#I JUST WANTED TO SEE ANDI IN CUTE ART STYLES IT MAKES ME HAPPY

[lilacflowersss]

Me remembering that time i requested someone if they can draw my oc a while back and they haven't responded making me think that im wasting their time and im an annoying piece of shit even though i just wanted to see my oc in their cute art style but my anxiety makes me feel like absolute shit because IM DEFINITELY SURE THAT PERSON HATES ME NOW

[kin-cosmic]

i just finished kid cosmic season 1 and..

[spoilers obviously]

man..ONLY 10 episodes? I mean I guess it’s getting a continuation so that’s good. anyways heres my thoughts of the overall season and show

so from the animation alone? fucking beautiful.

people said before that it reminded them of gorillaz and I didn’t see it, but NOW I do. it’s so fluid, and it can be chunky at times, but like, spider-verse type you know? anyways it’s just perfect, it’s fluid, it REALLY fits the hero-comic style of the show. and the BACKGROUND ART. GOD. I WOULD JUST PAUSE AT TIMES AND JUST OBSERVE. OF HOW TRULY BEAUTIFUL IT WAS FOR ME. ITS SO COOL.

ok now for the characters themselves? first off, the kid, he’s just perfect, he’s so pure. everything from his tragic backstory to the connection of his scar? yeah. deep. but THATS what makes him so flawed, and ngl i feel like I relate to him there. the show is OBVIOUSLY revolved around him, cause. kid cosmic. but obviously for not TOO long, cause the OTHER characters, that are ALSO great.

like JO! ok, as a teen, i feel like they kind of captured the characteristics of what a teen would “act” in situations on these, so when jo would just stammer and go insane, i RELATED to that sm! anyways she’s a good character! definitely the mom friend of the group, I see her as kid’s older sister, and she’s badass >:)

MOVING on to rosa! I ALSO related to her too, bonus start off because she was hispanic! as a mexican person, I was REALLY HAPPY to see someone cartoon, on screen, that RESEMBLED me you know? anyways besides that, she’s adorable, she can be a perfect kind of that “toddler-annoying”, and ironically SHES the muscle of the group, but yeah, she’s adorable, she’s such a cool chaotic baby! <3

NOW WITH PAPA G. MAN. he’s like, my PERSONAL favorite character in the show, though I WISHED he had more screen-time but the time I HAD with him, I just, loved him, so much. first off I thought it was already amazing how STRIKINGLY similar he is to WANDER. like. they’re the same person i stg, i wouldn’t be surprised if his design was at first a humanized version of wander DRAWN by craig, if you don’t believe me? watch woy, or just SIMPLY OBSERVE the hat. he EVEN says quotes that wander would say and EVEN said when he was in space that “he thought it was a flashback” THATS EPIC. anyways from his character, he’s ALSO the heart of the group, he is so caring and sweet, and especially to kid, and the fact that he is old, idk why that makes his character even MORE great, because he is ALSO so chaotic and ecstatic for a old ass guy . he also gives kid GOOD advice since, he lives with him, like the “freaking out, breathe it out” quote? swag af. anyways as you can tell, he’s my favorite character lol. i love papa g sm. OH YEAH, HIS NAME REVEALED TO BE GEORGE TOO SO . BUT YEAH, LOVE THIS OLD DOG.

SO ALSO WITH TUNA SANDWICH. not much to say here, id say he got the LEAST screentime , makes sense, cause he’s just the cat, but like at episode 8, he starts TALKING, and it’s just 😳 I was SUPRISED, this kinda overhauled his character, anyways besides that and his kinda useless power imo? he’s an adorable old cat, i almost cried when I saw him as a kitten and ALSO saw BABY KID. like that’s so cute how he’s attached to the kid, and THATS how he uses his power in advance, huh, guess it’s not that useless after all? anyways cute cat, funny too, he fucking cursed too so..

now to the side characters? i wasn’t expecting chuck to TURN good? like ok? 😳 i thought he would just be that stereotypical villain throughout the series in which i can love sometimes, but that wasn’t the case? first off his voice change? I feel like that was good! his stitch voice is cute btw lol. and him having MORE screentime too? following along with tuna? ALSO good! also tom kenny did a good job with his performance of him! now the other side characters like jo’s mom, thought she was ok, I wish the others like rosas parents were in it more you know? also the ACTUAL villain? the biker guy, kind of weak, but he was ok too.

now to the plot, I was EXPECTING for this show to be STORY-DRIVEN, and not like a reset cartoon episode like craig’s LAST cartoon was, and wasn’t let down a bit! the pacing goes by fast, but it says EVERYTHING it needed to be said, and it’s TO THE POINT. like the little details too? such as the foreshadowing when jo saw a glimpse of the newspaper about the car accident in the first episode? oof. then it being EXTENDED where to the point the kid gets flashbacks and cries? that hurt, but that was IMPORTANT to the story kinda, it’s also WHY papa g did that fake robot thing, kind of dick move george, but HEY! he did it for his grandson! besides, it never hurts to he- ok I’ll stop LMAOO, anyways i thought the story was good, so was the pacing

i got SO ARTISTICALLY inspired by the art style and the background art, like GOD, where’s the background artist @ ? I GOTTA KNOW, i STILL LOVE IT SM. FROM THE SIMPLISTIC AND SORTA GRAINY LINEART OF THE DESIGNS TO THAT COMIC FEEL? IT FELT NOSTALGIC SOMEHOW NGL. AND I THINK THEY CAPTURED THE FEEL OF THE SETTING TOO.NEW MEXICO MAN. NOT OFTEN YOU GET CARTOONS THAT TAKE PLACE THERE

MAKES ME HAPPY TBH! anyways

the art style was cute imo, great shit here my dude,I already can’t wait for the continuation, it actually ended in a cliffhanger so that’s kinda poopy. but yeah! craig and his crew went ALL out on this show you can tell! his wife and son even worked on this, EVEN ANDY BEAN! a person that WORKED with craig in woy! It’s great! i almost recognized ALL of the voice actors too, except jack fisher, I had NO idea who he was, but to KNOW an ACTUAL kid CAN give good performances? really says something, HES A PERFECTLY good example for a kid voice actor, he was great! as for the others, and the STARS TOO? such as KEITH FERGUSON, AND FRED TASTIACORE, AMANDA C MILLER, GREY GRIFFIN, KEVIN MICHAEL RICHARDSON, PHIL LAMAAR AND EVEN RICH FULCHER!! they were no joke, and obviously GREAT! im surprised keith can do such a good old man voice, wait never mind, he’s done the “orlando-bloo” voice before and that’s kind of a old voice? idk. but here we are.

overall. this show? i rate it 10/10

cant wait to see more of it!

it’s already such a comfort show for me!

i love it sm!

tysm craig for giving me ANOTHER of your cartoons to simply OBSESS over for, you’re the best man! you’re my idol!

k well I guess that’s all. sorry if it was a lot. i just. wanted to say something long about this show.

k well BYE BYE 🧡💜‼️

[bookersebastien]

blame @nicolodigenovas for inspiring me to write this (based on this amazing post)

It was a nice afternoon, clear and sunny, and absolutely perfect for lounging under a tree in the park with his latest read, an intense old italian romance that made him miss his home country. Instead, Nile was leading him across town with a jump in her step, to a tattoo shop of all places. He’d never shown any interest in the idea of them, he barely thought of them as art but the excitement on Nile’s face when she told him she got an apprenticeship with an amazing local tattoo artist he couldn’t say no to her - not after all the medieval literature readings he’d dragged her along to.

The shop itself was nice, large arching windows framing an intricately carved black door with the name painted on the front in a shimmering gold, and even Nicky had to admit he chuckled at it; “A Piece of Immortality,” it was rather poetic he thought. 

Nile was practically bouncing through the door, eyes as wide as her smile as the bell chimed, dragging Nicky by the hand inside. Her excitement only seemed to rival his when he found himself pouring over old scriptures late at night in the library, maybe even surpassed it as she immediately dropped Nicky’s hand and ran over to the man at the counter; Nicky couldn’t understand what she said from here, but she was animatedly nodding along to what he was saying, his gaze a bit unsteady as he pulled some pages from behind the counter, much to her delight, as she began to pour over them. 

The shop was very open, and Nicky found himself strangely welcomed by the warm colors that contrasted nicely with the cool metal accents adorning the walls and chairs, but more than that he could see Nile working here; he could easily picture her at her own station, completely engrossed in a new project, spending hour after hour learning new tricks and new styles, excitedly helping clients find the perfect thing to put on their bodies forever - though, Nicky could never understand why someone would do such a thing, Nile loved it and he wanted to support her as best he could.

A tall, dark-haired woman emerged from the back room and Nile wasted no time in introducing her to Nicky as Andy, one of the owners of the shop, as she was embraced in a crushing hug. Nicky glanced over at her arm, an amalgamation of black lines and words etched onto her skin; he could see a dragon looping around her arm, it’s body slinking up nearly its entire length, its face painted with a menacing scowl.

“Come on, you have to see the new stuff we’ve been working on and you’re going to love Yusuf’s!” Andy said, giving him a small nod before leading Nile to the back room. She shot him a giddy smile before following after Andy as fast as was professionally appropriate, leaving Nicky alone in the front room, save for the man behind the counter who looked like he’d sooner fall over drunk than actually be able to answer any questions as he paged through a book with glassy eyes, a not so subtly placed flask next to him, and the man sitting in a nearby chair, who nearly took Nicky’s breath away.

He was reclined in the chair, hands behind his head as his eyes trailed over the photos on the wall where there were countless tattoos pictured in so many styles and colors, Nicky almost wasn’t sure where to look but he felt his gaze travel back to the man before him. He was wearing a faded yellow shirt, thick curls tucked under a backwards baseball cap and the deepest brown eyes Nicky had ever seen. However, none of those things compared to the smile he gave Nicky when he turned around, a brilliant and encompassing smile that Nicky was sure put the sun itself to shame. Suddenly he was no longer missing the day he had planned. 

Nicky somehow managed a smile back, awkwardly crossing his arms across his chest while he watched the stranger stare up at him, utterly lost in his eyes until he realized the man was actually speaking to him.

“Huh?” Was the only word he could manage, giving his head a small shake.

“You look a little bit lost,” he said, eyes crinkling as he managed another heart-stopping smile.

“Yes, well I’ve never been in a tattoo shop before.” Nicky tried to laugh, but his nerves twisted it into a rather unsettling chuckle. It didn’t help that the man was still smiling up at him, and if he was aware of the way Nicky’s eyes watched him adjust his hat, he didn’t indicate it. 

“Ahh, well you certainly look cute when you’re confused.” He winked and Nicky’s breath caught in his throat, which he only just managed to play off as a cough. The man grinned, clearly happy with Nicky’s reaction.

Seconds passed, and then some more and Nicky still couldn’t manage to get words out, his mind circling over the word ‘cute’ like a vulture, except a vulture probably doesn’t have to deal with getting compliments from cute guys and probably sweats less than he was right now. A million things were running through his head, but none of them seemed like good responses, especially to a man as gorgeous as him. 

And it was again that Nicky realized too late that the man had said something again. “I am so sorry! What was that?” he asked, kicking himself while he plastered on a smile he knew wouldn’t hide his growing blush. 

The man chuckled. “I asked if you were here to get a tattoo,” he said, turning in his chair to face Nicky directly, clearly enjoying how flustered he was getting, wringing his hands together in front of him and eyes flicking back and forth towards him.

NIcky’s eyes widened, his response coming quickly from his mouth. “Oh, definitely not! I don’t really get the whole tattoo thing, I mean I guess you’re here to get one but honestly why even do this?” His hands moved in the air in front of him, voice tinged with a slight annoyance while he eyed the images on the wall, the ghost of a grimace crossing his face.

“And what do you mean by that?” The man’s tone was low, eyes narrowed, but Nicky didn’t seem to notice as he took a step closer to the wall, pointing lazily at the photos.

“It’s like this,” Nicky slipped into a neighboring chair, “most people regret their tattoos later in life, and it’s like the shop says, they’re immortal, they stay on your body forever. And besides that, why would people even choose to put this on their bodies? It’s not even art!”

The man eyed him with growing resentment, lips turned down; Nicky clearly didn’t realize who he was but his words stung nonetheless. His thoughts went to the tattoos that were sprawled across his arms, covered by the sleeves of his shirt, and the tattoos, his tattoos that were displayed on the wall, among those of Andy’s and Booker’s.

“Hm, that sure is something to say to a man in his own tattoo shop,” he spoke carefully, his back rigid and shoulders stiff. 

Nicky paused, unsure of what he meant by that when Nile suddenly came running up to him, gripping his arm and giving it a friendly tug. “Yusuf, your new stuff is amazing! The color scheme is perfect, I mean the client is going to love it!”

Nicky gulped.

Oh.

Oh fuck.

He could feel his palms start to sweat and no amount of wiping them against his pants was doing any good. Of course Nicky would meet a cute guy and manage to insult not only him, but his entire livelihood and there was no way he could pretend he didn’t mean every word he had said, not with the way he had said them.

Nile turned to him, oblivious and Nicky rubbed at the stubble on his cheek.

“I see you met Yusuf, isn’t his stuff amazing?” She gestured to the photos on the wall and even though there was no way Nicky could know which were his, his eyes leaned towards the ones with sweeping, careful and thin lines - he could almost picture Yusuf sketching them out on paper with a careful precision.

“Was Yusuf showing it to you?” she asked, moving to stand next to Nicky, her eyes lit up with a familiar passion.

“Not exactly,” Yusuf said flatly. 

“Oh, what were you talking about then?”

At Nile’s question, Nicky could feel the shame curl in his stomach and he didn’t even know how to begin to explain to her exactly how badly he fucked up. But apparently he didn’t need to because Yusuf rose from his chair, casually rolling up his sleeves to display arms that were nearly completely covered in tattoos. And Nicky had been right, he could see the similarity between them and the ones of his clients in the photos, though some were no doubt work from his colleagues. 

“Nicky here was just telling me how much he doesn’t like tattoos, what was it you said?” Yusuf was nearly glaring at him, arms crossed across his chest and Nicky knew there were no words to make up for what he did. “Oh yes, it was ‘it’s not even art.’”

Nile’s mouth dropped open, eyebrows raised and eyes flicking between the two before Yusuf spoke up again, “I think you should go.”

And Yusuf was right.

Nile placed a hand over Yusuf’s arm, whispering a quick apology to him before pulling Nicky from the shop, her steps hard and purposeful, body tense. Nicky just followed quietly, not even glancing back at Yusuf, whose eyes he could feel watching him as he left the shop just as Andy emerged from the back room with a question on her lips that he was too far to hear, but he didn’t need to hear it to know what it was about.

The afternoon air was cooler than earlier, a little biting against his skin but he barely had time to enjoy it because as soon as they passed the windows, Nile turned to him with an exasperated look. She glanced back towards the shop longingly, taking a moment to collect her thoughts before speaking. 

“Nicky why would you say that? I know you’re not like that, you can’t tell me that you really think that,” she said, sounding almost disappointed with hands dropped at her side.

“Nile, I’m so sorry!” He pressed his hands to his chest, eyes pleading as he watched her run a hand over her jacket to smooth the collar, a nervous tick of hers. 

“Nicky, this is my job. I just got this apprenticeship!” She gestured to the shop next to them. “You can’t just say stuff like that, I thought you were working past some of that conservative stuff!”

And he had, mostly. There were just some things that were hard to shake off after growing up in a strict catholic household, but that was something he loved about his studies. He loved to be able to study the literature and learn about the religions from around the world, it allowed him to see so much more than he was exposed to when he was younger and he could grow into a more accepting person than he was raised to be. 

“I will fix it, okay? I will fix it, Nile, I promise!” He grabbed her hand and she gave him a polite smile and a small nod, letting him leave while she headed back to the shop, hands tucked into her pockets.

And Nicky would figure something out, if not to fix it but at least to give a worthy apology - both to Yusuf and Nile. She didn’t deserve this, and she was right, he was trying to get past some of his conservative ideals and if he was being honest with himself, he wasn’t even completely sure he truly believed in what he said. It had all come out without a second thought and he could still see the pain etched onto Nile’s face and how utterly upset Yusuf was at his words.

He would figure something out, he had to.

[istnyjulian]

Hi! I love your art style! Your colours are very vibrant and you always capture the essence of a character! I was wondering how you drew your art pieces? What do you use and what steps do you take to make them? Who would you say is the hardest character in All Hail King Julien to draw?Do you have any tips for drawing lemurs + other AHKJ characters? 💚💛

You don't even know how much your words mean to me! THANK YOU HUNDERT TIME! People like you are a great motivation for me to keep going with my art and make people happy with my art cuz it was ALWAYS my big dream! To make people happy with my work! ~~ <3<3<3 

“I was wondering how you drew your art pieces? What do you use and what steps do you take to make them?“

To be honest, I'm not willing to give advice on drawing techniques, because I'm self-taught, I have never participated in any workshops. All I can is what I have learned by trying different things and watching others. Usually when I give advice, there will always be someone who draws professionally and points out the mistakes that I certainly make from a prefesionalist point of view. 

Therefore, if you are looking for professional advice, you should certainly ask someone else! XD I don't want you to get into bad drawing habits. BUT if you want to know how I do it and what motoda I practiced it is fine. I will show you what and how. ;)

I will explain everything in turn using one of my drawings as an example. (That’s humanisation of Becca from AHKJ, of course. ;))

 At the beginning I make a sketch. As long as I think it's good enough! XD I follow the pictures of the characters to best convey important details. I draw some of them from memory. ;) I use a regular school pencil and eraser to make a sketch. You can buy all this at every market.

Then I do lineart and I use eraser to remove pencil residue. To make lineart I use pigment ink, usually: uni pin fine line or Faber-Castell Ecco Pigment but normal fineliners are also great and sometimes I use them too!

When the lineart is ready it is time for the colour base. This is very helpful because the color is even and there are no unsightly clearances. Personally, I recommend Winsor & Newton Promarker but to be honest I didn't use others, that's why I don't have a real comparison. I can only say that promarkers fulfill their role well. For small surfaces I also use regular markers. They are easier to get and also work ok. :) Promarkers are expensive and you can buy them mainly in art stores.

The next step is shading and giving shape and depth using colored pencils. In my opinion, this is the most important step in creating each drawing. I have been using Bruynzeel crayons for several years because this set of crayons I got as a gift once and I still use them, but in the case of some colors I also use the usual random coloured pencils, which I have after school. 

Actually, the work is ready here. I add white elements to get a nice effect on the eye. This is not necessary, but I like it. You can do it with a white ball pen or just like I do with a regular liquid concealer.

Optional at the end of the last color details that can be added to the already colored drawing (this is just an additional effect and some people do it in the program on the computer) and voila! Your art is done! It probably doesn't look like your imagination, but calm down. This is normal. ;)

“Who would you say is the hardest character in All Hail King Julien to draw?“

Oooh, it’s hard to say only ONE character! There is so many hard character to draw for me... 

Aye-ayes are very difficult for me because I can't draw their wrinkled skin so that it looks quite natural. In my performance it looks ... strange. 

It often happens that some lemurs drawn by me do not completely resemble their original counterparts, because I can not quite keep their characteristics. However, Dorothy is certainly one of them, but sometimes Horst and Pancho (if not his specific fur color, it would be hard to guess that I drew him :P). 

It's difficult to draw Rob's hairstyle too. It hurts cuz I like drawing  him!

Indris (mountain’s lemurs) are too hard to draw because their strange body shape. 

I’m not good with drawing snakes + Dr S has kind of athypical designe and if you draw him with normal cobra head he look completelly different. Not so cute! ;) 

Clover/Crimson is hard to draw becuase her head shape. This is a typical pattern used to draw lemurs' children, but you can't follow this lead. She is not a child. 

Tammy! OMG, no comment! I can’t draw her! :( 

Hands... or maybe wings of Andy are complicated to draw... They works more like wings or hands? XD

As you can see, it's very difficult to choose one or even a few characters that are the biggest problem for me. I'd rather say that each character has one (or more) drawback that makes me cry when I draw it. ;)

“Do you have any tips for drawing lemurs + other AHKJ characters?”

My advice is to draw the way you feel! Do not worry about the fact that something doesn't look like in the show, or that you add some features for canon character. I saw a lot of people who draw according to their own concept and be sure that it doesn't spoil the reception of these characters! On the contrary! It lets you see something more in these characters. Something that the artist sees, and everyone interprets characters in their own way. It gives inspiration to another artist. You can view photos of real lemurs, but you don't have to. Some people draw lemurs as if they were cats. I assure you, however, that lemurs in no way resemble cats, neither appearance nor character ... but what's wrong with someone presenting them in this way? NOTHING! Everyone has the right to their own interpretation. And who knows, maybe something will come of it. My advice is be creative and try different things! There are no bad fans! And there are no bad artists (they are only inexperienced). Each of them is trying to convey something and enrich the fandom with a new point of view! Be one of them and throw away the conventional thinking that leads to nowhere.

Thank you very much for your amazing questions! You made my day! ~~ ^^ 

And sorry for my English!

[love-takes-work]

Steven Universe Comic Fusion Frenzy (2019) - Outline & Review

Steven Universe: Fusion Frenzy is a mega issue with five separate stories that each focus on a different Fusion from the show. It's available digitally from ComiXology in the States and from Boom Studios and your local comic shop.

There are four covers for this one: two are by artist Nathalie Fourdraine and they connect together to make a single picture, while a third rarer variant is by Abigail L. Dela Cruz, and then there's a Wondercon exclusive by Alexandra Lillie.

The five stories feature Stevonnie, Garnet, Smoky Quartz, Opal, and Sugilite. And though, as per usual with comics, these cannot be taken as "show canon," they all show us experiences and perspectives we've really wanted to see with these Fusions! Except for Garnet--who speaks so rarely about her experience despite her everyday presence--we don't get to spend much time with any of these others, and it's so much fun to get a peek at these comic authors' and artists' ideas of what it would be like.

This is a review of each story, with an illustrated plot description and a list of notable items.

STEVONNIE: "When the Light Breaks," written by Anthony Oliveira and illustrated by Ver.

Plot: 

Garnet tells a story about the "dangerous side of fusion"--meaning that when you stand for who you are and what you believe in, you become a target, and you must be prepared to deal with that ugly side of it.

Stevonnie, after training, unfuses into Steven and Connie to attend a parade. It appears to be a celebration of love, with many rainbows and confetti. The Gems discuss how they really haven't been too active in these celebrations (though Garnet MAAAY have thrown rocket punches during one in the past because "love is a riot"). Garnet's narration continues to tell us that Homeworld was always against the diversity that Earth celebrates.

Steven and Connie are very excited, but then an attack begins. A monster appears--it’s an attacker that was used by Homeworld to separate Fusions, but it's also corrupted--and it looks like a Gem destabilizer. Garnet's narration encourages those who are attacked for how they love or identify to "learn together, grow together, laugh together, and endure together."

The monster is able to unfuse Garnet, but Steven and Connie quickly fuse into Stevonnie and protect them. They are able to attack the monster and get its Gem. A rainbow appears after the battle clouds clear.

Notable:

1. The narration talk bubbles are so cute--not only color-coded, but identified by the symbols for who's talking. Garnet's are decorated with both her Gemstones at the bottom right corner, while Stevonnie's has a star.

2. "Never forget how much bravery it takes to love each other"--what an incredible quote.

3. Uncle Andy is chilling in Greg's van during the parade. He looks kinda uncomfortable.

4. So many Beach City regulars are visible doing their thing during the parade!

5. Steven sticks his head into Lion's portal and comes out of Lars's head just to share some confetti with them. It's one of those things that's just too convoluted to explain if you don't already know what you're looking at.

6. Interesting that the destabilizer effect seems to just separate the Fusions instead of poofing them the way the modern destabilizer does in “The Return.”

GARNET: "The Gauntlet," written by Jy Yang and illustrated by Doki Rosi.

Plot: 

Steven and Connie are achy after fusion training and complaining about why it's so hard. Garnet--who's baked them cookies--is happy to give her perspective.

The art style melts into a more colorful, whimsical depiction of Garnet's days as a new Fusion, when she was pink and blue and innocent. She loved her early days learning about being a Crystal Gem with Rose and Pearl, but she wasn't given all the time she needed to learn about herself. There was a war going on.

Rose urges Garnet to run and hide, but she feels so weird running away and leaving her friends to fight the battle. Ruby had always been a soldier, after all, and Sapphire's ability lets Garnet predict where her help (and her failure to help) all led to different futures. When she realizes the soldiers are Blue Diamond's, looking for HER, she knows she has to fight.

Garnet unfuses, and when she comes together again, she has her more modern look, with a more consistent color and her visor in place. She confronts the soldiers and identifies herself as a Crystal Gem, standing up for who she is. Back in the present, telling the story, Garnet admits she didn't exactly "kick butt" at first, but she emphasizes that what's important is doing the right thing when it matters.

Notable:

1. Garnet in an apron, baking cookies (which she did in the episode "Warp Tour") is super cute. Her smiley style in this artist's depiction is really interesting!

2. The art style of the flashback is not exactly the same as the show's version of the same thing, but it is absolutely successful at being reminiscent of it. It's so soulful and expressive!

3. In one of Garnet's visions of a battle, we see Pearl fighting a Hessonite. Wow, cool.

4. This comic seems to imply that unfusing and re-fusing can create a new permanent form, and that Garnet got her more recognizable look (including the visor) during this time, but as of this writing we still haven't been told in the show canon when Garnet started wearing her visor and when she stopped looking like cotton candy.

SMOKY QUARTZ: "The Art of Friendship," written by Steve Foxe and illustrated by Xiao Tong Kong.

Plot:

Steven and Amethyst are fighting a pretty stubborn corrupted Gem, and they decide to fuse since Smoky Quartz's yo-yo is perfect for this battle. They have to think fast to stop an innocent bystander from getting injured in the battle, and it turns out to be Amethyst's old pal Vidalia.

Vidalia is immediately enchanted, thinking Smoky is basically just a weird shapeshift of Amethyst's since that's what she's used to, and she invites Smoky to be her model for a painting the way Amethyst used to in the old days. Smoky quickly becomes uncomfortable with Vidalia's reminiscing, because she's treating them like they're just Amethyst, the Gem who has a history with her. Steven doesn't have that history, and neither does Smoky.

Vidalia invites Smoky out for a day of partying "like they used to," and Smoky reluctantly accepts. No matter how many times Smoky reminds Vidalia that those memories belong to her history with Amethyst and Smoky is NOT just a different version of Amethyst, Vidalia keeps using the wrong name, ignoring the commentary, and making assumptions. Finally, in the pizza shop, Smoky unfuses out of frustration that Vidalia doesn't want to hang out with THEM and won't listen. Vidalia finally gets the message and pledges to do better.

Finally, Vidalia has Smoky model for her and this time she treats them like they're really someone she hasn't met before. She listens to Smoky's stories of beating Jasper, hanging out with Sardonyx, and showing Greg yo-yo tricks. They've finally bonded over who Smoky actually is, and Smoky likes Vidalia's portrait of them.

Notable:

1. Smoky's puns. Aiiii. "'Eye' bet you weren't ready for me!" *groan*

2. Fusion is a very specific thing that isn't exactly "like" anything in human life, but the parallels in this comic to misgendering are really interesting. Not only does Smoky exist as "sort of" a version of the person Vidalia knew BUT NOT REALLY--Vidalia also has to dispense with some outdated beliefs and perspectives so she can really know who this person is. It's great.

3. This art style looks really, really cool on Smoky! They're not quite as roly-poly-looking as in the cartoon, but they're consistently bigger than most people and the third arm looks great.

4. When Amethyst and Steven briefly unfuse to show Vidalia that Smoky is a Fusion of two people she knows, the effect is just like it was when Amethyst and Steven unfused for the first time in the Kindergarten during the episode "Earthlings"--Amethyst was glowing and diffuse, but Steven isn't. I love that that detail was mirrored here.

5. Steven is happy to fuse with Amethyst and model for Vidalia, but he's worried he'll have to visit Onion's room again. Yeah, that was traumatic. Heh, great callback.

6. Smoky tells some familiar stories to Vidalia at the end (beating Jasper, interacting with Sardonyx and her room), but then another one that's unfamiliar is added: Greg freaking out at first but enjoying Smoky's yo-yo tricks. Interesting! I'd like to see Greg meet Smoky, though he hasn't gotten to yet in the show. (Smoky also says "our yo-yo tricks," which is interesting since it's not exactly singular speaking, but that's not out of the ordinary for certain Fusions.)

OPAL: "Winging It," written by Nicole Andelfinger and illustrated by Mollie Rose.

Plot:

Pearl and Amethyst are after a flying Centipeetle, and they're having their typical trouble working together to catch it--not to mention Amethyst's saltiness over having to miss Taco Tuesday. Amethyst's noise attracts the attention of bats who are a nuisance that gets in their way of trapping the Centipeetle.

They're not fast enough to catch the Centipeetle by themselves, but then they realize their Fusion, Opal, would be able to move faster and might have the skills to capture it. Pearl and Amethyst fuse.

Opal's superior height, dexterity, and grace make it simple to catch the flying Centipeetle. She does it almost effortlessly, without saying a word.

But then Opal gets curious and opens her hands a little to look at the Centipeetle she caught, and it screeches, disturbing the hordes of bats. They quickly poof the Gem, unfuse, and go on their way--with Amethyst enjoying the idea of getting her tacos after all.

Notable:

1. Amethyst's griping about tacos is adorable. It's so her.

2. Really nice to see Opal. She looks pretty cool in this style.

3. I think it's funny that Opal doesn't speak in the comic. Some people joke that Opal is so rarely on the show because they can't get the guest voice actor back, but I think it's cool that this comic took a cue from what they actually do in the show and have her make a brief, action-packed, silent appearance.

SUGILITE: "An Overdue Conversation," written by Sarah Gailey and illustrated by Maurizia Rubino.

Plot:

A really big corrupted Gem needs to be taken down, and though Steven believes Sugilite is the obvious solution, Pearl has AGGRESSIVE objections to bringing Sugilite back.

Pearl's argument is that Sugilite is uncontrollable and leaves Garnet and Amethyst in bad shape when they unfuse. She doesn't want to even consider using Sugilite for the mission, and suggests Sardonyx instead, but everyone else wants Sugilite. Amethyst points out that Pearl doesn't have much business talking about her nature since she's never been Sugilite.

Steven invites Amethyst and Garnet to tell them about what that feels like for them. Amethyst loves the chance to not be held back by anything, and Garnet finds it a relief to be impulsive instead of thoughtful sometimes, though she has reservations about ignoring her calm side. When Garnet says fusion isn't supposed to feel like that, Amethyst takes ownership of why their Fusion goes wrong, and Garnet assures her it's just as much her responsibility. They decide to try to respect the different parts of themselves and try being Sugilite on the mission.

Sugilite ends up fighting the large corrupted Gem, and enjoys herself immensely. They capture the Gem, but then Pearl is fully ready to have to fight Sugilite to get her to unfuse or not unleash her anger at another target. But instead, Sugilite is happy that they saw her do a good job and peacefully unfuses.

Amethyst and Garnet learned to listen to each other better, and they had a much more satisfying fusion experience--with a promise of next time!

Notable:

1. Most of Pearl's irritation over including Sugilite is, of course, referring to the events of "Coach Steven." Interestingly, Pearl makes no reference to the last time they saw Sugilite, who was the choice Garnet resorted to when Pearl did something horrible in "Cry for Help.”

2. Steven having issues with getting tangled in his sweater and suggesting cocoa was really adorable.

3. Pearl is really being a jerk in this one. I realize she's traumatized by the last time she fought Sugilite and that she has a low opinion of her, and it’s true she has had to clean up their mess before, but Steven's right there listening to her talk crap about someone he loves. She at least could've expressed her reservations without actually telling Steven to get ready for a fight against their own teammate. But that's Pearl for ya.

4. Sugilite being satisfied that Steven saw her kick butt is very her. She was all about showing off for Steven during "Coach Steven," and seemed very disappointed and angry when she found out no one had seen her wrecking the Communication Hub.

REVIEW:

My favorite was the Smoky Quartz comic, which is probably pretty weird for this Garnet nerd, but Garnet’s was my second favorite, and I honestly really did love all of them! The message in the Stevonnie comic was powerful, and I love how even though fusion is a science fiction concept, it allows so many parallels with facilitating lessons about self-love, love that requires bravery, being different, identity acceptance and allyship, teamwork, and various types of intimate relationships (not just romantic love). 

I thoroughly enjoyed this collection--not just because I love seeing these Fusions, but because the writing said something worth hearing. ALL THE STARS!!!

[SU Book and Comic Reviews]

[andimackismycrack]

halloweenies - tj and cyrus dress up as richie and eddie

thanks to the suggestion from @tyrusendgameperiod here is this last minute halloween-themed fic! hope you enjoy!

“I don’t want it to look like we just scrambled it together last minute! We’re already behind on planning as is.” Cyrus sighed in his own dramatic Cyrus way.

TJ looked at him, rolling his eyes, “Cy, it’s September 3rd.”

“Which means we’re WAY behind!”

“Don’t worry underdog,” TJ ruffled Cyrus’s hair, getting a smack on the hand in return, “I have a plan.” Sure enough, TJ came through. He surprised Cyrus with ‘IT: Chapter Two’ tickets for opening night the following week.

Cyrus couldn’t stop gushing about it. He was so excited. You wouldn’t think it, but he was a horror movie buff, the theater was the one place he wasn’t afraid, besides when he was with his friends or TJ. He’d seen the first IT about 10 times, he’d even forced TJ to watch it with him a few of those.

TJ had been wracking his brain for cute couples costume ideas, and couldn’t think of anything. Until...

｡.:*･゜ﾟ･*

Opening night, they were walking out of the theater. As they left, you could see almost every audience member with streaky tears dried on their face or puffy eyes from crying. Including Cyrus and TJ.

“Teej,” Cyrus whispered, “That was so good, thank you.”

TJ felt that warm, fuzzy feeling in his chest and slid his arm around Cyrus’s waist, holding him snugly. They started talking about their favorite parts of the movie and that’s when it clicked. They had been talking about Richie and Eddie so much, it was obvious. Clearly that’s what they have to dress up as.

Weeks went by and Cyrus was getting increasingly anxious about their costume. He trusted TJ and all when he said that he was taking care of them, but he couldn’t help but worry about it.

TJ decided to choose a pink hawaiian style shirt with a white graphic tee underneath and jeans for Richie. Of course he also found coke bottle glasses and beat up tennis shoes.

For Eddie, he chose some red shorts (though not near as short as the ones in the movie) and a color-clashing salmon polo-style shirt. He found a fanny pack from his dad in the 90’s and an old inhaler from his mom.

TJ was proud of his selection, most of which he’d gotten from a thrift store. All but the jeans (which he’d already owned) and the glasses. He’d saved up for this with his job, being able to pay for it all himself. He got a text.

underdog! <3: pleeeaassseeee tell me what the costume is i’m dying!!!!!

underdog! <3: tj!

underdog! <3: tj!! i know it’s a surprise but please..

tj: okay fine i’ll give you a HINT

underdog! <3: bf of the week award!

tj: why not month??

underdog! <3: if you told me the whole costume, you might even make boyfriend of the year.

tj: okay okay. i can’t resist, you’re being too cute rn.

underdog! <3: omg!

tj: it’s richie & eddie! from IT!

｡.:*･゜ﾟ･*

Halloween was fast approaching for the couple, both so excited for their idea. The plan was to all meet at Cece’s house, then all go trick or treating together. They wanted to go out with a bang since it’s probably the last year they could all go. Then when they were back, they would have their candy, watch scary movies, and fall asleep in the living room. Though Halloween was a school night, they had the following day off as it was the end of a grading period, meaning the teachers would have to be at school while the students would not.

The fact that they gang didnt have school the next day, their parents were happy to agree for them to stay at Andi’s grandma’s house.

Before they knew it, Andi, Buffy, Amber, Marty, Jonah, Walker (despite all the drama, they were able to stay friends), Marty, TJ, and Cyrus made their ways to Cece’s, already in costume.

First came Buffy and Marty, in a couples costume of course, with Buffy dressed in old fashioned, pop-art like clothing, carrying an umbrella in gloved hands, and Marty with “dirt” covering his hands and wiped on his face, wielding a black umbrella with overalls and a striped shirt.

“Welcome, Mary Poppins!” Andi, a glittery fairy, welcomed Buffy and Marty into Cece’s house, spiders were hanging from the ceiling and there were orange string lights hung from what seemed every wall in the house.

Soon, the rest of the guests had began piling in. Jonah and Walker decided to go as Finn and Po from the newest Star Wars trilogy. Amber was dressed as a hippie, sporting straightened hair, a tank top tucked into flowing pants, and a headband across her forehead.

TJ and Cyrus were last to arrive, they took “forever” to get there according to the rest of the gang.

The doorbell rang and Andi jumped up to answer it, leaving the others sitting on the couch with a bowl of chips.

She opened the door to see TJ as Eddie and Cyrus as Richie. “Oh my god! You guys look... amazing!!”

Buffy was next to jump from her warm seat next to (more like, on top of) Marty. “Okay we HAVE to take pictures now!” She motioned over to a blank wall with a sheet hung. There was a photo booth set up complete with confetti and paper moustaches.

The rest of the night faded into oblivion as the once trio laughed too hard and enjoyed themselves so much, they didn’t know where the time went.

notes: i wrote this very last minute i’m SORRY but i kinda love this. didn’t u love the plot twist? also i’m sOFT for tj when he broke down and told cyrus bc he was being cute. might write a part two over the weekend for when they’re actually trick or treating with more dialogue (bc fun fact dialogue is my favorite part to write). hope you enjoy!!! <3

[dear-space-cadet]

character questions for sio <3

hi! I was talking about my WIP with @baconkat02 and decided to do character questions for all the sio characters. it took me about two hours to finish the first one (and I cut some questions out!) so expect these to come very slowly. anyway,

———

character questions: Andy

ORIGINS & FAMILY:

Name: Andreas

Nickname: Andy

Reason for name: there was an earthquake on the day his mom found out she was pregnant with him — so technically he’s named after the San Andreas Fault Line. I chose his name as a character because I used to have a song called San Andreas

Birthday: January 14th

Age: 23

Gender: male

Place of birth: a small town in California

Places lived since: he moved to the east coast for school

Number of siblings: Andy has two younger sisters

Relationship with family (close? estranged?): they are very close

Happiest memory: this is really funny because he doesn’t have any! but if he did, it would be going to Argentina to visit Valencia’s family. when she shows Andy a photo from the trip, he stares at it for hours and eventually puts it on the bulletin board in his room. he wants to remember.

PHYSICAL

Height: 5’11

Weight: before the brain injury around 170lb but now about 130lb

Build: usually pretty average but he lost a lot of weight in the hospital

Nationality: American but his heritage is from Slovakia

Disabilities (physical or mental, including mental illnesses): Andy has most of the symptoms associated with moderate brain injuries, but most notably, he has an incredibly slow long term memory (it can take him weeks to remember an event) and a severely impaired short term memory.

Complexion (freckles, acne, skin tone, birth marks): Andy has very very pale skin after his brain injury and it makes him look much more sick than he needs to look

Hair color: reddish brown

Usual hair style: he doesn’t really know to do anything with his hair but Valencia fixes it up for him when they go out

Eye color: pale blue

Glasses? Contacts?: no

Style of dress/typical outfit(s): he likes funky patterned shirts but has been sticking to just hoodies for now

Typical style of shoes: usually cool sneakers like Vans or something

Health (is this person usually sick? or very resilient?): he can get sick easily but that doesn’t happen often

Grooming (does she/he wear makeup? shower daily? wear only clean clothes? pluck her eyebrows?): before his brain injury, Andy was always very clean and put together, but after, he can’t remember to take care of himself. he still stays clean because Valencia helps him and eventually he remembers to take care of himself

Jewelry? Tattoos? Piercings?: none

Accent?: usually he just has a plain American accent but when he came back from the hospital in St Petersburg he developed a slight Russian accent and it is very, very cute

Unique mannerisms/physical habits (bites nails, talks with hands, taps feet when restless): he balls up his hands when he gets excited

Athletic?: no

INTELLECT

Level of self esteem: Andy is very frustrated with himself so he has a low level of self esteem

Gifts/talents: Andy is a very good listener and will always know how to help his friends. he loves making people happy

Shortcomings: to be completely honest not knowing what’s going on around you 95% of the time is a pretty big shortcoming

Style of speech (loud, mumbler, articulate, etc.): post-brain injury, Andy’s speech is so slurred and mixed up that it’s difficult to understand him.

"Left brain” or “right brain” thinker?: definitely right brain

Artistic?: VERY!! he loves drawing and painting.

Mathematical?: kind of

Makes decisions based mostly on emotions, or on logic?: a mix of both

Cautious or daring?: cautious

Most sensitive about/vulnerable to: comments about his disability

Optimist or pessimist?: optimist but it’s been hard to tell lately

Extrovert or introvert?: introvert

Level of comfort with technology: he’s quite comfortable! technology actually helps him a bit, for example, having all of his contacts organized helps him learn names

RELATIONSHIPS

Current marital/relationship status: single :P

Sexual orientation: I really don’t know... probably straight tbh

Past relationships: he dated a girl in high school and has had on and off feelings for Valencia since then

Story of first kiss (if any—if not, how does he/she want it to happen?): well actually he can’t remember it

A social person? (popular, loner, some close friends, makes friends and then quickly drops them): before his brain injury he was very social but after he is more withdrawn and doesn’t like socializing

Most comfortable around (person): Matt

Oldest friend: Valencia

How does he/she think others perceive him/her?: he assumes that no one thinks of him as a person anymore

How do others actually perceive him/her?: no one really minds his disabilities but they do baby him often

VOCATION

Profession: Andy wants to be a journalist or work for a news station

Past occupations: record store employee, temporary bassist in The Satellites after Spence sustained a wrist injury

Passions: art, writing

SECRETS

(Every character—no matter how minor—should always have secrets!)

Phobias: Andy has an irrational fear of having to fight his clone

Life goals: Andy’s life goal is to recover from his brain injury as much as he can

Dreams: Andy wants to be perfectly happy and healthy and doing what he wants to do

Greatest fears: Andy’s greatest fear is that he will never get better.

Most ashamed of: Andy is most ashamed of his physical and mental state after his brain injury, especially his lack of ability to speak and take care of himself

Most embarrassing thing ever to happen to him/her: he gets embarrassed whenever he needs help — which is most of the time. he can’t do most of the things he used to be able to do

Secret skills: Andy is incredibly good at origami even after his brain injury. it’s like his muscle weakness switches off and BOOM origami crane. but he can’t pick up a spoon

Crimes committed (and was he/she caught? charged?): none

What he/she most wants to change about his/her current life: Andy wants to recover and return to how he was before his brain injury. that’s really his main concern and he’s always so frustrated because he can’t change anything right now

What he/she most wants to change about his/her physical appearance: he just wants to look happy and healthy again

DETAILS/QUIRKS

Night owl or early bird?: night owl for sure. Andy is a big fan of movie nights when Valencia and her friends re-introduce him to his favorite movies and TV shows to see if he can remember anything from them (he can!!)

Light or heavy sleeper?: light. he is woken up very easily

Favorite food: orange juice!!!

Least favorite food: Mac and cheese. he had it every day for months while Valencia was trying to figure out something that would fix his memory. luckily he asked if they could have something else for dinner one night and that’s how Valencia realized he was beginning to remember

Coffee or tea?: coffee

Crunchy or smooth peanut butter?: smooth

Lefty or righty?: righty

Favorite color: green

Cusser?: no

Smoker? Drinker? Drug user?: no

Biggest regret: I don’t really think he has any

Pets?: a white cat named Lux

[truemanblack]

A/N: hi um, so i’m writing a 3 part blurb for a prompt I got! so here’s part one! it’s high school harry au!!

7. “Would it be alright if I borrowed your sweater? It smells like you.” pt. 1/3

I hated group projects – more importantly I hated group projects where it was important to work outside of class. I hated the idea of spending my Saturdays with someone I barely knew. Only forty-five more days until graduation. Mrs. Ryes, our art history teacher, never let us pick our own partner, I was usually luck enough to get someone who had an idea of what we were doing – instead I got Harry Styles. There was a rumor about getting him, a lot of the girls wanted him. (Mainly, because he was attractive more importantly, he had a class with Veronica and he ate her out if she did all the work).

              “Fuck,” I muttered to myself as I picked up the layout of the project. This wasn’t just any project to me – it was the project. I had just got accepted into Temple University for Fine Arts, so fucking around with this class, isn’t a no go for me. I felt a hand on my shoulder and saw Harry, smug and cocky as usual.

              “It’s gonna be good workin’ with ya’, O’Keefe.” I rolled my eyes at his nickname for me.

              “I’m not Veronica, so I hope you’re ready to work.” I shrugged walking to my assigned seat. I was thankful we sat on opposite sides of the room from each other. I was feverishly writing notes while we were talking about projects and what she expects, and she expects nothing but the best from me – since she did write my letter of recommendation. A little square of folded paper fell on my desk from the person next to me.

              “It’s from Styles,” They whispered, and I rolled my eyes shoving the note to the side and focusing back on the teacher. Finally, the bell rang, and I could walk home and prepare my armor for dealing with Harry for the next forty-days.

              “O’Keefe, wait up!” I heard Harry coming after me as I was b-lining to my locker. “Amelia,”

              “Aimee,” I turned around and corrected him. “And what, we don’t have to start interacting until tomorrow.”

              “Did you read my note?” He smirked putting his arm around my shoulders, which I quickly shrugged off.

              “No, I was writing good notes, because I knew you wouldn’t.” I crossed my arms, hoping that would send the message.

              “I paid attention, smarty pants.”

              “Mhm, passing me a note.” I got to my locker, which I regret going to my actual locker because now he knows where to find me.

              “Yeah, I was too busy watching you tug at your bottom lip with your pin cap, or how you’ll bite at your lip when you’re focusin’ too hard.” I was glad that the locker was covering my face, I could feel my face get hot. “Too busy focusin’ on the cutest girl in class.”

              “Oh, shut up.” I mumbled putting my books away, taking my time so he would get fed up. “Don’t you have soccer practice or something?”

              “I do have football practice, but I have few more seconds to spare.” I closed my locker and he was smirking at me, of course he was – when does he not smirk.

              “Don’t you have some cheerleaders to harass then?” He ran his fingers through his chocolate locks, shaking his head.

              “Do yeh think I only flirt?”

              “Yes.” I nodded and put my headphones on walking away from him. It was weird that suddenly he was speaking to me, I’m going to blame the project. I had to get home quickly to walk my dog and finish up some homework, so I needed to brush Styles off for a bit.

+               +             +  

              “Football practice was great, thank you for asking.” Harry spoke as I was sitting at a computer in the library.

              “I had no intention of asking you, but I’m glad I guess.” I shrugged giving him a small smile. I was going to let Harry pick the movement we were speaking about, I was hoping he would pick something I actually enjoyed and not like – Mannerism or something. “Have you thought about what you wanted to do the project on?”

              “I like Romanticism, I think it’s raw.” I was shocked, that was one of my favorite movements too.

              “Wow! I say the same thing, I love how they capture everything that’s happening in that era, when history and art bleeds together.” Harry was grinning at me as I spoke, which made me tone myself down a bit – but with art there’s passion.

              “I know you’ve said that before, because I remember you said it. And I know you like it.”

              “I’m not doing the whole project, Styles.” I shook my head, so I went with the second idea, something I was good on, but I could learn more about – Impressionism. “I hope you’re happy with Monet!” I grinned as I signed up for our movement – half the class was going with Pop Art anyway, I couldn’t wait to see so many explanations of Andy Whorl’s Campbell’s Soup. I could feel his eyes on me as I was finding some citable sources for us when we’re getting to writing the paper. “What, you’re just staring,”

              “Nothin’.” He grinned, and I squinted at him. “Just got my own piece of Art right here.” I groaned, if he really thinks I’m going to do the whole project, he better ask for a new partner.

              “Stop, nope, that’s not going to work!” I sighed as I started pulling my hair into a ponytail. “You’ve got to stop, because that’s not gonna work on me, Harry.”

              “What am I doing? I’m just tellin’ the truth.”

              “You’re trying to get me all doe-eyed and on my knees for you. I’m not like every girl who you get your little fingers and smooth accent on.”

              “What type of girl are you then?”

              “Not your type.”

              “I beg to differ”

              “Pfft.” Once again, saved by the bell. I quickly gathered my things and ran to printer to grab the articles I printed out. I tried to lose Harry in the crowd of students.  Which worked while I was putting my things away but was quickly startled by him behind my locker door.

              “Can I drive yeh home?” He asked me as he reached out for my backpack, “I won’t pull any funny business, I promise, petal.”

              “Ugh, do you even live my way? Don’t you have soccer practice?” I put my backpack on my back and he quickly pulled it off me.

              “No, I don’t have football practice, and I do live near you, so it’s not a big deal.” I furrowed my eyebrows at him, “Please, you walk every day, we can organize the project if you want.”

              “The project only, that’s it.” I agreed, and we walked to his car, which was way too nice for a high schooler. I had a feeling he grew up with money – probably the reason he can be entitled sometimes. The sound of Pink Floyd was playing, and I couldn’t help myself from humming as we were driving towards my house.

              “You like Floyd?” I nodded, and he titled his head at me for a second before looking back at the road. “Who else do you like?”

              “Hmm, Fleetwood Mac, The Ramones, Elton John, I’ve been listening to Lou Reed for the last week with a little Tom Petty.” He turned down my street and nodded, turning up the music a bit. We reached my house and I quickly got a sense of déjà vu – wasn’t sure why, but I could feel it taking over my body, it all felt too familiar.

              “You’re gonna get out the car?” Harry laughed as he sat with his door open.

              “Yeah, yeah, I am.”  I nodded quickly getting out the car and walking on the path to my house. Harry followed behind me with both our backpacks, giving his car a lock as I unlocked the door.

My mother, Ann, loved to decorate. The house was warm color with hints of blue, and being an only child, there was a shrine of me. I was getting embarrassed forgetting about the baby photos of me in the living room. One above the fireplace, one on both of side tables, my senior photos having their own section by our potted plants.

              “Your parents love you,” Harry laughed scanning all the photos of me, “You were cute what happened?”

              “I’m adopted, so I’m like their favorite thing, and I’m still cute.” I smirked walking over to the photo he was looking at a bit to long. I was probably around five in the photo, with my bum out laying by a slip and slide.

              “You’re right, you’re still cute.” I shook my head at him furrowing my eyebrows at him and turning to make us a snack in the kitchen. “Just the project, okay.” He was a flirt, and I didn’t want to fall into his sticky trap of it. HE was so damn cute though, I’ve always noticed him, how he walks in a room like he owns the place but will talk to you like you’re the only person in the room. How he remembers things I said in class, so he could just talk to me, I never really had the nerve to walk up to him – maybe the fear of rejection took me over, or I’m not his type, which I’m not. I have to keep reminding myself that, I’m not his type, nowhere near it.

              “What are you twelve?” Harry asks as I put some snacks in front of him, a bowl of pretzels, apple slices and bottles of water.

              “No, I’m just saving the good snacks for myself.” I pulled out some of the notes from my backpack and sat next to him at our dining room table. He smelt good, like minty and cologne. He was extra close to me moving his finger under each word as I read along or giving me good input. We deiced to even make our own piece as an example, Harry agreed to help me paint it as well. We had a good base, so I felt good, we were ahead most of the class.

              “Hey, I have a question,” Harry asked me as I was skimming through his notes to find something worthy.

              “What’s the question?”

              “We have a game coming up on Friday, and I was wondering if you’d wear my jersey?”

              “Isn’t that like a ‘boyfriend girlfriend’ thing to do?” I moved a bit from him and he moved some of his hair out of his face.

              “It can be, but I was thinking more about luck.” I could feel my face get hot from the nervousness, why was he asking me this?

              “Why do you want me to wear it, it’s not some gross ‘Carrie’ prank is it?”

              “No, I really want you to wear it, I see you in the stands sometimes, and no one ever wears my jersey, so I want you to wear it.”

              “But-”

              “Please don’t think about what other people will think,” Harry was close to me, his face inches from mine and I could smell his breath, like oranges and mint, not the best combination but it was nice from him. I couldn’t help but to move closer as well, but to our luck, I could hear the door open and my mom waking in.

              “Anyway, sure, I’ll do it, but we can’t do this.” I motioned between us quietly as I moved back to my respected area, trying to collect my thoughts. Harry cleared his throat and started gathering his things. “You’re leaving?”

              “What else did we have to do?” he was being a bit cold, maybe from the rejection, but I would be cold too. He couldn’t like me, I was too shy, too different from him.

              “Um, I don’t know, I was thinking we could start on the painting in my room?” He perked up hearing my room, my mom walked past us giving us a small wave. And I gathered my stuff brining Harry into my room. I was secretly hoping to kiss him, maybe just a sick small incentive for working with him. His lips looked so nice, they were plump, had so much color in them it was like he would stain me if he kissed me. The hormones where getting to me, as we got to my bedroom. I closed my door and Harry was face to face with me, close. My back against my door, his hands on both sides of my head.

              “I wanna kiss yeh, Amelia.” He whispered moving closer to me. “I’ve been thinkin about kissin’ yeh since junior year, when I first got here, you were in my art class, wearin’ a mini skit, I loved it, sweet little thighs, summer tan, I think about yeh all the time.” I closed my eyes and listened to him speak, it was weird with him admitting all this to me. I didn’t dislike him, it’s just we never crossed paths enough for him to make a large impression on me, just the hot arrogant boy who was funny sometimes. “I had to know yeh name, a lot of the guys tease me fo’ it, but I wanna kiss yeh so bad.”

[fairest]

DIDN’T GO TO TWITTER YESTERDAY - September 12, 2018

Find your country. 

In the American food court of O’Hare’s Terminal 3, eating my bean & whole egg burrito from Burrito Beach, I thought, the Viet Cong were the Dirt Bag left of their time.

Except the Viet Cong knew how to kill red state Americans.

(At that time red states were blue, weird.)

The only thing the Dirt Bag left knows how to do is put two pictures side by side on a timeline.

But there is hope.

Maybe once, in the past, all the Viet Cong could do was tweet, too.

Maybe it’s only the beginning for the Dirt Bag Left and at the beginning there is only talking, organizing.

Right now it’s still the Truman years.

Dewey defeats Truman, Clinton defeats Trump.

Right now it’s still the French colonizing the American mind (all these poems hurt my feelings and all the Marx bullshit) and in 50 years we will find the right American words and we will remember how to die.

Project for an extremely online leftist: Google Image Viet Cong & Google Image Dirt Bag Left and place the images side by side on Twitter.

I have this note here: On the airplane, the milf reads her thriller.

I have this note here from long ago: a male pilot who misses his flight reading a romance novel.

Find your country.

Today, my wife’s 34th birthday, I saw a young man sitting on the curb, coming to the end of a novel.

The streets smelled of a rain that had passed over.

The farmer’s market band was singing: find. your. country. find your. country.

My wife was holding our son.

We were warmed by the cool sun, my honesty.

What my honesty has done to my perception, how it has allowed me to see things which I could never look at, because someone else was looking.

I asked my wife, is that The Corrections or The Adventures of Kavalier and Clay? And my wife said, it’s The Corrections.

Writers always look at the books people are reading.

In fact it’s one of the only things a writer can do.

It is hard for me to edit my novel during this outpouring because the characters in my third person omniscient novel live to deceive themselves, but here, for this waterworks, I am admitting myself (admit one) in the first person.

I was watching the farmer’s market band and thinking to myself, musician is the only honorable profession, everyone else is a scab.

How can you face yourself, sitting there looking at Visio and TweetDeck, when you could just as easily pick up that guitar and strum.

I can still see the couch where I finished The Corrections, a cheap college couch, I cried on the last page.

I only remember one sentence, it’s the only sentence I almost remember from a Franzen novel: ‘she was going to make some changes in her life’.

It comes at the very end. It’s about the character Enid Franzen. Chip Franzen’s mommy. 

The novel ends on a note of supreme, mainstream hope, an almost Bellovian hope.

Nothing says hope more than making changes.

Hope: One day Mr. Sammler goes to bed with the right papers.

Who was the Tolstoy of the Jews? 

Franzen the Great. Our last great male Jewish novelist.

It was also the couch where AbercrombieAnnie1983 (the best screw[s]of my life) told me she had herpes, and I said so I can’t see you anymore (I can’t fuck you anymore) I can’t love you anymore (I won’t fuck you with a disease). 

I can still smell Annie’s pussy and now you can too. It wasn’t odorless like Kardashian pussy, it had a focused smell.

I used to write things like that in MFA school and people would look at me with hatred, disgust, like they were my grandmother, so I tried to stop doing it.

Style is what you are trying to stop doing?

All of that was in my head for different periods of time and different amounts of headspace, standing in the cool sun listening to the farmer’s market band run through the changes for Find Your Country, on my wife’s birthday.

My wife is a the one. 

That’s not a typo, my wife is a ‘the one’.

It took Karl Ove 240 or so pages to leave his wife, go back to his MFA school, propose love to his mistress or some girl he used to know in college…. 

It would take me eleven million words to leave my wife.

It’s just hard to imagine.

When I see my wife’s friends I think, you gals have aged. When I see my wife she looks the same as she did the day before I met her.

As a good man (I am a good man, my father is a great man, my grandfather was an OK man, his father was a bad, bad man) I searched long and hard for a the one and when I find a the one my memory was erased.

Even AbercrombieAnnie1983 (in 2001) is gone.

It takes 5-7 generations for the badness of man to reach full flavor.

For best results, drink 3 to 4 generations per day.

I read a clearly engaging essay yesterday by Charles Finch … who I know in real life … hi Charles ... but he is not the Charles I mentioned yesterday ... who said ... critics are bitter people … about Karl Ove and it reminded me how part of Karl Ove’s Q&A … like when an indie bookstore talks to Karl Ove … what they Q&A about … is that he “gave up” on art.

Like he “gave up” on art the way Henry Miller gave up on art when he broke the sound barrier of the autobiographical novel, but like Andy told me that time in Vilnius, nobody reads Henry Miller anymore, Stuart, and I added in my own head, not even me.

Miller once said it got to the point of madness where no matter what I said about the man I could have easily have said the exact opposite.

Although I’m back in New York … that’s why I was at the airport this morning thinking about the Viet Cong … and I always bring Aller Retour New York in my bag when I come back, although I haven’t opened it for 12 years or so, and I didn’t bring it this time, I brought Eros the Bittersweet instead, which got Burrito Beach red salsa sauce on it and now is kind of fucked up.

Karl Ove fits easily into Algren’s criticism of Henry Miller: the problem with Karl Ove is that he thinks he thinks.

Much more than Miller himself does.

That’s my problem. I think I think.

This reminds me a lot of David Frum.

I feel like I made fun of David Frum the last few days but I don’t know David Frum.

Making fun of people you don’t know is for people who go to Twitter. 

I didn’t go to Twitter yesterday.

Sorry David Frum.

Thought about tweeting yesterday: 

At the Tribeca Target, my wife said even the mannequins are fat now, and I told her she should tweet that. I’m not going to tweet it’s insane that Tribeca has a Target.

I came to this sentence in Charles’ essay, which gave me a painful pang of recognition: writers who leave more questions than they answer.

I thought to myself, am I a desperate amateur who thinks he thinks and leaves more questions than I answer?

I wrote a humor piece … the only literary criticism possible for me … since literature is hilarious … about Karl Ove … this was like five years ago … I wrote it in Managua … because Dario is boring in English … it was about why Karl Ove is famous … because people like to say ‘Karl Ove’ … you know … like the Seinfeld joke about salsa … that people only like salsa because they like to say salsa … you know I’d been to parties … and people said Karl Ove … but when they said Karl Ove they didn’t mean Karl Ove … they meant themselves … like when they say David Foster Wallace they don’t mean David Foster Wallace … they mean themselves … I did a search for the unpublished article a few moments ago … I was going to send it to HTMLGiant or The Awl at the time … I must’ve erased it … if you’re interested, I’ll leave a broken link to it in show notes.

Giving up is something only men can do.

I have this note here: something only men can do.

I have this note here: A list of verbs from mammals before humans that humans can also do but it’s just the kind of “good writing” with “strong, interesting verbs”: crawl, pounce, slither, wag, others? Use them during editing process.

Women are not allowed to give up.

Men are allowed to give up when they want to harness creativity.

That Picasso line … it took me a lifetime to learn how to paint like a child … if a woman said that she would be laughed out of the salon.

Don’t paint like a child, grow up, paint like a man.

Sometimes I wonder if female writers are burning up, they have ten thousand words to go, and they look over at their husband, and he’s fast asleep. 

I don’t give up.

I am trying pretty hard right now.

I detest creativity.

I am uninterested in the expanding of my mind I want a long, drawn out compression that lasts longer they I could with AbercrombieAnnie1983.

Creativity takes me always from behind. 

It’s weird my president is mad at Nike, they make a shoe called Air Force One, then again he likes his own plane.

Creativity takes a step back for a moment, long after I am miles ahead.  

I am scared of creativity. 

American writers spend a long time being afraid of advertising.

It takes an American writer 900,000 private words before they can say to themselves: fuck advertising.

The Charles Mingus composition Myself When I Am Real, how does it go again, is it a vamp or a romp? Is it a song, or a book? 

For the longest time as a child I would think to myself, I am not creative enough.

I believe in God, saints, angles—the triune stumbling block to creativity. But I don’t believe in fairies, goblins, witches, Batman, the ruling class, late capitalism, planets with more than one moon … Luke Skywalker’s farming planet … I never believed that shit.

If a woman gave up on art man would say, cool have a kid.

I have a note here about men’s bodies that make my cock move: the young falafeltarian waiters wear tight white polos. Does a man still starch a polo these days? My fantasy: their nails clipped in half-moons.

I wrote my wife a card for her birthday.

Happy birthday my love. The wine was dark. The food clean. The service sucked. The conversation spoke to us. There will never be another you.

I wrote her a card from our son, too.

I am scared to die for my country. 

My son might not be. 

I wrote it out with my right hand to be cute (editor’s note: the desperate amateur who thinks he thinks asking more questions than he can answer is, IRL, a lefty). 

Writing the card backward was a notable experience.

I fucked up cute all words except the word Mommy. 

I write mommy almost if not equally well with my right hand as with my left. 

Maybe it’s because I have so much hope.

I have so much hope for the world, my son, my wife, my mommy even though she is old.

My mama’s got cancer in her breast, don’t ask me why I’m motherfucking stressed, things done changed.

I hug my wife, between us our son.

Find Your Country.

Hold your influences close.

Hold your closest influence closer.

[shreyamistry]

She isn't a LI. But where's the cute headcanons on Lily and mc's friendship ?! 💙

Lily and MC’s Friendship

(i don’t know who to fc Lily as so here’s my best option, please enlighten me with your fcs thanks!)

Lily is honestly the perfect best friend anyone could ask for, her caring nature, mom friend attitude, and bravery make her the best person to be around at any given time

Lily definitely says I love you to her friends at least 7 times a day, she doesn’t want them to ever feel underappreciated by anyone because she thinks they’re all so great and kind people.

Most people don’t know because they don’t give her the chance, but she’s super hilarious, she knows her way around a joke and can make anyone double over in laughter

Lily is the easiest person to talk to, no matter what MC has to tell her, she always is there to support them and be beyond kind and caring to them, it makes MC smile how genuine and sweet that girl is

Lily smiles every time she sees MC, that’s her best friend after all, and it’s different than she has for anyone else she lets her teeth show and it’s almost a laugh smile

Lily spends the night at MC’s all the time when their Li doesn’t and they play so many video games, Lily is an expert at so many of them and she even shows MC all the games she’s worked on and are currently helping develop

she lays in MC’s bed next to them when they settle into sleep and just talk, about anything and everything until dawn and they finally settle into sleep listening to bird’s chirp the morning into wakefulness 

Lily is so damn smart and open to so much in life she always has an opinion about everything and listening to her thoughts is so intriguing to MC

“Is there anything you can’t do Lily?”

“Stop, I’m gonna cry.”

MC goes out of their way to stand up for Lily all the time, no matter what, or where. they’re incredibly protective of their best friend and lily is always grateful to have MC

Lily supports MC through her relationship with Britney, she knows how happy it makes Lily so they’re willing to let their guard down and give Britney a chance (Britney surprises them sometimes with how much she’s really changed)

They go on double dates all the time, MC and their LI and Lily and Britney, no matter where they go it’s always fun and Britney really starts to come around to MC and their LI a few dates in, although she does have her moments 

MC helps Lily break out of her shell and get the most out of life now that they’re back into MC’s life, she encourages her to try not styles of clothes, encourages her to be more free and open, and most importantly they don’t try to change Lily just help her to be more herself

MC and Lily loving going to the beach together they set up camp on the sand and Lily brings a book and she reads to them, they can spend the entire day chilling out on the beach feeling the warm breezes and feeling happy and content to be with each other

Lily loves reading to MC or telling them about different books, the passion behind her voice and excitement when she tells them about her reading journey, she gets MC back into the library and they’re always checking out books together and having fun 

Lily was so upset the one time they got kicked out of the library, MC took her out for cinnamon hot cocoa and she forgot about, her favorite librarian even apologized the next time they were there for the other one who asked them to leave

“That bag of bones is just bitter from her divorce still, Lily, don’t you pay her no mind. She is not worth it.” It makes Lily feel better.

MC plans Lily a surprise party every year for her birthday, they go all out and get rest of the gang to chip in and help out, Lily loves it every year and group hugs everyone crying. Everyone feels like Lily deserves it for all she does for them, and the continual support she shows each of them

Lily is the type of friend to buy everyone holiday gifts, she gets everyone a valentine’s day plushie, chocolate bunny for Easter, etc, and everyone is always super grateful, MC always tells Lily she doesn’t have to do that for them but Lily insists

“Holiday cheer is a very important feeling to have in the air.”

“You’re the cutest human alive, I love you.”

Lily is basically a cheerleader, therapist, and stunt woman all rolled into one, she always goes along with every terrible idea her friends have and makes sure to keep them safe throughout it

Lily tells everyone goodnight and good morning and i love you in the group chat, she doesn’t want anyone to feel sad and hopes that her wishing them goodnight and good morning will help them feel better

Lily definitely uses the group chat the most, she loves talking to her friends especially in that type of setting, she’s the type of nerd to send out 6 essays in the middle of the night about her newest obsession and different characters she loves

She goes out of her way to support her friend’s passions, she goes to any competition Stacy has, she attends every game Andy plays in or any sporting event in general, she attends all of Lucas’ public performances and cheers for him, She shows up to all of Dan’s games and supports his arts (no one really knows, but he’s a promising artist, lily will buy his paintings and hang them in her house or donate them to the library so he can use the money to buy more art supplies) Lily even helps Ava research the different ideas she has about Redflied, she doesn’t want to help, but she knows how much it will mean to Ava and sucks it up to support her

Whenever she’s sad the gang won’t let it go, they see all that she does for them and shows up at her house with terrible movies, ice cream, and bunch of other snacks and they all spend the entire day eating and watching terrible movies in her living room (she even bought 2 blow up air mattresses for her friends to share when they’re over so they don’t have to cram on the couch)

Lily definitely calls her friends’ babe or honey, she thinks it’s cute call them stupid little loving nicknames like that, she calls Andy lovebug and he always crinkles his nose, but he can’t hide his smile he thinks it’s just as adorable

“Lily, you are the most special person in the world. I am beyond grateful to call you my best friend, I honestly have no idea what I would do without you. I truly don’t deserve someone as kind and loving as you.”

“MC, don’t be silly. You being you deserves you nothing, but the best. I love you very much.”

Thanks for this ask I’ve wanted to write something like this, I love Lily with all my heart!

[beowulfs-booty-call]

Beowulf for the character list!

Ohhhh gosh Jordi! How are ya pal!!! (I still have to finish the other ask you gave me! I’m making it super long and detailed just for you!)

AND GOD YES, THE FAVE BABE OKAY HERE GOES

Favorite thing about them:

Beowulf’s motif and his huge ass muscles because they’re goals. Also, the wolf pelt, definitely. Oh! Oh! And his happy-go-lucky attitude because my ass be having it too omfg.

His bravery is another thing, tbh, because he just straight up tells everyone on tv that his match was rigged because he knows he’s not really a hero. He’s the people’s hero. That was the reason in the first place why he got famous! To go in front of people and explain the situation knowing full well you might get back? That takes guts.

Least favorite thing about them:

The “Wrestler Bro” attitude sometimes. It’s fine, but the dudes at Lab Zero gave him a split “Does he think wrestling is real or…?” and “He says things you don’t expect in whispers.” in fights and it’s a wasted Easter egg Imo. The game makes him act and behave as though he’s rather dim-witted, which, cool because he’s a simple guy, but they also shoehorned Annie in to save his butt time to time and I dislike the sort of relationship they gave them both. 

It’s also been said behind the scenes Beowulf did take part of the nationalistic effort in the war. Now, granted, if that was the case? Why didn’t they expand upon this? If he was a soldier, I feel he should obviously be referenced too, if not, as it already seems Parasoul knew he was merely a political pawn, I feel Beowulf’s love of the Canopy Kingdom really should have been broadened on because it’s bad writing Imo that they left out these things in favor of highlighting Annie in his story mode.

Personally in my essay I wrote, I really am big on the Annie inclusion, but I feel that it took away from Beowulf’s true personality and potential. Why add in Beowulf being saved by Annie, if he was meant to destroy Grendel anyway via suplex? I feel if such was the case, have Annie take on Double in the first place after she swallows Beowulf into Gehenna and he takes on Marie Ala Squigly and Filia.

That said, the dimwittedness is rather bland to me. It’s obvious Beowulf’s intellect shouldn’t be the brunt of the joke, and the fanbase was even worse with his treatment, outright ignoring him or treating him as the butt-monkey of the cast because Annie or Minette wasn’t voted in and it really does tick me off. We could have really shown how Beowulf was obviously using the wrestler persona to grieve for Grendel. We really could have had Beowulf figuring out just how big the Medici Mafia is and him going after those who wronged him after beating Marie. 

We really lost out. And that’s my biggest pet peeve.

Favorite line:

I am two hundred, eighty seven pounds of FOLDED STEEL, AND SEX APPEAL.

brOTP:

Beowulf and Adam

Beowulf and Big Band (After their fighting in the story mode and I imagine him coming back to right wrongs)

Beowulf and Annie (I feel like she should have been much more better friends with him. And of course I feel like she’d be so goddamn dirty with him in making censored jokes because he GETS it but he... He can’t man. The kid’s got him. And he can't curse because how would that look!!! You can't call out a kid who referenced how your ex was “all up on your blood sausage.”!

OTP:

Beowulf and Me aofhiefsjfa[

I’m actually okay with Beowulf and Ms. Victoria actually! I think they’d be so cute together, if anything because I use to think of me and my ex like that, hilariously enough. I.E: Beo is the sort of guy who would waste like 50$ on you at a carnival because he wants to get you the huge ass prize, but then on his last dollar, you take the shot, win it, and you give it to him and his eyes literally are just hearts.

nOTP:

Beowulf and Eliza (Realistically, she’s only gonna use him for his blood to get stronger. I feel like if anything, there’s nothing left of Eliza. So, at this point, you’re dealing with a real monster.)

Beowulf and any underage cast member - I mean C’mon. Really.

Beowulf and Annie - See above

random headcanon(s)

- Beowulf actually is really literate, and writes poetry time to time. However, no one would pay to see him go “To be or not to be… SUPLEXED”

- He likes to wear suede and you can find him walking and going about in his scarf and puffy jacket drinking hot tea and lattes because just loves winter months

- The Hurting actually is a sentient being and was given to Beowulf via his old sleazy manager Unferth (In the original tale, Unferth gives Beowulf the Hrunting, but beowulf is so strong, he breaks it.) yet it stays strong to this day. When Beowulf is alone, or when he’s really in a pinch, the Hurting opens up its maws and has long sharp fangs and monstrous tongue used to grapple opponents. Only Beowulf speaking to it can calm it down and turn back to an original chair. No one realizes a thing.

- Grendel’s arm hears EVERYTHING beowulf says, as Grendel is still alive through the arm. However, all it hears is Beowulf screaming his quotes so instead of coherent sentences its: “ALL’S CHAIR. RUNNING WILD. AWOO. I AM TWO HUNDRED–”

- Beowulf actually is a secret musical / Opera critic and is a big benefactor of the arts. He also shouts insults and screams very helpful messages to the actors. 

- When out of a job, Beowulf once took up a librarian job working in Filia’s school. Cue Ms. Victoria having to attend to students and him riding on the Janitor mobile and D. Violet secretly having a crush on him. He also bench pressed many a book case. I would know. I was one of the book cases. The kids later were the first ones to see him back in action with Ms. Victoria after he got back in the game, and they gave him a crude letter to him about being a hero and boy oh boy do I love Beowulf being kids’ hero like he was to me.

Unpopular opinion:

As the only male dude besides Big Band I feel he was purposefully thrown under the bus and really, there’s not enough porn or love for him. Much less, everyone seems to have like 2 intro animations, Beo has 1. I call favoritism but, anyway:

I think he doesn’t need a paring to shine as a hero. I think he needs to be shown more so people can realize just how awesome he really is, not with Annie saving his butt all the time so he can tout about wrestling being real.

Had he not shown up, we only would know about him via Peacock’s story mode with Andy Anvil saying he came out of retirement.

Give him love! He’s earned it!

And also like, I think he is as smart, if not, smarter than the rest of the cast, he just hides it under a veneer of being a pro wrestler. No one pays for WWE style entertainment in new meridian, they want real emotion, and that’s what Beowulf’s so used to. Because of that, he whispers and talks about things, but when you really think about them, they all have some meaning behind them, like when he calls Eliza the Crimson Scourge. I hate the idea that people think he’s a dumb dude because he’s not. Y’all just sleeping on a good character.

Song(s) i associate with them:

Space Jam’s Let’s Get Ready to Rumble

Dudley’s remix: Dudley Blew My Mind

Alex and Ken’s theme from Street Fighter 3: Third Strike

Major Lazer and Ariana Grande - All My Love

Because he liked 80′s songs and because I love funk music:

Bite the Apple - Rainbow Team

The Limit: She’s so Divine (In this case, he: “When I got here in July…”)

Let’s Get Physical: Olivia Newton AKA SIDE TO SIDE BEFORE IT WAS EVER SIDE TO SIDE

Reminder: I gotta draw him in that outfit afjnlsfgs

Also!!!

Side to Side + Let’s Get Physical MIX:

Dua Lipa: New Rules 80′S MIX (Totally something he’d listen to for the gym)

favorite picture of them

Wow it’s super nsfw but I’ll crop it for the benefit of all.

Here’s my fave sprites too

Look at him, majestic creature, no?

BICEP GRAB

Ass a palooza

And finally…

( I don’t recall the source rn for this pic, but I’ll be sure to update it asap when I get a chance!)

[finsterhund]

Finsterhund’s 2017 Summary of Art (and by extension, the rest of my life)

I’d be lying if I said that 2017 wasn’t an incredibly difficult year for the easily excitable finsterhund but it was also a very productive year for my art. I’m not going to deny that. A lot of issues came about that pushed me really hard, and I did break, but I mended too. I grew stronger in some ways. My writing took a nosedive and I’m not sure how to repair that, but my art, well... this is the first time I’ve ever done one of these. That should speak for itself.

In some months it was difficult to pick which one. I decided against choosing ones that may have been partially rotoscoped (such as my reaction images and most memes) and also because I tend to draw too similar to reference images I use. So no redraws of blurry HoD concept art or stuff.

January: [x]

This was supposed to be the picture for holidays 2016 but I’m a lazy earth boy who must’ve been slacking off because I finished and posted it right on January first! I remember at the time I was really proud of this one, and spent a lot of time on it. It was drawn traditionally and then scanned and digitized in GIMP... yes gimp. Fishy loved it and that made me happy. Nowadays I can pick apart so many flaws, especially in Andy. The lines look so shaky! Maybe I’ll redraw it for January 1st 2018! Assuming I don’t slack off again.

February: [x]

It was hard picking one from this month because I didn’t really like my drawings from then. Here’s art in paint of Red Spot eating a burger. I used to draw him with food when I was hungry for a while. Mmmmmm borger.

March: [x]

This is the month things started to take a nosedive. There was lots of good things happening, but some bad stuff too. A few new problems arose, but at the time the biggest was I found out my birth mom was being evicted and I would have to help her clear the old house. THAT old house. I retreated heavily into my artistic comforts and drew a lot of pictures of Red Spot being comforting and supportive to Andy. Red was created for that purpose after all, and Andy being a character I so closely identify with ended up being the comfort I needed especially then. Despite its crudeness in ms paint I do love this picture and should redraw it in Sai at some point.

April: [x]

The trials I had to face were unreal this month. The Wannabe War(tm) is well underway, and the time to return to the old house rapidly approached. I drew like there was no tomorrow, and these paint pictures were the best. Smoother lines, and more detail. When the time came to face that house things got ugly. Mom hid that my dog Jack had been dead for over half a year and broke the news only when I became distraught when I arrived and he didn’t come when I called him. My fixation on the “monkey’s paw” that was ruining everything I ever wished for started around here, and I kept breaking down. Bad regressing back to before I left that place happened. But something else did too. I DIDN’T. STOP. DRAWING. I drew more and more. Choosing to bring my laptop allowed me to make more pictures. A lot of Red Spot and Andy comfort ones, some mean little immature vent comics, and memes. Lots of memes. I was able to do the job I went there to do and returned home exhausted but VICTORIOUS. My art? Well I think I actually improved a lot then. It was predominantly due to surviving in spite of everything and the sheer volume of cruddy little paint drawings. I didn’t want to pick a mean comic and already had one ms paint Andy and Red picture in this line up so here’s a surprisingly detailed xenomorph queen being licked by a prequel era character who is a massive spoiler. Not only were both characters very complicated to draw, but I’m genuinely shocked I was able to draw an xenomorph at all.

May: [x]

After the painful embarrassment of April I tried really hard to relax. I was still really scared and anxious about the Wannabe incident, but it had more or less turned into a post-arms race stalemate where he wasn’t really doing anything and I just had my weapons of mass destruction pointed at him with my grubby little orange paw over the launch button which is where things have been ever since. My art took a relaxation break, but it was still steadily getting better. Late May I wanted to come up with a reason to actually celebrate my birthday (June 3rd) so I did a silly little “June is International Heart of Darkness month” post featuring Red and Andy sharing a slice of chocolate cake. I went on to say that June 3rd was “International draw heart of darkness fan art” day (real smooth you egocentric mutt) but I thought it’d be a good way to actually celebrate the day but make it about the video game that gave me a reason to live another year instead of about me aging, as I openly hate that I grow older.

June: [x]

A few of my friends drew HoD stuff this month, but a lot of my friends were busy due to jobs, school, life, etc. We used to be a lot more active in 2015 and even in 2016 so this did hit me pretty hard. As a result, I become very frustrated and out of spite decide it’s finally time to test my “new toy.” I don’t remember when Kale actually gave me his old tablet, but in June I finally install its drivers, get a copy of paint tool sai, and draw a lot with it. At first I hate these pictures and go back to paint whenever possible. There’s something wrong with my copy of sai and windows 10 doesn’t like the drivers. But I push myself, and I start to make more pictures of Andy, Whisky, Red Spot, etc. Not a lot of my early Sai pictures ever got posted or even made it past the inking stage, but one night I just couldn’t sleep so I drew Andy cradled in the crook of Red’s wing and got it to the flat colors stage.

July: [x]

I try to calm down. it’s a good month I think. Not much happens. It’s the month I finally give myself a new fursona. I decided that Red Spot isn’t “me” and I can’t use Andy in furry communities so I come up with a solution. It... it’s just Andy as a doberman. It’s a little orange doberman that wears a red bandanna and Andy’s hat... Doberman Andy. But he’s cute, and I can draw him, and so I do draw him. And he helps me get better at drawing in Sai.

August: [x]

The month of the solar eclipse! Me and my friend were going to go down to the US to see it together and... nope... that plan fell through. It makes me a brat, but that’s okay because I can just draw six hundred thousand drawings of Andy. That’ll help me feel better. I ended up having a sabbatical from my blog after some people on tumblr began to bother me and I put up a drawing of Andy’s shoe so nobody could go in. This is an MS Paint picture! Sadly, I’ve stopped really drawing in the program. I like how I did Andy’s face even if his hat and hair weren’t the best.

September: [x]

I return from my sabbatical and begin to spam my tumblr with Andy drawings I’m making in paint tool sai. The quality and style of Andy in these pictures varies drastically as I try a whole manner of new things. At one point I make a post that has five color pictures of Andy in it. It’s slowly becoming difficult to pick which picture I wanted to put here. Not because I didn’t like any, but because I liked too many. SMOL Andy was probably my favourite of the bunch. I made him more chibi and cute than I normally do. It was on accident but I thought he was too cute to go back and make him more on-model.

October: [x]

I was supposed to do an Andy version of Inktober but I guess the extreme amount of Andy pictures was a September thing because I burned out relatively quickly. I had some drama involving a prototype disc and also ended up having to pay way too much extra money every month until further notice but it’s a relatively calm month all things considering. The way I drew Andy in this art isn’t particularly stellar, but I love what I did with Red’s mouth and nose. I wanted to show that the way I draw Red improved too.

November: [x]

My chronic pain gets worse for no good reason, I get a very disturbing creeper threatening me online, and I’m generally depressed, but I’m drawing. That’s good. I start a new revolutionary technique when I rely almost entirely on the cinematics as reference and don’t reference other cartoon styles whenever I can when it comes to drawing Andy. I enjoy the result. Drawing him in a cute penguin-themed suit made my day. It was so hard to decide which one to pick this month. I loved so many of them.

December: [x]

Like November, but somewhat better I think. I’m still drawing Andy a lot, with Red coming along for the ride too. This one I tried to draw Andy in a more Disney-like style. I love how I did his face and freckles. The drawing of Whisky from the same post is great too. I look at a lot of my newer drawings and feel genuinely pleased with the result. I think I actually am improving, and whilst I think it is due a lot to getting sai and a tablet, it can also be because I’m becoming more skilled and getting more practice as well. Lets hope the new year brings us smooth sailing, lots of fun, and happy times our way. HoD will be 20 in 2018 and I’m ready to bring the subject of my love and joy a great two decade celebration.