#&&. storybook pictures ( my artwork )

[bearye-draws]

Had a go at a storybook inspired illustration!

[sheriffopossum]

last art trade for a lil while! cute debediah here belongs to @za0mbie on instagram/twitter! <3<3

[storybounded]

Wanted to draw the dweeeebs since I don't draw them often, and I'm going to fix that for the rest of the year 🥰

[crybabylipstick]

Melanie's tattoos and the story + info about each of them:

1. Candy Hearts

Melanie got a tattoo of pink and blue candy hearts on her left elbow in July of 2014. They were done by her friend and tattoo artist Lauren Winzer. It is one of her first two tattoos.

2. Teddy Bear

Melanie got a tattoo of a yellow teddy bear on her upper right arm in September of 2014. It was done by Lauren Winzer.

3. Pin-Up Girl

Melanie got a tattoo of a retro pin-up girl holding a juice box on her upper right arm in November of 2014. It was done by Wayne Fredrickson.

4. Ice Cream Truck

Melanie got a tattoo of a pink and green ice cream truck on her left bicep in June of 2015. It was done by Lauren Winzer.

5. Balloon Animal Dog

Melanie got a tattoo of a blue balloon animal dog on her left forearm in June of 2015. It was done by Lauren Winzer. She got this tattoo because when she was four, her parents threw her a birthday party which she wasn't satisfied with, because no one came to it, which inspired her to write the song "Pity Party."

6. Carousel Horse

Melanie got a tattoo of a carousel horse on her left forearm in July of 2014, on the same day that she got the candy hearts. It was done by Lauren Winzer. It is one of her first two tattoos.

7. Cake

Melanie got a tattoo of a pink birthday cake on her upper right arm in March of 2015. It was done by tattoo artist Marie Sena. The design was inspired by Chloe Tersigni, a former friend of Melanie who created the storybook artwork for her debut album, Cry Baby.

8. Ice Cream Cone

Melanie got a tattoo of a colorful ice cream cone on her right forearm in February of 2015. It was done by Linnea Pecsenye.

9. Bunny Kewpie Doll

Melanie got a tattoo of a kewpie doll in a bunny suit carrying a melting ice cream cone on her left forearm in June of 2015. It was done by Lauren Winzer. Melanie spoke about the tattoo, which was inspired by two childhood memories, in an interview with Fuse, stating, "This one is based on a couple of experiences from when I was a kid. My first word was "mine." It happened when I was in my walker in my driveway and my dad snatched an ice cream out of my hand and I just screamed "mine!", like "Give me my ice cream! Why'd you take my ice cream?" And then there's a picture of me outside dressed as a bunny. So I just did a little kewpie baby dressed as a bunny, holding ice cream that's melting, just to mix the two experiences".

10. Angel

Melanie got a tattoo of an angel with a retro hairstyle on her left calf on an unknown date in 2015.

11. Block of Cheese

Melanie got a tattoo of a block of cheese within a heart on her upper right arm in February of 2015. It was done by tattoo artist Josh Barg. In an interview with Fuse, when asked about the tattoo, they said, "I love cheese. I’m obsessed with cheese! I’m like the biggest dairy queen in the world".

12. Kewpie Doll Heads

Melanie got a tattoo of two kewpie doll heads on her upper right arm in February of 2015. It was done by tattoo artist Linnea Pecsenye. The boy on the left is smiling, while the girl on the right is crying, representing happiness and sadness.

13. Ice Cream Cone

Melanie got a tattoo of a colorful ice cream cone on her right forearm in February of 2015. It was done by Linnea Pecsenye.

14. Heart-Shaped Lollipop

Melanie got a tattoo of a red heart-shaped lollipop on her right forearm in November of 2014. It was done by tattoo artist Wayne Fredrickson.

15. Bunny Head

Melanie got a tattoo of a bunny head and a kn*fe on her right forearm in February of 2015. Melanie shared the story behind the tattoo with Fuse, stating, "It was actually my first pet ever. And then I got a dog and my parents told me I couldn't have a bunny and a dog, so we all decided to give the bunny away to a friend of a friend who already had a bunny. So we thought 'It'll have a friend, that’s amazing, that's awesome.' So they left my bunny and their bunny in the backyard unattended for like, four hours. They ended up finding their bunny in their neighbor's backyard and my bunny's h*ad was in their yard". The bunny in the story is Whinnie.

16. D*c*pitated Girl

Melanie got a tattoo of a little girl whose h*ad has been c*t off jumping in the air, with roses spilling out of her neck in October of 2015. It was done by tattoo artist Gary Royal. The tattoo is an illustration by Japanese artist Masami Yanagida, and the girl's blouse says "For Joy", referencing the phrase "jump for joy".

17. Teardrop

Melanie got a tattoo of a teardrop on her right forearm on August 14, 2015. She got the tattoo in celebration of the release of her debut album, "Cry Baby".

18. Love is a Maze

Melanie got two tattoos of couples on each of her thighs in December of 2015, although they weren't finished until April of 2016. The tattoos are both illustrations by Masami Yanagida. The one on her left thigh shows a clothed couple with their heads in a maze.

19. S*x is a Game

Melanie got two tattoos of couples on each of her thighs in December of 2015, although they weren't finished until April of 2016. The tattoos are both illustrations by Masami Yanagida. The one on her right thigh depicts a n*ked couple with their heads in a lottery wheel.

20. Elmer Elephant

Melanie got a tattoo of Elmer Elephant from the Silly Symphonies short of the same name on her left calf in October of 2015. It was done by Shon Lindauer. It goes along with her Tillie Tiger tattoo.

21. Tillie Tiger

Melanie got a tattoo of Tillie Tiger from the Silly Symphonies short, Elmer Elephant on her right calf in October of 2015. It was done by tattoo artist Shon Lindauer. The tattoo goes along with her Elmer Elephant tattoo.

22. Tooth

Melanie got a tattoo of a tooth with a face and rosy cheeks on her upper left arm in January of 2016. When she was a baby, she was biting on an apple and she lost her tooth in it and she thought it was pretty funny because the entire event caused her to become crazy. It was done by Nat G.

23. 222 Heart

Melanie got a tattoo of a small heart with the number 222 inside of it in January of 2016. It was done by tattoo artist Nat G. She tweeted, "The number follows me around everywhere. Usually whenever I see it something good happens". 222 is also Cry Baby and Angelita's class room number in "K-12". 222 is Melanie Martinez's angel number, which is why she got it on her arm.

24. Madeline

Melanie got a tattoo of Madeline from the media franchise of the same name, as well as a quote from the series on her left calf in January of 2016. It was done by Nat G.

25. Masami Yanagida Illustration

Melanie got a tattoo of a man whose body is c*t into pieces, with the words "Love Love You" written on his midsection in December of 2015. The tattoo is an illustration by Masami Yanagida.

[artfromsaturn]

Saturn’s Free CSP Brush Recommendations, CS Asset Store Edition

I may sell brushes now, but I still love me some free brushes & love to share them with people.  These are a bunch of cool brushes made by other people that you can use to build up a nice library of tools without having to spend any cash on, perfect if you’re new to CSP or are on a budget.  If you do download these, be sure to like them & give some love to the artist if you enjoy them. :D

How to find: type in the Content ID or Ctrl/Command + C & P (copy and paste shortcuts) into the Clip Studio asset store on the Clip Studio application.  I’ll add a link as a preview but copying & pasting the content ID is easiest.  I have automatic translation ON, so sorry if you read some weird names.   Feel free to reblog this with your own suggestions, there’s many brushes out there I missed. :D  Check defsiarte’s suggestions too, and if you want to see my recommendations for stuff on Gumroad/DA & other places, check this tag.

Large Packs

“An analogue art supply" - 1813808 Huge pack of everything, including acrylic, oil, watercolor, marker, pen, & pencil.  I like the markers and sometimes use the acrylics too.

Crm's Toolbox, Watercolors, Markers, & other treasures

Fantastic use of texture and some cute effects pens.  The artist has posted everything from quality painting & drawing pens to quality glitter pens for writing.

The Old Default Assets - 1842027 & 1841759 These aren’t pictured, but if you ever see an older tutorial or video showcasing some default brushes you never had, it’s because CSP reworked its default tools around version 1.9.  Fortunately they rerelased them so anyone can redownload them. The old ones are still good to use, they’re just not included.

Painters - With Texture

Thiccpaint - 1707517 Never leave home without it.  I riot if I don’t have them on my computer..  They have the right combination of texture, shape, & blend with great handling and great variety.

Icyannyou's Momo Sets - user:Icyannyou Super cute packs that give a lovely painterly look.  The Storybook pack is fantastic, and even if you don't draw cute you can still use these painters & blenders to give your artwork character. :)

Thick Coating Brush Set - 1683127 I like these for background work, but it's a big pack of thick textured painters with good handling & neat effects.

Marredae's Brushes - user:Marredae This artist has a knack for textured brushes.  Very high rec, fantastic library of wet & dry painting/rendering tools.

Roro Oil - 1820057 Rompi is another user I enjoy the stuff of, and I'll recommend a few more brushes from them in other categories by the time this post is done.  Check 'em out!

Suika chalk -  1760304 Very useful rough chalk.  Sometimes, that’s all you need!

Sprongle -  1935694 A simple round brush with a nice rough tip.  Slightly rough without being too rough, great for quick paintings.

Johnnie halloween pack & Brokenhearted brushes... - 1876075 & 1938786, user:EnjieLemon EnjieLemon has some nice brushes in general, but some are paid for.  Still worth checking out due to their cheap clippy price (and clippy can be obtained for free).  The Brokenhearted brushes have a nice texture.  The Halloween pack includes a cute pumpkin stamp along with some easy to use chalk, oil, & watercolor brushes.  Compact and easy to use!

“Watercolor marker and texture set” - 1682349 There's a reason this set is one of the most downloaded on the asset store.  It's one of the best looking watercolor replicas out there, and even if you don't use the brushes, you can likely still find a use for the textures.  Great for soft coloring.

Grunge Brushes, Soft | Heavy | Complex Brushes & Xenomorphius' stuff in general -  user:xenomorphius Xeno drops some cool natural looking brushes out every so often for painting, inking, and dry media.  Please check 'em out!  The grunge brushes create a fun, grungy look like it says on the pack, & the soft/heavy/complex set can be used for painting as well as lining.  

Oil-h5 trial -  1976418 These brushes are hard to explain.  They work with the dual brush setting, & push around a layer of paint on top of your regular paint, creating a cool, streaky look.  They're a hidden gem.

MYNQZO brushes - 1993875 A pretty darn good set for painting.  I really love rough brush 2, it's great for sketching & rendering.

Painting, non-textured 

(basic rounds & other shapes for smooth rendering)

Kiminie71's Brush Set -  1728687 4 simple rounds that are great for rendering!   https://assets.clip-studio.com/en-us/detail?id=1728687

CHIMAKA Set -  1747974 Heavy drag paint that highlights well & applies thickly.  Great for bold shading.

Choms Paint -  1910936 It just gets me.  No further elaboration.

Honeypen<3 -  1786787 Fits great in my paint hand.  Very slidey & blends like intended!

Wet flat marker -  1917678 Super blending brush, gives super soft edges to paint.  Blends great.

oil mushblendiw -  1918739 Another simple & easy to use roundbrush.

Paint - 1760641 This plainly named brush is a triangle brush that goes between heavy & light with pressure.  The creator, Puppsicle, also sells some neat brushes on Ko-Fi if you enjoy this brush.

"The Scarlet Knot Brush Set 2" - 1916125 I use the watercolor of thought out of this set, but they're all pretty good & easy to use. https://assets.clip-studio.com/en-us/detail?id=1916125

Sunday - 1825825 A round brush with a watercolor border that gives a nice, sketchy feeling. https://assets.clip-studio.com/en-us/detail?id=1825825

Marker Brushes

Marker Texture Brush -1809506 A very nice subtly textured brush.  Has a nice instructional guide on how to get the best results with it. :D

Mirre's Marker set - 1749822 Another good brush with a subtle texture.  Comes with its own blender!

Woody Marker & Pencil set - 1772987 I also love the pencil in this pack.  Nice woody feel, feel free to turn off multiply.

Pencils & Sketchers

SU-Cream Pencil - 1761353 no wonder its popular.  Can be used for lineart, sketching, and coloring, this versatile brush delivers a great smooth look with a gentle textured end finish on pressure.

Write BoruPenP - 1753435 Probably the best ballpoint pen on Clip.  Please check out Pharan's things, I love them.😊

“Pencil-like Brush for Lineart” - 1692270 Ok this is kind of a weird way to recommend something.  It's SUPPOSED to be a pencil but I use it like a paintbrush with the opacity & density on pressure control, & another copy with blending turned on.  Whatever you use it for, you're sure to get a good result!

Grease pencil/china marker - 1774978 Chunky brush for chunky sketching needs.

Muda muda muda - 1715496 A pretty darn good dark pencil.

REDSketch soft - 1907313 just a nice sketcher!  Good for shading too.

MUGZ BRUSH - 1861032 A set of dry chalk & brushes.  Gives a fun messy look when used!

T Spade Pencil - 1769208 A pencil that looks great for lineart as well as sketches.  Good taper.

Magipencil 2 - 1755940 Utterly good for textured and smooth lineart.  These pens get me.  Can’t recommend them enough. :)

Pens & Inkers

G-pen 6 - 1767809 A generic name but a good Gpen with character.  Organic without sacrificing too much smoothness.

"Flat thick pen" - 1826131 I call it the card games pen.  I think you can see why.  Solid at high pressure, a little bit of texture at low pressure, and pretty great for sharp angles.

Haggiben_Lineart_Color - 1770988 A nice triangle liner.

Gabu Pen - 1894713 Very slightly rough pen on one side, another nice triangle-like liner.

Aeridus - user:Aeridis All 3 of their pens give a nice result.

Pilot Pen - 1895049 A great IRL brush now a digital one!

Fude set - 1726964 & 1759205 Heavy, beautiful ink!  The creator has some more good ink pens too, take a look. :D  

Dimi - 1763877 It's a ga,l with a knife and a nice calligraphy pen.  Can't ask for more. Turn on >particles "change with brush size" in settings to keep the shape without chaning.  

New Cali A nice set of Calligraphy brushes.  They have smooth transitions between big and small.  

Blend, Fill, & Erase

Noise and texture blur - 1842730 If you want a more painterly look to your blur, get these!  They said they're supposed to be turned from free to paid, but the artist hasn't come back and done it yet.  Will they do it?  I'm not sure. :0

Textured Blending & Blurs - 1904941 & 1971444 They're actually made by me, my apologies, but it's hard to find textured blenders by themselves.  Most are included in a set or are something you have to pay for, so I released a few free stand alone ones due to it.  Normal solid round blenders & blurs are easier to find & even easier to create yourself! https://assets.clip-studio.com/en-us/detail?id=1904941 https://assets.clip-studio.com/en-us/detail?id=1971444

Unhelpful Eraser - 1798605 The terrible hard eraser that you had in school becomes digital.  Download it as a tribute.

Quick Lasso Fill -  1978471 Fills up a lasso'ed area.

Random Color Fill - 1707873 Picks random spaces to fill.  The picture in the demonstration shows it better than I can describe.

Scratchy Coloring - 1845677 A fun scratchy brush that can fill areas up.

Quick Lasso Eraser - 1875033 This and the next brush are both @pharan​ ‘s again.  This does the same as the lasso fill, but erases as you can tell.

Erase along Edge - 1800143 An eraser that takes advantage of reference layers.  The description explains it in detail.

"Create Solid-irregularity set" aka adding texture to black solid ink patches - 1768052 These distress the paper, making it look more textured.  Easier to look at than to explain, click the link for more!

Mirre Cross Hatch Brush Set - 1972956 I love the look the spaced lines give.  Fantastic set.

Overlap Hatching (…"a texan"???) - 1712720 One of the most popular Clip Studio Hatchers for a reason, easy to apply hatchers that you can just keep adding to for a sparse or dense look.

Dust hatching brush - 1966237 Simple light hatcher with dust particles around it for a dusty feeling.

Cross-hatching Blur - 1684830

I actually recommend all of  user:もの区 ‘s stuff they have posted for crosshatching.  There’s a whole bunch of great free brushes there for anyone who enjoy hatching!

“Rough and Solid” - 1874629 A ribbon brush that makes good borders.

“Coarse Solid Erase” - 1872105 For those who like to fill an area, then erase the light parts away.

chaos brushes - 1569895 A great marbler.  

"Dirty cross hatching_monochrome" - 1727346 A nice, thick, analogue hatch.  SB has some great material in general, but most needs clippy.

Creepy Lines 1 & 2 - 1405766 & 1707236 Get some spooky lines into your art!

Simple Retro Halftone - 1802041 A small set that's easy to use to add some halftone texture.

retro halftone brushes - 1852027 A larger yet still easy to use set with more specific brushes to use for each color.

Mar's Halftones -  1949506 A set with a lot of fun patterns!  Check out SpiralPuzzle's stuff in general, they post some unique brushes.

Pixel Art

Pixel Brushes by tsiox - (small) 1971800 & (large) 1969097 THE Clip Studio pixel set.  Has a ton of tools & textures to use.  The small set is better for slower internet connections & if you don't want all the patterns.

Studio Screen Tones - 1803496 If you like Flipnote studios or need more dithers, get this!

Pixel Foliage Brushes - 1883082 I apologize for promoting my own assets again, but I promise they're useful if you're doing anything with grass, trees, or bushes! ;w; My basic set - 1910804 Another lighter set with a few noise brushes that are useful at tiny size.  Did my best not to overlap with tsiox’s set while covering the basics.

Bonus: two blending pixel brush sets.   Mao Pixel (1779745) & Scummy Pixel(1782455). They’re not for exact pixel art, they’re more for playing around with & painting. :)

[easternmind]

Yesterday I tweeted about the long and difficult process of my communication with Kikuko Iwano, the artist behind the cult Macintosh CD-ROM Hikaru Hana (Shining Flower). We've been exchanging emails for the better part of a year but I was not able to make any meaningful progress. I was mostly looking for whatever information and artwork she could provide about the two other interactive projects she was involved with, Phibos: Suisei o Otte, released in 1995 by Mizuki (later renamed Spike); and Lakis ~Minato-machi Musou Kidan~, which I knew had been completed but never published.

In response, the great @mara-ganger pointed out to me that Phibos had been uploaded to Internet Archive earlier this year. Considering I've waited years to play the game, I wasted no time setting up a Macintosh emulation program. I edited out some of the more repetitive parts of my playing session as the game requires going up and down the forest paths until random encounters result in the acquisition of a special item.

A boy named Yoni is looking for his grandfather who went missing. He travels to a mysterious forest named Gurioza where he encounters a fallen star. Finding his grandfather and helping the star back to the firmament appear to be the interactive storybook's ultimate goals. There is a variety of interesting details I've noticed in only a few minutes: for starters, there is a reference to Shining Flower in a framed picture in the wall of a café. There is also an uncanny event in which Yoni meets a Kitsune-like entity who shifts into his shape. The sequence is in beautiful black and white and characters are designed to simulate an eerie motion blur effect (15m45s).

To round it all out, here are some fine pen and brush artwork which Kikuko Iwano produced for the project when she was in her twenties.

[wanderfan2000]

WOY Trending 27th - August 27th

“What would your idea of a book based on Wander Over Yonder?”

Question by @signor-signor. 

I can imagine tons of books for Wander Over Yonder, but these are my ideas.  First, I’d loved to see book adaptations of the episodes. I always pictured them being a “two books in one” type of books. You read the first book on one side, then flip it over on the other side to read the second book. They could have screenshots from the episodes or we could have Little Golden Book adaptations with original artwork. Also, who wouldn’t want to read a Wander Over Yonder book with the words in the font of the show?  Another book that would be amazing to have would be a Wander Over Yonder Essential Guide book. (Similar to the Essential Guide books they make for various movies and shows.) It can show off the characters, the planets, the many aliens in the yonder galaxy, the spaceships, even showing off some of the mysterious beings too.  Lastly, an art book would be PERFECT for Wander Over Yonder. It could give us a huge amount of storyboards, color scripts, characters designs, backgrounds, original designs for characters. I can see this being a huge collectible item for Wander Over Yonder fans. 

Other books ideas for WOY: Coloring books, original storybooks, sticker books, mini chapter books, activity books, look and find books.

[galactic-glamour-girl-posts]

Here are my favourite pieces of official Rosalina artwork, and why!

This will include stuff like renders, GIFs, concept art, etc.

This won't include screenshots of in-game/cinematic cutscenes or gameplay.

And lastly, this is in no particular order other than the last one, which is firmly in first place. Let's go!

First we have:

As of right now I believe this is her newest render. It's one of the only ones where she can be seen floating, so that's cool. What I really like is the presence of her storybook, they rarely acknowledge that thing nowadays. Which is fine, it shouldn't be her crutch, but it is nice to see it given its story is a big reason as to why she's one of the franchise's best characters.

Best Mario Kart 8 Deluxe title screen, hands down.

Why yes, I am biased!

I mean it's in space, which not only is automatically cool but also fits Rosalina's character. She leaning against a pretty sick looking bike (or at least it looks sick from this angle), and her pose is pretty badass to match! She's in her biker outfit, which only adds to the vibe, and the Earth makes for beautiful yet badass background prop. Between all that the title screen taking place on the Luna Colony, it looks like she's about to partake is in a futuristic action-packed cosmic race, like something you'd see in a sci-fi action film. She just looks so cool here, I don't know what else to say.

Man I wished they used this in Odyssey. Oh well, maybe next game.

Not much to say here. The emo look fits her, she is the Sad Girl (that's a neat little soundtrack reference right there) after all. I mean have you seen her hair?

I like the casualness, specifically when compared to the other character's matching emotes, which are a lot more panicked. Really emphasises her calm nature. I like any artwork of her that makes her look either sad or nonchalant. It's what makes her special (and if you think that's a messed up thing to say...no it's not, shut up! 😖) You can also see a bit of her right eye, which is neat. There's just something inherently funny about the protector of the cosmos, a woman who usually speaks so formerly, a mysterious and powerful figure who some consider a goddess, doing such a casual shrug. I even made a post about this one years ago.

These are just cute, probably her cutest artwork without being too cutesy. That's about it really.

I love the way Rosalina's hair flows in this picture. I love how the Star Bits glow, how they shine colourful light rays through the net, and how their colour contrasts against the dark void of space. It makes for such a memorable, striking, beautiful image. I also love the fantastical concept of catching sweet rainbow space water crystals with a butterfly net, seems right out of a fairy tale.

Even without the text from the storybook you can just feel the emotion pour from the screen, you can feel the warmth of their hug. The warm yellow glow of (most of) the lumas, like the Star Bits of the precious artwork, contrast against the cold, dark isolation of space. However, they also contrast against Rosalina's cold white colouring (although not as much, indicating that they still belong together) and expressionless face, indicating she hasn't felt this warm/loved in a long time. The fact that you can't see her eyes in this picture suggests she's concealing her face, trying to take it all in without letting it all out. It's just...so good.

Just love how cool, calm, and collected she looks. She even looks a bit sassy and snobby here, but I like it. I imagine this is how she appears to people before they get to know her.

Love the smirk she gives only after dodging the green shell. It's a great show of her skill and character. Alert enough to sense the shell coming (makes sense for a magical protector), skilled enough to expertly dodge the shell, humble enough not to brag, but just proud enough to do a silent "Nice try". Love the personality shown here.

My all-time favourite (for now).

The use of watercolours really adds to the feel of remembering the past and hazy memories. Love the melancholic smile on adult Rosalina's face. Through her facial expression and body language you can tell she sympathises with her younger self, wants to comfort her, wants to let he know that everything will be OK, even after all she's lost. That she'll find family and be happy in the future, and as she holds her hand she'll guide her to it.

What a simple, beautiful image.

[transparencyboo]

I recently played through Mystic Ark (1995) each night before bed during the last week or so. I initially saw a promotion for the game next to Terranigma (a longtime favorite) in a Famitsu magazine earlier this year, and got mesmerized by its Labyrinth-esque cover artwork in particular. I immediately knew I had to play whatever this was.

So I took the slowburn approach by first going through The 7th Saga and Brain Lord, two previous games by developers Produce. While not remotely essential for this venture, they still gave me some neat context and groundwork for the game's roots. I think they ultimately helped me appreciate this game all the more.

In Mystic Ark you wake up alone on a desolate eerie island and need to travel to different worlds in search of the titular arks to grow stronger and regain your freedom. These worlds act as self-contained stories with distinct vibes, genres and presentation. It's a delightfully novel idea for a game to take an anthology approach, and I wish more games would attempt this because it's highly effective in keeping up intrigue and wonder. Every time you depart for the next world is a big mystery and you usually need a moment to piece together what each new tale is gonna be about.

For example, the first world is a light hearted tale about war and conflict told through two rivalling factions of pirate cats. The game sees you meandering in back-and-forth fetch quests to support both sides' advances towards the same goal, it has a lot of cheeky humor about this and presents itself in a very cute and endearing fashion.

Another story has you enter a mysteriously abandoned world devoid of even monsters, only populated by a few orphaned children who play in a ghost town by day and then go home to a mansion run by a suspicious nun. As you go along with their antics and babysit them out of dangerous situations, the situation only keeps getting stranger.

One world in particular locks you inside a horror story without your party members, as you work your way through a labyrinthine haunted house by solving puzzles interspersed by ominous scribbles by a paranoid previous resident. The atmosphere hangs heavy and the suspension has you on needles, it's a lovely showcase of Mystic Ark's core concept that it effectively pulls these twists and turns without ever feeling jarring.

One aspect I enjoyed in particular was the semi-point and click flavour in your interactions with the world. Many points will pull up an extra menu with a nice picture of what you're looking at and various options of how to fiddle and prod at it. Supposedly the 1999 Playstation sequel Mystic Ark: Maboroshi Gekijo leaned even further into this, and I'm not at all surprised. Would love to play it whenever someone decides to translate it or I get good enough at Japanese. Whichever one comes first.

Mystic Ark is a gorgeous and rich experience that continuously rewards the player for sticking with it. Even though the individual tales all have satisfying conclusion, the game still maintains a lot of mystery by keeping the finer points untold. You rarely get the full picture and that only helps to make you keep wondering. The ending to the game itself is as vague as it begins, and allows for many different interpretations. My take is that the game, through its anthology structure, tells us about the many little worlds we can find all around us, the stories that reside in anything. The worlds are entered by interacting with regular objects like a ship model, a painting or a storybook, and recurringly we must return to the island to gather figurines of lost actors in the stories to progress. I think Mystic Ark emphasises the player's power as a sort of story teller, fiddling with the plots in interesting ways, to build a genuine interest. At the end we are seemingly encouraged to take this depiction of narratives and inspiration to go out into our own world and find our own stories to tell.

It's a mesmerizing all-timer and for sure a new favorite of mine. /Kiki

(Extra note: The game was only released in Japan, so I played a fan translation. There are two of them and after some comparison I went with the one by Dynamic Design because it felt a bit more vibrant and inspired in its word choices. Your preference may differ though and they both seem to be good.)

[cattailhighway]

okay fine tell me about your mister rogers tattoo

Literally SO glad you asked! I got it for my eighteenth birthday. All my tattoos (except for the ill-advised matching tattoo I got with my sister when I was 16) pertain to my personal heroes as an educator [and now also as a father], so I've got Mister Rogers on one arm, I've got an entire sleeve on the other arm of classical children's storybook artwork, and I've got Dolly Parton on my thigh (not mentioning the, again, ill-advised matching tattoo with my sister).

The quote this was inspired by is "Just be kind and brave; that's all you ever need to be." Fun fact: Mister Rogers' mother, Nancy McFeely Rogers, knitted all of his cardigans that he wore on the show.

[This picture is from when I actually got the tattoo done, which was six years and an entire transition ago, so at this time the ink is a little less vibrant and my arm is a lot more muscle-y and hairy, but it's really hard to take a good picture of your own bicep so this is the only one I have.]

Inspiring multiple generations of children to be kinder, gentler, more understanding people is the kind of thing that most educators can only aspire towards in vain, and I've got a lot of feelings about the ways in which public access television has leveled the playing field of early childhood education (as well as a recurring monthly donation to Sesame Workshop, which I can share the link to for anyone else who gets choked up over PBS Kids and wants to give all their money to puppets) which is virtually ALL thanks to Fred Rogers, so immortalizing his work on my body was a logical choice.

[stitchandani]

Your recent Stitch and Ani Story looks adorable. I love how the presentation looks like those Disney tie-in Storybook artwork of their films, with the text blending into the background.

Doverstar

[Oh, incredibly-thoughtful and kind anon, I want you to know that I own every single one of those Disney tie-in Storybooks I can ever get my hands on, specifically for the artwork, and for the extension of canon. This is a huge compliment! There are stories where Marie from Aristocats meets a sweet stray tomcat kitten and he thinks she's pretty (and he's orange), and a Cinderella story where a new girl mouse is taken in by Jaq and Gus and friends in the palace, and a story where Lady from Lady and the Tramp teaches Scamp and her puppies her favorite Christmas traditions for the first time and they all go wrong, so they make their own new family traditions, and a story were Rolly, from 101 Dalmatians, who never gets any properly flattering screentime in the franchise, decides on the farm that he wants to be a firetruck dog (like Dalmatians are stereotypically seen being) and the other puppies express doubts he can do it and then he does do it and it's precious. ] Anyway - I love them all dearly; they're going down in quality lately, but it's like having those charming DisneyToon direct-to-video sequels of your favorite classics back. They don't do those anymore, so these Storybooks are all I've got, and I'm hungry for them! Yes, they're for 5-year-olds. When I have a kid I'll share them. Thanks again! Yeah, I had this idea that making it look like a storybook page was a much easier way of conveying the stories behind the art, plus it looks cuter. It's a lot of work, but it looks so much better than me slapping exposition down in text underneath the actual picture. This made my day; appreciate you, anon! More to come.

[edwinspaynes]

Answering your tag on DBD comics !

Yesssss @edwinspaynes have you considered getting the Omni? :O (That’s what I have). I don’t have single issues of that run!

Watching the show is on my tbr, but having been a fan of the comics for a while i thought i’d share some lore about it! The artist- Bucky - is quite legendary in the DC / Marvel comics artworld. Mainly because due to his former team up with legendary comic writer Bill Willingham for the very very awarded run called ‘Fables’. Fables follows classic Grims’ fairy tale characters (Snow White, Big Bad Wolf, Cinderella, Prince Charming, Jack Frost, Red Riding Hood and more) in a modern Adult content NYC setting trying to survive a normal world as magical beings.

The Fables comic run, is a great rabbit hole to fall into (pun intended) but i won’t go on that tangent (unless asked), but Bucky’s Fables artwork kind of created a ‘trend’ or rendered a very unique type of artwork unseen in the comic book space before. His artwork is very, Fairybook, victorian-esuqe, classical marionette characters/storybook artwork but made rated r (gore, slasher, etc.) which is a fantastic way to subvert expectations when viewing it’s idyllic artwork. His clean lines and attention to facial expressions bring the characters' emotions to life, while his creative use of panel layouts adds to the storytelling, often incorporating elements that reflect the fairy tale origins of the characters.

In Dead Boy Detectives, his art carries a slightly more whimsical and eerie tone, fitting the supernatural and detective elements of the story. Buckingham's ability to create atmosphere and mood through his detailed backgrounds and imaginative character designs enhances the narrative, making his art an integral part of the storytelling experience in both series. So it is no suprise that this was carried on when he joined DBD comics with the same household frame of artwork. A noteable shame, is that in Fables he did a lot of margins artwork which we’re missing out on in DBD comics.

I love Bucky’s mariontte timeless artwork, and i think no matter your entry point into the fandom, it’s a great pocket to celebrate English Victorian meets hardy boys storytelling. Which i really wish we will get more of! Either continue the comics or the show for sure.

So yeah i hope you enjoyed listening to my morning rant! LOL!

I don't have the omnibus and don't plan to get it because I already have the two major runs in their books. I can send a picture later if you remind me! But yeah, I don't want to pay $100 for stories that I already own most of. So that's not going to happen, sadly.

This was really interesting! Thank you for sharing. I love the art style in the Toby Litt run as well, which is what you're showing me. It's definitely my favourite of the DBDA comic art styles. I love Edwin's little freckles in it, they're delightful.

[sheriffopossum]

HA I WAS ABLE TO RESURRECT MY IPAD AND FINISH DA PIECE AFTER ALL YEEHAWWWWWWW

but my half of an art trade with @evillillad and her oc, molly!!! thank you again for being patient with me while i've been sick <3<3

@3amclothesmonster UR NEXT, DAWG

[storybounded]

I got it done !! Archie be struttin' and I am super proud!! I am highly aware that the chest and the stomach are extremely stiff. HOWEVER, I couldn't be bothered to adjust. I wanted to, but... I was ready to toss procreate dreams (nightmares) out the window. So it is what it is. I'll keep that in mind next time. Hopefully dreams will have some major quality of life updates within this year, but rn, I just cannot will myself to use the program in its current state. I wanted to tug my hair out LMAO.

[yakeisoda]

Hello, just wanna start this off by saying that I love your art. I've decided to ask my favourite artists for art tips as I wanna get into it, but no matter what I do it never looks right. So, any tips?

HELLO TYSM!!! ngl i dont think im the best 4 this question im also kinda in a rut rn where im not really satisfied w my art n craving more progress and improvement but im getting there somewhat but very slowly! (ive been this way for a rly long time naow) this might be long but im gna try n throw in the things ik, sorry if my thoughts r messy im not the best in articulating stuff :')

i think a good way to start off is to find out what skill you lack the most or what you want to improve the most on, say for ex: u wna focus on getting better at composition for illustrations, then a good way to improve them is to learn about the composition rules (ex: rule of 3rds, etc), look for any scenes in films/animation or photographies and storybooks , study them and recreate it! go crazy !! ive done a study on a friend's picture before, and have asked my friends if i can use their photographies as practice!

looking for inspiration will also improve ur visual library, they can help u find what u wna put in ur art ! like perhaps certain color palettes or styles, it's best to look at different mediums of art instead of focusing only on one, sometimes u can find techniques meant 4 u! (ex: of this is my friend who used to be a watercolor artist, ive observed them using watercolor techniques when they were still new to digital art! basically mix n match whatever feels good/convenient 4 u :] )

disciplining urself is also good to have more improvement! i have trouble w this the most ever since bc its hard 2 focus if no one is like there to monitor u (in my experience), if u rly wna make progress u have to squeeze in some art practice time in ur schedule, it can be around 15-30 mins or even 3 hrs, completely up to you! (rmb to take breaks!). you can give urself deadlines if that will help n maybe timers too!

my prof always said "Proper practice makes perfect", so it's also best to practice with a clear goal in mind, take notes on the things u lack and if ur watching any art tutorials/speedpaints, take notes of those too! it's good to have something specific in mind so u wont get lost n u wud know what u wna do! it helps u retain info as well so u can look back on stuff, to avoid overwhelming urself u can just focus on small bits first, ex: in anatomy, u can focus on the head area first, break it down to drawing eyes and noses, etc! then u can move onto the torso area!

USE REFS!!!! make use of pinterest or any other refs u can find, cannot stress this enuf go crazyyy w references, make a moodboard full of referencess n go crazzyy w them!! i used to not like doing this bc i just head straight in to drawing bc thats what i was used to but art college trained me 2 use refs bc they help so very much, theyre like ur guideline for what u wna make so u have a clear goal in mind, also photobashing seems like a great practice too never tried it but yes it can help when ur planning an illustration/concept art!

^above also applies to art styles! go crazy n experiment w them!! i think its so very fun to explore diff art styles n not stick to 1, again this depends on u but having a different range of artworks is rly fun, u can go from very pastel soft colors n style, to smth very vibrant n sharp, to smth like dark n chalky-sketchy kind of vibe if im making sense T__T, basically go wild!! go crazy!! dont let urself sit in 1 box! hop into other boxes !! or wear all of them!! or poke holes in the box n add stuff to the box or wear a circle!! trust me it looks so fun if u put different artworks uve made side by side n go wow i did that!!

also create small thumbnails 4 illustration! its really best to plan ahead art too, as i said i used to just head straight in n not plan but ive learned to absolutely enjoy planning making art! collecting refs n seeing what kind of composition goes n what colors wud work is so very fun actually! it rly helps a lot

theres also this one post i lost the link, but basically it shows how much progress u can make if u make loose sketches vs full on rendered illustrations vs a mix of both, again this depends entirely on u bc things r different for everyone! i think that post is really good for teaching abt art progress (if any1 knows where it is pls do link!), i think focusing on sketches n practice is better tho bc it helps u draw more freely n loosely! i think that speeds up ur process more as well n doesnt make u lose interest immediately compared 2 focusing on finishing 1 big rendered illust (talking from experience) but then again its different for every1 so honestly just experiment n see what feels right for u!

i wna say tho that although it is good to make sure ur drawing looks right its also good to just let yourself draw freely, i think what matters is that u understood the structures of something and as long as ur able to apply that in ur own way i think thats gud! i think drawing freely helps u draw more fluidly? like having more expression is what i mean. ive gotten into the "i have 2 make this look right" hole before n i noticed it made my art look stiff, so highlyy recommend doing gesture drawing n life studies! rmb to have fun when practicing n learning,

dont pressure urself too much! enjoy the experience :] ! messy sketches r good!! not everything has to look good or perfect! my sketchbooks from way back were just doodles, pencil sketches no color mostly, theres an occasional lined one w markers , ballpen, n some highlighters, n my drawings were either smth funny that happened w me n frens with our personas or making ocs for my faves or ocs for me in general!

ur sketchbook doesnt have to look pretty its like ur diary but its art ykno! ur thoughts in visual form for the day! (again all up to u as long as u have fun! its all different 4 everyone!)

anw tysm again!! sorry if this was all over the place HAHSAW i tried my best but these r the tips i keep in mind most of the time or the ones i hold closest to me n that i try to apply as much as i cud! if u need anything else clarified just lmk! not the best w words but hopefully it helps :'')! most of the stuff i mentioned here i also need to take into practice HAHWHAW so mb its gud 4 me to write this down so i can finally push myself to do stuff,

[patheticbatman]

Part Three

I'm very proud of these dolls, and I'm also leaving them at my parents' house, so I did a little photoshoot with some books as background so I can have nice pictures of them.

This is the third post, so check out the first for more info!

First up is Vanellope with Museum of Thieves, by Liam Tanner. It’s about a young girl who lives in a 1800s/early 1900s esque city that has extremely oppressive “protective” laws around children (they’re literally chained all the time, for one). Then she ‘steals herself’ and finds a wonderful and dark refuge in the Museum of Thieves. I feel like this would really appeal to Vanellope, as a chaotic and free spirited girl herself.

(Also I think the game on the books website still work, I played it at least a few years ago, which is great! Really reminds me of when I was young and the internet was more free)

Second is Sofia the First with my DP anthology (Happily Ever After Stories, author: I forgot to write that down) that I’ve had since I was at least 4 (Please excuse the sun damage). I seriously considered letting Kida have this one, because she actually had a story in here, but then I realized that I had a better one for her. But I feel like Sofia the first would probably love this. I think it has all the Disney Princesses up to Mulan (because this was published before The Princess and The Frog), plus Alice in Wonderland and Kida? But I don’t remember rn. For some reason I feel like the latest official DP in there is Jasmine. I’m not super familiar with Sofia or her related characters but I felt she should be included.

Third is Sofia’s sister Amber, with A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett. I feel like she would read this, empathize heavily with Sarah, and unironically not realize she would be part of the problem. Or at least, the version of her from the beginning of Sofia’s tv show would bully Sarah. (Yes she’s a different type of doll than the others but she came free with some of the harder to find ones I ordered off of Ebay.)

Fourth is Elsa with My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult. I’m not sure mentally HealthIER (she still has a ways to go IMO) Elsa from the end of the second movie would read this. But I KNOW depressed Elsa would read this just to torture herself.

Fifth is Anna and Olaf with Frozen II Movie Theatre Storybook & Movie Projector by Marilyn Easton. I bought this before the movie came out, and sadly it did not contain much more info than the trailers gave us. But it’s still fun to have, and the stylization was pretty. The projector still works, though I need to clean the film. I used to have a bunch of these as a kid. Definitely had a Sleeping Beauty one. In any case, I feel like Anna would be delighted to see an illustrated version of her adventures, and once I thought of using this book, I couldn’t think up anything I’d want to use more as Anna’s background.

Sixth is Kristoff and Sven with It’s A Magical World, A Calvin and Hobbes Collection by Bill Watterson. I feel like Kristoff would enjoy the often dry humor, the lovely artwork, Calvin’s cuteness sometimes, and the relationship between Calvin and HIS animal friend, Hobbes. I actually have a bunch of these compilations but of course I picked the winter one for Kristoff lol. I know he isn’t a Dp but he came out in the same line and I like him anyhow.

Seventh is Elena of Avalon with Kamaisama Kiss (Kamisama Hajimemashita) by Julietta Suzuki. I don’t know a ton about Elena, but both she and Nanami had a sucky life for a while, and then were suddenly given a lot of power and magic, and silly hijinks ensued.

Eight is Moana and a pet chicken with Time Cat, by Lloyd Alexander. She probably doesn’t even know wha a cat IS, so I feel like from start to finish she would be enthralled with all the cultures and the main concept of Time Travel within the book.

Ninth is Raya with Dragon Bones, by Patricia Briggs. I think she’d pick it up, excited to read about Dragons, and then be so mystified with many of the concepts she wouldn’t be able to put it down. Coincidentally it also has a Dragon who can turn human and is pretty much the only one left. No it is not the human on the cover.

Last for this post is Namaari with Dragonworld, by many different people. It’s basically an art book with many different interpretations of Dragons. I think Namaari is the BIGGEST dragon nerd out of the characters in Raya’s movie, so this would definitely be right up her alley.

Part One

Part Two

Part Four