#I hope you learned something new

[crisis-on-infinite-batblogs]

DC vs. Vampires #3

"You were supposed to be East of Moldoff Street."

I will always always always be a sucker for naming streets in Gotham City after past artists and writers. It's such a perfect way to memorialize these legendary creators who contributed so many iconic characters and stories that we all know and love.

These are more than just easter eggs. Giordano Avenue and Moldoff Street are just little lines on a fictional map, but these eponymous streets quite literally make up the fabric of Gotham City. They are dedicated in honor, and in loving memory to all the comic book greats who have worked to bring this city to life.

Dick Giordano worked as an editor and inker for many years, eventually serving as the executive editor of DC comics for much of the 1980's. His name appeared on countless titles and his impact on the industry cannot be overstated. Everyone loves Dick Giordano.

A name you might be less familiar with is Sheldon "Shelly" Moldoff. During the Golden Age of comics Moldoff was a prolific cover artists for titles like All-American, Action, and All Star Comics. Beginning in 1940, he became the regular artist for Hawkman and designed the costume for Shiera Sanders aka Hawkgirl.

After being drafted into World War II, Moldoff became an early pioneer in horror comics, but it wasn't until 1953 that he began drawing for Batman and Detective Comics.

When Moldoff finally arrived in Gotham City, he was working as a ghost artist, drawing stories that would be credited to Bob Kane. At the time, DC employed plenty of these artists and it was a very common practice. The only difference with Shelly Moldoff was this: DC had no idea that he was working for them.

For nearly 15 years, Shelly Moldoff drew Batman on the down low, taking money under the table from Bob Kane. In a 1994 interview he had this to say of the experience:

"DC didn't know that I was involved; that was the handshake agreement I had with Bob: 'You do the work. You don't say anything.' No, he didn't pay great, but it was steady work, it was security... which is the compensation I got for being Bob's ghost– for keeping myself anonymous."

With little pay and zero recognition, you might expect an artist to put forth a subpar effort, or at least phone it in on occasion, but that's kind of the opposite of what happened. Shelly Moldoff and an anonymous army of other ghost artists churned out tons of new characters during this period that have stood the test of time: Calendar Man, Bat-Mite, Mr. Freeze, Ace the Bat-Hound!!!

Shelly Moldoff revived the Riddler. Shelly Moldoff gave us Poison Ivy!

During the Great DC Writers Purge of 1968, many veteran writers and artists lost their jobs after demanding fair pay, pensions, and health insurance. Shelly Moldoff was among them. His final ghost-drawn story was published in Batman #199, and it would be 30 years before he worked for DC again. Moldoff passed away in 2012. He was the last surviving contriubtor of Action Comics #1.

I don't even know how to end this. Before today I had never even heard of Sheldon Moldoff. After toiling in obscurity and keeping himself anonymous for so many years, I guess I'm just glad to know that Gotham City remembers him.

[sereniv]

Can someone who is NOT a zionist tell me why Jewish people have so much conspiracy and hate? when did it start and why? how and why did it spread?

Preferably someone who is jewish or really knows what theyre talking about answer

[parasitoidism]

SMTIV English Artbook Scans

Today, I was able to finish scanning my entire English SMTIV art book! This book is weirdly hard to find so I'm glad I was able to do this, and I hope that everyone enjoys being able to read the official translation of this incredible art book!

[buwheal]

Mr. Spamton, have you ever tried sewing before? The patterns some people draft up are bamboozling to the mind, for sure...

-Silly woman who tried, but only managed to stitch together lopsided "pillows" from t-shirts and stuff them with cotton balls

[spacemilkbag]

for anon

[louroth]

thought it's about time I poked my head out of the mire, and confirm that this period of silence just seems to be a part of my process. I can't wait to show you what I am working on. It has taken on a life of its own. It's beautiful and untamed like a wild horse. So much has and is changing. I love it to pieces. !!

[witchandhuntress]

Sakura & Syaoran - Tomoyo Finder

[crybaby-bkg]

okay but like……….toxic Dabi that wants everything you two have built together to crumble so badly. not because he hates it, or is getting bored of you, but because the calmness that falls around you and your relationship with him is…..baffling, to say the least. he’s used to destruction and chaos and flings and heartbreak and angst. he’s not used to being invited in, to being welcomed, to being accepted, to being loved. it’s foreign, and it’s starting to make a knot form in the pit of his belly every time he’s with you.

he’s fucking you one night, rolls you over so he’s on top again, and gets this look on his face. you can tell by now what it is—he’s in his head again, wondering how he can fuck up your relationship this time. so you take it with a grain of salt when he opens his big, dumb mouth suddenly.

“What if I just trapped you right now? Just held you down, and came inside of you? Put a baby in you?” His voice is eerily quiet under the sounds of your skin slapping together, the squelching from between your legs. you only reach up to stroke his cheek, pulling him down to kiss him quiet, whispering against his mouth,

“If you wanna get me pregnant, then just say that.” You tell him, eyes fluttering open to watch his squeeze shut. “I can make an appointment with my gyno to start preparing my body for it.” You’re so reassuring, that it disarms him. Dabi only nods, quiet finally, and doesn’t pull out when he cums.

or other times, when you’re making dinner for him, standing in your brightly lit kitchen in your underwear and his ratty shirt. he watches you with his chin in his palm, that same look gracing his face. you can practically feel him burning holes into the already hole filled shirt, and prepare yourself for his questions again.

“I could just whisk you away right now, you know that?” He mutters, eyes never leaving your form, your ass that peeks out. “Put you in a basement, far away from here.” And you disarm him again, walking over to where he sits with a wooden spoon in one hand, the other holding a palm underneath it.

“You wanna move? My apartment is feeling a little cramped these days.” You mumble, offering the spoon to his mouth. Dabi watches you for a few seconds before he opens his mouth, accepting the spoon, chewing as he eyes you warily before swallowing.

“Where were you thinking of moving to?” you ask him, wiping the corner of his mouth as he glares at you. but he tells you anyway, that he’s been looking at houses a few minutes away from here, that he saw one with three bedrooms and a big backyard.

other instances include him telling you that he could chain you down and keep you at his side forever and you ask him, when do you want to get married? or, that you try to kill him every time you cook and you ask him, what flavors am I missing for you? or, when he hides his face in your neck and curses about how much he can’t stand you or your stability or your stupid face or kind words and you ask him, when did you realize you loved me this much?

[hexavexen]

In the end, it still hurts, doesn't it? And that pain is a reminder that you're alive. Would you rather feel the pain or let it cease to exist, same as yourself?

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MEDITATION EVENT: END.

START ---- LAST

[mukuberry]

webtoon would be such a better app if they removed comments

[swordheld]

how do you think in poems? i really enjoy the tags under your posts i've always wanted to write down my own thoughts that way bc in my head they feel so thorough and magical but whenever i put it in words i feel it just gets so much flatter and i no longer see a point and give up

oh oh oh, but lovely, can't you see that you've already started? it's a perspective that you hone, over time, something that is specific to you and you alone – that's the piece of it that makes it so special! you've already begun, and it only goes forward, up, sideways from here, wherever you wish to go!

think of it like a skill, for a moment, or a kind of muscle, if you'd prefer. you have to work at it, with it, over time and differing experiences, in order to progress.

(a quick important note: not progression as in the kind of quality-check of a grading scale, but progression as in evolution. shifting change. think of the leaves and their colors across the months of autumn, or temperatures rising with the sun and cooling with the evening dark. change isn't intrinsically a qualifying thing, it can just be, sometimes. this is difficult to remember, especially in the midst of frustration, but it is worth it. you are always doing better than you think you are – harshest critic, and all that.)

which is not to say that it's a simple thing to do! compare this to the vibe of me picking up crochet recently, with my shaking hands and too-quickly dwindling adhd focus – my first attempts at making a lil headphone sprout have not been going as well as i once hoped. my stitches are either too big and sloppy bc i'm not holding the yarn tightly enough to get clean ones, or i feel frustrated due to it not looking like how i'd like it to look in my mind when i started it, or even as i begin my umpteenth attempt.

but!! i know that it won't ever look the way i want it do if i set it down and never keep trying. it'll take awhile, like everything does, even the seasons take their time, the moon and its phases; but what i do know, is that, eventually, it'll resemble something i want it to. vaguely, maybe, but it is something. it doesn't have to look exactly like the guide i'm following, or the examples i'm inspired by, because it's mine – something made by my own hands, my own time and experience with every mistake and thrilling joy along the way to learn by.

take it from me: i want to be good at things i want to be good at so badly. and that excitement makes me want to be at the skill level i need to be at in order to do so right then and there, no learning curves or building blocks allowed. which is never how it happens, unfortunately, but –

i think, gently, that we tend to overlook what a pleasure it is to learn. to see the slow progression of things, to begin and change and continue and get better. and even if it's different as we go along, in a way it's our own little kind of magic, maybe, to create and never be done if we don't want to be.

which is all to say: it's already yours. why does it have to be anything else, anything more? why can't it just be good as it is now, where it might never be again? what is there to lose by enjoying the moment of where you are?

like everything, it will grow and shift and evolve with time, maybe into something you'd hoped for, or maybe into something you don't even have the words to describe right now at all. but that's the fun of it: how even now, even then, there, across time and distance and skill, there is a common thread of things; it will always come from your heart, your experience, where you are right then and there and now.

and if you think of that like magic, well, it becomes a little like magic, doesn't it?

also, something to consider: sometimes things you feel or think can't be put into words at that moment, or even at all! something else you could try (that i certainly do) is making something else with whatever it makes you feel - whether that's another form of art, or any other kind of media. if it makes you want to go outside and take a walk or get cozy and read or play a video game? that counts too! that's still an experience, you're still feeling.

i think that counts a little more than anything else, you know?

and as a little ending fun side-note, can i share something cool? i've never thought of it that way before, as thinking in poems. in my mind it's always been a kind of perspective of personal wonder, but you're right – it's poetry, in it's own way. you gave me that – so thank you, from the heart of me. i hope your journey finds you with every bright joy.

[strawbebbiesart]

Fasciation (Long Dog) 🌾🪴🐕

[icewindandboringhorror]

finally finished all of one character's entire quests/optional dialogue/questions/etc.... 100,000 words... .... aughhh

[carnivalcarriondiscarded]

I'm piggybacking a bit off of the last ask of asking for writing tips but I have an odd question... Am I the only person that struggles actually PICKING a book? It's the absolute bane of my existence because I feel like I can be so picky... Don't get me wrong, I love being a bookworm, and I'm trying to get back into reading physical books but it's so difficult to find a real taste of what the book is like without being completely spoiled or something... I miss when backs of books had an actual summary and not just NO.1 NEW YORK BESTSELLER!!!! It's so frustrating... I've been trying to get back into it by re-reading fond chapter childhood books read to me (The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane & A Wrinkle In Time). But at the same time I'm also trying to get into more "adult" books that isn't... Well, you try googling "adult books" and see how that goes, I didn't think too hard about what a poor decision THAT was. But I'm working up the courage to read Cat's Cradle right now to start with "Classic Authors" I guess!

Anyway I'm rambling here, I guess my question is... How do you pick out the books you read? I don't really have friends that read many books to recommend to me :')

Thank you in advance, Bog! I hope you get a callback from that interview soon!

no ok actually you've mentioned something that's been bothering me for a while - What The Hell Do Y'all Mea, Books Don't Have Summaries Anymore???? i have not once in my life found a book that didn't have a summary. i was in barnes & noble recently and everything i looked at had a summary. i have literally never seen a book without one in my life of reading & looking at new books on a regular basis

softcovers have theirs on the back. hardcovers are on the inside of the sleeve - lift the cover and it should be printed right there on the inside flap! summaries aren't legally required but both the author and Especially the publisher(s) know that no one's gonna buy a book without a summary. trust me, all books worth reading have a summary. if a book doesn't have one, it's probably not worth your time anyway. you just gotta know where to look!

so my answer to how i choose books... i read the summary lmao. if it seems interesting, ill either write it down to get later or ill get it there and then.

Before the summary though, i look for any titles that jump out at me from the shelf. then i look at the thickness. i like a bit of meat in my literature, so i tend to shy away from thinner books. thicker ones grab my attention more easily. then i look at the cover - if it interests me, then ill read the summary. i don't have specific tastes in title or cover. as long as it makes my brain "hm" thoughtfully, ill take a gander!

and really, if you have access to a bookstore (chain or not, ive found plenty of bangers in tiny used bookshops) or library, the best way to find a book is to physically browse. even if you dont buy anything, you can take pictures of books / write them down to buy online. but going to the store lets you search them out, examine the length, cover, title, summary - and easily put it back on the shelf or keep it. i hate shopping online bc there's ads, you can't examine the product, nothing really stands out since it's all portrayed similarly, there's limited pictures instead of the physical thing, and photos can lie.

plus, everything is (typically) meticulously sorted by genre & age range. when you go into a section with literature aimed at adults, you'll find exactly that instead of smut novels lmao. real life bookstores can be more accurate than online searches. & there's just something so good about walking through shelves, searching for that one book before you know it exists, smelling the paper... yeah...

[shuploc]

i discovered your blog about 10 minutes ago and i am speechless at how masterful these portraits are... and it only takes you 8 hours of drawing on average?? *confused noises and gestures*

my question is : how do you get lighting and color so right every time? do you use many references for lighting? are there any tips you don't mind sharing with a fellow digital artist? x)

Yes, I very much do use reference! It really depends on the piece, but sometimes I'll only use the reference as inspiration, other times I'll completely base the whole piece around it.

In terms of lighting and color specifically, I tend to go with the light source as it appears in one or more of the reference photos, but color is never based on anything and is always something I end up spending pretty much 30 mins to an hour on at the very end. I don't want to toot my own horn in any way, but after a while, you kinda just get an eye for it, y'know. If the colors or the lighting is pretty nice in the reference, but it needs more oomf, I'll try and figure out what's making it looks so nice and amplify it. But yeah, the secret is definitely to use reference!

Thank you so much for asking though, and I'm really glad you like my stuff! 😊

[undefeatablesin]

Hi, I saw your last post!

It's a bit funny to me. I moved from Sonic to Castlevania precisely because Discourse made it intolerable to me, only to see that many people who produced content back in the day moved out of Castlevania for... Discourse, let's just say. But I think I still got the right timing, because not only I found a small yet tightknit community of game fans where I was free to be creative in my own way, now the game fandom is getting fed in all sorts of tasty ways <3

Anyway, my point is, while at first I didn't really like reblogging old art (which was a problem since the best art I've seen was made, like 10 years ago lol), you were one of the artists I found during my binge. I think your CV art is still striking to this day, although I have no doubts that you've improved further since then :) I especially like the way you use thick lines and bright colors, and the soft way you draw faces and the waves of the hair

(also, well, I'm biased because CoD is my favorite CV game, and you have drawn some spectacular Hector, Isaac and Trevor <3)

I think I just wanted to say that I fully understand the feeling of having to distance yourself from something you love, but still being tied to it. And if you ever decide to come back... we're using the tag "akumajou dracula" now. For Reasons ;)

Take care!

Hi there! Thanks for popping in ✨️

As someone who just watches from afar these days, seeing the paradigm shift starting to happen in the CV fandom right now has been pretty vindicating and uplifting! It is a much better time to be an active fan of the games than it was when I was participating in the community a few years ago, that's for sure.

I'm still really grateful even my old and less polished work was able to bring some joy to newcomers to the fandom though! It's been a really pleasant surprise to see the influx of engagement lately and I really appreciate you taking the time to stop by to mention it. I like to at least think my work has seen some improvement since then, so perhaps I'll put that theory to the test if I ever revisit some of my old CV art in the present 😂

Hector and Trevor are my beloveds right next to Leon and Mathias, all of which rotted my brain for immeasurable hours of my life, but they are hours I look back upon very fondly! It'd be a treat to draw them again some day with (potentially) new and improved skills and now seems like a great time to do so at that. I may not be an active participant in the fandom nowadays, but I will always be a lover of the franchise regardless 💙

Thank you for your kind words and the heads-up about the tag! I'll be sure to use it if I have anything new to bring to the scene.