. I know I did stop posting after like, May, but that money really came in handy.) So for this next year, I'm gonna try to post to that again. Be it WIPs of the comic, scripts, little doodles I don't post on Tumblr or whatever, I want to make Patreon another source of income. Which involves posting to it at least monthly. And even if I don't, then you guys won't have to worry about anything since I've got it set to not charge for months I don't post anything.

Resolution Review

So, to review some of my... I guess you could call them resolutions, though I'd rather think of them as goals I don't absolutely have to hold myself too but would just like to accomplish, I'd like to...

Have more fun when with AtDFF and AYC through drawing and posting more loose, silly comics and doodles

Try figuring out a posting and work schedule for AtDFF and AYC by then end of January

Hopefully get a back log of updates for both comics ready to release by summer

Start on and release Undertale-ish: The Comic sometime this year

Keep doing Drawing Junior Secret Squad until Chapter 3 until Chapters 3 and 4 of Deltarune hopefully come out sometime this year.

Possibly design hypothetical secret boss predictions for Chapters 4 and 5 of Deltarune before the next chapters come out.

Keep working on, designing characters for, and coming up with Dark Worlds for Deltarune: Fool's Fate. Perhaps even drawing some tarot cards with the chapter bosses.

Post more about my other projects, even if they're only sketchbook drawings or warm up doodles.

Update my commissions page and hopefully take more commissions to earn some extra money/save up for college or to move out.

Post regularly to my Patreon, also to earn some extra money.

Generally have a better year than 2023 and to find more enjoyment in my art and projects.

Closing

Ho boy! That was... A lot! This has turned out to be one very long post. Hehe. Well, should be over now that I've said all I need too. Also, if I haven't said it already, I'd like to thank all of you for supporting me and my art. Be it my comics, DJSSuC3, my other projects, or anything I've posted this year. It means a lot to me that people even like what I draw and you all mean the world to me. With all of that out of the way, thank you Creative Creators and I hope you have a Happy New Year.

[stepswowdsen]

【KagePro】 Kuroha and KuroEne arts

January 2014

2014 ~ 2015

2016

2020

2024

I was looking through my old art folders & I found my first (?) KuroEne doodle from January 2014 😭 The improvement is CRAZY

Baby Sen's 1st ship I was OBSESSED with as a 12 year old ✌️

Ngl I wanna redraw the one with Ene clutching onto Kuroha with her sleeves cuz I think it'd look nice with my current art style

Also I'm gonna tell y'all that this is NOWHERE near the amount of KagePro art I had. Kid me drew SO much KHR and KagePro.

I first started drawing as a 9 year old cuz of Beyblade and Beyblade: Metal (LMAO)

KHR and KagePro were some of my earliest interests (I first got into KHR at 11 and KagePro at 12) and what basically motivated kid me to start drawing everyday or really often. They're super important to me cuz they basically jumpstarted my art journey

Also there's no way I'm posting these publically cuz my old arts look like doodoo to me 😭😭😭

I just looked through my old art folders... God I'm terrible at calculating dates but I can confirm the years in which I drew these.

Though with some files it's difficult cuz when I moved laptops over the years cuz I usually didn't put dates on my arts

Outer Science released in August 2013, and I first listened to Outer Science sometime around October 2013. I first got into KagePro cuz of Kuroha after seeing Outer Science (I was 12 at the time)

Kagerou Daze VII -from the darkness- released in 2016 and I drew fanart of it at the time. So I was 15 when I drew that in 2016.

I'm forever enamoured by Sidu's gorgeous art style AHHH

My face was scrunching up so hard while looking at my old arts ASDLKKDSKSDLKLDK

(Maniacal laughter) I first drew that Outer Science Kuroha back in 2013 (when I was 12). I also cropped it because it's so ugly (tho I drew it when I was 12 so I'll cut some slack. That's pretty good for a 12 y/o)

[cosmoknightchaos]

YOUR TURN!! 3, 6, and 29 :)

HI BESTIE

Answers below the cut!

3. What ideas come from when you were little?

Redrawing old art to see how much I've improved is SUCH a hobby of mine

Back in the elementary characters, I had a handful of characters I made up that, looking back on it, lead to so many of the characters, themes, and stories I've made today. Darker stories, ghosts, possession, eldritch beings beyond mortal comprehension, gods manipulating mortals for funsies, and the will to stand up and be the light in the dark, helping guide others through the night until they get to safety.

And also long clothing. My obsession with capes/trenchcoats started then too

6. Anything that might inspire you subconsciously?

If I can't relate it back to a western musical theatre song then it's not my work

29. Media you love, but doesn't inspire you artistically

Most media inspires me! If I can't/don't want to draw things relating to a certain media but still like it, I'll often incorporate elements of it into other medias I like drawing more. For example, I hate drawing Ultrakill characters with a passion. But, I love the style of the album art, so I've mixed that with other interests and am currently working on Horalo AU drawings in the style of the albums (No preview, sorry!)

So it's hard to say I'm not inspired artistically by something because so much inspires me, sometimes it's just to take some style elements and use them with other things.

The one exception to this is Undertale. The original game has not once ever inspired me.

[melchinafan]

Oh yeah, same hat on post length. I try, but...I very easily get caught up in my rambles. Even on art posts, 'cause I like explaining the process or inspiration or the like. XD

Oof yeah, the way urge to create vs. no energy can clash sucks SO BAD. Fingers crossed your results come back positive, and you can find someone to help! (And that if they bizarrely don't somehow, that you can still find someone who will listen to "LOOK, whatever the cause, I am Struggling, and need help finding one (or more) thing(s) or another to make this suck less.") And ugh the bonus time blindness side effect from not knowing how long things will take resulting in being unable to start/do anything if there is something else scheduled for a specific time later. Because what if you get distracted and lose track of time, or get into a groove and don't wanna stop though I guess that's more the executives dysfunctioning, or asldfjs it sucks.

OOOOH YOU DRAW BOTH HIEI AND KURAMA SO PRETTY aaaaaa and Hiei's little pointy ears! I waffle back and forth between making them a little pointy or leaving them rounded but it's SUCH a great look. Ahaha and the way the cat ear headband puffs down the streaks in his hair, so cute. And the bloody grinning one, hell yeah, love it. Also agree with Kurama having your hairstyle when he hit that in-between stage, I had mine do that flippy thing too when it started growing past my shoulders, back when I had it that long. And yeah, you should be proud, even of stuff that's "just" sketches! Things don't have to be all big and finished and fancy to be fun and delightful to make/see I say, to both of us, because I know the phrase "perfect is the enemy of done," but following it is another beast entirely... And it doesn't matter how much relative screentime they got, Kurama loves his family so much he wrangled a magic cellphone that worked across dimensions in the frickin' 90s so yeah! They do deserve art!

I unfortunately don't have much recent YYH art, since I was in an art rut for a long while after high school, and what broke me out of it until I burned out again oops was my favorite video game, so it's. Kinda mostly stuff for that, plus some other fanart. ^^' But the (currently) third post in my art tag is Karasu, at least! (You might also like the Yami Bakura at the bottom of the first page? At the least, I'm pretty proud of the method/effect/lighting I did for it, and how his bloody grin turned out. >:D) I remember the drawing I was most proud of in high school had been Kurama based on some official art, which I added legs to (because it/the version I had cut off around the waist or so). At the time, I couldn't see anything outright wrong with it/how I could've done better, but I knew I would be able to someday...I really wanna find and redraw it, to see how much better I can do now! But alas, it hasn't turned up in any of the old (physical) art folders I've gone through yet. A few other YYH drawings did, though, if you wanna see some of my ooold stuff (from like...2005, haha).

Yeah, for knitting there's like...some stuff I have memorized now 'cause I've done 'em so much, but. I definitely double-check tutorials now and then to make sure I'm not doing things wrong. (Like I did when I first picked it back up, and was accidentally knitting through the back loop instead of normally...not a huge issue/difference, but still. Oops. XD) And AAAA THOSE ARE ALL SO COOL!! The first two seem absolutely on-brand for you/your two kins, hehe. The rose is so neat...it looks like it's done as one spiral, but had something about the construction that formed a wavy effect that imitates having a bunch of petals? So cool. oAo Love how nerdy most of the gifts you made are, too! Is the cube reinforced at all, or does the density of the yarn manage to help it keep shape? AND THE CAT PLUSH IS SO GOOD, WHAT A FUN BIG LITTLE CREATION, AND ITS YARN LOOKS SO SOFT. AND THE MACARON SOUNDS SO CUTE!! I love the sound of the alterations you've been doing, such excellent little bonus touches to make it that much more delightful!

I...am realizing I don't have very many photos of the things I've knitted. Or they're stuck in progress because I have particular ideas for how I want to finish them, but haven't figured out how to do that yet. I know when I first knit in high school, I probably started with a simple scarf and some dishcloths, as you do. I remember a neon-green easy-lace capelet that I gave to a friend after I realized I had uh...nothing that it matched to wear with. Also a tank top from a "here's all you need to knit [X]!" kit my mom got me. Then I stopped knitting until...*checks dates of folders* 2021, when I found someone who took crochet commissions to make a hood pattern for me, and they ended up with an extra skein left over, so. I figured I'd make some small accessories to match with it...all unfinished, but I've got some flowers planned, myself! For finished stuff...I've made a pair of green fingerless gloves (photographed in front of the dust cover I knitted for my tablet--first photo has better color accuracy, second shows off texture better). I'd swapped out regular rib knit on the cuff section for a funky zig-zag type that I liked better. I also made some red armwarmers, with a shifting cable situation I added to the back (that's supposed to branch from tiny, to medium, to wide, though the wide set is a bit flat). Currently I'm trying to design some bees, as anatomically accurate and at the smallest size that I can manage! (Pardon the inaccurate colors on them, I've been testing with some extra yarn so I don't mess up the yarn I plan to actually use. XD) I'll be using the stripe pattern on the left, and have since figured out a way to flatten the heads out for more accuracy. The current stage I'm on is trying to figure out the best way to get the legs to work! (Could I just attach a couple chains and call it good? Sure. OR I could spend days/weeks testing out combinations of chain + cord + methods of forming joints + figuring out a way to make it so the workers because I'm also designing drone and queen variants ahaha can have an anchor to embroider a full pollen basket onto their back legs...) I have...so many more ideas for things I wanna try to design, but. I'll get to them eventually. BEES FIRST

Perfectionism is...certainly making designing these bees take longer than it could. >_> But I like the results I'm landing on, soo...oh well. <.<' I find it slightly easier to break through the perfectionism block when it comes to drawing, by tricking my brain into making something deliberately "sketchy" (even if I end up overworking it past that stage asldfkjs). Post-it doodles are SO much easier to just...do, and finish, than if I try to draw on nice paper or pull out my tablet. In part 'cause the tiny size limits how much detail there can be, and in part because it's like...it enforces a "casual" feeling? So you're way less likely to run into the trap of "but I wanna make it NICE," because it's "just whatever" on purpose. But "just whatever" can still turn out pretty good. Ah, I hope you have the energy to get back to writing again soon, as well! The responses on your ask blog that I checked out were so thorough and thought-out! oAo (I also see that someone asked about demons' reproductive anatomy, and that tangentially reminded me that I have headcanoned that at least some demons have a crop like birds and insects do--because that makes more sense to me as far as where Yukina and Mukuro stored the hiruiseki long-term, rather than the stomach, where things go to get digested.) As for the lingering asks in your inbox, that is one of the wonderful things about text-based communication--so long as wherever it's written continues to exist, you can (generally) come back to it and respond at any time! I know that easy access to fast chat/messaging/texting/etc. has made some folks feel like they need to reply to everything now now now, but...unless it's an emergency, or otherwise time-sensitive, I don't feel like that should be the case. It's stressful, and for what? If you forgot what you were discussing, the messages are there to re-read. (I mean, it's more understandable to fret over if you're prone to forgetting about a message if you set it aside after reading it, and want to avoid that. But even then! It's still there, waiting just fine! And folks should be allowed the grace of "oh shit sorry I meant to reply and then forgot," because so many things can cause that. But maybe that stems from my propensity for the flip side of time blindness--where there can be days/months/years between communications, and yet they can be picked up as if no time had passed.)

DANGARANG I was gonna send you the clip I have saved of Yusuke getting rotated, but apparently videos aren't allowed in reblogs. Oh well. XD (I forget which episode it was, but it was in Chapter Black, after the group gets through the psychic trials and find out Genkai set it up.) But I love how you've adapted the phrase for frequent use, that sounds hilarious. :D And I dunno if it counts as a meme as such, but...well, I had been naming the screenshots I took while I watched through the series in descriptive ways (typically to sum up context but sometimes for comedy), and when Sensui did the "Hard Ki Gun" thing, I saved one shot as a baffled "MAN DOOR HAND GUN CAR DOOR WHAT" (though if I dropped the logical pairing of "hand gun," the utter shock of that scene would be better written as "man door hand hook car GUN")

I've had cats throughout my life, too! And yeah, the little mlem when he licks his arm is just. Peak cat behavior. But also his propensity for sleeping in trees, and being up high, and taking frequent naps (like when he went "fuck this I'm taking a nap wake me up when you're done" because he couldn't play video games so he couldn't do anything to help against Gamemaster) asldfjs there's SO MUCH it's so funny.

Asdlkfja and clasping hands dot meme (again) at needing more storage space for things that don't necessarily need to be saved...I record cutscenes when I play some video games, especially if they're unrepeatable, so uh. I do have several duplicates of given cutscenes, just 'cause I've got a bunch of different characters who went through them...so I absolutely feel you on wanting to keep them all. XD

ALSDKJFSA I GASPED OUT LOUD WHEN I CHECKED YOUR ICON EDITS you keep making Kurama SO PRETTY. I mean he always is but you TURNED IT UP TO ELEVEN. Also oh snap a collar when did that art happen, where's that sourced from? I don't think I've seen that one before. oAo He should get to have a collar more often, as a treat. And that official art where Hiei has one of the hiruiseki as an earring is just. SO GOOD. One of my favorites of him.

Oh oh I remembered earlier the other situation where Kurama went along with a plan to convince [someone] that [someone else] was dead. At the end of the Dark Tournament, when Kurabara was severely wounded while they were collectively fighting Toguro, he asked Kurama to act as if he had died, so that Yusuke would get pissed off enough to win. So TWICE it's specifically been Kuwabara asking Kurama to help him convince Yusuke that [someone] died. I am now convinced that the bit on the Dance Mix CD was absolutely a third instance of that plot between those two. XD (Hilariously, it's a prank that Bakura pulls with someone in YGO once, as well. So many little parallels he's got with Kurama, it's ridiculous. And no worries! Same hat on having a long list of things I'd like to watch eventually, but my brain just almost never being in the mood to watch things, even if it's otherwise bored...)

Oooh, yes please, I'd love a few choice song recommendations! I think another thing that might make my brain bounce off playlists is that it goes "stars too long, can't do it, not today"...even though I can and do listen to music while I do other things! So having just a handful should make it more agreeable. I think I generally also prefer rock, so I dunno if that helps narrow it down salkdjfa I guess I also like some ballads and folk music? Though that might sometimes be 'cause they lean towards being morbid or have rock vibes or are particularly catchy?? But whatever you think I should specifically check out would be good! (Maybe also if any of them have cellos? It's one of my favorite instruments oh to have the same vocal range. I was so sad when I checked through the Rasputina songs I have and none of them really stood out as potential recommendations, haha. Crunchy rock-style cello is SO FUN. I guess maaaaaybe Hunter's Kiss as like a tragic Kurahi AU sort of thing? But I'm just stretching feasibility as an excuse to recommend the band 'cause I love their sound, so it's probably not quite playlist-worthy. XD Maybe Transylvanian Concubine as a general recommendation/if you like vampires, just 'cause the rhythm of the song is fun to sing along with, and the lyrics are delightful with how the ending word of one line is the starting word of the next.)

I also totally get needing songs to hit Just Right to warrant being on a playlist hello perfectionism my old friend. I'm so glad you enjoyed some of my recommendations! :D (Awww that post about your specific aspec headcanons for how Hiei and Yukina are is so sweet! Poor goobers, trying so hard in their own ways. <3) Also agree that Turn Back the Clock is too specific to fit just right. It had come to mind based on vibes, but I went and listened to it after posting and was all hmmm yeah close but not quite. (Still good for inciting The Feels, just not really for anybody in YYH.) And I'll be sure to ping you if I happen to run across any more songs that fit the series! :3 (...I say, like it's some nebulous future thing when I eventually get back to listening to not-YYH CDs/tracks again...and then immediately go double-check the songs I've got from The Cranberries, just in case. XD 'Cause most of what I've got is sad and solemn so it seems like there shouldn't be anything, but part of my brain was INSISTING there must be something and OOOOH THE ICICLE MELTS, FOR RUI, MOURNING HIEI AND HINA AND BEING PISSED AT THE OTHER KOORIME...the only flaw to me is "read the paper" would be "I was fucking there" but UGH MY HEART. Oh wow, and maybe Dreaming My Dreams, as Youko to Shiori right after she saves him as a kid? With "your baby" from the first verse being "Shuiichi." ASdlfksj I am SO glad I double-checked, these are SOLID in my brain, and for such rare-to-feature characters!)

What a small 'net! I saw a reblog of your normalize post, & your avatar caught my eye. So I figured I'd peek at your blog in case you had more shiny stuff to see, & noticed you encourage folks tag you in Kurama & Hiei stuff. I pinned in the back of my head that, after checking out your stuff, I should ask if you want a link to skit translations from the Dance Mix CD—then saw YOU'RE the one who made the beautifully-organized Yu Yu Jukebox! That helped me figure out what CDs I wanted to buy! :D <3

yoo hell yeah!! im glad that helped you out!! its always nice to see the things i make can be useful :3 and nice that my kurama icon is catching the eye of fellow yyh fans hehe!

yu yu hakusho is a huuuge hyperfixation of mine, but my adhd has been making me struggle with focusing on doing the creative stuff i wanna do (like drawing and writing), so ive been instead doing a shit ton of other things revolving around yyh- like collecting the music and making the yu yu jukebox channel, ripping frames to post and organize them on my sideblog @reikai-records , and ive also been working on making a dialogue transcript for the dub (still unsure where to put it online when im done with that tho, atm i just have it on google docs, not too far on it)!

i cant remember if ive encountered translations for the skits of the dance mix cd though, id def love to see that!

[rosekasa]

Hello! I am a beginner artist and I love ur art!! Super pretty and the colors are very tasty. Do you have some tips? I'd love to see your art process!

HELLO ANON!! first of all i am very honoured that u would ask me this because 90% of the time i feel like i have no idea what i am doing and like im still a beginner artist myself DSDSJDF. i would love to share some stuff i learnt and some stuff about my process (regardless of how messy it is sdfhsj)

(final piece)

here's an old example of my process i found! while the steps sometimes look different for other pieces, i feel like this is a good demonstration of how the basic structure looks.

1. the sketch - this is where i'm mainly figuring out how i want the piece to look. i was redrawing a screenshot for this piece so it looks a LOT neater than what a lot of my other sketches look like, for example, here's the process of me figuring out my recent drawing of haise:

(final piece)

in the first two steps, i was mainly working with showing myself what the piece was going to be. the last one was where i used references/technical knowledge to try and show whoever will be looking at it what the piece was

2. cleaning up the sketch + base colours. these two usually occur simultaneously because i will get bored cleaning up the sketch midway through and want to start adding colour LMAO. on a more practical note, sometimes putting down the base colours and having a better idea of what the finished product will look like might make it easier to refine things.

a note: cleaning up for me doesn't mean doing lineart. it mostly means erasing any overly messy lines on the sketch and redrawing small parts to make it look tidier where needed. i often leave it 'messy' at this stage, too. like here:

(final piece)

3. light/shadow. this is my FAVOURITE part because it's where the piece starts pulling together. the method i used in the current piece was putting a multiply layer over the colours folder and filling in where light would be obstructed. after that, i used a luminosity layer to put in some bright sunlight. marc brunet has a great way of explaining it by advising to pretend that the light is the camera and you're behind the lens. this is such a good way to block in average light/shadow values! sometimes this looks a bit crazy because everything is still so messy but that is why we have...

4. rendering. this is where i fit all the remaining pieces of the puzzle together. i'll refine the colours a bit more -- e.g. colouring in the eyes, -- and fiddle a bit with the shadows to add some more variation to the hues/value. this is where i think a lot about light and shadow theory and try and make it look more realistic. marco bucci saved my LIFE with his videos about ambient occlusion and ambient light (part 1 / part 2) -- essentially, what i keep in mind the most is that if a plane in shadow is facing the sky (or is open to any other form of light that isn't the direct light source) it will contain ambient light. it is SUCH a game changer when you add it to your pieces, trust me, even if youre lazy about it. if needed i'll pull up some references to make everything look good!

5. rendering... part 2? honestly this step kind of blends with the last one as i tend to do it simultaneously. i basically clean up all the messy lines from before by painting over them! with the majority of the colours i need put down, i can just eyedrop them and paint over anything that's needed. this also comes in with the light/shadow, where, if i need a more subtle hue for either/or, i will eyedrop it and brush it in.

some further notes:

i very rarely use references during the first stages of my sketch. i think it tends to look quite stiff and unnatural if i rely too hard on the. and i personally prefer the creative room when the idea is still being conceived. references come in when i can look at what i have down on the canvas and have a fairly decent idea of what i want, including pose, composition, etc. it's essentially a first draft to guide me to where i want to go with the piece. it's when i'm done with this that i bring out references, and even then, they don't necessarily have to be the exact pose -- i'll usually get a couple of pics which show what i need to double check and keep them up as a guide. by the end of the 'sketch', i usually have a basic construction of what i need to continue, even if it's messy.

i use very soft brushes when putting down colour because it allows for more hue variation. like i said, i enjoy eyedropping and brushing in colours afterwards, so this really helps!

layer modes are ur friend! i try not to rely on them too hard during rendering because i like the freedom of painting over but they're very useful when you're blocking in your initial colours

sometimes, when i feel like i want to try something new with my art, i'll keep pieces that inspire me up in front of me. i have two of sui ishida's art books and sometimes i'll just flick to a page that oils the Art Gears in my brain and keep it open while i draw. i don't necessarily reference it, but i like having it there so i can glance over every once in a while. i don't usually make a conscious choice where i'm like "ok i want to render skin the way he does" but it's more like. my brain knows what it likes in his art and it'll try and push that part of my art in a similar direction.

honestly the best advice i have is that art is very much based on vibes. everytime i've tried to think too much about it, to do things 'correctly', to rigidly stick to art theory, my art has not come out nicely. i think the technical parts of art are important to know and understand but i also think it's important to let your knowledge come through naturally when it is needed instead of pressuring yourself to do things 'right'. tbh you probably already know that but it's something i forget a lot so maybe it serves as a helpful reminder?? sedsfhsl

ANYWAY SORRY THIS WAS SO LONG! i hope i covered what you needed and if you need anything else/want me to expand on anything feel free to drop me another ask ! <3

make sure to look after yourself and trust yourself and ENJOY!!! art is about having fun!