#Also I have quite a lot of art projects to finish

[thefaiao]

Do you remember what hooked you on the LISA series? It's a decently impactful set of games so I'm curious as to why you've created so many drawings from it

A great question. I don't think I can answer this with absolute precision, but I'll try. I'll begin explaining how exactly I first got into drawing LISA, and we'll work from there to the reason I believe I am still compelled to draw more of it.

I first played and finished LISA at the end of 2016. I was decently active at that point, but hadn't garnered much attention to my drawings. I had made a Hotline Miami post that had gotten decently popular, and a few Yogscast(1)(2)(3) drawings that also did decently well, but overall nothing super noteworthy. Most Yog fans at the time weren't into what I liked mainly, which was Shadow of Israphel.

I was immature at the time, so had a hard time connecting with people in fandoms. Not to mention, I was a Brasilian in a sea of Americans and Europeans. You'd be surprised how hard it was to relate with people in that setting, but I tried here and there.

I felt pretty strongly about the HM post though, since it felt like a great personal achievement. I felt a drawing I had a clear vision for had achieved what I set out to do with it. Seeing how much people liked it, it was pretty magical when you've never had a post "do well".

Anyway, people were hopping out of tumblr and onto twitter, and I did as well. Twitter, despite everything, sort of puts you way closer to other people. Your reply to someone important is very visible and hard to ignore. It was a type of equalizer. There I had gotten to get my drawings actually seen and shared by Austin, the guy who made the LISA games.

Having had my drawings shared and recognized that way had a strong impact on me, and I even got to talk with an artist I really looked up to at the time, Maren, who had also gotten into LISA. She had done art for SBFP and TF2, so it felt surreal to me to be acknowledged by someone like that. Up to that point I really felt like more of a passive observer to everything.

In 2014 I finished high-school, and 2015 I spent the whole year learning how to draw better. I tried so hard that I ended up dissociating, a very scary emotion, that I didn't even know was a thing at the time. It felt like all that time and effort was starting to pay off, and that there was a way forward here.

First I posted sketches, and the passion I had for the game and motivation from the recognition led me to put a lot more effort than usual into my drawings. I ended up making these, which got really popular, it was very validating.

So because of all that I kept drawing. I'll be honest, a lot of the time I just wanted to get even more of the attention of these weird new cool popular friends that were paying attention to me for some reason. I was very lonely at the time. I think I stayed lonely for a long time after too.

But eventually people move on, as is normal with fandoms. I didn't really feel my passion for drawing and LISA die out though. I had started a massive LISA art project at the time, that took me 5 long years, and also was more focused in college, where I did Game Design.

Drawing wise, eventually I branched out to other RPGmaker games, but LISA was very easy to draw. It was sort of a home-base for me. Something I could come back to when I was uncertain.

I think Urasawa put it quite well, with Billy Bat:

Drawing the same characters over and over is extremely rewarding, and a great way to reflect on your progress so far. I suppose it's meditative, but that's not quite the right word. It's very fun and constructive, and people can also keep track of your progress through that. I did the same with OFF characters, a game I had drawn way before all this.

Of course, I had a lot of issues because of how things developed. I related a lot of my self-worth with the validation I received from people online, and I still do, to an extent...

When I started taking the game I'm making, Meanderer, more seriously, and started living alone, posting anything felt awful. I didn't have the energy for bombastic posts, or the time spent developing the way I draw the characters like I did for LISA, that is, with ease and style. It felt very humiliating, but I understand it was a warped view of things.

It was a long and depressing time in my life, but it taught me a few important lessons, and made me sort of re-evaluate how I engage with "online" overall. But I still liked drawing LISA throughout all of this, I almost felt ashamed of it to a certain point.

All of this isn't to say I didn't love the game itself. It wasn't all just context. I really, really love LISA. It drove me to sobbing tears, which I don't think another game has gotten out of me. It's a fantastic game, that really showed what fresh things you could do with the medium. When I played it I'm not sure I fully understood how much I loved games.

I just grew up with the characters of LISA. Maybe not in my adolescence, but definitely in my adulthood, and with my art. These characters help me orient myself, understand my limits. And it's damn fun to get better at drawing them. Even just a character on an empty blank canvas, with only black and white lines. It's the most fun in the whole world.

To finish it off, I have a general philosophy of not republishing drawings. So whenever I want to do a LISA post I have to draw a LISA post. Just keep drawing and drawing. Don't get hung up on one drawing or idolize one thing you did. Keep making things. It doesn't have to make sense. Just keep drawing.

(There was a power outage while writing this and I had to retype this whole damn post by the way. Appreciate it!)

[etheriii]

🪶🕸️

The below written parts are a bit long, so tldr at end!

🪶 - What’s something you’re passionate about?

I'm really passionate about art! Specifically visual arts. Some of my current fixations on art include painting, crocheting, clay modelling, and model making!! My digital art is quite bad considering I didn't do any for years until about two months ago. But my traditional art? I'd say it's pretty good. (Atleast for my age) ...Or maybe I just like to boast-

I also really like to draw concepts of different ocs or make new characters! Though most of them don't actually end up on paper and just exist in some corner of my mind

Since I already have posted some of my crochet projects here, I'll share a painting that I'm really proud of :D

(It's from around 6 months ago and the quality is shit)

🕸️ - What’s an idea you had for a story, art piece, etc that you never created?

One thing about me: I daydream. A LOT. Which means I create a lot of scenarios in my head on a daily basis. So in terms of a story or an art piece, theres a lot that I haven't done because,, studies and other life stuff. For art pieces, I rarely have some idea that I haven't created as I either actually create the idea, or just scrap it and throw it away as to not overwhelm myself.

But currently I have 3 fixed worlds or stories in my head that I rotate around in my head. (Even though I do have other scenarios pop up lol) And I've just yesterday gotten an app to write it all down so that I can probably turn it into something! :D in a few days I might even share some of it here based on how much I like it after-

But a basic outline of one of them is that there's one person, they're the hero of the story, they save everyone, is regarded as a good person and they try "immortalizing" themself into a god for personal goals and it goes wrong, they don't like the feeling of reverence, feel suffocated and just,, run away. Centuries later, the worshipping that is done for this hero after they are a "god" is actually taking a turn for the worse as it's becoming evil. And some people want to save it and help people (they're the main characters) Also these ppl later find out that the main "god" or hero is alive and whatever happened is because of their shitty choices (they're just a silly lil person) <3

I apologize if the above part is not understandable as I'm not very good at putting my thoughts into words.. I still have to work on it a bit more as I've focused a tad bit more on the world building than story.

(Congrats you now know more about me than my irl friends)

~~~~~~~

TLDR;

🪶 - What’s something you’re passionate about?

I'm really passionate about art! I like crocheting, painting, model making and clay modelling the most

🕸️ - What’s an idea you had for a story, art piece, etc that you never created?

Nearly all the stories I have ever thought of are technically not created.. I've just recently started to actually document some of it

[asshuka]

the year transition umi returns!!! whoa!!!!! it’s the tea party set!

patreon | kofi | commissions | more linkz

just realized the doodles aren’t very well categorized on my blog so. previous umis under the cut

2015 -> 2016

2016 -> 2017

2017 -> 2018

2018 -> 2019

2019 -> 2020 i tried to draw a bunch of characters who are close to my heart and intended to end with umi but i became too physically unwell to finish

2020 -> 2021

2021 -> 2022 There Was A Darkness Growing Within Me.

2022 -> 2023 HERE!

[eyrieofsynapses]

why Aurora's art is genius

It's break for me, and I've been meaning to sit down and read the Aurora webcomic (https://comicaurora.com/, @comicaurora on Tumblr) for quite a bit. So I did that over the last few days.

And… y'know. I can't actually say "I should've read this earlier," because otherwise I would've been up at 2:30-3am when I had responsibilities in the morning and I couldn't have properly enjoyed it, but. Holy shit guys THIS COMIC.

I intended to just do a generalized "hello this is all the things I love about this story," and I wrote a paragraph or two about art style. …and then another. And another. And I realized I needed to actually reference things so I would stop being too vague. I was reading the comic on my tablet or phone, because I wanted to stay curled up in my chair, but I type at a big monitor and so I saw more details… aaaaaand it turned into its own giant-ass post.

SO. Enjoy a few thousand words of me nerding out about this insanely cool art style and how fucking gorgeous this comic is? (There are screenshots, I promise it isn't just a wall of text.) In my defense, I just spent two semesters in graphic design classes focusing on the Adobe Suite, so… I get to be a nerd about pretty things…???

All positive feedback btw! No downers here. <3

---

I cannot emphasize enough how much I love the beautiful, simple stylistic method of drawing characters and figures. It is absolutely stunning and effortless and utterly graceful—it is so hard to capture the sheer beauty and fluidity of the human form in such a fashion. Even a simple outline of a character feels dynamic! It's gorgeous!

Though I do have a love-hate relationship with this, because my artistic side looks at that lovely simplicity, goes "I CAN DO THAT!" and then I sit down and go to the paper and realize that no, in fact, I cannot do that yet, because that simplicity is born of a hell of a lot of practice and understanding of bodies and actually is really hard to do. It's a very developed style that only looks simple because the artist knows what they're doing. The human body is hard to pull off, and this comic does so beautifully and makes it look effortless.

Also: line weight line weight line weight. It's especially important in simplified shapes and figures like this, and hoo boy is it used excellently. It's especially apparent the newer the pages get—I love watching that improvement over time—but with simpler figures and lines, you get nice light lines to emphasize both smaller details, like in the draping of clothing and the curls of hair—which, hello, yes—and thicker lines to emphasize bigger and more important details and silhouettes. It's the sort of thing that's essential to most illustrations, but I wanted to make a note of it because it's so vital to this art style.

THE USE OF LAYER BLENDING MODES OH MY GODS. (...uhhh, apologies to the people who don't know what that means, it's a digital art program thing? This article explains it for beginners.)

Bear with me, I just finished my second Photoshop course, I spent months and months working on projects with this shit so I see the genius use of Screen and/or its siblings (of which there are many—if I say "Screen" here, assume I mean the entire umbrella of Screen blending modes and possibly Overlay) and go nuts, but seriously it's so clever and also fucking gorgeous:

Firstly: the use of screened-on sound effect words over an action? A "CRACK" written over a branch and then put on Screen in glowy green so that it's subtle enough that it doesn't disrupt the visual flow, but still sticks out enough to make itself heard? Little "scritches" that are transparent where they're laid on without outlines to emphasize the sound without disrupting the underlying image? FUCK YES. I haven't seen this done literally anywhere else—granted, I haven't read a massive amount of comics, but I've read enough—and it is so clever and I adore it. Examples:

Secondly: The beautiful lighting effects. The curling leaves, all the magic, the various glowing eyes, the fog, the way it's all so vividly colored but doesn't burn your eyeballs out—a balance that's way harder to achieve than you'd think—and the soft glows around them, eeeee it's so pretty so pretty SO PRETTY. Not sure if some of these are Outer/Inner Glow/Shadow layer effects or if it's entirely hand-drawn, but major kudos either way; I can see the beautiful use of blending modes and I SALUTE YOUR GENIUS.

I keep looking at some of this stuff and go "is that a layer effect or is it done by hand?" Because you can make some similar things with the Satin layer effect in Photoshop (I don't know if other programs have this? I'm gonna have to find out since I won't have access to PS for much longer ;-;) that resembles some of the swirly inner bits on some of the lit effects, but I'm not sure if it is that or not. Or you could mask over textures? There's... many ways to do it.

If done by hand: oh my gods the patience, how. If done with layer effects: really clever work that knows how to stop said effects from looking wonky, because ugh those things get temperamental. If done with a layer of texture that's been masked over: very, very good masking work. No matter the method, pretty shimmers and swirly bits inside the bigger pretty swirls!

Next: The way color contrast is used! I will never be over the glowy green-on-black Primordial Life vibes when Alinua gets dropped into that… unconscious space?? with Life, for example, and the sharp contrast of vines and crack and branches and leaves against pitch black is just visually stunning. The way the roots sink into the ground and the three-dimensional sensation of it is particularly badass here:

Friggin. How does this imply depth like that. HOW. IT'S SO FREAKING COOL.

A huge point here is also color language and use! Everybody has their own particular shade, generally matching their eyes, magic, and personality, and I adore how this is used to make it clear who's talking or who's doing an action. That was especially apparent to me with Dainix and Falst in the caves—their colors are both fairly warm, but quite distinct, and I love how this clarifies who's doing what in panels with a lot of action from both of them. There is a particular bit that stuck out to me, so I dug up the panels (see this page and the following one https://comicaurora.com/aurora/1-20-30/):

(Gods it looks even prettier now that I put it against a plain background. Also, appreciation to Falst for managing a bridal-carry midair, damn.)

The way that their colors MERGE here! And the immense attention to detail in doing so—Dainix is higher up than Falst is in the first panel, so Dainix's orange fades into Falst's orange at the base. The next panel has gold up top and orange on bottom; we can't really tell in that panel where each of them are, but that's carried over to the next panel—

—where we now see that Falst's position is raised above Dainix's due to the way he's carrying him. (Points for continuity!) And, of course, we see the little "huffs" flowing from orange to yellow over their heads (where Dainix's head is higher than Falst's) to merge the sound of their breathing, which is absurdly clever because it emphasizes to the viewer how we hear two sets of huffing overlaying each other, not one. Absolutely brilliant.

(A few other notes of appreciation to that panel: beautiful glows around them, the sparks, the jagged silhouette of the spider legs, the lovely colors that have no right to make the area around a spider corpse that pretty, the excellent texturing on the cave walls plus perspective, the way Falst's movements imply Dainix's hefty weight, the natural posing of the characters, their on-point expressions that convey exactly how fuckin terrifying everything is right now, the slight glows to their eyes, and also they're just handsome boys <3)

Next up: Rain!!!! So well done! It's subtle enough that it never ever disrupts the impact of the focal point, but evident enough you can tell! And more importantly: THE MIST OFF THE CHARACTERS. Rain does this irl, it has that little vapor that comes off you and makes that little misty effect that plays with lighting, it's so cool-looking and here it's used to such pretty effect!

One of the panel captions says something about it blurring out all the injuries on the characters but like THAT AIN'T TOO BIG OF A PROBLEM when it gets across the environmental vibes, and also that'd be how it would look in real life too so like… outside viewer's angle is the same as the characters', mostly? my point is: that's the environment!!! that's the vibes, that's the feel! It gets it across and it does so in the most pretty way possible!

And another thing re: rain, the use of it to establish perspective, particularly in panels like this—

—where we can tell we're looking down at Tynan due to the perspective on the rain and where it's pointing. Excellent. (Also, kudos for looking down and emphasizing how Tynan's losing his advantage—lovely use of visual storytelling.)

Additionally, the misting here:

We see it most heavily in the leftmost panel, where it's quite foggy as you would expect in a rainstorm, especially in an environment with a lot of heat, but it's also lightly powdered on in the following two panels and tends to follow light sources, which makes complete sense given how light bounces off particles in the air.

A major point of strength in these too is a thorough understanding of lighting, like rim lighting, the various hues and shades, and an intricate understanding of how light bounces off surfaces even when they're in shadow (we'll see a faint glow in spots where characters are half in shadow, but that's how it would work in real life, because of how light bounces around).

Bringing some of these points together: the fluidity of the lines in magic, and the way simple glowing lines are used to emphasize motion and the magic itself, is deeply clever. I'm basically pulling at random from panels and there's definitely even better examples, but here's one (see this page https://comicaurora.com/aurora/1-16-33/):

First panel, listed in numbers because these build on each other:

The tension of the lines in Tess's magic here. This works on a couple levels: first, the way she's holding her fists, as if she's pulling a rope taut.

The way there's one primary line, emphasizing the rope feeling, accompanied by smaller ones.

The additional lines starbursting around her hands, to indicate the energy crackling in her hands and how she's doing a good bit more than just holding it. (That combined with the fists suggests some tension to the magic, too.) Also the variations in brightness, a feature you'll find in actual lightning. :D Additional kudos for how the lightning sparks and breaks off the metal of the sword.

A handful of miscellaneous notes on the second panel:

The reflection of the flames in Erin's typically dark blue eyes (which bears a remarkable resemblance to Dainix, incidentally—almost a thematic sort of parallel given Erin's using the same magic Dainix specializes in?)

The flowing of fabric in the wind and associated variation in the lineart

The way Erin's tattoos interact with the fire he's pulling to his hand

The way the rain overlays some of the fainter areas of fire (attention! to! detail! hell yeah!)

I could go on. I won't because this is a lot of writing already.

Third panel gets paragraphs, not bullets:

Erin's giant-ass "FWOOM" of fire there, and the way the outline of the word is puffy-edged and gradated to feel almost three-dimensional, plus once again using Screen or a variation on it so that the stars show up in the background. All this against that stunning plume of fire, which ripples and sparks so gorgeously, and the ending "om" of the onomatopoeia is emphasized incredibly brightly against that, adding to the punch of it and making the plume feel even brighter.

Also, once again, rain helping establish perspective, especially in how it's very angular in the left side of the panel and then slowly becomes more like a point to the right to indicate it's falling directly down on the viewer. Add in the bright, beautiful glow effects, fainter but no less important black lines beneath them to emphasize the sky and smoke and the like, and the stunningly beautiful lighting and gradated glows surrounding Erin plus the lightning jagging up at him from below, and you get one hell of an impactful panel right there. (And there is definitely more in there I could break down, this is just a lot already.)

And in general: The colors in this? Incredible. The blues and purples and oranges and golds compliment so well, and it's all so rich.

Like, seriously, just throughout the whole comic, the use of gradients, blending modes, color balance and hues, all the things, all the things, it makes for the most beautiful effects and glows and such a rich environment. There's a very distinct style to this comic in its simplified backgrounds (which I recognize are done partly because it's way easier and also backgrounds are so time-consuming dear gods but lemme say this) and vivid, smoothly drawn characters; the simplicity lets them come to the front and gives room for those beautiful, richly saturated focal points, letting the stylized designs of the magic and characters shine. The use of distinct silhouettes is insanely good. Honestly, complex backgrounds might run the risk of making everything too visually busy in this case. It's just, augh, so GORGEOUS.

Another bit, take a look at this page (https://comicaurora.com/aurora/1-15-28/):

It's not quite as evident here as it is in the next page, but this one does some other fun things so I'm grabbing it. Points:

Once again, using different colors to represent different character actions. The "WHAM" of Kendal hitting the ground is caused by Dainix's force, so it's orange (and kudos for doubling the word over to add a shake effect). But we see blue layered underneath, which could be an environmental choice, but might also be because it's Kendal, whose color is blue.

And speaking off, take a look at the right-most panel on top, where Kendal grabs the spear: his motion is, again, illustrated in bright blue, versus the atmospheric screened-on orange lines that point toward him around the whole panel (I'm sure these have a name, I think they might be more of a manga thing though and the only experience I have in manga is reading a bit of Fullmetal Alchemist). Those lines emphasize the weight of the spear being shoved at him, and their color tells us Dainix is responsible for it.

One of my all-time favorite effects in this comic is the way cracks manifest across Dainix's body to represent when he starts to lose control; it is utterly gorgeous and wonderfully thematic. These are more evident in the page before and after this one, but you get a decent idea here. I love the way they glow softly, the way the fire juuuust flickers through at the start and then becomes more evident over time, and the cracks feel so realistic, like his skin is made of pottery. Additional points for how fire begins to creep into his hair.

A small detail that's generally consistent across the comic, but which I want to make note of here because you can see it pretty well: Kendal's eyes glow about the same as the jewel in his sword, mirroring his connection to said sword and calling back to how the jewel became Vash's eye temporarily and thus was once Kendal's eye. You can always see this connection (though there might be some spots where this also changes in a symbolic manner; I went through it quickly on the first time around, so I'll pay more attention when I inevitably reread this), where Kendal's always got that little shine of blue in his eyes the same as the jewel. It's a beautiful visual parallel that encourages the reader to subconsciously link them together, especially since the lines used to illustrate character movements typically mirror their eye color. It's an extension of Kendal.

Did I mention how ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL the colors in this are?

Also, the mythological/legend-type scenes are illustrated in familiar style often used for that type of story, a simple and heavily symbolic two-dimensional cave-painting-like look. They are absolutely beautiful on many levels, employing simple, lovely gradients, slightly rougher and thicker lineart that is nonetheless smoothly beautiful, and working with clear silhouettes (a major strength of this art style, but also a strength in the comic overall). But in particular, I wanted to call attention to a particular thing (see this page https://comicaurora.com/aurora/1-12-4/):

The flowing symbolic lineart surrounding each character. This is actually quite consistent across characters—see also Life's typical lines and how they curl:

What's particularly interesting here is how these symbols are often similar, but not the same. Vash's lines are always smooth, clean curls, often playing off each other and echoing one another like ripples in a pond. You'd think they'd look too similar to Life's—but they don't. Life's curl like vines, and they remain connected; where one curve might echo another but exist entirely detached from each other in Vash's, Life's lines still remain wound together, because vines are continuous and don't float around. :P

Tahraim's are less continuous, often breaking up with significantly smaller bits and pieces floating around like—of course—sparks, and come to sharper points. These are also constants: we see the vines repeated over and over in Alinua's dreams of Life, and the echoing ripples of Vash are consistent wherever we encounter him. Kendal's dream of the ghost citizens of the city of Vash in the last few chapters is filled with these rippling, echoing patterns, to beautiful effect (https://comicaurora.com/aurora/1-20-14/):

They ripple and spiral, often in long, sinuous curves, with smooth elegance. It reminds me a great deal of images of space and sine waves and the like. This establishes a definite feel to these different characters and their magic. And the thing is, that's not something that had to be done—the colors are good at emphasizing who's who. But it was done, and it adds a whole other dimension to the story. Whenever you're in a deity's domain, you know whose it is no matter the color.

Regarding that shape language, I wanted to make another note, too—Vash is sometimes described as chaotic and doing what he likes, which is interesting to me, because smooth, elegant curves and the color blue aren't generally associated with chaos. So while Vash might behave like that on the surface, I'm guessing he's got a lot more going on underneath; he's probably much more intentional in his actions than you'd think at a glance, and he is certainly quite caring with his city. The other thing is that this suits Kendal perfectly. He's a paragon character; he is kind, virtuous, and self-sacrificing, and often we see him aiming to calm others and keep them safe. Blue is such a good color for him. There is… probably more to this, but I'm not deep enough in yet to say.

And here's the thing: I'm only scratching the surface. There is so much more here I'm not covering (color palettes! outfits! character design! environment! the deities! so much more!) and a lot more I can't cover, because I don't have the experience; this is me as a hobbyist artist who happened to take a couple design classes because I wanted to. The art style to this comic is so clever and creative and beautiful, though, I just had to go off about it. <3

...brownie points for getting all the way down here? Have a cookie.

[ms-demeanor]

hi! i am not sure if you will have good advice for this but your photography guide made me think about this issue. i grew up quite poor (school supplies were a struggle every september) and now as an adult i am not as financially stable as id like. this has made me very scared to use any art supplies because im always thinking that im wasting them on not good enough projects or not good enough skills or similar thinking. however that leads to me having supplies bc of gifts and whatnot (ie watercolor paper) but not using it out of anxiety. do you have any advice? thanks!

There are two ways that I go about getting over this kind of issue:

Get out the supplies right now and start making any marks. Cut a piece of watercolor paper in half. Draw a line down the center of a page in grease pencil. Do anything to just start using it to get over the "can't open it, must save for special occasions/projects" mindset. Once you've broken the seal on a first use, it's a lot easier to use tools or notebooks or paints a second time.

Plan projects for yourself like they're assignments. Give yourself a deadline and materials list, write it up like a school assignment sheet, and then do the assignment.

And, if it helps to think of it this way: you're likely hesitant to use your materials because you don't want them "going to waste," but at the moment they are being wasted because they aren't being used.

It is solidly my opinion that art supplies used for art are never wasted; not all "art" is meant to be kept and a part of the process of creating art is practice, which should lead to massive piles of clumsily made, "bad" art that you wouldn't want to hang up on the wall but is nonetheless a part of the process of making art that you'd want to hang on the wall.

You may be looking at the watercolor paper and thinking "I shouldn't break into this because each piece of this paper needs to be something special to show that I value this gift" but you don't get better at painting with watercolors if you use them on printer paper. You need to use the paper (and the paints, and your brushes) to maintain and improve your fluency with the medium.

Many people are hesitant to "waste" sketchbooks or good paper or canvas or expensive paint because they think they are throwing away the good things they *could* make if only the had the perfect plan and create the perfect piece of art with each page and each new tube.

But these things are consumables. Your sketchbook is not a guitar, and it is not a finished song, it is a set of strings. The lovely watercolor paper is a gift for you to make art with, but it is also a gift for you to *practice* making art with and the practice is just as much a part of the gift as a finished artwork would be.

So you're not wasting it if you just get out your paper and start painting with no plan, or if you "mess up" a piece, or if you just use the paper for practice.

So, if you're trying to get yourself to use watercolor paper specifically, I have an assignment for you:

Watercolor Thumbnails Assignment

Materials: Watercolor paper, 2 colors of paint (your choice), Hard pencil Tools: Ruler, Small and medium brushes, Palette

Instructions:

Using your pencil and your ruler, divide the page into 10 equal rectangles.

Visit this website and click the "surprise me" button. Select 10 artworks to create monochrome thumbnails of. (you can click as many times as you need to, but the goal here is to do thumbnails of art that you aren't familiar with rather than seeking out art that you know well for this assignment)

Reproduce each of the images as a monochrome thumbnail in the ten rectangles you've marked on your paper. You don't have to mix a unique color for each rectangle, but you should mix a few different colors and use only one for each rectangle. For instance, if you are using green and yellow paint, some images should be yellow, some should be green, some should be green-yellow, some should be yellow-green.

Purpose:

To use your materials

Work on achieving different values with single colors by layering or diluting your paint.

Composition study

Time Limits:

Once you have collected your ten images and have your station set up, you should take no more than one hour to complete your thumbnails.

Due Date: July 20th 2024

___________________

If you are not familiar with watercolor, here's a good video on some of the basic techniques for painting with watercolor:

And this is a good example of a monochrome painting done in watercolor; if you want, you can watch the video and use it as a tutorial to practice getting a feel for monochrome painting.

Use this assignment to practice! Make use of the gift that you were given by familiarizing yourself with the medium and thinking about art and working in color.

I'm going to play along too and will reblog this post with my thumbnails on July 20th - anyone who wants to join in is welcome to do so as well.

And everyone please remember: time and materials spent doing something you love or practicing a skill you enjoy are never wasted. Even if you don't end up with a "good" finished product, you have learned something and that, in itself, is valuable.

[gemissleeping]

Sea Foam | Chapter Three

Theodore Nott x Siren!Reader

Read the other Chapters here.

Summary: It’s been three weeks since Theo found you by the Black Lake, and he’s tried his best to respect your wishes. But it hasn’t done anything to help either of you, and all of your efforts come crashing down in the bathroom at a Slytherin party.

Length: 2.1k

Notes: More of a Theo POV than the usual. Angry Theo. Teenage boys being teenage boys (foul and icky, nsfw language). Overbearing best friend Blaise. Smoking Theo. Slightly intoxicated reader. Soft Theo. Tears. I did not proofread this at all you have been warned, pls do tell me if there are any errors. Listen to Cinnamon Girl by Lana if you’d like to go through it. ily enjoy!

“You’re staring again,” Blaise grumbled under his breath from beside Theo in Divination. It had been three weeks since Theo had found you on the shoreline. Dressed only in your nightgown in the height of the winter frost. That crestfallen look on your face while the wind had bitten at you both. He’d tried his best to respect your wishes since then; making sure to steer clear of you whenever he could, to stop flitting through your mind like it was his favourite novel. He’d tried his best and still he’d failed, over and over.

He knew it was wrong, but he was beyond help. Slipping into your mind was unbearably easy. So much so, that he’d found himself doing it purely by accident on a few occasions, and he couldn’t quite figure out why. He knew you could practice occlumency, had even witnessed you obliterate Malfoy’s attempt at invading your mind in a Defence Against the Dark Arts class last year. Yet you barely even seemed to notice when he did it. Your apparent lack of awareness only made it harder for Theo to stop himself.

“Sorry,” Theo mumbled, blinking his trance away as he glanced over to Blaise with a dull apology. Blaise and Theo had become fast friends in First Year. After Cormack had made a comment about Theo’s Mother on the train, and Blaise had responded by hitting him right between the eyes. Blaise and Theo were close. Though not as close as you, Milli and Blaise were. Everyone knew that the three of you were utterly inseparable. Having met long before the rest of them at Hogwarts.

Unfortunately, it also meant that Blaise had adopted a tendency towards being irritatingly over-protective of you. Likely for good reason; Theo hadn’t made the best of impressions when it came to his relationships with women. They were often fleeting, borne of convenience and nothing more.

Which was exactly why Blaise was currently pissed with him. Blaise spent an awful lot of his time watching people. Regrettably, for Theo that included him, and these days he spent most of his time firmly stuck on you. To say Blaise wasn’t pleased would have been an understatement.

At this point, he may as well have been your damn guard dog, and Theo was tiring of the act quickly. He’d spent years wanting to know you, outside of the occasional class project. Years of pretending you didn’t exist for Blaise’s sake. When really, you were a large part of the reason that he had never settled on anyone to begin with.

Theo turned back to his parchment, huffing as he saw the ink stain leaking across the page. That, along with several half-finished notes, provided rather damning evidence of his distraction.

He stole a glance over at you again, keeping his head low in the hopes Blaise wouldn’t catch him. You were sitting beneath the window, stuck in a daydream of your own as Trelawney prattled on. Eyes misted over, one hand woven through your hair as you rested on it.

You were lovely.

Theo wasn’t sure how long it had been since he had resumed his staring. But as Trelawney brought the lesson to a close, the dull edge of a textbook collided with the side of his head in a singular, harsh thud. Breaking his focus on you as he looked up in bewilderment to Blaise, who stood with his edition of Astrology for the Ungifted raised.

“Git.” He hissed, lowering the book with scathing eyes.

Theo didn’t see you for the rest of the afternoon, not with Blaise practically escorting him to their dorm as soon as Divination concluded. Enzo was already there, lazily slung across his desk chair. Brow raised as Blaise entered in a huff, Theo trailing behind him in defeat. There was supposed to be a party in the Common Room tonight. But right now it wasn’t looking like Theo would be in for a particularly enjoyable evening.

“I know what you’re trying to do. You want to fuck her.”

“I don’t want to fuck her,” Theo winced at his friend’s choice of words.

“You don’t want to fuck her? You don’t want to fuck her?” Blaise rounded, textbook jabbing at Theo’s chest incredulously. Theo groaned, knowing Blaise wouldn’t rest until he knew Theo was being honest with him.

“No, I- fuck, fine. Yes, I want to. Of course I do, but that’s not-”

“Not what? Forgive me for my utter faith in your fucking abysmal track record. But she is my best fucking friend Theo.” Blaise snapped, turning from the boy’s dead-eyed stare and viciously tugging at his tie as he stalked towards his bed. Whipping it from his neck in a surge of anger.

Enzo rolled his bottom lip between his teeth. Watching the display unfold with anxious eyes as Matt cracked the bathroom door open, lighting up with sadistic intrigue. The pair exchanged a glance, the former silently begging the latter not to stick his foot in.

Theo felt his chest tighten at Blaise’s words. His hand running roughly along his jaw, trying to soothe his irritation. Gazing at the ornate wooden panels on the ceiling with a sigh before he attempted to break through to him again. It was out in the open now at least, it likely couldn’t get worse.

“You don’t understand, she-”

“Please, Nott. Tell me what I don’t understand about the girl I’ve known since she was three years old.” Blaise bellowed, reigniting as he swung back to the taller boy. The click of the door interrupted them.

“What’s with all the shouting? I can hear you fools from the hall,” Malfoy droned, bored as he kicked the door shut behind him. Flicking his wand to cast some sort of muffling charm across it.

“Fuck off, Malfoy.” Blaise sneered, not even glancing over to acknowledge his friend’s arrival. The words feeling far more aimed towards Theo than the blonde. Draco only sighed, moving past the both of them.

“None of you ever thank me for anything that I do for you,” He grumbled in response. Throwing a stack of books onto his bed before going to shove Matt out of the bathroom.

“If you even think about fucking touching her-” Blaise continued, steam practically rising from his skin as he narrowed in on Theo again.

“Oh, he has.” Matt interrupted, leaning back against Enzo’s desk with folded arms. Theo shooting him a heavy glare as Matt only smirked back knowingly. An expression Enzo swiftly answered by scolding him with a kick to the shin.

“Look at me, Nott,” Blaise demanded. His voice low, lip curling back in a sneer, “I’ll skin you, understand?”

“Listen, I-” Theo started, his own voice rising as his attention shifted back to Blaise, irritation swelling. But he was impossible to reason with when he was like this, everyone knew it.

“You don’t fuck with her,” Blaise cut in, his voice soaked with finality. Standing before Theo while his chest heaved with anger, book still clutched in his accusatory palm. Theo could feel his own restraint unwrapping. The other’s eyes on them only pushing him further into that corner of himself. He needed air, now. Or else he was going to do something he couldn’t undo. Then you were certain to never speak to him again.

Hands raised in silent surrender, he backed away from Blaise. Jaw set as he plucked his jacket from the end of his bed, turning for the door. Enzo’s tired sigh leaked through the dorm as he pulled it open harshly, likely readying himself to chastise Blaise. Something he’d also likely do to Theo when he caught him later. Though if he had any luck today, maybe Enzo and the others would already be drunk by the time he got back.

He made for the edge of the forest. Rolling a cigarette as he went, trying not to bite down on the filter between his teeth from residual disdain. The icy air was a small mercy, quenching the heat running through him almost immediately. For hours he stood out there, letting the smoke in to empty out all of the things he didn’t want to feel. Watching as the moon chased the sun down to the horizon.

The party would be well underway. God willing you hopefully had yourself tangled in someone else by now. At least then Theo might have been able to give himself a proper reason to stop, smooth things over with Blaise. Though he had begun to doubt if even that would work.

Theo made his way through the tangle of writhing bodies in the heat of the Common Room. No desire to taint himself further with the desperate need to forget that rolled off of the sweaty air. Matt was by the stairs, where the crowd thinned out at its edges. More enticed by the girl whose cigarette he was lighting than by any questions he might’ve had for Theo, as he continued his path to the dorms.

He had meant to go straight there. To take off his jacket, untie his shoelaces. Instead he found himself headed past his door, down to one of the communal bathrooms that lined the dormitory halls. He wasn’t sure why, until something tugged at him. Drawing him to push open the bathroom door; and there you were.

Gaze flitting to his hazily in the mirror. Eyeliner smudged, haloing your eyes. You stilled where you had been standing, as if he had walked straight out of your thoughts. Softening as you took in his wind kissed hair, and he the tremble of your fingers on the countertop. Theo pushed himself away, against the pull of his chest, away from what he wanted. He made for the door again, unsure of why he had allowed himself to be led to you to begin with.

“You weren’t at Dinner,” you called softly, not daring to turn and look at him without a reflection between you. He stilled, one hand on the door as his heart hammered at his ribs.

“You told me to stay away,” he answered simply. Afraid to turn around in case what he saw laying in your eyes only salted the wound some more.

“Not that far.”

You breathed, turning to face him. Eyes aching to touch his cheek, graze across his thoughts, his desires. Theo’s hand dropped from the door, chest swelling from your proclamation. He could feel his breathing falter, hear the force of it. He turned hesitantly, a rasp collecting in his throat.

“Well how far would you like me?”

He saw your breath hitch, didn’t even have to scratch at your mind. You seemed to be leaking into his on your own accord. He could hear just how far you wanted him, and it wasn’t far at all.

Your lips parted, so he made sure to be the first to speak. To save you both the trouble.

“You’re drunk.”

You shook your head, eyes growing glassy with the salt of tears as you moved towards where he leant against the door.

“I’ve been getting your little messages. The ones you keep leaving for me to find,” he murmured. Suddenly enraptured by his hands as his voice creased over his words.

“Theo-”

“It’s unbearable for me. Is it like that for you too?” He cracked, eyes flashing up to yours. Entirely afraid before you, before the possible weight of your answer. Because the truth was he couldn’t tell. He couldn’t tell which words were real and which you fed him to keep him at arm’s length. He searched you, begging for any kind of answer, but hoping only for one.

“Yes.”

Your tears spilled in an instant, and maybe you were a little drunk, but you were also sure that it didn’t change any of it. He knew as much, taking a tender step towards you to grasp your cheek. Running his thumb along the soft skin to collect your tears.

“This trance you seem to think I’m under,” Theo clarified, eyes lingering on yours as his thumb continued its path. Despite no longer having any need to do so. “It’s lasted five years already,” he breathed, “it’s not going to pass any time soon.”

You paused, smudged eyes widening as you gazed up at him. His confession sucking the air out of your lungs until you could no longer doubt that you needed him. You simply watched him for a moment, as though debating whether to say something you wouldn’t be able to swallow. The one thing that was still holding you back.

“I don’t know how to stop myself.”

“Then don’t,” he whispered, leaning closer to brush a strand of hair from your eyes. “You don’t need to be scared of wanting this.”

Theo drew back slightly, letting his fingertips linger. Brushing through the strands of your hair, behind your ear. His voice gentle, certain, “I’ll be here, whenever you’re ready.”

Keep an eye out for Chapter Four here, or comment to be added to the tag list for future updates <3

Taglist: @hemlockmuncher @hoeforvinniehackerrr @moonlightttfae @thecraziestcrayon @itssomeonereading @leona-hawthorne @liaaanie @not-so-bad-ass @wildestdreamslover @slytherinboysappreciation @nat1221 @melllinaa @aykxz98 @chgrch if i missed anyone please let me know!

[uyuforu]

Pick-a-Card: Your Future Spouse

₊ ⊹ ALLEGEDLY FOR ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES ONLY₊ ⊹

pile 1 -> pile 2

piles 3 -> pile 4

pick an image and scroll down to read your reading

Pile 1 - ₊˚⊹♡

Ekta Oracle: The medicine; The bunny; The arts; The road + The mind

Celeste Astrokiff Oracle: Winter; Aries; The man; Treason + Pluto

Original Tarot de Marseille: The tower; 3 of pentacles; 7 of swords; Queen of wands; The moon reversed; 5 of pentacles reversed + The lovers

Botticelli Tarot de Marseille: 8 of wands; The lovers; 5 of cups; 6 of pentacles; Ace of wands; 10 of wands + The stars

Lenormand Oracle: The choice; The fox; The well; The ink; The howls; The storks + The ring

Love Languages Oracles: A place to live; The unsaid; To be peaceful; Social medias + Wing of change

𓆞𓆝 𓆟 Don't forget that it's a general reading so take what resonates. If you don't resonate with this pile, you can choose another one. If you don't resonate with any of the piles, it just means there is no messages for you today. Don't take informations you are not comfortable with, and take care of yourself 𓆞 𓆝 𓆟

-> Just starting with the reading and I can feel it right there, you and your FS are soulmates. This is a divine union, a protected relationship, and nothing was a coincidence in your meeting. It seems like this person will make you very much happy, you will feel blessed to have them in your life. You will feel so much lucky, it seems like this person was the magical cure you needed in your life. Now, I don't see a Prince Charming kind of vibe, I see this as an angel here helping you grow and evolve, and just being your daily dose of sunshine. This person will help you motivate yourself on life, they will be such a good supporter, even your number one fan. I feel like you might even become a leader or just even more motivated in your projects because of them. They will help you out to realize and use all of your inner potential. You might often run from reality, finishing your tasks or projects, or just refuse to be too serious, and this person will help you accept reality. They will help you realize this is not such a bad world as you may think it is. They may even help you be more stable in your life, they will literally be a wake up call from the universe. You will feel so thankful for the universe to have them by your side.

-> It's definitely a planned meeting, divinely organized. You may have been lovers in a past life too, so it will fee like you already know this person who you meet them. Some of you may have met this person before, and so you know them already. Some didn't meet them already. This person will help you a lot regarding your career. They could be a future or current co-worker of yours, but it doesn't seem like this detail really matters. What matters is that this person will make you develop all of your big potentials in your career. You will feel very successful because of this person, and you will definitely have a lot of money. This could also mean they are successful and so have any contacts, they will help you a lot with all the resources they have.

-> This person could be born in winter or spring, or you could meet them at that time. Aries, Capricorn, Aquarius, Pisces, Sagittarius, Gemini, Scorpio are important signs here. Your FS could appear quite cold and distant at first, but they have a very warm heart. They are someone who fight for what they want, they are not scared to make a move or change things, they will get what they want. Very ambitious. A go-getter. Very. masculine energy. They could be scared of treason too, could have enemies. So they might protect their back often, to earn their trust you need to prove yourself. This person might be a fast talker, or they just walk very fast. They have a very quick energy. They could work in the arts, medical fields. They are not scared how long the road is, for them the destination is what matter the most. Also, they don't care because they will run there lol. They are very quick minded and very smart too, could be a very logical person too. Very mature person. I feel like they are very stable in their life. You could meet them on social medias, or they are active on social medias. Social medias seem important here. This person will be your home, and you could feel like home from the first time you meet them. Even if this person seem very busy, it seems like they are not stressed, and they will also help you with that too.

Thank you so much for reading, I hope you enjoyed, and don't forget to like (even comment your pile if you want) and follow for more content ⸜(｡˃ ᵕ ˂ )⸝♡

Pile 2 - ₊˚⊹♡

Ekta Oracle: The time; The ribbon; The balance; The mind + The knight

Celeste Astrokiff Oracle: Treason; Saturn; The guide; Earth reversed + 3H reversed

Original Tarot de Marseille: The tower reversed; 7 of cups; The hanged man reversed; The pope; Ace of wands reversed; The chariot + King of pentacles reversed

Botticelli Tarot de Marseille: 7 of cups reversed; The hang man; Queen of cups; Ace of pentacles; The empress; The hermit + King of wands reversed

Lenormand Oracle: The ship; The ink; The dices; The knight; The woman; The man + The cross

Love Languages Oracles: Trickery; The impediments; The key of destiny; To feel attractive + The reconciliation

𓆞𓆝 𓆟 Don't forget that it's a general reading so take what resonates. If you don't resonate with this pile, you can choose another one. If you don't resonate with any of the piles, it just means there is no messages for you today. Don't take informations you are not comfortable with, and take care of yourself 𓆞 𓆝 𓆟

-> There is a very masculine vibe from this pile, and it feels cold, distant, and very logical. That person is someone who value timing, and being patient. They could have a lot of wisdom and think patience is the real thing in life. So they could be slow, or just a person who is considered slow, but only by rushed people. They don't car much about other people. This person is very logical, they don't work with their hearts but mostly with their head. The could be a lawyer too, or work with Justice, the government, something similar to that. I think this person is very collected, they are not emotional or don't show their emotions that easily. When I pulled the first card, I got such a Capricorn & Saturn energy, so funny that I got the Saturn card too, it's a confirmation. This person is attached to their routine, and they don't like changements. They may also loving that everything is balance, and living an healthy lifestyle is important to them. They could appear older, or are older than you. I don't think this person is spiritual, but they are guided, and they may feel it but it doesn't seem like an awaken soul. This person is also an introvert for sure. They may feel awkward with strangers and don't open up easily at all.

-> Now, do you know this person? Could be for some of you, but I don't think so to be honest. This person has quite a story to me. It seems like they got brokenhearted. I think they literally had some sort of treason in their life by their ex partner. This could be cheating, lies, have been manipulated, gaslighting, etc. But something similar. It deeply hurt your Future Spouse, and they feel blocked for relationships now. They feel like they should keep their heart guarded, and not let anyone in from now on. This experience literally crushed their heart and destroyed them. I think it was def a lesson for them, but it created a trauma. For them, it was the end. And once you have a trauma, it's very hard to face it again. Almost impossible for a while. And this person seems like they are walking away from it, but their pain is still there. Deeply, I think this person still wants to get married later, but is def super scared. They feel like giving up, and they feel like they should move on from this idea. It seems hard for them to actually let anyone else enter their heard again. Very pessimistic at this idea. To them, it seems like humans are no good, and everyone is full of bad intention. Pretty sure this person was either married or engaged, or at least it was a strong commitment, a serious one. It wasn't just a random partner, they actually thought the person who betrayed them was the one. So I think this person now is trying to move on, but it seems like they prefer to move on alone. They can see selfish, or just cold, awkward by other people who don't know them, because of what happened.

-> Now, let's talk about you! This is my favorite part of the reading. I told you this person was ready to give up on the relationships, but that's because they don't know you yet! The thing is, you'll enter this person's life like a savior, like a knight. You'll come and rescue them from the darkness. It's def something that is destined, like it's organized by the divine. You are the key to this person's heart. Now, will it be easy? No lol. But you will def change this person's opinion on marriage and relationships. This person has been broken and you'll help them collect the pieces and heal their heart. This person will start to see a different point of view in life and even in themselves, you'll help them being more confident. You'll help them believe in love again, because they will fall in love with you. You will def get married later. They will see you as a gentle soul, a romantic person, such a nice and sweet heart, you will be their sunshine. There is a lot of feminine energy to you, but could be also in their point of view. You will make them so happy, and they will literally worship you? Like seeing you as their queen/ king, their loved one, they will be so proud to have you by their side. They will learn a lot from you, and they will have so much respect for you, my god I have so much love right now in my heart :(((( You will help this person open up, so don't be surprised one day if they literally cry in front of you, it's literally the most beautiful thing that will happen. They will let it all out.

Thank you so much for reading, I hope you enjoyed, and don't forget to like (even comment your pile if you want) and follow for more content ⸜(｡˃ ᵕ ˂ )⸝♡

Pile 3 - ₊˚⊹♡

Ekta Oracle: The bee; The link; The office; The couple; The man + The heart

Celeste Astrokiff Oracle: Uranus; Chiron reversed; New moon; Solar eclipse + The ruin

Original Tarot de Marseille: Ace of sword reversed; Temperance reversed; The strength; The pope; The devil reversed; The justice + 4 of cups reversed

Botticelli Tarot de Marseille: 5 of wands reversed; Death; Ace of cups; Jack of pentacles; The fool reversed; The empress; Jack of wands + The high priestess

Lenormand Oracle: The bridge; The book; The moon; The well; The lucky charm; The scythe + The swans

Love Languages Oracles: The unsaid; Magnetic relationship; Break-up Total Success + Cheating

𓆞𓆝 𓆟 Don't forget that it's a general reading so take what resonates. If you don't resonate with this pile, you can choose another one. If you don't resonate with any of the piles, it just means there is no messages for you today. Don't take informations you are not comfortable with, and take care of yourself 𓆞 𓆝 𓆟

-> This pile is pretty confusing to be honest. I think you know this person? And something happened with them. Here is what I'm seeing. This person is someone who is busy, they may work a lot, or just has a busy life. You guys had a good connection, you were very attached, and maybe still are today. You may have dated or be a couple before, or you could have had feelings for each other. You may have wanted or been in a relationship with this person. This person can be a man, or have masculine energy. But there is something that happened, like a fight? It's like someone suddenly can't do it anymore and just go away? (I have the image of people fighting and one just throw stuff off a table lol). You could have been coworkers too. Or you could still be. This person may also be like a butterfly style of person, meaning they like to visit a lot of different flowers... you know what I mean. It means they may not have been ready for a relationship before, they prefer to flirt with many people, go on many dates, enjoy being single like that. And it may have hurt you. If you were in a relationship, there could have been some sort of cheating?

-> So you guys are not talking right now, and if you were in a relationship, you broke up now. You guys had such a good and amazing chemistry, and even you remember that. But it seems like despite that, things just ended. I think there were some lies, if not cheating. This person lied to you about something, or avoided the truth. You could have done that too. Maybe also not being honest with each other's feelings. Someone could have cheated, or it felt like it. Or maybe someone thought the other cheated why it wasn't the case. In any ways, there is a separation now. And I think you are not talking at the moment. But, there are still hope. To be honest, it feels like the connection is not over (obviously, this is your future spouse) but what I mean is that you can even feel it. There is a feeling of still having hope, and still feeling the link. And it seems like the separation was meant for you both to realize what went wrong, and how can you fix it. Despite whatever happened, you still love this person and they still love you. You may be not talking, but you guys think about each other a lot.

-> I think this is a divine union, like you guys have a soul link, whatever it is. The "break-up" or separation was meant for you both to work on yourself. What triggered you in this connection is what you should work on. Any toxic patterns, any triggers, work on it. Heal and work on yourself. It seems like you think there is no hope for the connection, but there is still. It feels like something is about to start over, but with good intentions. Like as if there were a huge storm, and it needed to rain, and once the rain is over, there is sunshine. It feels like that. Starting over. You guys can't move on from each other. Now, it feels like this person will message you or contact you. You will not. I think this person is seeing you as their divine counter part. It could also be that once you start working on yourself, they may want to contact you. You will def receive a piece of information from this person, something you had no idea about. They may have kept a secret, or they may reveal what they really feel for you. Or it may also be unexpected contact or message. It seems like they will take a chance, like contacting you, and revealing something to you. And it's something you didn't expect. You really will not see that coming. I think there will be some sort of long term proposition, and you will accept it. You guys will see each other again, and there is high hope for reunion!

Thank you so much for reading, I hope you enjoyed, and don't forget to like (even comment your pile if you want) and follow for more content ⸜(｡˃ ᵕ ˂ )⸝♡

Pile 4 - ₊˚⊹♡

Ekta Oracle: The brain; The island; The 3 bamboos; The deer + The fire

Celeste Astrokiff Oracle: The happiness; 12H; Earth; North Node + 11H

Original Tarot de Marseille: 5 of pentacles; 7 of wands; 6 of pentacles; Ace of cups reversed; Temperance reversed; The hermit + The stars reversed

Botticelli Tarot de Marseille: The justice; Knight of wands; Jack of pentacles; 6 of wands; The judgment; Ten of cups + 5 of wands reversed

Lenormand Oracle: The scythe; The dices; The lucky charm; The sun; The ring; The doors + The man

Love Languages Oracles: Softness & Tender-sweet; Home; Total Success; Karmic Connection + The beginning

𓆞𓆝 𓆟 Don't forget that it's a general reading so take what resonates. If you don't resonate with this pile, you can choose another one. If you don't resonate with any of the piles, it just means there is no messages for you today. Don't take informations you are not comfortable with, and take care of yourself 𓆞 𓆝 𓆟

-> This person may be someone smart, someone who knows a lot, someone curious. They could also love to travel, and love to learn from this. They could also love to be alone, or the be in their own bubble, their own world. This person is pretty optimistic, and they could also have a lot of intuition. Could be a fire sign. Or could just be passionate. I also have the masculine energy here. But it's someone who has a balance energy. This person can be spiritual, or they could be religious. They feel a sort of link to a divine force. They could also be intuitive and connected, without actually calling it spiritual. I feel like they could also have a balanced natal chart, meaning the earth, air, water and fire energies are all balanced. They could be good at organizing their finances. Extrovert person. I don't think you know this person yet. This person works hard for their money, and they are someone right when it comes to work ethic. They will not lie, not cheat, and they want justice. They could work in something related to money or finances. They could also have their own business or their own company. They are good at handling stuff, tasks, projects, and they are hard working. A natural leader. And because they work good and make smart move, they can actually make any of their projects successful? This person is generous too when it comes to their money, and they know where to place it.

-> I don't think this person is focused on relationships right now, and I think they are single. They could have a hard time to balance their life between work and personal life, so I think it's unbalanced right now. Meaning they may spend too much time at work, and not enough with their loved one. It will be something you will teach them to do. Or remind them to do. They could have honestly lose hope about relationships? Or just felt like it's a waste of time. Despite that, I feel like they will be the one to give an offer, you guys could meet at work or related to money. When you meet, they could be the one asking you on a date, or just making you see they are interested. Of course, you will be in a relationship, obviously. But I think there is not resistance, I mean that you will also be interested. There is no games with this person. This will feel like a great love. A sort of love at first sight could happen too. But you guys will feel like you are in a fairytale. The honeymoon phase will be long for you. You will feel so at home with each other, this is definitely a divine connection. A lot of love and pda. And to be honest, you guys could be in a relationship together quite fast. And a proposal could also happen fast.

-> I think this person will ask you to marry them very fast, because they love you so much and they will just feel so euphoric about their feelings for you. They will just take a leap of faith, and ask you to marry them. But as I said, it will be fast. Like not even a year of dating? Pretty sure more fast than that. But you will hesitate. Not because you don't love them, you will LOVE that person. But it seems like you will be logical at that point, and may feel like it's too soon? You may say no, and this person will see that as hardship. They will feel sad about it. I don't think you will break up, this person will see that as a challenge. Mostly because everything turned out in their favor before, and you are the first hardship? Lol. They will wait again and make sure to ask again later...

Thank you so much for reading, I hope you enjoyed, and don't forget to like (even comment your pile if you want) and follow for more content ⸜(｡˃ ᵕ ˂ )⸝♡

back to index ; ask ; requests ; rules

[betty-gb]

My Muse | Luke Castellan

Request: So I’ve have this in the back of my head for a while- so hear me out, Luke x Artist reader(they could be the child of Hephaestus since he’s also the god of art and creativity) reader is sketching next to the lake and Luke sorta stumbles across them drawing 👀

Warnings: none I think, unedited

AN: thank you so much for requesting I hope you like it!! This is sorta a pre-dating thing, crushing on each other. It’s second person, unlike my last one so ig I’ll see which I like better. I’m 99% sure it’s gender-neutral reader and reader is a child of Hephaestus. Oh also I’m so sorry I know nothing about drawing faces I tried my best 😭😭

The breeze was soft, slightly ruffling the worn pages of your sketchbook. Today you had strayed from your usual inspiration, drawing the horizon as opposed to your default muse. Oh to be loved by an artist. All someone would have to do is flip one page to uncover the many portraits of Luke Castellan that lay in the book, to be quite honest you were surprised no one had noticed yet. Well, other than your sister Nyssa, who had sworn to secrecy. As you sketched the fleeting clouds, ink from your hand staining the paper, you felt a presence approaching.

“Hey Luke,” you smiled, not bothering to look up.

“What are you drawing this time?”

“Just the sky,” you looked up at him, “but it’s pretty much done.”

“Draw me next,” his tone was teasing but you could see sincerity in his eyes.

“Draw you?” A small laugh escaped your mouth, if only he knew, “I’m afraid I only draw pretty things.”

Both of you erupted into a fit of giggles when he lightly hit your arm in annoyance.

“But seriously,” he continued, “draw me.”

After a small quirk of your eyebrow, “Alright.”

You began with an outline of his jaw, scolding him to stop moving every few minutes. Most of the times you had drawn him had been from a distance, a memory, or sometimes a picture, so you found ease in drawing the boy when he was seated in front of you. You took this time to admire his features unquestioned. Were his eyes always that pretty? Did his hair always falling in such perfect curls? You felt a slight heat in your cheeks and mentally scolded yourself.

Luke soon grew impatient, the ADHD of all demigods taking over and he began to spew random conversation and fiddle with the nature that lay below him. In due time you had finished a basic sketch of the boy, holding it out for his curious eyes.

He hummed in approval, eyebrows raising slightly, “That’s really good.”

“Thanks,” the blush reappeared.

“You must have a lot of practice drawing me.”

You could tell he was dangling the information in front of you, the glint in his eyes revealing a familiar mischief. Your secret muse was not so secret anymore.

“Nyssa?”

“Ya,” he nodded. A silence fell, not quite comfortable yet not one of discomfort. You sat in contemplation, heart beating at the mere idea of your next words.

“Well, beautiful things deserve to be appreciated.”

There was a beat of silence before the boy’s response came, “l would draw you but I’m not sure I have the talent to do your beauty justice.”

This time the silence was comfortable, both of you blushed with tiny smiles curling your lips.

The moment was broken by a shout of your name. Nyssa, the backstabber. But that was a conversation for another day. She spouted some nonsense about your younger brother needing help with his project before rushing off again.

“Duty calls,” you sighed, lifting yourself from the ground and collecting your book.

“Draw me again sometime?” He smiled from the ground.

“I would have anyway.”

“I know.”

[art]

Creator Spotlight: @velinxi​

Hello! I’m Xiao Tong Kong, better known as “Velinxi.” I’m the creator of the webcomic Countdown to Countdown and have been doing freelance artwork since I was a teenager. I love telling stories with my illustrations! Tumblr was where I first got my start as an artist, specifically a small fandom artist as a hobby… and now I’m somehow here! When I’m not trying my best to stay awake in front of my tablets, I’m usually cooking, gaming, or sleeping. Sometimes all three, in my dreams.

Check out our interview with Velinxi below!

Did you originally have a background in art? If not, how did you start?

Yeah! I’ve basically been on track to become an artist since I was a child. I went to a middle school with an emphasis on arts and a high school specializing in it. I went to SVA briefly for computer arts but dropped out to pursue freelance and webcomics after my first year.

Over the years as an artist, what or who were your biggest inspirations behind your creativity?

My biggest inspirations growing up were Yuumei and Shilin Huang, two titans on DeviantArt back in the day. They still inspire me today, but the list of inspirations has grown exponentially over the years, including artists, movies, entire art movements, etc.

What was your thought process behind the creation of your webcomic, Countdown to Countdown?

Well, Countdown to Countdown started as a passion project back when I was 15, in high school, and pretty depressed. I just wanted to draw whatever story I thought was cool, inspired by my favorite media at the time. There was a very loose beginning and outline, but I was truly just writing as I drew the story. That’s why I had to stop the comic in 2018 and restart from scratch the year after. Now, the story has a set story and a clear outline. It still has similar roots, characters, and themes of neglect, abuse, and escape—but I think the story is a lot easier to follow now. It’s got an artstyle I can actually keep up with in the long run. The origin of why CTC exists also remains the same: I simply wanted to make a story I wanted to read for myself. Which happens to be about two dumb boys with superpowers navigating a hostile world that wants them dead or caged—together.

Have you ever had an art block? If so, how did you overcome it?

Oh, all the time. It’s part of the process. Personally, though—I just have to draw through it. Every month on my Patreon, I have my patrons vote on a theme I have to draw by the end of the month, and I try my best to make it as interesting as possible. I draw quite a few—tens even, of doodles or compositions for each of these themes to try to make something that tells a story while still being aesthetically pleasing and clear. I think pushing myself like this helps with art block, really. I also do remember to take breaks and simply consume other media I like! It gets the inspiration juices flowing.

Advice you would give to an aspiring creator?

If you do one—your first webcomic should be a short, fun, messy thing. It’s not often you can get it right the first time, but you’ll certainly learn a lot through sheer experience. This goes for a lot of things in art, to be honest.

What is a medium that you have always been intrigued by but would never use yourself?

3D Animation. I briefly learned it at SVA, and I think that’s enough of that tech for me. I accept that there are some things that are truly beautiful if done right, and I am too simple and lazy for it.

What is your goal for the rest of this year?

Get Countdown to Countdown book 2 finished! And live HAHA

Who on Tumblr inspires you and why?

@yuumei-art on Tumblr, still! They’ve been a huge inspiration for digital artists and storytellers online for years. I have no doubt that many digital artists of my generation have been influenced by them, and they’re still here, making beautiful art and stories. It’s a thing to behold.

Thanks for stopping by, Velinxi! If you haven’t seen her Meet the Artist piece, be sure to check it out here. You can also follow her for more amazing art over at her Tumblr, @velinxi!

[patrickztump]

oh i looked for your name on the ouija board and your naked magic, oh dear lord..

i didn't want to bulk up the post with multiple paragraphs or add it in a reblog but i wanted to talk about this a little :)

i was thinking about the gif i made last year for where did the party go and still love how it turned out. it gives me lost tapes vibes and i've also been into a lot of throwback/retro themed art, so wanted to tap into that with a stack of tvs.

there are clear references to the music video with the disco ball, that abandoned hospital wall color, spray painted symbol, and The Cord. but the tvs also tie back to the album cover, mirroring the clothing colors. and if you take a peek at the runtime on the tv, it's to where the lyrics start in the song (minus the milliseconds, itunes didn't provide it so i just threw a couple to the end).

i know the machete didn't come in until the end half of death valley and guitar not until save rock and roll, but last summer i made another version of that and have been trying to use it in something since, but never found the right idea to incorporate it. so i figured add it to this piece because so many associate lyrics of love and comparisons to pete and patrick's relationship, so why no put the two together? they were brought together by music, torn apart by it, then made whole again from it.

also, since i started using procreate i've been able to do about 60-70% (of large projects, like this) in the program before having to eventually move it into photoshop to finish it up. but this one is 99% procreate! the only thing that's ps is the "and the love on tv / love on tv" text because i couldn't quite replicate it the same way i did in ps (skill issue as of right now lol). but i a quite proud of that! because the learning curve has been a slow and steady climb.

anyways, there you go! if you read this, thank you <3 and i hope you enjoyed this little scene my brain plopped out :)

[strazki]

School Bus Graveyard headcanons no one asked for but will still get 😤

Ashlyn has autism. Honestly pretty much canon at this point, considering what we've seen of her, but still

The whole group took a hot second to adjust, but they are now so accommodating to it

Obviously there's the noise issues, but they also recognize when she needs to be alone, and they don't bother her too much about her being so asocial

I’m projecting but I just love these guys

ANYWAY, on a completely different subject, I think Taylor is actually a really good singer! She's just very shy about it

I also think Aiden can definitely play drumset

Top that off with Tyler canonically playing guitar, all you need to do is give Ben a bass or something and then they're basically just a little band!

I think they would be called the Phantoms or some shit like that

Ashlyn can do backup vocals, and I love my boy Logan but he's giving stage manager vibes a little bit lol

Someone's gotta do it

Taylor and Tyler share their clothes all the time. We already see that they have the same room, which most likely means the same closet, and since the two of them have a relatively similar build (and thus, similar clothing sizes), they just don't really bother separating their clothes (probably why they're matching so often)

Aiden does so much stupid rich kid shit. Not obnoxiously, but just out of a lack of understanding

Probably says some shit to the others like "Wait, your parents didn't get you a car? I know we can't drive yet, but you can still like... take pictures with it."

Bro has no idea he's that rich

The twins absolutely love going over to Ashlyn's place to get self-defense training from Mike and Emma. With their father being gone for a while, and their mom being not all there (for lack of a better description), it's been a long time since they've had a stable parental figure in their lives

Ashlyn's parents are just so nice to them and treat them like their own kids. I just think it's something they needed in their life that they found in an unexpected place :(

Ben loves to paint! He took up art and drawing ever since he lost his voice, and finds painting specifically very calming

He's been working on portraits for each of his friends that are all lying half-finished around his room

Even when he finishes them, though, he probably wouldn't show them for a while because he's quite nervous about it

If he DOES show them, he would definitely give Taylor her's first, because that's who he feels closest to

She cries

I feel like Logan, with working at the flower shop and all that, probably spends a bit of time putting together little bouquets for his friends

Not as like a grand show of affection, but just little gifts to show his appreciation for them being around and caring about him

Probably personalizes them a LOT too. Not only does he coordinate them to match the favorite colors/flowers of the person he's making them for, but he knows all the symbolic meanings behind each flower

Like, for example, I bet he gets yellow roses for Ben to signify friendship, and pink roses for Ashlyn to signify gratitude, that sort of stuff

His love language is gift giving and he's never had friends as close as these guys, leave him alone >:[

Okay that's all I got right now send tweet

[unofficial-underfell]

Hey guys, I've been thinking about making this post for a long time and I think its finally time I do so. After realizing that some of my last work was done over a year ago, I don't think I can really ignore it anymore. While I haven't quite thrown in the towel on this quite yet, it's pretty evident to me and I'm sure to everyone who still follows this blog that my fervor for the project has drastically decreased. And has been kind of dead for a while. The comic has not been a priority to me, or posting online much at all actually. I did some soul searching and found that I'd started relying on outside approval for my art instead of doing art for the sake of wanting to tell a story and express myself throughout my work. I have limited energy and depression and sometimes it feels like i get such little progress done even though it takes all of my energy. While I'm trying to go to the gym more and build better habits my energy levels and mood still have a lot to be desired, and I'd rather use the limited energy I have to work on something I'm more passionate about.

I've been trying to grow my skills and absorb more stories and I've moved around a lot and started to listen to what I really felt, and I found that a lot of the art I want to focus on deals with heavier and more mature topics. I do love this story, and all of the characters and I feel like I could make a really clever subversion of what is expected from an Underfell comic. But I feel like in these uncertain times with the world and with all of the stuff going on right now, I'd like to use my energy to work on stories that hit closer to the things that I feel are important. So that's why I've not been posting much.

I'm working on a book, and I've actually got quite a lot of progress done on it, but because of all the horror stories online about people stealing author's original works, I'm kind of holding off on publishing any chapters before I can copyright the first draft of the novel. So my online activity will still be pretty scarce for a bit, though I'll still post occasionally on my @cosmicpixel01 account. I'll try better to not be so radio silent though lol. Even if that means I'll post something boring about my dog or books I'm reading just so everyone knows I'm still alive.

I don't want to call it quits on the story. But I also feel like you guys have been kept waiting to see what happens for a really long time, and that makes me feel so guilty. I will try to finish up the pages I have in the works, and I'm probably going to switch to a different format that is some drawings, some writing to finish the story. I'm sorry that I wasn't able to finish it the way I intended for you guys, even with all of the support and kind words and even the fanart that I've kept in a folder on my desktop. I am letting a lot of you down, but I feel like the radio silence is probably more irresponsible than just going out and saying something. And I'm sorry I've kept you all waiting for a not-so-happy update on the blog.

I hope that some of you will continue to follow me for some of my other exploits and see whatever other things I have going on, but I understand that you all followed me for Undertale so I don't want you to feel any sort of guilt if you decide not to. I'm just happy you all supported me for so long.

I'll try to work on this blog again soon, and if anyone has any questions, my asks are open, though I'll probably keep the asks private. Until then I hope everyone stays safe out there. And from the bottom of my heart, thank you.

-Avery

[kazumist]

CLICHÉ TROPES WITH THEM .ᐟ

✩ — includes: various x gn!reader. fluff and crack. no cws. wc: 1603 (yeah i know it's pretty long). reblogs and feedback are very much appreciated !! :D

diluc — !

the one trope where the two main characters end up living together. you were going to move in with kaeya, who was also a good yet troublesome friend of yours. but you ended up meeting his brother at the doorstep with his luggage instead of him? that’s quite peculiar. you loved kaeya, you really did, but making you live with someone you rarely even know (you both know each other’s names but nothing other than that) just to spice up your life? it’s something that you’d definitely hate him for.

but hey, at least you get to live with someone less troublesome and actually do chores properly, right? oh, how wrong you were; diluc was worse than kaeya. yes, he knows how to cook and clean, as well as other chores, but communicating with him is one of your main problems. more headaches that you have with him are that you never have the same opinion with him, unlike you did with kaeya. so much for hoping that they’d at least be a bit similar. however, there’s still hope to get along with him, right?

childe — !

the trope where it’s idiotic love but also mutual pining in high school. both of you know that the other likes them back, but you both deny it, thinking that it’s some mistake. your relationship with childe is quite frustrating—from those small hugs and the moments of the two of you laughing when he walks you home from school, it’s frustrating to the point that both of your friends abandoned you on your problem and decided that the two of you suffer with it alone.

there’s also the festival, where you and childe just ditch the whole event and chill at some abandoned playground. you got to know each other better, yet you’re both scared to admit your feelings—the hesitation is quite obvious if either of you try to bring up the topic. but finally! you and childe decided to go by the bridge to watch the fireworks more closely, and that’s when the two of you finally confessed. there wasn’t the "kiss under the fireworks" kind of thing; no, childe was leaning on the bridge too much to see the fireworks clearly, to the point that he fell and pulled you with him into the water. so all of your mutual pining and stupidity just resulted in you and childe freezing! how romantic indeed!

xiao — !

childhood friend to lovers, but your romantic moments always get interrupted (plus, you’re dense about xiao’s feelings). everyone always comments on how the two of you look, but you and xiao always shake it off, saying that "we’re just close friends, nothing special." but when did "close friends" accompany each other to go shopping? when did "close friends" decide to hold hands frequently, even in public, with your other friends?

there were a lot of moments of xiao wanting to express his romantic perceptions to you, but every time he attempted it, he got unfairly disturbed by someone calling you on your phone or someone entering the scene. it was frustrating; xiao doesn’t show it, though. but maybe now is not the time to confess just yet? he’ll get his chance soon.

albedo — !

he’s the quiet art kid who always works near the back of the classroom. you two got paired up for an important project. (mind you, it was a mixed-class thing. albedo is in another class while you were in a different class too.) but the thing is, you know nothing about art, nor did you really have good grades for it. you were basically the hopeless one between you and albedo but he was willing to help you learn the usual basics. he was rather patient with you; even if you made errors, he wasn’t strict with his teaching, nor was he angered by how much of a slow-paced learner you are.

he was just... calm during your moments together. but alas, good times have their endings, and you two luckily finished your project. you’d admit it—you had fun with albedo. to the times where you would chase each other to smudge paint on each other’s faces or the times where you would accidentally fall asleep while working on your project, leaving albedo to do the majority of it—you’ll miss it. however, there’s still a chance that you can spend more time alone together, right?

kaeya — !

the flirty coworker who seems to slack off most of the time but actually gets his work done. your work space is right next to his, which gives him more access to bother you even further. you really wonder how he gets his job done—or how he still even works at the place—when all you can remember are his cheesy pick-up lines and questions about whether he could treat you to dinner. kaeya would never shut up when he was around you. he’s always blabbering about the most random things. even though it does seem like you aren’t interested, you actually pay attention to his ramblings.

kaeya is somewhat the person who makes your work experience quite interesting, even though all he does is ramble and flirt with you. you didn’t mind his flirtatious actions, but you can’t really say if it would be a good decision. does he do this to other people too? or are you the only one he ever bothers to even flirt with? you didn’t know. he makes you so confused, to the point that it’s frustrating. and so you confront him, asking him if he’s just doing all of it for boredom or if he's actually willing to try a relationship with you. the second that kaeya would hurriedly press his lips against yours, you got your answer: you were the only one he ever bothered this much.

zhongli — !

you and he are both teachers who are shipped together by the majority—a very old trope. if childe (who was also your fellow coworker as a teacher) hadn’t start teasing you on how you and zhongli spend your breaks together, then the school wouldn’t have known. you truly do enjoy your breaks with zhongli; you two just chatter about how the other has been or introduce new things that the other doesn’t seem to know about. nothing too romantic, right? but what if the teasing and shipping that childe had started actually made you have second thoughts if you were catching feelings for him?

kazuha — !

awkward and silent bookworm who wants to have his peace and quiet, but you always disturb him. until one day you didn't, and he gets confused, but that’s when he realizes that he actually likes you and your bubbly self. kazuha had always appreciated and even enjoyed his time with you. he just didn’t know how to show it. he didn’t know how to say that he adores how you talk, how he loves it when you get happy at the smallest things, and how he gets ever so lovestruck when you flash him that smile that he knows was directed at him.

kazuha doesn’t know how to say all of this in the flowery words his mouth spills, so his only choice is to keep quiet about it. to keep it to himself, but he knows one day he has to let it out. and he did. during the one day you weren’t cheery like you usually are, kazuha knew something was up. it took you a while to let it out, but you eventually told him how you felt so tired with all of the schoolwork and how exhausted you were to even stop being all happy. kazuha listened to you and even gave tips on how to maintain your school life, and you never felt so grateful for meeting him. maybe one day he'll also get his chance.

thoma — !

the trope where he’s a popular yet stupid senior. he has really bad grades, so you were asked to tutor him for your upcoming final exams of the year, or else he would have to repeat a school year instead of moving up. you were simply too smart for people around your age, but you didn’t want to comply. (you did anyways because who knows what the consequences will be?) and so the two of you had an awkward start. with thoma scratching his neck as you stare him down with the most neutral look a person can pull, that’s how your tutoring sessions started.

when the exam results came, and wow! thoma passed! and that means he gets to move on with life, but that also means that he has to leave the school, and he’ll never see you again! you weren’t planning to get attached to him, but you did. and you weren’t that shy to admit that you’d always crack up whenever thoma would act all goofy around you during your tutoring sessions. and thoma loved it when you looked so calm whenever you taught him. he may or may not have pulled that one move where he would tuck your hair behind your ear just so he could see your face better. just who knew you’d develop feelings for a guy like him?

scaramouche — !

you’re each other’s academic enemies. and not only that, you compete between smarts; you both fight over anything, maybe even everything. everyone would tease you both, saying things like, "just confess already! we know you two like each other!" or something like that. but did you? did you actually have feelings for each other but were too proud to admit it, so you two just fought about it? maybe. just maybe.

[bravedanganronpa]

Hi there. (UPDATE POST)

I'm quite sorry for neglecting this blog. I am most definitely not dead, just a while ago I had moved onto mainly posting updates via the bird app and YT Community Posts because it was a lot easier for me to update there for some reason. (Maybe because it felt like I had to make formal posts here on tumblr due to its format? Like this one?) But I am still greatly sorry for neglecting my audience on Tumblr, which I know is how a lot discovered my project (and who i hope are still around... haha...) So yes, it's been a few years since the prologue, and I am very sorry 'bout that. I had a lot going on in my personal life that slowed stuff down as I am the only one working on the production of art/editing/scripting besides the VAs and my proofreader(s), so when I slow down, everything does.

Here's an update for those not following me on other avenues:

By this point, the prologue sprites are quite some years old and not up to my current standards, as well as being really low resolution so it was obvious when I blew them up. I also played RAINCODE and Komatsuzaki's new style with the rimlighting inspired me and made me jealous and so In order to satisfy my own creative needs and to give these characters the best I think I can do I made the executive decision to start a whole castwide sprite revamp.

Here's an example. If you are following me on my other channels you will know that I am almost done with the full revamp sets with only a few characters left to fully finish all their edits. I will be slowly migrating most of the update posts/art I have been doing to here as well.

I hope for the people who have patiently waited and are still interested to please allow me some more time to make CH1 the best it possibly can be.

If you want to, please consider checking either my youtube community tab or my twitter at twitter.com/gitarooMain for more frequent updates, but I will try my best to update here more frequently.

[olderthannetfic]

https://www.tumblr.com/olderthannetfic/727841287119814656/ehh-generally-they-were-like-ask-specifics-about Can you expand on writer’s block not being real?

--

Sure!

I think everyone who's ever made art has hit points where it's hard to go on making art or where a particular project isn't moving. So from that perspective, sure, a version of it is real...

But there's a particular version of it that's what a lot of people mean where you're A Writer™ and then the magic inspiration gnomes come and steal your inspiration juice. This is mostly nonsense, and quite a few author types who've actually finished long projects will tell you so.

When you sit down to a blank page and it stubbornly stays blank like your head, that's a symptom of something... and the something in question is often either depression and overwhelmed feelings that are taking over your whole life or an entirely correct instinct that your project is flawed and the next step is not writing that next scene.

Many people try to be pantsers instead of planners, get maybe a quarter into a project, and then choke. It's because they started with the kind of concept that requires planning, but they haven't planned. If your plot revolves around the characters eventually learning the meaning of life, you'd damn well better start with what you, the author, think that meaning is and work backwards. Same if your characters are solving a twisty mystery or complicated thriller conspiracy: you will not come up with a genius idea that ties everything together just by writing by the seat of your pants. If you don't go in with the ending in mind and some waypoints to write towards, you're going to choke. This is exceptionally common in grandiose fic concepts that are like "What if this true blue hero were a viiiiillain, oooooh!" where it's neat, but 99% of the point is showing us the work of getting from A to B. People write the prologue showing us the big concept and then flash back to how it all started... and then stop.

I see it a lot in projects that start with a character sheet for RP. Yeah, for RP itself, noodling along and figuring out what X would do in situation Y is great fun... but for many longfic/novel plot types, you will not arrive at a workable plot this way. You'll end up with a mess that can, at best, be used as brainstorming and completely rewritten from the ground up, using only key cool images or character observations. There are authors that start from individual characters and then see where they go. In my experience, they don't tend to be working in the genres that fic fandom types tend to want to work in. It's also something that often takes a lot more experience and skill than starting with a basic plot outline, and inexperienced writers often overreach.

It's not writer's block. It's a project that needs to be taken out back like Old Yeller.

Even the salvageable projects that are making you pause usually have some other issue like you not being clear on the central emotional themes even if you've outlined some factual plot. Or you've demanded that your characters do a particular thing for plot convenience, but you know deep down that it doesn't ring true. You can't write the next scene because there is no next scene. You need to rework the forced part till the rest can make sense.

And even more common than any of the above is people thinking that just because Danielle Steel sits down every morning and writes for eight hours, that means they can and should with no warm up or experience. Trying to force yourself to be a type of writer you're not—majorly overdoing it on any work, in fact—just leads to burnout and inability to function.

[gooeyringtown]

Can you do a head canon on Barbie/Gloria in the same verse as the movie? Like they are a couple because OBVI, but with your interpretation on...

who wakes up first?

who is most protective?

who is quick to jealousy?

who is the big spoon?

yes absolutely!! i did quite a lot LMAO so i'm gonna put a little cut-off

*slight nsfw warning for some

who wakes up first? : gloria, usually. barbie is a HEAVYY sleeper and snores very softly and gloria thinks it's very cute.

who is most protective? : both. gloria primarily because barbie is new (at first) to the world and she knows how unnecessarily nasty some people can be. barbie is protective in the sense that she carefully watches how everybody speaks to and treats gloria, especially considering the fact that she knows how futile gloria can sometimes feel.

who is quick to jealousy? : both. but more-so barbie. she has big feelings and they're quick to get the best of her (gloria thinks it's hot)

who is the big spoon? : i love this one and i think barbie would be, even though she's the more gentle one. she loves the idea of being big and strong and protective over gloria, and gloria would adore it sm

who is more affectionate: barbie in public. gloria in private. (she's a huge softie for barbie and 100% always seeks her out for cuddles or a kiss on the cheek, or hand-holding, etc. especially after a day at work and EXTRA when barbie is being cute. which is always.)

who's most likely to apologize after an argument: gloria. i think they're both very rational, but barbie is a bit more stubborn and also an overthinker, so it can be tough to gather up her thoughts and feelings. by the time she wants to apologize, gloria already has.

who makes the first move and how?: both. but gloria starts it. she gets home from a really long, tiring day at work, remembering that sasha had mentioned a project she needed help on, and she's just exhausted. she walks into the house, though, to see barbie at the dining table helping sasha with said-project, nearly finished. dinner's also made on the stove. barbie beams at her and welcomes her home, giving her a big hug and gushing excitedly about how she and sasha worked so hard. sasha goes upstairs to put her stuff away, and barbie has pencil stains on her hand and face, her hair a little windswept, and she looks so simple and so perfect, and gloria says "kiss me." so barbie does.

who is the most insecure and what makes them feel better?: gloria. she doesn't mean to be; she just has some of those days once in a while where everything can feel so difficult. she usually feels better with some alone time. barbie is very understanding of that and loves to set up gloria's home studio with some art supplies and candles and books just in case gloria wants to spend some time in there. she'll also make her some tea/coffee if gloria feels like it

who is the most romantic?: barbie. she is very silly at first as she gets the hang of it (she nearly gets arrested again for trespassing on private property to pick some of gloria's favorite flowers from a garden) but that woman is a LOVERBOY

who can’t keep their hands to themselves?: depends which way… if u mean generally touchy, barbie. if u mean in the saucy way, GLORIA.

who says ‘I love you’ first?: barbie. she says it very passively bc she thought it was obvious, and gloria cries. barbie is kind of like 🧍🏼‍♀️

what do they get up to on a night out?: i feel like they'd love to go to a pottery class where they make stuff for each other. or an arcade. but mainly i think they'd LOVE to go to one of those places where they give you a cake that's already made/baked and you just decorate it. they'd have so much fun and afterwards they'd probably stay up late at home, eating it in the kitchen and just talking for hours

who is more likely to attend the PTA meetings?: barbie

who cried the most at graduation?: BARBIE LMAO. SHE WAS SOBBING.

who is more likely to bail the child(ren) out of trouble with the law?: barbie bc she's like 'i've been there, girl.'

what do they like in bed?: barbie likes to be rough sometimes. she also has a thing for gloria whimpering/moaning right into her ear. little bit of a thing for size. and riding. gets super turned on when gloria gets off on her stomach. gloria likes a bit of dirty talk. queen of giving head. lovessss whispering against barbie's lips while she fingers her slowly. has a thing for marks/bruises, espeically leaving them. teasing/edging barbie is her favorite thing, to the point where barbie gets insanely frustrated (sometimes it results in her getting extra rough and flipping them over)

did any of their friends or family want them to get together?: yes. pretty much everybody. gloria's family thinks barbie is absolutely adorable and they could see how much happier gloria became with her around. sasha, ofc, is barbiegloria's biggest shipper but has to be cool about it

who felt romantic feelings first?: ok i think the obvious answer would be barbie, but i hc it as both. though gloria's were much more level and she was like "fuck." and internally panicked and tried to approach it reasonably, whereas barbie was like OH MY GODDDD IM IN LOVE 😭🥹🥹💘 SHE'S THE LOVE OF MY LIFEEEEEE

did either of them try to resist their feelings?: yes. gloria mainly because she feared the change would be too drastic for sasha and couldn't help but imagine if things didn't work out, how messy it could become

what would their lives be like if they had never met?: barbie would be that packaged box of perfection, but without substance and completely superficial. she would have never known imperfection and the joys of being human and the immeasurable beauty in all the mundane things like reading a book, trying a new food, hearing a pretty song. gloria would be lost to the feeling of those impossible standards and spend her life never being free. never feeling good enough. they truly do liberate one another

were they each other’s first anything (kiss, relationship, etc.)?: gloria was barbie's first everything. barbie was gloria's first love, and the only true one. also the one that outlived and outshined all the others

what’s their height difference? age difference?: gloria is 5'1 and barbie is 5'10 idc. barbie is like 34/35 and gloria is 37

who whispers inappropriate things in the other’s ear?: gloria into barbie's ear, all the time. but once barbie starts doing it, she LOVESSS it. she's so cheeky. and gloria is always death staring her bc she knows damn well they can't do anything

what kind of nicknames do they call each other?: gloria calls barbie honey, mi amor, baby. barbie calls gloria love/my love, babe, and baby also.

who remembers the little things?: barbie mostly.

who’s the stricter parent?: gloria

who worries the most?: gloria. because barbie can be very not careful with some things (like she's still understanding the concept of fire being very hot)

who kills the bugs in the house?: barbie. but she feels bad about it later on and stays up thinking about it sometimes

how do they celebrate holidays?: with gloria's family!

who’s more likely to convince the other to come back to sleep in the morning?: barbieeeee. gloria can't resist that pout and sleepy face

Who’s the better cook?: gloria. her cooking skills are AMAZINGGGGG

who likes to dance?: gloria!! she loves dancing and is great at it omg. that woman can MOVE. she always makes barbie dance with her at family events or any parties where there's music and a dancefloor

bonus random hcs i have written down:

barbie is very athletic and plays beach volleyball and does karate. she works CRAZY hard to get her purple belt, all so she can let sasha have it because that's sasha's favorite color

barbie grows her own roses to make gloria a bouquet for mother's day

gloria teaches barbie how to swim. (barbie has to wear those little kid floaties)

barbie takes her youtube videos very seriously and will be up at like 1am watching a 45 minute video on some shit like how a gecko hatches or something. she'll bump gloria like 'babe look' even though gloria is asleep

they have a little thing they do where they get those paint-by-number sets and do them together. they're collecting them<33

sasha makes barbie do the fire noodle challenge (barbie is sick for like a day)

when barbie gets her first cut/scab, sasha gets her a band-aid and barbie tears up and is all like 'thank you so much sasha. it's beautiful' while petting the band-aid

sasha is like wtf

barbie learns about mood rings and thinks they're actually magical and is so excited to wear it

sasha is like 'i'm gonna tell her it's all based on temperature.' and gloria is all 'no you're not!!'

sasha is a d&d fiend on the dl and barbie asks her about it one day

they proceed to nerd out together

barbie becomes ENAMORED with dragons

barbie and gloria have a shared journal and they take turns writing in it every night before bed

they also have their own book club where they read a book together (barbie especially loves it bc gloria usually reads a chapter or two for them before bed while barbie lays hugging gloria's stomach and gloria plays with her hair.)

ok that's all for now... if i think of any more hcs, i'll make a separate post/pt.2 ☺️

thank you sm for the ask! i hope you like these!!🩷