lestat-de-lionfish - Tumblr blog

[lestat-de-lionfish]

I think this piece speaks for itself.

[lestat-de-lionfish]

Happy Valentine’s Day!

What better way to celebrate than with beautiful women? Here’s the lovely Victoria De Angelis as the third instalment of my single-colour portrait series.

As always, ink for the line work, then coloured pencils and a touch of metallic acrylic paint for the details. (I use a *very* small paintbrush)

This is, unfortunately, censored because I do not trust social media algorithms not to falsely flag art.

[lestat-de-lionfish]

Finished this a while ago and forgot to cross-post it here. But I’m calling this piece “Thomas Durden”

[lestat-de-lionfish]

I did Ethan in blue, so I thought I’d do the rest of the band in other colours. So, here’s Thomas.

I hate drawing with purple, but I really love how this came out.

[lestat-de-lionfish]

Coming in hot with the same hyperfixation. But hey. Whatever keeps a bitch doing art, right?

Might make this into a set. Might not. No clue, right now.

[lestat-de-lionfish]

Portrait I finished recently of Ethan Torchio of Måneskin. He’s such a beautiful and magnetic person, and I wanted to try capture that in my art of him.

Wanted to try something new, colour-wise— and I’m glad I did. Had a lot of fun with it.

As usual, this was done with coloured pencils and ink, with a little acrylic paint for the metallic details

[lestat-de-lionfish]

So. Fun story. My nickname at most of my jobs/volunteer events has actually been Arson. Because while my last name is absolutely bitchin’, it was discovered early on that shouting “Hey! Fire!” down a flight line or across an auto shop was, generally, not a good idea. So Arson became the running nickname, and everyone knows who’s being talked about/referred to, and nobody’s confused by false alarms.

I do have some great stories about the false alarms, though.

(Also, I’m not particularly worried about putting my last name on the internet because you literally can’t find anyone in my family just by simple Google searches— even if you had first names. And that’s assuming people actually believe me about it, anyway.)

do y'all remember when people on tiktok were talking about how it's morally wrong to name yourself "arson" because it's a crime?

anyway if you're trans and you need a new name, may i suggest Murder?

[lestat-de-lionfish]

I mean. My parents had no real metric of what was appropriate for a young child (consequently, neither do I), but I was introduced to The Graveyard Book much younger than 9. I loved it, even when I was little. So much so that my parents had to get me a CD set of the audiobook because they got tired of reading it to me. I’d even play it for my friends at sleepovers.

I like to think I turned out alright. At least, as far as anyone whose favourite book is The Graveyard Book can hope to be. (I love it an unreasonable amount and I keep a copy of the audio book on me wherever I go— either on CD or digitally on my phone even if I don’t listen to it as often as I used to.)

Hello Sir, I am halfway through the Graveyard Book and I was wondering whether it would be suitable for my 9 year old brother to read. Would your recommend a different book or perhaps skipping the beginning? The beginning of it is quite gruesome but I think he'll be fine 😅

I don't know your brother, but if you think he'll be fine then I wouldn't worry.

[lestat-de-lionfish]

Biggest thing is it has to sit right on your shoulders. The top of the shoulder seam should sit right at the corner of your shoulder where your arm starts.

Accommodating for a comfortable fit around your shoulders usually has the rest of the shirt falling more or less into place— but you can also get a good tailor to alter it if any parts feel awkwardly loose. Pro tip— it’s a lot easier to fix loose than tight.

Another thing to note is the cut of the shirt. Women’s dress shirts are cut differently than men’s to accommodate the differences in body shape. Women’s dress shirts often have either darts or what’s called a Princess seam to allow for more space in the bust area— which will help to minimise the gapping between buttons for people with a larger bust.

Here’s how darts work:

Compared to the construction of a Princess seam— which is much sleeker, but more difficult to sew.

If the gapping is still an issue, you can try to add a glue/iron-on set of Velcro strips between buttons, or a similarly discreet method of extra closures.

My final piece of advice, which may not translate to women’s cut shirts (I don’t wear them, so I genuinely don’t know) is to look at the hemline. A curved bottom hem indicates the shirt is meant to be tucked into the pants, where a straight cut hemline is meant to be left untucked.

SAVE A BUTCH'S LIFE:

HOW DO I KNOW IF A BUTTON DOWN SHIRT FITS PROPERLY

I AM WELL ENDOWED AND MY HIPS, NOT UNLIKE SHAKIRA'S, ARE ENTIRELY HONEST

anon i wish i knew how to help you 😔 if any butches wanna help out pls do

[lestat-de-lionfish]

So excited to finally have everything completed and ready to post. This series of portraits has been months in the making, and I’ve been working on it since the start of May. I’m immensely proud of the completed set, especially the final portrait.

[lestat-de-lionfish]

So, do you think the Queen is still alive? I heard she hasn't been seen in public since October.

She was seen in public on November 18th, on Dec 16th, and she did the Christmas broadcast. Also, she stripped the Duke of York of his "military affiliations and royal patronages" (you think anyone else gets to do that?).

She's 95. When she dies, you'll know. Everyone will know. And Charles will be King, and the postage stamps and coins in the UK will be all wrong.

[lestat-de-lionfish]

And fracking still destroys the environment. It’s a temporary solution, sure. But whose land are they going to perform that on? Certainly not where high populations of white people are. Not unless they’re poor, at least.

Objectively speaking, you’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t. Relying on a foreign nation puts us in a bad spot like we’re in now. Fucking over our own people to drill for oil isn’t exactly the win you’re framing it as. Historically, that’s only damaged already impoverished communities or violated treaty rights. Or both.

The solution isn’t fucking the planet further, regardless of what part of the world you’re sacrificing. I agree with you on energy independence being vital. But not through oil. If the US is going to take steps to be energy independent long term, it might as well do it properly by investing clean energy.

Happy 3rd day of March! Gas jumped up 40¢ so far this month.

Maybe this will be the month we'll realize we can't be dependent on other nations for our gas? One can hope, at least...

[lestat-de-lionfish]

I’m opening up commissions for a little while, and thought I’d post about it here even though I don’t have a huge following.

These are the main things I bead, and some examples of my work within each. I do, however, have the ability to bead other things. I’ve done shoes, made and beaded pouches and coin purses, hair barrettes, etc. So if you’ve got a specific request for something that’s not here, don’t be afraid to ask.

Just message me if you’re interested and I’d be happy to discuss things with you!

[lestat-de-lionfish]

The Graveyard Book is definitely my favourite of yours. I grew up with it. My parents burned a copy of the audiobook onto a couple CDs for me so I could listen to it whenever I wanted, and I would put them in my portable DVD player and take them everywhere. I’d bring that book on long car rides or over to friends’ houses so they could try the book. I’d listen to it as I drew or played or went to sleep at night.

I’m almost 22, now, and I’ve got a copy of it on my phone. I still like to listen to chapters of it on bad days. Or when I’m spending hours doing art. Or sometimes on long car rides like the three hours it takes me to go and visit my parents.

I love The Graveyard Book like an old friend, and it’s always going to be something I carry with me. It’s honestly probably a big part of the reason why I just applied for a job at a cemetery I love— and why I’ve wanted to work at a cemetery for as long as I can remember. I guess I hope seeing this post today of all days, and seeing that someone else loves that book as much as I do, means I’m heading in the right direction.

I just wanted you to know that I always loved the graveyard book. I was really depressed when I found it but ended up sneaking to the library every lunch to read it and couldn’t loan books so I hid it with the maps so no one else would check it out until I finished it. the part about the Danse macabre and the lady in the grey has never left me, nor has Silas or Miss Lupescu loving him in an unconventional way but clearly, or the witch, or how the girl still left, or Mrs. Owens poem. It was my first introduction to beautiful spookiness that could touch someone which is one of the most important things to me now (spooky is not the right word, but horror isn’t either, so I’ll settle.) the part about how the dead don’t change but the living get to might have saved my life. So thank you I guess.

You are so, so very welcome. (I guess.)

[lestat-de-lionfish]

Kind of a personal, unhinged, manic ramble. But it’s 1:30 in the morning and I’m just in that kind of mood.

So, there’s nothing concrete yet because nobody answers emails at 1 in the morning in a Saturday. But.

I just applied for a position in the funeral home for my favourite cemetery in the city I live in. I’m not the top candidate because I don’t have a bachelor’s degree in anything, but it said on the listing that the degree wasn’t a necessary qualification— only a preferred one. But I have all the mandatory qualifications, including nearly 6 years of experience in customer service. Benefits of being poor as shit and joining the workforce in high school, I guess.

Anyway. I know it sounds weird to be excited to the point of mania over the possibility of working in a funeral home and helping grieving families bury their dead relatives. I know exactly how that sounds. But I really love this cemetery for a lot of reasons. And my little goth ass has wanted to work in a cemetery literally as long as I can remember. I’d like to be a groundskeeper, but I’m not physically capable. Which sucks. But the bright side is there’s still something I can do there and I really hope I at least land an interview. I’m just really excited and I hope that if I scream about it to enough people my ancestors will hear me and make it happen for me.

Just. I’m really excited and I hope I came across the job listing for a reason. I’m not sure how much I believe in anything like fate or destiny, but I think things have a way of working out in the long run.

[lestat-de-lionfish]

So, here’s the fandom wank post I warned you all about. Feel free to screenshot and spread, because I know a couple of you are gonna talk about this to the people described in this post (trust me, you’re not fooling anyone). I am currently high as a kite, mostly to deal with the anxiety of writing this, but anyway…

Keep reading

[lestat-de-lionfish]

Okay. Hair. Skoden. Stoodis.

Plan the highlights and the general flow of the hair.

Actually colour the highlights. Fancy that.

Very important step. Get interrupted by your cat named Chainsaw as he headbutts your sketchbook out of your hands and sticks his face in your drink immediately after you take this photo. Do not skip this part.

Colour the main body of the hair. I like to blend this part into the highlights as I go.

Add in the shadows. Again, I like to blend as I go so I don’t miss any spots. ADHD who?

Colourless blender, my beloved—

So. I thought I’d do a little semi-art tutorial. It’s more just walking through my colouring process. I work light to dark to help avoid smudging, so I usually start with the skin.

Base coat

Base shading

Blend

Deepen shadows

Blend

Detail

Depending on the character, I like to add some colour to the cheeks

Blend

And then I just fine tune the last of the details.

I may or may not reblog this with other parts of my colouring process.