#need to work on my colours and drawing armour though...

[sterniis-png]

I need to finalise a proper design for my shep but I think I'm getting there

[daisymooonart]

May my Emperor live ten thousand years!

An (un)official painting of the Emperor and Empress of Huaxia. I would absolutely bow for Wu Zetian. Maybe not Qin Zheng, but he is hot and communist so I am tempted.

This took me around 15-20 hours to make and it was so worth it <3

Details under the cut!

First off: the faces.

Because of how obscured it was going to be, I wanted to get a good sense of what Zetian would look like before the makeup and the mask. I tried to give her a kind of average appearance, because I wanted to try and make her look like a normal person under all of that Empress garb (she's only 18... she should have been at the clurbbb). Her face is purposefully a little asymmetrical.

For makeup, I went for the blush-that-makes-you-look-drunk look that was apparently fashionable among Tang ladies. Her lips and yedian are pretty standard. I saved the xiehong on the wrong layer like a clown 😭 but it's still visible under the mask. Not entirely sure if her huadian would be accurate, but it's the one on the painting of Empress Wu that I see most often.

Would Qin Zheng have a stroke if he saw Zetian hang out with men wearing this mask? Absolutely. Am I Qin Zheng? Nope I'm an artist who spent wayyyyy too long drawing Zetian's face and didn't want to cover it up fully. Her haircomb is in the shape of an upside-down butterfly. The sharp bit on the collar is inspired by a shirt I saw in the Hunger Games once, it's a style that's supposed to force you into keeping good posture. I hc that Qin Zheng included it to piss her off, and it's definitely working...

Now for Qin Zheng's face. I tried to go for a simple, smooth-wing look. I never really envisioned him as twink-y when I read the book and tried to go for a hot-and-scary-man look whilst keeping it a little bit androgynous. He'd never ever have his hair down for a formal painting but I want to separate his face from the rest of the piece. His eye is weaker on his scarred side. He looks a little feverish and a little bit infuriated: he is probably wondering why the hell he needs to be painted when photographs now exist.

It's a very busy painting and I fully expect people to gloss over this, so here's a little zoom on Qin Zheng gripping Zetian's armour. He's a freak.

Now for the throne. I tried to do a dragon/phoenix piece but it didn't show very well in the actual painting, so here it is. You can really tell how much I love scribble art lol.

And here's the base of the throne, with two dragons to keep our lovely tyrants company

I opted for a double-seated throne because I accidentally drew them too close together and couldn't move them because of the layers because feminism <3

Now for clothing. I noticed that on the HT cover, Zetian has a white gem whilst Qin Zheng has a black gem, but the clothes underneath are the opposite colours. I made the details on Qin Zheng's armour white and Zetian's details black, but Qin Zheng's armour ends up being darker whilst Zetian's armour is a lot paler. Symbolism... or something... Also they both get a heart because its cute, like a friendship bracelet.

I really can't draw scales though so erm. Yeah.

If you notice any er,,,, imagery in their lower robes it was unintentional I swear

Even though Qin Zheng is very much the taller, dominant figure in the piece, I tried to actually put the focus on Zetian, by making her armour a different shade of gold to the throne and by keeping her closer to the centre. I don't know if it worked but my eyes think so. I think out of the entire piece though, Zetian took me the longest because I hadn't settled on what look I was trying to go for her. I redrew her armour about five times, but thankfully by the time it was done I had pretty much solidified where I was going with Qin Zheng's armour and I finished that in no time.

Again I absolutely loved making this painting, it was SO worth it. It might me my most detailed ever. I adore Heavenly Tyrant so so so much it might actually be my favourite book ever lol.

[oathkeeper-of-tarth]

Mod update, at long last! Dame Aylin Kintsugi - Origin version is now up on Nexus (update: should now be visible on mod.io as well). It was inevitable, really, that I would end up doing this.

The mod is now completely standalone and has no prerequisites. Aylin's visuals (head, hair, skin tone, "gold" tattoo colour) are still added to Body Type 3 humans, elves, and half-elves (and some custom race mod aasimar) if you just want to poach some cosmetics.

The kintsugi colour is once again plugged into Horn Colour, which I've added as an option to the above-mentioned races for this purpose.

But for the full custom appearance and fancy texture experience, I've made Aylin a new Origin Character selectable when you start a new game. Her race, class, and appearance are preset appropriately, but not fixed (which allows me to patch in custom/modded races), so you can tweak her a bunch, but for flavour she will have "Aasimar" and "Paladin of Selûne" tags in dialogues no matter what you pick. Her body type and background (Folk Hero) are locked. She has no other special properties, gameplay-wise.

Vestments of the Faithful is a mod that includes her iconic armour, if you want to complete the look.

Update: Along with changing the starting paladin warhammer to a greatsword, I went and added her armour statted as basic plate to her starting equipment, so no additional mods are needed. You should still use the mod above if you want a version of it with special stats and abilities.

It's nicely flexible, you can wear only parts of it. Or, you know, none at all. You do you.

Note that though I gave it a shot very briefly, wings are easy to get to appear, but veeery tricky to get in any way functional, so if you want those you should grab an extra mod that provides them. Let's call it future work for now.

Oh, how the turntables...

Blue is truly her colour.

Ah, the eternal struggle between putting Aylin in cool outfits and armours and wanting to show off my textures. But I did hand-draw every single one of these gold lines, so let me bask, shhhhhh. More under the cut for nudity.

I already spoke about this in a previous post, but everything is both much more high-res and super streamlined now. No more fudging around with body tattoo colour overlays or neck seams or anything. And all the colours are 100% Aylin-accurate, plucked right out of her presets.

To wrap this up, a spicy reward for whoever scrolled this far! Using the succubus outfit from the game as a little tribute to the harness art series by @redelicebeta, in particular this lovely entry.

I couldn't get the colours quite right, but I think it's close enough. And she rocks it.

In conclusion, yeah, Isobel Thorm is a very lucky woman.

But, more importantly, enjoy the mod, everyone!

[jamesrmillar]

Colour Theory, a short talk on something I know nothing about.

I was asked a question on Bluesky recently about how I select my colour-schemes. I had to go away and really think about how best to answer the question because the immediate answer is not particularly satisfying: The honest truth is I just make it up as I go along, relying on intuition and, when that fails, screwing up repeatedly until I get something that works. I think I've said elsewhere, but colour-schemes are the thing I either just get right or otherwise spend an inordinate amount of illustration time on.

That said, I really wanted to provide a good answer to that question, so I went away, delved deep into the vast emptiness of my brain, and managed to dredge up some tips I hope will be of use. I've tried to be concise but it's still way too long for a… 'bluet' or whatever the hell it's called on Bluesky, so it's here instead.

Whether it's mechs or vehicles, I always assign the parts of whatever machine I'm designing loosely into two groups. I don't really have a name for these groupings, because I never have anyone to explain what I'm doing to so, for the purpose of this explanation, we'll classify them as 'ornamental' and 'functional'. The armour or shell, though it may serve a purpose, counts as ornamental, whilst any internal frame, joints, mechanics, pipes etc, count as functional.

So, even if I don't know what the colour-scheme is going to be, I do know when designing the machine that these elements need to contrast one another and, when it comes time to colouring them, I'll set them up on separate alpha-locked layers with placeholder colours to make adjusting them independently possible.

In the case of the ZOE-themed robot I already had an idea and knew it would be coloured similar to an astronaut, to suggest a space theme; so off-white for ornamental, dark grey for functional. Then I figured I wanted to add an 80s vibe to it: the secondary colour would be pink, the third yellow, and then an electric blue for the advisory symbols and notices. Importantly, all of these colours still contrast with the dark grey because they're bright and highly saturated, and the grey is the opposite of those things.

To add some interest to the functional element, but maintain a good delineation between it and the ornamental element, I used a bronze colour for the cockpit and advisory notices, rather than using one of the colours I'd already used. This was used sparingly and also as an accent to separate and draw attention to the head. It is possible to use colours from one element on the other but doing so without restraint could easily result in that delineation of forms blurring and lead to a less appealing image.

Once I've got those colours locked in, I then added the shadows. This is an important step in my illustration process because I usually use very saturated shadows, which can have a tendency to alter how the "actual" colours of the machine will be perceived. The illustration above shows the original shadow colour and an alternative one to highlight how influential this step is; it's a bit of mind-trickery I don't know the theory behind so I'm afraid I can't elaborate on it.

So, I guess I've outlined a process of When things go well but, what about When things go to shit? Well, I can offer two solutions there.

The first one is exceedingly simple: Find a reference. I was recently watching a show and saw the hoody above. The colour-scheme caught my eye and, whilst I totally could remember it, I screen-capped it and left in a folder somewhere. If I'm really struggling, I'll think of something I've seen, like this, and use it either as a starting point or as the scheme itself. So look out for these colours turning up in a future illustration.

Furthermore, if I've got nothing like that to pick from, I'll just cheekily take the opportunity to make a reference to something, like Silent Bomber (illustration below). Nobody got this; when you don't talk to anyone, you tend not to see how obscure your references are.

Then there's option 2: Find a slider and slide it. I do most of my illustration in Procreate which, like most art/graphics apps, has a variety of editing options that simply let you play around with settings and drastically alter the appearance of something. Does that blue and grey look too plain?

Go into the Hue/Saturation/brightness menu and slide everything everywhere until something catches your eye. Or just apply a gradient map and see what happens. The pics above are the original colour-scheme (left) and one (right) where I slid the hue slider and found something neat. I had to touch up the accents but, otherwise, it really was that simple.

Messing around with things like transmuting the livery of an F1 car onto a robot, or wildly flapping at buttons until something happens are great, and valid, ways to learn what works and what doesn't.

Anyways, that's about all I got. My Bluesky is here BTW:

[distant--shadow]

The witch and the widow chapters 1-4 author’s notes

Ok, so first off I feel I gotta preface this by saying I am absolutely not a history buff. Kinda the opposite of one really. I was one of less than 10% of the kids in my year of 300 or so that didn’t take history at GCSEs, mostly caus a subject taught and based around names and dates etc is the definition of something not suited for my type of brain, also I hugely lost interest in it caus we moved past the fun trebuchet eras and all that real fast and it became of slog of me falling asleep in lessons caus I had a teacher whose method was putting on movies and shutting the blinds (I’d always fall asleep and he was later jailed for being a p*edophile, so that’s a thing.) Anyway, all that to say I’m not good at this shit, but as ive gotten older I have taken a bigger interest in queer history in particular, and that often if not always links into other areas such as fashion, women’s rights, religion,the arts, class, and race etc. (I’m still not good at names and dates though!)

They are outfitted and arsenalled - the stones of the wall - in a manner to rival any army; tapestries of red and gold perhaps once brandished on battlefield as banners promenading around death now retired and indoor-still-air-still as taxidermy giving colour between all of the shades of metal, burnished and polished and in some cases rusting, some still purposefully left blood-stained, swords and pikes and maces arranged in wallpaper patterns as though flowers or fans, sword-sheath beams spreading from chest-plate armour suns.

Let’s start with something easy and recent. The Baron’s armoury was inspired by a few castles I’ve visited, these rooms are always so bizarre to me. I don’t know if this is at all of the time/how they were decorated or a more recent thing, but either way it’s pretty wild but I do love the visual and metaphor of it. In this one castle I found out from talking about the carpentry to an attendant that the decorative ceiling work around the chandelier above the dining room table actually hid a trapdoor - and there was other hidden doorways for passages and to secret rooms in this castle, that’s not that unusual - but this particular trapdoor was to allow for the chandeliers to be switched out. Why? Caus they had them in multiple colours of glass, and the lady of the castle liked the chandelier to co-ordinate with her dress if they were having guests round. Aint that such a flex? Definitely some food for future thought.

Aight. Clothing. So anyone that chats fic/au to me or is in my server has probably heard me yell to go watch Kaz Rowe’s videos many times. As I’ve said this fic aint meant to be historically accurate but it does kinda straddle histories, one of which being our own; so women wearing trousers and the like at this time would still be a crime, and draw a lot of attention . Imogen in men’s clothing genuinely isn’t meant to be much of a gender thing but a thing of practicality, and she has mostly lived in the countryside or in the outskirts, so she does not get into the trouble she would should she go into the towns and cities (another reason to keep away past the potential noise, but this Imogen will happily don a dress or skirts if she needs to, she’s just usually working – and maybe it’s a bonus that dressing as a man acts as a sort of flagging for any women who might be interested lol.)

I guess here I should mention how I think this version of Imogen's powers and how they’ve manifested (along with everyone else being unaware of them) will have somewhat changed her disposition and personality, it is a lot more aligned with later campaign Imogen who has more confidence and empowerment, she hasn’t been ostracised for her abilities or particularly bombarded by them, think more like when she has her circlet on, she chooses to listen in (mostly), although of course she has still heard many terrible things (and her life has still been pretty brutal but that’s to be written still).

(it’ll be really fun in this regard getting to explore and explain this version of Laudna, but early days for giving much away on that yet!)

Her skirts are full and structured and plumed by many layers of petticoats that hide the movement of her feet across the wildflower lawn, causing her to appear to be drifting like the bees do from petal to petal, pollen dusting her pleats though ghostly her skin in contrast to the fine fabrics that she dresses for the part, black in mourning, still, bodice tight and sleeve leg of mutton, an ornate decorative layer of black lace laying over each yard of textured textile like spider webs on porcelain patterns, her husband's tableware collecting dust in the kitchen cupboard.

real impractical for how tending towards practical the Lady dares to be, hands on, too busy for errant hairs in piano key ivory and ebony windswept and loose from the high bun she pins in place with a cameo broach, a memento mori engraved in silver and inlayed with ruby eyes and tied with red ribbons. Her skin also proudly displays the age and perhaps trauma that her hair does, lines from laughter and furrowed brows and the feet of the crows that cry from the top of the chimney pots

A little note as to say that Laudna’s appearance is heavily influenced by Victorian mourning wear, with some of the clothes cuts altered to be a little bit more regency and earlier in places. (her  attire is a little outdated, further suggesting her distancing from society and fashion)

A couple of days ago Imogen happened upon a bird with an injured wing, crying helplessly and rolling in circles, feathers taking flight away from the bird that could not, settling around it as it panicked itself bald-

The bird could not live without the use of its wing, and it didn’t, whether that was by Prosciutto or a fox, only its feathers were left in a pile.

Imogen had gathered them into an empty burlap sack; taken them to one of the maids downstairs to clean, repurpose them for filling pillows.

Here’s a silly little easter egg for my p(r)oof reader. Last time he visited we was enjoying a cinnamon roll from the local bakery by the city river (as you do) and a cyclist hit a seagull. It was real distressing, the seagull was distressed too. A handfull of middle aged women stood around it not wanting or knowing how to intervene as its wing was twisted at a crazy angle and it flapped about in a pile of its own feathers, there’s still bird flu about so it is wise to not touch wild birds, and as bleak as it is I was saying to freshy that a wild bird who’s wings broken like that is gonna die, and probably slowly and painfully. Some man came along and lifted up the bird to take the bird off the path and laid it to rest behind an old bridge building, I think he must have mercy killed it too as the bird was already dead when we walked past 10 or so minutes later after finishing our cinnamon roll and giving a cautious glance. So there’s a nice happy memory thrown in there for him.

what appears to be driftwood breaches the surface, then another point, then another

the water belches

Ceviche scares, whinnying as he rears onto his back legs, the Lady leaning forward and clinging to his harness. Imogen stands in her stirrups, leaning across the gap over to the black stallion, grasping his reins and cooing

“All good, boy, all good-”

What had appeared to be driftwood lands on the surface with a slap, looking like the carcass of an old boat left to rot in the muddy bed of a dock, timber ribcaged and leathered skin cladding.

A femur surfaces, followed by a jaw.

Second easter egg for the p(r)oof is a quick one (I’m such a considerate writer, I know.) On a train ride to a loch we went to for a day out there is a stop that is on another lake/body of water, and right by the train tracks (which are at water height) there are 4 or 5 old ships stuck in the mud, most of them just the frames/structures of the old boats, mostly wood and some bits of metal, but they’re pretty big boats! It really looks like whale carcasses. I’ve always wanted to get of there and check it out, and we were gonna stop by on the way back but my health being what it is was giving me some grief that day so we missed 2 trains and then soon the daylight, so hopefully next time buddy.

There’s alotta meat and gore talk and Imogen being a vegetarian without the label for such is just another way of me playing round with all of her complex feelings about what the Lady might be doing, her feelings towards Angharad butchering and nourishing the women with these communal stews and all of that. I’ve been vegetarian myself for 20 years now, and it was all triggered by an existential crisis in my mid teens (still a huge fan of leather and blood though) – Imogen greatly cares about animals, struggles with the thought of anything being slaughtered, she is in some ways more empathetic than most because she knows those she does on so much more of a personal level, really feels how someone is reacting to a situation they are in, but also because of this she knows humans are often corrupt and vile and she is spared such thoughts from animals, only knows their instincts and the love and comfort and service they bring – and yet she will obsess over the Lady’s (potential) tooling on that saddlework leather that’s really fucking brutal if she thinks about it one way and beautiful if she thinks about it another hmmm what if everything’s not black and white.

Oh, and the stew is a homage to @picturesofthegoneworlds’ pre-campaign fic Intertwined which I am lucky enough to co-parent and her writing is hugely influential on mine.

There’s a few things being bread crumb trailed here that I can’t explain in the author notes yet, but I’m looking forward to when I can. One small detail I will give away is just a silly thing about the chapter headings. They are something of significance from within the chapter, given in its ‘proper’ name – maybe someone gets access to some books to do research at some point?

anyways, thanks @astoriacolumnstaircase for enabling me. will do another post like this for future chapters if folks find it interesting.

[superprincesspea]

Courted by the Dragon

Chapter 9 - Favour

Aemond Targaryen is both the cause and witness to the greatest humiliation of your life. You would rather die than see him again. Yet summer at court and the precipice of civil war have other ideas.

Masterlist

Warning - This chapter contains canon typical violence.

~~~

The summer tourney brings competitors from as far north as Deepwood Motte, to as far south as Sunspear, but none have set more tongues wagging than Aemond Targaryen.  

According to Maris, he never usually partakes in any tourneys, yet he was partaking in this one, and there was hardly a lady at court who did not dream he would ask for her favour. 

But not you. You were only glad you’d not had to endure his company since Helaena’s name day. Though Maris could not say the same. 

It had been three days, and if she did not spend more time with Aemond, then he could never fall in love with her, and that just wouldn’t do. 

So, with the royal summer quickly drawing to a close, she had begun to beg your father to extend your stay for another two weeks. Enough time, in her opinion, to secure a prince.  

But Borros Baratheon was not borne for the life of a courtier and, from what he’d seen in the Red Keep, his daughters would all find far better matches with his banner men instead of the ‘pompous arses at court’. 

Still, despite his feelings on the Red Keep, he was pleased enough when a scroll arrived just before the joust was about to begin, inviting your family to sit in the royal box at the behest of the queen.  

Ordinarily you would dread such an invitation, but knowing Aemond would be preparing for the tourney elsewhere, meant you could be quite comfortable with his family instead of crammed into the stands with everyone else.  

Though if you were completely honest, you weren’t exactly looking forward to a spectacle of blood and violence, and the idea of men charging at each other with giant sticks was a little absurd.  

But you could enjoy the ceremony of it all. With the horses dressed in house colours, countless banners flying proudly in a blue sky, and all that well polished armour.  

Some of it was like a work of art, so distinct and detailed. The only place you ever saw armour like that was at a tourney, where it was designed for intrigue instead of practicality. Though you think practicality should really be the main thought behind such things.  

Still, you’re excited to see it and you’ve wondered, more times than you'd care to admit, just what Aemond’s armour will look like. Practical or beautiful.  

When you enter the royal box, excited to see the crowd which has been making so much noise, Queen Alicent stands and, though you’re expecting her to greet your father, she bypasses him in favour of you .  

“Lady Baratheon,” she says warmly, taking your arm in hers as though you’re old friends, before she leads you to sit in the chair beside her. 

You can only imagine what your family must think of this, yet its only Maris who’s desperately trying to catch your eye, her gaze so forlorn. 

“Why have you abandoned our Cyvasse games? I’ve missed them terribly,” Alicent says, and you’re taken aback. You’d never really thought your games were anything more than a distraction until court resumed. 

“Forgive me, your grace,” you bow your head, “I thought perhaps you were in no need of my company when the hunt returned.” 

She laughs kindly, “so you will leave me to play all my games with Aemond, when you have seen what a devil he is? I am quite in need of your help if we are to conquer him.” 

You meet her eye and laugh, but your laughter is uneasy compared to hers. “I believe it will take more than a few days to conquer his grace.” 

She looks thoughtful, “will your father not extend your families stay?” 

“We are all eager to return home,” you say, though it is only you and your father who wish to return to Storms End.  

Alicent does not hide her disappointment, and you’re not sure why you feel so guilty except you do. As though you’re letting her down in some way, yet you haven’t made any promises at all. 

“I’ve never visited the Stormlands, but we have a palace there. Summerhall, you have seen it?” 

“I have not, your grace.” 

She seems surprised. “Aemond stayed there in the spring. I thought perhaps that was where he had met you.” 

Your face feels hot, flustered. “Met me?”   

“Yes, you knew him before you came to court, did you not?” 

You lick your lips, your throat suddenly feeling far too dry for words, “no, your grace.” 

She seems surprised again. “When my son returned from Summerhall and suggested we invite your family to court, I thought perhaps he had made a dear new friend .” 

You try not to react, but you are reacting, your mind reeling, your cheeks burning even hotter than before. 

“Perhaps he met my father?” you say, feeling pleased to have thought of some reasonable explanation when she is looking at you with the shrewd expression she usually reserves for her son. 

“Perhaps,” she leans even closer, so there are no prying ears in your conversation, “but he does not look at your father, or indeed any of your sisters, the way he looks at you .” 

If a dragon could swoop from the sky and eat you alive, you would thank it for the pleasure, but you’re not that lucky. 

Of course Aemond looks at you differently , you think nervously. You’re the only one in your family who was stupid enough to be naked on a beach! 

But you can’t say that to the queen. In fact, you cannot even bring yourself to say anything at all and, perhaps, in saying nothing, you tell her everything she needs to know.  

Then the games begin. The fanfare sounding, two men riding into the forum, but you can hardly concentrate. Your heart is pounding so hard you feel it might burst from your chest. 

“You may sit with your sisters,” Alicent says, her voice making you startle, and you stand, knowing it will be rude for you to leave without at least looking at her. 

But when you turn to her, the knowing smile on her face makes you nervous all over again. 

“You should be at the front in case someone asks for your favour,” she adds as though she hasn’t said quite enough.  

You curtsy politely and cannot return to your sisters quick enough. 

Someone . You know she means Aemond, but the idea of him asking for your favour seems absurd. It’s too bold and far too romantic. 

Aemond might be insanely arrogant in most regards, but he was also painfully reserved. He didn’t dance, hardly smiled and, if that wasn’t enough, the only time he was mildly tolerable was when you were alone. 

In public, he was so unreasonably rude and certainly not the type to ask for anyone’s favour, least of all yours. 

He might have suggested your family come to court, but you were certain that was only to allow him the pleasure of tormenting you face to face. Except , the stack of books in your chamber had no bearing on torment but you could not think of that now.  

“What did the queen say to you?” Maris demands before you’ve even taken your seat.  

“We spoke of Cyvasse and... Summerhall , she said Prince Aemond likes to stay there sometimes.” 

“He does?” Her face lights up, excited by this new information, and you can see the very moment fresh schemes begin to cloud her mind instead of more questions.  

Cassandra says nothing. Yet the way she looks at you makes you feel uneasy, as though she's on the verge of asking something far more probing than Maris had.  

So, you do your best to ignore her, glad when the crowd grows far too lively for easy conversation, leaving nothing to do but watch with sickening fascination at the whole spectacle. 

Aemond’s match is last, and his competitor is a man named Lord Glover who you have never seen before, though he is very hard to miss.  

“He is a beast,” Maris exclaims, and she’s right. He’s so tall and broad shouldered, you almost think he should be carrying his horse and not the other way around. 

As he approaches the royal box, he removes his helmet to reveal soft brown curls and a friendly, open smile.  

He bows his head to the Queen, then her children, before his attention turns to you and your sisters. 

“I would have come South far sooner if I had known of all the beautiful ladies they hide at court,” he says, forcing his horse to a stop and, even from where you’re sitting, you can see the pretty colour of his eyes, like moss in the rain.  

“You hail from the north, Lord Glover?” you ask, intrigued by all the stories which had always described it as some dangerous and mythical place. 

“Almost as far North as you can go before the wall, but do not hold that against me.” 

“My sister likes windswept places,” Maris interjects with a playful laugh, and you find yourself blushing at the way his smile burns brighter. 

“Well, in that case, may I have the honour of your favour and your name, my Lady?”  

Without thinking, you catch Alicent’s eye, and her stare is quite fixed as you rise from your chair, holding your handkerchief.  

You’d almost forgotten to bring it and take care to ensure the wonky cornflower is hidden from view as you tell him your name and begin to tie it around his lance.  

But before you have finished, the noise from the crowd grows more excited, and you glance over Lord Glover’s shoulder to where Aemond has rode into the forum.  

Wearing all black with a horse as dark as his armour, his helmet tucked under his arm. A sensible choice, you think. No garish pieces and made for battle instead of pageantry, though he seems to enjoy the spectator's cheers well enough, slowly lapping the ground before his eye finds you.  

You glance back down, finishing the knot on your favour, trying only to feel the softness of Lord Glover’s mossy gaze, instead of the ice which burns from Aemond’s. 

Then he takes your hand, “may I have your first dance this evening, my lady?” 

You can’t help but return his easy smile, excited by the prospect of a man who has not been corrupted by Aemond. “You may, Lord Glover, and good luck.” 

Seeming pleased with your answer, he presses his lips to the back of your hand, and your heart does a little leap when his finger grazes across your wrist.  

“I shall look forward to it,” he says, with one last smile, before kicking his horse into a trot just as Aemond approaches the box. 

“Your little sister seems to have hedged all her bets on the loser,” he declares boldly, looking at Maris.  

“You have fought Lord Glover before?” you interrupt, annoyed by his arrogance. 

“No,” he twists his head towards you, “but I do not play to lose.”   

You think of your Cyvasse game and feel even more annoyed, “nobody plays to lose, your grace. I’m sure Lord Glover is anticipating his victory with as much enthusiasm as yourself.”  

Aemond’s jaw tightens, his lance sliding up to slam on the rail beside you, but you don’t startle. You hold firm and perhaps, if you were thinking more clearly, you’d be thinking this entire exchange is another one which is far too familiar.  

But somehow, it's like everyone else doesn’t exist, just you, the prince and yet another disagreement. 

“His victory?” He says and you can hear the distain in his voice as plainly as you can see it on his face, yet you prod him. 

Looking towards Lord Glover with a smile, “I can certainly see no reason why not.” 

“Your favour, Lady Baratheon,” Aemond commands and your eyes snap back to his, but his attention has turned to Maris.

She hops up from her chair, her cheeks flushed and her handkerchief waving in the air with all those delicate little stitches. 

This is everything she’s wanted for weeks, yet you cannot bring yourself to smile for her as you sit back down. Your chest feels too tight, your shoulders rigid.  

You were so certain he wouldn’t ask anyone .  

Yet he was asking her, and perhaps if he was being sweeter, you might have been more concerned about the acute pang of jealousy which struck the moment she jumped up from the chair.  

But Aemond is being Aemond. There’s no romance, no kiss of the hand. His mouth is a hard line, his attention elsewhere.  

He doesn’t even see the way Maris is smiling or how her fingers are trembling with excitement as she knots her handkerchief into a bow.  

It's all so perfunctory to him, and you forget about your own feelings, whatever they are, because you cannot stand the way he’s ignoring her.  

Why did he even ask?  

Can he not see how much she adores him?   

If you were Maris, you would scrunch the handkerchief into a tight ball and throw it at his stupid head. 

Yet Maris is still smiling and it's you who reclaims his attention, his eye dark and dangerous as he pulls the helmet over his head. 

Fear seizes control of your veins and you’re not sure if it's for Aemond or Lord Glover. But the size comparison really is alarming when they’re at either end of the arena. 

Glover is well over 6 feet tall, his arms like sturdy branches of a tree. It's difficult to imagine a scenario where he could lose. Yet you cannot underestimate Aemond, nor can you bring yourself to watch.  

Your eyes squeeze shut the very moment the horses begin to pound the earth, and it's only a few seconds, before the sound of splintered wood cracks through the air like a clap of thunder.  

There’s a thud, the high whinny of a horse, followed by the sharp metal draw of a sword. 

You force your eyes to peel open, one at a time, to find both men dismounted and circling each other with their weapons in hand. 

Glover charges, his sword clashing heavily with Aemond’s shield, and only then are you certain it was the dragon who’d been unseated.  

Aemond seems to favour his left leg, holding his arm tightly into his ribs before his sword raises to meet with Glover’s next attack.  

With every clash, you shift closer and closer to the edge of your seat, time seeming to move more slowly than it had in the previous fights. 

More than ever, you’re wondering why in the world anyone would ever do this?  

Aemond leaps forward then back, tricking Glover into thinking he’s going to attack. So, when Glover swings his sword, Aemond isn’t there. Instead, he strikes the giant knight in the side, toppling him over like the felling of a great tree. 

“Finish him!” the crowd shouts but Glover is surprisingly agile, rolling beneath the jousting fence to give himself space to manoeuvre back onto his feet. 

If Aemond wasn’t injured, you’re certain he would have followed him, but he uses the time to regain his own strength before they clashed again. Shield against shield, thrashing until Aemond’s crumples in his hands and he throws it aside. 

Glover uses the opportunity to thrust his sword towards Aemond’s chest, forcing the dragon to duck and weave, a thing that cannot be easy given his injury. Yet he does it so flawlessly, as though the pain is nothing to him. 

Glover’s next strike is even harder and, though Aemond brings his sword up to meet it, he cannot repel the attack. Instead, Glover presses his weight into the sword, forcing Aemond to his knee.  

By now you’re leaning onto the railing in front of you with both hands and the crowds are calling, “finish him,” yet again. Though you’re uncertain if the words are meant for the Prince or Lord Glover. Yet the distraction proves in Aemond’s favour.  

Glover is too busy enjoying the taste of victory before it has really touched his lips and, as he revels in the cheers with the dragon at his feet, Aemond springs free, slicing his sword up and under the giant Lords Helmet. 

The move is so quick, your brain barely has time to register it, and, for a moment, they both just stand there, leaving you to wonder if the sword had hit him at all.  

Then Lord Glover folds in on himself, a thick stream of blood hitting the dirt just before he does.  

You gasp, the sound completely swallowed by the deafening ovation of a bloodthirsty crowd, as Aemond removes his helmet and throws it to the dirt.  

His lip is busted open, his hand clasped against his ribs, but that does not stop the smile on his face as he turns to the royal box and finds your horrified expression. 

You shrink back into the chair and Maris leans in with a smug grin, “and he won with my favour.” 

You don’t answer, your gasp has seemed to drain all speech from your throat, and it doesn’t return until some hours later.  

~~~

[novastar-creations]

Au(? Plot extension?) where Hueso is really understaffed post-Kraang invasion and Sunita has to help him out (she got the job through nepotism exploding frankie)

It was really fun playing with different proportions and styles of the uniform - I had a limited colour pallet cos both Sunita and the Run of the Mill uniform had set colours and I didn’t wanna stray too far from canon. I was also focusing more on the actual designs and pushing proportion so I didn’t flip the canvas (had to actually restrain myself from doing it but y’know) that’s why some of ‘em look janky.

Left: My friend really liked this one (something about the pants?). The whole idea of Waitress!Sunita actually originated with this one, cos I drew it (and another one I think) in my sketchbook. That kinda triggered an inspiration bought and I worked on these for like, two days.

Middle: At some point I got the idea to give her wraps bc (headcanon time) she struggles keeping her form for long periods of time. I don’t really like this one as much as the others though, and I think it’s because she hasn’t got a shirt on under her vest? Something about that annoys me idk.

Right: This one was really cute! I do like the idea of her having really long cuffs or using her wraps to ramp down her sleeves - I might reuse that in the final design. Also, the hair on this one really stuck out to me for some reason.

MORE DESIGNS UNDER THE CUT ;]

Left: Don’t ask her what the specials are or what her favourite pizza is. She will ramble for ages and you’ll never eat. Design wise, I really like this one, and I think it’s because of how the vest tucks into the apron and crosses over itself. Something about that scratches my brain.

Middle: This one’s probably my least favourite, just cos it’s kinda boring. It’s cute, yea, but it just needs a little more flair. One might even say it needs razzmatazz. Also the boys fighting over the last slice of pizza would drive her endlessly insane, especially cos she can’t whoop their butts while she’s working.

Right: I think she’d sometimes try and do things too fast and accidentally slip. Hueso would be very forgiving tho. The little braid is cute, but I don’t think it’s my favourite hair (goop?) style I gave her.

Left: After a bit of time, her workload would decrease and she’d have more breaks - giving her more time to mess around on her phone. Also, it’s not fair Leo’s the only one with a nickname from Hueso. I think he’d give most of the regular (teen) patrons nicknames.

Middle: Sometimes she takes her time with delivering orders to their tables (tho she mostly does it out of spite when customers are rude to her) and dances over. I think she and Mikey would get on really well (hence the friendship bracelet).

Right: She would probably get herself in trouble because she messes around a little, and she’d have to do some less fun jobs, like taking out the trash, as punishment.

Left: This one will probably be the final design if I make it into an actual au? It has all the stuff of the other designs that I like, plus’s some other flairs. I think I’d redo it just a little, maybe give her the wraps, cos I really like that idea (and the matching friendship bracelet with Mikey ofc)

Right: This one was the precursor to the wraps, with the idea in this post that she uses armour to hold herself together. I ended up scrapping this really early on because I didn’t like the armour design I made (too boring). I might reuse the idea later, idk. I did really like the little puff sleeves. I think this was the other one I did in my sketchbook?

Despite all her clumsiness, hyperactivity, and various quirks, she’d probably be better than most of Hueso’s staff, cos unlike her, they all run from the mafia bosses (and/or compete for unicorns, destroying the restaurant in the process).

Sketches in (more or less) the order I started drawing them!

[haematicartwork]

Commission Offers <3

Time to make a new, proper, updated version! If none of the options below suit your needs, then feel free to DM me and we will figure something out. Lineart: This includes 2-3 pose sketches, a refined sketch, lineart, colour, shading and a simple background. Usually 4-5 days to completion. Fullbody: 45€ Starting at feet to knees Halfbody: 35€ Starting at thighs to hips Portrait: 25€ Starting at shoulders to neck Examples for Lineart commissions:

Rendered: This includes 1-2 pose sketches, a coloured sketch and a full, detailed "painted" render. Usually 1-4 weeks to completion. Fullbody: 50-75€ Starting at feet to knees Halfbody: 40-65€ Starting at thighs to hips Portrait: 30 - 45€ Starting at shoulders to neck Examples for Rendered commissions:

Other options:

24 HOUR DELIVERY COMMISSIONS: +100% of original price Must be commissioned before 2pm EST. Only open if no other commissions are in progress - ask beforehand. Not for complex motives, backgrounds or full body renders. Limited updates. Finished artwork will be delivered within 24 hours of commission. "ARTIST-TAKE-THE-WHEEL"/DESIGN COMISSIONS: 30 - 50€ Will listen to your concept and input and design the character and provide one full character artwork in style, pose and frame of my choosing depending on what suits the character best. Closest results to my "offtime" work. Good for if you don't have a very specific idea.

Additional characters: +50% for first, +75% for all subsequent As a scene: + 10€ slightly more complex background, frame and lighting - see example below Alternate expressions: +25% // +50% for lineart (portraits) and rendered (portraits) - see example below complex details: up to +30% "complex" meaning detailed armour, embroidery, tattoos, special incorporated designs, a specific complex perspective or angle, etc. detailed background: up to +30% detailed meaning anything beyond shapes, gradients or simple patterns

Rules/other notices: - I have almost nothing I won't draw, however be advised that I absolutely do not specialise in anthros nor mechs and will decline anything with too complex/style incongruent designs in that regard. I can recommend other artists for them, though - If several detailed revisions and changes are requested, I reserve the right to raise the price. Standard are between 2-3 revisions per stage. - Minimum of 50% of the price upfront, payment only via paypal - Any kind of references accepted. Visual references strongly preferred, including handmade doodles, heroforge, picrew, stock photos and pinterest photos.

More examples:

[kiweegamez]

TORANS HERE WE GO.

Ok so Torans, if you knew her you know the gist. I also had this big phase with drawing her in au’s but we don’t talk about those as they shall hopefully never surface the internet. 🗿She’s also had so much crossing lore so I think this will finally be the breakthrough of the century. She has been redesigned so many times and eventually I get bored and spruce her up a bit. Here’s her previous redesign. THIS POST BTW WILL JUST EXPLAIN SOMETHINGS ABOUT HER, if you DON’T want to read just look at the pretty pictures. 🩵

Yucky. However, her two different coloured eyes had been a key feature for her as a character as old as time. However, quite a few things changed in her newest redesign.

(Ignore the anatomical inaccuracy, ALSO HOW DARE YOU TUMBLR FOR REDUCING THE QUALITY 😠)

So clearly there are still some similarities and differences. Such as the new jaw, eyes, horn type ect. As she is now second in command in the Elite Guard. I’m unsure if someone has made one so this will be explained later. Torans is my og undertale oc, she doesn’t have anything to do with any au specifically. Her ecto-body, is a choice controlled by her magic as I imagine skeleton type monsters can learn this to fill out their clothes or make it easier to protect their bones, however as this requires energy she looks tired all the time. Also top surgery since she doesn’t like her boobas 👍 .

So here’s her sword, I’m sure you’re confused. How would she use this as it doesn’t look like it could slash well. Well think of it like this, she could slash but only with the silver top, which does less impact than her main tactic. She will use the main part of the blade to wedge these spikes into the oppositions mid torso or wherever she can latch it such as a leg, then will yank the blade towards herself so the tip of the blade will be pulled into them as the side will roughly rip out attached flesh. However, if she is going against a skeleton due to the lack of flesh unless they are casting ecto-body she will hook the curved points into the rib to pull them close and then attack. The skull like handle is to protect the back of her hand, if someone does grab her wrist she can use the ‘horns’ to try and gouge their wrist if put in the right spot. If in a dire situation she will actually attempt to fling her sword, given its top heavy she will quickly shot put throw it to try and launch it into someone. I haven’t even bothered touching her armour yet lol

She does have a tail! Her hair, ears and tail are softer than they look! But be warned she will not let you touch them easily. As a show of irritation or slight discomfort the first sign to notice is the smoke escaping the ‘vents’ in her horns as they begin to heat up, then if further aggravated it will come from her sinuses as well. When enraged or full on beast mode her horns will spark and light on fire. This smoke is rather thick, but really doesn’t affect anyone’s breathing, the fire does though… She will use her horns to hook others in battle such as gaps in skeletons arms or legs if positioned, she has been reported to hook a skeleton by the eye sockets by her horns then ram them into a wall. Being the second in command of the Elite guard results her taking orders from the first in command, whom deals with paper work and gives her the responsibility of all lower guard groups. If sent on missions there will only be one unless it is a mass mission where two will be sent. In total there are 6 Elite Guards, (In ranking order) Riua (Re-wa), Torans (Tor-rans), Yanku (Yan-Kew), Pirta(Pur-tah), Eliqo(E-lick), and Viren (Vi-ran). They are essentially the bosses of all lower guards, with the responsibility of tasking them all with missions, care for cohorts, provide needed equipment, armoury checks, interrogations, ect.

Now, back to Torans she goes by Loyalty and honesty, she is also. A stiff ass. She’s not taking any shit and is ready to put you in your place and humble you. If she were to show affection to others she is very physical touchy-feely but only in private. She is a beast in the battle field and can take a couple hits. However, a weak spot is to hook something onto her horns and slam her into the ground, causing her to become immobilised for a moment from shock, this time is elongated if in her armour due to the weight. Another weak spot are her hips as they are sensitive she will often tense up and take a moment. She is the type to want a fair fight within reason, so if you are beat to a pulp she will stand there and look down at you waiting for another attack unless able to then she will walk away. Unless, she sees no hope for you, striking when you are at your weakest. Or if one has fought with her before on unforgivable terms she will show that no mercy is given to those of foul nature.

She’s quite stern and often doesn’t respond verbally often, as she thinks that her subordinates may take her tone wrong or that she may something wrong or confusing as she talks rather fast due to some form of minor anxiety. She will set up routines often and wants to know as much as possible, if she is your interrogator she will ‘shift’ herself to match your mindset but she can easily become the ‘bad cop’. A weakness of hers is her short-temper, easily set off by incompetence (which at first annoys her) and back-stabbers. Also loud sounds. You thought I would just give her goat ears without sensitive hearing? WRONG HAHAHA. If she notices somethings going to blow up she gonna get on the floor and cover her ears. Another way to gain an advantage against her. She also doesn’t like suck ups. Straight up. She will cut the bullshit.

This is her soul! Now about Torans’ whole life situation. There’s purely a reason she’s second in command rather than first, she’s a lot more helpful in the battlefield than the average monster. She technically cannot turn to dust. To balance this factor out healing magic cannot work on her, slightly worsens the wounds so she has to tough it out, much like wounds in our world. Her soul will still shatter but will rejoin together eventually. The ‘mini soul’ pattern in the middle represents her ‘undying spirit’ when her soul shatters she will just straight up pass out for hours, girlies eye lights are going out and she’s falling like a brick. The cracks constantly glow hence she doesn’t show her soul as others tend to ask about this sensitive topic. When awakening she will be very unaware and dazed, it usually takes a week to recover basic movements yet will be severely weakened for elongated periods of time hence why she’s so heavily focused on training when she can. But she’s stubborn so you know if you find her she’s going to be stumbling around like a zombie into a wall.

And before you ask, this strange unattainable au was…..erased…. By unseen means, with a few escaping but ultimately separated. Yet this was many upon many years ago, so it is very unlikely that the others are still living as the ‘Great fog’ (the term known for Torans’ experience during the collapse of the Au) happened around 387 years ago. She’s 407 years old. So yes she’s old like a certain goopy skeleton. She can also be quite oddly resentful towards nagging or those overly curious she comes across especially when others ask where she came from as an innocent question, usually causes her to have a flashback causing her to freeze up, or a full on lash out (yet this is much rarer and is usually caused as a after affect of heightened stress or she’s just annoyed). But despite her cold and tarnished personality she is a most valuable mentor to those patient enough to listen to her.

Torans headcanon voices- Coven Morgana 

(I imagine she would link cross across to being a ex-royal guard member from his Au through his fighting style and stance, so I feel like the lines directed at the knight would sometimes be referring to him) Helmeted Torans- Odysseus (with voice modifier) or meanie ENA (without voice modifier / voice mod off in the helmet)!

Have some close ups, you deserve them especially if you read all that 😭.

Her forked ecto-tongue is unnatural as it formed from an injury, she cannot perceive taste as well or at all as others can.

THIS PICTURE HAS SO MUCH SEBASTIAN SOLACE ENERGY ISTG.

anyways thanks for reading, my ask box is always open.

🔽||Related Posts||🔽

[bl4z33467]

(Cracks knuckles) Alright folks I remember how to draw

Fat fuck Vulpes by yours truly, Blaze Lander. Inspired by the lovely drawing by @yourmateyoya ,egged on by @legions-top-dog , and because i force you to deal with all my shitty drawings, @noomycatz

Yes, once again, i have put too much effort into a shitpost. Roughly 2 hours as I reused a canvas on ibis paint for a 5th drawing lmao

Yall can burn me at the stake later lol

Process below hehe i like to ramble

And just because i like to talk about my drawing process for characters with complex outfits, this is how my lobotomy brain does it:

First i do silly fun colored sketch. I use different colors to differentiate the "skeleton" from the, euh, fleshy bits, and the clothing. You can see lots of lines that would not be shown in the final product so it makes it confusing to look at.

Next i do a clean sketch.

This is where i clean up everything before doing the final lines. I use one color and a thin brush to make it easier to line over. Here i add any extra bits (like the top football armour) and "render the physics" as i call it, so properly drape cloth and the uhhh squish of stupid fat fuck vulpes' boobs and stomach. I also will balance the drawing here by flipping it and redrawing or using the drag tool.

Next is lining.

For this drawing, i used a 9.0 digital pen with a taper. Its my standard :þ. I kept my pen at the same size for this piece. Sometimes i line the outside darker to make the drawing stand out more. I decided not to as i wanted to give the drawing a more "serious" tone. (How serious can this be though lol-)You may notice on the arms little bits of the lines are missing, thats because i gave him some arm hair. I like make little details like that show over the lines. But since the one shading technique i used works with clipping masks, i had to but the arm hairs on a layer lower than the line art. Next is colour:

I colour in the drawing with midtones. Simple as. I tried to stick with warm colours besides his eyes, which are grey blue. Idc if they arent, im too lazy to google it. I mostly use flat colors but i did make his shirt a gradient. Next is do simple cell shading:

Depending on how i feel i shade with or without the colours in the back. I went with a sorta "non decrepit" light source here. Didnt want too much intensity. I used a deep marronish orange on a multiply layer on 45% opacity. Soft shading/lighting next:

I get intense with the soft shading. I use the airbrush with a deep maroon to add dark gradient and airbrush with a light pink to add a bit more depth. I usually use less light and more dark because im evil i like the intensity. I keep the layer the same amount of opacity and multiply it with the darks and soft light for the lights. Next are the shine highlights:

I use the dip pen hard with a taper to add light highlights of white on shiny bits like metal and eyes. I uses pure white, set the layer to 25% opacity, and use normal blending.

I also shade the lines because it makes the lines softer. I use a clipping layer on the line art, set the whole thing to a dark grey, and airbrush in darker and lighter parts. (I felt like a picture wasnt needed cuz its hard to notice.

For the background, i used a dark red i stole from the cell shaded layer, drew a vine pattern with the kaleidoscope ruler, and added a vignette. Vignettes are my cheat code for background hehe~ it makes the subject stand out while keeping suave, seriousness and formality. To make a subject pop out more, put the vignette behind the character but in front of the background. For more intensity but it on top of both.

Also- I usually draw with a level 10 stabilizer (i got shaky hands) but i drew with a 2 stabilizer so im surprised it came out so smoothly-

Also i gave him goggle tan lines because if i have to have them from playing tennis with sunnies, so does he.

[comicsandconstellations]

My current WIP. I’m challenging myself to create something out of my comfort zone. So bear with me for my lil criticism of myself.

I almost exclusively draw in purple/red/blue. Those are my comfort colours. As you can see, I also do my sketches in mostly those colours. I mean, even my page theme is purple/red. I dip into blues/ green for specific vibes, but staying with cool tones. If I use yellow, it’s usually very green/grey under-toned.

It’s a little embarrassing at this point. I mostly avoid warm, vibrant colours like yellow and orange and light blue. So, obviously I am trying to improve my art so I need to practice working with a wider colour palette. (Not a wider subject though, still drawing clones.)

The obvious option was drawing Cody. I’ve never drawn him before (besides a teeny little sketch) so new armour, new vibes, new colour palette. I’m mostly just posting this to hold myself to finishing the piece cause I know now that I’m not going to initially enjoy these colours. Regardless, I’m still excited to get started.

[nori-writes]

Stoic Emotions

Yeehan

Desc: Cole gets injured on a mission and Hanzo’s worried about him but shows his emotions a little differently.

W/C: 1250+

A/N: Well because y’all said I should post my Yeehan fics from AO3 to Tumblr here we are. If y’all wanna look look at my stuff on AO3 here. But I hope y’all enjoy these. They were written a hot minute ago.

The sound of gunfire and fighting made its way around the field, the smells of gunpowder, dirt, and sweat mixing together in the air while the sun started to set over the horizon.

They were finally almost done with this mission Hanzo internally thanked while aiming his bow at another enemy before letting go of the string on his bow, killing another one as he sighed. This mission was supposed to be covert but due to some unforeseen events, they had been located which broke out into what they were now a part of.

Pulling out another arrow from his quiver he thought to himself about how ready he was to finally be on his way home, a nice warm shower sounded amazing right now. Maybe Cole would join him, that sounded like an even better idea at the moment. A nice warm shower with his lover and then heading straight to the warmth of the bed. Right now that was something that needed to wait. Right now he needed to focus on the problem at hand.

His hand clasped onto the grip of the bow, pulling the arrow nock onto the string and setting the front of the arrow in the sight window before drawing the bow and releasing the arrow and nailing the second to last man in the head before the final one ran, Resting the bow by his side, Hanzo let out a sigh of relief that it was over for the time being.

Cole had told him before he went to go deal with some people on his own that he’d comm to him when he was on his way back to help Hanzo clean up his own situation, that was almost twenty minutes ago. The raven haired male put his hand to the earpiece so it would pick up his voice, “Cass, are you there?”

No response was to be heard, he took out the earpiece and made sure it was still on and the volume was set well before putting it back in to make sure it was working, to find it already on and fully functional, “Cassidy, are you there?” Almost a minute had gone by still, without a response. It was starting to worry him, Cole typically tried to respond quickly and rarely didn’t respond after being talked to twice.

Hanzo decided to just leave it at the idea that Cole had simply had it off and that’s why he wasn’t responding. Even so it didn’t feel like a complete answer, something felt off about the answer he was giving himself.

He decided he was going to go take a look himself, grabbing his equipment he walked off to where he had seen Cole run off too. He tried a couple other times to get in contact with Cole but still to no avail. Soon enough after what felt like endless running he found something that resembled Cole.

Realising that the brunette was being shot at, he pulled out his bow to take aim, though before hitting the enemy he was too late, Cassidy took a couple shots before running behind some cover and taking a knee while Hanzo dealt with the rest of them before running over to Cole.

“Hey sweetheart.” He said nonchalantly even with the presence of a large dark crimson colour bleeding through his clothing, his chestplate being shot though.

Hanzo without a word was pulling off the other male's chest plate to take a look at what was happening under. Pulling off the armour Cole shot him a smug look, “If you wanted me undressed you just could’ve asked sweetheart.”

“Cole, not right now.” He barked at him, visibly panicked, pulling out a small medkit that he kept on him that just consisted of peroxide and gause along with a small roll of medical tape, and a few cotton balls, just the small things he brought with him everywhere incase of an emergency. “How’re you feeling?”

The cowboy let out a small laugh, “I’ll be honest I feel like absolute shit right now but it’s a little bit better now that you’re here,” he winked at Hanzo.

“Cole- right now is not the time to try and flirt with me- I love you and all but not right now, what's all really wrong?” He asked while trying to dab the blood from a gunshot wound panic written all over his face. Sure, he’d seen Cole beaten and bruised before but 3 gunshot wounds? Too many, maybe on anybody else they wouldn’t have freaked him out this much but they did nonetheless.

He sighed, pointing to all the places where he had been wounded, “”Y’know for someone who usually seems indifferent about most things, warms my heart to see you all worried ‘bout me.”

“Cole, shut up for a minute.”

The cowboy let out a small laugh at his lover’s annoyance; he knew it was just because he loved him, “My bad darlin’ I’ll be quiet,” he sat silently while Hanzo temporarily patched up his wounds.

After exposing the wounds Hanzo pulled out the peroxide and a few paper cotton balls, he doused the cotton balls in the peroxide and without warning had started cleaning the wounds.

Cole let out a loud hiss, “God, ‘coulda given me a warnin’. That shit hurts.”

Hanzo doesn’t let off, instead continuing to clean the wounds. While Hanzo was doing what he was doing Cole had heard Hanzo say something into his earpiece about where the two were and that he needed someone to come to properly tend to his wounds but if he was being honest, he wasn’t paying much attention.

Finally Hanzo was done doing that and now was just putting the gause where it needed to be and then taping it down. Soon enough Hanzo taped off one last piece of gauze to itself so it’d stay in place before letting out a relieved sigh and finally letting himself relax some, “There, you should be alright until Angela or Ana make their way here. Don’t be an idiot, those need to stay in place.”

“‘Course sugar, wouldn’t dream of it.”

Hanzo didn’t understand how Cole still had all this energy, he never did. He swore no matter how tired the other male was there was always some form of energy left in him, he didn’t know how he did it. Hell, even after a couple bullets in him he still seemed like he was ready to get up and go on a walk.

After what felt like forever of Hanzo rechecking over Cole’s body for wounds Ana made her way to the couple, scolding Cole for getting himself into this amount of trouble while he praised Hanzo for his job of tending to the wounds before doing it herself.

“He’ll be fine right?” Hanzo asked, listening close enough you could almost hear the worry in his voice.

“Oh he’ll be fine as long as he takes care of himself, which he’ll be doing, right?” She looked at the cowboy, giving him a look.

He gave her a wide grin in return, “‘Course I will be.”

“That’s what I like to hear.”

Hanzo stood up, holding his hand out for Cole to help him up off the floor. He happily took his hand, helping himself up. By the time he was up, neither of them bothered letting go while they walked back to the drop ship, Hanzo turned his head to them while they were walking, “Please try to not do that again, my anxiety would appreciate it.”

Cole looked back at his boyfriend placing a chaste kiss onto his lips with a smile, “I’ll try my hardest sweetheart.”

“You’d better.”

I’ll post the rest of these tmr, it’s getting late. See y’all!

[chibi-pix]

Chibi Doodles!

$15 chibi commissions!

Heyo, lovelies!

So, I think I'm gonna try and finally get past my anxiety and open up to do commissions. Mama was helping me gauge prices and as a chibi can typically take one to two hours to draw, she feels $15 is reasonable.

As a note, though, while it can take me that long, it may look like it's taking longer due to other projects I have going for me or other things in life.

But, let's get going with some information, right?

To start, while you may have seen previous posts of mine, but these are examples of my chibis.

Examples!

Now, I don't know if I can legally do fan art for commissions. I don't know all the rules and conditions and whatnot for that. But I am more than happy to do OCs and even try to chibify you or a loved one.

In fact, the chibi with the bandana and pink and purple outfit is based on my sister. The green and black haired one next to her is an OC of mine. The bottom two are fan arts I've done.

Though, I possibly can do fan art. I think some commission artists do, too. Hmm.

Payment!

Payment is important. Due to a mutual hate between Paypal and myself, I am not (and kinda can not) use that. However, I am able to work with Venmo for payment.

If there are questions about other potential payment methods such as Zelle, feel free to ask me.

The price also covers ONE (1) chibi, fully coloured and lightly shaded (I think that's what people call cell shading?). If you are wanting two chibis together, we will need to talk about that to figure out pricing.

The Process!

It starts out simple. You contact me in messages. Easy. And you inquire about a character/person and send references. Picture references are preferable for me to work from.

From there, I can work on the base of it. Now, this is equivalent, to me, to what people call a sketch. For my works, it's like these examples.

And I will show you the base.

If you request specifically for me to not show you the base so you can be surprised by the end result, I will try to remember to oblige. Otherwise, by default, I will show you the base.

From there, I will line, colour, and shade the chibi.

You can choose to have a solid background (white or coloured) or transparent background.

You can also choose to have a "scenery" circle (seen in the completed examples) behind them or not.

If the scenery circle is chosen, please specify or give an idea of what you'd like and I can talk with you to see if that is within my ability.

All chibis are saved as a PNG file.

When I am done, I will inform you. It is then that I would accept payment; after the payment is received, I will send you your chibi.

You can choose to have your chibi sent here or to your email. If sent to email, please be sure to provide it.

Will and Will Not Draw!

Like many artists, there are things I will and will not draw.

This section is subject to change as needed.

Will draw:

Original characters

chibis based from photos (within reason)

Minimal nudity (butts and breasts; if you request this, for safety reasons, I will prefer to email you the results)

Minimal blood

Will NOT draw:

Full gore

Explicit nudity (genitals)

Overly detailed things.

These chibis are small and simple. Extremely tiny details are not easy; I will consider, if asked, to simplify, though.

May consider drawing:

These are things I may consider; please talk to me about them first.

Animals

Furries (I am not skilled, but I can attempt)

Some mech and armour (again, not skilled, but I can attempt depending on what is asked of me)

If you have any further questions about what I can and cannot/will not draw, please feel free to message me about them. And again, I do not know of the legalities of drawing fan art of existing fandom characters for profit. So, I don't know how to go about that.

The Recap!

So! Let's recap and summarize.

Payments are through Venmo.

Chibis cost $15 each.

A base WIP will be sent before continuing.

Payment is needed before I send the final product.

Refer to the list and ask any questions needed as to what I will and won't draw.

If you're unsure of something or curious, feel free to ask. It never hurts to ask.

This post and all guidelines and such are subject to change as needed.

As a final note. I am NOT obligated to accept every person who commissions me. I do not have to justify myself as to why I am declining the commission request.

Added note!

Due to existence outside of the computer, I do apologize if I do not respond right away. I may sometimes not be responsive due to being away with errands or sleeping. These things may also affect art timing. So, please be patient with me if I do not respond instantaneously.

Feel free to directly message me here on Tumblr. Or on discord, username " chibipixmama " about chibis, whether you're ordering or have questions.

If needed, you can contact me at chibipix@gmail.com, too.

With all that said and done, hopefully this is good enough and goes well.

Thank you for checking this post out and maybe I'll see y'all!

Until then!

[samobservessonic]

Still only one Sonic comic in this issue and we’ve got a different team working on it this time, with Mark Millar writing, Woodrow Phoenix drawing and John Aldrich lettering If I was to nitpick, the opening of this issue is slightly inconsistent with the cliffhanger of the first issue, where we saw a concerned Sonic rushing off to find Tails. Here, we see Sonic returning from Marble Zone to learn that Tails is gone. We get the usual StC Sonic lack of sympathy towards a rabbit who might be Johnny (he’s the right colour this time, but like in the last issue, it isn’t directly said), though Sonic does back down when maybe-Johnny tells him that Robotnik has kidnapped everyone again, including Tails. It’s also implied that the rabbit hasn’t met Sonic before, so probably not Johnny? Idk there are a lot of these little critters

Sonic decides that in order to take Robotnik on, he needs a new pair of trainers (sneakers) and sunglasses. In Archie, they called this look Evil Sonic

We get a few pages of Sonic smashing through badniks. I like the cow critter design featured in the above panel. I don’t think I’ve seen this design used anywhere else

But the real feature of the issue comes from the Tails reveal, who apparently decided to do the cyborg look a long time before Nine from Sonic Prime did a take on it

Sonic and Tails fight each other, with Tails expressing anger that Sonic always leaves him behind. My biggest critique of this issue is that it’s not entirely clear whether Tails has been brainwashed by being made into part-robot or whether he genuinely decided to turn on Sonic and side with Robotnik. I feel like the narrative is leaning more towards the latter, but that just doesn’t feel like Tails to me? These were early days, however

But when Robotnik turns on Sonic, Tails realises that what he’s doing is wrong and teams up with Sonic to fight Robotnik, smashing his armour in the process

As Robotnik leaves, we get a glimpse into his TV preferences

With the threat gone, Sonic berates Tails for “getting turned into an evil robot” (So… he was brainwashed, then?), before revealing that his special shoes have been destroyed in the funniest panel of the issue:

The story wraps up with Sonic walking Tails home and saying that he doesn’t need special shoes anyway. And that’s our introduction to Tails. It establishes the dynamic between the duo that will last for most of the comic’s run and sets Tails up as the younger sidekick who’s eager to prove himself to a hero who thinks of him as a kid, to say the least. I admittedly like StC Sonic and his harshness a lot more than most people do, but I’m saving talking about that until I’ve got a bit more of this read-through under my belt

Overall, I don’t personally think this issue was quite as strong as the first one was, but the few nagging inconsistencies didn’t stop me from enjoying it and I’m looking forward to seeing where the comic will go from here now that the main duo have been established

[choco-bean405]

Heyoo!! I've been hard at work and I have a couple drawings of my Monkie Kid Au's characters'll look like! I won't give spoilers yet cause I need to figure out the overall story for the comic(cause some bits are still a work in progress), so yeh! I'll give a short explination for each drawing tho if it helps.(also, Sorry if this is super long 😅)

Anyways, to start off with, we have MK!

To start off with, since I'm making him the son of Macaque and Sun Wukong, he's gotta have a monkey form! Soo I gave him the tail but for the ears, since Sun has 2 and Macaque has 6, I thought I'd just meet in the middle with 4. Soo you bet he'll have sensitive hearing now with this, next is the outfit, I kinda kept it simple,changing a few bits but I tried combining the S1 and S3 jackets together, buut I thought 'why not add some purple to him?'. Oh and the bandana! I wanted it to be Sorta reminiscent of Macaque's scarf, and yeh, that's basically it for now.

Now Onto Mei.

I wanted to give her a type of bomber jacket just the middle part being shorter than the previous jacket she wore. Annddd the dress shirt she has underneath, I wanted to keep it her style soo I watched the last 4 episodes of season 3 again and came up with making a green flame design on it. Though i thought adding some pastel purple and pastel pink details would work with her as well, plus some red as a reference to the samadhi fire. Also, Can't go wrong with a choker that has a flame charm on it can you?

Next up, our resident fire demon, Red Son!

I wanted to add some Demon Bull king elements to him as a start, sooo, the tail came in and I added a set of horns that'll be growing in. I kept most of his old outfit just adding extra details to the shoes andd adding a dog tag that has the Chinese symbol for "Family" on it. Ohhh but the jacket was the most fun to draw, I wanted to keep it both fancy but pretty exaggerated. Sooo I used the Yu-Gi-Oh Character Seto Kaiba as a reference. Now this is only one version of the jacket since he'll have a separate one with his original logo on the back. Buuut this sleeveless version has the symbol of the Ox from the Chinese zodiac on the back of it, though I wonder, where did he get it from? 🤔

And lastly, We have Sun Wukong and Macaque themselves!

Now, I thought about keeping a sort of Sun and Moon motif to them whilst looking at their previous outfits for ideas.

For Macaque, the first thing I did, was to make sure I kept Macaque's blind eye(which he may hide from time), I switched up his scarf colour since he got rid of his old one and gave it to someone else. The rest sort of fell into place after that.

For Sun Wukong on the other hand, I used refs of his outfits and armour from the show, but also looked at the Monkey king:Reborn 2021 movie's version of Sun anndd the 2015 Monkey king:The Hero is Back movie's version of him for help with keeping his outfit traditional but adding my own ideas to it. For the pauldrons on his shoulders, I came up with the idea that he may have been given a couple scales from his friend the White Horse Dragon before he passed away, used those to make his armour. Oh and I tried making it so each colour represents a past friend of his, So Tang Sanzeng, Zhu Bājiè, White Horse Dragon, Nezha and a bit of Macaque too.

But, the MAIN part I wanted to keep, was the Golden Fillet he wore during his journey to the west with his master and allies. Granted he got rid of it but a headcanon of mine is that he kept it, after he was able to take it off, as a memory of his master, Tang Sanzeng. So I stretched it out a bit wider and made it a sort of crown(Idk what that type of crown is called).

So yeah! That's it for now and I'm so sorry if anything sounds like I blabbered on or didn't explain some parts enough, I'm not the best with explaining things, I just draw to have fun tbh. Anyways! I hope you like them! And please, go ahead and suggest below who you think I should redesign next and whatever ideas you have for them.

Also thank you so much @djmurphy and my friends on twitter for helping me with my Au, I may not have a name for it yet but again, thanks so much for helping me with it! I couldn't have done it without you guys 🥰

[rococospade]

Hello! I have a question regarding the design of your Tarnished character, Letho, and his friend Ambrosia from your fic.

Have you used pre existing armor sets/armor pieces that you find in game for their design, or did you give them different clothes that you yourself made? Just curious, cause it seems like there's a lot of people making new armors for their Tarnished ocs to fit a certain character or aesthetic, just as there's a lot of people using pre existing sets in their drawings of them.

Have a good day!

Hi! Uh, honestly for me it's a little of both.

I'll break the answer into two parts, the fic answer and the art answer.

So, fic wise, Letho is usually in the Confessor Set by default, and either has the base Confessor weapons (Lemosyne) or the Bloodhound Fang and more throwables than god (Mare's Nest.)

Ambrosia's costume I've been vague about because I haven't actually sat down and concretely decided what they're wearing, though in chapter 10 it's probably something like the page set and a hood armour for plot-reasons.

On the art side of things:

So, I've drawn Letho in the Confessor outfit of course, but the costume he's wearing in my pinned post is based on a mix of one of the mage sets (Alberich's) and the Confessor set, plus Rennala's gauntlets because I really like them (and a wrap that he got as a gift, not based on a game item). I've drawn him in the deathbed companion dress a few times, and I've commissioned art of him in a combination of Maliketh's armour + the Depraved Perfumer robes, too. There's also an armour I did based on a design class I'm taking, but I haven't uploaded that yet.

Ambrosia's costume in my head is like a patchwork forest-coloured hedgewitch looking set, I really need to make them an Elden file just so I can look for costume ideas though! I'd love to have them with a game armour look. (Maybe the page set and one of the hood items? Hmm.)

When I do design original armour I try to use game sets as a jump off point, but I'm not good at folding in a convincing amount of detail yet.

Combo of Confessor, Alberich, and Rennala's sets + a shawl

Based on the same as above but with different colours. Hairstyle changed because the idea of him wearing a crystal dart as a hairpin appealed to me -- originally he had the default braided hair, which, beloved <3

aaaand the armour set that's still in development, and not based on anything in the game:

This will show up in fic and art at some point. I didn't plan for it to be gold, but it kind of works conceptually and colours-wise, so why not.

aaand I went digging for the art I had of Ambrosia:

These sketches are from a few months ago. Their costume's really too similar to Letho's, here. I'll need to do something else. But it's hard to picture them in long skirts, so even if I do that, I'll probably draw the skirt as girded.

And this is a pen sketch I did in like 2 minutes to try and figure out what they're wearing in chapter 10. "Oooh I'm just a helpless old person, stop looking at me, I definitely won't hit you with this stick" vibes

Thanks for the ask!