#fonte: snippet and ink

[wannabelilybriscoe]

sunday snippet!

Thank you for the tag @lifeisabitch-butimcute <3

Because it's Mother's Day, I'm going to treat myself and share two snips.

The first is from the new PawP@th adventure, Company Retreat! Very very rough (ruff) and prone to change:

No, when he’d left his parents’ house for good, he hadn’t felt like he was leaving home. He’d felt like he was breaking free.  But this pillow. This pillow which boldly states, in its garish, faux-rustic font, stitched into the fabric like an immutable truth: Home is where the heart is.  The thing that troubles Sirius about this pillow is that it highlights a particular problem he’s facing, which is that his heart is decentralized. Or, perhaps it’s more like a shared object in a multi-threaded environment, simultaneously accessed, each thread with its own read/write privileges. At any given moment, part of his heart could be in the bedroom next to his, or mumbling to himself at the desk next to his, or chatting up a potential brand partner in one of the breakout rooms upstairs, or somewhere ten kilometres away, going for one of his runs at the arse-crack of dawn. At that same moment, another part of his heart could also be in the bedroom next to his, or in their kitchen, griping about their appliances, or in a university lab, making liquid bubble in little beakers (or whatever it is med students do). While the beakers are bubbling away, another part of his heart could be snoring at his feet, little boofs, or romping down a park path ahead of him, or running to greet whoever is at the door.  Another three parts of his heart are across the Atlantic Ocean—two in a comfortable Georgian home in Mayfair that smells of warm spice and sweet roses, where he’d spent quite a bit of time after leaving his parents’ house.  The third part, Sirius isn’t sure where, but he hopes it’s not in their parents’ house.  Several more pieces of his heart can be found scattered around his kitchen table during their lunch break, or tapping away on their computers in the main work room, or at their own homes, doing whatever they do when they’re not all in the same place, building something together.  And another piece of his heart—a very big piece—can often be found in his kitchen, brow furrowed in thought about some story he's writing as he makes tea, or chatting softly beside him as they walk through the park, or in his bed, sleeping or decidedly not—both are excellent scenarios—or listening to records on his couch beside the ghastly pillow that states, like it’s a rule, Home is where the heart is. Sitting on Sirius’s couch in his pilled sweaters and worn jeans, with his soft curly hair and handsome nose and big brown eyes, smelling of ink and notebook paper, of tea and boy, of comfort and home. Only that very big piece of his heart still decides to leave and go to a house that isn’t Sirius’s at least twice a week, and it’s deeply frustrating.  Because Sirius would like that very big piece of his heart to actually, really be part of his home. Officially. Sharing a couch, and a fridge, and a bed. Every night. Not split between here and a basement apartment in the St. Clair West Village that smells of weed and mildew.

And as a bonus, a lil preview of the intro to a one-shot I'm sporadically working on that I'm tentatively titling skipped notes:

Maybe time isn’t just a flat circle. Maybe we’re not just repeating history, spinning around over and over again, life after life, ad infinitum, ad nauseum, amen. Maybe time is more like a vinyl record, where each pass under the needle wears the grooves a little more, distorts the sound a little further, so that it starts to skip, so that on the next turn around, you wonder what’s missing, and where those missing parts went. Maybe those little missed notes, those little pockets of silence, of something lost, scattered into the ether, turn into bigger pockets of silence, until the record is more skipped notes than sound, until it stops turning altogether. Maybe that’s how a universe ends. Maybe that’s how a new one is born. 

No pressure tagging @severedreamerfox @leavesthatarebrown @r33sespieces @moonheavens @barkingatthemooninsteadofwriting @zoemillinwrites @je-suis-imparfait

[flightyalrighty]

What have been some of your big inspirations/points of education* with your comic work?

*could mean learning resources but also just, good advice you got once or improvements to your workflow you figured out

Thanks for this ask!! :]

I went to the School of Visual Arts, where I majored in Cartooning! A lot of what I learned, I learned from Indie Cartoonist Jason Little and DC/Marvel Editor Joey Cavalieri, both of whom taught multiple classes I've taken (mainly fundamental stuff but there were also some extra classes with them like Jason taught my Digital Comics course and Joey taught my History of Cartooning class). I learned how to draw trees from Jason. And from reading Pogo.

I've drawn a lot of inspiration in my storytelling from both Bone and Hellboy, mostly! Both Jeff Smith and Mike Mignola are masters of pacing in comics, and if you happen to be unfamiliar with their works, I can't recommend them enough. Besides those two, the rich, moody internal monologues of Spider-Man: Blue and Spider-Man: Evolve or Die are things I often think about when it comes to dialogue writing. That and (at least when it comes to writing Rouge's dialogue) my older sister. Just, like, in general. Pay attention to how the people around you speak. It helps a ton when figuring dialogue.

Hellboy is getting mentioned again because Mignola's heavy inks are something I like to look over in order to learn from and improve myself. Hellboy, Carl Barks's Donald Duck comics, Asterix & Obelix, Will Eisner's various works, Calvin and Hobbes ALL have this beauty in their inking that can really inspire. Personally, I'd like to get a bit messier with my inking. Messy inks feel so alive. They're so visually interesting.

For colors, I highly recommend this book. I've read it and re-read it as much as possible. It may be for painters, but cartoonists can and should learn from all kinds of art forms. The works of Moebius were also mega foundational for me in learning how to color my comics. The man knew his palettes and how to not confine himself too much to what's "realistic". Speaking of painters (you may roll your eyes at this one) I'm also a fan of Frank Frazetta.

For panelling, I only have one true inspiration, and that's the work of Tess Stone. I grew up reading Hanna Is Not A Boy's Name. It changed how I viewed the limitations of panelling forever. Of course, it may be harder to find that comic these days, so here's a snippet:

Basic advice: really really take your time taking in art that you like, and try to reverse-engineer how it was made in your head. Heck, even if there's art you DON'T like, overall, but has elements you DO like, you can learn from that, too!

Okay! Sorry for rambling! Now here's the thing you're actually here for:

How To Think When You Draw collection of REALLY GOOD tutorials for whatever you need, these guys helped me out a ton when I was figuring the jungle scenes early in Infested.

This Pinterest Which Has Absolutely Everything You Can Possibly Think Of For References And Inspiration Sources.

An Extremely Good Font Site That Is Used By Professionals In The Comics Industry To Letter Their Comics.

The Most Important Book Any Cartoonist Can Read

A Different Book By The Same Man About Making Comics (for free, thanks Internet Archive)

Perspective For Comic Book Artists, thanks again Internet Archive

As for workflow... Man, I wish I could give you any kinda advice on that. I'm struggling with it, myself. I guess I've got two things?

If you have multiple deadlines for, say, multiple commissions or something, or you're trying to put out a weekly comic, but you're also doing something else, break the day up into time slots for each project, and switch the moment it's time to. Keep yourself on that schedule. I'm not very good at this.

I draw pretty detailed thumbnails, so sometimes I'll skip the penciling step in comics and blow up the thumbnail to ink over that. It's faster for sure! It's not always the right solution, however.

Thanks for reading! I hope any of what I've said helps at all!

[inafieldofdaisies]

OC Tattoo Tag | Tagged by @chazz-anova ❤️

Does your OC have any tattoos? If not, do they want any? She does.

If the answer to both questions above is ‘no’, does your OC enjoy the aesthetic of tattoos? If not, is there a reason why?

How does your OC act while they’re getting a tattoo? Do they grit their teeth and deal with the pain, do they need something to hold onto while getting inked, ect.? She has relatively good pain tolerance, so she'd sit through the session on her own.

Would your OC ever get a face or hand tattoo? Not really.

List any of their tattoos/prospective tattoos below. Feel free to add any meaning they may have. Sabrina has two small black butterflies on her right clavicle, a way of carrying her family with her anywhere she goes. One butterfly for her late father and another for her sister, Savannah. There's more to the choice of tattoo, why she got them, when, etc, but it's story relevant and not revealed yet.

Does your OC have any tattoos? If not, do they want any? He does and some of them... are weird :D

If the answer to both questions above is ‘no’, does your OC enjoy the aesthetic of tattoos? If not, is there a reason why?

How does your OC act while they’re getting a tattoo? Do they grit their teeth and deal with the pain, do they need something to hold onto while getting inked, ect.? Like he'd show he's in pain or ask anyone to hold his hand, pfft. If you ask him, he'd tell you the fact he was a bit drunk when getting some of them probably helped.

Would your OC ever get a face or hand tattoo? Hand, yes. Face, hell no.

List any of their tattoos/prospective tattoos below. Feel free to add any meaning they may have.

Starting off with something teased in a recent wip snippet: "Sex is my only religion", right above his hip and written in a fancy, hard to read if not very up close font. "Make it look tasteful." It's pretty much a "fuck you" to Joseph's preachings. Imagine Mary May's reaction when she figures out what it says. 😂

Rib zone, on his left side: two family members initials followed by date of death in roman numerals. A reminder of why he needs to make Joseph and the Project pay.

A couple of smaller tattoos that would be revealed later on, and should be kept a secret for humor purposes, a.k.a Mary May being dumbfounded when she asks him to explain them away. Place your bets right now, if Zorro is commemorated on his body somehow too.

Does your OC have any tattoos? If not, do they want any? She doesn't have any. She probably would have ended up getting one upon retiring from her cons. Most likely, a quote in latin.

If the answer to both questions above is ‘no’, does your OC enjoy the aesthetic of tattoos? If not, is there a reason why?

How does your OC act while they’re getting a tattoo? Do they grit their teeth and deal with the pain, do they need something to hold onto while getting inked, ect.?

Would your OC ever get a face or hand tattoo? Face, no. Hand, maybe, but something small on her arm, not a full sleeve or anything.

List any of their tattoos/prospective tattoos below. Feel free to add any meaning they may have.

Does your OC have any tattoos? If not, do they want any? He does.

If the answer to both questions above is ‘no’, does your OC enjoy the aesthetic of tattoos? If not, is there a reason why?

How does your OC act while they’re getting a tattoo? Do they grit their teeth and deal with the pain, do they need something to hold onto while getting inked, ect.? He'd push through, no matter what.

Would your OC ever get a face or hand tattoo? Face, no. Hand, not very likely.

List any of their tattoos/prospective tattoos below. Feel free to add any meaning they may have. Leslie has one: a small-ish black and white tattoo of a swallow on his right side close to where he had been shot in the past, way before Sabrina became his partner. The bird is considered a symbol of rebirth and passage through tough times, so he got it as a reminder he had pulled through and survived.

Tagging, @socially-awkward-skeleton @josephseedismyfather @josephslittledeputy @clicheantagonist @direwombat @adelaidedrubman @aceghosts @euryalex @jillvalentinesday @g0dspeeed @stacispratt @strafethesesinners @madparadoxum @voidika @nightbloodbix @strangefable @poisonedtruth @thesingularityseries @the-silver-chronicles @shegetsburned @theelderhazelnut @florbelles @corvosattano @dumbassdep @cassietrn @trench-rot @sstewyhosseini and anyone that would like to do the tag ❤️

[this-is-not-a-slow-burn]

So I have, perhaps as always, bitten off more than I can chew in selecting a 50K+ word fic as a first bookbinding project. But it is, to no level of shock, my OTP. My heart of hearts, my everloving delight. So I could never choose another.

I've done some rudimentary pamphlet notebooks with simple folds, simple sewn binding, and flat sheet covers, but never a full on hardcover book, with all the papers, adhesives, bindings, and measuring (ugh) involved. It's a daunting task, which I've slowly gathered the pieces for over the course of literal years.

But it isn't just about the physical pieces. There's an entire typesetting aspect, and this is another layer to get bogged down in. Too many choices. Too many typefaces and fonts, too many ornamentations, too many stylistic text placement options, too many elements to pick and choose from.

And I love it.

The current obsession hunt is one of typefaces, of testing the feel and readability, of the financial accessibility (I am a broke bitch. Free is my budget) and the suitability for the text. Does it give the illusion of being written and/or typset in it's time, or is this a later edition? Is this a re-telling, or just a modernized typeface copy made of an original?

So if you see someone wandering the sidewalk covered in little snippets of text, that may be me. I do enjoy a good roll around in the ink.

[lovaboy]

muriel and crowley snippets bc i've been thinking abt them all dayyy and i need to put these out somewhere even if it's not in their full form 😵‍💫

“I only ask ‘cause, you know, we don’t technically need to sleep, but I’ve been reading a lot and typically humans sleep in actual beds, and certainly not cars because cars are uncomfortable.” They speak with a manner of certainty that comes with experience, except they have none; they’ve never been inside The Bentley, Crowley won’t allow it - Heaven definitely wouldn’t allow it. But people in books don’t sleep in cars, they sleep in beds. Logically, real life should follow suit.

Ah. Crowley’s raising an eyebrow expectantly at them from behind his glasses. Perhaps they should wrap it up.

“I was just curious is all.” Muriel rocks up onto the tops of their feet, then back onto the heels. “If you’re going to sleep anywhere, why sleep in a vehicle?”

Crowley dumps the books into Muriel’s arms unceremoniously - as they struggle to keep from dropping any, surprised by the sudden weight, Crowley grits out, “Haven’t got anywhere else to go, have I?”

Muriel, hat askew and arms full, spares the briefest of glances at the way Crowley’s shoulders are up around pointed ears as he stalks off towards another disorganized bookshelf, and wonders what they’re meant to say to that, if anything at all.

· ───── ·𓏢·♆· ───── ·

“I mean, look at you. Standing all stiff like you’re tied to a stake. Would it kill you to slouch?”

As if illustrating his point, he lets his own posture relax a little more, shoulders slumping, back bending, head lolling slightly to one side and shifting his weight onto one foot. 

Muriel watches him closely. Their brows furrow, a timid look passing across their face.

“That isn’t what we were taught-”

“Oh, fuck what you were taught,” Crowley interrupts, resisting the urge to roll his eyes as Muriel gasps at his swear - with their wide eyes and the hands hovering over their mouth, they almost remind him of Aziraphale the first time Crowley swore in front of him.

He squashes that thought like a bug under his snakeskin heel.

· ───── ·𓏢·♆· ───── ·

The pot housing the snake plant is one of the typical clay pots shopkeeps love to push upon first-time plant parents. It’s littered with meticulously painted-on drawings of various types of flowers (daisies, yellow roses, pink tulips, mums, sunflowers, yellow daffodils - lots of yellow here, what is it with angels and the color yellow?)

Still, he has to admit it’s quite impressive to fit so many flowers on such a small pot while retaining the fact that they are, indeed, flowers, and not just messy splotches of color. Seems Muriel has the same artistic talent as Aziraphale.

The plant itself is doing well - its leaves are a lovely green, their edges the color of vanilla cream, and not a spot can be seen among them as they stretch towards the sky. The soil is slightly damp as if it had just recently been watered.

Tucked securely into the soil so as to not blow away on the wind is a folded square of paper with Mr. Crowley written on it in curly blue-inked font.

[kdm13]

Rules: share the first lines of ten of your latest fanfics (or up to if you have less!) & tag 10 people. i was tagged by @staravya and i guess i'm just gonna try to find my ten most recently edited wips that aren't, you know, group things that are never going to be posted publicly because there's Too Much Lore (small roleplay servers that go on for years be like that lol)

Tagging: idk. uhhhhhhh @thedreamparadox and @scatterpatter i guess lmao. i'm not sure who's all done this sort of thing already, but consider yourself tagged if you want to do it

Childhood of Dreams (Bendy and the Dark Revival technically). haven't written much more than this and none of it is polished but it's the most recent thing i've worked on that wasn't what i posted yesterday lmao

2. haven't actually titled this one yet, but i saw a fun poem format and wanted to play in it lmao. i'm not sure how i feel about the last two stanzas, so i haven't posted it yet. not sharing more than this because there's so much i might change about it. can't stop won't stop writing cyclical poetry about batim, apparently

3. the Key to the Ink Machine (the fic i keep alluding to in tags occasionally. crossover between Bendy and the Ink Machine, Ducktales (2017), and Kingdom Hearts. plus Max is there) y'all this one takes so much work but i wanna get it all done before i post it because it insists on being written in weird orders lmao. i have never done so much filling in the gaps before while writing in my life i swear to peck

4. lmao this one is literally just titled "Doey companion story" rn because i never got far enough to give it a proper title. one of those "this fic got a lot of attention which has given me motivation to write about more in this vein" that quickly just fell to the wayside

5. Making a Demon (more batim fic. it's like one of my friend groups got real into it or something lmao) do not ask me why the font is different, i do not remember. this is one of three fics that i hope to finish around the same time, or at least be able to post in a certain order. it's very "what happens when you tear a cartoon into a world with complex shadows and mistreat them as they're trying to learn to understand the world?"

6. Unfinished Business (fnaf fic somehow lmao) i've been poking at this chapter on and off for uh. a while now. oops whoops. gosh this snippet seems out of nowhere if you haven't read the rest of the fic lmao

7. Ango's Field Trip (TAZ Balance/Amnesty crossover) haha i have been working on this chapter on and off for. even longer than the previous one! fuck!

8. the years start coming and they don't stop coming and they don't stop coming and they don't stop coming (Indigo Park) i uh. actually started working on this not long after the first chapter dropped. there were hardly any fics. i had hoped to be one of the first. that. did not happen. what's a focus can you eat it

9. Toon Logic (more Bendy fic oops whoops. there's a reason this series has its own folder in ellipsus) Bendy, after being forced into a small form for the first time, has to figure out how to use the power of comedy instead of horror to escape Wilson's grasp

10. technically it's supposed to be one of the side stories for the huge crossover here, but it contains spoilers for that fic (even the title does), so. next most recent instead! A Call for Help (batim) takes place after the first novel. in first person because that's how Buddy wanted it written i guess idk. another of the three fics i hope to finish around the same time and post alongside each other

bonus: Possessive Tendencies (batim) takes place directly after the third novel ends. the third of the ones i hope to finish and start posting around the same time. idk why Rose isn't sticking to the first person of the novels, but here we are. the reason i want to start posting these three around the same time is there's non-consensual (and harmful) body-sharing in this one where Bendy starts out harmful gremlin, and i definitely do not want this one to be the first proper story batim fic i publicly post. then there's non-consensual (but friendly) body-sharing in A Call for Help. and then Making a Demon starts out with Bendy being super confused (but friendly) and exposed to the eldritch horrors that are complex shadows without solid lines to make things clear. so. yeah. i basically really want to write and post this one, but also want it to not be anyone's first exposure to my writing. like, this story is a delight (also Rose needs more love), but i don't normally write the bean so mean, nor do i normally write body-sharing so negatively. i figure posting it alongside the other two will negate the negativity of this one

[callunavulgari]

Scrapbook 2023 | Pt III

For anyone that’s new to this, this is how I keep track of all of the things that I enjoy and/or create throughout the year. I have literally been doing this since I had a livejournal.

It’s a nice little snippet of my life and helps to organize my brain.

A reminder:

Normal font - Indifferent/Neutral Italicized font - Enjoyed bold font - Loved with an asterisk* - All time favorite (bracketed titles) - Re-watches/Re-reads strikethough - Disliked

Goals are: read 65 books, finish 4 video games, write more than 20 fics or something larger than 20k, and expand on your original novel outline to the point that you START WRITING.

Past Years

MOVIES

October

(Nightmare Before Christmas)

(Hocus Pocus)

(Coraline)

(The Lost Boys)

TV SHOWS

October

The Wheel of Time, s2

Castlevania: Nocturne, s1

Loki, s2

The Fall of the House of Usher

Scavengers Reign s1

YOUTUBE CHANNELS

October

Beryl Shereshewsky

Watcher: Ghost Files

Watcher: Food Files

Imamu Room

Inga

BOOKS

October

Jade City by Fonda Lee [Fin]

Witch King by Martha Wells [Fin] 

Ink Blood Sister Scribe by Emma Torzs [Fin] 

Love Theoretically by Ali Hazelwood [Fin]

Goblin Mode by Mckayla Coyle [Fin]

How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix

PODCASTS

October

N/A

VIDEO GAMES

October

Baldur’s Gate 3

Stardew Valley

POSTED FIC

October

just a little bit closer, baby | Stranger Things | Chrissy/Eddie/Steve | 2,734 words | “He’s sure, Chrissy,” Steve says, voice warm.

Ghost Story | Stranger Things | Eddie/Steve | 2,559 words | Eddie wakes to darkness. 

mommy don't know daddy's getting hot | Stranger Things | Steve/Eddie | 1,611 words |  “Just— Christ, Steve. Fuck me, already. Fill me up, put a baby in me or whatever weird hetero bullshit your brain has a boner for, just do it.”

the icarus to your certainty | Marvel | Loki/Thor | 1,687 words | “Can’t you see that you’re lost without me?” Loki asks softly, his mouth twisted into a strange, sad little smile.

build your altar here | Star Wars | Reylo | 5,486 words |  When Leia had first offered up Ben’s condo as a place for Rey to stay while she got back on her feet, she’d foolishly assumed that it was some kind of subletting situation.

WIPS | UNPUBLISHED | ORIGINAL

October

455 words of Rocky Horror Eddie in a corset

Fanmixes/Spotify Playlists/Graphics

October

October Vibes

DELIGHTFUL FIC

October

Substitute by entanglednow | Stranger Things | Steve/Eddie | 1k | In which Eddie suffers a little manhandling, and has a lot of feelings about it.

Sharing by Asidian | BG3 | Poly Group | 3k | What he doesn't expect is for Halsin to say, "I believe we have something to discuss," casually, as he scrambles eggs for everyone's breakfast one morning.

Silver-Tongue by starkraving | BG3 | Karlach/Astarion | 9k |  Astarion fast-talks an abnormal number of enemies into killing themselves in the shadow-cursed lands and the team makes idle (then less idle) conversation about it.

Gambler's Knife by thegeminisage | Star Trek | Kirk/Spock | 22k |  Some things you carry with you wherever you go.

Some Culinary Advice by Asidian | BG3 | Astarion/Gale | 2k | Burning soup. It smells quite a lot like burning soup.

Bulwark by entanglednow | Stranger Things | Steve/Eddie | 2k | Steve doesn't think he's the sort of person that could pull off a tattoo, Eddie has opinions on that.

Beating The Heat by entanglednow | Stranger Things | Steve/Eddie | 14k | In which the heat is unbearable and Eddie has taken to wearing his hair up. Steve suspects he's doing it on purpose, it's going to be a long summer.

Driftwood by ryttu3k | BG3 | Astarion | 3k | With Cazador dead, Astarion breaks down. His companions are there to pick up the pieces.

Hoarding Tendencies by Asidian | BG3 | Astarion/Gale | 4k | "My word," says Gale, caught between taken aback and genuinely impressed. "Where does this all fit in your pack?"

A Timeline Torn by RBnC (thedeadcheese) | Danny Phantom | Danny/Vlad | 72k | Danny gets trapped in an alternate Timeline. With no way of going back, he has to make a new life in a world that resembles his own, but isn't.

Phantom of Truth by Haiju | Danny Phantom | Gen | 58k | Locked away in a secret government lab with Phantom as her sole object of study, nothing stands between Maddie and the truth... except, perhaps, herself.

Instincts Will Lead You Home by Onikotsu | Danny Phantom | Danny/Vlad | 12k |  Sometimes Vlad really hated his inability to say no to the people he cared about.

Holy Smoke by entanglednow | Stranger Things | Steve/Eddie | 2k | Steve had always assumed that Eddie knew what he was doing,

cushion by Adure | Stranger Things | Steve/Eddie | 2k | Steve is crammed on the couch with three other people, high out of his goddamn mind, when Eddie Munson saunters over and decides that his lap is going to be his spot for the night.

scheming on a thing by greatunironic | Stranger Things | Steve/Eddie | 32k |  It’s 1994, and Eddie’s been a guest of Uncle Sam at Pelican Bay since it opened in ‘89, when his public defender stopped defending and he resigned himself to the sixty to life bag the Spring Break of ‘86 had left him holding.

The End Of The Line by entanglednow | Stranger Things | Steve/Eddie | 6k | Eddie knows better than to ignore a phone ringing in the middle of the night. After everything they've done for him the least he can do is be there for a friend in need.

Guest by Ever-so-reylo (Ever_So_Reylo) | Star Wars | Reylo | 2k | Kylo Ren returns to his Destroyer to find Rey in his quarters: a missing scene from The Rise of Skywalker.

Through the sorrow, all through our splendor by Ever-so-reylo (Ever_So_Reylo) | Star Wars | Reylo | 7k |  “Do you remember when I killed you?”

living in a lunar spell by ricyihkasl (calciseptine) | Stranger Things | Steve/Eddie | 3k | Steve follows his instincts, for better or worse.

Sustenance by spicedrobot | BG3 | Gale/Astarion | 2k |  “You look ill, friend,” Gale said.

Ready for Love by idiopathicsmile | Singin in the Rain | Cosmo/Kathy/Don | 13k | Don and Kathy inviting him along on their honeymoon, though—that part was a surprise.

DELIGHTFUL FANVIDS

October

multifandom | what's stopping you now

Miles Morales

DELIGHTFUL MUSIC

October

[myfontz]

50 Best Hand Lettered Fonts

link (10 su 50)

[nectarine-pit]

I finished fancomic pencils!! and font lettering, balloons, and paneling! still gotta do a bunch of hand lettering, """chapter""" titles & headers, and cover, but I want to start INKING and so I'm gonna. flamecon here I come!! here's one more tiny panel snippet in the meantime!

[snickerdoodlles]

was rewatching bb (as one does) and the scene in the cafeteria when Korn winks at wai... If u look closely i think he's actually winking at pran,, responding to prans nod. also, the angle also makes it seem like it. this ask has no point i just got excited and u have your kornpran friendship agenda so yeah...they're besties who tease wai and pat together. thank u for your service btw. i absolutely love all your bb fics...💗💗💗💗💗

you know when someone waves at you and you wave back, only to realize the person was actually waving at the person behind you? that’s korn winking at wai or pat. it’s never actually for them, it’s a signal to his bestie pran standing behind them that the day’s prank is a-go

the kornpran agenda is ALWAYS import, so thank u for thinking of me during your rewatch 🥺💕 and thank you for you’re sweet words ajkfdkjdf, here’s a sneak peek at the first ~600 words or so of my next kornpran friendship WIP ❤❤ (*see full snippet under the read more)

):)  (:(

Korn’s going to pass all his classes thanks to his new best friend.

Pran is the best study buddy. Sure, he has negative interest in learning engineering concepts, but he lets Korn rant when he’s stuck. (“Really?” “Honestly, I’m so used to Wai bitching as we work that it’s the perfect white noise to me now.” “I feel unloved.” “What can I say? I thrive when you suffer.”) It’s so much better than studying with Pat or Mo--Korn actually gets a chance to figure shit out, instead of one of the geniuses just doing his homework with a vague Like this, see?

So yeah, reserving a room with Pran? Secret to academic success right here. Korn’s currently spending today’s study date just whining about his stupid calculus professor, but he’s doing it with his head pillowed on his textbook and he’s probably absorbing the information via osmosis or something.

“No cheat sheets unless they’re permanent tattoos,” Korn mimics in his whiniest voice. “Asshole. Professor Worapong says he’ll give us all the equations we need, but in the midterm he only gave us the general equation, which we’d spent a week deriving all our other equations from at the start of the term. Like what the fuck? We only have two hours to do an exam, does he want to test us on how well we actually apply the knowledge or just our powers of derivation? Ugh.”

Pram hums and taps the back of his pen against the table thoughtfully. Korn twists so that he can see Pran better; he doesn’t usually respond to Korn’s whining.

“You said he allows cheat sheets?”

Korn frowns. “Only if they’re tattoos,” he reminds. “If you want to cheat here, you should be ready to cheat in life. He thinks he’s so funny.”

The corners of Pran’s lips twitch. “I meant, he put that in his syllabus?”

“Yes?” Korn wrinkles his nose. “Bolded and fourteen sized font and everything.”

Pran carefully doesn’t look at Korn. “Did you know that if you only ink the surface of your skin, a permanent tattoo will eventually fade and drain away?”

Korn stares at Pran. “What.”

Pran shrugs, still avoiding Korn’s incredulous stare. “You’d have it for a few months. Maybe up to half a year? But…temporary permanent tattoo.”

Korn straightens. He hasn’t blinked once this past minute.

“Amazing,” he breathes out with a wide smile, and Pran blushes. Awww. Then Korn frowns. “Do artists do temporary stuff like that? How much would it even cost?” Korn sticks his tongue out at the thought. “Maybe I should just do it myself…”

Pran snorts. “Absolutely don’t do that, your handwriting is atrocious. See if you can get a tattoo gun and we can do it at my place this weekend.”

Korn takes a second to process that. “You know how to give someone a tattoo?”

“I’ve done it a few times,” Pran says modestly.

“A- A few times? How? When?!”

Pran scoops up his markers. “I have to get to class.”

“I memorized your schedule, no you don’t.”

Pran ignores him. “My place, Saturday, after rugby practice. Bring lunch.”

“Pran.”

Pran makes a hasty retreat. “Text me if you can’t source a gun. Bye.”

“Pran.”

But he’s already gone and down the hall, Korn’s questions trailing behind him. Korn gets the feeling that something sudden and mysterious is going to pop up during tomorrow’s study session too, which means that if Korn wants to know more about Pran’s shady past, he’s going to have to either go through Pat or show up Saturday with hopes of the tattoo drawing out more information.

“Well played, Pran,” Korn murmurs as he pulls out his phone and pulls up machine listings, “Well played.”

[rhinozilla]

WIP Tag Game. I was gonna say Hob Buys Fawney Rig just to troll but I'm intrigued by The Long Night

"The Long Night" is the placeholder name for the three chapter fic I'm working on, where Hob ends up involved in the aftermath of the Madoc/Calliope/Dream events.

Hob spends the early evening dealing with the Madoc bullshit (running off the idea that Madoc was lecturing at the same university where Hob teaches), then spends the later night running into a newly freed Calliope, and ends the wee hours of the morning finding an emotionally wrung out Dream in his flat.

So far I'm only about halfway through the first chapter. Here's a snippet.

--

“Two students found him in here,” Stephen explained, popping open the stairwell door.

Another police officer was standing on the landing inside, taking pictures of the walls.

“Said he was just collapsed on the stairs,” Stephen went on.

Hob followed him, still not sure why he was being shown this…as if it was some kind of…crime…scene. His thoughts trailed off as he looked up. The formerly plain painted walls were marred with words…written in the unhinged font of someone desperate to put ink to their thoughts. But the ink was red…and the ink wasn’t ink.

“Fucking Hell,” Hob breathed, stepping past Stephen and stare at the horrors scribed onto the walls.

“It’s blood,” Stephen said. “His own blood. Bastard tore open his fingers and did all this…If I believed in it, I’d say he was possessed by something.”

“You said two students found him?” Hob asked, eyes tracing the jagged words without really reading them. “Did he say anything to them?”

Stephen sighed. “He…One of the last things he said that sounded coherent was…The student said he told her that he had someone locked in his apartment. To go let them out and tell them it was over or…something like that. Absolute nonsense.”

Hob continued to frown, staring at the scribblings on the wall.

[mossyshadows]

fragments #2

back again already? yes. start w entry one though. 

this time, we’re looking at just one example of this writer’s work who is often quoted on here.

1. the snippet  

When does a war end? When can I say your name and have it mean only your name and not what you left behind?

2. what does it make you think of? 

3. no genuinely, what image does it conjure up for you? what emotions? who is this ‘your’ in your opinion? 

4. now read below the cut 

.

(note: abuse, ptsd)

5. 

That time when I was five or six and, playing a prank, leapt out at you from behind the hallway door, shouting Boom! You screamed, face raked and twisted, then burst into sobs, clutching your chest as you leaned against the door, gasping. I stood, confused, my toy Army helmet tilted on my head. I was an American boy parroting what I saw on TV. I didn’t know that the war was still inside you, that there was a war to begin with, that once it enters you it never leaves—but merely echoes, a sound forming the face of your own son. Boom.

(…)

The time, at fourteen, when I finally said stop. Your hand in the air, my face stinging from the first blow. Stop, Ma. Quit it. Please. I looked at you hard, the way I had learned, by then, to look into the eyes of my bullies. You turned away and, without a word, put on your wool coat and walked to the store. I’m getting eggs, you said over your shoulder, as if nothing had happened. But we both knew it was over. You’d never hit me again.

Monarchs that survived the migration passed this message down to their children. The memory of family members lost from the initial winter was woven into their genes.

When does a war end? When can I say your name and have it mean only your name and not what you left behind?

The time I woke into an ink-blue hour, my head—no, the house filled with soft music. My feet on cool hardwood, I walked to your room. Your bed was empty. Ma, I said, my body still as a cut flower over the music. It was Chopin, and it was coming from the closet. The door etched in amber light, like the entrance to a place on fire. I sat outside it, listening to the overture and, underneath that, your steady breathing. I don’t know how long I was there. But at one point I went back to bed, pulled the covers to my chin until it stopped, not the song but my shaking. Ma, I said again, to no one, Come back. Come back out.

8. This is by Ocean Vuong. The work is titled “A Letter to My Mother That She Will Never Read”.

9. Published in the New Yorker and I’d highly encourage you to read it in full on the website here, to fully appreciate the monarchs imagery (or i have it saved here if the link doesn’t work. smaller font though) 

10. Feel free to refer back to the original snippet at this point. 

I still stand by my suggestion in the first post so I’ll only touch on it briefly: look up the work you see snippets of, you won’t regret it. 

And I will add that there’s something very uncomfortable about forcing the specific experience of the creator, especially one so personal, into a form that is more ambiguous, more broadly applicable to other scenarios, relatable to the general reader. It’s not necessarily the fault of anyone, I’m not saying that anyone does this intentionally, but it’s something to be aware of when you see literature shared on here. What context is being taken out of this? What layers are missing? 

(on fragmentation: entry three / fragments tag but chronological. feel free to send in examples if you wish. i will also add to it as i read.)

[quillsandsabres]

The Crawling King - Book Review

At the library a couple days ago, a cover sitting on a stand caught my eye:

The book is called The Crawling King, written and illustrated by Einar Baldvin. It contains seven short stories, all of which fall under the horror. Snippets of writing exist between stories as well. Illustrations accompany every story. I am not an artist, so I can't comment much on the artwork other than how much I loved it. They look mainly like ink drawings with thick line art and are often shaded with scribble or blots. I appreciate how the art changes in some aspects to better fit the atmosphere of the story (for example, using colors vs. just black and white, or varying the “cleanliness” of the line art).

Now for the writing itself:

Baldvin's writing style made me a fan. Each of the stories reminded me of fairy tales, except even darker. Little dialogue exists and the sentences are fairly straightforward. Yet, when the story needs it, Baldvin concisely explains monsters and gut-wrenching horrors that leave me reeling. I don't read horror much, but the ideas presented here feel wonderfully fresh—almost inspirational for my own writing.

The pacing also stood out to me. Sometimes, when I already figured out what the conclusion or twist would be, the story felt as though it was going too slowly. Otherwise, the events unfolded quickly, but not so fast that I missed an event or had to go back and reread. Baldvin slows down when describing the monsters I mentioned above, almost forcing you to look the beast in the eye before letting you move on in the story.

However, as one general criticism, I have to say the stories are hard to read sometimes. The font is a little confusing and in some short stories, such as one titled "Hunger," the increasingly messy tatters of paper forced me to reread sentences over and over, unable to figure out what a word was meant to be. I remember actually just moving on once or twice since I spent far too long struggling to read it. I know this was likely a conscious design decision, but they could've made the text easier to read by perhaps writing the words in a different color, like a blood red. Overall, this is a small issue that hardly tainted the experience.

Also, as I mentioned above, I could reasonably see the conclusion of the story sometimes just by reading the first few lines. This is likely due to foreshadowing, but also partially because some stories are very predictable. Predictability isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it did make the stories drag more than anything. As a result, some of the stories were forgettable or annoying.

For anyone who wants a further review of some of the short stories (including spoilers), I'll put my thoughts on my favorite and least favorite story below. If not, skip to Final Thoughts for my rating and the link to purchase the book.

Favorite: “The Fool who Thought it Could Play the Clavichord”

First of all, this title describes me to a T, so of course I was drawn to it.

Second, to summarize the story, a Fool played the clavichord every year in the town festival. They played terribly. However, the townspeople were happy to plug their ears with cotton so that they could applaud their cherished Fool.

One day, two visitors arrive to the town, just in time for the annual festival. But, after hearing the Fool's performance, the two immediately head backstage and cut the Fool's hands off. The Fool runs away and dies outside the town.

In town, a series of spiders found his hands and drank the blood streaming from them. They communicate with the hands, telling them where to crawl. The hands find and grab the two visitors, dragging both to the forest where the Fool's body lay. The spiders used their silk to reattach the hands to the Fool's body, and the Fool strangles the two to death.

The town mourns the loss of the Fool by leaving a clavichord on the stage when he was supposed to perform. However, the rotting corpse of the Fool would appear each year just to play for the people, more beautifully the more years passed by, for as long as the town existed.

This story's tone takes a far different tone compared to the rest of the stories on the list. The ending feels bittersweet, rather than sickening, twisted, or mockingly sad. The Fool and the town's love of the Fool felt refreshingly sweet amongst the darkness of the story, and even spiders, usually villains, are painted in a good light thanks to them helping the Fool. I appreciate that, even though the Fool was not good, the villagers and even the Fool's family did their best to support the Fool's performing, something that doesn't always happen to people in the current day. Many people struggle to really enjoy an activity when they aren't good or are afraid they may not be good. The only difference is that, in real life, those people will get better, unlike the poor Fool in this story.

Least favorite: "Mother"

A boy named Jarin visits his mother, but instead meets a giant centipede that claims it is his mother. The centipede forces Jarin to stay there. In an attempt to find his actual mother, Jarin tries to enter the bedroom every night. The centipede blocks the way almost every time, but when he finally could peer inside, he witnesses a horrific scene: his mother, momentarily escaping the centipede, before succumbing to dust, signaling the rebirth of the centipede. Jarin continues to try to enter the bedroom each night to see his mother for at least a second, eventually staying so long that he convinces himself that he is happy living like this.

The artwork for this story is some of my favorite and the premise is highly interesting. However, the part that gets grating is the narration. Multiple times, the narrator will state something about how a mother's love kept Jarin from leaving. The story, being only about 10 pages, only really needed this statement once to get the point across. The repetitions continued though, and felt tiring or like a jarring tangent from the story. Understandably, love is a strong motivator in many stories and in life, but stories can accomplish this without rubbing the motivation in the reader's face. Other than the grueling description of the mother's fate, not much stands out about the story.

Final Thoughts: 

I would highly recommend this to anyone who is a fan of horror. For anyone hesitates to consume horror, just know that I am a coward. So if I could handle it, you can too.

Star Rating: ★★★★☆

Please check out the book and some other illustrations on the author’s tumblr, @einarbaldvin​ !

[yasminmwong]

Concept 3: Alarming Data

Inspiration

For this cover, I wanted to represent the books outpouring of data, facts and figures that had been collated and carefully researched. The book was originally based on an article for the New York magazine and was expanded to become a non-fiction book. The book isn’t a story, it’s an essay, a collection of data, put together in one book to show exactly how much evidence there is that climate change is happening, and fast.

My original ideas on this were based around incorporating data on climate change as part of the imagery. I found a few examples of data visualisation that had been used by NOAA AND NASA and decided to use these as the jumping off point for conception.

In terms of design style, I was drawn to the works of designers like Roy Cranston.

I really liked the way he played with the typography shapes and sizes, changing the paths the type was on to compliment the shapes in the visual. I wanted to incorporate the shapes of the data in the cover and relate it to the typography.

Experiments

I began experimenting with the different graph shapes that might work for the cover. The line graph was the most commonly used in my research of this data, although some featured bar graphs and other representations. When playing about with the different orientations, I felt like the lines were the the ones I wanted to use.

I felt pretty strongly about representing real data on the cover, as much as the inside uses facts and figures. I took the shapes of the lines from real data on the rising levels of CO2, sea-levels and global temperature.

After I had sketched out these graphs, I looked at the different ways the type could interact with them.

I tried creating some lettering that might work alongside the graph data lines as well. I initially thought it would be good to create letters that looked like the ocean current visualisations. I used an old paintbrush and ink to get the line effect I wanted. I was happy with the end result, but thought overall it seemed too playful to suit the cover of this book. 

I also looked at using charcoal and paint to create some more textured letters. I liked this but felt with the rigidity and clean lines of the data I wanted to represent, it felt disjointed. Taking a look at the style I wanted to emulate, I decided it might be better to use a sans-serif typeface.

After playing with the different ways of layering the line graphs, I took the patterns into illustrator and starting working with the selected type face. I enjoyed playing about with the blending tool in illustrator to create something visually impactful, but I felt it took away from my original concept, and although interesting to look at, it was hard to interpret what was happening. I decided as well that instead of creating shape with the title itself, which I wanted to be bold and clear - I used quotes from the book relating to the data to represent. 

For the background, I tried a variety of different textures. I thought a ground texture might work to loop it back to this idea of ‘Earth’ but similarly to the charcoal, it didn’t feel like it connected as well. I instead went back to the graph paper I used originally. I soaked it in water to make the grid lines bleed a little, to give just a hint of the chaotic events suggested in the book.

Reflection

My final piece was something I was really proud of. I wanted to create something that didn’t directly link to climate change events itself, but much like the book alluded to the overwhelming data that alerts us to a need for intervention. The type I choose was the sans-serif Bhanschrift which, although dark and bold, was written in lowercase. I felt that this was better than all uppercase because the book does not feel like it is shouting ‘This is your fault!’ so much as it is stating matter of factly ‘We need to do something” - clear and concise.  I paired this with the ‘Letter Gothic Standard’. The style seemed to go well with the data theme, having a slight monospace feel as well as looking like traditional typewriter font. 

By using the quote from the book to sit along the lines of information from NASA’s website, I felt I was able to create something visually intriguing, representative of the book, as well as snippet of what’s inside. Using the background of gridlines keeps in theme, but by adding subtle hints of colour and bleeding to the ink, kept the imagery from looking flat, and also linked to the colour palette of other data visualisations.

I think although I choose to do with a font, I would have been interested to find a lettering style that suited the cover. The way the lines of data are drawn may have allowed for a hand written type, although having them different creates a contrast.

[entityneo]

... SO I KNOW I LITERALLY SENT THE MOST RECENTLY POSTED ONE but I have to fling moar wordz. Is the art of this comic actual ink on actual paper, that's then scanned into digital format and given the speech bubbles and stuff? (Also I've had such a wonderful time going through all of the older asks, there's so much I've realized thanks to them and also NapstaNEO getting to look happy absolutely sends me.)

Oh no no! Don’t feel bad for asking at all! (I’m honestly squealing with joy that people are actually interested in our comic!) :’)

I’ve actually always wanted to compile our process on the blog somewhere. Here’s the basics of doing a chapter of the comic!

After discussing concepts (and bugging Mod Migosp with messages until 2 am) Mod Migosp types out a script for the corresponding chapter. Here’s a tiny snippet. Migosp tends to be chill about letting me improv moments. (It’s pretty infamous between us that I tend to turn 5 lines of script into 20 pages. I like making my life hard I guess.)

I try to quickly crank out thumbnails for the pages and I send them to Migosp for approval, just so they get an idea of what I’m planning to show, and give me any feedback I need.

Next, I digitally sketch the pages, lower the opacity of each one, then print them to physically line each one. Lining is the most tedious part of the process for me. (Luckily I’ve gotten 43 out of the 70 pages lined for the latest chapter done so I’m hoping to get to inking soon!)

Inking is definitely the most rewarding step. I tend to map out where I want shadows and lighting to fall and I fill most of it either with brush pen, sharpie for when I’m short on nicer markers, and full acrylic ink with a brush for larger portions such as widescreen shots.

Finally, I scan the finished inks into my computer.  I actually have specific textures, layers, adjustments, and templates for the pages. I try to clean up as many scratches, smudges, and smears as I can before I start text. That’s when I add bubbles, watermarks, text, animation, color etc. Finally, I get Migosp to look over everything to correct typos, pacing, and even font alignment. I batch all the pages to lower their dpi for the web and get everything saved. The finished pages get stuffed into one of my many gigantic binders full of previous pages.

I take the lead in drafting the posts while Migosp helps on their end to put all the links in and officially post everything. I mean, it’s no perfect product, but we really take care to make sure everything matches our initial integrity. (Though I’ve definitely had my ‘emergency’ situations to aggressively fix a typo we missed before too many of you see it) ;)

But yeah, that’s the studio tour! When we were starting the comic, I originally tested out drawing the comic digitally and then traditionally, but I felt like I emotionally connected to the traditional ink more. Technically it’s an amalgamation of traditional art with digital touch ups (I WISH I was skilled enough to get the inks right on one try lol). No matter how long we work on this comic, at least I can say it’s been great practice with my pens!

— Mod NEO

[idreamofdraco]

jess what about the sex toy fic

From the “Send me an ask with the title of one of my WIPs and I’ll post a snippet or tell you something about it” meme thing.

Mar.... I’m so glad you asked. XD So the sex toy fic is about Ginny trying out different sex toys so she can write reviews of them for other people to try out. Originally it was going to be a Draco/Ginny fic, because that’s my default, with Draco owning or working at a sex shop. But I stopped writing the fic because I just couldn’t make it make sense. So in putting this post together, I realized it’s not a Draco/Ginny fic at all.... It has to be a Pansy/Ginny fic!!! I got way inspired, but smut is really hard to write so I don’t know if this will go anywhere still. BUT I made some notes in my phone so that if I do decide to come back to this, I’ll know where to go. :)

Also, I’m really sorry, y’all, but my funniest work is all in WIPs that no one will get the chance to read.

Here’s a potentially NSFW snippet??

~*~

Ginny startled when a copy of the Daily Prophet flopped down on top of her desk, smearing the ink of the article she’d been struggling to write all morning. An outraged remark died on her tongue as she looked up to find Lavender Brown standing on the other side of the desk, her expression a mixture of anxiety and anger. Tears sparkled in her eyes, threatening to fall and ruin what was left of Ginny’s writing.

“Look at this!” Lavender said, her voice pitched high enough to burst eardrums.

Ginny peered down at the paper, scanning the headlines and column titles facing her for the trigger of Lavender’s distress. Nothing seemed amiss. Dominating the page were a continuation of an article from page A2 about a garden gnome that had saved a woman’s life, a letter to the editor concerning the Prophet’s lack of Oxford commas, and the relationship advice column, Dear Madam Lovegood.

“What is it?” Ginny asked, stupefied and growing more impatient by the second. She had been on the verge of a breakthrough with her article—she just knew it!—until Lavender’s interruption had scattered her thoughts.

Lavender bent over the desk and jabbed her finger at the advertisement in the middle of the page. “This, Ginny! Look at this wretched thing!”

The ad featured a photo of a desktop fan. Every few seconds, the image would pause, revealing exposed blades that lay flat and faced upward instead of laying vertically and facing outward. The design was strange and it didn’t look very practical.

Before Ginny could ask what was wrong with the ad, words in a swirly font emerged amidst a cloud of sparkles over the photo of the fan.

The Fanny Flicker

For the unhitched witch with an itch!

Ginny’s cheeks heated as she realized the advertisement did not depict a fan at all but a toy intended to simulate oral sex.

“There, you see!” Lavender’s voice strained with emotion. “Do you see my dilemma now?”

“Er….”

“That advertisement is ruining my column! How dare Barnabas approve for this monstrosity to be featured in the very middle of Madam Lovegood’s sage, wholesome advice!”

Ginny would have laughed at Lavender’s theatrics if her deadline hadn’t loomed quite so closely. Instead, irritation prickled just under her skin. While moving the newspaper to check how badly her article had smeared, she asked, “Didn’t you tell someone to castrate her boyfriend just last week?”

“Nooooo, if you read my column at all, you’d know I told Cheated And Defeated that had I been in his shoes, I would have castrated my boyfriend.”

“I hope Ron didn’t read your column either, then,” Ginny muttered under her breath as she siphoned up some spilled ink with her wand.

Lavender had once sent a letter in to Ask Adaline, the defunct relationship advice column that Lavender’s column had replaced. Adaline’s response to her letter had been generic and pale, much to Lavender’s dissatisfaction. After doing the complete opposite of what Adaline had advised in order to win Ron’s affection back, she had sent another letter in to the column, this time critiquing the advice given to other submitters in the previous week’s issue of the Prophet. Lavender’s weekly rebuttals had grown so popular, the Daily Prophet’s editor, Barnabas Cuffe, had had no choice but to let Adaline go and hire Lavender on to run the column instead. She’d taken up the name Madam Lovegood as her pseudonym, purposely overlooking the fact that the name belonged to a former classmate and her magazine-owning father (“What do I care if it’s Luna Lovegood’s name! That name is perfect for an advice column about love and relationships! What name should I use instead, Ginny? Madam Lovebad? I don’t think so.”).

The new column had been a big hit, mostly due to Madam Lovegood’s wild and colorful opinions. As silly as the whole column was, Lavender took her work very seriously.

Maybe a little too seriously.