cactuarjen

[cactuarjen]

FFxivWrite2023 Participation Prize Prize piece for @trinitymage of their dancer, T'amo and some very concerned minions. I giggled to myself drawing their panic XD

Thanks as always to @sea-wolf-coast-to-coast for herding cats for this year's #FFxivWrite2023 and #FFxivWritePrizes!

[cactuarjen]

FFxivWrite2022 Participation Prize

For the awesome @yokasaris of Zhan'a meeting his first child and (eventually) discovering the joy of fatherhood. Such a precious moment, and I really enjoyed drawing it! You can read the entry that inspired this piece here. As always, huge thanks to @sea-wolf-coast-to-coast for managing an even bigger gaggle of writers and artists this year! I continue to look forward to this year after year, even though I've stopped playing FFXIV. The enthusiasm and creativity of this community is a treasure! ♥

[cactuarjen]

I am stoked to be doing another prize drawing this year, and even more stoked to see how great the turnout of writers and artists was! As always, just a huge thank you to @sea-wolf-coast-to-coast for keeping this going year after year. You're the best!

FFxivWrite2022 Recap & Winners

11,165 total entries were submitted in 2022!

This includes all entries that were submitted via the Google Form, including late entries (and excluding duplicate entries).

Which brings us to 42,721 total recorded entries since we began this challenge in 2017! 

And, we had 105 volunteer artists in 2022!! Which means that there are 105 prize-winners!

A breakdown of the stats + announcement of the Participation Prize winners are below the cut ~

Keep reading

[cactuarjen]

Meet Haeni Goodfinger, a cute, but sassy halfling artificer and anthropologist who has sadly already been retired as a character (part of that, 'wow, you actually can have too much D&D' revelation). Haeni had a passion for discovery and what she thought was a fairly high tolerance for danger. After a stint in the swamps living with lizardfolk and learning their ways, she ended in Waterdeep, in some very unlikely company: A frisky tiefling star druid who willfully didn't understand personal bubbles; a blood-sucking drow cleric who actually wasn't as evil as she sounds; a jerkface, patronizing shadar-kai noble who had no business being as pretty as he was; a guard in the city watch who shockingly didn't hide the fact that he was a changeling; and a bookish tabaxi who was lethally honest. They acquired a bar, three orphans (one of whom was killed in an attack on the bar, and subsequently revived, but damn), a talking donkey, questionable allies, and even more questionable enemies. And an also questionable, hot half-orc, uh, roommate.

In the end, after they very nearly all died in a deep dive into dangerous caverns and the cleric had already had her brain devoured once (some slick GM handwaving on that one), Haeni (and I) finally had to bow out of their adventures: "I don't think I can keep going like this. I'm small, and I'm weak. I just watched you all nearly get killed, and if I stay with you? I'm going to end up dead. I like you guys—well, some of you more than others—but I'm not willing to die for you. And I didn't mind doing things to help out here in Waterdeep, but I'm not willing to die for Waterdeep either! And the kids? They're not safe here either—we already had to bring one of them back from the dead! So... I guess what I'm saying is, I need to leave. I want to go somewhere quiet and-and safe, and I think I should take the kids with me."

The party agreed, Haeni left a few magic items she'd acquired or made, and loaded up her stuff and the kids in the party's wagon, hitched up the talking donkey who was just as eager to get the hell out of Waterdeep, and—not least of all—asked Yagra (yes, that Yagra), who wasn't the most popular girl in town at the time, if she'd come with, y'know, to protect them from bandits on the road. Totally just that. They ended up getting a place in Red Larch, where nothing bad ever happens. TL:DR: Waterdeep can kick rocks. C'mon Yagra, I got us a uHaul.

[cactuarjen]

Wow, it's been, uh... a while.

I've been busy doing absolutely nothing productive, but I have been playing a lot of D&D. Like too much D&D. I learned, shockingly, there is such a thing. Got several new character portraits to share since my last post, so those'll be trickling in over the next few days as I decide how much I can share without spoiling too much to my fellow players.

[cactuarjen]

All Star, Spring Version

♪ Well the tears starts coming and they don't stop coming ♪ Allergy season and it's got my nose running ♪ Doesn't make sense that I can't touch grass ♪ I'd go outside but it kicks my ass ♪ So much to do but I can't breathe ♪ So what's wrong with watching the TV? ♪ Your Claritin's working real slow ♪ The Benadryl is a no-show

♪ Here comes all the pollen, get your tissues, you'll sneeze ♪ Time to call your doctor, new inhaler, yes please ♪ Shove tissue up your nose~ ♪ Only way to stem all that flow~ ♪♪

[cactuarjen]

I've learned, based on the ads, that tumbler thinks I'm 65 or older. Nah, bitch, I'm not retired, I'm just unemployed.

[cactuarjen]

FFxivWrite2021 Participation Prize

For the delightful @idyllshires, of their very interesting Bianca. I definitely agree that “we love a wol with questionable taste in men, mhm mhm mhm,“ though if you want to know which questionable men she’s got on her mind, you’ll have to read the inspiring entry here.

Big thanks as always to @sea-wolf-coast-to-coast for herding cats and poking those of us (read: me) who weren’t so quick on the draw this year (we love you!) We had even more entries this year than last, and I’ll repeat myself in being blown away by not only the number of participants, but the skill of the writers! Here’s to another year! ♥

[cactuarjen]

FFXIVWRITE2021 WINNERS HAVE BEEN CHOSEN!!

A more formal stats & winner post is coming later. In the meantime, keep an eye out for a message from your artist. They’ll be reaching out to you via the contact method that you specified. They might send you a friend request!

Winners have until 10/31 to respond to their volunteer artist or they’ll forfeit their prize and we’ll roll for a new winner to replace them.

So, keep an eye out!!

[cactuarjen]

My awkward, prematurely-balding half orc, Ham, in his new fancy clothes that are not for fighting in! IF he remembers... 

The campaign he’s from is currently on hiatus, so I miss my big, dumb boy. 

[cactuarjen]

FFxivWrite2020 Participation Prize

For the super nice @healingcrab of the now-grown, unfortunately pretty Alaqa when he was a practically feral little boy, all alone in the Steppe.

I really enjoyed the challenge of rolling back the clock on his life and drawing a little boy who looks simultaneously wild and pitiful and adorable.

Big thanks to @sea-wolf-coast-to-coast for hosting this challenge yet again! We had thousands and thousands of posts this year, and I continue to be blown away by not only the number of participants, but the skill of the writers! I can't wait to see what next year brings!

[cactuarjen]

02 - wisp

Decided to try inktober this year, with the intention of drawing the dumbest things that come to mind, with no intention of making them pretty. We’ll see how long this lasts, lol XD

[cactuarjen]

01 - Fish

Decided to try inktober this year, with the intention of drawing the dumbest things that come to mind, with no intention of making them pretty. We’ll see how long this lasts, lol XD

[cactuarjen]

Woo! So many submissions! It’s absolutely awesome! I wonder if we hit 300 writers this year o_o

Congratulations, writers! #FFxivWrite2020 has come to a close.

For those of you still catching up, I will continue to accept entries until October 8th.

Please check the public spreadsheet for your entries and submit any links that you may have forgotten: https://tinyurl.com/public-entries-ffxivwrite2020

I will continue to accept volunteer artists until October 8th.

If you're an artist interested in volunteering to draw a simple black & white portrait as a participation prize, please visit the carrd for more info and to sign up: https://ffxiv-write.carrd.co/#prizes

Participation prize winners will be announced in the final #FFxivWrite2020 recap post, along with this year's stats, on October 15th.

All winners will have 2 weeks to reply to their artist's message with references. If you are a winner and you don't reply within 2 weeks you'll forfeit your prize and a new winner will be selected for that volunteer artist. I don't want any winners to miss out on their prizes so please keep an eye out on the 15th!

If you managed to write something for all 30 days by October 8th, please tag me in your master post!!

I would love to see your master posts and congratulate you for your commitment!

Thank you, everyone! Stats coming soon ❤

[cactuarjen]

That’s right, folks - YEAR 4 of our annual FFxiv 30 Day Writing Challenge begins on Tuesday, September 1st at 12:00pm PST!

More Info: https://ffxiv-write.carrd.co/

Artist Volunteer Sign-up: https://forms.gle/bMojWcWWiUMXZzht5

Questions: My Ask box is open, or ask me on Twitter (MoenMoenFFxiv)

Need a warm-up? Here are some short weekly prompts to get the writing gears in motion:

I challenge you to keep your responses short while writing to these weekly warm-up prompts. Why? Because they’re just warm-ups - a moment for your creative brain to stretch a little before running the marathon.

And, I want you to practice writing short because if, during the Challenge in September, you start feeling creatively exhausted from this marathon, you’ll be able to think back to how short your responses to these warm-ups were and it may encourage you to submit something super short so that you meet your goal of writing every day without overtaxing yourself. I mean it when I say that short and sweet entries count. ❤️ I will accept single sentence entries!

See if you can do one of these warm-ups each week leading up to the Challenge. If you want to repeat one or two of them multiple times, go for it! Whatever you need for your creative brain to feel good and ready.

I won’t be tracking responses to these warm-ups. They’re purely for your benefit. Use the hashtag #FFxivWrite2020 warm-up if you’d like.

WEEKLY WARM-UP IDEAS:

Write a haiku about your character

Write about your character’s facial expression (10 sentences max)

Write a limerick about your character

Write about the sound of your character’s voice (10 sentences max)

Make up your own warm-up idea! (10 sentences max)

Have fun! 

[cactuarjen]

Danganronpa fan character for a super nerdy homebrew RP game with a bunch of friends. This is another player’s Ultimate Carpenter, Kyle. He’s weak to sweet smiles, big busts and apparently girls whose names begin with R. Strong to everything else, including temptation.

Notable quotes: “God and all his angels, forgive me. She busty.”

[cactuarjen]

Token for my Lightfoot Halfling Rogue, Cessa.

Feel free to use this token in your own game!