#(it wouldnt even be really them bc the characters are a little different but I'll take whtv crumbs I can get)

[hide-in-imagination]

Listen, I was not a fan of the Avatar live action show, I thought everything looked really fake (except some bending) and I didn't go further than 2 episodes

But if they give me Zutara endgame, I'll forgive them everything. Best show ever, 10/10, no notes.

[forecast0ctopus]

how do you use references when you draw fanart or figure out how to draw irl characters?? it's just that i've been looking through your art and i feel like you ability to capture a character's idk essence, in vibes + appearence, are just unmatched! they're all so dynamic and like them i just <33

aaa thanks so much!! im glad to hear that since i honestly dont watch a ton of live action? i generally have done a lot more fanart for animated things so thats nice to hear haha anyways though!! i have far too many words that may or may not make sense to say so i'll put how i use references and figure out live action characters below

the main rule i like to keep in my head is that i am drawing the character, not the actor, if that makes sense?

this is all taking arthur as an example, to show what kinds of things i look for!! if i were talking about merlin any other live action character like. bobby briggs or something all the details would be super different haha a way i like to familiarize myself with a live action character at first is tracing which i must preface by saying TRACING ISNT BAD!! its a tool and it just needs to be used correctly. tracing is a great way to figure out a method to drawing things, so its really valuable in studying. im not gonna address using tracing in finished artwork rn bc thats where it gets a little dicey and i would talk about it too much.

i dont really need to do this for arthur anymore but it was a fun exercise lmao

sorry the images are so crunchy i always forget i work on small canvases, anyways in capturing a likeness i like to emphasize and exaggerate a little which features make the character most recognizable to me.

he's got a sharp nose which is bumped at the bridge and a little bit upturned at the bottom. when he's smiling his eyes crinkle a lot and his cheek muscle becomes more pronounced and connects into the corner of his mouth

very square jaw. his brows are thicker near the center and don't have much of an arch. his cheeks are hollowed with neutral expression and the muscles on the sides of his mouth (depressor anguli oris, if i remember correctly lol) are obvious when the corners of his mouth are downturned

the corners of his mouth fold in a lot when he bares his teeth if hes angry or agitated, its a different type of fold when hes relaxed or smiling

his masseter is rather pronounced when he's talking or agitated, and i usually connect the line of it to the line that goes down from the inner corner of his eye. i forget what the word for it is rn but its different from eyebags (though i do like to draw eyebags)

but none of these details work if whatever hes doing in the drawing isnt in character, yknow? like he could look like arthur but he wouldnt really feel like arthur if hes not acting like arthur. idk it s hard for me to put to words im sure u get what i mean enough

body shape and language are also super important to think about, these are some things i keep in mind with arthur - hes shredded but not like marvel movie dehydrated shredded (good for him) - hes very broad and his shoulders slope down because of his trapezius muscles - he takes up a lot of space! he hardly ever curls up or sits with his feet up in his chair. even when hes sleeping hes pretty sprawled out - his "closed off" body language is crossing his arms or raising his left hand to twist his index finger ring with his thumb (worried/thinking gesture) - he moves with a lot of purpose usually and isnt often clumsy (unlike merlin lmao) - he moves his shoulders a lot when he walks (see top left image)

honestly think body language is just as important as facial features if not more, for the purpose of creating personality and character

i probably sound like i think way too much about this stuff which i. i kind of do but not in so many words i dont need this many words when its all in my brain. but yeah thats how i figure out how to draw a live action character i guess? anyways this was kind of a mess haha

[pankomako]

For the OC ask game:

2, 4, 5, 12, 16, 20, 24, 25, 28, 29, 30, 32, 43, 49, 50

You can just answer some if all of them are too much.

2: of my boardwalk ocs, parker for sure is my favorite. he's the one i project onto lol. i also really love vertigo, rowdy and cassidy, and i think of gang's bay, screwball, juicebox and hot-rod might be my favorites. i also really like scott but i dont do much w him as of now

4: a character i rarely talk about? well i sure havent talked about boardwalk as much recently, so like of those calla is a deep cut for sure. she's DJ's best friend and too nice for her own good. i also imagine her hanging out a lot with korva and nero who are two cat-devil monster siblings. i GOTTA talk more about boardwalk here jeez

5 i already answered so i'll just skip it lol

12: oh crap another person's oc? it's been like a million years since i've talked to my artist friends so like uhhhhhh not sure?? but i did really like caspi from campyvillain's Plainview. funny shark :)

16: best oc at bio? hmmm probably gemini from boardwalk bc he's like. smart guy. but of gang's bay... i actually wanna say screwball. i really had to think about that one but i see him as knowing a lot about local wildlife so he probably does know a thing or two about biology. obviously of ALL the gangs bay characters it'd be sharky but i dont consider him an oc bc he's just me.

20: oc that sings! well i do kinda want the boardwalk characters to form a band, and DJ would likely be the lead singer. her voice in general is pretty feminine sounding but with a tomboyish bite to match her appearance and personality, but idk what she'd sound like singing lol. as for favorite music, not sure of any specific songs but she definitely likes more rock/alternative and like a few old-ish pop songs. probably plenty of 80s/90s stuff too. she's also a literal DJ and her music taste is pretty prominent in the stuff she plays. she also for sure knows how to play electric guitar and gets crazy with it.

24: if i could meet one of my ocs? like of course i'd go with parker. i put a lot of me and a lot of the traits i enjoy in him. i'd talk to him about our struggles and then probably play video games with him. putting aside all the angst i think we'd be besties

25: oc that most closely resembles me? well vertigo is probably the closest because he also functions as one of my personas, so most of his appearance aside he's just me but perpetually tired and with cool powers. like i could say sharky too but again like. he is JUST me as an adult in an ideal world so i dont consider him an oc. although of my non-personas, i'd yet again have to say parker. brown hair, brown eyes, parents that suck, lover of sharks, ADHD energy, generally kinda weird, especially about guys. big difference though is that he's bi while i'm not. nor am i a 5'10" cis guy like him lol

28: most DANGEROUS? probably vertigo. i mean just look at all the scars rowdy has. his fault for picking a fight with vertigo though. like vertigo's generally pretty docile but he's very likely to win in a fight with the powers he has. other than him you don't wanna mess with hot-rod or ding. they both hit the gym and know how to fight. although you're FAR more likely to rile up hot-rod, but why would you even want to when he could probably crush your spine just by squeezing you too tightly. oh yeah also bubbles can kick ass

29: which of my ocs would investigate an abandoned house at night without telling anyone? probably DJ. maybe screwball too but idk how likely he'd be to just not tell anyone

30: secret plushie collection? parker. like cmon. bubbles too. maybe cassidy. amelia has a huge collection but she hasnt even considered hiding it (just like me lol)

32: ooooh horror game protag. ive never played a horror game so idk for sure. parker and cassidy would both be the type of guy to check every single little thing and also be terrified out of their minds (screwball and juicebox too (ok maybe juicebox wouldnt interact with *every*thing)). august and ding would both have a "no big deal lol" attitude and then proceed to be proven wrong. DJ, rowdy, hot-rod and bubbles would all try to keep composure but it's also pretty clear that they're scared. vertigo doesn't find it all that scary. so who's the most suitable? no idea like what should i even be looking for here

43: my type? loser men. aka like a large majority of my characters. also dudes with long hair. i've also been partial to chubby guys as of late. cassidy is all 3 of those

49: most likely to enjoy memes? each of my oc worlds takes place in the modern era so they all at least know OF memes. but the characters that probably get a kick out of them the most would be DJ and parker, juicebox and amelia, and probably cassidy. maybe fenton and charlotte idk

50: it's getting late at the time of writing this so i'll keep it to smth brief: boardwalk of beasts and vertigo's oc world both have canon ships, but gang's bay is pretty much free game for shipping. really the only rules are no problematic ships and to respect canon sexualities (sharky is mlm, bubbles is a lesbian, milkshake is aroace), and be extra careful if you wanted to ship shipwreck with anyone, for obvious reasons. but im down for pretty much anything. you have my full permission to ship sharky with any of the guys, bc frankly i'd be dtf with any of em. also i think ship names will be super fun with the gang nicknames. like screwbox for example. fun! also bubbles and hot-rod did date during college so im ok with depictions of that too but not like actively shipping gang-era them if that makes sense.

tysm for the ask!

[its-a-hil]

i said id answer the ask game in full so here we go in all my oversharing glory:

1 - who is/are your comfort character(s)? oh there are a few lmao - rinwell (tales of arise), eleanor hume (tales of berseria), velvet crowe (also tales of berseria), oginome ringo (penguindrum), kagemori michiru (bna) yes i am a fucking weeb how have you not figured that out yet

2 - lighter or matches? im bad with matches but they feel so much more real so them

3 - do you leave the window open at night? i only did that for about a month ever in my life since my freshman year dorm didnt have a/c, besides that no i love feeling warm and stuffy

4 - which cryptyd being do you believe in? i mean none of them really, but not out of some principled skepticism i dont have an emotional connection to any cryptids so i dont really care about them actually that's not true i believe in the insulindian phasmid, despite it being fictional as well as a fictional cryptid

5 - what color are your eyes? standard brown tbh ive been complimented on them multiple times by multiple different ppl, many of whom i had never met but idk they dont really seem that special to me

6 - why did you do that? i wanted to answer all of these (said as much in my reblog), but i didnt have the motivation to until i desperately needed something to distract me from my piercings itching they feel pretty much fine now but well i started so i cant stop

7 - hair-ties or scrunchies? both! hair ties are great for when i part my hair into two different things i forget the name or for when i (rarely) braid scrunchies are great for just holding my hair together when i need to sleep or get my hair out of my face or go out lazymoding

8 - how many water bottles are in your room right now? just my one reusable stainless steel bottle, which i really need to refill and drink from brb okay thanks for the reminder i wont go to bed dehydrated today

9 - which do you prefer, hot coffee or cold coffee? lol. lmao. i have intentionally consumed a meaningful amount of caffeine on about 3 occasions in my life, and none of them were from coffee also it smells like shit

10 - would you slaughter the rich? <redacted> <redacted> <redacted> <redacted> <redacted> of course they would be given all opportunity to become not-rich and thus escape <redacted> <redacted> <redacted>

11 - favorite extracurricular activity? this is a weird question to comprehend! i'll just interpret it as 'what was your favorite club-type thing you did in school?' and to that i would have to make it a tie between rock climbing and puzzlehunt-style puzzles 

12 - what kind of day is it? a good one! granted i didnt get nearly enough sleep last night but besides that we vibing

13 - when was the last time you ate? like 3 hours ago

14 - do you love the smell of earth after it rains? i love the smell of earth rainy or not, the smell of cities, and generally the smell of outside! except of course for the smells of cut grass and vehicle exhausts, each of which put me into a blinding rage for a couple seconds

15 - are you a parent? (all answers qualify) not even a little bit but if i can reach a point of stability in my life i would be happy to adopt if im not actively prevented from doing so or in the massive pipe dream scenario where i can get a functional womb implant, i would totally go through a pregnancy

16 - can you drive? yes and i need to in order to get to my job >.<

17 - are you farsighted or nearsighted? well this is a false dichotomy i did wear glasses at one point but that was mostly bc my left eye is weird and didnt actually have anything to being far- or near-sighted

18 - what hair products do you use? i mean. shampoo and conditioner im not very picky tbh

19 - imagine we’re at a sleepover, would you paint my nails? if you asked me to absolutely i mean i wouldnt touch you without your consent ofc but i would almost never turn down a low-stakes opportunity to help anyone im in proximity to

20 - do you say soda or pop? soda im a marylander (i also drink like. one can of sierra mist a year) however every time i think about soda i remember how fanta exists bc coke couldnt resist nazi money and that feels much weirder than a minor linguistics quirk

21 - something you’ve kept since childhood? i dont really have an answer to that (assuming im counting childhood as like. pre-age-13) i mean sure theres a lot of stuff thats just been in this house with me since i was 4, but i never did that consciously all of my most treasured possessions now (hello kitty velvet plush, pentagonal trapezohedron that my teacher made and friends signed when i was sick just before graduating high school, a few books, blåhaj, etc) have only been mine since i was at youngest 17

22 - what type of person are you? im not answering this it's too vague

23 - how do you feel about chilly weather? HATE okay that's a little harsh it's pretty fine once my body's used to it, but the first real chill of autumn fucks my body up

24 - if we were together on a rooftop, what would we be doing? idk probably just talking about random stuff maybe playing cards or something since im much better at life when i have something not-directly-social to concentrate on oh definitely looking at the sky and pointing out the clouds/birds/stars/moon to each other that one's mandatory

25 - perfume/body spray or lotion? i put a moisturizer on my body after i shower so my eczema doesnt flare up and make my life hell but that's about it i dont really care how i smell beyond just using deodorant

26 - a scenario that you’ve replayed multiple times? oh god. media: various trans shouma and shouma x ringo and trans shouma x ringo scenes other ships but that's really the important one by an order of magnitude not media: when i was younger i used to imagine my crush being my gf and kissing me or w/e then after a certain point it was getting rejected / being alone with the hopes that it would convince me that i could be okay like that since i had reason to believe that my crush followed the imagining and not the other way around i dont do either very much anymore now it's just media or being a teacher trying to convince transphobic adults not to hate crime me or their children i may or may not have issues

27 - about how many hours of sleep did you get? depends very much on the day, i need about 9 hours on average but i am extremely flexible in where those hours are allocated over a 4-5 day period

28 - do you wear a mask? i absolutely wear a kn95 almost all of the time that im indoors, and some of the time outdoors (like if im cold) speaking of i need to get a good warm cloth mask so i can go biking in the winter without freezing my lungs

29 - how do you like your shower water? warm but not quite scalding 

30 - is there dishes in your room? there are some wrappers but no my room is on the 2nd floor why would i bring dishes up here that sounds like a big hassle

31 - what type of music keeps you grounded? flare by clark powell there are a few other songs, some are homestuck and some aren't, but it really depends on how im feeling in the moment flare doesnt

32 - do you have a favorite towel? no i just wanna get dry

33 - the last adventure you’ve been on? ??? i have not been on adventures my life is quite boring, which is why it's good that im equally boring so i can enjoy it

34 - is there a song you know every word to by heart? bad apple!! i think (jp obviously have i mentioned being a weeb) a few other jp songs and some crane wives songs i also have a solid grasp on the lyrics to, but i couldnt recite them the same way i could for bad apple, at least a couple years ago

35 - what’s your timezone? est (eastern summer time) (what do you mean thats not what est means and that its not est right now)

36 - how many times have you changed your url? i dont think i have, but my tumblr acct is fairly new so thats pretty expected ive been considering moving away from the 'shill' branding, but ill probably do that when/if i change my name for real

37 - someone in your life, other than a relative, you’ve known for 10+ years? if youve gotten this far youve probably already read my answer to the actual ask for this suffice it to say i have a friend from elementary school ive stayed in contact with up to and including now and i love him

38 - a soap bar that smells good? soap bars dry my skin out so i dont use them

39 - do you use lip balm? when i remember to (almost never)

40 - did you have any snacks today? girl i would not be myself if i wasnt grabbing a cookie every time i remember that they exist

41 - how do you take your coffee? this is bullying

42 - an app you frequently use besides this godforsaken site? twitter (T_T) discord i just got on the cracking the cryptic app bc sudokus are fun i also have a crossword app i also have bandori on my phone but i havent opened it in a month and im scared to bc of the downloads

43 - what’s your take on spicy foods? spicy foods are generally good bc the ppl who make them know how to make food im neutral on spice though like i have a decent spice tolerance but it doesnt really taste better or worse when a food is spicy hot similar feelings to garlic, like garlicky foods taste good but so do non-garlic versions of those same foods

44 - you get a free pass to kill anyone, who is it? im not answering that cop

45 - can you remember what happened yesterday? yeah i went to work, got some b day congratulations, and ate dalbati + cake with my parents it was good

46 - favorite holiday film? i watched knives out during that period of time in 2019 so im counting it and i dont care that its not a holiday film at all i dont care about christian holidays beyond decorating the tree bc my family's done it since i was a baby

47 - what was the last message you sent? "okay here's a promise for yxll: im gonna stream tomorrow (tomorrow being wednesday, im not allowed to claim that it being past midnight means shit)" my twitch is twitch.tv/its_a_shill if you care i stream tales games

48 - when did you first try an alcohol beverage? summer solstice party 2021 (i was 3 months out from being 21 so like. not exactly transgressive) it was just a bottle of apple cider and since then i really havent drank anything more than that

49 - can you skip rocks? not to the point that i could get 4-5 skips in a row, and it has been a while, but i know the general mechanics and ive gotten a couple good skips

50 - can i tag you in random stuff? id prefer if you dm'd me but sure

[xiaowhore]

who is the secret admirer?!?!

okay so i already wrote the part 2 for "yours truly" where we get to know his identity but!!!!! i wanted to talk about the little hints i left (well.... looking back on it, they weren't much)

spoilers for my fic so the explanation will be under the cut <3

OKAY. so. let's start by process of elimination, it's pretty easy to tally down the candidates.

characters from part 2 are immediately eliminated bc i NEVER planned to write a part 2 and left the secret admirer in part 1 for sure, so it can only be childe, xiao, diluc, kazuha, albedo, thoma or gorou. i thought the secret admirer not being one of the boys i wrote for would be kinda,,, redundant?? like the point of the fic was trying to find "whodunnit" and if it turned out to be someone random like.. idk. dainsleif? it'd be anti-climactic. like you spent all this time wondering who it is but it turns out to be someone the author didn't even introduce. you'd be disappointed right??? so yeah i didn't do that.

anyways

we know a few things about the secret admirer: 1) he gave flowers, 2) he knows your specific coffee order, and 3) he should be in your university in order to place the gifts on your desk (would be kinda wild if he was a neighbor of yours and he had to go to your university just to give you gifts lol)

important note: when the boys tell you something, it's better to take their word for it. only xiao has lied throughout the entire fic!

firstly, we should remove the guys who have explicitly stated they are not the secret admirer: childe and gorou. though they both admitted to having feelings for you, it's not them. they're very mopey, knowing someone else loves you and is actively trying to woo you :(

second, we'll remove the guys who aren't in your university. it's been established that thoma and kazuha are from a different school, whereas i never mentioned diluc anywhere near your uni and you only meet him through the cafe, so he's implied to not study there!

which consequently leaves us with xiao and albedo. ive brought up xiao many times during part 2, some readers were even misled into thinking he's the secret admirer. but there's really nothing to it lol i just wanted to stick him into the story :P

xiao is sus as fuck in part 1 though. he's in a bad mood when he learns someone else likes you. he wouldnt have to be so upset about the gift on your desk if he was the secret admirer! he lied about not seeing the person who placed it there, too. (which is the only lie in the fic. believe me when i say everyone else isn't feigning innocence or lying about not knowing/seeing the admirer)

LASTLYYYY albedo!!!!! he never openly expressed hostility towards the secret admirer, and only said he couldn't help you find out his identity!!

he's offended you don't consider him a possible candidate :(

and like. did no one think this random mention of a garden was suspicious. it came out of nowhere

kazuha told us outright nobody went to buy carnations at the flower shop. why? because albedo already has carnations at home!

also he's been described as observant

it's not a hint you'll understand from just this, but i'll explain a little more. remember how you first met albedo at the library and more or less studied together? well you do study dates more often after that and of course, coffee is often involved when you're cramming information into your head if you want to pass that biology final. albedo is observant enough (and has the good memory for it) to note down your special order when the barista asks for it. (diluc never denied that someone ordered with your recipe too)

also

fun fact: the ending for part 2 was supposed to be a confession scene and not a lil pov from albedo. couldn't figure out how to go about it and i also felt bad for scaramouche who was supposed to suffer through it

like. you were supposed to leave the room when albedo chickens out from confessing, hand twisting around the doorknob. but he panics when he sees you trying to leave so he places a hand to cover yours, chest nearly pressing against your back.

you turn to his direction, releasing the grip on the doorknob and is startled to see his expression so near, a gap of mere inches separating your lips. your breaths mingle as he leans even closer, words spilling out of him not on his own volition.

then the doorknob twists.

neither of you have your hands around it.

scaramouche pulls open the door and is met with an armful of you.

... he walked in on you. because that's his thing. being the eternal third wheel.

[cs-discourse]

here we go

https://cs-discourse.tumblr.com/post/179953845684/uuuuwuu-every1-whos-concerned-abt-biased-judging

ok this attitude has been pissing me off long enough that it's time for one of my Big Ole Posts (tm) about how shitty this is! thanks. 

uuuuwuu every1 whos concerned abt biased judging in comps is just soooow entitled !!!1 i cant bewieve ppl wouldnt want some1 whos literally explicitly stating at this point that they trust their friends more to "demonstrate dedication to the character" they assign to a design to b an influence in judging comps !!!!!11 bc artists Never weigh in on other artist's comps, so obviously thes ppl just want fwee merc designs !!!1!!1 also my last braincell just died pleas h

so here's the og post in question for quick reference

i honestly have no idea why people keep bringing up this idea of bias in judging competitions because, while i do think there is a type of bias that certainly exists, i think a lot of so-called "bias" that people have is ... not whatsoever like what people think it is lol. artists are people and there's always going to be SOME kind of bias no matter what you do, because it's literally fuckin impossible to NOT be biased. by that i mean:

your taste in plots/types of characters/medias influence your judging

quality of writing or art can influence your judging

the person who's applying for the adopt you may have previous judgement about

even if you say you aren't biased, you STILL have preferences and tastes in things that you prefer more than others, which in of itself is a kind of bias

people who know you (friends for example) will naturally know what your taste is. 

a competition is judged based on what form the artist thinks is best, right? 

NEWSFLASH EVERYONE'S IDEA OF "WHAT'S BEST" IS DIFFERENT FROM PERSON TO PERSON ..... "BEST" is literally the most subjective thing there is, and while i agree that there are certain aspects of art and writing that you can use as objective measurements of tangible skill, it's... still subjective. what people think is "best" will vary from person to person because we all have different tastes. so, essentially, this boils down to the idea that the winner of an adopt competition will ALWAYS be the form the artist liked best, because that is what the artist perceives as best. so like. when people appear biased in adopt competitions towards friends or certain circles, it's probably because they're literally friends because they have similar tastes in things, and therefore the form the artist likes best is naturally going to be from someone who shares similar tastes. 

so whenever i hear about """bias""" in competitions i just kind of roll my eyes tbqh because it's usually followed by complaints of "BUT I PUT IN SO MUCH EFFORT" or "I WROTE SO MUCH MORE THAN THE WINNER" uhhhh. if adopt contests were won by effort alone it wouldn't be a contest, it'd be an endurance test lol. literally just "who has the most time to waste writing out 60000k words of absolute meaningless fluff"... because, i hate to break it to you, but ANYONE can write 5000 words of mindless drivel that has literally no substance to it. 

now in caps for emphasis. takes a deep breath

THERE IS NO SKILL NEEDED TO BLOAT YOUR WORD COUNT. 

YOU DO NOT NEED TO KNOW HOW TO WRITE WELL TO WRITE 5000 WORDS.

YOU JUST NEED TO KNOW HOW TO TYPE AND PUT SENTENCES TOGETHER.

quality > quantity, always. like, i'm sorry you put in so many hours of effort but, those people who win with MUCH smaller wordcounts... did they not work to get as good as they did with writing? you put in 5 hours into one tryout. but others, take me for example: i have been writing for over 10 bloody years. i've worked hard to improve my writing, so you can't tell me i "didn't put in as much effort" as you because i did. i put in YEARS of work to get better so doing simple things would take me LESS time now. inb4 IT'S UNFAIR! dude, the literal definition of a contest is for the best to win. it wouldn't be a contest if it wasn't like that lol. it'd just be charity. what you should be doing instead of complaining about it is ASKING FOR CRIT and WORKING TO IMPROVE like a good sport? i get that it's discouraging but you should be prepared to lose when you join a contest. it's valid to be upset about but the moment you say you deserve it more than others JUST because of your effort, then i have a problem. 

and you know, there's gonna be times where i think a comp winner is objectively less skilled than other tryouts. honestly i just kind of shrug that off on account of different taste lol. sometimes that's just how it be, bc of those predetermined biases i mentioned before, and maybe a judge and i are just in completely stages of life so what i call quality might not appeal to the judge. that's also fine. anyway this really got off on a tangent but i'm leaving it in bc i think it needs saying. back to the og post

 > i cant bewieve ppl wouldnt want some1 whos literally explicitly stating at this point that they trust their friends more to "demonstrate dedication to the character" they assign to a design to b an influence in judging comps !!!!!11

wtf didn't i address this in a different post

here let me link it for you

https://cs-discourse.tumblr.com/post/179841459154/post179838988303-the-difference-is-that-you-have

which was replying to this: https://cs-discourse.tumblr.com/post/179838988303/179837734509-idk-anon-i-kinda-agree-with-the

i said it once but i'll say it again: artist entries aren't main adopts lol. people don't work for artist entries. all you fucking do is post on one like "can i have this pls" .. there is... no effort put into that lol. main adopts you WORK for. it's a CONTEST. claiming an artist entry is NOT a contest. if a bunch of little nasty gremlins come running up to me like a hungry horde trying to be the first one to claim my design, i think giving friends first pick is COMPLETELY FINE, BECAUSE WHAT DID ANYONE ELSE DO TO "DESERVE" THAT DESIGN? nothing. you did. nothing. you're literally coming here with this attitude that NOT GIVING THINGS AWAY TO STRANGERS FOR FREE SOMEHOW EQUALS BIAS? i literally do not understand your logic whatsoever. like. i'm trying really fucking hard. at least with main adopts the "payment" is the effort you put in trying to answer the artist's prompt. i know i sound super dumb repeating myself but i don't know how much simpler i can make this concept tbh

and this is EXACTLY why i say ya'll are fucking entitled because merc and any of the kal artists could be making REAL $$$$ selling their own designs and adoptables and art and NOT deal with all the bs ya'll throw at them. they're literally here because the ENJOY MAKING ((( FREE ))) CONTENT for you, and they're not obligated to do this. they can stop whenever they want. if you had to pay per hour for the length of time collectively worked by ANY species artist staff, the lot of you would be fucking broke. i'm actually constantly shocked that species artists work like, 8 hours or more on some of these gorgeous designs just to give them away for free in a contest. 

so, yeah, as someone who hasn't spent my entire life on CS (i've only been here for a year and a half), ya'll seem pretty fucking entitled to me lol. the world outside CS rarely gives out such gorgeous designs in write-to-adopt contests so i'm honestly baffled at the amount of bloody entitlement i see

>bc artists Never weigh in on other artist's comps, so obviously thes ppl just want fwee merc designs !!!1!!1 

this part i don't actually understand what you mean. do you mean they... help judge other comps? or like, enter them? i don't get what you mean by "weigh in" but listen, lol. just because something DOES happen doesn't mean it gives you a good reason to assume the worst. i mean... of course it happens. it's statistically impossible for skewed contests and bias to NOT happen, because there's always going to be cases of it happening. but like, what proof do you have that merc will be biased lol? like, real proof? because your main point i've basically debunked and don't believe in at all. do better than "i cant bewieve ppl wouldnt want some1 whos literally explicitly stating at this point that they trust their friends more to "demonstrate dedication to the character" they assign to a design to b an influence in judging comps !!!!!11" because this doesn't make any sense to me for the reasons i already listed above lmao. if artist entries were supposed to be contests they'd be contests. what the hell makes you important enough to get first dibs on a stranger's work. ARTIST ENTRIES AREN'T EVEN MADE TO BE GIVEN AWAY, THEY'RE MADE AS ARTIST ENTRIES.... LIKE.... JESUS i struggle to understand ya'll

anyway im done here, if you wanna actually talk and debate this hmu on discord at lysander#9229 bc if you actually talk to me instead of spew this hot mess on the blog i might actually listen to you and change my mind and be nice about it instead of being a condescending bitch. 

wait one more thing

>also my last braincell just died pleas h

yea clearly

p.s., why do you ppl keep going to the blog to give critique on merc's designs when on literally every other design merc makes there's this:

https://www.chickensmoothie.com/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=38&t=3950980

here i even linked it for you. idk why it's so hard for yall to give constructive crit like decent human beings