#these sketches are from a while ago like april I think?

[amee-racle-ofmyown]

I coulda SWORN I posted these!!? but it looks like I completely forgot to?? anyway. some Marks for you. enjoy

[canipleasegetthenumber15]

Taking a break from a comm to make some fluffy G/t wind-down sketches. :)

First we have a two-panel comic of the borrower bros comforting human April <3 The conversation is based on audio I heard circling around a while ago (which, based on a Google search, I think is from Anne Carson's translation of Euripides, both of which I know nothing about other than the book looks like it's based on Greek mythology). I don't see much art of tinies comforting giants, but I think the premise is just so sweet <3

Then we have the regular bros pampering a tiny April because she deserves it. Leo's giving her head scritches, Mikey's giving her kisses, Donnie's gently caressing her face, and Raph is holding her/giving her a deep pressure hug.

[prettyboysdontlookatexplosions]

medialog april 2k25

ok first of all i just want to say that a few years ago i decided i would start always counting months monday to sunday, four weeks with a few fives, and this year april was a 5-week month, so this is actually not late and also that’s why thunderbolts, a movie i saw on may 4th, is on my april list (because i am a crazy person). ok anyway

books

toni morrison, playing in the dark: whiteness and the literary imagination — obviously great, but what i appreciated most about it was the way that morrison takes pains to clarify that her present interest is in the literary uses of blackness in american literature — its place in the toolbox of american writers — separate from the question of whether or not such and such author/book “is” racist. i am similarly very interest in projects that explore this kind of question from a formal, aesthetic perspective, which is not to say a depoliticized one but to observe that politics makes it known formally and aesthetically as much as it does didactically. there are much more interesting things to say about this stuff than “that’s racist” even though the existence of this phenomenon is of course inseparable from racism.

jennette mccurdy, i’m glad my mother is dead — as good as you’ve heard, and then some. often genuinely quite brutal to read, but told with a clarity and lightness (sometimes even a bracing and dark sense of humor!) that speaks both to what must have been enormous psychoemotional work on mccurdy’s part and to a real command of what she wants to say, which is in some ways the most moving aspect of the book—she talks about writing being a desire authentic to her, one her mother stifled, and it’s really gratifying to see proof in the book you’re reading that she’s good at it. she’s really deft with what details to include, and with the way that she writes her own present-tense first-person perspective in a way that never outpaces her own understanding at a given point in the narrative but still makes it unmistakable for the reader exactly what’s going on. also contains some of the most unflinching writing about EDs — across the spectrum — that i’ve read.

f. scott fitzgerald, tender is the night — i’ve said my piece on this already but: changed me as a person, forged me as a writer, the most gorgeously written book in the english language, weirder and more complicated and funnier than i remember every time i go back to it, never fails to move me profoundly in the closing sequence

suzanne collins, sunrise on the reaping — i just like the hunger games… i think objectively this is probably the weakest of the series because it’s basically the same as the first book but while haymitch is quite lovable especially given the affection readers will bring from his role in the OG trilogy, and while collins’s knack for sketching instantly memorable and likable characters that it’s really fucked up to watch die remains intact, there is just no competing with katniss, as perfectly constructed a protagonist as children’s lit has ever seen. but i read it in like three days and it was so sad and fucked up it almost made my tummy hurt (there’s one scene in particular i have to imagine will be toned down for the screen adaptation…) and the post-series epilogue made me cry for real lmao.

elif batuman, the idiot — i guess this book does what it sets out to do but wow i just could not care about this person or the “events” that “happened” (generous use of the words) at any point in this book at all. i actually also finished this one in three days but it was because i was so bored that i couldn’t bear the idea of waking up over and over in a world where i still had more of this book to read. i just didn’t care about anyone or anything or find the prose or scenes pleasurable in any way except for like 3 times one of which was that really funny line about eating a baguette where she’s like “the baguette required ear muscles i had lost in two million years of evolution,” that was great. but overall i was just not on the wavelength. i also was very annoyed by batuman’s use of repetition for comedic (...?) effect / pseudonaturalism (...?)... i didn’t find it funny or convincing and i noticed it really early so it just felt like a tic and every time she did it again i was like ENOUGH ALREADY.

david carr, the night of the gun: a reporter investigates the darkest story of his life. his own. — i like addiction memoirs because i have always felt a very profound “there but for the grace of god go i” resonance with substance abuse and i tend to find them oddly relatable despite never being even a moderately heavy user of literally anything. i also like stuff about the unreliability of memory. so i was the target demo for this book more or less and my review should not be taken as objective, but i thought this was pretty great. two anecdotes that sort of boil down this book’s deal: (1) there’s a part early on where he says something like “would you like my story if i said i was a fat thug who dealt bad coke and beat women? what if i said i was a father of two in recovery who had gotten sober to raise my twin girls? well both are true, so.” (2) the incident that spurred him into final rehab/full sobriety* for real was not the birth of his twin daughters but the night he left them in the backseat of the car to go get cocaine… which he remembered as both taking place shortly after their spring births and being cold enough to dress them in their snowsuits, a contradiction resolved when his brother reminded him he had in fact spent several months shooting cocaine while theoretically being a father. (*asterisk because this also includes, unusually in recovery memoirs, a section about his later relapse into alcoholism.) if that sounds like a guy you want to read a book about you’d probably like it too!

charles king, every valley: the desperate lives and troubled times that made handel’s messiah — this is one of those books that sort of uses one thing as a hook to take us on a little historical tour, in this case messiah acting as the excuse to lead us around 18th century england (mostly), its deranged political climate, its mix of enlightenment philosophy and often miserable living conditions sprinkled with steady outbursts of violence, its theater scene (including a truly bananas series of events surrounding suzannah arne, who makes her way in because she was one of the soloists in the first performances of messiah). i don’t care too much about this period in this place and i did kinda want a slightly deeper dive into messiah itself, but i had fun. i particularly appreciated the inclusion of the story of ayuba diallo, an educated and wealthy west african who got kidnapped into slavery on the way to doing some slave trading of his own and somehow talked his way out of it, becoming a bit of a british curiosity before heading home, no more antislavery than he left but having talked the royal african company into offering a ransom option for enslaved muslims… fascinating stuff.

george eliot, silas marner — i just feel like maybe no one has ever understood human psychology and behavior better than eliot did… this book is quite short (less than 200 pages) and its length and the clockwork nature of its plot give it the feel of a fable or a parable, but it’s so astonishingly dense with how many observations about the ways people can be she works into her sweet little story of redemption. she’s just such a warm, funny, wise narrator, it’s wonderful to be allowed to see the world the way she sees it… and it’s crazy that this book is a century and a half old, describing a world old-fashioned by the time it was published, and soooo many little moments, reactions, etc. feel so timeless and modern and fresh… like dolly telling silas “oh don’t bother to buy her baby clothes, she’ll outgrow them right away, i have some hand-me-downs you can use,” a conversation probably happening all over the world right now. this book also has some of the best writing i’ve ever seen about how great it is to hang out with a baby… at one point the baby pouts for her shoes to be removed and then after silas takes them off “baby was at once happily occupied with the primary mystery of her own toes, inviting silas, with much chuckling, to consider the mystery too.” like… that’s so real… babies literally do love to ponder the mystery of their own toes…!

george saunders, tenth of december — HELL YEAH FUCKIN RIGHT!!! finally i came across a story collection i actively enjoyed reading… saunders is weird and inventive and fun and funny and interestingly moralistic (not a criticism), and really above all i just loved reading his voice, i would have let him take me anywhere. i think my favorite story was the collection opener “victory lap,” which introduces to a pollyanna-ish young girl and then has her get child abducted… but is not remotely a story about how her sunny worldview is proven wrong. i was really pleased and moved by that. but honestly i enjoyed reading every story in the book. great stuff! wonderful times!

jenny offill, dept. of speculation — this was alright. i thought the writing was pretty good and i basically enjoyed it on a sentence level — it’s a novel told in short little bursts of prose, not even vignettes really, some almost aphoristic, and some of these were real knockouts in terms of being poignant or unexpected or funny. and i more or less liked reading the day to day observational stuff, the chapter about the actual horror of bedbugs, the early parenting material… unfortunately i was not compelled at all by the actual plot, which hinges on the disruption and subsequent repair of the marriage after the husband’s affair… some of my best friends are adultery novels but this one made me feel like the people who complain they are tired of litfic about professors and affairs (the protagonist is a writer/creative writing professor which… also a hard sell tbh. this is just not as interesting as writers want it to be). it also really had me like… man, the standards for men are so low it’s crazy… he fucks some girl at work or whatever and then we never like actually see him putting in any effort whatsoever into fixing things, we’re told she has to drag everything out of him in couples therapy, and then the thing that fixes it is they move out of brooklyn to the country…? girl stand up… i just did not buy the emotional resolution of this story at all even a little bit and i truly feel like to do so you have to have internalized a certain psychological weight and depth to the concept of “marriage” which is inseparable from having the most minimal emotional standards in the world for men. all that said i did find the format creatively/artistically stimulating to think about and potentially useful to tuck away thoughts about for the future.

david grann, killers of the flower moon: the osage murders and the birth of the FBI — this was really good and also (appropriately) incredibly upsetting. grann is a clean and thoughtful writer and he tells an incredibly compelling narrative about a series of acts beyond comprehension in the depth of their evil. he also makes a point of citing osage historians & writers repeatedly, which i appreciated. i always feel guilty about finding the investigative/procedural side of stuff fascinating but well… it was…. as was the stuff about hoover’s reforms & ambitions and the case’s role as early PR buzz for the FBI (including an episode of their radio show about it… yikes!). what is most devastating is what the final portion of the book is dedicated to, which is the reality that after william hale was convicted, the FBI considered the case closed even though hale had not been conclusively linked to all 24 victims of the “reign of terror”… grann traces how his own attempt to learn more from the record about one of the potentially unsolved cases leads to the realization that the scope of white people killing osage indians for their oil money certainly extends far beyond those 24 names, and he does such a good job of articulating the psychic toll that takes on a community for generations that i had to put the last couple chapters down a few times to take some breaths.

movies

the long kiss goodnight - this is a very weird and badly directed movie where geena davis plays an amnesiac who has hired samuel l. jackson to investigate her past and then it turns out she is a CIA agent which makes this the second movie i have seen where brian cox plays a fed in charge of an amnesiac assassin for the US government… i’d only have two nickels etc. the thing that really sinks this i think is that the director just does not understand shane black’s sense of humor at all or have the mastery necessary to walk the tonal tightrope necessitated by the script… but its badness does highlight how fun it is to watch jackson do anything

vanilla sky - weird movie but weird in a way where it’s like a strange high-concept premise with a deliberately confusing middle portion but it’s directed by cameron crowe who’s like the least weird man alive so it’s very normal feeling in a way that feels at odds with its central project…? bold to cast tom cruise at his peak and hide his face under a weird serial killer mask or post-car-crash disfigurement make-up for much of the runtime… his hair looks incredible and also freakishly like that of squall from final fantasy viii. i guess it was fine

companion - please put yellowjackets out of its misery after season 4 so sophie thatcher can go make a million silly horror movies for me to see her in <3 her AND harvey guillén, with a surprise jaboukie appearance? incredibly star-studded cast for the niche demographic of people who live in my apartment. don’t expect it to be any smarter than it needs to be but i had a lot of fun!

jack reacher - tom cruise… i actually don’t know how to classify this. i was going to say spy movie but it’s not really that… there’s some action but it’s not an action movie… but it’s too action heavy to be a legal thriller… i guess just a regular thriller? ish? rosamund pike… honestly might have been miscast but i love watching her so i don’t really mind. one time the mission impossible podcast guys said something about how mcquarrie lights skin in rogue nation and i did find myself watching this thinking everyone’s skin looks great (not great like “great skin” great like “i like the way you put this skin on screen” oh my god that sounds like serial killer language w/e you know what i mean)

the usual suspects - i wanted to watch this mostly because i’m so fascinated by the fac that christopher mcquarrie won an oscar for this screenplay and then couldn’t get a movie made for eight years and now he’s professionally tom cruise’s director more or less. ummm it was alright. the twist was spoiled for me by the key and peele cat poster sketch years ago but was still fun to watch. benicio del toro is sooooo good in every second he’s on screen i needed 300% more of him

high school musical 2 - this movie is crazy lmao the “we spent more than twelve dollars on it this time” vibes are off the charts both in the general look of the movie (which is clearly still a disney channel movie but like… a way more expensive one) and the choreo/group numbers, which have been beefed the fuck UP. the gay brother plays a piano in a pool??? watched this as the first one kinda sotned with one friend who was a fellow novice and two younger millennial friends who sang along with every song except the crazy fake hawaiian racist ashley tisdale number in the middle which they had completely blocked from memory. 10/10 viewing experience no notes

sinners - SLAAAAAPPED. really beautiful to look at for almost the whole time, insanely well-acted, creative and clever and, can’t emphasize this enough, so much more historically grounded than a hollywood product almost ever is… there’s like actual ideas here and they’re connected to reality and they’re expressed in interesting and compelling ways through the metaphorical valence of a pretty sick-ass vampire movie. the final fight scene is a little weak compared to everything else and there were a few points where i was like “ok i get it”... but i really fucking loved living in the world of this movie.

thunderbolts - idk guys… this one really worked for me… i loved bucky as like everybody else’s trauma elder… i loved every single thing florence pugh did in this film… i loved lewis pullman’s twitchy pathetic wet cat vibe and the concept of a character in a superhero movie whose whole deal is that he is seriously, actually incredibly unwell… the yelena/red guardian family stuff here worked way better than it did in black widow (one scene made me cry lol)… no laser lightning fights at ALL… they went as unflashy as possible with some of the effects in ways that made them actually much more effective… unbelievably funny gag in the ending credits art… JLD funny… geraldine viswanathan there??? but also all i ever wanted from these dumbass movies was for them to use silly superhero stuff to tell unsubtle stories about big human feelings and this one marries the content and theme about as well as the MCU’s ever done it, IMO, and definitely the best since before endgame. again there’s a reason despite falling very out of love with the MCU i have never changed my icon on this, a blog i started because i couldn’t shut the fuck up about bucky barnes, so i am not an objective observer here… but i had a great time at the movies

television

the white lotus (s3) - i’m like the only person on earth who hated s2 and therefore had zero expectations going into s3 and so i sort of agree with all the complaints that boil down to “this show is kind of dumb” but didn’t actually mind any of the dumbness at any time. public act of service IMO to introduce gen z to parker posey

yellowjackets (s3) - it’s actually crazy how fucking shitty and bad and stupid and horrible and inane and dumb this season of television was considering how much i loved the show before… like i’ve just never seen anything like it some of the all-time worst writing in the history of the screen. unbelievably bad. surreally bad.

daredevil: born again (s1) - idk fine i guess? reminded me that i did always find charlie cox as matt murdock a really charming performance but in a way where i wished he was in a show i liked rather than one that was… fine. i never made it past season 1 of the netflix series but well it wasn’t homework for two separate ringer podcasts back then so i’ll probably tune in for s2 to access that sweet sweet Content

currently watching: andor, which it turns out everyone on earth correctly identified as Good Actually; we picked up cheers as a chillout sitcom watch and it really makes going to work in a bar where you and your boss sexually harass each other all day look sooooooo appealing

music

had an off month for music bc i started feeling overstimulated generally and couldn’t listen to any music at all for a while and then my phone broke… so not a lot of albums this month. but i have a bunch loaded on to a playlist and am tentatively optimistic about resuming my albums era! (finding my bluetooth headphones would help though.) this month’s single is this gorgeous track by debby friday which starts out light and trancey and goes in a sort of caroline-polacheck-remix-of-everything-is-romantic direction and just soars really beautifully:

ALT BLK ERA, rave immortal - loud & dumb & fun! they’re already wearing out their welcome but i enjoyed it

alisa xayalith, slow crush - i really loved her single “what the hell do we do now” but the album didn’t quite live up to its promise… pretty but mostly forgettable although a couple tracks might stick around

ZORA, Z D A Y - zora’s first 2025 album back in jan was the first new release i really loved and is still one of my faves of the year so i was very disappointed that this one was kind of a miss for me… not sure if it was rushed or if she’s just doing a different vibe but it felt very half-assed and forgettable

Btrickz, 80’z - a charming 11 minutes of chatty-sounding hispanophone rap, not my fave kind of thing but a cool vibe

[madlori]

Fandom icebergs

So, lemme take you on a lil tour of the fandom rabbit hole I just fell down for something I didn't even know was a fandom.

So I like to watch Smosh Pit Reddit story videos, I play them while I work, etc. Reading Reddit stories is one of my online time sucks (it's my life goal to always be current on Best Of Redditor Updates), and having a non-threateningly appealing blond man read them aloud to be reacted to by a rotating cast of two snarky listeners was right up my street.

I started watching more of these a few weeks ago, just thanks to the algo more or less, and then realized that...this wasn't just a random thing that a few people do.

Smosh Pit is one channel among many run by Smosh, which is (I learned) a group of comedy YouTubers who do a variety of things ranging from these Reddit videos, to a podcast (Smash Mouth) to various reacting videos, comedy sketches, and gaming bits. It's a whole...Smoshverse. I don't really care to get into all of it but it's there.

And it has a Fandom.

So the non-threateningly appealing blond man above is Shayne Topp, who's...sort of the quasi-ringleader of Smosh. He's one of a small group of main cast and has been with the troupe since 2015.

I noticed that in some of the more recent videos he was wearing a wedding ring (he'd commented in previous videos about being single) and I thought oh, Shayne got married. That's nice. I thought no more of it.

But then.

The algo showed me a video that made me realize that he is actually married to...fellow Smosh cast member Courtney Miller, who joined the same time as him.

Oh, I thought. That's sweet. I'd seen her as one of the rotating cast members reacting to Reddit stories but never put it together.

But then...I found out the whole story.

Apparently, since 2015, a HUGE part of this show's fandom was shipping these two. Hardcore. To the point that they both got pretty uncomfortable with it, and actually made videos/statements asking people to please chill TF out, they're just friends, quit being weird about it.

Ok, fair enough. The RPF shipping of them did seem to calm down a bit after that (reportedly - I have no firsthand knowledge of any of this).

But then.

On APRIL FOOL'S DAY of last year, they announced - out of the blue - that they had gotten married. Instagram photos and everything.

Of course people immediately thought it was a prank.

Spoiler: It was NOT a prank. They are, in fact, married, and had successfully (arguably) kept their relationship secret until THIS MOMENT when they announced their marriage.

People Magazine did a feature on this. This was big news.

Can you imagine? Being in a fandom, shipping two of the people hardcore, giving up on it after many denials, and then...THEY'RE FUCKING MARRIED? I'd have loved to have been a fly on the wall of this fandom last April. Talk about a bombshell. Fandom hed explodey, indeed.

Anyway. I just think it's funny, and props to them for guarding their privacy.

And they're freaking adorable.

[autisticshadowthehedgehog]

I'm not the only person who's had the misfortune of seeing discourse claiming that Wendy is Zionist Propaganda, right? Like, I get keeping a critical eye on stuff Paramount makes 'cuz of that one pro-Israel statement they released a while back, but... Wade's family is *Jewish,* not *Israeli.* I can't say I'm not a bit worried that people are unable or unwilling to tell the difference...

From what i can tell– and, again, I'm goy, take my opinion with a grain of salt– there is literally only one (1) line that's a little sketch. All the rest of it is literally just the family... being Jewish and existing as Jewish people. The only line that was a lil yikes was when they mention that the mom used to be a "krav maga" instructor, specifically mentioning it's an Israeli martial art– whether it was for the IOF or regular self-defense training isn't stated. That was a little concerning, but me and the server did look it up and the show was written in 2022 and filmed in April 2023, so it wasn't a line added in response to, er, current events or anything. Maybe in poor taste but probably not added maliciously. Keeping the line in the scene with current events in mind was a shitty thing to do, definitely, though, not gonna deny that.

But the lines that I'm specifically seeing people bitch about are... the ones about Jewish people having suffered in the past? Which. Yeah guys. They have. A lot. They're not talking about Palestine they're talking about, like, the one shit billion times the Jewish people have been displaced, oppressed, etc. In a few minutes they're talking about the forty-year-time-out in the desert after Moses's fuckup. A good chunk of Jewish holidays can be boiled down to "they tried to kill us, we survived, let's eat." Saying "Jewish people suffered in the past" is not zionist propaganda, it's. literally true.

Adam Pally is actually Jewish, and probably either requested the character details or it was added with him as an inspo. I think people are just on edge cause Paramount has showed support for Isr-el in the past. We just got news a few hours ago that the CEO of Paramount just got kicked, though, so maybe we have hope for a change?

[cookiethew0lf]

Hello. Take some old sketches from like.. April or smth idk. I just know this was made like, months ago before summer.

INFO: The first image is like some sort of Pac Worlder variant where their physical anatomy is different because of like where they live in pac world n stuff.. yeah. I don't think it's too good of an idea, but what do you guys think? (I'm also not very active in PMATGA, as my main interest is TMNT... it has been for a while.)

The first one of the pacworlder with stripes has an updated design with a tail, but I only thought of that in my brain and didn't actually sketch that updated design soo.. (Side note, I named her Aspen, if I remember correctly.)

The last two images are Pac sketches, but I have a colored version of the third one, but I unfortunately do not have a photo of it. I can probably get a pic of it by Monday because I left my sketchbook in my locker at school. But, whatever, I don't think any of you want to see it that badly. There's only a few differences between the completed version and the sketch.

[kenthenugget]

Dear Watcher....

This is going to be about the youtube channel Watcher and a recent video that they released earlier today, so if you dont watch the channel, or older content produced by Ryan, Shane and Steven at Buzzfeed, this is not going to make sense to you. This only going to be for those who are a fan of Watcher, or are fans of Buzzfeed Unsolved so if you are, that's great!

Earlier today, I got a video notifcation from the channel titled, "goodbye youtube", and it was definitely not something I wanted to see. There is a recent trend this year of youtubers retiring or taking a break this year and I was scared this was that scenario. And it kind of was but way worse. Basically, the guys over at Watcher are going to be posting on their new streaming service called....Watcher. And, no, it is not a late April Fools joke, that's actually what their doing. Initially, I was in a state of shock after I watched through the entire video. I, no joke, went through the 5 stages of grief upon viewing this announcement and was thrown through a loop to where I struggled to focus on sketching one of my comic pages. So much so that I actually made a deviant blog post about it the moment I finished watching the video (most of the content from this post will be copied and pasted from that blog so declaimer I guess). After having some time to absorb this information, I have to say that Im really disappointed with the guys over at Watcher. Like Im not mad to where Im completely done with their content but.......WHY!?

I think at this point in time that a lot of people, myself included, are burnout with the whole streaming boom we've had for the past 5 years in no part thanks to those greedy bastards at Disney....but thats another story. I miss the days when there were only 2 to 3 main streaming services and not 5 billion other services that you need to buy in order to watch a show you like that was on Netflix but it now locked behind a pay wall. Streaming services used by a novelty concept but are now not looked upon in the best light. So for the them to announce a streaming service now is definitely a bad look, especially because the content before was free to access. I feel like creators will always have an uphill battle when it comes to content that was initially free being locked behind a paywall, because you're potentially isolating your audience and bringing up the question of weather your audience if loyal enough to give you money to enjoy your content. Now, like I said, I love and respect the people at Watcher, but I dont know if I'm willing to take money out of my wallet to watch the next season of Ghost Files. Especially in this economy, where in some parts of the country a big mac now costs 20 fucking dollars, and with inflation going out of control.

Now its not like I don't understand why they're doing this. Ever since its founding in 2019, Watcher has always had troubles with money, with most of their shows not being profitable enough to make ends meet (I know that sounds bs because most of their vidoes get millions of views but this is coming from one of the founders Steven, in an update video from a while ago so idk, views probably mean jack shit in the grand scheme of things). And the fact that they started around the pandemic didn't help things either. Unlike Buzzfeed, Watcher is a much smaller company so any loss that happens is felt much more than if it was a larger one. In the video itself, they mentioned that most of their money came through youtube ads and sponsorships, which, while alright if you're an independent creator, may not be enough for a company. And then there's the fact that YouTube can remove or demonetize videos out of nowhere and for the dumbest reasons so its not a very stable sight to base your income off of. So I can understand why they felt moving on from YouTube was a good idea. But..........I think there were better ways of going about it than creating their own fucking streaming service. Like, in one of their update vidoes, they said most of their shows werent making ends meet so maybe cutting back on the production of said shows to make them not as expensive to produce would be a good solution. In their announcement vid, they talked about wanting to maintain their high production value for their shows without going under but (and I dont mean this to slight them) I dont think they understand why they popped off in the first place. For me, Im not watching Ghost Files or Mystery Files for high production value and fancy graphics, Im there for Ryan and Shane. Same reason I loved Buzzfeed Unsolved, which compared to those shows is much more bare bones. I get wanting to step up your production value from what you had at Buzzfeed but if you have budget out in certain places which would entail having a season that doesnt look as good as the previous season, that's completely fine. Im sure me and the rest of fans wouldn't have minded a downgrade because at the end of the day, the fancy sets and graphics are window dressing to why we're truly watching.

I also thinking letting us know ahead of time would've possibly softened the blow. Watcher is in a very interesting situation because there's a much closer relationship between them and their customer base as opposed to traditional companies. So they really could've been like "hey! We're thinking about having future content be on our own streaming service because doing business through YouTube is fucking us over. What do you guys think?". One explanation as to why they waited until now instead of a few months ago when this idea was sparked could've been because they knew they would get backlash and they were going ahead with the streaming service idea regardless of fan input, which might be the reason. But if that's the case, they probably would've had the comments and likes disabled from the start. Right before I started typing this, I checked the video to see if the comments were disabled and they are thankfully still there. Im someone who always wants to see the good in people (which is definitely a character flaw of mine and while defiently lead to me being at the end of an abusive relationship........another abusive relationship but lets not go there), so I think this might be the case of Ryan, Shane and Steven, thinking the streaming service was a good idea and not reading the room properly.

At this point, Im hoping that they dont do things that could make this situation 10 times worse: a) removing the existing content (Mystery Files, Puppet History, etc) off the youtube channel and having it on their streaming service. If you are going to have new seasons of those shows behind a paywall, at least have that content still up for those who want to support but cant purchase the service......b) respond to the critism in a negative way. I think things would be made worse if they lumped genuine fans who are concerned with the new direction with the trolls and haters, and double down on this new direction. Im hoping this situation ends up being a slip up that they can learn from and not being the beginning of the downfall of the Watcher gang. No joke, I think Ryan and Shane are the only youtubers who have avoided any sort of drama up to now. Youtubers I once respected over the years from Tobuscus to Leafyishere to H3H3 to Idubbz to even fucking Dream have all fell from grace in one way or another, and Im hoping the ghoul boys dont join that list....

[synthshenanigans]

woah hey a year has been passed wowie :0

First two weren't posted here cos they were too long ago & not CJish related but love the way he took up 70% of the year lol

[ Full images + templates below :} ]

[TW for Bright Colors, maybe blood & very very vague themes of depression/suicide for like 2 drawings I believe]

Long text about the arts if anyones actually curious!!

January: An old OC I completely forgot about until making this. He's based on old radio like things :}

February: Played Person 5 Royal last year & drew Joker cos idk he's neat. Fun fact, the same day I fully finished the game was the day Storm & a Spring came out. Also while grinding in the game, I had his Bidding & VoaC covers on repeat. Which was a bit annoying to do since they weren't on Spotify yet & YT on mobile didn't have looping then.

March: The Hawaii Part ii album cover :} I did post that eventually but that's the time I actually made it. Had listened to TME a couple of months before then which got me into the album, so months later I drew it cos why not? [Also the month Vol.1 fully released on everything. What's funny is my gallery for that day was a handful of memes I saved at 4am before I fell asleep. And then the next image saved is when I woke up which was a screenshot of the whiteboard in TfaR lol]

April: First main Jash art !!! And its not even with any of the songs from Vol. 1 lol. I had his Moss cover on repeat again & now that all of Vol. 1 was out, I drew Heart in some moss. Or really in the image from the video.

May: Lil animation I made of Heart with the song Don't Hit the Lights! Link to my post & the song can be found here :}. Still really like the song & even the drawings. Might remake em eventually idk

June: Sky/socialc1imb's Clue AU! I like murder mysteries & this one was real interesting so I drew it a lot lol. Might remake that one or one of the others I made at somepoint? It'll be a bit later if I do but ye

July: A redraw of a HMS piece I originally made back in May, based on the Three Wise Monkeys thing. I like the idea of it so I keep wanting to remake it.

August: I honestly can't remember if I posted that art or not. Actually yea I don't think I ever did PFFT. It's one of the few drawings I did of myself this year & its from CJs Not Perfect cover [as you can tell by the lyrics on it]. Also one of the very very few vent-ish arts I made. I like the background more than anything but its still neat ig?

September: Art for one of the best songs ever. I love Fine, I'm Fine its so good & I listened to it for like 70% of the 20+ hours it took me to make the drawing. Still proud of it so there's the sketch I drew on paper, the one on my tablet & then the final versions.

October: There was a lot from this month due to Jashtober. I still like this one lot & it wasn't insanely rushed so I picked this one to show lol.

November: I have no idea why I made a fun lil soul. I was having an identity crisis over my art style & ig decided to draw the guy who is a walking identity crisis/j

December: Same as September. One of my favorite songs ever was covered & released, so I made a drawing like everyone else lol.

[therealjackdsaf]

warning me being stupid and dumb about things I like under the cut

[CLICK]

ARCHIVIST

Statement of Angel McCarthy, regarding their time missing between the months of January and April, 2012. Original statement given May 15th, 2013. Audio recording by Jonathan Sims, Head Archivist of the Magnus Institute, London.

Statement begins.

ARCHIVIST (STATEMENT)

I… I guess, erm, I should just start, then, right? All right. Ahem. This happened a few months ago, um, New Year’s Eve, exactly. Back in California, USA.  I had been working on my writing, a novel about deities and succubi, when I was struck with a rather severe case of writer’s block. It was late, but I decided to venture out into the forest surrounding my home. I lived with my father, at the time, a rather rude old bastard, but for some reason he… he never minded me leaving, if it was for the forest. Ahem.

I walked out the front door, the crisp, pre-spring air filling my lungs. It was a familiar scent- I grew up playing with my siblings in that house, and- Oh. I’m getting off topic. Right, so, I ventured into the forest, making note of things I could incorporate, or, y’know, use in my story, when I suddenly realized- the part of the woods I had gotten to looked… strange. Different.

Now, that was unusual, since I knew the forest like the back of my hand. I knew the path I had taken well, due to the fact I used to go fruit picking down this path with my brother and sister. It had the same elements, but it had a weird feeling to it: like it was fake, y’know? I’ve had derealization episodes before, but this… it was different. Nonetheless, I steeled myself, and continued.

And for a while, it stayed normal. Or, well, you know, not normal, but, unchanging. I figured I had just had an episode due to the argument I had with my father hours prior. I figured it was just my anxiety acting up. I figured the brighter shades of green flickering on the trees was a trick of the light.

I had only realized something was off when I looked at one of the trees: it looked like a bad model of a tree, like from a 3D game that just didn’t land the mark correctly with its rendering.

And as I progressed, I realized that the trees, and ground, got more pixilated and fake looking. I finally decided enough was enough, so I turned around, but there wasn’t… a forest, anymore. No.

It was a green door. A large green door, with blacked, tinted windows, and golden J-shaped handles. Then I turned around. The same door. I was starting to feel stressed out, but I tried to steel my nerves and think logically. There was probably someone inside. Someone who could help. Maybe.

There wasn’t.

The second I walked inside, I knew something was wrong. There was a strong scent of… Grease and something sour. It made my skin prickle. I almost vomited. I slowly stepped inside, looking around. It seemed to be an arcade. There were huge arcade boxes, air hockey tables, things like that.

I was already regretting going inside, when he showed up.

He was tall. Far too tall to be human. Not that he could’ve been human. No. The only thing humanoid about him was his frame. He was like a figure drawing. Something an art student would sketch up, except, he didn’t have a face. Or rather, he did, but it wasn’t… normal. It was like a bird. Or, maybe, a plague dictor mask. And he was completely hollow. I could see right through him, literally.

His voice was loud, bitcrushed, and seeming to come from everywhere in the arcade, almost as if he was the arcade. So, I asked who he was, and where we were. He laughed, a sort of, ‘Jeheheh’ if that makes sense. J seemed to be a common theme for him. Along with green.

He told me his name was Jota, and we were in Jota’s arcade, a place where “Fun Spreads Like The Plague!” Macabre theme, I muttered, but he didn’t seem to notice.

He took me to a room- It looked like the main dining room to a greasy kid’s pizza joint. Do they have Chuck’E’Cheeze here? Unimportant. It was sort of like that, you know, and the smell of grease seemed to get stronger. He told me to take a seat, and that I had caught him on a good day, not everyone gets such a pleasant interaction with the owner. That’s what he said.

And I could tell he meant it. He definitely had a threatening aura around him. One of his arms was severely… glitchy. Yes, it looked glitched. His fingers on that hand came to sharp, green points, and he carried a green scythe with him. Almost like a god of death.

What I asked next seems stupid now, but I asked him if I was dead. He simply laughed, his Jehehe,  and shook his head. “Far from it. This is the single most alive place you’ll ever be.” He told me, and I felt a shiver go up my spine as I felt he meant it.

I asked how to leave. His expression seemed to falter.

I decided not to ask about it again. I don’t think I would’ve made it out if I asked again.

And then he asked me to play a game. He said it was simple, a short game, it wouldn’t take long. I had a terrible feeling, and… I’m sorry, I can’t do this, I- I have to go.

ARCHIVIST

Statement ends.

Angel attempted to leave, stating that they feared “he was watching” and that “they don’t want him to find [them]”.

I’m honestly not sure what to believe for this one. It’s highly likely that Angel had a long term hallucination, but it doesn’t explain why they were missing for months, with no sign of them being in the woods. 

We cannot question their father for the details, nor either of their siblings, as Michael, Delilah, and Gabriel McCarthy have all sadly passed since then. Angel also refused to come to London for further questioning, which, makes sense, considering the distance and the fact they wish to put all of the happenings at their house behind them. They’ve settled with a wife, Lilith Potter. Hm.

I have a few other statements from them made on the same date, most of them starting with ‘I’m here, might as well’, but as far as I could tell the only mention of that plague doctor was once in an earlier statement, and surrounded by nonsensical ramblings about mirror people, and gods. I know that we don’t need anything getting into the religious territory. Not anymore.

Ahem. Well, I suppose that’s it, then. Though, one thing did come across as strange… I have been able to find a page on the website tumblr that bears striking similarities to the place Angel described. I might have to look into this further. Hmm.

Recording ends.

[CLICK]

[averyartylemon]

TMNT2012 7 Deadly Sins AU

I'm working on an AU for TMNT2012 based off of the 7 Deadly Sins. I came up with this while watching Lavendertowne's videos on The 7 Deadly Sins as Cute Girls and I think it turned out realy good! It's still in development, since I only thought if it like 3 hours ago, and I only have rough sketches and ideas of the storyline so far. I have only designed the turtles and April so far. The AU does not have a name yet.

Leo is Pride, Donnie is Lust, Raph is Wrath (har har), Mikey is Gluttony, April is Greed, Splinter is Sloth and Casey is Envy

⚠️ TRIGGER WARNING AHEAD ⚠️

MENTIONED ABUSE, EATING DISORDERS AND VIOLENCE, READ AT YOUR OWN DISCRETION!

Leonardo, Pride, is physically and emotionally abusive towards his brothers. He has really high expectations on them, often pushing them to their limits in training, and he thinks hes better then everyone else. Hes extremely narcissistic and will never admit when he's in the wrong.

Raphael, Wrath, is extra angry and violent. He kills his ememies, even petty thiefs. he's physically abusive, especially to Mikey. He's prone to destroying things when mad, and he's not afraid to use his weapons on his family.

Donatello, Lust, is a mad scientist and absolutely obsessed with April, even more unhealthy then in the show. Hes a stalker, and he tries to use science to find ways to force her to love him back. He would kill for her, quite literally. He knows everything about her (or so he thinks,) and his room is filled with her photographs.

Michelangelo, Gluttony, is not unaffected by his mistreatment, developing an eating disorder early on. Having food taken away was often a punishment, and he would eat a lot to make up for it when he gets his eating privelages back. He often goes days without eating and then will eat until he throws up. He cries when he eats. He's super skinny and boney, and his skin is scarred from abuse.

April, Greed, is power hungry and manipulative. She uses her powers for mind control and sucking the life force out of people. She manipulates Donnie and Casey into being obsessed with her because she's greedy for attention.

Splinter, Sloth, is neglectful and a terrible parent. He only ever taught the turtles to fight. Other then training, he was absent from their lives, and when they got old enough, he let Leonardo take control of training. His laziness caused them all to develop their unhealthy habits.

Casey, Envy, is jealous of the turtles for being strong fighters. His rivalry with Donnie is much more prominent as they both fight for April's love, unknowing that she's just using them and manipulating them for her own gain. They often get into physical disputes, and cannot even be in a room together without arguing.

The AU is still very much in development, and I hope to refine and make more solid designs for them as soon as I can.

[bvannn]

Weekly Update April 19, 2024

I had more lingering sickness from the last surgery this week. I'm pretty sure that's what it was since it went away after I took my medicine, although I'm still messed up and exhausted from all my schoolwork, though. Haven't got a whole lot done as a result, but I made some progress.

Most of what I did was on music projects, which I've decided to start referring to by their initials in these updates so they can be differentiated from one another, but they aren't completely spoiled either. OEB was the cover I got done a while ago, and I've been chipping away at the music video for that, which is 16% storyboarded. Also finished up another cover I had been working on, WOTW, which I'd like to do an animation for as well, albeit a shorter and simpler one. This means I'm sitting on 4 songs I can't release for a while, because those two need visuals, and the two originals, BMBO and BATB, still need lyrics. I did progress on lyrics for BATB this week, and I've been upset for the same reasons that prompted me to write BMBO in the first place today as well so I'll try to take another bite out of that one, too. BMBO is 33% done with lyrics right now, BATB is like, 45%. Both a ways out but if I sit down and focus they'll get done quick, that's how I was able to finish WOTW as fast as I was. A couple instrumental themes are in progress too, I've been having fun just sitting down and writing melodies, but I don't think I need to work on those for a while anyway because I want to focus more on my comic once I'm able.

Oh yeah the comic. I haven't had much chance to work on it myself because I've been sick and playing piano helps my heart rate, so I've been doing that instead. Right now comic pages are 7% done, I am bottlenecked on drawing backgrounds because I really don't feel like it with my workload, but if I get more free time I'd like to just pound out another page's worth. It's mostly a time issue right now, but hopefully I can get some rest, and finish up page 3 soon.

I also haven't had the chance to do anything else. I apologize for posting so many low effort sketches, I hope I'll be able to have time to make a real drawing soon, but for now I'm focusing on schoolwork above all else. I'll do schoolwork for now, but normal classes are done after next week, finals shouldn't be too bad, and I'll be able to just unload on animation and comic after I get some rest. I've been in a pretty bad headspace as well due to being sick and all the work, so I've been trying to post more small drawings to still have something to show, since interaction makes me feel less lonely, but it seems like you guys are getting tired of it, which is fair. I'm going to try to lay off for a while, and if I have time to make a real drawing I will, but it's unlikely. Thank you for being patient, I'm almost through the worst of it!

[yolowritter]

My Contribution to April Fool's 2024

Honestly, this came into my head like five minutes ago but I felt I had to share. A crack fic where Lila walks inside the classroom on April 1rst, and sadly announces that her mother was transfered back to Italy and she's leaving France forever. She does it with big, teary eyes, a sad smile, the whole shabang. Naturally, the class throws a last minute farewell party for her. Adrien collapses against the wall from relief, Nino thinks he's sad to see her go, and Marinette decides to draw Lila a whole sketch of the class waving goodbye to her, smiling brightly all the while. How nice of their class president!

Unfortunately...at the tail end of the last period, the door is slammed open, and in strides Lila, with her characteristic "Hi everyone!". Adrien reflexively hisses at her, and Marinette slams her head on the desk hard enough to dent the wood. I- I have no idea how this occured to me, but this scene refused to leave me alone till I wrote abt it. So here you go! It's much funnier if you visualize it, I promise!

[cleolinda]

Weekend links, April 28, 2024

My posts

I spent the first half of the week struggling through (well-medicated) mania and the second half currently with a sinus infection! I’m not enjoying it! Not either one! 

Reblogs of interest

Pro-Gaza protests at universities in the U.S.: a solidarity Passover seder and an accidental Pulitzer photo

Canada Agrees 200 Islands Belong to the Indigenous Haida Nation

--

The Hot Vintage Lady Polls continue to go for the throat. I felt so bad about Dorothy Dandridge that I started posting and reblogging propaganda for her, but Ava Gardner, my beloved, went through anyway. Backing her felt like a wish on a monkey’s paw ("Not like this!!"). (See all poll results here.) I tremble to think what round 5 will look like. Like, there’s a point when your girl is gonna come up against a Hepburn, you know?

Notably gone this week: Judy Garland, Julie Andrews, Lupe Vélez, Irene Papas (who took out Vivien Leigh in the previous round), Gene Tierney, Barbara Stanwyck, Lena Horne, Jean Seberg, Anita Ekberg, Angela Lansbury, and Cyd Charisse. Like I keep saying, everybody loses. Everybody but one. Round 5 will start May 1st. 

--

Hozier Watch 2024: His first U.S. #1, which he’s now playing at shows! The first U.S. #1 for an Irish artist in 34 years! What?? you cry. Did “Take Me to Church” not do that ten years ago? Well, I went and looked it up: No. That was the “Blank Space” era. Say no more. 

Speaking of Taylor Swift—Paste Magazine went IN on the new album and got threats as a result. Meanwhile, Taylor’s fans are harassing the ex-boyfriend who did nothing wrong (as opposed to the racist one) because her PR is egging them on. I’ll admit: even though I’m not a fan, I found the Paste review to be overlong and not focused enough on the actual songs, proportionally. But that post about the PR saga is everything I miss about Fandom Wank. 

(“My rival dresses to display her legs, and her shoes are of an alluring fashion”)

Meanwhile, the Watcher guys issued the best apology possible, although it was still excruciating to watch. (Background.) They will remain on YouTube while introducing the streaming service. As a Patreon member, I haven’t asked for my free subscription code yet, but I’m going to. Some fans forgave them pretty easily; others have walked away. I’m curious to see if this affects the mood of anything new they film, since a segment of the fandom got really, really ugly about it. Mostly it just felt sad all around. 

Meanwhile, in Alabama: nobody wants to measure the feral hog.

Turns out Death Note had a good reason to concoct “American” names like “Bobson Dugnutt.” Also, I somehow had two posts tagged “death note” this week and I don’t even go here.

The worst brownies ever created and what Tumblr has to say about them

“You roll up to the Wizard Battle and your opponent takes out his spellbook but it’s just one of these”

I know that Loki is not Odin’s son in actual Norse mythology, but the bredlik is amazing.

TIL that Florence and Ravenna are still feuding over Dante’s remains

Maybe haunted dolls cost extra

Chorses

Video

Branch manager

Senior branch manager

“Free serotonin from Honey the Italian greyhound”

Sola learned to show love from her humans

I have seen many of jauncydev’s videos about dog personalities, but I have never seen him commit quite this hard before

I like tie-dye videos anyway, but this one is sick as hell

The sacred videos: you are not prepared for this police sketch, and neither is this news anchor

The sacred texts

Kick his ass, baby. I got yo flower.

Gold Star, You Tried: A compilation

A personal favorite: “mayhaps I TWIMST aroumd”

The origin of “By Talos this can’t be happening”

Personal tags of the week

Seasonally: cherry blossom. Also, art: an old standby, but it was really good, and also, I’m sick.

[the-art-of-sanshoku]

The only year of my life where I drew at least one thing every month so I can finally make something like this :> also my first full year on Tumblr! Started this blog about a year and a half ago because I wanted to take art more seriously and honestly it was still a pretty on and off thing for a while but I've been locked in the past few months (gee wonder why). Here's hoping to a productive 2025 🙏

Dont want to flood the tags so I'll just write down what's what and ramble a bit under the cut:

January: Lain Iwakura from Serial Experiments Lain. I remember I wanted to do something that had MS Paint vibes with Lain for some reason lol

February: Iris Wilson, Herlock Sholmes, and Yujin Mikotoba from The Great Ace Attorney. Made this after shortly after finishing the game, what can I say other than Iris is my favorite~

March: Didn't post this to the blog but it was something I made for a friend's DnD campaign

April: Prompto from FFXV, another thing not posted to my blog (I actually had no posts March or April I was very busy with life at the time) the only thing I found on my ipad for this month was a csp file of random sketches so I just cropped one I kinda liked. It was mostly FFXV because I had just beaten the game I think

May: Selvie from Unicorn Overlord, another instance of "I just beat the game wanted to draw some of them". Very happy with how I colored this one, still very fond of this

June: Yuka-chan from Blue Period, made this for pride month so I picked a character I love from a manga I love (read blue period NOW)

July: Jiro from Kamen Rider Kiva. Started getting back into Kamen Rider around June I think with Build and then watched Kiva in July. Seems I didn't do too much artwork in July so have another sketchy piece

August: Takeshi Hongo from Kamen Rider (1971). I actually started watching Kuuga here but a lot of my earlier pieces are uh.... Anyway my favorite thing from this month is this Hongo so I picked that :)

September: Azuma Michinaga from Kamen Rider Geats. The colors are kind of funky but idk I liked this one! Probably my best Geats fanart tbh

October: Godai and Ichijo from Kamen Rider Kuuga. I like this one a lot. I really struggle with drawing cute chibi things and this is one of the few times I felt I succeeded. Also the hands were fun to draw

November: Godai and Ichijo again hehe, this was from a compilation of goichis but I cropped my favorite section of it. I like doing this kind of watercolor-y vibe from time to time, and I felt these came out pretty nicely

December: Ichijo (with Godai offscreen) if you couldn't tell I might like these guys. Still very proud of this one, it has a background! And attempts at composition! POV! I didn't feel like I just slapped a character's face on a photo reference! The colors are kind of nice even. I left behind some very messy linework but it's okay.

[summmeister]

2024: Art In Review

2024 has come and gone with a whole new slew of art from yours truly. The first half of this year felt fairly stagnant, but I do believe I really cleaned up in the second half. I’m really proud of a lot of the art I made this year! As always, I’ll be going over everything month by month, making sure to point out anything important along the way.

January

A fairly tame month overall with the prime exception of my plague doctor drawing from near the end of the month. Even now, I’m still quite proud of myself for this piece! The detail and shading are both fantastic, albeit with a little roughness in some areas. Going into 2025, I would like to improve at drawing humans, and this piece is a good starting point for that goal.

February

A fairly cozy month with only a few pieces made. If you asked me at the time, I would say I was the most proud of the Sunspot drawing, but if you asked me now, I would say I’m most proud of the Chao drawing. I’ve looked at it quite a lot since initially drawing it (mainly due to it being, for some reason, one of the first files to show up on Google Drive) and I realise it actually looks quite nice! The rough lines and bright back-shading add a lot. NEVER gonna get over that extra thumb on Chao’s left hand though. No idea how I missed that.

March

A VERY dry month, unfortunately. I dipped back into Pokemon (if only very, VERY slightly) by drawing Impidimp. Satina is here too. Things get more exciting later!

April

It’s got the same amount of drawings as last month, but I actually have things to say this time! The Baxter and Forthington drawing was meant to be a bit of a successor to art I made for a Rhythm Heaven art collaboration I was a part of nearly 3 years ago. It certainly looks a lot better than the art I made back then! Still think it could be a little better though… I’m a bit more experienced with smooth shading now, so maybe I should give it another shot?

The Wortox drawing is also interesting, although not as much. I deliberately went for a rougher style with it, and decided not to draw new lines for the line art, and instead use the lines I had already drawn for the sketch. I could try something like this again for quicker drawings…

May

It’s got a few more drawings than last month, although most of them are doodles and tests, unfortunately. The Sam & Max drawing is easily the standout here. I always love drawing them every once in a while. I also tried my hand at a new art style this month! Judging by the fact the drawing was never finished, I don’t think that was all too successful.

June

Now THIS is a big month. Picture this: It’s the run-up to Art Fight and I’ve got no updated reference images for all of my OCs! I have been experimenting with a new art style earlier in the month but it still needs some tweaking. The drawings as a result of these factors are some of my favorites from the whole year! The gradient into two different layers of shading looks great and you’ll be seeing more from this art style later in the year.

As well as adopting a new style for myself, I also experimented a little bit more with smooth shading with my drawing of Jack O’ Lantern, from Shin Megami Tensei. Considering it was a drawing of the same character that showed me I could improve at my art, I’m happy to say I’m really proud of this one! I don’t think I’ll try a style like this again though: I like my lines smooth.

Lastly, an unfinished Lethal Company drawing. Once again tried a different style with this one, and while I do think some of it looks fantastic, it overall wasn’t shaping up to how I wanted it to look, so I stopped working on it before I got to the shading stage.

July

July was Art Fight month! I only did one piece for myself, and it was for my 21st birthday. I used this month to experiment more with tweaks to my art style during Art Fight. You can find the results of that here. I found a style of smooth shading that works well for me, and I had a whole lotta fun throughout the event!

August

Oops! Nothing

But seriously, I was so burnt out after Art Fight I kinda just… didn’t do anything this month! Apologies.

September

Didn’t do too much this month! Was still burnt out from Art Fight, but I managed to squeeze a few pieces out in the latter half. The Wortox and Krampus drawing was an experiment in doing more elaborate scenes. Truth is, this was actually my second attempt at doing something like this. The first is still a sketch! I might finish that some day.

October

This was a VERY interesting month. See, this month, I did a drawing challenge, of sorts. I challenged myself to come up with a new original character for every day of October, from the 1st to the 31st. Some of these ended up as quick doodles, others as fully completed drawings. A few even got remade! I’m really quite proud of myself for being able to stick it out the whole month, even if some of the drawings were rushed or the ideas were rough. I’ll definitely try something similar next year, although the topic is yet to be decided…

Also! Halloween! As always, I did a halloween drawing this year: Skweeb as a pumpkin… Pumpskwin! But that’s not the end of it! At the end of the month, my friends and I decided to host a very special movie night, with all of us in costume! Unfortunately, I don’t have a webcam and didn’t bother to buy one before the event, so I instead opted to create a Pumpskwin VTuber! It was a real fun process from start to finish and I just love working on odd projects like these. Maybe I can do another in the future?...

November

After the rollercoaster that was October, November saw things settle down quite a bit. I experimented a little more with art styles and made a birthday drawing for a friend. Quite a cozy month.

December

Finally! December! This month! It had a little bit more activity than last month, with more art style experimentation! I believe I’ve landed on a secondary art style, one I can use alongside the style developed in June. It’s a modified version of an art style I had for a bit earlier in the year, but with cleaner lines. I quite like how drawings look with it!

Well! That’s all 12 months covered! While I could very easily just put my best drawing from each month in a template and post that, I like going over all of my thoughts and goals month by month instead of simply showing the results. Anyone trying to get into art could read through something like this and get an idea of how they want to approach their projects. I also just like talking about my interests, too.

Of course! LAST but CERTAINLY not least, my yearly redraw of my first ever art piece! I believe this is a BIG improvement from last year’s, and I’m really quite proud of how it looks!

Thank you for reading.

2025 is right around the corner!

[anthony-1846]

can you tell me more abt ur turtles of you can?

Like wut r the turtles pronouns? Do they met April and if so how old is she? How old are the turtles? Is splinter present?

Feel free to answer no pressure! I love listening to ppl info dump 😋

Well, I have lots so say (also sorry for not responding earlier and sorry if there is misspelling or some sentences don't make sense). I'm still working on making all the designs so sorry if everything isnt really completed. Also this isn't really shown in the drawing I posted but their hands are sort of like Mona Lisa's in 2012.

Leo is 17, 6'2, and her pronouns are she/him, and she is trans fem (later on in the story which YES I CHANGED THIS bc it fits better for her), and she is based of a red-eared slider turtle.

Raph is 18, 6'6, he/him, bi, and he is based off of a alligator snapping turtle.

Donnie is 16, 5'11, they/them, and they are based off of a spiny softshell turtle. (They are also autistic)

Mikey is 15, 6'3, any pronouns, pan, and he is based off a mix of a ornate box turtle and a normal box turtle. (He also has ADHD)

I also have made my own version of Venus/jennika/Kirby and her name is Artimisa. (I don't really have much for her yet) All I have figured out for her is that she is 16, 6'2, and her pronouns are she/her.

Splinter is present but I haven't really made a design but I have some ideas in mind that I might draw soon.

I have made an idea for April and Casey. For April she would be 20-21, 5'4 (which is apparently the average height for women in the US), her pronouns are she/they, and she is lesbian. The turtles do meet April and I have a little idea how.

So April works at TCRI as a side job while she is at college and when she was walking home she accidentally discovered the turtles while they are trying to go back into the sewers. Donnie reacts by knocking her out (with brick or something idk) and they have to make her she doesn't tell anybody else about them so they bring her down into the sewers with them. That's all I have for that.

This April sketch was from a while ago and it's a pretty rough sketch so it's not that good 😭. I will draw an actually good sketch with colour soon for her and Casey.

I'm also thinking of names for my version/AU and my favorite idea is "Project Renaissance" which does need some explaining of their back story so I'm gonna do that as well.

TCRI would have little underground projects that were requested by the government and the general public didn't know about. One of these projects was trying to make mutate animals into anthropomorphic versions, the projects name being "project Renaissance" with the test subjects being named after Renaissance artists. Splinter is just one of the lab rats that the scientist name and Hamato Yoshi is one of the scientists working for TCRI on this project (I'm still figuring out the rest of that).

If you want to know more you can ask 😁

Also if your wondering these are their heights side by side