#Best Procreator services

[tofupixel]

⭐ So you want to learn pixel art? ⭐

🔹 Part 1 of ??? - The Basics!

Edit: Now available in Google Doc format if you don't have a Tumblr account 🥰

Hello, my name is Tofu and I'm a professional pixel artist. I have been supporting myself with freelance pixel art since 2020, when I was let go from my job during the pandemic.

My progress, from 2017 to 2024. IMO the only thing that really matters is time and effort, not some kind of natural talent for art.

This guide will not be comprehensive, as nobody should be expected to read allat. Instead I will lean heavily on my own experience, and share what worked for me, so take everything with a grain of salt. This is a guide, not a tutorial. Cheers!

🔹 Do I need money?

NO!!! Pixel art is one of the most accessible mediums out there.

I still use a mouse because I prefer it to a tablet! You won't be at any disadvantage here if you can't afford the best hardware or software.

Because our canvases are typically very small, you don't need a good PC to run a good brush engine or anything like that.

✨Did you know? One of the most skilled and beloved pixel artists uses MS PAINT! Wow!!

🔹 What software should I use?

Here are some of the most popular programs I see my friends and peers using. Stars show how much I recommend the software for beginners! ⭐

💰 Paid options:

⭐⭐⭐ Aseprite (for PC) - $19.99

This is what I and many other pixel artists use. You may find when applying to jobs that they require some knowledge of Aseprite. Since it has become so popular, companies like that you can swap raw files between artists.

Aseprite is amazingly customizable, with custom skins, scripts and extensions on Itch.io, both free and paid.

If you have ever used any art software before, it has most of the same features and should feel fairly familiar to use. It features a robust animation suite and a tilemap feature, which have saved me thousands of hours of labour in my work. The software is also being updated all the time, and the developers listen to the users. I really recommend Aseprite!

⭐ Photoshop (for PC) - Monthly $$

A decent option for those who already are used to the PS interface. Requires some setup to get it ready for pixel-perfect art, but there are plenty of tutorials for doing so.

Animation is also much more tedious on PS which you may want to consider before investing time!

⭐⭐ ProMotion NG (for PC) - $19.00

An advanced and powerful software which has many features Aseprite does not, including Colour Cycling and animated tiles.

⭐⭐⭐ Pixquare (for iOS) - $7.99 - $19.99 (30% off with code 'tofu'!!)

Probably the best app available for iPad users, in active development, with new features added all the time.

Look! My buddy Jon recommends it highly, and uses it often.

One cool thing about Pixquare is that it takes Aseprite raw files! Many of my friends use it to work on the same project, both in their office and on the go.

⭐ Procreate (for iOS) - $12.99

If you have access to Procreate already, it's a decent option to get used to doing pixel art. It does however require some setup. Artist Pixebo is famously using Procreate, and they have tutorials of their own if you want to learn.

⭐⭐ ReSprite iOS and Android. (free trial, but:) $19.99 premium or $$ monthly

ReSprite is VERY similar in terms of UI to Aseprite, so I can recommend it. They just launched their Android release!

🆓 Free options:

⭐⭐⭐ Libresprite (for PC)

Libresprite is an alternative to Aseprite. It is very, very similar, to the point where documentation for Aseprite will be helpful to Libresprite users.

⭐⭐ Pixilart (for PC and mobile)

A free in-browser app, and also a mobile app! It is tied to the website Pixilart, where artists upload and share their work. A good option for those also looking to get involved in a community.

⭐⭐ Dotpict (for mobile)

Dotpict is similar to Pixilart, with a mobile app tied to a website, but it's a Japanese service. Did you know that in Japanese, pixel art is called 'Dot Art'? Dotpict can be a great way to connect with a different community of pixel artists! They also have prompts and challenges often.

🔹 So I got my software, now what?

◽Nice! Now it's time for the basics of pixel art.

❗ WAIT ❗ Before this section, I want to add a little disclaimer. All of these rules/guidelines can be broken at will, and some 'no-nos' can look amazing when done intentionally.

The pixel-art fundamentals can be exceedingly helpful to new artists, who may feel lost or overwhelmed by choice. But if you feel they restrict you too harshly, don't force yourself! At the end of the day it's your art, and you shouldn't try to contort yourself into what people think a pixel artist 'should be'. What matters is your own artistic expression. 💕👍

◽Phew! With that out of the way...

🔸"The Rules"

There are few hard 'rules' of pixel art, mostly about scaling and exporting. Some of these things will frequently trip up newbies if they aren't aware, and are easy to overlook.

🔹Scaling method

There are a couple ways of scaling your art. The default in most art programs, and the entire internet, is Bi-linear scaling, which usually works out fine for most purposes. But as pixel artists, we need a different method.

Both are scaled up x10. See the difference?

On the left is scaled using Bilinear, and on the right is using Nearest-Neighbor. We love seeing those pixels stay crisp and clean, so we use nearest-neighbor. 

(Most pixel-art programs have nearest-neighbor enabled by default! So this may not apply to you, but it's important to know.)

🔹Mixels

Mixels are when there are different (mixed) pixel sizes in the same image.

Here I have scaled up my art- the left is 200%, and the right is 150%. Yuck!

As we can see, the "pixel" sizes end up different. We generally try to scale our work by multiples of 100 - 200%, 300% etc. rather than 150%. At larger scales however, the minute differences in pixel sizes are hardly noticeable!

Mixels are also sometimes seen when an artist scales up their work, then continues drawing on it with a 1 pixel brush.

Many would say that this is not great looking! This type of pixels can be indicative of a beginner artist. But there are plenty of creative pixel artists out there who mixels intentionally, making something modern and cool.

🔹Saving Your Files

We usually save our still images as .PNGs as they don’t create any JPEG artifacts or loss of quality. It's a little hard to see here, but there are some artifacts, and it looks a little blurry. It also makes the art very hard to work with if we are importing a JPEG.

For animations .GIF is good, but be careful of the 256 colour limit. Try to avoid using too many blending mode layers or gradients when working with animations. If you aren’t careful, your animation could flash afterwards, as the .GIF tries to reduce colours wherever it can. It doesn’t look great!

Here's an old piece from 2021 where I experienced .GIF lossiness, because I used gradients and transparency, resulting in way too many colours.

🔹Pixel Art Fundamentals - Techniques and Jargon

❗❗Confused about Jaggies? Anti-Aliasing? Banding? Dithering? THIS THREAD is for you❗❗ << it's a link, click it!!

As far as I'm concerned, this is THE tutorial of all time for understanding pixel art. These are techniques created and named by the community of people who actually put the list together, some of the best pixel artists alive currently. Please read it!!

🔸How To Learn

Okay, so you have your software, and you're all ready to start. But maybe you need some more guidance? Try these tutorials and resources! It can be helpful to work along with a tutorial until you build your confidence up.

⭐⭐ Pixel Logic (A Digital Book) - $10 A very comprehensive visual guide book by a very skilled and established artist in the industry. I own a copy myself.

⭐⭐⭐ StudioMiniBoss - free A collection of visual tutorials, by the artist that worked on Celeste! When starting out, if I got stuck, I would go and scour his tutorials and see how he did it.

⭐ Lospec Tutorials - free A very large collection of various tutorials from all over the internet. There is a lot to sift through here if you have the time.

⭐⭐⭐ Cyangmou's Tutorials - free (tipping optional) Cyangmou is one of the most respected and accomplished modern pixel artists, and he has amassed a HUGE collection of free and incredibly well-educated visual tutorials. He also hosts an educational stream every week on Twitch called 'pixelart for beginners'.

⭐⭐⭐ Youtube Tutorials - free There are hundreds, if not thousands of tutorials on YouTube, but it can be tricky to find the good ones. My personal recommendations are MortMort, Brandon, and AdamCYounis- these guys really know what they're talking about!

🔸 How to choose a canvas size

When looking at pixel art turorials, we may see people suggest things like 16x16, 32x32 and 64x64. These are standard sizes for pixel art games with tiles. However, if you're just making a drawing, you don't necessarily need to use a standard canvas size like that.

What I like to think about when choosing a canvas size for my illustrations is 'what features do I think it is important to represent?' And make my canvas as small as possible, while still leaving room for my most important elements.

Imagine I have characters in a scene like this:

I made my canvas as small as possible (232 x 314), but just big enough to represent the features and have them be recognizable (it's Good Omens fanart 😤)!! If I had made it any bigger, I would be working on it for ever, due to how much more foliage I would have to render.

If you want to do an illustration and you're not sure, just start at somewhere around 100x100 - 200x200 and go from there.

It's perfectly okay to crop your canvas, or scale it up, or crunch your art down at any point if you think you need a different size. I do it all the time! It only takes a bit of cleanup to get you back to where you were.

🔸Where To Post

Outside of just regular socials, Twitter, Tumblr, Deviantart, Instagram etc, there are a few places that lean more towards pixel art that you might not have heard of.

⭐ Lospec Lospec is a low-res focused art website. Some pieces get given a 'monthly masterpiece' award. Not incredibly active, but I believe there are more features being added often.

⭐⭐ Pixilart Pixilart is a very popular pixel art community, with an app tied to it. The community tends to lean on the young side, so this is a low-pressure place to post with an relaxed vibe.

⭐⭐ Pixeljoint Pixeljoint is one of the big, old-school pixel art websites. You can only upload your art unscaled (1x) because there is a built-in zoom viewer. It has a bit of a reputation for being elitist (back in the 00s it was), but in my experience it's not like that any more. This is a fine place for a pixel artist to post if they are really interested in learning, and the history. The Hall of Fame has some of the most famous / impressive pixel art pieces that paved the way for the work we are doing today.

⭐⭐⭐ Cafe Dot Cafe Dot is my art server so I'm a little biased here. 🍵 It was created during the recent social media turbulence. We wanted a place to post art with no algorithms, and no NFT or AI chuds. We have a heavy no-self-promotion rule, and are more interested in community than skill or exclusivity. The other thing is that we have some kind of verification system- you must apply to be a Creator before you can post in the Art feed, or use voice. This helps combat the people who just want to self-promo and dip, or cause trouble, as well as weed out AI/NFT people. Until then, you are still welcome to post in any of the threads or channels. There is a lot to do in Cafe Dot. I host events weekly, so check the threads!

⭐⭐/r/pixelart The pixel art subreddit is pretty active! I've also heard some of my friends found work through posting here, so it's worth a try if you're looking. However, it is still Reddit- so if you're sensitive to rude people, or criticism you didn't ask for, you may want to avoid this one. Lol

🔸 Where To Find Work

You need money? I got you! As someone who mostly gets scouted on social media, I can share a few tips with you:

Put your email / portfolio in your bio Recruiters don't have all that much time to find artists, make it as easy as possible for someone to find your important information!

Clean up your profile If your profile feed is all full of memes, most people will just tab out rather than sift through. Doesn't apply as much to Tumblr if you have an art tag people can look at.

Post regularly, and repost Activity beats everything in the social media game. It's like rolling the dice, and the more you post the more chances you have. You have to have no shame, it's all business baby

Outside of just posting regularly and hoping people reach out to you, it can be hard to know where to look. Here are a few places you can sign up to and post around on.

/r/INAT INAT (I Need A Team) is a subreddit for finding a team to work with. You can post your portfolio here, or browse for people who need artists.

/r/GameDevClassifieds Same as above, but specifically for game-related projects.

Remote Game Jobs / Work With Indies Like Indeed but for game jobs. Browse them often, or get email notifications.

VGen VGen is a website specifically for commissions. You need a code from another verified artist before you can upgrade your account and sell, so ask around on social media or ask your friends. Once your account is upgraded, you can make a 'menu' of services people can purchase, and they send you an offer which you are able to accept, decline, or counter.

The evil websites of doom: Fiverr and Upwork I don't recommend them!! They take a big cut of your profit, and the sites are teeming with NFT and AI people hoping to make a quick buck. The site is also extremely oversaturated and competitive, resulting in a race to the bottom (the cheapest, the fastest, doing the most for the least). Imagine the kind of clients who go to these websites, looking for the cheapest option. But if you're really desperate...

🔸 Community

I do really recommend getting involved in a community. Finding like-minded friends can help you stay motivated to keep drawing. One day, those friends you met when you were just starting out may become your peers in the industry. Making friends is a game changer!

Discord servers Nowadays, the forums of old are mostly abandoned, and people split off into many different servers. Cafe Dot, Pixel Art Discord (PAD), and if you can stomach scrolling past all the AI slop, you can browse Discord servers here.

Twitch Streams Twitch has kind of a bad reputation for being home to some of the more edgy gamers online, but the pixel art community is extremely welcoming and inclusive. Some of the people I met on Twitch are my friends to this day, and we've even worked together on different projects! Browse pixel art streams here, or follow some I recommend: NickWoz, JDZombi, CupOhJoe, GrayLure, LumpyTouch, FrankiePixelShow, MortMort, Sodor, NateyCakes, NyuraKim, ShinySeabass, I could go on for ever really... There are a lot of good eggs on Pixel Art Twitch.

🔸 Other Helpful Websites

Palettes Lospec has a huge collection of user-made palettes, for any artist who has trouble choosing their colours, or just wants to try something fun. Rejected Palettes is full of palettes that didn't quite make it onto Lospec, ran by people who believe there are no bad colours.

The Spriters Resource TSR is an incredible website where users can upload spritesheets and tilesets from games. You can browse for your favourite childhood game, and see how they made it! This website has helped me so much in understanding how game assets come together in a scene.

VGMaps Similar to the above, except there are entire maps laid out how they would be played. This is incredible if you have to do level design, or for mocking up a scene for fun.

Game UI Database Not pixel-art specific, but UI is a very challenging part of graphics, so this site can be a game-changer for finding good references!

Retronator A digital newspaper for pixel-art lovers! New game releases, tutorials, and artworks!

Itch.io A website where people can upload, games, assets, tools... An amazing hub for game devs and game fans alike. A few of my favourite tools: Tiled, PICO-8, Pixel Composer, Juice FX, Magic Pencil for Aseprite

🔸 The End?

This is just part 1 for now, so please drop me a follow to see any more guides I release in the future. I plan on doing some writeups on how I choose colours, how to practise, and more!

I'm not an expert by any means, but everything I did to get to where I am is outlined in this guide. Pixel art is my passion, my job and my hobby! I want pixel art to be recognized everywhere as an art-form, a medium of its own outside of game-art or computer graphics!

This guide took me a long time, and took a lot of research and experience. Consider following me or supporting me if you are feeling generous.

And good luck to all the fledgling pixel artists, I hope you'll continue and have fun. I hope my guide helped you, and don't hesitate to send me an ask if you have any questions! 💕

My other tutorials (so far): How to draw Simple Grass for a game Hue Shifting

[art]

Creator Spotlight: @jdebbiel

Deb JJ Lee is a non-binary Korean artist based in Brooklyn, NY. They have appeared in the New Yorker, New York Times, NPR, Google, Radiolab, and more. Their award-winning graphic memoir, IN LIMBO, about mental illness and difficult relationships with trauma, released in March 2023 from First Second.

Below is our interview with Deb!

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

That implies I am over my art block, but I’m still in it! I think about Kiki’s Delivery Service a lot and how she had to stop doing a thing, and that you can’t really force it, and you have to let it come back to you. It’s a pretty humbling moment, realizing there is more to life than just drawing. I’ve been trying to consume other content like reading or watching movies—anything that is not drawing-related—and to trust that it will come back to me. I think not being afraid to do the small pieces before committing to the big pieces is helpful. Because big pieces are what I am known for, I dig myself into a deeper hole, thinking that each piece has to be bigger than the last one. So yeah! Relaxing and doing the small things before overcommitting to a big piece is the best way to go about it for me.

Which 3 famous artists (dead or alive) would you invite to your dinner party?

I feel like these are all artists that I have second-degree connections with! Jillian Tamaki, Victo Ngai, and Tillie Walden would be my picks!

What are your file name conventions?

…What file name conventions? I mean, I don’t have specific file name conventions, but I actually have a public Google Drive archive! But I usually put “djjl_whatever-the-title-is_final,” and I would always know it’s the final and legit version.

What is a recent creative project that you are proud of?

I did an illustration for the whiskey brand Johnnie Walker. It’s so wild because I only had four days to finish it, and it usually takes me a week and a half if I rush. And honestly, it’s probably one of my best pieces from this year, which is funny. It was for the Mid-Autumn festival, so I made it as Korean as possible.

How has technology changed the way you approach your work?

I only use my iPad to draw everything now, and if I want to pretend that I have a steady workstation, I’ll use my Cintiq. I still am not as comfortable on the Cintiq as I am on Procreate, but it’s still pretty solid and nice. That’s the good part about technology. The bad part about technology is how AI art has been messing things up for me. I’m currently in a lawsuit about AI art as a class rep. Some of my stuff got turned into AI art late last year, so I have to give a deposition at some point. 

What is a convention experience that has stuck with you?

Honestly, they’re all good! I feel like Lightbox Expo has been really nice because it’s truly been a convention for artists. I feel like that’s where most of my audience is, and they’re all around because their purpose is to be better at art. That’s where a lot of original artists do well because they’re getting art they’re inspired by, not so much fanart. I like the Lightbox Expo because it encompasses the pure love of art very well. 

Top tips on setting up an Artist Alley booth?

Use a Y axis, not just your X axis! Take advantage of it! Branding is also something to think about. It is definitely something I’m getting better at. Having an assistant is also very important. I’ve also heard that 8.5x11 to 12x18 inches is usually a good size for prints, but I also provide postcard-sized prints because sometimes people don’t want to commit to a larger size. 

Who on Tumblr inspires you and why?

You know this is so funny. I’ve been following @alicexz for over a decade on Tumblr and other platforms. I’ve followed her work since high school, and we’ve only recently become peers. I found her, and we met for the first time in real life, and she recognized me. And then I found all my drawings from when I was in my Alice phase, back in high school, and I was like, “Yo, this is when I was trying to be you so badly!” and she was cracking up and was like “Wow, this is so good!” It was such a sweet moment. I wanted to take a picture of her holding my drawing up. It’s really nice because now we’re peers.

Thank you so much for stopping by and sharing, Deb! Be sure to check out their Tumblr blog over at @jdebbiel.

[dingodad]

Do you ever think about how Homestuck connects male homosexuality to misogyny? I think this relates to how Homestuck treats gender as a whole but I haven't connected the dots yet. What do you think?

homestuck absolutely plays with the classical tradition of Platonic homosexuality wherein women are always secondary to relationships between men. (Dirk's fascination with classical philosophy even comes close to making the allusion explicit.) one could - and indeed some have - comment on the negative way this reflects on homestuck's gay characters overall; but in the interest of fairness, it's not like homestuck is necessarily bloated with heterosexual guys who have a lot of respect for women, either. because like you say the comic's approach to sexuality goes hand in hand with the class-based approach to gender i refer to in my terezi post; we should not think of the characters' sexualities thru the lens of identity politics but rather as a relationship to power dynamics.

as the cherubs so often are, Caliborn is this concept distilled to its most overt and easily identifiable form. because he comes from a race which is by its fundamental nature heterosexual; even subtracting our own (or Aranea's) preconceptions about maleness and femaleness, the entire mythological purpose of the cherubs is steeped in this sexual struggle between two opposing cosmic forces. but we also understand that, even though cherubs need to form heterosexual couplings to procreate, cherub women and men don't actually like each other - they approach each other with hatred and animosity justified as "black romance". and this is clearly reflected in Caliborn's own behaviour: he's ready and eager to treat women as sex objects (or at least, to weaponise sex in aim of objectifying them), but he's clearly not someone who 'likes women'. Caliborn is gay! all of the relationships he assigns any value to are with other men! it's the same logic by which Scratch can sincerely claim to be "asexual" in the face of accusations of grooming - the presence or absence of sex in the relationship ultimately is not relevant. only power is.

it spawned a little bit of controversy in the group chat when I similarly tried to assert that Equius is a "gay" character. he pursues women sexually, yes - but his whole relationship to women is tied up in this complex of genderacial superiority, and with his final breath he proves that his life's purpose is really in service of upholding the power of the men above him. his love for men comes before his like for women, always.

beautifulyounglady and Marilyn Frye will always have put it best, though:

Choosing the boys over a woman is so gay that even real homosexuals don't do that shit. Straight men are in the true cult of the cock, gay men are just normal men that have sex with men.

"To say that straight men are heterosexual is only to say that they engage in sex (fucking exclusively with the other sex, i.e., women). All or almost all of that which pertains to love, most straight men reserve exclusively for other men. [...] Heterosexual male culture is homoerotic; it is man-loving." --Marilyn Frye, The Politics of Reality, pages 134-135

POST IS LONG and my response to the next part of the ask about gamzee is more speculative so i'm putting it under here 👇

Gamzee absolutely fits into the established mould - for all his characteristic objectification of women, he rarely if ever seems to show them any affection. that being said, I don't know if he's inversely "man-loving" enough to be identified as homosexual in the same way Equius or Caliborn are? I suppose there are a couple of rare examples of male affection from Gamzee - toward Karkat as a moirail, or Tavros as a severed head - but even these are characterised by exercises of power... my instinct is to compare him to Scratch in this respect: sex is within his arsenal of power plays, but submission isn't in the same way it is for Equius or even for Caliborn (who frequently fixates on the men prophesied to usurp him in battle), because it's only ever with the aim of elevating himself.

which I suppose is his position as the highest echelon of Alternian masculinity - a true alpha male, as compared to the chronically beta Equius. he - or his caste - is after all the very ideal which the troll patriarchy seeks to uphold; when even other men are beneath him, "man-loving" becomes synonymous with elevating himself. to this end, it might not even matter to Gamzee whether Terezi is a boy or a girl - the way it matters to other misogynic forces like Eridan - because male-servant and female-servant are relationally the same to him? if we wanted to get really in the weeds analysing the Gamzee-Terezi relationship psychosexually, it could be that positioning her as masculine legislacerator, as his ancestor did to Latula, is part of the power-play.

his later relationship with Jane, who similarly exerts masculine authority, could be taken as illustrative of this same tendency - on the complete other hand, the parent-play at work in their relationship suggests the contrary? having never had someone "above him" (a lusus OR an immediate superior on the genderacial spectrum), for Gamzee to position a lover as a mother figure is ALSO a kind of power-play.

THE NUANCES OF THE CLOWN MIND TRULY BOGGLE

[mar3ggiata]

remember historical au / world war two simon riley x oc fic?

you can find the first thought here

here’s more on that

okay what happened is, society regressed into literal poverty because all resources were given by governments to fund the war.

when women took charge of the European central bank, they stopped funding for weapons and focused on rebuilding the economy, fixing the cities, hospitals, getting back to agricolture and basic services and infrastructure, saving what was left. one of the major problems was natality. with the men at war.

so, once a few of them came back, they made a deal, men and women. that they would try their best to procreate, just for the sake of society.

so, ghost survives years of battle only to find himself in Switzerland, he meets OurGirl and she takes him into her home cause every woman needs to help at least one man. not in a sexual way, they’re looking for a place to hide, quite literally. so, she helps him out, says he can stay until it’s safe for him to go back home. he doesn’t have a home anymore, they both know.

two kids live with OurGirl. they’re not her children, they’re ‘adopted’. orphans. Kid1 is a 11 year old girl, Kid2 is only 3. ghost has no choice but to adapt to his new life. and still, he lives in fear the russian are going to bang on his door (his new house door) and take him away, kill him in front of his fake wife and fake kids.

remember what i said about having children for the sake of society? yeah. yeah…

imagine, they both don’t even remember how to fuck. so cute.

//ok what do you think???

[astrology-by-sita]

ON CAPRICORN RISINGS ♑️

This is a part of a series on the rising signs not necessarily in Zodiacal order.

Capricorn risings wish for one thing and it's material security, self sufficiency. Where you have aquarius in the chart is what you wish for. They have for aquarius in 2h so they wish for 2h stuff. Saturn also rules their 1h so their whole identity and personality is affected by a lack of finances and self sufficiency early in life. Especially night charts. Sagittarius in the 12th house - resistant to chance, to getting out of their comfort zone.

Saturn their ruler exalts in libra 10h and debilitates in aries 4h so if they keep thinking about the past, it will get them nowhere. 10h is very misunderstood and capricorns are misunderstood as well. 10h is not as traditional as 4h. 4h is following the customs of your ancestors and nation, 10h is carving your own path. So that's how capricorns exalt - by carving their own path in life and not allowing traditions to dictate them!

No, they're not all workaholics and CEOs. Capricorn is about cultivating your own life path independently and accomplishing what you want with effort, integrity, patience and persistance. Whatever that life path may be. It can even be a spiritual path or quest! A great spiritual leader is Swami Vivekananda, Capricorn rising with an exalted 10h saturn. Doesn't fit the pop astro stereotype you had in mind, right?

Capricorns can be fun, bubbly and cheerful. They're not all serious. After all, Venus rules their 5h and 10h so embodying joyful Venusian and 5h traits is part their reputation (10h). Venus rejoices in 5h and it rules their 5h and 10h, they can be oriented towards creative careers. Check the condition of Venus to discover their creative spirit.

They are the happiest when they marry for love - and love alone! Not for status or gain. Their 7h ruler, the moon, debilitates in scorpio in the 11th house of material gains, and exalts in the 5th house of romance. The goal for their marriage should be romance, creativity, procreation, fun... 5th house stuff. They can be attracted to partners of lunar and 5th house nature so people who are nurturing,stable,practical,grounded, artistic,good with children,kind, family-oriented, somehow introverted.

Their ruler saturn debilitates in 8h in leo, the house of relying on others. Relying on others doesn't benefit them in the long run though maybe in the short run only. The 2h is the house of self sufficiency and it's what they truly want. When independent, secure and self sufficient, they're at their best.

They have virgo (The Hermit in tarot) in the 9h and mercury also rules their 6h. Faith and spirituality for them comes hand in hand with practical acts of service. Their 10h ruler exalts in 3h pisces so it's great for their career to speak up and voice their opinions, express themselves, not be afraid to upset status quo. As I mentioned again caps are meant to shake up the status quo and carve their own path independently, not follow traditions - 4h - or depend on others - 8h.

Eventually they become spiritual and wise. Especially day charts because jupiter rules their 12th house and 3rd house (yes, 3rd house is spiritual cause traditionally it's the house of the Goddess).

[mirageofadesert]

Female Power Done Right: A closer look at Pian Ran from TTEOTM

The seductress: regulating sexual morality

Female characters have always been stereotyped in popular media. While this isn't limited to the portrayal of women, it has affected them disproportionately and usually in a negative way. There are a number of common stereotypes of how women are portrayed, such as the virtuous woman, the seductress/femme fatale, the Mary Sue and more. While I don't want to say that TTOETM doesn't rely on these kinds of stereotypes to tell its story, the show does get some things right when it comes to its female characters. Pian Ran is the best example of this.

Most temptress are villains, because female sexuality is often framed as something negative, something dangerous. Sexual morality serves to regulate gender relations, for example through various sexual taboos and prohibitions on premarital and extramarital sexuality or homosexuality. In the major religions and many cultures, sexuality is traditionally placed in the service of procreation. In the ascetic-monastic traditions of Hinduism, Buddhism and Christianity, which are characterized by sexual renunciation, sexuality is equated with ignorance, desire, attachment or sin and is considered an obstacle to salvation. As women are identified more strongly with physicality than men, sexuality and instinctually in all the religions mentioned, the widely received stereotype of the sexual seductress emerges, which has been used to justify a wide range of discrimination.

Therefore, seductresses are not about female sexuality, they are (through the male gaze) objects of sexual desire for men, while also being a negation point of sexual morality. Virtuous women, especially protagonists, are often sexualised, but not portrayed as sexual beings. In contrast, sexual women are often the competition of the main character. They tend to use their physical attractiveness to attack or steal the main character's love interest, or to overpower the hero with their evil tricks. For this reason, they are often associated with animals that are seen as deceitful, cunning, poisonous or dangerous (e.g. snakes, scorpions, foxes).

At the first glance, Pian Ran fits this archetype well. She is a fox demon, who feeds on the life energy of men. She seduces them, using their sexuality for her own gain and entertainment. Pian Ran also dresses "provocatively" and doesn't conform to social conventions. When we first meet her, she is playing the historical version of strip poker, not just for the money, but because the desperate men amuse her. In the same episode, she forces Ye Qingyu to accompany her to the market and uses her sensuality to throw him off balance.

However, Pianran also subverts this trope. Her sexuality isn't portrayed as something negative, it's accepted by the people around her. Ye Qingyu never judges her for it, even though he is the polar opposite. Ye Xiwu never looks down on her either, instead she comes to him for advice and even flirts with her.

Sun Zhenni's performance deserves a lot of praise. Her sexiness doesn't feel "sticky" or "creepy" to me, like many other characters of similar type do. She has a natural sensuality that isn't over the top, more sassy than naughty. You can tell that she studied her character a lot and tried to portray her as nuanced as possible.

Pian Ran is also much more than just another fox demon and seductress. She is a complex character. But her main theme isn't really seduction - it's working life.

Pian Ran vs. work life

This theme runs throughout the drama, from Li Susu offering her a letter of recommendation for a particular sect when they first meet, to Pianran's work for Tantai Jin - and her resentment of it.

She has to work to survive - literally, as Tantai Jin tricks her into believing she has swallowed a pill that will give him control over her life. "Take the pill", which will change your life and take away your freedom, is also a reminder of how certain drugs and their side effects work. While she's not without a certain amount of freedom and has her own command within the Jing Kingdom, she's tied to Tantai Jin's command and rigorous work schedule.

Our girl is a for sure a regular on r/antiwork...

This theme makes her a relatable and likeable character. It also shows how her character is a comment on current social issues, beyond gender roles. This is one of the strengths of TTOETM, it’s strong social and moral message that goes beyond the plot of the drama.

Pian Ran vs. love life

As a character, Ye Qingyu is the opposite of Pian Ran: Virtuous, very righteous and rigid. But he never judges her for her behaviour, he always understands her and gives her space. And most importantly, neither of them changes who they are as their relationship progresses. She doesn't suddenly become a modest woman, he doesn't turn away from his ideals - except maybe in that cut arc in Jing Kingdom in the 3rd arc.

In many ways, Ye Qingyu and Pian Ran embody the classic trope of the seductive and virtuous hero: she affects men in a certain way that causes them to stray from the straight and narrow or interferes with their domestic arrangements. For example, when he spends the first night with her and thus neglects his duties as head of the family, or when she contributes to his changing sides and joining Tantai Jin. In short, she is disruptive.

When she advises Ye Xiwu/Li Susu on how to seduce Tantai Jin, she suggests various manipulation tactics to gain his attention and favour, but Pian Ran also gives genuine advice - to both of them, actually (although sometimes it's my accident).

One could make the argument, that they were aiming to frame her initial strong sexuality as a coping mechanism due to the loss of her husband and love threads. The absence of her love threads manifests quite different to Tantai Jin, mainly in form of attachment issues.

However, the show doesn't try to make a point about female sexuality by emphasizing a change in Pianran's behavior based on finding the right man. If anything, it's Ye Qingyue who meets her halfway by having a premarital affair. What I like most about their relationship is that they are each other's equals. They both have high ranks in Tantai Jin's kingdom and army, and he listens to their advice and treats them equally. Moreover, Pian Ran is never a damsel in distress. Even when Ye Qingyue dies for her, it is because she was blindsided by the attack while she was winning her own duel. In the end, she shares the fate of most seductresses who disrupt the social order - she dies (if they don't join a convent). The difference is that her death is a tragedy and not framed as a regulation of sexual morality and gender relations.

Female Friendship

Before I dive into the relationship of Li Susu and Pianran, I want to comment on the common dualism of the sensuous vs. the virtuous woman. Li Susu (or Ye Xiwu) is not the virtuous heroine, it’s (again) Ye Bingchang mirroring Pian Ran. This is something that subverts the whole trope! It's the virtuous woman who become disruptive and falls from grace, while Pianran becomes a righteous heroine. However, while Pianran doesn't become virtuous, Ye Bingchang tries and fails to use seduction to manipulate Tantai Jin. She also has an additional set of love threads that make her seductive to men without using her sensuality or sexuality. It's a fascinating dynamic. As I said, TTEOTM is not a perfect show with a feminist message, but it certainly tries to subvert gender stereotypes - and not just with its women, but that's another issue.

Pian Ran's third important role in TTOETM is that of Li Susu's friend, who supports and guides her. What makes their dynamic so interesting is that while Pian Ran looks younger than Li Susu, she is considerably older (well, if you count age by years lived, not by date of birth). They are flirtatious, they share a horse and a bed, and they pass the Bechtel test! Li Susu even risks her health to cure Pian Ran of Tantai Jin's blood curse.

Both subvert gender expectations in their own way. They are strong characters without abandoning their femininity. The empowerment and the feminist ideas, they are embodying, also come natural to the storyline and are not just tropes. Therefore, they are relatable characters for a modern audience (except when they are not).

Edit: Got rid of some spelling mistakes!

[alicentalicent]

Women’s Captivity - Alicent’s liberation in the context of her different prisons

Alicent’s liberation arc may seem rushed to some, too humiliating for others, maybe the ideas were there and the execution was not the best, perhaps it is a bit on the nose. But I think the themes explored so far are part of a bigger structure where Alicent becomes the vessel of all the roles a woman can be expected to perform in society. And in trying to find her freedom and extricate herself from the burden of being a woman, she could find both her liberation and her doom.

The concepts from this essay are taken from “Women's Captivity: mother-wives, nuns, whores, prisoners and madwomen” by Marcela Lagarde y de los Ríos. This is her doctoral thesis, a pioneering text in Women’s Anthropology that attempts to understand, with a feminist gaze, the conditions of women’s oppression and domination.

Translations are mine, the original text is in Spanish.

The generic condition of women has been built historically, and it’s one of the creations of patriarchal cultures and societies. Power defines the condition of women. And the condition of women is oppressive by the dependence, subjection, subalternity and willing servitude of women in relation to the world. It is also oppressive by defining women as lacking beings, capable of renouncing, whose basic attitude consists of being capable in every moment of consummating their surrender to others, and incapable of becoming autonomous. This difficulty of women to constitute themselves in subjects is called “learned impotence”.

Marcela Lagarde has named captivity this political-cultural expression of the condition of women. Women are captive of their condition in the patriarchal world, because they have been deprived of vital autonomy, agency, and the possibility of choosing and deciding over the fundamental facts of their lives and the world. This captivity is expressed in the lack of freedom, conceived as being protagonists in the social subjects of history, and the particular subjects in the society and culture.

There are few and defined ways of being a woman, and Lagarde groups them as follows:

The mother-wife: is a captivity built around the essential and positive definition of women: procreation, motherhood and conjugality. The erotism of the mother-wife vanishes to prioritize procreation. Mother-wife is  monogamous, virginal, good, faithful, chaste.

The whore: embodies the eros and denied feminine desire.Their being-of-others expresses itself in the availability (historically accomplished) to establish the vital bond while being used erotically by diverse men, which do not establish permanent bonds with them. Whore is the opposite of a mother-wife and her traits. 

The nun: simultaneously embodies the sacred denial of the mother-wife and the whore. Nuns do not procreate or bond with others through eroticism. But this mutilation finds its social realization through the sublimated conjugal bond with the divine power. That way they realize their femininity. The denial of the body and the eros, the renunciation and surrender define these women that abandon their protagonism and the direct benefit of their acts of service, instead giving them and themselves to others.

The prisoner: concretizes the generic prison, both material and subjectively; the household is a jail. And when they are prisoners in the literal sense, they are objectively re-imprisoned by the power institutions. Their crimes are an assault on what a woman should be, so their imprisonment sets an example to teach the rest of women.

The madwoman: they act the generic insanity of all women, whose paradigm is the masculine rationality. But madness is as well one of the cultural spaces that come from both the accomplishment and the transgression of femininity. Women are driven mad for being too much of a woman, or for not being enough of a woman, or to not be a woman. 

House, convent, brothel, prison and asylum are specific places where women are held captive. Society and culture compulsively make each woman take her place in one of these places, and sometimes more than one simultaneously. When women try to escape from captivity finding new types of life, they are evaluated within the rigid feminine stereotypes and if they do not conform, are classified as bad women, sick, incapable, weird, insane.”

Alicent and her captivities

It becomes pretty clear Alicent’s main captivity is being a mother-wife. Married at 15, without the chance to say no, her purpose in life became birthing the children of the King through marital rape she endured for years. She tried to embody all mother-wife traits: faithful, chaste, good, monogamous. She could not explore eroticism in this role, it was secondary to her main purpose of motherhood.

Then I would argue that when Viserys' sickness advanced, her marital duties changed from providing children to being the main caretaker of the King. Fulfilling her femininity through her acts of service and not through a sexual relation, like the Nun. She also poured herself into the Faith of the Seven, and by centering the divine power in her life, she tried to quench the guilt she felt about not being a better mother, or succumbing to anger (see: Driftmark), both failures on her duty as a mother-wife.

Once Viserys dies, Alicent turns to the eroticism and desire she couldn’t embody in her conjugal bond, becoming the Whore. Her short-lived relationship with Cole showed her that in trying to reclaim her body in this way, she only made herself available to be used erotically by a man that wanted her to maintain her place as a woman.

We see Alicent becoming more and more exhausted by her captivity, and that’s when she decides to go to the woods, the physicality of leaving the Red Keep giving her breathing space to visualize a life where she is free from these shackles. I could write an entirely different essay focusing on her relationship with Rhaenyra and what those feelings mean for her as a person, as a woman. But for now I just want to bask in the poetry of Alicent going to Rhaenyra instead of just running away, deciding to put her life on the line, in a final act of surrender. Is it really different, this captivity?

We know the Queen in Chains arc is coming, but we don’t know how it will play out. I think it could be categorically different in some ways. Alicent chose herself and her feelings, she wanted to go to the one person who loved her just for being who she is, not because of the role she performed in life. Maybe the captivity of being an actual prisoner during the Queen in Chains arc could give her a freedom she hasn’t experienced: not being bound to a duty, not being obligated to perform, and just be. Alicent has never been able to just be, and exist. I’m not really sure of any of this, I just enjoy thinking about the possibilities, and the subversion of what a regular imprisonment arc could be.

The final captivity is being the madwoman. We also know this is where Alicent's story ends, but I also think there’s a lot of room to interpret how she gets there, and how losing insanity could be a complete refusal from her to partake in society, once all the horrible things that will happen in the future play out. Not to mention that the bar to classify women as lunatics in medieval times was very very low. 

The most important part of what they're doing with Alicent’s liberation arc is that she is trying. If she is successful or not, we are yet to really see. But at least she is fighting against the “learned impotence” mentioned by Lagarde, she is trying to be an agent with voice, with the power to affect the tides–for better or for worse, it doesn’t really matter. What matters is that she found that strength within her to resist. 

[anitalenia]

hii i luv your work soo much and also the headers and the stuff you make is rlly good 😻 i was wondering if it’s too difficult to make the headers etc? specially the ones that are more like gifs? and also is it too hard to find the images? bc honestly i haven’t seen a lot of them, just wondering! i get it if you don’t want to share i just genuinely think that the work is rlly rlly good<3 (sorry for such a long ask omgg)

Omg thank you so much hi hi 🥹🥹💞💞💖💖🌸🌸 first of all thank you so much for liking my work and supporting me, I so so appreciate it ✨✨🫂🫂💐💐 And omgggg you’re making me BLUSH thank you thank you thank you for the kind words 😭😭🫂💞💞 I love when people compliment my works it makes me feel like I’m doing something right 😫💐💐 flowers for you for being so great ✨💐💐🌷🌷🌹🌹🌸🌸

To answer your question, the dividers and headers are actually very easy to make. The animated dividers I make aren’t difficult per se, they just involve a few more steps than making a normal divider does. As for my animated headers that I use for my fics or masterlists and what not those are also pretty easy. I’ll try to explain a little more about what I use in depth below. If you would like a detailed walk through explaining how I make them I could do that as well 💕 Prepare yourself, there’s a lot 😭💖

⋆ ˚｡⋆୨୧˚ 𝐀𝐏𝐏𝐒 / 𝐖𝐄𝐁𝐒𝐈𝐓𝐄𝐒 𝐈 𝐔𝐒𝐄 — Picsart, Pinterest, PicCollage, Vita, Polarr, GIPHY, Photopea, Etsy, DeviantArt, Phonto, ezgif.com, onlinegiftools.com, Iloveimg.com, various fancy font generators (I don’t use these anymore, I use an app now for fonts, but this is what I used to use the most), various sparkle emoji combos + decorative text ( I use this one a lot + there are a lot of symbol apps on the App Store you can download, I have two apps that I use from time to time )

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⊹ ࣪ ˖ 𝑷𝒊𝒄𝒔𝒂𝒓𝒕 ⊹₊ ⋆ This is a photo editing service / app I use to make regular dividers. They have a lot of aesthetic / cute stickers and pngs like the ones I use in a lot of my dividers. They have a transparent background option I love that makes it easy to make a divider. You can save the stickers you like to a collection and follow artists / users you like as well. I 10/10 recommend this one. They also have a bunch of photo editing software like cropping, retouching, etc. if you’re into that.

.𖥔 ݁ ˖ 𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐒 — You have to buy Picsart Pro to use a lot of the “pro quality” services, and the better quality stickers not made by an individual user (I.e. stickers Picsart itself has created) are not accessible to users not subscribed to Pro. Also, when you crop an image Picsart has a certain limit to how thin it can go, so I use an image cropping website I mentioned above Iloveimg.com. I only use Picsart for divider making purposes though so I don’t have to worry about allat. Not compatible with animation / gifs

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⊹ ࣪ ˖ 𝑬𝒕𝒔𝒚 ⊹₊ ⋆ This is one of my favorite shopping apps in general. If you don’t know about Etsy it’s a small business / individually owned business kind of shopping app. There’s a lot of different stores / sellers that sell a bunch of different things. It’s a good place to buy dividers for very cheap, less than $5 dollars, I’ve also bought pngs / stickers as well. I’ll buy a divider pack from time to time and edit them however I please. I never just buy a divider pack and claim it as my own on Tumblr, I always edit them in some way that fits more to what I want. It’s just a good starting point in my opinion. Of course, you can probably find simple dividers online, only you know what’s best for you. Also, this is just a good place for anything web related in general ( they have sticker packs, dividers, procreate brushes, decorative elements, really anything you want for a relatively small price)

. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁ . ⊹ ₊ ݁. . ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁ . ⊹ ₊ ݁. . ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁ . ⊹ ₊ ݁.

⊹ ࣪ ˖ 𝑷𝒉𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒐 ⊹₊ ⋆ This is an app for fonts. Unlike the usual fonts you see in fancy font generators (𝔱𝔥𝔦𝔰, 𝓽𝓱𝓲𝓼, 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜, 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬, 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔, etc.) Phonto lets you upload your own fonts to use on pics. Using font websites you can upload whatever fonts you like in just a couple seconds. I personally like to use Dafont.com for my fonts. You can also use dingbat fonts / decorative element fonts. Not compatible with animation / gifs

. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁ . ⊹ ₊ ݁. . ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁ . ⊹ ₊ ݁. . ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁ . ⊹ ₊ ݁.

⊹ ࣪ ˖ 𝑷𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒕 ⊹₊ ⋆ Who doesn’t know Pinterest?? Literally my favorite app ever. I use Pinterest for image inspo / my aesthetic images. Here’s my Pinterest if you’re curious. This is besides the point but I used to be a Wattpad girly so I have a lot of boards relating to my past OC’s and wattpad stories (like 2016) 😭💕 You can search up literally anything / any aesthetic and the pictures / gifs that relate to it will pop up. Very easy to use and so much fun to make your own boards and stuff. I spend hours organizing my pins, I need to get back into it tbh 😿

.𖥔 ݁ ˖ 𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐒 — Users upload a lot of fan made art that isn’t always crediting the original artists who made it. I have found some jjk fan art I use for my headers but no source as to who the original creator is. A lot of profiles do give credit tho so that’s good.

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⊹ ࣪ ˖ 𝑷𝒊𝒄𝑪𝒐𝒍𝒍𝒂𝒈𝒆 ⊹₊ ⋆ This is the same service made by the people who created Picsart. I use this for many purposes. I mainly use it to combine my animated gifs with still images and combine animated dividers together with other dividers. To be honest it’s hard to explain what I use it for specifically but it’s just good for combining gifs and still images into one.

.𖥔 ݁ ˖ 𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐒 — I don’t think there is a transparent background option, so I have to use a certain website mentioned above to remove gif backgrounds. You also can’t crop the image and unless you pay for no watermark it gives you one. It saves animated dividers / gifs as videos, so I go to Ezgif to make it into a gif and crop the image to remove the watermark. Again, this one is a little hard to explain.

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⊹ ࣪ ˖ 𝑽𝒊𝒕𝒂 ⊹₊ ⋆ This is a free app I use that’s a rip off of the “real app” I used to have. The “real app” started charging for its services and so I moved to this one. It’s completely the same and FREE. This is where I apply text to my gifs and add the motion to it. Like how my masterlist header is, where it spins and flips, this is the app where I apply those effects. Side note, this is a good starting app for making edit videos like you see on Tiktok. You can turn off the watermark for free.

.𖥔 ݁ ˖ 𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐒 — This app also turns gifs / animations into a video when you go to save it, so again I go to Ezgif to turn it back into a gif.

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⊹ ࣪ ˖ 𝑷𝒐𝒍𝒂𝒓𝒓 ⊹₊ ⋆ This is my favorite filter app for photos. Has very aesthetic filters that I use for my still images and as of recently my Pinterest boards as well. Not compatible with animation / gifs

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⊹ ࣪ ˖ 𝑮𝒊𝒑𝒉𝒚 ⊹₊ ⋆ I use this app solely for its stickers. You can find sparkles, butterflies, hearts, anything you want with a transparent background and turn it into a divider. I use this app mostly for gathering animated stickers to make my animated dividers.

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⊹ ࣪ ˖ 𝑷𝒉𝒐𝒕𝒐𝒑𝒆𝒂 ⊹₊ ⋆ This is my go-to for applying effects / filters to gifs or animations. I use this to add filters to my animated headers. I download PSD’s from DeviantArt and use those filters for my gifs. This is not an app, just a browser I’ve added to my Home Screen. I recommend using on a computer because there’s a lot of stuff on the screen and you’ll want to see it all spread out. I use it on mobile only because I know which buttons I need to press so it’s not a problem.

.𖥔 ݁ ˖ 𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐒 — You have to upload your own filters to be able to add one to a gif. Once you open up the site it can be very overwhelming and confusing with all the buttons and drop downs and yada yada. Photopea is like an animations version of photoshop. I recommend searching for a tutorial, or if requested I can personally make a separate post showing you how to add filters to a gif.

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⊹ ࣪ ˖ 𝑬𝒛𝒈𝒊𝒇 ⊹₊ ⋆ my go-to website for literally anything gif related. Cropping, removing frames, optimizing a gif, making a gif, turning a video into a gif, and many more. I even use the effects tab from time to time to add a border around my gifs (like the one around the Sugar Water Series header) There’s other stuff you can do of course, I recommend checking it out, I’ve been using it for years.

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⊹ ࣪ ˖ 𝒐𝒏𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒈𝒊𝒇𝒕𝒐𝒐𝒍𝒔 ⊹₊ ⋆ This is a browser I use to remove the background from gifs.

.𖥔 ݁ ˖ 𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐒 — It doesn’t do the best job at removing a gif background unless it’s a solid color. I always do solid black and it removes it pretty well. If your background is white it will have a hard time differentiating the gif from the white background and will clip out parts of the gif and make it choppy. I recommend having a plain black background as that works best for me. Also it just recently had an update where you need to wait 10 seconds before you can download the finished product. It also claims you can only use it a certain amount of times a day but tbh I’ve used it a bunch in one day and never seem to have a limit. So idk. Like I said this update is recent. I guess a lot more people started using it and now they want to charge people.

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⊹ ࣪ ˖ 𝑰𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒊𝒎𝒈 ⊹₊ ⋆ This is the browser I mentioned in the picsart section where I crop really thin images. Does not have a limit on how thin you can make an image. I’m not positive but I’m pretty sure this is not animation / gif compatible.

. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁ . ⊹ ₊ ݁. . ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁ . ⊹ ₊ ݁. . ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁ . ⊹ ₊ ݁.

⊹ ࣪ ˖ 𝒇𝒐𝒏𝒕 𝒈𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒔 ⊹₊ ⋆ ONE TWO THREE

. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁ . ⊹ ₊ ݁. . ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁ . ⊹ ₊ ݁. . ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁ . ⊹ ₊ ݁.

⊹ ࣪ ˖ 𝒔𝒚𝒎𝒃𝒐𝒍 𝒅𝒆𝒄𝒐𝒓 ⊹₊ ⋆ ONE TWO THREE FOUR FIVE

. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁ . ⊹ ₊ ݁. . ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁ . ⊹ ₊ ݁. . ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁ . ⊹ ₊ ݁.

⊹ ࣪ ˖ 𝒉𝒐𝒏𝒐𝒓𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔 ⊹₊ ⋆ Evernote (a notes organizing app I use to organize my fics + I love it so so much), Amino (can find clubs / communities dedicated to bio decor & symbols), Gif Toaster (the og app I used in the very beginning to apply text to gifs), Canva (good stickers / elements + can find aesthetic / cute stickers with keywords on Pinterest), Videoleap (a video editing software I used to use), Remini (an app that upgrades the quality of an image), Symbol Pad & Symbol (apps I use for individual symbols) Snow (has cute animated effects I used to use sometimes a long time ago), VLLO (the app I used before Vita that charged for some of its services), DeviantArt (where I get all of my PSD’s + they have a lot of stuff you can use, pngs and whatnot, I just don’t really use it for those purposes)

[onelongsound]

Demon Slayer x Vedic Astrology / Cardology / Birthday Analysis: Shinazugawa Sanemi

I’m a big nerd for Demon Slayer, and also for Vedic Astrology and Cardology (modern day playing cards). So I figured I’d finally write up the words that have been procreating in my brain like horny rabbits about what I can tell from each KNY character who we know the birthdays for!

Now, we know that Gotouge based characters off of real people—and from what I can tell, it’s very possible that they lifted the actual birthdays of these people, because the personality traits track!

I totally take this information into account when I write fics, so if this is helpful somehow for other authors (beyond their own intuition and felt sense, of course) then all the better! 

Let’s dive in: Shinazugawa Sanemi Birthday: November 29

🌞 Sun Sign (in the western / tropical system): Sagittarius

With sun in Sagittarius, we can see that Sanemi is quite masculine. Sagittarius is a masculine sign—ruled by fire, a masculine element. And Jupiter, a masculine planet.

Being ruled by fire, a Sagittarius native could be hot-headed, impulsive, and prone to anger. At their best, they are passionate and sensual.

Being ruled by Jupiter, they are principled—even if these principles lead them towards fanaticism and zealousness. They are also more forgiving than signs like Scorpio.

Sag natives are known to be blunt to a fault, sometimes being that one person who’s saying the thing that everyone is thinking but is too polite to name.

They’re warriors, and can see through bullshit like no-one else can.

Sounds like Sanemi, no?

🌝 My guess for Sanemi’s Moon Sign: Capricorn

The Moon sign is a person’s emotional core, who they are regardless of what they’re doing or how they appear to the world. It’s how their emotional responses, and emotional body is organized.

My guess for Sanemi is that he is a Capricorn moon. Capricorn is ruled by earth, so Sanemi would value achieving his goals, and safety and security, more than anything else. I would even put his Venus here (Venus and Moon are the “soft” planets, how they feel/experience love and affection) as the way he shows love towards Genya, and respect towards Ubuyashiki isn’t openly affectionate, but is practical and protective. Even his friendship with Obanai is organized towards accomplishing the goal of slaying demons, together.

Capricorn is ruled by Saturn, which is a difficult place for Moon. Saturn is critical, grave, and prone to pessimism. With a moon in a Saturn-ruled sign, a person’s emotionality can be a bit removed or concealed, which can explain Sanemi’s easily embarrassed temperament. Saturn-ruled moon individuals (those with Capricorn moon and Aquarius moon) tend to experience love and affection with a great deal of self-sacrifice. For them, loving and feeling connected to others comes hand in hand with service and putting others’ needs before their own, even with extreme and dire consequences.

With Moon in Capricorn, it would also put Sanemi’s moon and sun right next to each other. Sagittarius is the sign that comes right before Capricorn, so his moon would be second from his sun in placement, and his sun would be twelfth from his moon. This is an interesting and tough placement, as the twelfth place is a mysterious and hidden place (the natural house of Pisces) and Sanemi strikes me as someone with this internal dynamic, for sure. His own feelings could feel out of sync with how he wants to act and do in his daily life (and vice versa), often taking him—and others—by surprise.

🃏♥️ Cardology symbol, birth card: Four of Hearts

It’s interesting (and difficult!) for masculine men in our world to be born into the Hearts suit. The Hearts suit rules emotions, relationships, and early life. It makes the individual quite emotionally attuned—to themselves and the world around them, and feelings rule their lives in ways that folks born under other suits wouldn’t necessarily understand.

At their worst, they can be overly emotional or even emotionally manipulative. They can act or appear childish. 

At their best, they can be incredibly caring, empathic individuals who feel the world with profound depth.

The Four cards are protectors (think fortress or box, formed by the shape of the pips on the actual cards) and being in the suit of hearts, Sanemi’s natural gift in his life is to protect the people he holds dear.

Uzui Tengen is also born under this birth card!

🃏♣️ Cardology symbol, personality card: Six of Clubs

Six is the number of the warrior-activist, so much of Sanemi’s work in his life is serving justice and balance.

On the downside, it’s hard to tell a Six of Clubs person anything about themselves—they think they already know it, and they will make it a point to win over you.

At their best, the Fours and Sixes are among the most consistent, stable and dedicated—and at their worst, the most fixed and stubborn energies!

I don't know a TON more about the Six of Clubs, so I'll leave it at that. 🙂

I hope you enjoyed this breakdown! Please let me know your thoughts, and I look forward to sharing more KNY / Astrology / Cardology breakdowns with you soon!

xo

🤍 Stay: A Sanemi x Reader fic (18+)

[mariacallous]

It’s almost that magical time of year that the Humane Society of America likens to a “natural disaster.” Kitten season.

“The level of emotions for months on end is so draining,” said Ann Dunn, director of Oakland Animal Services, a city-run shelter in the San Francisco Bay Area. “And every year we just know it’s going to get harder.”

Across the United States, summer is the height of “kitten season,” typically defined as the warm-weather months between spring and fall during which a cat becomes most fertile. For over a decade, animal shelters across the country have noted kitten season starting earlier and lasting longer. Some experts say the effects of climate change, such as milder winters and an earlier start to spring, may be to blame for the uptick in feline birth rates.

This past February, Dunn’s shelter held a clinic for spaying and neutering outdoor cats. Although kitten season in Northern California doesn’t typically kick off until May, organizers found that over half of the female cats were already pregnant. “It’s terrifying,” Dunn said. “It just keeps getting earlier and going later.”

Cats reproduce when females begin estrus, more commonly known as “going into heat,” during which hormones and behavior changes signal she’s ready to mate. Cats can go into heat several times a year, with each cycle lasting up to two weeks. But births typically go up between the months of April and October. While it’s well established that lengthening daylight triggers a cat’s estrus, the effect of rising temperatures on kitten season isn’t yet understood.

One theory is that milder winters may mean cats have the resources to begin mating sooner. “No animal is going to breed unless they can survive,” said Christopher Lepczyk, an ecologist at Auburn University and prominent researcher of free-ranging cats. Outdoor cats’ food supply may also be increasing, as some prey, such as small rodents, may have population booms in warmer weather themselves. Kittens may also be more likely to survive as winters become less harsh. “I would argue that temperature really matters,” he said.

Others, like Peter J. Wolf, a senior strategist at the Best Friends Animal Society, think the increase comes down to visibility rather than anything biological. As the weather warms, Wolf says, people may be getting out more and noticing kittens earlier in the year than before. Then they bring them into shelters, resulting in rescue groups feeling like kitten season is starting earlier.

Regardless of the exact mechanism, having a large number of feral cats around means trouble for more than just animal shelters. Cats are apex predators that can wreak havoc on local biodiversity. Research shows that outdoor cats on islands have already caused or contributed to the extinction of an estimated 33 species. Wild cats pose an outsized threat to birds, which make up half their diet. In Hawaii, known as a bird extinction capital of the world, cats are the most devastating predators of wildlife. “We know that cats are an invasive, environmental threat,” said Lepczyk, who has published papers proposing management policies for outdoor cats.

Scientists, conservationists, and cat advocates all agree that unchecked outdoor cat populations are a problem, but they remain deeply divided on solutions. While some conservationists propose the targeted killing of cats, known as culling, cat populations have been observed to bounce back quickly, and a single female cat and her offspring can produce at least 100 descendants, if not thousands, in just seven years.

Although sterilization protocols such as “trap, neuter, and release” are favored by many cat rescue organizations, Lepczyk said it’s almost impossible to do it effectively, in part because of how freely the animals roam and how quickly they procreate. Without homes or sanctuaries after sterilization, returning cats outside means they may have a low quality of life, spread disease, and continue to harm wildlife. “No matter what technique you use, if you don’t stop the flow of new cats into the landscape, it’s not gonna matter,” said Lepczyk.

Rescue shelters, already under strain from resource and veterinary shortages, are scrambling to confront their new reality. While some release materials to help the community identify when outdoor kittens need intervention, others focus on recruiting for foster volunteer programs, which become essential caring for kittens who need around-the-clock care.

“As the population continues to explode, how do we address all these little lives that need our help?” Dunn said. “We’re giving this everything we have.”

[cinematicendevaourz]

It's a rarity for me to actually walk out of a film, so Bong Joon-ho must have Allat on speed dial because he brought out a full blue moon with "Mickey 17". I even purchased a damn premium format ticket ! But here goes Robert Pattinson again putting his grubby paws all over yet another Western Bedwench. If it's not Zoe Kravitz, then it's Naomi Ackie. Seriously, how does Pattinson go from Kristen Stewart to this? It's starting to look like that relationship was just a humiliation ritual. Yet, this miscegenial plot point wasn't the main reason why I walked out though. It was only a catalyst to the overall plot of the film being depop. agenda propaganda as a whole. Joon-Ho has a strangely childish Mark Ruffalo delivering the depop message as an elitist who sends Earthbound workers out to colonize a planet. Mickey (Pattinson) gets stuck as a disposable, who essentially goes out to these outer realms to test if they are hospitable for his group of colonizers. These rigorous tests often involve death, giving "Mickey 17" an "Edge of Tomorrow" scenario with a script that was lifted off last year's "Transformers One" topped off with unnecessary interracial sex to inject a plotline of betrayal (Ackie plays some law enforcement officer in the film that is obviously Mickey's handler) that the trained eye can see a mile away. Due to my position in a rigged caste system as a Nubian male in my European country of origin, I work in a low rung of society - a sanitation worker at best. I used that money that I earn as a temp service laborer to cop a ticket for "Mickey 17". To have to be reminded by Joon-Ho's picture that broke people in a capitalist country should not procreate done in a way that was advertised as comedic, yet was anything but. And on top of that to piggyback off the merit of Joon-Ho's 2019 crossover classic "Parasite", made it to where I had to have some respect for myself and walk out of "Mickey 17". It's one thing to be actively culled in a country, but then to support that country's media that pushes just how obsolete the country wants you to believe you are is another thing. Last year, Ariana Debose starred in "Kraven The Hunter" as Calypso. In the source material ("Spider-Man, Spider-Man"), she's a bedwench from Wakanda. All the film did was change her nationality to originate from Ghana. "Kraven" became the only comic book based movie I ever walked out of and I've seen plenty of shitty comic book flicks in my nearly three decades on this planet. One such film being "The Batman" where Zoe Kravitz bedwenched for Pattinson like her name was Eartha Kitt. I fell asleep on that film in theaters and never revisited it. It's no mystery for even The World's Greatest Detective to crack as to why. My point is, I can be insulted as long as it's tasteful. Especially when it comes to touchy subjects like class issues. It looks like Joon-Ho can only accomplish this when he's dealing with a cast of his own ethnic group.

This guy is no Guadagnino, and "Mickey 17" belongs in a garbage can waiting for me the next time my next local temp service puts in an order for me to make a trash run.

-

V.V. 23rd/Mar.2k25

[spnbangbang]

First Communion

Author: butterflyslinky

Artist: KaylieMalinza

Primary Ship: Ruby/Nancy

Other Ships: N/A

Length: 5,535

Warnings: Dubious Consent, Mild Violence

Tags: Femslash, Futanari, Spanking, Loss of Virginity, Catholic Guilt

Posting Date: November 2, 2024

Summary Nancy is saved from Lilith, and all she has to trade is her chastity.

Excerpt Nancy remembers her first communion.

It had been a special day. She stood before the priest, in her little white dress with the blue belt, head bowed as he blessed her. The wafer had been tasteless, but she recalled the wine, dry and bitter. She hadn’t liked it, but she kept that to herself. That was the blood of Christ, and she would be grateful for it.

She thinks Ruby’s pussy tastes a little like that.

The thought is blasphemous in the best way. Thirty-six hours ago, Nancy was a good Catholic girl, said her prayers every night, went to church on Sunday and confession on Wednesday, never drank, did drugs, had sex, or even swore. She worked as a secretary for the police as an act of service more than necessity, at least until she could finish her Masters in social work and start doing more meaningful work. Nancy was a good girl.

Now, she’s lying on a motel bed with a demon straddling her face, clumsily licking at her, desperate, with no real idea of what she’s doing or why she’s doing it. All she knows is one minute, she was on the floor of the police station with what appeared to be a little girl starting to rip her skin off, and the next she was in a motel room with Ruby next to her.

She had been saved from Lilith’s wrath. That’s what Ruby said. She had been rescued, because Sam and Dean refused to kill her, so Ruby figures there must be something special there.

And in exchange, Ruby wants a sacrifice. Not Nancy’s life, that has no value now, but Nancy’s chastity.

All things considered, it’s not a bad trade.

Ruby’s been so kind, too. Nancy’s still clothed, not even her braid undone. Ruby purrs over her, rocking gently, praising Nancy with every breath. Nancy licks and sucks, learning quickly. She’s never thought about this, didn’t even consider it would be possible. Sex is supposed to be between men and women, a penis, a vagina, maybe a hand on a breast, for procreation and nothing more. It never occurred to her that one could put their mouth on genitals.

It’s filthy, wet, and Nancy…

She wants more of it. More of the slickness sliding across her mouth and nose. More of the scent of sulfur overwhelming her, more of the bitter taste dripping past her lips. More of the weight, more of the hands reaching back to grope her through her clothes.

[ask-the-meteor-crew]

FAQ Behind The Curtain

How do you draw so fast?

I'm currently double majoring in Animation and Creative Writing. I'm built different and also just, not trying very hard on most of these drawings. Drawing fast is kind of the backbone of animation and I've noticed coloring everything makes most people assume whatever line quality or level of finish on the outlines is a stylistic choice rather than laziness. What program do you use? I used Clip Studio Paint until about #021 when I picked up after haitus and used Procreate out of comfort and convenience. Do you use stock backgrounds or make them as you go? Every time I decide a scene needs a new background I draw it out in it's entirety and save it to my collection of backgrounds to use. So yeah, I'm not redrawing the background every single time it appears, I'm basically building out the meteor one room at a time in hopes of one day not having to draw backgrounds anymore. Where do you get the space photos? NASA's Hubble Space Telescope team has politely made all of the telescopes published photographs public domain, I imagine as a service to the planet as the intersection between photographers and people able to go that far into space is understandably zero. Font/Handwriting questions I stopped handwriting for most panels as I realized my best handwriting is all caps and it would be a shame if Karkat was the only character anyone could understand. I still use handwritten text for "special speech" which is whispers, and shouting, anything that's supposed to feel or sound radically different from the rest of the yapping. It did take me a while to settle on a font, I found a really good one for Dave that didn't have apostrophes and gave everyone else a typewriter font for a while, until I found the alternate version of the font I used for Dave that had all the special grammar symbols and numbers I could ever need. It's called the Atari font in the actual file but I have no idea if Atari ever actually used this version of it. Does the ask box ever close? When will my question be answered? It doesn't close and I have more questions than I'll probably ever answer. Some are confused about canon, others have had the core idea of their question asked multiple times already and I just didn't feel like collecting them all as screen shots. And some I just don't have answers for. Some get deleted because I don't like the tone, don't get the joke or found a typo particularly difficult to parse. No biggie. Questions will be answered if and when I feel like drawing a comic for it. Some questions are a better starting point for a comic than others, don't take it personally. Can the characters still talk to John and Jade? Can they run into them in the dream bubbles? According to canon, no. According to this blog, also no. Do you take magic anons? No. While I've gotten flimsy on the vlog framing device in order to make a more entertaining comic overall, the truth still remains that anything beyond messages in a digital inbox from some far off unspecified rift in paradox space would have some pretty immersion breaking implications on the setting overall. I know I answered a question offering Dave some clothes but the clothes were not given to him, I used it more as a prompt for him to take the clothes he already had out of the dryer. Is this blog safe for minors? This blog contains canon typical violence and themes, however when it comes to sexual content (the one thing minors absolutely CANNOT legally interact with) this blog is rated T for teen. Think like The Big Bang Theory or How I Met Your Mother. Sex can be implied and a frequent topic of conversation but never occurs on screen. Ultimately it's up to you and maybe your parents to decide if you can handle the blogs contents as you are responsible for curating your own online experience. TLDR if you're old enough to be on tumblr you should be fine.

How do I address the author?

My name is Sky, she/her pronouns exclusively. Please don’t try to hold conversations via the ask box. Just DM me.

Where do I send questions and comments for the author?

@meteor-crew-after-dark

[nerdylizj]

Ms Stem anon here. I received my BS in Biology. As you can imagine the past couple of years have been… fun (is it really when people think you’re part of a big conspiracy, but jokes on them because have they EVER been part of a group project?) Now after working and volunteering for the past 3ish years I’m going back for, hopefully, family therapy. I like helping people face to face. And a lot of my volunteering involved pointing disenfranchised communities and those affected by C19 to resources and services they would otherwise be unaware of. The program I volunteered through also participated in fairs, provided vaccine clinics/gave vouchers, provided testing, amongst other services. My work with children involved a lot of guiding them on how to self regulate and validating their emotions/experiences while also helping them find ways to deal with them in a healthier manners. A big part of it is guiding them towards the safer choices but making sure they feel as if they came to that choice all on their own. It can be mentally taxing at times due to some having some bad home lives but it’s overall very satisfying.

Having a bio degree allows me to better advocate for myself and others medically as well as being able to better understand/scrutinize media reports on research. While I understand why there is a barrier to reading studies to avoid people without the background to misconstrue it, we also allow for misinformation to persist as there is significant scientific illiteracy going on. There should be a way to better communicate with those lacking the education and training we receive.

Spiel aside… the babies will continue to suffer and I support… it makes me a well rounded individual. I’m excited to see what will ultimately happen with them. There are a lot of implications for their, and kids, future. Not only did girly pop marry and procreate with the enemy, he is technically heir to the thrown as will be her children. But hey maybe one day they’ll have all their memories and remember that they were into each other pre-brainwashing. What with their awkward flirting and katara “keeping an eye on him.”

Ooh I did read the fic that inspired yours. Hopefully one day that one will be continued (i hope the author is doing, and does, well regardless of whether they do or don’t continue it).

omg you’ve done so much meaningful work <333 i don’t think the General Public really understands just how hard covid hit already-disenfranchised people/those who experience health disparities. and it still is hitting hard!!! btw one of my besties is a family therapist (liv, tell me i'm right..) and i always admire her tenacity to provide meaningful sessions to her clients even when she’s burnt out or compassion fatigued <3 it is not easy work

i’ll be honest i’m not a fan of (doing the) research but at least i can read and interpret it 😭💞 imho, it is a privilege to be health/scientific literate. i agree with you 100% about misinformation... health and scientific illiteracy is a hugely multi-faceted, societal problem that will take generations to truly change (and a lot of work). not to mention that there are valid concerns for some communities to distrust medicine/science

i think zk may need ur counseling services, a feelings wheel, and time/space to process... too bad there’s a war going on and they are both so dumb JKFEFVJKNMEO

i love catie_writes_things’ fic soo much. i hadn’t read a memory loss fic before so it haunted me many a nights after i first read it. then the zk ghoul took hold of me and here i am... like 220k+ later 😭😭😭😭

I love that you’re considering this career, i wish you all the best of luck in ur grad school apps 💗

[thatskindarough]

Oh it was only 3 actually, counting that one animatic on YouTube (that BTW i had no idea was yours! I was pleasantly surprised <3)

And I found it so funny that you have somewhat an idea of who I might be PFFF you can throw the guess, it would be funny if you get it right (don't have to say my name if you don't remember it, you can just go for something you remember NFKDSJ)

also time for an actual question since i'm already here, what program did you used for the animatic? I've always wanted to get into animating but most softwares cost money or are free but really bad so I could use some recommendations 👀

Good to hear there is no imposter lol. I should probably start using the false pfp so people know it’s me but I’m too lazy to change them all 💀 also my guess was right as to who you were but probably mainly because I put on my Aziraphale detective hat and you were the last notification before the ask inbox notification and your icon had a red beanie. We meet once again.

As for the animatic I used procreate for drawing and capecut for composting. Not the most efficient method but I liked it. I ended up segmenting off each camera angle into a different canvas and making any animation for the shot that way. I love capecut because the free version has every editing function you need for an animatic and the watermark only appears as a black screen at the end so it’s so easy to crop out. It’s probably the best free editing software I’ve found. (I also used a screen recording device to record the audio cause even if you buy a song it sometimes doesn’t allow you to put it in the program.)

I honestly recommend procreate if you have a device that supports it. I think it’s still only a 10 dollar onetime purchase. But if you don’t have a device that supports it, I have used things like flip a clip which is free, and the paid version is pretty cheap. I have also dabbled in an app called rough animate, also free (you don’t have to pay for the onion skins) which was also okay. I got frustrated cause of the lack of brush choice but other than that it’s not bad at all. If you can’t pay anything at all I’d recommend this because, unlike flip a clip, you don’t have to pay to unlock the a lot of the really helpful features. Ibis paint also added an animation feature I think so that’s an option. Idk if you need the paid version for it, but I remember only having to watch ads for a minute to unlock all the brushes so maybe it’s the same for the animation feature lol.

If you have a computer set up, I’ve also heard nice things about Krita for animation. It’s free and from what I remember it had a really good timeline set up. I actually tried to use it, but my computer at the time was old and slow and it lagged to much, and then I had a shitty no screen tablet and my hand eye coordination when it came to drawing and writing is quite bad, so it just wasn’t a good set up for me personally. But I know people make it work. I mean, people make this kinda shit in MS paint, if you’re dedicated enough you can technically do it in almost any program (though you may not be able to make it as polished as you’d like.)

Then there is Clip Studio Paint, which does cost money but is way less expensive than like, harmony or adobe. The EX version which gives you a second of free animation per project is a $5 monthly subscription for once device, PC MaC IOS, and the Pro version (which is more expensive) gives you unlimited animation animation access for I believe around 10 -15 dollars a month (still less than most streaming services lol). There’s also a one time purchase version that is $50 dollars, but it goes on sale A LOT for $25! Although I don’t think it gives you more than a second of animation. CSP also has a very long free trial period, for EX it was legit like 3 months. so if you try it out and like it, I’d definitely suggest finding a way to pay for it. It’s actually used in some professional studios in Japan, so if you have any professional aims for your work it’s a good starting platform to get into industry software. However a lot of the nice things CSP offers for animation are not needed in the story boarding/animatic stage, so if that’s as far as you wanna take your animations it maaaaaaay not be worth it unless you love it.

If anyone else has other cheap or free recommendations feel free to add on. I have attempted to make animatics on procreate, rough animate, and flip a clip; all of which I have uncompleted projects on. It just so happens that procreate is what I was using when I finally made an animatic I liked enough to see until completion. Whatever software you do use, just make sure you learn how to use it before attempting a big project. Do some smaller stuff before you try anything big.

Edit to check the comments! We got other good recommendations for computers!

[basiatlu]

Hey! came across your art through hp fandom, really love the character design. maybe u already said somewhere but I couldn’t find, maybe not - can u please tell more about tools u use, your process in creating, stuff like that. Thanks in advance❣️

Hi!! Thank you a bunch, I’m glad you love my work that warms my heart. I am a hot potato with your flattery 💖☺️

This is a little long so I’ll put it below the break:

I currently work entirely digital in the Procreate app using an iPad Pro (3rd Gen). I used to use photoshop but then Adobe got greedy and I refuse to pay a subscription service for a drawing program I had already paid hundreds out of pocket to use.

My go to brush is the “MaxU Ballpoint Pen” from the Max Comic brush pack. Easily searched on google, he’s very well known in the community for his brushes and offers free ones sometimes I think. Here’s a demo of the brush mentioned and some of my other favorites:

For my process of a full illustration:

I go Concept - Thumbnail Sketch - Reference (if needed) - Sketch Part 2 - CleanUp - Flat (Local) Colors - Shadow Overlay - Finish & Texturizing (the glamor) - Highlights

It seems sort of long and tedious looking at my list now, but I don’t always bring a drawing into Thunderdome Art Piece Territory. Often they stay as part of my digital sketchbook. So then I stop somewhere around ‘CleanUp’ and Flat Color.

Here’s a video time lapse of a recent drawing to show you a quick glance at me cleaning up a sketch from the initial gesture/thumbnail. I don’t usually draw over the sketch on a separate layer - just erase it out of existence and draw it over:

Otherwise everything stays pretty loosely-goosey! It’s takes me a long time to bring it to this stage bc my drawing involves lots of little lines and building up darker edges with that ballpoint pen brush. Lots of pushing and pulling until I get the shape and edge I want, like an oil painting (if you’re familiar sorry lol).

Thank you for your ask and I hope I answered it decently! Anyone out there please feel free to drop any other art process asks and I’ll do my best to respond 💖✨ This was fun!