#I always see it in ads and I like their image and the products look cool but have never ever ever tried it

[icewindandboringhorror]

examining a seemingly normal image only to slowly realize the clear signs of AI generated art.... i know what you are... you cannot hide your true nature from me... go back where you came from... out of my sight with haste, wretched and vile husk

[theold-ultraviolence]

has any of my besties in here have ever tried that Glossier You perfume? I've heard it's all the rage because of the longevity and the singular scent, and they finally carry Glossier in Sephora Mexico and kinda wanna try it out ( I should NOT be buying treats right now but I am weak and very bored lmao)

[faexoxoxoxo]

ᴵ ᵖʳᵉᵗᵉⁿᵈ ʸᵒᵘ'ʳᵉ ᵐⁱⁿᵉ ᵃˡˡ ᵗʰᵉ ᵈᵃᵐⁿ ᵗⁱᵐᵉ...

SUMMARY: when people ask how you met satoru, your response would be “at a club,” and while he'd smile and nod along in agreement, there was much more to the story…

PAIRING: bartender! gojo satoru x actress! reader

TW: 18+, masturbation, obsessive satoru...

A/N: part of my bartender gojo series but can be read as a stand alone, mostly satoru being a lil creepy shit... I mean fanboy!

It all started with a magazine...

During his proud bachelor days, Satoru had been a faithful subscriber to various porn sites and magazines. It wasn't that he had any problems with finding women to satisfy his needs; on the contrary, women at the club were obsessed with him.

One charming grin paired with a wink was enough to get anyone flushed and ready to drop their panties for Gojo Satoru. It was all just way too easy, and with the lack of challenge, eventually he lost interest in hooking ups.

Now, this particular magazine was one of his all-time favorites, so imagine the dismay when instead of receiving the usual erotic magazine, he found the latest issue of Vogue delivered to his doorsteps. A simple error on the mailman's part, and further proof to Satoru, that one simply couldn't find good service anymore.

+ ° . ๑・° ⊹ . + ° . ๑・° ⊹ . + ° . ๑・° ⊹ . + ° .

Sighing with disdain, Satoru flipped through the pages. “Boring, boring, boring…” He muttered, preparing to dump the magazine in the trash. With his flawless skin and exceptional looks, what did he need this for!?

Just as he was about to toss it away, a particular image caught his eye - it was a picture of you.

Nothing much about the ad was special, except for you. Who'd been featured prominently, wearing a two-piece swimsuit and, holding up a bottle of sunscreen, with a charming smile that screamed, “Buy this.” clever sales tactic, using a pretty girl like you to promote products, and god, you were pretty. 

Satoru could feel his heartbeat pick up as he studied your face; the cheery red lipstick enhanced your features, he was hooked, and the growing tent in his pants further served as evidence of just how much.

Turns out Vogue wasn't so boring after all…

“Hmmm...” he moaned softly, sliding his hands down his sweatpants to massage his growing hard on, his eyes fixated on the outline of your curves, the way the blue bikini clung onto your tits, and how the pantie strings were tied in a cute little ribbon. It'd be so easy for him to rip the flimsy fabric off you...

“Fuck.” Satoru groans, squeezing the tip of his pre-dripping cockhole. He wasn't going to last long tonight...

+ ° . ๑・° ⊹ . + ° . ๑・° ⊹ . + ° . ๑・° ⊹ . + ° .

Getting you out of his brain proved to be impossible. Your face was always there in the back of his mind during whatever mundane tasks he'd been doing. In the shower, eating breakfast, at work, heck, even his dreams weren't safe, you'd wormed your way in them with the same kissable lips and sweet smile; it was like he was back to being a teenager boy with a puppy crush.

Two weeks after failing to distract himself, his resistance cracked, and he looked up your name online.

You were an actress...

That was the first thing Satoru learned. Not yet a household name, but a rising star nonetheless, with a decent amount of people seeming to enjoyed your works.

The second thing he found after obsessively scrolling through your social media accounts was that you had a boyfriend, Naoya Zenin. Now that was a name Satoru was familiar with—the regular VIP asshole at one of his clubs.

Lips twisting into a disgruntled frown, he stares at a recently posted picture of you with Naoya. What did you even see in this punk? He was an egoistical little shit...

+ ° . ๑・° ⊹ . + ° . ๑・° ⊹ . + ° . ๑・° ⊹ . + ° .

The following evening, Satoru sat down to watch the very first movie you had a leading role in, a typical light hearted rom-com. in it you'd played the role of a clumsy assistant, oblivious to the fact that your boss had a crush on you.

Dispute the predictable plot, Satoru couldn't bring himself to turn it off; his eyes locked onto your every expression as it shifted from serious to flustered during the romantic scenes. You were good Satoru admired despite not having much experience then, you obviously had versatility.

As the movie's plot advanced, so did the romance; simple handholding turned into kissing and making out...

Every time the camera zoomed in on you and your costar, Satoru gritted his teeth, a bitter taste raised to the back of his mouth, watching as you moaned into another man's lips. It was absurd, irrational, and he didn't even know you, so where was this anger coming from!? Why did he wish it was him on screan kissing you instead!? Why did his want to punch the fucker for touching you!?

+ ° . ๑・° ⊹ . + ° . ๑・° ⊹ . + ° . ๑・° ⊹ . + ° .

Safe to say, Satoru never watched any more of your works in the romantic genre again; his heart couldn't handle seeing you with another man...

What he did watch were interviews; he'd spent hours getting through every single one from the time of your debut, memorizing all of your preferences, from your favorite color to how many kids you wanted to the most used brand of perfume, shampoo and lotion.

He even bought a batch of perfume for himself, spraying it on his pillows and sheets, and using the lotion as lube whenever he'd fucked his fists to your pictures.

Eventually He'd lost count of the nights he spent lazily stroking his aching cock and imagining it was your little hands, or pretty lips on him ... those fantasies always ended with his cum splattered on his abs and the sheets. Not that Satoru minded the mess; he just wished he could have you there with him instead, longing to know how it'd feel to stuff your tight holes full of his cum...

Soon enough, his phone's wallpaper changed from the blank blue to a picture of you from your photoshoot for Vogue; he even hung a few posters of you in his closet, a little shrine dedicated to his one and only.

+ ° . ๑・° ⊹ . + ° . ๑・° ⊹ . + ° . ๑・° ⊹ . + ° .

It took some time for Satoru's best friends to notice his twisted obsession with you.

Shoko was the first one to point out how unhealthy it was, “At this rate you'll end up becoming a stalker, and getting charged for harassment.” she'd stated after finding out about his little collection.

“Just fuck a couple of chicks and get over this one, buddy.” Suguru advised, not knowing of his blue-eyed friend's various failed attempts at doing just that.

Satoru had tried to fuck someone.

The girl was one of his regular clients, tall, slim, hot, and pretty confident. She'd flirted with him a couple of times, and he'd indulged in it, thinking, why not?

He took her to dinner and had a fancy hotel room picked out just for the occasion. But when he finally had her in bed, he couldn't go through with it. She felt wrong; her eyes weren't the same shade as yours, her laugh wasn't like yours, and the way she talked annoyed him, so he left.

He'd tried this a few more times with different women, but it always ended the same.

The closest he'd come to getting his dick wet was in his private room in the back of the club. She had the same hair color as yours, and Satoru thought if he'd pretend hard enough, she could be you.

But then he made the mistake of moaning out your name instead of Sasha, or was it Simona ? ... well, he didn't remember, but whoever she was had left him with a harsh reality check, and a red slap mark on his face.

So He stopped trying after that.

The next woman Satoru fucked would be you or no one else. Sure, you had a boyfriend; sure, you didn't know he existed, and sure, there was a chance you never would, but he was convinced, with enough money and time, you would find your way to him.

Until then, Satoru would spend his nights imagining what it'd be like if he could get a chance to show you just how perfect he was for you, and pretending like you were his all the damn time . . .

✎⁠ I'm trying to get out of my writing slump so hopefully this was a good start (ꈍ⁠ᴗ⁠ꈍ⁠) asks are open for feedback and ideas so feel free to send me thoughts <333

✎⁠ likes, reblogs, and comments are very appreciated ♡

✎ the dividers are from @chachachannah header is from @chromesaine on pinterest

[justsomehazbin]

Holy SHIT am I proud of this. It took a day and a HALF to work on it. I really just wanted to draw a cool badass picture of Charlie in a cute dress, and somehow I ended up with my best piece I think I've ever done!!

To see the process, click the 'read more' below!

Otherwise:

Main blog over here

My Etsy Shop!

Originally, I wanted it to look more like a royal portrait, a good excuse to draw a pretty dress.

I adored the dress design, but it was an extremely flat image, so despite taking like. 5 hours to design it and work on it, I rethought my plan, switching to a far more dynamic pose.

I also made sure to add tons of flow lines, both from her hair, to her tail, to help bring the eye all around the canvas.

I did a billion sketches, but this is what I ended up on! Originally I had her right arm holding the pitch fork behind her back, but it just never looked right. I also took a risk and did a facial angle that has always been extremely hard to get right, and somehow I managed to make it look nice!

After adding the lineart, colors and all of that, I knew quickly I didn't want the angel to stick out as much as she did. I wanted her to fall into the background instead, since she was just on the border and I didn't want any attention really taken from Charlie. So I changed her shade to red, and from there I added more of the background details!

Okay I did leave some inbetween screenshots out but it's past my bedtime. I hope this was fun to look at, at least!

Final product once more!

[where-dreams-dwell]

Dexter is a cautionary tale of the need to accept discomfort as a part of life, with Emma as his contrast and aspirational example.

Throughout the show Emma embodies determination and self assurance. The only reason she thinks she can change the world is.. because why couldn’t she? In contrast Dexter has no idea what he wants and kind of resents having to even think about it, hence his jumping between careers and looking for purpose for the whole show.

While Em knows what she wants emotionally (the satisfaction or having made a difference, the achievement of doing what she always wanted) but isn’t sure on the specifics of what that will look like (I’ll write plays, no write poetry, no I’ll teach, okay no I’ll write a book), Dexter knows the specifics (I’ll be rich and famous) but doesn’t know what he wants emotionally (‘what will that look like?’ ‘I don’t know’).

While Dex is always running from uncomfortable feelings Em faces then head on and comes out the other side, able to learn from them.

As Dex is travelling to put off making long term decisions, Em has taken the first opportunity to do what she wants: writing, be it books, poems or in this instance plays.

On holiday Dex can’t allow himself to admit that he fancy’s Em and to leave it at that, he has to run from the honesty and vulnerability of that moment by adding on ‘but I pretty much fancy everyone’. In doing this you could argue that he looses his chance with her for several years, where as Emma’s confidence could have resulted in them getting together much sooner.

Dex misses his mothers last birthday because he doesn’t want to face reality. Instead of reacting to the fear and anger and pain of her diagnosis by spending every moment he can with her, or sitting down to have heart to heart talks with her, or helping her out in any meaningful way Dex runs away and numbs himself with substances, and is passed out for the little time he is in her presence.

When he’s nervous people won’t (or already don’t) like him on TV he again turns to substances to numb his feelings, and (instead of taking Em’s advice to ignore them) looks for reassurance from hangers on who don’t actually know him that well. He can’t sit in that worry/fear/discomfort so he finds a way to stop feeling.

When Dex’s marriage falls apart we see him running away to Paris to visit Em. And sure there are ulterior motives here (his hope and assuming that this could be the start of their romantic relationship) but the writer shows him literally traveling away from the country where his failed marriage, child and previous life were as he is show to be angrily talking about his divorce. As an image it appears like he’s running away from the reality of the divorce or running to Em for a distraction. It definitely supports Ems assumptions that he’s not serious about a relationship with her; she’s seen this behaviour in Dex before.

It’s even funny how in small ways we don’t see him handle upsetting things until the very end. Talking about his first marriage and the production the day became? Dex admits he didn’t want to rock the boat so he didn’t fight anything/reject anything/ have much say at all in his wedding. Sylvie drops off Jasmine? Dex is still at the cafe so Em is the one managing slightly awkward small talk. Jasmine practising her violin? We get a brief moment with Dex too but mainly it’s Em sitting through the recitals. In that last episode when they’re struggling with fertility, Em is the one who sits down and talks out her anger and fear and worry, where as Dex (who probably knew what the root of it all was) was happy to leave her to process it how she need to and support her while she did. If she hadn’t brought it up he wouldn’t have said anything.

That’s not becisarily a bad thing (Dex could have known that Em needed to process it herself before talking to him) but it is interesting that the writers engineer Dex to avoid all these moments of emotional discomfort. It reinforces his characterisation of being avoidant when confronted with conflict.

In contrast we kind of constantly see Em having to face hard moments and working through them.

Don’t know what to do with your life? Move to London to try and aim to work in your dream field. London life and restaurant job not going the way you planned? Commit to Dex’s suggestion of teacher training. Time to confess a secret? Here’s a hugely personal one about my past feelings for you. Past crush admits he kind-if fancy’s you? Stick to being honest about your past feelings and don’t take the opening to downplay them. You feel shit about your life and your secret affair? Well let’s turn that into motivation to finally write that book.

Not happy with your long term partner? End the relationship.

Emma’s whole confrontation with Ian is a masterclass in facing difficult conversations and emotions, being vulnerable and open and honest about your feelings, and finding empathy for another outside your point of view. And look what she gains from facing that hard in comfortable conversation? Closure, and a kind of friendship, one that lasts even after she dies.

When Dex confessed that he hoped they would start a romantic relationship in Paris, Em sits him down and starts that hard conversation about how she doesn’t think that is 1) what he even wants and 2) would work between them. She doesn’t brush off of hide from the conversation. And then when she has more information and time to think she commits to Dex.

Even after they sleep together there’s a scene of Em laying the ground rules, making it clear to Dex what she will and won’t stand in this relationship. That’s an awkward conversation to have but Em doesn’t hesitate and makes sure he knows from the get go what she expects and deserves. The writers are constantly showing us ‘Em doesn’t run from uncomfortable feelings’.

And then the tragic twist of fate: Emma is gone and Dexter finally has to learn to live with emotional discomfort. He can’t keep running because there is no escaping this, not like he did with his mum. Like he says to Imaginary-Emma ‘why would time change anything’. He is going to feel like this forever, there is no escaping it. Finally he is learning to face it, manage it, and work through it.

Of course Emma is far more than a literally device and is her own layered and well established character. But in this regard for Dex it’s almost as if she’s the final lesson for him to work through to grow up enough so he can eventually choose to return to the place they met.

And it could even come across as a reward for him; in learning to live with those difficult emotions, his reward is being able to remember Emma fondly, and to return to the place they met to seek out those memories. The memories are bittersweet, but now he remembers Emma as she was and not how she never got to be.

Like his dad said, he is eventually able to ‘live [his] life as if she were still here’ but in order to do that he first had to accept that she was gone.

[umnitsa]

You should mess with Jim - 4

Summary: Big Jim thinks of you at work. You watch him and give in to an impulse

A/N: Sex workers are awesome. This is all written in a badly informed place of admiration. This one got away from me. Not proofread, I hope it's all right. I really hope you like it.

Pairing: retiredpornstar!Hopper x fem!Reader

CW: PIV, lots of sex, but not with Reader.

Jim missed the gonzo days. He wondered when did he stop having fun. It used to be easy, just tape some fun between two willing attractive people. Some make-believe with a guy holding a camera between your legs, while you wonder if your asshole is on the shot.

People were mostly high on everything then.

But things changed, somehow.

At least the production value could be a bit higher now. He smiled, looking in the mirror. He was a police officer a few weeks earlier, and now he was a teacher.

This was a producing company he liked to work for. Mostly fetish scenes, good pay, good viewing base, and they enjoyed him. The comments were crazy. The comments on the previews in the free sites were crazy.

He still had something.

Thank heavens it allowed him to pick and choose his jobs.

Well, it didn’t help he was smart and saved, the moment he realized it wouldn’t last forever.

He moved to the set, an office room, with a sofa. Jim felt thankful, it wasn’t really comfortable to fuck on a desk. He always preferred beds, but sofas were doable.

He suddenly felt old.

“Come on, buddy.” Jim muttered to himself and stepped into the set. The light makes it hot and just slightly uncomfortable. The tie didn’t help.

The fact that his partner looked like you helped even less.

Jim didn’t even need the help of his hand to get hard.

The cameras started rolling and if he had to be honest, he just didn’t pay much attention to the acting. Her eyes looked just like yours, her invitation lacked your intensity.

He could fool himself for an afternoon. Empty his balls, get over his tension, and have some fun.

The sofa was more comfortable than it looked. He decided as he sat, patting his thigh. The girl crawled over him, her ass to the camera, and he couldn’t stop himself from smiling. He slid his huge hand over her ass, his cock hard, pressed against her side, as he imagined you in the same position.

Jim has to admit he wants to spank you for teasing him unwittingly, and he’s suddenly glad to have this girl.

His hand struck hard, and he squeezed the asscheek, enjoying the sight of the red skin between his fingers. Jim slid his hand over the girl’s back and grabbed her hair, pulling her back, making her back arch. With the girl still arched, he used his free hand to spank the untouched asscheek.

She whimpered.

“Look at that…” He pulled her thong aside, exposing her pussy and her ass to the camera. He gave into his little fantasy and brushed his thumb along her slit. She squirmed, moaning, and his fantasy was crushed, it just wasn’t your voice. He decided to get back at life by swatting at her ass.

He fingered her ever so gently, slowly adding fingers, until he had three knuckle-deep inside her.

He got a sign to carry on, keep moving towards the end of the shoot. With a pointed look at the director, he shakes his head and twists his three fingers inside the girl.

She needed to be prepared.

He didn’t want to hurt her.

He didn’t want to hurt you.

She moaned loudly, pushing her ass back, against his hand. He twists his fingers once more, then again and again and again… She trembled on his lap, her body relaxing. Good. Better.

Jim pulled his fingers, taking a moment to suck on them, as the girl slides to her knees between his legs. She grabs his thighs, hands moving to his belt seductively. He knew that was a good moment to take some beautiful images. Fuck, she really looked like you. Hell, maybe she didn’t, maybe he just wanted her to look like you, but… Right now, as he looks at his cock, the thick, angry red head pulsing precome against her lips, he can only see you.

She sucked Jim for the camera. He used his hands to frame her face, to cup her head, composing the image. He knew how his thick fingers looked, wrapped in hair. He knew his part in composing the picture. Jim tried to push his cock into her mouth, wanting a pretty image of your lips around his cock. She moaned again, and once more the illusion is shattered. It’s not your voice.

Jim growled, frustrated, and tugged on her hair, receiving a whimper in response.

He stood up, then grabbed the girl’s hair, and thrust his cock in her face’s direction. She took the hint and goes back to sucking. He looked down at her, with a stern face, pulled the tie off, then opened the shirt.

He closed his eyes, feeling her hands on his hips. Eyes closed, he can go back to the fantasy of you. On your knees, in front of him, your mouth on his cock, your hands on his hips, on his balls, grabbing his cock, squeezing his ass.

Blessed be your sweet beautiful soft delightful hands. He grabs one of them and makes you stretch your arm up high. He leans, pulling back from your mouth, and licks the tip of your fingers. He suckled on them softly, as he feels you licking the head of his cock.

The girl stops sucking and he takes a deep breath before opening his eyes, releasing her hand, breaking the fantasy willingly this time. Jim grabs his belt as she takes her clothes off as fast as possible. With one swift movement, he pulls the belt from his pants, then rolls it against his hand. With the tips of his fingers, he opened his pants, then took them off. She kneels on the sofa, ass up.

Jim had a scowl the whole time he spanked her with the belt. It made him look almost scary. A treat for the spectators. He knew it always made an impression, especially if he is playing more dominant.

He tries to get through the spanking as fast as he could, without hurting the girl. Belts were sexy but he preferred using his hands.

After the spanking, he kneeled on the floor, letting the cameraman come over his shoulder, take a shot of his hands on her ass, thumbing her pussy. After the camera moved back, he pushed his face into her pussy. The girl starts moaning loudly, repeatedly, as he licked and nuzzled her.

Jim made sure she was wet, before standing up again. He pulled the girl’s labia apart, exposing her hole to the camera, then pressed the head of his cock against it, making sure the camera could get how tiny her holes looked compared to the girth of his cock.

He pushed the head gently in, slowly. She grabbed his arm and squeezed, her whole body tensing, then a trembling moan comes out of her lips.

“You wanted it, didn't you?” He said, sternly, trying to buy her some time to adjust. “Now take it.”

He could feel her squeezing him, soft noises coming off her lips. The pleasure of working with someone who enjoys the scene. He pulled back and thrust again, fucking her with just the tip of his cock, until she pushed back. He stopped moving for a moment, he wanted her to impale herself on him, cock hungry is always a good look for the girls.

His cock slid halfway in and she howled in pleasure.

“I know, I know…” He caressed her back gently, rocking against her the moment she relaxed. “But I’m sure we can make it fit.” Jim grabbed her asscheeks, pulling them apart, letting the camera take a close-up of her hole stretched around his cock. “You can take it.” He pushed, getting himself fully inside.

It was a beautiful sight, her body arching, a sweet desperate moan coming from her mouth.

How would you sound? He wondered as he started to thrust, gently at first, then faster. He put her in all the usual positions and fucked her, over and over and over, until it got hard for him to keep his cool. Jim huffed and grunted with each movement of his hips, enjoying the girl’s moans and whimpers.

He got the sign to end the shoot; he leaned, covering the woman’s body with his and whispering in her ear.

“Wanna come?” He grunted, too low for the mics. She looked at him wide-eyed and nodded. He raised his voice, back in the scene. “Come for me.”

Jim moved so he could rub the woman’s clit with his fingers, gently experimenting until he could feel her squeezing, sweet whimpers coming from her lips with every thrust, until she came around him. He tried to be gentle, but her pussy, so wet, tight, and warm, was getting him too close to coming.

He pushed the actress to the floor and positioned himself quickly over her, hand moving fast on his cock, sliding easily as he was covered in her slick.

Jim closed his eyes, frowning, head back. He growled and grunted, coming on her tits, each spurt an ocean. He moaned, babbling incoherent praise.

His thoughts were on you. Your sweet smile, and the way you blushed.

***

You hadn’t seen Jim in a few weeks, and you didn’t want to be weird about it, so you didn’t say anything. You decided to settle for an early evening, the little devil inside you pushing you into some porn website.

The little devil also begged you to look for Jim in it.

There was a new preview, five minutes. You couldn’t help but watch it.

Fuck, he looked perfect. You threw your mobile on the bed and changed into a big t-shirt, almost in a trance. You quickly grabbed a six-pack of beer and a big bag of chips, and all but ran to Jim’s house.

You hesitated before knocking, a small prayer on your lips. Please, be there.

You shifted from one foot to the other, anxiously. You just wanted to be around him, to have his attention, to hear him, just to breathe the same air as him. You wanted the focus of his blue eyes on you, to watch him laugh at your awkwardness, and you really wanted it right now.

He opened the door, in his pajama pants, shirtless.

You felt your mouth watering at the sight.

Jim blinked, cocking his head to the side, looking down at you, curiously.

“I thought we could hang out a bit.” You raised your hands, the beer and the chips an offering at his altar. He laughed, delighted.

“Sweetie, you’re something.” He opened the door, inviting you inside. “Are you high?”

“I’m completely sober right now.” You said as he lead you to the sofa.

“Let’s rectify that,” Jim said, grabbing a beer and opening it. “C’mon, sit down, I’ll get a bowl for the chips.” He lighted a cigarette and moved towards his kitchen, beer in one hand, cigarette in the other. You sighed, looking at the expanse of his back.

“Ooooo, fancy.” You sat on the sofa and opened a beer. You took off your shoes and crossed your legs, holding your can with both hands.

“C’mon, you’re visiting, I have to have at least a little class.” Jim came back with a large bowl. He placed the cigarette on the ashtray, and his beer on the little table; he opened the bag, threw the chips on the bowl, then folded the package. “I didn’t know you were that kind of girl.”

You giggled, leaning towards him. You felt lightheaded in his presence, your nipples and pussy tingling with arousal.

“You know I’m not blind,” Jim said, licking his lips. “You come here, all flushed, wide-eyed, with those pleading eyes. You’re wet, aren’t you?”

“Yeah,” You said, a bit ashamed, but not finding a reason to lie.

“Why did you come here?” He leaned, looking into your eyes. “Don’t lie.”

“I…” You hesitated, his command was intimidating. Almost in a good way. “I just wanted to be around you.”

“Fuck, darling…” He groaned, moving to cup your face. “You’re too sweet.”

The sofa was huge, big enough for Jim to lie down. It was a giant comfortable piece of furniture. He took the beer from your hands, leaving the can beside his own, and held your hands, tugging you to lie over him.

Jim slid his big hand over your back, rubbing slow, lazy circles. He felt so warm, and he seemed everywhere. You rested your face on his chest, kissing his chest a few times, on a whim. He tasted like sweat.

“What was that for?” He rumbled, looking down.

“For the way you make me feel.” You said softly, looking up into his eyes, then kissed his chest some more. You nuzzled him softly then finally rested your cheek against him. “Thank you.”

Jim chuckled, petting you slowly but firmly. You relaxed against him. His warmth and the pressure of his hand sent tingles over your body, you could feel your arousal pooling in your lower belly.

You didn’t move, afraid he would stop.

You stayed, quiet, your arousal mounting until you couldn’t help but whimper.

“You should stay the night.” His voice rumbled deep. “Did you lock your door?”

“I am not sure but I’m not moving.” You whined, squirming a little. You felt his cock hard along your thigh and you moaned. “Fuck, Jim.”

Jim grabbed your ass gently, enjoying your pleased noises. You slid your fingertips over his chest, nuzzling him.

“You’re too sweet.” His voice vibrated through your body, the sadness palpable in his voice.

“Everybody deserves some sweetness.” You said, gently. “Even people who think they don’t deserve it.”

Jim pulled you from him, to look into your eyes. He just stayed there for a long time, you felt he was looking into your soul.

“Why do you want me?” He asked, gravely.

“You’re gorgeous.” You said, softly, without even thinking. “How can I not? You’re a god.”

“Dramatic.” He chuckled, his expression softening. He looked almost shy, all of a sudden.

“Have you seen yourself?” You moved up his body, kissing his cheek, his chin. “I don’t know. I can’t explain.” You kissed him lightly on his lips. “The fact you’re gentle and nice doesn’t help either.”

Jim’s hand moved to the back of your head and he pulled you to him. His lips covered yours, the mustache tickling your face. It was a deep kiss, his tongue moving against yours, gentle in ways that could bring tears to your eyes. He broke the kiss, smiling, his eyes focused on yours.

“I’m really tired.” He said softly. “Sleep here. With me. We’ll see what you want to do in the morning.”

You nodded, your mouth drying up. Jim nudged you to stand up and took you to his bedroom.

The huge bed was the first thing you noticed. You blushed, thinking of what could happen. Jim placed a hand on your lower back and nudged you forward.

He stopped you right beside the bed and tugged on your shirt until you raised your arms, so he could take it off you. He then knelt, tugging on your shorts, pulling them off.

“Thank you.” You said, climbing on his bed and getting comfortable.

Jim nodded, looking at you with a soft smile. He then climbed beside you.

You hesitated, for a moment considering how you should position yourself, and Jim just grabbed you, making you rest your head on his chest, your body half laying over his. His arm cradled your back, his hand on your back, keeping you against him.

He kissed the top of your head, and you felt all warm inside.

“G’night, sweetie.” He muttered against your hair. His deep breathing lulled you into sleep.

[eisfreiesspeiseeis]

My Wakfu Season 4 Head Canon / Theory / Manic ramblings

I don't know if someone else already made a post about this, if yes, please direct me to it, anyway strap in:

So, what has always bothered me about the MMO Eliotropes was their weird skin tone and markings.

Remember, they were added to the game(s) before season 3 and the OVA were even out and all we knew about them was this blurb:

Having appeared via a freak accident, Eliotropes are but mirror images of their creator, the King-God.

I don't know wether this was confirmed back then, but we all just accepted that Yugo was the King-God. He was the King of the Eliatropes, he was a demigod, it made sense. We just didn't know what exactly this accident was yet. And that was the first time I got way too hung up on their skin color. (Some people might claim they don't see color, but not me.) I came up with 2 explanations: Explanation 1: This was how Yugos God-King-Form would look like

So in Season 2, when Qilby gets the Eliacube, his skin color changes and he gets these black markings;

While Yugo just gets these glowing tattoos in his "Eaxalted" form, which do, however, look kinda similar. Also during his transformation, Qilby's tats would glow at first, just like Yugo's, before turning black.

This let me to assume (all these years ago) that Qilby's transformation (which the Wiki calls "Lobotimized" for some reason) was the more evolved form of Yugo's. I basically tought while Yugo just unlocked Super Saiyan, Qilby could go Super Saiyan 2. And at some point, Yugo would archieve a similar form too, which would be when he became the God-King, and that was why the Eliotropes all had white skin and blue markings. (I just thought Yugos tats would turn blue instead of black because ykno, color schemes and stuff.)

Also there was this Krosmaster Mini called Yugo unleashed, so I thought this was the direction they were going:

Explanation 2: Their skin markings look like Adamai's

You know, this guy. With the white skin / scales and the blue markings.

In hindsight the easier explanation. Adamai is Yugo's twin brother, so it would make sense if the Eliotropes had an imprint of Adamai. Or maybe Adamai helped in whatever accident created the Eliotropes. The brothers already combined their powers a few times to do BIG MAGIC, so maybe that would also be the case for the "accident".

Then the OVA came and Yugo got the six Dofus

It all made sense in my mind. With the six Dofus, Yugo was more powerful than a god, so this would be when he reached his King-God-Form and...

It kinda just looked like his normal "Exalted Form" with different markings. Okay, I thought, so it has to be the Adamai explanation, right?

Then Season 3 and the Oropo OVA came and...

These guys don't look like the Eliotropes we knew until that point at all.

Okay,

maybe they changed the designs so Amalia would recognise Oropo as Yugo?

maybe as more Eliotropes died, they started to look more like Yugo/white people?

Either way, it's super weird that we have never seen a game-looking Eliotrope in the show or even in the OVA.

Also, aside from Oropo the other Eliotropes we see seem to be super variant from Yugo, with some missing the head-thingies and others not even able to create portals, it seems (Repulse dies because he gets thrown off the tower. I think he would have saved himself if he could). In the game however, the Eliotropes seem to be pretty much just reskinned (ha!) Eliatropes with all the same, maybe watered down powers.

Okay, so the rational thing would be to just accept that they retconned the Eliotropes for the show a bit, as there was quite a long break in production. Or just accept it as one of these wird things, like Osamodas evolving to have blue skin in at most a few hundred years.

Ankama has changed designs drastically all the time between media, they really don't like to enslave themselfes to esthetics and and hard lore and really if you think about it does that not give them so much more potential for creat

AND THEN CAME SEASON 4

Spoilers up til episode 10, I guess And the season starts with a reminder that the Eliotropes were created because Yugo did not have perfect control over them and who gets their grabby hands on all 6 (six) of them?

This guy

Notice how his markings are blue now? Hmmm...

"But Qilby should have far more control over the Dofus than Yugo, that's his thing, he has so much experience!", the strawperson said. Yes, but Qilby is also mentally unstable and hyper traumatoze, which he says himself.

He repeatedly has episodes, even while he is using to the dofus.

Also, attuning to the Eliasphere was super taxing and clearly outside of his abilities (as he says himself), so what I want to say is:

there were multiple occasions where he could have slipped up and created his own "accident".

Qilby is the King-God of the Eliotropes from the MMO.

Yugos accident resulted in the creations of eliotropes because

AND QILBY'S GREATEST FEAR IS TO BE ALONE, so it would make sense that his "wish" would also create more "family" for him.

This would also explain some of the differences between show Eliotropes and MMO Eliotropes:

Obviously, the MMO Eliotropes look far more like Qilby's true(?) form, with snow-white skin and blue markings.

Yugo did not really have a great idea what his people were actually like, which explains why his Eliotropes would have so much variance in appearance and power between them. In contrast, Qilby has the most perfect memory of the Eliatrope people in existence, arguably better than the Goddess' herself, considering her millennia-long absence. So it would make sense why his Eliotropes would basically be perfect copies, sans the skin color. Also, despite his mental health, he is still far more skilled than Yugo, which could also explain why his copies are closer to the real deal.

Also, Yugo's Eliotropes (mostly) have his memory, which seems like a thing that would like... come up? Like, at all? And it would make sense that Qilby's "wish" would include for his Eliotropes to be blank slates memory wise, since his recollection of his former lifes is literally the cause of all his suffering.

I rest my case.

In all honesty, this is all probably just a case of Ankama being all loosey-goosey with their lore, especially between the show and the games. But this theory presents a way for the MMO Eliotropes (or Qilby Eliotropes, as I will call them from now on) existing in the same canon as the show, which otherwise is probably the biggest canon "problem". Also, I like the Eliotropes, I like their design, and I like to have a reason to believ they will continue exist somewhere in this funny world some horny frenchmen made up. So, yeah this is my headcanon. First post ever on tumblr, after lurking for over a decade, please be kind to it. See ya when I have to vent my next crackpot theory. Or when I remember interesting parts from the MMO that might interest show-only folks.

[astoundingbeyondbelief]

Kaiju Week in Review (December 3-9, 2023)

I made a frame from this shot Wikizilla's Image of the Week. No regrets. Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, I love ya. When I was a teenager, explicit queerness was anathema to most big-name franchises. Those dominoes have been slowly falling, often in lower-profile tie-ins first, and to me this is a huge one: 69 years without a queer live-action Godzilla character are over. And Cate's the main protagonist of the show! I'm not under the delusion that media representation will cure all society's ills, but it sure doesn't hurt. Now, the non-Tumblr parts of the fandom are being completely normal about this, right? Right? Whatever, that's why you'll never get rid of me here. Cate had a couple more sweet moments with May in this episode, and Mariko Tamaki wrote episode 7, so don't expect her to stop kissing girls. Hopefully she's learned a valuable lesson about cheating though.

"The Way Out" is also another gift to those of us who have always wanted to see more of the ramifications of a world where Godzilla exists, from underground towns for the super-rich to ruined cities where federal troops shoot looters and harass people experiencing homelessness. And the show continues to find ways to use kaiju to talk about COVID, from Cate and Kentaro's exchange about San Francisco truthers ("It's easier than waking up every day and thinking, at any moment, the same could happen to you") to the blink-of-an-eye speed at which the threat went from on the news to her front door in the flashbacks.

As I foretold, we got a Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire trailer, an amusing contrast to the weighty Toho flick and Apple show already fore of mind. It's Adam Wingard unbound, that's for sure. The human cast seems pared back, a longstanding Monsterverse problem, and the kaiju fights were far and away the best part of Godzilla vs. Kong, so hopefully this approach will play to his strengths. But that movie also had excellent VFX, and some of the shots in here are rough. There's time to fix them, at least... which probably can't be said of Godzilla's design. I like that he's pink (did some Warner Bros. executive take the wrong message away from Barbie?) and sporting a thagomizer on his tail, but his proportions are uncanny. And I see Kong found the Infinity Gauntlet; good for him.

I am, of course, not done talking about Godzilla Minus One. It added over 200 screens and made $8.3 million in its second weekend in the U.S., a minuscule drop considering that its $11.4 million opening "weekend" spanned five days. Almost a third of all tickets sold this weekend were for Godzilla or Hayao Miyazaki's The Boy and the Heron, remarkable in a market so allergic to foreign imports. That brings its total to $25.3 million (more by the time you read this). With an avalanche of Christmas blockbusters on the way, its grip on premium-format screens is about to slip. Still, I see it hanging around theaters for a while. I have never seen the fandom so united in praise for a film before, and it's making plenty of new fans.

Some of those fans are in high places. Variety leaked that it's on the 20-film shortlist for Best Visual Effects at the Oscars (to be narrowed to five nominees), something I, again, never expected to read about a Toho Godzilla film. Alas, it's locked out of this year's Best International Film category due to the quirky nomination period.

Much has been made of how great the film looks on a $15 million budget. I have two caveats, one in each direction. No one is quite sure where the $15 million figure came from; Yamazaki said at a recent con appearance that he only wished he had that much to play with. (He has yet to divulge the actual budget, just that it was above ¥1 billion.) Now, unions in the Japanese film industry are much weaker than in Hollywood, so a given production budget goes a lot further in Japan. All the same, I doubt that alone explains Minus One looking better than most superhero movies made for twenty times the cost. I'll offer a couple more reasons: Yamazaki has extensive visual effects experience (he's been the VFX supervisor of all but one of the live-action films he's directed), and the film's big effects scenes aren't as busy or lengthy as many of the Hollywood counterparts. I don't know if Disney will ask Yamazaki to direct the next Star Wars movie (that would require there to be a next Star Wars movie), but the studios here should be taking notes.

the sphinx, a blog with a ton of American Godzilla rarities to share, has outdone itself—behold a continuity and dialogue script for the U.S. version of King Kong vs. Godzilla! Included in the download is a detailed comparison with the film. No huge differences, apart from the script giving the secretary added to the U.S. version a name, but a fascinating piece of history all the same.

The Minus One incarnation of Godzilla (MaiGoji?) has joined Godzilla Battle Line, accompanied by [SPOILER]. To be honest, my enthusiasm for this game has been flagging, and I'm not caught up on the strategies developing around these two, so I'll just refer you to Sir Melee's channel as usual. This Godzilla's also doing a collaboration with the Japanese mobile game Fleet of Blue Flame.

Tiffany Grant, Asuka's original voice actress, will narrate the audiobooks for the Neon Genesis Evangelion: ANIMA light novels which explore an Instrumentality-free path for the show. Seven Seas Entertainment published them in English from 2019 to 2021, which, to be honest, was also news to me.

This one's for my fellow library workers: the obscenely popular Who HQ nonfiction series for children is publishing a book about Godzilla next June. I don't know if this will have quite the same impact on today's young Godzilla fans as the Ian Thorne tome had on Gen Xers and Millennials, what with the Internet and all, but it's certain to be more factual. Expect illustrations instead of licensed photos, and not just because of Toho.

I can finally talk more about the Godzilla x Kong: Titan Chasers mobile game without fearing a DMCA. Not that there's much to talk about; it's freemium through and through and I'm not sure I know a single person who's excited for it. Interesting to see some critters from the comics break into another medium, at least. Here's the trailer.

[magical-wishies]

To love or not to love, that is the questio-

Ok whoops wrong reference. Happy Valentine's Day everyone! I made a MV of the song "Darling Dance" by Kairiki Bear featuring my favourite little tricksters for the occasion!

I'd rather you go straight to Youtube to watch it because Tumblr always finds a way to cut the quality, lol.

Eng subtitles are available too!

Here it is! Hope you enjoy my pride and joy. Basically like a hopeful child but in video format. Reblogs are specially appreciated because Youtube sucks at promoting new channels!

This also acts as a behind-the-scenes post, so let's get straight into that, shall we?

MV Project 1 "Darling Dance"

Illustration time: 37 hours

Editing time: Approx. 30-35 hours

Total: 70 hours

*Cough* Holy freakin' moly does making an MV take so long. Before you roll off your bed, I'll say that part of the reason making the art took so long was because I have trouble drawing Marx consistently.

Here's some unused assets! Look at them, they're all salty over not making the cut.

In all seriousness though, a lot of times I don't really see a lot of editors/ MV makers getting appreciation for their efforts. And now that I've personally experienced making an MV for the first time, it's also increased my admiration to the people who dedicate their time to this! All the kudos to them.

Now, I'll go scene by scene then comment along the way! Spoilers ahead!

Verse 1

Pretty good for what it is. In the first image, you see that heart behind Magolor? I discovered the motion of it on complete accident lol. Capcut is hard to figure out..

I also really like the color palette of 2nd image. That art of Marx was the last one I did during production (aka I drew it this morning), and just look at him. He's such a bastard he's the best.

Pre Chorus 1

Mmmm yeah it sure is the pre chorus! I put a bar behind the text in the middle because I didn't want people to stare into their soulless eyes for too long. That probably worked!

1st Chorus

When I first added in the expression change, I fangirled over it a little on the first rewatch. Like, come on! They suddenly look mischievous, and the color change on the background! I know I drew it but still!

For the rest, I experimented a little with all the "Nah"s! I think it ended up well. Most of the lyric editing in this MV is completely original, so I had a couple of things to try out!

Verse 2

This song is horrifically outdated because it says Twitter instead of X!! (/sarcasm)

This scene is my second favourite. I'm really proud of the details on the tabs and the editing at the beginning! Wish I could put more images but the app only allows ten. Bummer.

Pre Chorus 2

I think it's cute, and I used it as my pfp on YouTube! That's about it though.. image limit is killing me I can't put anything here :(

Chorus 2

...Not gonna spoil it! I like how I drew them, but there ain't anything notable. Unless you look at the last image I put right before the bridge. :)

Bridge

This is where my editing comes in freakin' clutch. Ooooooh it's so satisfying to look at. Chef's kiss. Also those Marxs (Marxes?) are really cute.

The second part of the bridge is nice as well! I tried to make the lyrics snap to the rhythm. Glad I added that tv effect in the bg too!

Chorus 3

This scene is my favourite! Wanna know why?

This sequence right here. I think I will etch it into my brain forever... I love me some snappy editing. Like a lot. Like a lot a lot!

The second part of the chorus is like the original song's MV! I loved the hearts popping in and out whoever thought of that is a genius. Putting it into the MV was a good decision!

And that's a wrap! Hope you enjoy the MV as much as I enjoyed making it. And, stay tuned for next time! I have a feeling a certain jester is getting his own solo MV...

Feel free to leave your thoughts either in the Youtube comments section or here. See you around!

[rendy-a]

Locked in with the Film Research Club

I had Vil on the mind from finishing my last fic when someone "liked" one of my Club Visit stories and...here we are! Sorry Ortho, but of course Vil steals the show here!

Sometimes, it strikes you at odd moments that Vil is famous, really famous. You'd been walking past the gym when you saw a student drop a heavy looking box and kick it. "Who does he think he is? Mr. Famous is too good to do the grunt work but can order us around like we work for him!" The student waking with him also drops his box and smiles, "Yeah, let's ditch and let our delicate princess figure this out himself." With that, they both laughingly depart.

You walked over, already having an idea in mind about what had happened. You pulled open the box to see a mixture of lighting and sound equipment. You give a small sigh, putting the picture together. Vil was a strict a leader in the Film Research Club as he was a Dorm Leader. Not everyone could deal with his...intense... style of encouragement and grew to envy and resent him.

You sighed but hefted the boxes anyway. You wouldn't exactly say that you and Vil were friends, but after the VDC, you were at least friendly. Plus, Ortho was always telling you about the things he'd done in club. You can't disappoint a fellow first-year! So, you trudge your way over to the alchemy school wing that you heard the Film club would be using for their shoot today.

When you arrived, you found Ortho setting up some complicated machinery to attach the camera to. You greet the cheerful boy and tell him about the boxes. "Vil Schoenheit has been looking for that equipment. He'll be so happy you've found it, Prefect! I'll go tell him right away!" You pat Ortho on the back, "That's OK. I've got lots of spare time and you seem busy here. I'll go tell him. Just point me in the right direction!"

You found Vil in a large storage closet near the Alchemy room, just as Ortho suggested he'd be. You swing the door open and approach Vil, who is leafing through a book near the back of the closet where a small amount of light shines through a tiny window. "Hey Vil, Ortho sent me," you began before Vil turns and shouts, "Perfect! Grab the door!" You jump at the shouting and hear an ominous click behind you.

Vil sighs, and you look at him guiltily, "Oops." It turns out that the supply closet near the Alchemy rooms locks automatically when closed due to the expensive ingredients and tools stored within. Plus, since some of the components have a chance of magical reaction if not stored correctly, the room was warded against magic. All of that added up to you and Vil being locked in the supply closet until someone came to find you.

Vil gave another sigh and returned to the book he was viewing. After a moment of looking around, you wandered over to join him. Plus... it's a closet; you really don't have a lot of choices here. You peek over and see it's a photo album. "Rook took them," Vil comments when he notices your interest. "I was in here picking up some special effects potions. Rook makes them in Science Club and leaves them in here until we need them. I guess he also stores some old photos here, too."

You leaned in to look. They were pictures from last year's Film Research Club. Some were productions, and others were candid shots from behind the scenes. A few you found confusing, but you imagined, if you asked Rook, he'd have a long explanation about why he'd photographed a scarf on a chair or a stack of paint canisters. By the end of Rooks flowing explanation, you'd probably believe the unusual subjects to be highly beautiful as well.

Vil turns the page, and the next image is his own, albeit a somewhat younger version. A frown graces his beautiful face, and he comments, "I'm sure he never intended for this to be seen, but I do hate pictures of myself being taken when I can't control them." You look at the photo of second-year Vil, "You look good, though." He looks at you sadly, "How naive you are, potato. You never know what sort of trouble a small photo can start. The tiniest detail that goes unnoticed by you can start a wild scandal."

Vil crosses his arms across his chest and looks at you with a frown, "And speaking of scandal, no good will come of the story of us being in this closet." You can easily imagine the gossip but assure Vil, "I'm sure it will be fine. No one is here but the club members, and we will just explain what happened. I'm sure they will understand!" Vil continues to look at you for a moment, and his expression slowly slides into one of amusement, "Potato, you are so refreshingly optimistic and naive."

You give a small laugh and smile, you know it to be true. Vil looks at you with a sort of fondness. It was so rare to find such a genuine person to interact with once you've become as famous as he. Suddenly, Vil's smile grows sharper and sly, "I, in the other hand, am not as foolish as you. If the peanut gallery is going to spread rumors about me..." You look on in amazement as his smile deepens and he slides close to you...

The closet door opens at last, and Ortho greets you, "Vil Schoenhit! Prefect! My sensors indicate that you have not left this room for thirty minutes. The club members grew worried, and we came to check on you!" You smile gratefully at the AI boy, "Thanks for the rescue, Ortho. I thought we'd be stuck in there all afternoon." Even as you smile at Ortho, you spot the envious duo from earlier. Just as Vil predicted, you can hear their gossiping whispers begin.

You hold your head high and push past them. After all, Vil was right. If people are going to talk about you kissing in the closet, then you might as well be kissing in the closet. You gently put your fingertips to your lips and smile, it wouldn't be a photo to add to Rook's album but you think it is definitely a beautiful memory of Film Research Club for you to hold on to.

[blueskittlesart]

hi :] this isnt really a reqest cuz it'll prob be a longer answer but im rlly curious abt ur comic process

i love all ur comics and somehow they always manage to gutpunch me- and ur composition and the way they read is always so beautiful and adds so much to the message youre trying to get across

yeah lol let's get into it! Ive spent maybe 5 or so years refining this process to the point it's at now so it's pretty much my standard procedure now. I'm going to use Now that you're gone as my primary example here since i still have most of the planning stages associated with it (my laptop does not have a whole lot of storage left so i usually delete my planning once the comic is finished lol) but i'll try to throw in some other examples too!

I almost always start with a written script. (the exception for this is longform oc comics which i find easier to write in the moment, but for my shorter character studies I almost always write first.) I use discord to write because it's convenient, but before i had a dedicated discord server for my stuff i was using txt files on my laptop which i do NOT recommend. anyway, this is what the written script for ntyg looked like:

note that some small elements changed in production, like the amount of time that had passed since link's death. the lines "I look at her and i am only afraid. i remember all the ways in which i hurt you. She's almost as old now as you were then. I cannot stand the thought of outliving her, too" were also added during the rough stage because i felt like there wasn't quite enough emphasis on aryll in the initial script, and since this was a major change that necessitated a whole extra page in the comic I went back and edited those lines into the script so I wouldn't forget them. (both these changes were made during the rough stage. i'll almost never make major script adjustments after the roughs are finished.)

more examples of my scripts; specifically the original script for totk: failure and two versions of oot: adulthood (one before some major refining and one after.) with comics like these, where i have a very clear idea in my head of the imagery i want to go along with the words, i'll sometimes include it interspersed in the script, either spolier-marked or denoted with brackets.

with ntyg and some of my other more. canon divergent? i guess? comics, there's sort of a mini phase in between scripting and roughs where I do some minor character studies to get designs nailed down in the early stages. with ntyg I already had a clear image in my mind for aryll, but the central character was link's dad, whose design wasn't quite so solid in my head. I really wanted to make sure that his design was well thought-out and consistent throughout everything, so i did a few mini sketches and studies to ensure I had his design memorized and could execute it consistently:

these are sans hair and accessories because nailing down consistent facial features was my main focus with them, and both these sketches ended up getting used as references for certain panels later on. This isn't a step I ALWAYS take with my comics, but if there's a central character that i'm not super used to drawing i find it helpful to get some practice in before jumping into the real thing!

after the scripting and design phases i move on to roughs, which I consider to be the most important stage in my process. roughs are very very quick approximations of what I want the final pages to look like. they usually don't take me more than a few minutes per page to create, and their sole purpose is to help me visualize the flow of the page and the placement of major elements like panels, characters, and dialog. this is what the 1st page rough for ntyg looked like compared to the final page:

as you can see, all i have laid out is the major text and visual elements, but it really helps me to visualize how the finished comic is going to flow. i do the roughs for every page before i start on the finals so that i have an idea of what the entire comic is going to look like before I really start finalizing it. it's important that these roughs are FAST--i almost never draw fully-fledged characters unless the pose or expression is particularly important to the scene, and that's because the goal is to allow everything to flow quickly and easily from panel to panel and page to page, and getting too caught up on one panel or element often breaks that flow. Nowadays, i have a pretty good idea of how much room my writing takes up so i don't write out the entire script in my roughs, but back when i was a little less experienced i took the time to write everything out in this stage to ensure that my dialog would fit into the space it was given without getting cramped or cutting off other important elements. doing that really helped me build awareness of how much dialog and panel placement matters and how i could use it, so this rough stage is non-negotiable for me even now!

after the roughs i go straight into finalization. I never enjoyed lineart back when i was learning to draw digitally so i basically built my art style to be understandable and visually appealing after one sketch phase, meaning there's legitimately no in-between stage between that rough and that final page, i just sort of. go for it. this is what works for me, but i think most normal people would probably find a second sketch phase helpful LMAO i'm just crazy and i need everything done as fast as possible. the finalization stage usually doesn't contain any major adjustments of script, composition, etc; i make it a general rule to keep most of the major adjustments confined to the earlier stages, for my own sanity. One thing that DOES occasionally change in this stage is my plans for color--ntyg in particular was originally planned to be completely black-and-white with no grays added, but when looking at my completed pages i found them sort of empty and unengaging without the gray, so i added it. usually if my color plans DO change it's something small like that--I'll almost never switch between full-color and grayscale on a whim because the way that i sketch for those two versions differs significantly so it isn't an easy switch to make.

anyways i hope this is what you were looking for! I'm very passionate about making comics and this process is a result of years of experimentation & finding what works for me, but i hope it's of some use to you as well!

[cowgurrrl]

Losing My Cool

Pairing: rockstar!joel miller x actress!reader

Author’s note: shortie short but I’ve already got another part half finished 🤠 fic named after this song

Summary: What do they say about all good things? [1.1k]

Warnings: yearning idiots, probably incorrect interview technique, idk what else

A PA brings you over to your mark and instructs you to stay there until your name gets called, which seems simple enough, but she stays nearby to make sure you don't wander. It feels a little silly to always have to be babysat, but you brush it off, smoothing your hands down your blue dress and taking deep breaths. You've done late-night shows before, but they still make you nervous, especially since you know just how many people watch them. Ryan sent you a video of Elizabeth sitting in front of the TV, watching an ad for tonight's show, and cheering when she saw your name and face. So, who knows who else might be watching if your five-year-old goddaughter is?

You can hear the introductory remarks, laughter, and applause that come with them, but you miss the voices whisper-arguing behind you. They die down by the time your brain wraps around the sounds and decide to stay focused. And you do. You run through what you want to say about the movie, fun anecdotes, and easy ways to skate around questions about Joel. You feel settled and prepared until familiar hands wrap around your middle, making you jump and turn in his arms. 

"You're gonna get me in trouble," you say, and Joel smirks.

"I had to convince the production assistant to let me come kiss my girlfriend for good luck."

"You're getting fast and loose with that term, huh?" 

"D'you want me to stop?" He asks, his thumbs swiping over your hips, and you shake your head.

"I kinda like it."

"Good," Joel says as the band starts playing, and you push at his shoulders. He quickly kisses you, his hand lingering on your lower back for a second longer than necessary, before rushing away with a mischievous look on his face. "Kick some ass!'

You laugh at the sentiment as your name gets called from the front of the stage, and the curtain opens enough to let you walk through. You smile and wave to the audience members as you walk over and shake Jimmy's hand. "Thank you so much for being here," he says so only you can hear, and you smile. The band vamps until you sit in the plush chair beside his desk and accept the applause when he repeats your name.

"It's so great to see you! You look fantastic!" He says, and you smile as you run your hands over the skirt of your dress.

"Thank you! I'm so happy to be here."

"Well, we are very lucky to have you. You've been a very, very busy lady these past few years. When was the last time you were in New York?" He asks, and you puff out your cheeks as you think.

"At least four or five years."

"And you went to school out here, right?"

"Yeah, I graduated from NYU. I was lucky enough to earn a full ride on a merit-based scholarship which doesn't happen very often, and once I graduated, I did a few projects here in the city before getting my first movie deal out in LA."

"That's amazing! And since then, you have been nonstop. I mean, you are everywhere. And you have a new movie coming out called Red Dirt Girl," he says as he holds up a picture of the movie poster, and the audience cheers at the image. You reach out to boop Lilly's nose and feel yourself smiling so hard that your cheeks hurt, but you're so happy. For once, it feels genuine. "What was it like to work on this film?" 

"It was just the opportunity of a lifetime. We filmed out west around the Colorado-New Mexico border, and I hadn't even been out there, so it was so fun getting to know that area and working with the cast and crew. I mean, it was just like coming to work and having fun for twelve hours a day, and then we all lived in the same building, so we would just keep hanging out, and we got to be really close."

"And the girl who plays your sister, Lilly Porter, is just phenomenal for someone as young as she is. Did you find yourself getting protective of her?" 

"Oh, absolutely. Lilly just turned sixteen about a month ago, but when we were filming, she had just turned fourteen, so she was really young, and I hadn't worked with someone that young that closely. And we had a day where we just sat down and talked for hours, and she's such an old soul, and she's so smart, but, I mean, we both know how hard the industry can be. So, I set her up with people I trust and gave her advice I wish someone had given me. I got really close with her family, and, of course, they are fantastic people as well. So, it was a learning curve for both of us, but she is an amazing, beautiful person, and I'm so lucky that I got to work with her. I totally consider her a little sister now." 

"Which is ironic considering that you guys butt heads so much in this movie."

"Oh, yes, we do."

"Let's take a look at this clip here," he says as a short clip from the movie comes up on the screen behind you. Lilly's character, Sabrina, is arguing with your character, Jo, about getting sent home from school because of her behavior. Lilly perfectly portrays the annoying little sister as she stomps through the house, making sarcastic comments and driving you up the wall. The clip ends with Sabrina telling Jo that she's just like their mother, which obviously, hits Jo right where it hurts. You smile and clap along with the audience as the clip ends. "Wow! I mean, just fantastic! Were those scenes hard to shoot?"

"The scenes where we were fighting were really hard to film because I just love her so much, and I never wanted to yell at her, but Lilly was absolutely brilliant because she would do a new thing each time we shot the scene that would completely throw me off. So, like, one time she knocked over a chair or slammed the door so hard that pictures fell off the wall, and it would startle me each time, and then it was pretty easy to access that anger after that." You laugh, remembering the time you accidentally did raise your voice because she scared the shit out of you. 

"And did the director tell her to do that?"

"No, she just did it! And Peter, the director, was just sitting there like," You cross your arms over your chest and lean back in the chair, copying the famous Peter Jankowski slouch, and nod, pretending to chew gum. "And like, that's it! Which is great! You always want a director that will let you try things, but I was given no warning." Jimmy laughs at the story and seamlessly transitions into a commercial break. 

The rest of the interview goes smoothly, with you promoting the movie and even playing a game where you had to answer New York City trivia facts. Appearances like this can actually be really fun when they're done right, and you always have a good time when you're on the Tonight Show. As you're leaving the stage, Jimmy tells you that you and Joel have to get dinner with him and his wife the next time you're in the city, and you agree, knowing that it will probably never happen. 

You're excited to see what Joel will say about how things went, but when you go backstage, he's nowhere to be found. You don't find him immediately in the wings where you left him or in your dressing room. You almost ask the PA if she saw him leave, but she's dealing with five million other things, and you doubt she would've noticed even if he did. You furrow your brows as you fish your phone from your purse and type out a quick message to Joel.

Hey! Where are you? I just got done.

The message delivers even though his phone is on Do Not Disturb. You think about calling him but figure he might've just gone back to the hotel room before you. Paparrazi gets pictures of you leaving the studio alone and shouts questions at you, wanting to know where Joel is. You don't answer. You just get in the car and try to get back to the hotel as fast as possible. Truthfully, you're a little embarrassed. You looked around for him like a lost puppy backstage, and now you're just dutifully returning to the hotel to look for him. It also doesn't help that you were photographed arriving with him but not leaving with him. You can feel Melanie's migraine from here.

When you scan into the hotel room, all of Joel's stuff is gone. His clothes, shoes, and even his razor have all disappeared. You were there for an hour, maybe less, and he just left? Your phone buzzes in your purse, and you quickly pull it out to see a text from Joel.

Ellie had an emergency. On the first flight back. I'm sorry. I'll make it up to you.

You sigh, plop down on the now too-big bed, and kick off your heels.

No worries. Take care of your baby. I'll see you when I get back.

Thank you. I owe you.

You don't owe me anything, Super Dad. Just text me when you get home, and keep me updated. Let me know if you or Sarah need anything.

He starts typing something before deleting it and then typing again. For a moment, you two stare at the same screen, waiting for the other to say something even though he's at the airport and you're in an empty hotel room. Your heart clenches in your chest as he types and types and types, just for the bubble to disappear as fast as he did.  

[storiesbyjes2g]

What I've been up to...

So if you remember, I've been quite busy over the past 3 months because of a class I was taking. I promised to show you some of my work, so here are a few of my favorite assignments!

(lots'o pictures and video under the cut)

I took a 3D animation boot camp, and naturally before we started animating we had to learn how to model. The program we learned was Cinema 4D. I know a lot of you have learned Blender, and your first project was making a donut. Well...we had to make a freakin' ramen shop...with the ramen! 😂 I added the textures later once I discovered there was a library, but I didn't quite know how to edit them at the time, so they're not the best choice, but hey. I learned something.

I forgot to grab the pic of the ramen close up. Oh well. All of this was made with basic shapes. Nothing fancy. That comes next.

Next, we learned different modeling methods. The method used in this next pic is called volume modeling. Always sims on the brain lol.

After we got our feet wet with modeling, we moved into materials and "lights, camera, action," which was half the reason I wanted to take the class. I still haven't gotten the hang of lighting, but it's really hard period and will take a while to master. Materials are basically the colors and textures you apply on an object. I didn't make these headphones, but I did make the leather and fabric texture.

You will see these headphones again and again because I could not leave them alone lol.

Before we began the animation portion, we learned one last method of modeling. I won't bore you with the details, but basically taking one element and cloning it a bunch of times until you have something else. For example, we only received one piece of each skyscraper. The buildings were whole, but we only received one of each. We used this cloning method to make an entire city block out of just a few things.

Finally, we got into animating. There two other assignments before this that I did terribly on and I'll never show them to another living soul, especially since animation is part of my job LOL, but I'll show you the animated version of this city. The still image was actually made after the video based on some feedback I got. That's why things look different.

Not my best animation work, but whatever. Still learning!

Alright, by this point we're nearing the finish line. There were some other assignments about composition and what not, but for the most part it was all about animation from here on out. This next one was my favorite one. It was basically putting everything we learned so far (minus modeling) into practice. We had to take any previous project and make a 15 sec commercial/product showcase. You know I had to pick up those headphones! (sound on!!)

I love timing videos to music. It's like the best part!

The next assignment was about camera movements and editing the video in After Effects. I don't have the before pic, but imagine this clip being brighter, a lot less vibrant, and having a cool tone at the beginning.

And finally! The ultimate test! That was the actual name of the project lol. Bring it all together and make something great. I modeled every single thing you see (though not very well LOL. gotta practice!) and created all the materials except the picnic table. It's in no way perfect and I plan to go back and make many edits, but I did it y'all! I've been working on this little by little for the past 3 weeks. Enjoy! (sound on!)

[operafantomet]

Hello, it’s me again. I’d love to know your opinion on the Italian production costumes. At first I didn’t like them, but after seeing the show live, I really enjoyed them.

I think they have many cool things going on, a nice period nerve, nice colours, cool references... but sometimes a bit campy. This is however solely judging from photos and video clips, and as always this is not primarily what they are designed for. They are designed for movement and light on stage, and from a distance. So if I ever get to see the production I can give you a much fairer judgement than what I can now. But some favourites and not so favourites!

ELISSA: I love the Elissa costume. Keeping the colours turquoise and golden corresponds well with the set design and chandelier, it looks rich and elegang, and it is also a cool match to the dark blonde wig. Regal and cool, and also somewhat recognizable as an Elissa costume.

DRESSING GOWN: Another recognizable look is Christine's dressing gown. Now... yes I do secretly wish a non-replica production would go a totally different route.. a pink one, a green, something completely different. Kinda like the heavy red one they did in LND Denmark. Just to be creative. But a good ol' delicate white dressing gown is always a welcome look for the First Lair. Hence... beautiful. Bonus for tucks at the hem (not depicted here) and the overall golden touch of the wig, the Hannibal costume underneath and the belt:

THE PHANTOM'S MASK: The Phantom's mask for this production... is not my cup of tea. I've never understood the "angry eyebrow" in any production, or an overall too bulky look. It also feels a bit overdimensioned? But again, this is probably an issue in photos and videos more than when seeing the show live.

DEGAS: I enjoy the "everyday look" of the Degas costumes. They really look like rehearsal costumes, and they look wonderfully period. Cool touch with the diamond-shaped underbust corsets.

CARLOTTA IN MANAGERS: A classy and period-looking bustle dress, but not a very exciting one? Not sure what I'm missing, but more... ooomp, more of an exclamation point. But I like the green towards her red hair.

MASQUERADE: Even if giving a hint of Venetian carnivale, and even if probably adding nicely to the chaotic atmosphere, I don't particularly care for the all-cloaked Masquerade. I feel I lack a focal point in some way. Yes, I know Christine and Raoul is especially featured at times, but as a general design look I'm wanting more. Not sure what. Wackier headgarbs? More distinct costumes? Something.

RED DEATH: I do however enjoy Red Death within this design philosophy. And especially that they picked up on the original idea of Paul Daniels, magic consultant for the original West End production: “My best idea was not accepted by the director (he had his image, fine), whereby the Phantom would come down, singing Masquerade, and then the whole costume and his stick would twirl up into the air, and he would… not be in it, despite the fact that he’d been singing." (as told in the Behind the Mask documentary in 2004). And this is more or less what they're doing here. When the ensemble grabs on to his cloak, it's empty, he's gone, and the cloak just falls to the floor. Should of course mention they did the same in Kristianstad, Sweden. But it's an awesome trick and I love the different takes on it. Here's the full costume before Red Death disappears:

CHRISTINE IN MASQUERADE: Christine wears a beautiful, if boring 1870s-esque bustle dress - much in the vein of Carlotta's Manager's dress. I don't think it adds anything, but at least it's pretty, as is the turned-view set and lowered chandelier.

MAUSOLEUM: I like the mint colour of the Mausoleum cloak, and the bow details. Subdued, yet visible. Bonus: The red lining of the Phantom's cloak (which I think he wears in the Mirror scene, to good effect). I will cherish the day a non-replica production does NOT push the red rose as a theme/prop, but anyway... at least the red rose look good towards the green on stage.

THE DARK ANGEL: No. Just no. I'm not on board. Don't camp it up like this. It feels like an idea that worked better on paper than on stage. Especially when he flies up in the air. I just... no.

POINT OF NO RETURN: In large I'm thinking WHY? Why the humongous hat? I think there are better ways to hide the face. Why is the Aminta skirt such a perfect nod to the Lon Chaney movie's Marguerite costume, but then the top is just a generic corset? Why the wildly clashing colours? It feels like they started with some good ideas and then it just... collapsed.

FINAL LAIR: ...and this is where you loose me... Albeit in hindsight I guess I am glad it's Raoul that is topless and not the Phantom. I mean, they COULD have done that. Or both, for that matter. I thank then for resisting the thought.

All in all, I think the costume design works within a recognizable look - to the point where MOTN, Madame Giry and the two managers could might as well have been Maria Bjørnson's design. But then with some creative touches here and there which either works very well, or moves over to the campy side. I think the Phantom is constantly balancing on camp, while Christine overall has a good wardrobe. As for Raoul, not really anything new or memorable apart from the shirtless thingie in the Final Lair. As far as the others go, a very consistent look throughout.

To me this is one of the most thorough and appealing non-replica productions out there, as far as costumes go. I would rate it in the vein of the Czech Republic (which is jollier but also sticks close to Maria Bjørnson), Hungary (ditto) and Norway/Greece (more blue and more 1905, and more of a roller-coaster, but what is good is really good). I like that they keep it Victorian-esque and recognizable, and a bit creative. And yes, I would love to see it live. Always.

[sageandred]

The "Real" Message of The Show

No matter what, people will be determined to classify someone as "bad" when a new series drops. like people can't be viewed through the lens of being "neutral" or "good people who make bad decisions"...despite that typically being how people are???

When I watched season one, I only really paid attention to Wille and Simon, but when I did a rewatch, I really saw all the moving parts and how much YR was a super cohesive story with intertwining of all of the character's experiences. At the center this show deals with different societal classes, upbringings, etc and we do actually see how that affects who these people are and what they do as the show goes on, and it's not meaningless/out of the blue.

Because no matter how much people want to act like it's not as impacting as it is: People are a product of their experiences.

Wille- If we're being real we saw him for a very small portion at the beginning of the show before everything blew up-him being super adorable, sweet, and awkward. Since being under his strict lifestyle and pressure, he's been going on this downward spiral-he has literally been becoming more and more in the image of his royal family since season 1 (and season 2 he was a lot of the same as 3, it just gets glossed over by his thoughtful decision at the end).

Since I first watched the show, it was clear to me how all of the backstory with August's character was not throwaway information. Tbh, what we know of him in season 1 was never enough to make sense of where his bad decision came from (I guess his insecurity..). But this season, they just gave so much more. And it's strange to me how strongly people react for either argument- of August being actually evil, or having to identify him as a good person [tbf I never thought he was a "bad" person per say, which is my whole point of writing this because for every character of a series (look at the reaction to Wilhelm this szn) people immediately have to sort them into good and bad columns on the judgement of morality and not just take story for what it is: story]. Again, with August his backstory has always added reason to why he is the way he is, but now knowing what we know with Erik, and being 1? 2? years older than Wille, his experience does make sense of what he did (when it's almost exactly the same thing with Wilmon). Because hurt people hurt people.

And with Sara, it's never been warranted the amount of hate she gets that insinuate she is evil. The show tells you very early on what her arc is gonna be: she places value on external things-she wants expensive clothes and to live in the fancy school and will try to impress to fit in with her new group of girl friends. And the irony is she lost it all after everything came out at the shooting range. She wanted what she never had and made decisions, because she thought that was what was important. She's a product of her experiences and it's also her experience-because she was bullied-that August's letter means even more to her and results in her kissing him.

Simon- has literally done nothing wrong (we're not talking about his decision to sell, because that's not really a choice that badly affects ppl other than mostly only himself).

Felice- has literally done nothing wrong; had the biggest positive transformation between seasons 1 and 2, because she stopped caring about external accolades (and that is also a representation of her being a product of her environment because of her mother).

And, to be clear I'm not saying people can't change how they are. Because, yeah Felice is a good example. August has surprised many people this season. Maybe August continues to change; maybe he doesn't. Wille has surprised people in his own way. Maybe we'll get more shocks in the final act. This show has always dealt with the subtext of personal experiences that lead to how people react.

[herotome]

Finally-official-devlog #112

Also known as FOD112 hi-ho, Wudge here.

Gosh there's just. So much. I'm actually drafting this devlog a few days early so that I'm not suddenly overwhelmed on devlog Tuesday again. But without further ado-

This is the big cheese right here -- each character has their own layer, each character's clothes and expressions have their own layers, and there's a separate layer for the soft orange lighting on top of it all. 😭

On that note, here's most of the individual image files that create the CG with their powers (and my code) combined:

And since this is a cropped version of a BIGGER CG (featuring ALL the love interests sitting together), I had to tinker with the position code a great deal to properly feature these three goons Of course it was worth it of course twas merely at the cost of all my energy and sanity at the prospect of eventually possibly also adding in blinks and expression changes--

Mad props as usual to the sweetwonderfulamazing Remnantation who first completed this CG -checks watch- sometime last year! With some additional edits by me since then~

And, did you happen to notice something new in the lower right?

Tadah... a brand new click-to-continue icon animation! I made (mostly) all by myself! The lil sparkle burst is free from production crate, but I drew the star and added the rotation code... ... Honestly, the hardest and most time-consuming part of this was finalizing the design. Originally I was gonna make it rotate 45 degrees, flip, rotate 45 more degrees, flip, etc-- and messed with that concept for several hours before scrapping it for a simpler, more graceful idea. :| Part of the process, I gots to tell myself, part of the process...

Next up is Jade's powers, as you may have seen in the preview last week. Much like the CTC animation, I did a lot of research on other ideas - various glowing VFX like vertical veins across the cheeks and smoky rising from the eyes, as well as a bigger low opacity character zoom effect - before settling on something simple. Jade's power usage here is... pretty mild in context, and I figure I can always store the more dramatic animations for later in the story.

Here's a still of the effect btw:

Her eyes look like headlights lmaooo. Honk honk!

Do I have more to update with? Believe it or not, yes.

I made some icons, which took a fair amount of trial and error: on the left you'll see an earlier draft, on the right are my more final redesigns from the same day(...night. midnight. I worked on these until midnight).

I had to look up some guidelines because most of my previous icons did NOT look good or legible when sized down to 50x50 pixels. What I learned was, tadah, I had to draw with an unprecedented line width of 200 pixels! (For non-artists: I typically draw with a pen width of 12 pixels at most).

I also studied the icon styles of Persona 5, which saved me a lot of time - they had a cool stylistic choice of diagonally tilted color blocks and thick black outlines.

Here's yet another gif of icons in action...

Did you see them? Did you?? For a split second, in the upper right.... Still gotta adjust some of the text overlap, don't look at that.

Oh and the "How to play" page is brand new. I coded it from scratch... That also took all night...

... Oh. Oh. And remember your MC's phone?

This old thing? Yeah. Visual upgrade:

Also rendered and colored in by Rem <3 Where would I be without them...!

The text, though, can be updated in code!!!! I spliced the phone into layers, with the screen on top and code-generated text just below it, so I can update the caller ID at any point in-game without making any new images.

Took a little while to get it to work... honestly it doesn't look 100% centered... but it's fine. This is fine...

And then... more code. After much tears, blood and strife, I got a musical crossfade to work. It shouldn't have been challenging but it was a nightmare -- when calling the crossfade the second track would either not play at all or its volume wouldn't change and I was starting to develop a preference for eating gravel. But I persisted, found a much simpler code that actually works. After the tearsbloodstrife.

And...... lastly... I simplified this big block of code:

vbox: pos (269, 76) add "sprites/MC/mc[mc_number].png" hbox: if mc_number ==1: text "DEFAULT" style "MC_label_text" elif mc_number ==2: text "LAVENDER" style "MC_label_text" elif mc_number ==3: text "PETUNIA" style "MC_label_text" elif mc_number ==4: text "SUNFLOWER" style "MC_label_text" else: text "TBD" style "MC_label_text"

...(not properly indented bc tumblr is mean 2 me)...

down to these lines, to make my future life easier:

default PrintMC = ["Default", "Lavender", "Petunia", "Sunflower", ""]

text PrintMC[mc_number] style "MC_label_text"

Two!!! lines!!!!!

🎊

Instead of typing out additional if/else lines, I only need to add new names to the PrintMC list. Won't really affect the player at all, but it's a HUGE quality of life update for me!

...Anyway that's it, thank you for checking in. <3

Stay safe and keep warm,

Wudge.

PS screw it I'm gonna queue post this early.

PPS have you listened to our composer's new single yet? No?!?!?!

Every click, every listen helps, and every song of his is a BOP that deserves recognition!

ok that's all for real now xoxoxo,

wudge (again)