#it's the kind of thing i'll need trial and error to figure out

[stygiusfic]

this post got around a fair bit more than the handful of notes i could have expected! i originally made it as a reminder to myself of what has worked for me, because in the past when i've been trying some new habit and then broken it/lost momentum for a few days, it's easy to feel like once i've fallen off the horse i'll never get back on it.

i've been on and off and back on this particular horse consistently over the past few months, and i'm reblogging to say:

the best method is the one that makes you excited to write.

a fair number of the notes are some combination of "i should try this". like adding it to a to-do list. and i know this may not be the intent but the best thing you can do for yourself is to get rid of "should". throw "should" in the garbage.

"should" cannot apply to things you do for enjoyment. "should" is for obligations, for tasks, for the watchful pressure of The Correct Way to Do Things. "should" is not for things you look forward to doing; "should" is for things you look forward to having done.

but 99% of writing is the "doing" part, so you kinda have to look forward to it and find joy in it, otherwise why bother?

i know that's easier said than done. believe me, i'm still in the trenches. but on those days when i can't hype myself up for the "doing", it's more fruitful in the long run to be kind to myself and give myself the day off, without blame, without shame. and that means there is fewer negativity associated with writing, for me, so i can enjoy it more on the days i do want to do it.

seriously, if you take nothing else away from the method in my initial post, take this:

figure out at what point in the day your mind is best able to focus and enjoy being creative without outside pressures. it's early morning for me, but could be late at night or during your lunch break for you.

doing other stuff, especially physically active, while puzzling out problems does help. a staring contest with the blinking cursor on your document will NOT help, in fact it'll do the opposite, you won't solve it and you'll only build frustration (bad feelings you'll associate with writing, that will make you less likely to want to write). so many times i'm stuck on a sentence and i get up to take out the trash or do dishes and the solution comes to me.

figure out how to increase the positive feelings associated with writing. for me that's daydreaming at other times so my excitement is at the forefront of my mind when i sit down. you may prefer to put on a specific playlist or light a candle. whatever works!

you can skip any number of steps, if they don't help you. i'm not the boss of you. tailor your experience.

if you miss a day, or a week, or a year, you aren't a failure. that horse will be there waiting patiently for you to get back on it. (i fear this is where the analogy breaks down, considering... horses).

in order to succeed, you need to set yourself up for success, the way that works for you. it can take a while and a lot of trial and error to figure out how to set yourself up like this, but it's worth it.

good luck, and happy writing!

early morning writing hack (real) (it's been working for about a month now):

think about the scene you're going to work on that morning not when you sit down to write, but the previous evening. this is daydreaming but with purpose. think about what might happen and how the characters feel about it. get excited. don't write a single word.

go about your evening normally, doing whatever else you do. your subconscious is a slow cooker and while you do other stuff, it's working on your idea for you.

get up early, like an hour before you'd need to start your day if you were cutting it close. everyone else in the world is snoozing their alarm, so no one can bother you rn. you're free! no one can judge your writing, not even you!

(optional i guess but it really helps me) unless the first few words of your scene are already clear in your mind, warm up. I've abandoned the idea of warm-up drabbles or whatever the hell people recommend. instead, I pull up a story by someone whose writing I love, and I type out a fragment of it in a blank doc, reading the words out loud as I go. this wakes up my writing brain as I become aware of how their prose and dialogue work their magic, when and where they reveal new information, how each detail leads to the next. I'd advise doing this with work that is of high quality and purposeful, so you can learn their tricks, but I'm not the boss of you.

write!!!!!!!

don't stop to judge if it's good or not!! it's too early for that shit!! if the draft sucks you can fix it later but you need the draft done first!!

do stop once yesterday evening's daydreaming prep has run out and you're out of steam. (sometimes the momentum can reveal the next part of the story you hadn't actively considered yet, but don't depend on it.) if you hit a wall where you have no idea how to continue, or it's still too vague to put words down, trying to push through will only bring frustration. and even if you do manage to write a bit more, the chances you'll end up scrapping it later because it doesn't fit are significant. just call it there, you're done.

take a minute to appreciate what you accomplished. you now have words you didn't have yesterday. you won the day, and meanwhile everyone else is still asleep, the absolute losers

if you use a word tracker, go ahead and input your word count for the day. maybe you got a lot done, or maybe you didn't; it's a victory either way. on mornings when I've been struggling, writing and then erasing and writing again, if I'm too pissed off to check the word count I just put down a symbolic number, like 50 words. it may not look like much, but when I look at the month's stats it feels good to have proof that I showed up and did the thing even when it was hard.

now you can start your day. and frankly at this point I don't give a shit how annoying my day is, because I already did the thing I care about getting done, so I'm not going through work resenting every task for stealing brain juice I could've used for writing in the evening. "I'll write when I'm done with work" is the ADHD hubris devil speaking.

and now it's the evening and you're free to daydream again!! and use absolutely zero brain power!! wheee!!

[iraprince]

gonna show u guys a little opalescent highlight hack i threw together today

rainbow gradient above your main figure (i usually have all my main figure folders/layers in one big folder, so i can clip gradient maps + adjustments to it!). liquify tool to push the colors around a bit. STAY WITH ME I KNOW IT LOOKS STUPID RN I'M GOING SOMEWHERE WITH THIS

THEN: set it to add/glow (or the equivalent in ur drawing program), lower the opacity a bit, and apply a layer mask. then u can edit the mask with whatever tools you like to create rainbow highlights!!

in this case i'm mostly using the lasso fill tool to chip out little facets, but i've also done some soft airbrushing to bring in larger rainbow swirls in some areas. it's pretty subtle here, but you can see it better when i remove the gradient map that's above everything, since below i'm working in greyscale:

more granular rambling beneath the cut!

u could also just do this with a brush that has color jitter, but what i like about using layer masks for highlight/shading layers is how simple and reversible it makes everything. i can use whatever brushes i want, and erasing/redoing things is super low stakes, which is great when i often approach this stuff with a super trial-and-error approach.

example: have u ever thrown a gradient w multiple colors over an entire piece, set it to multiply etc, and then tried to erase it away to carve out shadows/highlights? it's super frustrating, bc it looks really good, but if u erase something and then change ur mind later, u basically would have to like. recreate the gradient in the area u want to cover up again. that's how i used to do things before figuring out layer masks!! but masking basically creates a version of this with INFINITE undo bc u can erase/re-place the base layer whenever u want.

anyway, back to rambling about this specific method:

i actually have TWO of these layers on this piece (one with the liquified swirls shown above, and another that's just a normal concentric circle gradient with much broader stripes) so i can vary the highlights easily as needed.

since i've basically hidden the rainbow pattern from myself, the colors in each brushstroke i make will kind of be a surprise, which isn't always great -- but easily fixable! for example, if i carve out a highlight and it turns out the rainbow pattern in that area is way too stripey, i can just switch from editing the mask to editing the main layer and blur that spot a bit.

also, this isn't a full explanation of the overall transparency effect in these screencaps! there's other layer stuff happening below the rainbow highlights, but the short version is i have all this character's body parts in different folders, each with their own lineart and background fill, and then the fill opacity is lowered and there's multiply layers clipped to that -- blah blah it's a whole thing. maybe i'll have a whole rundown on this on patreon later. uhhh i think that's it tho! i hope u get something useful out of this extremely specific thing i did lmao

[psychemochanight]

Ok, but a canon-divergent AU where Bruce is a terrible father figure to Dick, but he doesn't know it.

Of course, in canon Bruce is far from being a perfect father (even a good one in many cases), but at least he cares about Dick, even if he has a peculiar way of showing it (I'm talking to you, Bruce, who decides if saving the world is worth it only if Dick will be okay).

But imagine an AU where everything happened the same, or almost, except that neither Alfred nor Bruce cared to show, not even kindness, but that much empathy for Dick. However, in this AU Dick's father was not very affectionate either, so Dick does not associate male figures as affectionate.

It's not until Dick is with his team that he learns... That's not normal.

Dick: So... You guys didn't train until you pass out? Weren't you taught that the only way to get better is to push your own limits?

Roy: *wanting to kill Bruce* No, Dick. The first thing they teach you is how to stay safe, you know, avoid getting to the point where you pass out from the effort.

Dick: Oh.

Donna: Dick, you should rest, you're hurt. You literally have a broken ankle.

Dick, who is at the gym, doing arm exercises and twists that are not at all safe for an injured person: I'm fine, Donna. I'm just warming up. I've been on patrol in worse conditions.

Donna: Wdym by that? Worse???

Dick: Yes...? Villains don't take a break just because you're hurt, you know that.

Donna: That's why there are other heroes to help!

Dick: Don't you guys have a rule about not taking help from anyone? That shows weakness and...

Donna: No, Dick, no.

Dick, confused: Oh.

Wally: Please tell me you're not doing that thing again.

Dick: What thing?

Wally: Not sleeping or eating to be on guard.

Dick: Well, it's my job, so...

Wally: You. Are. A. Human. YOU NEED REST AND FOOD.

Dick: I'm fine, it's not like...

Wally: Don't you dare say that Batman made you stay in those conditions for more days. That's NOT normal, Dick.

Dick: ... It's not?

Dick: So... you guys aren't on guard all the time waiting for your mentors to surprise attack you to test your reflexes?

Roy: I swear to God I gonna kill him.

Donna: I'll help.

Wally: On it.

Dick: *panics*

It's even worse for his friends when they discorver that his siblings are being treated much better, as after he leaves, Bruce and Alfred finally begin to notice how to treat children.

Dick was literally trial and error.

[yuurivoice]

Hey gang.

This is Haru, he's my tummy ache survivor who has been through hell over his two and a half years of life. For over the past few months we've been dealing with vomiting, sometimes a tweak of food or eating schedule would fix it. Sometimes not, but he was keeping enough down and was still his usual playful self, so we kept playing tetris with his food and powered through.

His stomach has always been sensitive, so a flare up of tummy stuff was not exactly unusual.

Things recently got worse, and even more consistent. Daily, multiple times. We'd done all the preliminary work (food type, meal size/frequency, etc) so we got to skip a few trial and errors with the vet and got an ultrasound and bloodwork.

Unfortunately, it was bad news. He's got what is likely a cancerous growth right where stomach meets intestine, and its blocking his food from getting down consistently. At two years old, my vet was pretty shook. But Haru don't know any better, he's been a fighter since he was a little constipated baby.

As we get ready to tackle whatever is on the horizon as quickly as possible, I wanted to say thank you to everyone who has purchased their Finn plushie(s)! We hit 200 sold and he is officially being made! The funds from the plushie will be going directly towards surgery and treatment as we figure out what the future looks like for Haru.

If you'd like to contribute and get a plushie of your own, you can order here!

And of course, I have to thank everyone who has flooded the tag with kind words and encouragement and a ton of things that I have not yet read, because the moment I found out about it I had just gotten the news from my Vet and was in the process of selling off some Pokemon cards because I was preemptively trying to cover my ass for veterinary costs......surprise! Haha...haa.......

It's a shitty time for many people right now, and I don't want to add to the doom and gloom. Me and my cats are gonna be okay, no matter what the future holds for us and Haru. If you're able and would like to contribute to upcoming veterinary costs, please consider getting a plushie, indulging on Patreon, or tuning in to any upcoming streams. I'm not sure exactly what I'm going to do yet in terms of a stream, but I'd be happiest if you'd treat yourself to some of what I have to offer so you get something in return!

I'm taking care of things at home and hopefully returning to work in the coming week to fulfill what I owe folks. I'm sorry for all the delays and waiting right in the midst of what should be a very busy time. I've only just beaten my cold (though I'm still coughing 🙃) and then life kicked me square in the balls.

Thank you all for being so kind and patient and loving. I needed y'all real bad today, and you showed up when you didn't even know I needed it. Love y'all, for real. 💖

I'll share a recent Haru picture that isn't cleverly veiled marketing to fundraise for removing his mutant growth.

[meanbossart]

Oh boy, VaM is kind of a trial and error experience LOL I couldn't really show you how to use the interface and stuff without a whole video or something, but it's not THAT difficult to get a hang of if you just give yourself a day or two to play around, not to mention the number of tutorials you find out there. Luckily, if you only want to use it as a reference software that makes the process far easier (to this day I have no idea how to animate on that thing, since that's not what I use it for)

As for how I use it, it's pretty self explanatory - if there's a complicated pose I want to draw but I'm either having trouble with it, or just want to double-check angles/anatomy, I will use it as a resource! I use for most of my "proper" pieces (y'know, the nicer looking ones) and every once in a while for my silly comics if I'm having trouble with a pose.

Lets use this drawing for example (the character on top of DU drow belongs to @namespara )

I don't draw a lot of mud-wrestling (shocking, I know) but I had an idea of the kind of pose I wanted them to be in. So the very first thing I did was make a rough sketch of what I was envisioning:

I often do a rough sketch first, even If I know I'm going to be pulling the program up because A) It's less tedious than adjusting the models over and over again until I pick a pose and B) because sometimes I'll decide I don't need the reference, after all, and so that's 30 minutes I'll have spared myself of playing around on the software.

Now, this is a pretty complicated pose! It's in a weird angle and the bodies are making contact in ways I'm not used to depicting, so I did choose to whip out VaM for this one. I went into the program and after some messing around, I flopped my little dolls together like this:

Now something really cool about VaM is that you can completely customize your models, and if you have the patience, I would definitely encourage you to do so! Obviously, you don't have to make picture perfect replicas of every single character you have, but as you can see here I have made a DU drow "decoy" to help me better understand some of his features when I draw him: he has a strong brow, a short nose, a square jawline - these are all going to look a very specific way from certain angles, and I might not always be sure of how to draw it right! So it's useful to have models that bear SOME semblance to the character so you can better understand how different viewpoints will affect their bone structure and mass.

Also thank fucking god for the elf-ear slider. Figuring out how to draw those shits from certain angles was a huge pain in the ass when I started drawing DnD races.

So, with the reference in hand, I go over the sketch again:

Now you may notice that I don't stick to the reference 100%. There's three reasons for this:

posing on VaM is tedious as hell. You can get something incredibly natural looking and picture-perfect to reference from if you wish, but it's going to take you hours to do. So, for the most part I just slap guys together until the results are "close enough" and use that.

In my opinion, you should always aim to ENHANCE your reference material, not replicate it exactly!

While VaM is a PRETTY DANG GOOD source of anatomical reference, it isn't perfect, I often supplement it with further reference from real life resources or make tweaks based on my own knowledge where I catch it falling short (and, antithetical to what I just said, I sometimes fuck the anatomy up further on purpose if I think it looks better that way LOL it's all jazz baby).

Then lines, color, yada yada. I don't have a tutorial on that and I don't think I could make one, because my process is chaotic as hell, but I do at times use Virt-a-mate as loose reference for lighting too when coloring - waaaaayyyy less so however, because that process is even more tedious and I feel like I often get better results by just winging it. It is a feature of the program though, and I'm sure it would be helpful for someone who has a difficult time visualizing lights and shadows. I only started using this program a few months ago, so I happened to already have a pretty good understanding of that kind of thing and just don't personally feel like I get much out of that particular mechanic.

Here's a few other examples of pieces that I made reference for (WARNING: Suggestive)

Now, for the question many of you may want to ask:

"Can I trace this junk?"

And to that, I say: Buddy, you can do whatever the hell you want with the reference material you created.

However,

If your goal is to learn and improve your art, and to recreate realistic proportions and anatomy from memory, tracing won't help you.

Developing your own style, your muscle memory, and personal technique will all be hindered by choosing to trace instead of drawing from observation, so I would encourage against it. Hell - even when tracing is employed as a technique, it's usually by high-skill realism & concept artists who are looking to either cut some corners, save time, or just double-check their own proportions in order to improve further - if you try tracing as a beginner, you will most definitely find the result to still look stiff and "off".

So trust me, there is so much more to be gained from drawing from observation. Make note of tangents, compare proportions, use all the elements of the picture to dictate where and how things should go - it will be a far more rewarding experience.

Hopefully this has been helpful! VaM is a really cheap program (you get it on the guys' patreon for I think 8 dollars, just google it!) and it's definitely been worth my money as an artist since I found it. Learning to use it can be a little intimidating at first glance, but as I said above you only really need a day plus one or two tutorials to get a hang of the interface.

A fair warning though, IT IS A SOFTWARE MADE FOR VIRTUAL SEX/ADULT ANIMATION So when looking it up expect to see a some spicy content.

[valiasims]

WIP#30

Hey everyone!

I was a little busy so couldn't update you earlier but here's the new wip picture. No in-game screenshot this time. Let me tell you how my week went.

I made a crib last week which you can see (and also the rug). Then I wanted to make some kind of baldachin above the crib and after a long time of researching and trial and error I've come up with the one on the left. I was working on the high poly model for a whole day, I think because there was always something I didn't like. I convinced myself this would look good once I put it in game so I did the low poly model, added a basic texture to test it out. Only problem was that I wanted some parts of the curtains/baldachin transparent and for the life of me couldn't figure it out to work properly. Once it was okay and transparent but not exactly how I would have liked it so I tweaked the settings and it wasn't working anymore, also it looked really bad. I didn't like it at all. It was too "curtainy" for lack of a better word. Then I spent some days hating everything I did so far. :D Just the usual.

That's why today I started fresh and tried to bring to life what I see in my head when I think of this nursery. I had some set backs but once I settled with the arch with the drapes I started liking the direction this was going in.

A little bad news, I'm not sure the windows can be included in this set because I only made one and I still need to make some size variations and also I want to make clutter, changing table, the thing you see on the picture, that playmat thingy and those are a lot of items. :D If I have the time I'll finish the windows but if not they'll come in the next part.

Thanks for reading my long complaining, I feel a lot better! I hope I can pull together my ideas and complete this without pulling my hair out!

[justhereforeskel]

Christmas Dino V1

Part 1

I'm still chugging along so it's time for updates!

Day 2

Found some old newsprint sheets in the craft room. Laid them out in a 2 x 4 foot group for some pattern layouts. The spine and tail weren't going to fit on anything smaller.

Figure 1 - the GIANT table I could have used on day 1 but didn't and now my spine STILL hates me

I then popped a line in to make to 2 x 2 sheets to see if I could get away with smaller boards for the rest of the pattern. The smaller the board is the less wrestling I have to do with the laser engraver.

Success! With a little left over to spare if I need counter weights or anything. I honestly do not know if this thing will be balance properly and I'm not gonna do the maths to find out (or simulate it in a CAD program like I've seen some others do) TRIAL AND ERROR BABY!

One trip to Home Depot later and I've secured my wood! heh

Also some gloves for preventative maintenance on my hands because we all know splinters are a thing and I cannot be trusted not to hurt myself. Next step is remembering to actually use the gloves tho. We'll see how that goes...

Anyway, off to do some fiddling with how Tyreal is gonna fit on this whole thing.

I had to decapitate my poor cardboard boi at this point, because there was just no way I was gonna try to do this with an entire limp skeleton attached.

Okay so I've got one dino skull and one Tyreal. Hmmmm...

So my first thought was just, make it super duper easy. I'll cut a notch in the middle piece and Tyreal can sort of ride it like a horse (with maybe a saddle down the road). Like this:

Okay, not bad.

BUT

sigh He's got the whole tabard of righteousness and it's made of rubber so it's not super flexible. And while it will sort of smush out of the way, it's gonna end up stuck like that and that'll just annoy me to no end.

I could get really fancy and like...cut a slit for the front and back of his tabard but that just feels waaaaaay too fiddly and prone to fucking up.

Thinking.....thinking....

What if...okay so Tyreal has a battery box to make the lights light and I'll need to make some sort of holder for it.

I did kind of want him standing too, you get more visual out of it. So what if I went, like, chariot style? I can get fancy with the sides, and create a double layer base to tuck the battery box in.

Some swearing, a few close encounters with cardboard cuts and volia! (ish)

Okay the basic idea is there but I measured nothing and it shows.

Alright, the concept works let's just try with a little more...effort.

And....

Actual volia!

The battery box fits lovely, the sides aren't too out of proportion and he's still nicely visible! Hurrah!

Tyreal also has the balance of a drunken college kid, so I've traced his feet and I'm going to try to engrave little recessed holes for them in attempt to make him a wee bit more stable.

Additional thoughts that came to me while crafting this:

I can get fancy with cut outs on the chariot sides if I want, which could be fun

Since I want the battery box to be hidden but easily accessible, I'm thinking some kind of leather wrap or tassels around the base of the chariot to obscure it but not make it a pain to get at

Since this is a chariot, he's gonna need some reins. For this year I'll probably do some sort of ribbon dealy BUT this means it's not unreasonable to make a full leather bridle for him next year. And give him a little metal nameplate across the nose band. yes yes yes

This whole contraption might just unbalance the whole t-rex but we'll deal with that later. Maybe. Shush. Bolting him to the table will totally be a reasonable solution.

Okay, that feels productive enough for the day! Now I've really gotta knuckle down and get the original pattern and the new pieces all created in Lightburn....weeeeeeeee -.-

ONWARD!

[ditzyblues]

how did you get into art/get so good??

this is so kind. i am honored u ask me this! thank you!!

i am not where i want to be in terms of art and stuff, but i'll do my best to answer you.

i started taking drawing seriously in my freshman year of high school! so i've been in my training arc for four ish years. my most consistent thing is essentially Copying artists i like.

i look for artists with dynamism and form, because thats my taste! it's pretty vague so a lot of good artists are able to fit that criteria, but it is a difficult balance to maintain.

what i mean by dynamism is flow i guess? there's a rhythm to the way we move as people, so i always wanna achieve that when drawing. i'm studying a few FORCE books for this, along with trial and error.

this is a comm i did for someone on insta where i think i hit a pretty good flow. i also forced myself to accomplish form in the overlapping shapes like the crossed arms, shirt over the pants, etc!

(another comm) i REALLY forced myself to do the overlapping shapes here in this extreme perspective. i think in boxes for this bc boxes are the easiest to warp in perspective (so practice boxes in perspective it's very fun). it's a lot of trial and error once again, i have pages and pages of sketches where i just need to figure out the shapes and how they exist in 3D space, because that's what I want to accomplish!!

again, i am not where i want to be so none of this is a definitive tutorial or anything, its just stuff that has helped me personally!!

thank u again for the question and kind words wheheh

[heartfulselkie]

I love your art style! You do such a good job of drawing characters in adorable ways (especially Chat Noir, he must be protected at all costs).

Do you have any advice on how to draw chibi/chibi-esque characters? I’ve been trying on and off for years and all my attempts inevitably look strangely proportioned and unnatural rather than cute.

Thank you so much! I do tend to enjoy drawing cute things so I end up doing it a lot (with Adrien/Chat Noir being my favourite to draw) 🤭

Chibi/chibi-esque drawing is a little weird since its usually skews the body's proportions. This is why it can look really weird sometimes. But sometimes that weirdness can be charming? It's really a matter of finding a way that works for you and that you like.

For me, my "squish style" (as I like to call it to myself 😂) has taken a lot of trial and error. Drawing, drawing and more drawing is the best thing to improving.

Yes, it sometimes comes out looking awful. I've had plenty of times where I just can't get a drawing to look right. It still happens. Even when I draw comics the same character can look different across multiple panels 🤣

But sometimes a drawing is good enough. And good enough really is GOOD ENOUGH. I can be a perfectionist, but trying to be perfect just ends up in a lot of frustration. Sometimes I look at a drawing I've made and can see the faults in it - but that's a drawing I made and I've decided it's good enough. Being kind to yourself does a lot more for your improvement than people realise, I think.

I'm a little all over the place when it comes to advice, but I'll share something someone told me before and it stuck with me and did a lot to help me relax:

There's no straight lines in the (human) body

Humans are naturally squish and curved! Even when a body is tough and toned, it has natural curves to it. So your lines don't need to be precise.

"Chibi" obviously emphasises on these curves and softness - especially around the face. Simplify the features! Squish and soften them! Are there artists whose styles you like? Trying drawing the bits you like and mix it up! Put Artist A's eye shapes on Artists B's head shapes!

I think the learning part is a fantastic part of doing any kind of art. Yes it can be tedious and tiresome and frustrating at times, but there's really nothing wrong with learning and figuring things out. We all start somewhere. Sometimes things will just click into place, and sometimes it'll take a bit for you to figure out what it is that's bothering you about a drawing.

Just keep experimenting and drawing. It doesn't have to be perfect. You're just aiming for something you can say "that's good enough" and take enjoyment from that. I believe I really started to improve myself when I took "good enough" instead of "100% perfect" as my end point for my drawings.

[misc-obeyme]

Really random, but I think Barbatos would be very good at calming down paranoia. It's pretty obvious why; his calming presence, his calming tea, his overall comfort. While all of that is fine and dandy, I think it would also be in an "I'm the most terrifying thing in this house" type of way!

Mc being paranoid about the cursed paintings in the Demon Lord's Castle and Barbatos is just like "You need not worry about them. I am far more dangerous, and you have me on your side." This makes sense, right??? Idk, it makes sense to me.

Maybe it's because he practically raised Diavolo. Maybe it's because he's practically raising Luke, but he just has that supportive vibe!!

Same thing with anxiety. You're anxious? There's a delicious tea for that! You're not in the mood for tea? Well, I've heard mearly having someone else's presence with you could help! You don't want me near you right now? That's alright, I'll wait for you!

He definitely keeps things to help with nerves on his person at all times. He pays attention. He learns through trial and error and observations the things that help you and the things that don't. He's always there looking out for you.

Even if you're just feeling a bit down. He'll either be upfront about it and give you something to cheer you up, or out of nowhere, your favourite treat has magically appeared next to you! Or if you'd like, tell him what's wrong. He's always up for listening.

Honestly, you don't even have to be upset for him to do these things! He'd just go above and beyond whenever you are.

But really, it wouldn't take much for him to calm me down or cheer me up. Just imagine chilling in bed together, not actually doing anything yet still loving the moment. No words even need to be spoken to appreciate the romance of the moment. Just being near him would make me feel so incredibly peaceful and relaxed, I'd most definitely fall asleep.

Anywhoosies, I know this is probably a very popular thought, but I wanted to share silly style anyway!!

Also, I'm happy you think my sleep purring is adorable, I was giggling about that for awhile djwjdwk You're really fueling my late-night-scenarios-to-fall-asleep-to

This is exactly why I love Barbatos so much.

I have a lot of anxiety and I have a lot of shame and guilt around that anxiety. So I don't usually tell people when I'm anxious. I try as hard as possible to hide it.

But Barbatos is observant. And if you spend enough time with him, he'll be able to tell when you're dealing with a lot of anxiety, even if you don't say anything.

The idea that someone is paying enough attention to notice these things about you even when you try to hide it is just... top tier romance for me.

And Barb's whole thing is taking care of people. He wants people to be happy and comfortable. So I can just imagine him doing exactly what you say - kind of trial and error figuring out what works best for you when you're struggling with something.

Add to all that the fact that Barbatos is considered one of the most powerful demons in the Devildom and you've got no reason to feel anything other than calm and safe in his presence.

There's just something about knowing that the person who is being all calm and comfort with you is actually extremely dangerous and everybody else should be wary lol.

And I think it would help with any kind of issue along those lines: anxiety, paranoia, depression, etc etc. Anything where your mind is the culprit and it feels like nobody could possibly understand because they can't be inside your mind with you. Barb can see how it changes you, he can tell when you're suffering, even if you do everything you can to keep it in.

And he's going to be able to give you the space you need to be honest about it. He would sit with you, like you said, he would listen to you if you needed to just rant, he would let you cry on his shoulder if that's what helps.

He isn't afraid of your emotions. He's not going to judge you for them. He's just going to help you however he can.

So yes, I fully agree with you on all of this!

[megaman-r]

It's been quiet! So, what's gotten done lately?

Well, first of all I keep writing really complicated novel-length MMX fic instead...which isn't making my other hobbies go any faster...sweats profusely.

But anyway!

Roll can die from taking damage.

Of course, this makes her lose a life.

She'll respawn at the start of a stage...

...Unless she's hit a checkpoint, in which case, she'll respawn from there instead.

And if Roll runs out of lives, you go to the game over screen.

From there you can choose to continue from the start of the same stage...

Or you can go back to the stage select.

(Or, technically, you can quit to desktop.)

So yeah, basic expected gameplay loop functionality, more or less. Doing all this from scratch is a lot more involved than it sounds like, though. There's a perfectly good Game Maker setup for making Mega Man fan games, aaaaand I'm not using that engine so it's basically useless to me and I started from quite literally nothing instead. Figuring it all out by myself instead took a long time and a lot of rubber ducking.

On top of that, Pixel Game Maker MV is, as I've learned the hard way, very tetchy about handling load/save operations, and I couldn't figure out why it was refusing to save checkpoints properly until I figured it out: the version I'm using for my dev environment will only succeed at a single file operation per runtime action. Any others in the same runtime action will silently fail. That was hours of trial and error to figure out why it was failing to write save files, but only about half of them, for no apparent reason. But it's been troubleshooted! Troubleshot? Whichever. It works now! It's actually been a huge hurdle.

All the Robot Master boss music exists, too, which is pretty cool. The first iteration accidentally sounded like John Cena's theme, which was, uh. Funny as heck, but not intended. So I went back and made that not be the case, though that means that the SiIvaGunner joke of remixing tracks to be John Cena's theme and saying they're an alpha version is not even a joke here, it's literal. That is a real thing that happened and I didn't even realize it until someone in the dev Discord pointed it out.

Next on the roadmap is getting individual file save slots functional. Checkpoints and level start actually use save files as well; they're just temporary, and the engine deletes and recreates them pretty frequently to avoid buggy shenanigans. I'd like to be able to display at least basic save file information on each save slot, so I'll need to figure out how that works and what that screen should look like. Games will autosave on the stage select screen, though you can always clear a slot manually to start a new game. Very SNES kind of system.

After that's all implemented and debugged, I can probably start thinking about actual playable content, since that wraps up the vast majority of the UI. Good thing, too, because I actually kind of hate working on UI. 🥲 It's a necessary evil, though, and I think it'll be a pretty alright UI when it's finished. Nothing groundbreaking, but does a classic-style Mega Man game need a groundbreaking menu? I think probably it doesn't, and I can save my energy for the gameplay.

[herdivineopulence]

who am I? I’m just a girl 

I am a first generation, first daughter to a Dominican woman who immigrated to the u.s in the early 90s, and the first daughter to an African American man with unhealed trauma from Brooklyn. LOL sorry but its the truth! We’ll talk about that later BUT yes, first daughter. That’s me! A 26 year old who’s doing her best at figuring this life out. I’m a virgo sun, taurus moon, & libra rising, a Venusian princess if you will <3 Im from the Bronx, but have lived in PA for most of my life. I have a younger brother, a kitty and a yorkie shitzu or chihuahua (its hard to tell xD). I’m a Lover girl at my core, Love is all I Live for. I live and die for this shit! It keeps me going, it literally gives me life. I am currently single and been single for such a long time… well technically only 5 months since my last “relationship” (at the time I’m writing this) but I don’t count that bc I literally felt nothing. Even the sex was mid LMFAOO, but I was with him bc he was the main one there really trying so I settled.. he also wasn’t everything I expected him to be, but we will definitely talk about that later too, I’ve been through a lot of heartbreaks.. its amazing that I’m still here! But i will say, i am truly blessed with platonic Love. I have such an amazing support team behind me, living and non living LOL. I have great friends, a wonderful mother, and overall a great tribe so far. But its time to expand. I need like minded people now that im entering a new phase in my life.

I Love anime, food, everything Venusian! FASHION, JEWELRY, HAIR SKIN NAILS, ROMANCE, oh the ROMANCE! PURE OPULENCE. But I still find myself not exactly where I want to be. This blog is something that has been in the works for idk how long… I made a actual blog website two years ago and only made one post and never posted again. I even had someone email me saying how they were eager for me to continue posting .. and I failed them :,(  But one thing I learned is to put myself first and be gracious and gentle with myself. I am a manifesting generator and for those who don’t know what that means, you can either look it up or stay tuned I’ll definitely put you on and teach you somethings, but long story short, I am not meant to stick to one thing, or do things that no longer excite me. So not being consistent is not a flaw but just my nature and how I function. Only when I follow my design will the things that excite me draw out the consistent energy needed to keep whatever I’m working on going longterm. Stopping and starting is normal too!

But I do know I need to be more disciplined and I really want to blog. I Love writing its my passion that I’ve recently discovered is what I absolutely Love & have since I was a preteen. I always have energy for it. I also have lots to share. As a 12H native with multiple planets there, being open and “exposing” myself is kind of hard. All my social media platforms have barely any followers. Except for twitter lol ( X ) that’s where I spend most of my time, but now its one of my goals to expand my horizons and expand my reach.I have so much to share, and I really want to jog my journey as well. The good thing is that I’m still at the beginning so to speak. I am starting over, AGAIN. Trial n Error, figuring out what I want, what works for me, what truly brings me happiness. that’s part of the journey & clearly part of my experience.

So here I am my Loves I hope this reaches the people that are meant to come across this. My goal is to build a community filled with like minded people to share my knowledge to those who really could use the information to better their lives. To learn! One thing about me I Love to learn, and I know i'll always be a student. Hopefully you can learn a few things from me, use me as an example, a role model, and your healer of hearts. Boy oh boy do i know how to heal a heart! I have so many goals, join me on my journey to accomplishing them all using all the tools we have at our disposal ; astrology, human design, witchcraft, law of attraction, health and beauty! Are you ready? HOP IN BITCH WE'RE LEVELING UP!

TTYL, BESOS ;*

~ Aurora

[voxofthevoid]

Wait I— WHAT— 500k+ words for JJK? Alone? Oh my god. I’m one of your new readers, and I’m blown away by not only your word count but the wRITING LOGS?? How?? Do you keep track of your WIPs?? Do you write consistently, period?? Do you have any advice for someone who can barely squeak out a paragraph to describe a vision in their brain?? Please bless me with your skills, Vox-sensei 😭🙏

Welcome to my madness 🤣❤️

Okay, in all fairness, I'm usually not this unhinged productive. Last year, for instance, my total word count was only around 250k (iirc). I'm sure I wrote more than that from 2018 to 2020, but my logs from those are divided by fics/chapters or weekly.

... I've, uh, tried a lot of shit over the years.

Which is an important point! I've been posting to ao3 for nearly a decade now (not consistently, but I don't think I was away for more than a year or two), and I've been writing in some capacity for around 15–17 years now. There's been a lot of trial and error over the years, plus changing life circumstances leading to varying energy levels and writing time. The main factor is inspiration; if it's there, I'll write a lot, but if not, I'll be a potato.

So with all that in mind!

Logs

I do keep track of both my word count and my WIPs. I've got color-coded docs and spreadsheets even because I'm a fucking nerd. I've got pictures of it floating somewhere on this blog, but my fic folders tend to be nested, numbered little monstrosities.

WIPs

I call them WIPs sometimes because they're extensively detailed outlines mostly, but the more accurate term is ideas/plot bunniesdemons. I don't work on more than one story at a time. Typically, I start something and write it in narrative order until it's done. There are exceptions—my current fic was started in a post-236 frenzy, and I set aside the PWP I was working on for it. But usually, I only actively write one story at a time while everything else gets developed/outlined as inspiration strikes.

Consistency

You could say I write consistently, yeah! I don't do it every day because I take breaks whenever I finish a chapter (and of course, life throws curve balls sometimes), but typically, I write around 22–25 days a month. I set aside a few hours for it. Average daily word count also varies, but these days, it's 1.5–3k. When I'm really in the zone, it can reach 5–6k.

I'm a hobbyist writer with no aspirations of writing professionally, so my approach to the whole thing has been to wing it and see where it takes me. So I haven't really done anything with the concrete goal of improving. The best (and only) advice I have is very boring and cliche though: read and write.

Read widely if you can and narrow in on the kind of style and genre you like. Note down passages or turns of phrase that struck you and figure out why. You'll absorb a lot automatically, but I've heard people recommend emulating styles on purpose as a writing exercise.

Mainly though, the best and easiest way to improve is to keep writing. Technical rules can be learned pretty easily, especially with how many resources are available online now. Field/subject-specific reference materials are also abundant. But developing your own style and improving the flow of your prose are things that need practice. And it never really stops, especially because your writing will continuously evolve in more ways than one.

This got way longer than I intended. Oops? Thanks for asking though, anon. I did have fun replying!

[fictionkinfessions]

My friends know this story but I'll share it here too because it's so humiliatingly valid. This is long and silly and pointless but here we go:

I cleared my Tomodachi Life island to play a dating game. As you do. It's all I care about; who's going to get with who. What relationships will everyone have with one another?

I make myself. As you do. My mii says "it is lonely :(" so I make Kazuma. Which. I mean of course I do, but I had planned the whole thing out, you know? Yes I was making Kazuma next but I was also going to make a lot of My Kazuma's kins just for the fun of it. See which one won. So of course Base Kazuma had to be first, followed by some others. Favorites of mine, perhaps.

I make 6 others. Not too many, but enough. Enough for there to be drama. Hopefully.

There is not.

You see, upon Creating Kazuma, my mii was automatically introduced to him. It's just how the game goes. I knew this would happen but I figured it would only have a Minor impact.

It has a major one.

My mii would not leave his side. Mine was always at his apartment, or his was at mine. If they weren't there, they were out on the town together. An hour had gone by and they were already falling asleep on top of one another at the tower.

I don't really realize for the first hour or so. There have been Some breaks and one of Kazuma's kins has been making friends with the other ones, so it was only a matter of time. Even Kazuma himself was meeting others.

My mii did not. She met no one. Nobody came to her. She didn't go to anyone. At the rap battle, she stood beside - you guessed it - Kazuma, to support another mii. She. Would. Not. Part from him. (Which. Me neither, but still.)

Kazuma's mii, an hour and a half in, goes "hey I think your mii likes me." At this point I'm like my mii hasn't met anyone else. In your dreams, loser 😤!!! I don't want to ruin the game! I want to give at least SOMEONE else a chance!

No.

Four hours go by. (Yes I played this for 4 hours. I was also doing other things just.. Waiting for them to have needs. Yes it was pathetic. Don't worry about it)

Four hours go by and my mii gets The Bubble. She still hasn't met anyone but Kazuma. Everyone else has essentially met each other but my mii has not. Nobody else. No trial and error maybe friendships. No running into each other at the beach. Nothing. Just Kazuma. In his apartment, or him in hers. And she has The Bubble.

So fuck, right? I have no choice! I mean I could discourage it, but would that ruin Kazuma for the rest of the game? That seems unfair considering he won right out the gate. I shouldn't punish him for being too good, should I? I mean I want to, kind of, because he did have an advantage, but also hey! Maybe he'll reject me or something!

So. Fine. Whatever. I give in. She confesses and Kazuma says "sure" which. 🔪 How entirely dare you. And now they're sweethearts

Immediately afterwards, other miis start asking about her and trying to meet her.

Where were you!!! My date game >:(!!!!

× Bishamon, Noragami (#🎐🍵)

[someones-here-for-sure]

Hey I saw your vent post and I hope you don't mind if I try to help. I'm in my 20s but what you wrote really sounds like what I went through in high school. A lot of people feel similarly, so you're not alone. There's varying degrees of severity of course, and everyone's ability to cope with the feelings is different too. Through trial and error you have to find what methods work for you. I wont lie, it's hard and can be overwhelming, especially with everything else going on when you're a teenager. But as cheesy as this sounds, it really does get better. It's not linear, sometimes you take a step forward, a step back, three steps forward, four steps back, and then twelve steps forward. I really wish I could go back and tell my lonely, self loathing teenage self who didn't have a reason to live that I'd meet a group of amazing friends at age 23, and that at age 25 I'm living with my best friend/love of my life, and our cat. Like a neverending sleepover. I have hobbies I enjoy and an apartment that's mine.

I'll be honest that I'm still in the process of figuring out my mental health too. But I'm miles ahead of where I was as a teen and it doesn't feel as hopeless.

Some things that help me when I'm overwhelmed is focusing on my basic body needs. Often I realize I haven't had water today or ate anything or left the house. It's easier to make my mind feel better once I take care of those. I hate going on walks but sometimes the change of scenery is a game changer if I'm spiraling. Food can be tough to stomach sometimes but I have explored different options, and often if I drink a protein shake it's easier than chewing and better than nothing, or junk food. (Premier Protein chocolate shakes taste like chocolate milk imo) And of course drinking water is important. I always forget/I'm craving soda, so I put Vitamin C fizzy stuff in my water to give it that fizz and flavor it in a healthy way.

When I didnt know what to do to feel better, seeing a therapist regularly helped. When I felt alone and hopeless, going to outpatient intensive group therapy helped me see there's others who relate. Opening up to my family and friends helped too, but I know not everyone has the luxury. Thinking about things I enjoy, like shows or games or treats or activities, also helps when I'm spiraling.

Hang in there. Being a teenager is the hardest thing I've ever done, so I get how you're struggling, but you only have to do it once. Then the world opens up. It can be more overwhelming, yes, but also freeing. I can take steps to make life easier for myself. I know that ten years from now I'll probably wish I could go back and tell my twenty-something self it gets better. And in ten years you will probably feel the same.

Sorry for the novel, I hope the advice helps some. Take care of yourself and be kind to yourself. Find joy in the little things. <3

Thank you so much for the advice,I really need it right now. I genuinely appreciate you so much. I hope you have a good forvervee because you deserve it so much.

[thegeminisage]

im doing ZELDA im making this post on my COMPUTER!!!

delighted to learn i can make an echo of the beamos. this is when like i learned about the platbooms. four echoes to go and 2 of them are in the lost woods so i'll save those for later

i'd come to this ghini lv2 cave before but couldn't figure it out. getting the ghost to go through the wall is genius. i always wonder if the teddy bear had a purpose in a quest though :( it's such a sad sight down here

is it really just to serve as a distraction to ghosts?? that's sad :(

and ribbitune is the last of my echoes until lost woods. now i gott do dojo, smooties, and sidequests. so close!!

holy shit how am i just now discovering this quick smoothie menu? would that i had known about his earlier i could have been using it all game! i've actually gone without smoothies because i didn't want to suffer thru the animations!

oh lmao nvm he still does it. christ

ok im too full of smoothies. i hate doing it with a guide cuz it feels like cheating, but with such a long animation AND a 100-rupee fee doing it with trial and error was making me crazy. this game has a serious problem with that sort of tedium in the minutiae :|

since i'm so well prepared with smoothies i might as well do the boss rush. SIIIIIGH

SURPRISE GANON AT THE END OF BOSS RUSH

oh this is so bad i thot i had plany off time but actually i gotta Hustle. or do it all over again. which, lmao

FINAL PHASE ONE MINUTE LEFT I WILL NEVER MAKE IT

I FUCKIN

MADE IT

5 SECONDS TO GO

JESUS FUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OMG GREEN TUNICCCCCC PLEASE...........................

okay omg worth it 😭😭😭 i would have tried no matter how many times it took

god i am NEVER comin back in here

back to smoothie hell. i forgot they don't actually get used up at the dojo so i'm gonna have to sell some really nice ones to make room :/

DONE WITH SMOOTHIES! i am getting somewhere now

omg this sidequest where link tells this kid about snow. wah. this kind of proves he uses some sort of sign language, in order to describe things to people...

also what a mood what IS snow. we dont get that here

two sidequests left - zora's precious treasure container, and the goron race. the former has been stumping me for days and i looked it up and i'm mad. it's not even an echo!!!

the latter...i need some flame proof potions and a video guide or something. i failed it so many times already 😭

almost forgot, i'm still missing just a couple of accessories...

wearing my new green tunic 🥰 it;s about time!!!! boyfriend shirt boyfriend shirt

GOT MY LAST ACCESSORY! man i could have used these ice shoes earlier

aaand last of all...goron race

i kept having trouble after getting to the top and getting caught on fire but this person just walks up the side of the entrance...i bet i could do it

cake. i can't believe how easy that was when i struggled SO hard earlier lol

"i lost fair and square" did you though??

OKAY. NEW POST. i am DONE sidequesting it is time to FINISH THE GAME!!!