#I need to draw backgrounds more often tbh

[capricoopla]

Watcher, sitter and observer

+ FP and NSH

[alicenpai]

forgotten playthings, forgotten child 🧸

Jack from my series Lost & Found Children 🤍🖤

i hope to showcase more of my ocs in 2024 hehe! im FINALLY getting around to finishing art i left to rot in my folders (the pandora hearts drawing last month being one of em). if you saw the WIP of THIS particular drawing 2 yrs ago... no you didn’t 💔

my charas are very personal to me, but tbh ive always been a bit hesitant to share their stories. over time i realized ... it’s kind of a shame to not make art from one’s heart. which is something i regret a lot year after year whenever i make my yearly art summary reflection. i'm like damn i need to make more emotionally evoking pieces!!! so i'm gonna keep going in 2024 with that in mind ❤ i have to admit, although this drawing started 2 years ago, and there's a lot i would do differently if i were to supposedly draw it now - this concept goes pretty hard.

the final drawing stayed pretty close to the original concept which im so relieved for! i think part of the reason why i left it on the backburner for so long, was the fact that i included so many details, and i was unsure of how to colour the "background". (not to mention stuff like cons & real life getting in the way).

i'm glad for discovering a really handy watercolour brush, it's helped me a lot in my last few drawings, bc i dont have to colour in each detail. especially since the witch hat atelier: eternal ephemera zine piece i did. otherwise if i coloured this back in 2022 with my usual method, i'm pretty sure i really would have included a shading and highlight layer for each individual toy... HAHAHA. much to think about

oh yeah and in the last few days of drawing this i was listening to some visual kei bands. i love how some of the band members literally have been performing since like the 90s or something and DO NOT AGE and are literal vampires. every so often i fall back into visual kei (you can tangentially thank aggretsuko although yes i know it's not the same). and i kind of realized. i like Jack's edgy design so much because he looks like. a visual kei esque vampire.

[spookberry]

Shadow High series 3 my new beloved

I didnt even like most of em until i saw them in person, but the knowledge that they'll probably never be in the show has my brain in a "well its free realestate" kinda mood

Random list of information cuz ive been plotting out friend dynamics and background lore

-i like to pretend Rainbow High/Shadow High are actually Rainbow University/Shadow University cuz im in art college Right Now and i think it makes more sense with the whole dorm room situation. And also major makes more sense than focus IMO

-I changed Pinkie's major from film to just undeclared. I think she eventually does land on Film. She just has a lot of interests! Her dream has always been to one day direct films, and I think she comes to love them even more while developing ideas her with the group as she winds up in a Director/Producer position for most of them. BUT also every time she takes a class in a different program she cant help but fall in love with that way of making art too. So she has a hard time picking for a while and changed her major a couple times before landing on Film.

-Pinkie and Berrie bond a lot over a shared interest in vocal synths (tho Berrie knows more about them than her).

-The two made Pinkie's vtuber model together!

-the fandom wiki says PJ is from germany?? Idk how canon that is tbh but ive decided to embrace it i guess

-Rooney's canon name is Scarlet Rose, but i thought it was kinda lame especially when Rosie Redwood is also in this line sooo I renamed her! Stuck to the color name puns tho. Mar Rooney. Maroon. Haha

-Speaking on her though i love that shes from texas and likes writing scifi mystery type stuff and that being said i just Know deep in my bones that she was a Voltron Legendary Defender fan and Keith was/is 100% her favorite. She has a continued fondness for mothman specifically cuz of this.

-PJ and Rooney actually talk about fandom and shows/movies ALL the time. They dont have a ton of overlapping interests, but where they do? The two literally never shut up.

-Rosie is such a random character, like outside of her design she feels very poorly considered. So I scrapped the cosmetology thing and made her an illustrator instead! I think it works better with her love of making art in nature. I can see her being really into illustrated guide books. I think shes a bit snooty when it comes to art too. It takes being friends with other artists to become more open minded.

-I like the idea that Rosie is mainly friends with Rooney and Berrie ontop of that. The three of them often tag team storylines and how theyd interpret them into different mediums. Rosie will draw up a bunch of concept stuff while Rooney writes up a pitch bible and Berrie will start making shit move and throwing in her own ideas on camera angles and character designs.

-as an animation major Berrie was required to take a sound design class early on, which is where she met Oliver! Hes very laid back, and likes to go with the flow, but functions a little like the "mom" of the group. Often reminding the girls to take breaks, drink water, stop looking at their screens lest they get eye strain etc. He's multi-talented tbh but Music is his one true passion and he likes how the girls are always giving him collaboration opportunities.

-Oliver and Rosie like to talk sports a lot, both having played a bunch when they were younger and throughout high school.

-Lavender Lynn is Oliver's number one "person who needs constant reminders to settle down" she is in a constant buzz of trying to get the best shots and is utterly obsessed with the process of artistic documentation. Everything must be documented.

-the whole school loves her for this actually, she has a whole side gig where other students hire her to help photograph their projects. She saves everything she earns from this for her future dream plans to visit paris. She has it set really, many of the artists who she helps photograph now will remain steadfast clients of hers forever onward.

-PJ and Lynn actually took a print media class together at one point. Which didnt at the time spark an everlasting friendship. But it did give PJ an easier in to ask for Lynn's help documenting a project the group was working on. One of Lynn's first times photographing them work happened to fall on a day where Rosie had planned to trick everyone into going on a nature walk sans devices... Lynn wound up really appreciating this outing and decided to continue hanging around the group even after that project had ended.

[buf309]

Pose Reference Resources

I promised Dia (aka aerequets) that I will make a collection of pose references in the reply of one of her art posts, and then I completely forgot about it. Until now. I'm sorry for my bad memory.

So, yeah, better late than never I guess?

The pose collection I use the most is no longer free. They used to let you download a whole album (more than 8GB worth of data) to use offline, but now you have to pay $40/package or $200 for full sets. I still have the zip file for a very old version of theirs, but I can't legally share it. So, let's skip to the other options.

1/ First, you heard of those 3D dolls program that let you model your own reference pose? This one is an online one and for free, the whole ordeal. Of course since it's online and free, you can't save your model for next time, and it costs quite a lot of time to set the model up. So, you should take as much screenshots in as many tricky angles as you need once you done with the setting. Best using for complicated scenes where those below don't have what you need already available.

2/ This one is free and in 3D, you can rotate the model to any angle that you need. The only set back is the numbers of poses are quite limited. This one is best for using as a basic blocks then build up what you want to draw, or just as a practice to improve your understanding of human anatomy.

3/ This one is free for personal uses and the pose collection is massive. The setbacks are the language barrier (it's in Japanese, English is sometimes tag-a-long) and you have to search through their pages for what you need. The pics for each pose is static but they are in different angle in almost 360 degrees. There are many 2-person and 3-person poses too. Great for illustration inspiration.

4/ This one will only show reference photos of human head, at whatever angle you rotate the model. The web interface is easy to use. There are options like searching based on gender, ages, emotions, glasses, facial hair or not, etc. Good for practicing face drawing.

5/ This one will show reference photos for human body parts, at whatever angle you rotate the model, read the instructions for how to do it. The web interface is quite hard to use at first, just tinkering around for a bit, and you will be fine. There are options like searching based on gender and which particular parts that you need refs for. Good for that moment when you go "huh? how is this <body part> will look in this <situation>????"

6/ This one will only show reference photos of animal heads, and only the head, at whatever angle you rotate the model. The accurate skull refencence list is their best point. There are enough common species in the drop down list. Tbh, I don't use this much because I often need refs for the whole animal most of the time. But it's best for furry artists, I guess?

7/ Real model photos. They sell pose reference in themed packs, but there are enough free packs to use as drawing practice too.

8/ This is the best for general background reference. Lots of options. Not really good for very specific location results, but good for random background in drawings.

9/ Lastly, for specific objects or background references at strange angles, I often search for 3D models on this site then take screenshots of whatever I need.

That's all, folks. Hope this list can help ease some of the struggles that we will encounter on our quest of learning the art of drawing things 😂

[spotlightstudios]

Ayo!!! It's been a while since I've drawn utau (utmv?) stuff in a fully rendered style, so.... when I saw @itsxroxannex had a dtiys I had to shoot my shot!

Actually, I don't think I've ever done a dtyis before 👀 so this was really fun.

(Speedpaint and More Process Rambles beneath the cut ♡)

I... actually don't think I've ever drawn Passive!NM either tbh. This entire drawing was kinda like a personal challenge to myself, since I often lack w/ backgrounds too.

I did kinda a study on the originals background, because I tend to just draw characters w/o a solid background, and when I do add a background characters usually blend into it a lil too well to discern figures, so the color choices and soft loose lines compared to the hard lines + cell shading felt really nice.

I also decided to go back to Procreate for this one too! Normally I draw w/ Medibang these days, but I learned to draw utau stuff on Procreate and so drawing them elsewhere feels wrong.

And, of course, the last note I'll add in the actual post: my sketch process is trash lmao. Literally I just wing the shapes of clothes and junk based on the vibes and resize as needed. I love looking at the og sketch tho cuz it's so... bald. No under-form, no indicator of limbs, nothing.

[attex]

You think fp and lttm have some self soothing behaviors?

i have been regularly thinking of answetring this ask (it was sent 3 months ago.) but i kept fucking forgetting. i think they do tbh but theyre akin to how they move around their puppets by default, yknow how some people move their hands when talking its like that for their Thinking in a way. it can be like when someones mumbling/talking to themselves cuz theyre really lost in thought or something. (insert joke about italians here) this applies to every iterator with a functional connected puppet...

this is just advanced headcanoning btw, read more cuz its kinda long and not formatted well

for the cringe siblings though i headcanon five pebbles would be touching his robe fabric a lot (especially post-rivulet where hes more concentrated on his own puppet and tries to use it more to ground himself to his own body), he does that out of stress usually as another little external representation of his emotions- i imagine a lot of the structure straight up moves and has a lot of its parts basically shifting and wiggling around, its more involuntary but i think pebbles moves and bundles up his cables that are normally used for local data transferring. he doesn't have much to reorganize within him internally a lot of the time (anymore...) so he basically moves his devices for it for the sake of the sensation of having/doing some sort of action

i think moon sometimes gently rocks her puppet back and forth when under-stimulated. though she usually lands back to staying very still (she does this before her collapse too anyway, she meditates in a way have you seen how she moves her puppet to the middle of her chamber and closes her eyes and has her halo move gently etc. AHHHHH its so cuteeee) also i draw her with hair like wires so um :) she braids them sometimes or caresses them. shes much more disconnected from her entire body so its Something to do at least. she will hold and look at the pearls or other items that creatures end up bringing to her also <3 post-rivulet she gets a lot to do with her structure. she very often rumbles parts of her to hum sounds and such, she does this with her puppet too but its more akin to humming a melody for the puppet lol. while every iterator can has a near-constant background hum and noise caused by many things, moon explicitly alters her internal humming to match external things she is experiencing- (unlike other iterators who don't usually have their internal "rhythm" match their external environment as well) i believe she developed this habit to be more in tune with her environmental location as it helped with not causing as much harmful interference to all that is around her (she has an older, not as performant/optimized can so she needed to adjust to function better), its beneficial for her workings too lol! her organic parts do need to be in tune with the life surrounding her to be able to keep stable.

[kozachenko]

So a little while ago I did this background thingy of my interpretation of Hakugyokurou in Touhou 7, then left it at the sketch and forgot about it for a while. Then after changing up my art style a lot, I came back to this and decided to finish it as a way of testing out how my new style would look on backgrounds. Then when I finished it, I also didn't look at it for a while, until today where I decided that I liked it and wanted to post it.

Artist's Notes:

IDK how much this actually looks like Hakugyokurou tbh, but I liked the idea of there being a fuck ton of trees that just kinda grow on the stairs and Yuyuko's garden being on an island of some kind, though tbh as I write this now, this same feeling could be accomplished with just having the stairs be on top of a hill with the trees soooo... oops. IDK how mythologically/lore accurate that would be, but hey, just a cool idea I had. I feel like we need more fan interpretations of certain Touhou locations because I think those could be really fucking cool, like, I should do more of these myself because I have a fuck ton of ideas (plus I need the practice with drawing backgrounds so win-win).

Even if this... doesn't really look like Hakugyokurou in Touhou canon, this was still good practice for perspective, as well as getting better at drawing backgrounds/environment pieces (plus what annoys me is that I wanted to make the tori gate red but had to make it pink because the red was too much for the colour scheme and I should have adjusted the rest of the colours but I don't feel like going back and fucking with this piece now because I feel like I am going to end up like Sisyphus pushing a boulder up a hill with this drawing).

I think the reason we don't see those as often is because there's a lot more consistency with the location designs in Touhou than the character designs. Like, in the mainline games themselves, Marisa's outfit changes every fucking game, and small details in how characters outfits are drawn also lend themselves to that looser character design base. As long as you keep the core design philosophies of the character (i.e. Reimu keeping her loose, baggy clothes, Yukari with her hat and ribbons, Keiki with her headkerchief (I FINALLY LEARNED WHAT IT WAS FUCKING CALLED WOOHOOO!!!! I COULD HAVE JUST LOOKED IT UP ON THE WIKI THIS WHOLE TIME YAAAAAY), and many more examples) you're basically good. However, the actual locations in Touhou have been so set in stone with all the printed works that I think it's a shame we don't see any more variations of how they could look.

I'm not saying to completely ditch how each location is portrayed in games (also don't take this whole thing as me completely dissing the canon looks of the locations) but, treating the locations like character designs in and of themselves. Like, take Sakuya's canon design and her Touhouvania design. Both of them are very different takes on the same design idea. Yet you still recognize Touhouvania Sakuya as... well, Sakuya. And also, keeping the same mythological/historical/irl inspirations for said locations (again, don't know if having a floating island in the Japanese netherworld is accurate but it was a cool idea)

Some other location ideas I have include:

The SDM looking relatively normal from the outside but when you go inside it looks like a fucking gothic cathedral/castle because Sakuya keeps fucking with the space time continuum and there is also an organ the size of a fucking house in there that Sakuya dramatically plays. Also having it be surrounded by trees and having some mountains surrounding the misty lake would be cool as well.

Keiki's base in the animal spirit garden being reminiscent of the ancient technology in Laputa, some of the zonai technology in ToTK and some of the Lanayru desert buildings in Skyward Sword (i.e. Lanayru Mine, the shipyard, etc), as well as a lot of the other ancient technologically advanced sky people ruins seen in some other Zelda games, but with the clear Kofun era theming she already has.

Old Hell having a mix of western influences with it's prodominantly Japanese ones, mainly inspired by how the Palace of Earth spirits looks significantly more western than the rest of Old Hell (though that could be because it was more recently built idk), as well as there being emblems from the time that Old Hell was actually Hell being strewn about in the ruins of old hell, also being inspired by a Japanese historical anecdote about how certain families had specific crests/emblems representing them and how when a new clan would take over everything would be replaced with that families' emblem although my memory is a bit foggy (since I saw it a while ago) and I got info from a Youtube short so take this info with a huge grain of salt (and it anyone actually knows if this info is legit or not, please correct me if I get anything wrong).

Overall, don't think this looks too much like Hakugyokurou, but I am glad I drew this anyway because I needed the practice with drawing backgrounds.

[whetstonefires]

If Steve Rogers functions as the Superman of the bunch, the noble hero out of the past who inspires the others to greatness, what exactly is Bucky Barnes role, especially as Captain America himself?

I don't think that's a very meaningful analogy because like. The Justice League and the Avengers are very different teams, and despite their fairly similar ethics Clark and Steve are possibly even more different guys.

Captain America's is a solid general all-rounder, very mid-level in terms of actual power. Problems are frequently too big for him. Superman is stupid strong--every so often something shows up that's more powerful than he is, but he spends most of his life finessing his way through using as much force as he needs without overshooting and causing unacceptable collateral damage. He can move planets.

Psychologically, there's a vast gulf there.

The legacy of Krypton and the, the myth of America are roughly the same shape but are worn in completely opposite ways. No one on Earth knows or cares about Krypton except through Superman, and even he doesn't remember it--sometimes Kara does--so it's just pretty shapes and a deep solemnity.

America is messy and current and in-your-face, it was there before Steve and it'll probably outlive him and sometimes he gets so fed up with its foreign policy decisions or civil rights abuses he puts on a different outfit or goes and lives in a bunker.

'Superman' is a big idea that rests entirely on Kal-El as a person and as a force; 'Captain America' as a concept might be built on Steve and his supersoldier status but it's not dependent on him, they keep making a point of that.

Meanwhile they've made Jon Superman but struggle mightily with how to do that without just making him his dad. Of course they'd be struggling less if they'd let him grow up at a normal speed or were willing to lean into what a fucking bizarre person he ought to be after seven years in a cave with his dad's evil twin; basically Jon Kent doesn't have a character right now and they think he can hold up a title. But actually they know he can't that's why they brought Clark back. Superman is a disaster right now.

So anyway. In classic terms, Bucky was the counterpart of Jimmy Olsen. Then he died--I believe this was established in a retcon in the 60s when they brought Cap back, when Marvel was getting its feet under it as the grounded, realistic superhero comic company.

Then Bucky and Jason Todd both came back in 2005 which was kind of embarrassing for everyone imo. Just like. Did you have to do that at the same time you're making each other's cheap stunts look even more stuntlike.

Bucky's actually done better over the last 18 years than Jason tbh, rip--I mean in terms of interesting stories and development. Jason got his own book and all, he just also was subjected to terrible discontinuity of character and was primarily written by Scott Lobdell for like a decade. Terrible.

In terms of who he can be compared to relative to Superman when he's being Captain America, I. Uhhhhhh. No one in any useful way, I don't think. The obvious place to look is the Death of Superman/Reign of the Supermen period, but like.

Does Bucky have anything really in common with Cyborg Superman other than being a traumatized cyborg? No. Does he have anything in common with The Kid (later Kon-El)? You'd think there'd be something but there really isn't. Each point they have in common (i.e. dehumanizing lab background) they have diametrically opposed relationships to.

Steve's had duplicates and impersonators, I think the anti-commie guy he beat up that time is kind of like his Cyborg Superman equivalent? Except there's a whole political ideology thing going on there which is just not present with Superman. Anyway, not relevant to Bucky.

...you can I think draw some kind of relationship between Sam Wilson as Captain America and John Henry Irons as Steel, because on the writing end of things there's a definite flavor match, in terms of very deliberately creating a very cool black man and holding him up as an exemplar in a superhero story that otherwise has not got a lot of black people in major roles, and making him the best person to uphold the legacy of the Very Important Hero Guy. Like certain conventions are utilized the same in both instances. In certain ways that was two versions of the same story.

But also not really; Irons was very much pinch-hitting and what made him the best was that he was the one determined to do the work rather than claim the glamor; it's a lot more ceremonious and torch-passing with Wilson. A different deal. Although in some ways that's just because Marvel has hung onto and deliberately invested in the Falcon for decades.

DC Comics stop doing weird stuff with Clark's family and identity and reinvest in the supporting cast challenge. Where is Steel what's going on with him. Does he exist in this timeline.

[iammissingautumn]

I think the thing about Butters is that he’s this really fun contradiction to me. And from what I’ve seen from going through the seasons. Butters Stotch starts out as a contrast to the main four. He’s gulliable and a push over, which turns into the perfect victim, and then he’s the perfect sidekick.

For awhile he seems almost like a loner, or perhaps just comfortable with himself. Something likely picked up from being grounded in his room so often. He sings to himself various songs to pass the time by, he does various art mostly drawing several times throughout the show. Something like tap dancing seems to be something he could attach himself to while not needing to be physically strong and his parents could gain socially from having a talented son.

Yet as time goes by we see his “innocent ways” be twisted, but instead of it being a straight laced kid he’s already quite the asshole. In season 3 he doesn’t hold back from bullying the Codswolds, and in season 7 he quickly piles on to the bullying of Gary Harrison. He has an aversion to difference, the kind that makes you think anyone different is bad. Which wouldn’t be surprising to have come from his parents and their more religious background.

Butters, showing off his age, attacks life in the only way you can when you’re in elementary school and learning everything for the first time. Butters doesn’t start cussing because his friends do, we know he’s capable because we see him do it a few times such as in Christian Hard Rock. He’s not really afraid to stop his class and tell them he’s never played WoW and instead likes Hello Kitty Island, but he will tell Stan “I'd rather be a crying little pussy than a faggy goth kid”. There a hierarchy he’s picked up on, and he knows being gay is the worst. Even as he doesn’t know what it is.

Butters didn’t know what his father was doing, he didn’t know why everything was so upset while at camp, and instantly after his first kiss he think he’s a “man” and needs to change his entire life to be one. In that same episode, Butters Bottom Bitch, he rags on gay people quite a bit. Which we see over the course of the series in various ways (see previous paragraph’s quote). He’s been homophobic while having no clue what that really means. This seems to manifest just as much with his sexism, very little clue as why girls are lesser than (though his sexism also seems to stem from the fact they are different) but he accepts it and says a lot of misogynistic shit.

We see almost again and again the abuse that Butters faces that there is no root wrong, there is just an overall wrong. There is no nuance to why a sect of people are bad, they just are. He’s grounded episode after episode for things he hasn’t done or wasn’t a big part of, his school photo being a great example of this. He is nurtured into a world where he is belittle enough to believe he doesn’t know better then others a lot of the time via his parents and later on Cartman.

A more deep rooted homophobia and/or sexism would have him against presenting or doing anything related to being feminine. He’d hide against naively showing his true self so he wouldn’t get bullied. He would care about being masculine or enforcing gender roles. Yet the majority of the time he doesn’t seem to understand the deeper intricacies of these topics like the other boys do. Otherwise he wouldn’t enjoy himself as Marjorine in the self expression and acceptance he’s given. Otherwise he would understand what was happening in Cartman Sucks.

Yet in early seasons Butters is implied to study often to avoid being grounded. He’s shown to be a relatively smart side kick when he’s not being tricked into believing the world has ended and he’s the last person alive. Tbh I believe he would be a lot smarter if he wasn’t largely plagued by a bended view of reality because of the ongoing psychological trauma he receives from his parents.

He loved being Majorine, he doesn’t want to be a faggot. He’s harmed most times he expresses himself, he continues to anyways. He’s seen as a cringe outcast yet can summon a whole crowd with a tap dance performance.

[throttlegainwell]

I'm making a new post because I want to put it under a cut and tumblr doesn't seem to like when you do that on a reblog, but this is in response to @jonathanbyersneedsabreak 's reblog of my Altered States post. (Thanks for the interest!)

So this one is a multiverse fic starring our Will (Will Prime?), who gets sci-fi whammied into this other universe where Joyce died when Will was 5-6 and Jonathan was 10.

(Warning for discussion below of child abuse and neglect, abandonment, parental death, and grief.) This is mostly background and touching on character arcs, not addressing the plot (which involves Will rescuing this universe's El from the lab and then getting her help to return to Hawkins Prime).

What follows is a pattern of abuse and neglect that both plays out differently and is more severe, while Lonnie is technically raising them but is deeply inconsistent in terms of basic care needs and often leaves them alone for stretches of time. Eventually, he decides he just wants to get the fuck out of Hawkins (he's in trouble or something and just says fuck it, I hated this shithole anyway) and he doesn't feel like dragging them with him, so he relinquishes his parental rights. (Jonathan is about 16 here.) Will and Jonathan are separated for three years before Jonathan a) becomes a legal adult and b) manages to get custody of Will and move them back to Hawkins, in the hopes that being around his old friends will be good for Will (who's clearly a very troubled kid by this point). Will was good friends with the Party here, but the situation at home really stunted his ability to connect with them, so it's a different dynamic. It also really affected Will's social prospects; if the Byers family had a shitty reputation before, it's absolutely tanked in this one.

Part of this is inspired by some (sad) family history, but the idea here is exploring how different the relationship between Will and Jonathan is in this different setting, and also to give Will Prime a look at another version of his life (especially his relationships with the Party). Jonathan and Will still love each other very much, but they don't know each other well, so there's not that same trust between them and they wouldn't necessarily hang out socially. There's also a much stronger awareness of what the other has been through, which contributes to the strain between them--it's a lot messier here. Unlike Will Prime, whose understanding of Lonnie and Jonathan's relationship seems amorphous at best because he was insulated from some of it, here there really wasn't a big secret of what was happening and no Joyce to mediate any of it, so Lonnie was significantly more abusive to Will as well. In fact, Lonnie almost certainly tried to play them against each other and drive a wedge between them.

Jonathan will try to protect Will in any universe, of course, and he often tried to draw Lonnie's attention away from Will and toward himself. But his power here was obviously very limited, so he felt helpless and harbors a lot of guilt over a) what he perceives to be his failure to adequately care for Will and protect him from Lonnie and b) occasionally being relieved when Lonnie didn't go for it and Jonathan got a reprieve (and the latter is a source of immense shame as well, because what kind of person feels even a moment of relief over not being targeted for abuse when it comes at the expense of the person they're supposed to be protecting? Relieved that it wasn't him this time? But he's only human, and it happens). I also really don't want to downplay the far-reaching effects of that kind of serious neglect (and the increased burden this puts on Jonathan, who simply cannot be an even halfway adequate caregiver to a young child nor is he equipped to ensure his own needs are met--it's a profoundly bad situation for both of them, basically, even when you remove the abuse as a factor). Tbh, I'd say the neglect was probably more significant than the abuse in this scenario.

Jonathan is, uh, very fucked up in this story. Much angrier, much more anxious, very much trying to keep it together for Will but deeply traumatized from a lifetime of shit and drowning in guilt over several things that may or may not make it into the story, but it's all informing his perspective and demeanor here. In a lot of ways, he's kind of mirroring Joyce; he's just very focused on maintaining steady employment and basic materials needs (shelter, food, utilities). From my notes:

He's also deeply, profoundly angry, in a way that leaks out quietly but unmistakably, even though he tries to hide it; he kind of vacillates between vibrating and being sort of checked out. He loves Will, but they're not that close here because the trauma pushed them apart, and being separated certainly didn’t help there.

The traumatic grief is really the big thing that I'm not sure will come up here, but it's huge--he feels responsible for Joyce's death in a way that's burrowed so deeply into him that questioning it would be like suggesting that maybe the sky is made of marshmallows. This is because she wasn't supposed to be where she was on the day of the accident; she put off running that errand the night before because Jonathan, upset after the rabbit incident, wanted her to stay with him instead of going out. He didn't tell her what happened--he was just so traumatized that he begged her not to go, which freaked her out enough to change her plans. And he really has never had anything resembling treatment for this, so it's festered.

So, uh. There are many, many aspects to this story that are just deeply upsetting, but the point isn't necessarily to linger on them. They're really more background.

But! Although Jonathan is kind of checked out and not super close to Will, he does know him well enough (and is paying enough attention) to recognize that this isn't his little brother. First, because Will Prime trusts him too much--he's just expecting a certain level of closeness that this other Will wouldn't. (At first, Jonathan is terrified that something terrible has happened to Will and that's why he's suddenly looking to Jonathan for support, because what else would cause that?) But then he realizes that while this kid is just as traumatized as his brother, the shape of that trauma is different. He's basically like, huh, well, you're definitely fucked up, but you're way more emotionally healthy than my Will, so you can't be him.

Anyway. That's the Will & Jonathan background.

[blue-nebraska]

Day seven: The owls are not what they seem

Another prompt I was not sure what to make for (or all that excited to do tbh) until I actually started sketching and got into it. I like that Inktober pushes me to create even if I’m not feeling it, because more often then not I just need to get over that initial hurdle and I end up enjoying myself and what I’m making a whole lot!

ID: A black and white drawing. In the center is a horned owl, which fades into a background landscape of two mountain peaks, pine trees, and velvet curtains and a zig-zag floor.Text on the right reads, “the owls are not what they seem”. End ID.

[thepringlesofblood]

i need to know whose fuckin eye this is

so. in the new neverafter ep. theres a bit. where brennan makes a lil OK symbol with his hand and there’s a “seam” in reality that flashes through a bunch of backgrounds, and then an eye

folks, it may not be relevant, it may not mean anything, but I need to know whose eye this it. because it’s not brennan’s. his eyes are too light and the wrong shape. and that makes my monkey brain go “this has to mean something”

so. maybe I went through and screenshotted pictures of everyone’s eyes and compared them like an absolute maniac. 

comparison below the cut

tl;dr assuming it’s someone at the table, it’s probably zac, by process of elimination. emily is the next closest possibility.

here’s the eye up close

there’s a hint of eyebrow, but mostly we have to go off of skin color, eye shape, eyelid, and eye color.

#1 it’s not lou, skin’s way too light, eye shape wrong

(lou eyes)

#2 it’s not brennan, eye’s too dark, eye shape wrong, his eyebrows barely exist

(brennan eyes)

#3 it’s not murph, his glasses get in the way and he isn’t without them enough to get a clear shot

(murph eyes)

#4 it’s not ally, eye shape wrong, eye color’s a bit dark, and they have these very distinctive eyebags that The Eye does not have.

(ally eyes)

#5 it’s unlikely to be siobhan bc glasses, though her glasses are less immediately noticeable and are big and round enough that there could theoretically be a shot sniping a circle small enough that you wouldn’t see them. in some shots her eye color is too light as well.

(siobhan eyes)

#6 emily is a possibility, but she is almost always wearing some kind of eye makeup, and it doesn’t really look like The Eye is. there are episodes where she’s wearing less, but as much as I love this show, I draw the line at going through every episode and clocking emily axford’s eye makeup. other potential issues: in some pictures her eyes are too light, there’s a very slight difference in eye shape, and she has slight eyebags, like ally’s, but not as noticeable, and not present in all pictures.

(emily eyes) (look i wound up going through more pics of her than the rest bc she wears different eye makeup in different sessions. ik siobhan does too but i had already mostly ruled her out bc glasses)

#7 zac is, by process of elimination, the strongest possibility. while he has glasses sometimes, he is without them much more often, and has dark enough eyes that are closest to the right shape. the main issues are eyelid shape (zac has epicanthic folds, and it’s hard to tell if The Eye does based on the very small window), a very slight difference in skin color (which could be put down to lighting), and his eyebrows are super strong and its hard to see The Eye’s (though that could be due to small window too).

this is all assuming that The Eye belongs to someone at the table. It’s very possible that they used the eye of a crew member. it would just seem kind of thematically weird, since these “seams” are usually made up of previous episode footage.

So. Conclusion. this is The Eye side-by-side with the closest match i could get for zac.

(zac)

(The Eye)

tbh, based on what’s going on in the scene it makes the most sense that it’d be zac too, if not brennan, since he’s talking to pib about seams in reality.

I just think the editing in this season is fuckin neat, and wanted to spotlight their attention to detail.

[precious-little-scoundrel]

What got you into writing/how long have you been writing?

What’s your writing inspiration?

Do you write in silence or need background sounds? Like music?

Do you struggle more with dialogue or detail?

Any tips for someone who wants to write fanfiction?

How do you differ all your OC’s so you don’t rewrite the same characters over and over?

Do you do research?

— from someone who would love to write their own stories lol but yours are great!

My darling. So many apologies for how tardy I’ve been in replying to this, I really wanted to give it due thought because I’m quite touched you’d even ask.

1: I’ve been writing since I was little, my mama was always reading me classics and my greatest ambition was to be some kind of author every bit as colorful as their characters, a la Oscar Wilde. 🥳

2. Writing inspiration? Oh that’s a hard one only in that I could cite a million things and chat your poor ear off, but to be boring and also frank -I just love stories. I think they’re so inspiring and healing and necessary for making sense of things, or else resigning to things that can’t be explained. I love to study love and how very human and fallible and also indestructible it is in its many forms. I love to dig through tragedy and find the refining purpose of it, I love to take characters through hells I’ve been through so that I can imagine their triumphs, too, and my own through them. If this can happen to -name your hero- then I’m no smaller for it happening to me, if -name your hero- can get through it and be loved and admired by a whole fandom? -I deserve the same commendation from myself at the very least. Stories are essential and fun and I never ever imagined I’d have a little group one day liking my own where we could all scream about these things together. I’m legit so humbled each time I log on here and find y’all ready and waiting and interactive. The community of it, that’s the biggest drive right now, tbh. What a sweet season.

3. I usually write in silence, or else at any chance where I have a moment, so that could be public transport or lunch breaks or in the loo during family holidays, ha. However I do find music to be an inspiring mood setter for writing later that day. Especially as i juggle many ongoing projects at once, the genre im listening to before may very well influence what gets worked on.

4. Detail!! Dialogue can be challenging but I hear it so clearly in my head most of the time that it’s not hard. Details can devastate me.

5. Ooof, I still feel like I’m a baby at it, this is only my second fandom to dare for. I’d say for sure write what you find inspiring instead of what appears to be wanted, i firmly believe that’s the only sure way to keep up any inspiration and the niche will draw its own crowd, one’s who will like it all the better for its specially crafted world. Also, for dialogue -replay and replay dialogue from the character before you write. Are they terse or do they ramble? Are they sarcastic or earnest? Do they have a word they repeat often? -I noticed the other day how Rosenthal uses “you know?” often in the show. Also, sometimes switch up sentence structure from character to character, it helps feel like hopping brains without a fully jarring POV change. All these are things I’m currently working at myself, but that’s the best I’ve got for advice.

6. Oh boy I’m still figuring this out myself. Three things come to mind as little helps I use- first off, read real biographies, it helps tremendously with crafting fully dimensional fictional people. Two -have a maturing arc for your OC during the story, separate from whatever adventure or romance that occurs, this will make it feel less like a inserted person into the broader story. Three, choose a personality type or something similar to both keep them separate from the next but also to ensure their virtues have corresponding vices.

7. I do research a lot. But I find that it’s a fine line for myself of when that drains all creativity or bravery. Im massively indebted to so many mutuals who generously share their own with me.

[neverlandqueen36]

Things i HC about each greaser + The Shepards

Steve Randal

He has this extensive knowledge of plants and bugs because he was OBSESSED with it as a kid.

Like the kid that brought bugs in from the playground in first grade obsessed.

Like one time that gang was hanging out in the lot and a HUGE bug was on Soda and he started freaking out.

And steve was like “Relax it’s harmless”

Soda was like “HOW DO YOU KNOW THAT?!?”

And Steve was just like “It’s just a Pholcidae also known as a daddy long legs it won’t hurt you”

The whole gang is lookin at him like “tf🫤”

Dallas Winston

He’s a doodler

I mean he’s no Picasso or anything but he’s not terrible

It’s because he never bothers to practice his talents

He has a notebook in his room at Buck’s that he just doodles in if he has something on his mind or he’s bored.

He would NEVER tell anyone of his artistic abilities

If you give him a piece of paper it will be just littered with random lines and swirls.

He draws snakes mostly…

He really likes snakes…🤣

Sometimes if he’s sitting next to Pony with marker in hand and is just like bored out of his mind so he’s just like…

“Gimme your arm stupid”

“Why?”

“I’m bored”

He gave him like a whole tattoo sleeve by the end of it😂

It gave Darry a heart attack when he saw it.

Would doodle on his s/o’s thigh

Darry Curtis

Man snores SO LOUD

Like Pony and Soda can hear it THROUGH THE WALL WITH THE DOORS CLOSED and they’re just staring at the ceiling like:😐

He also LOVES CAMPING

Like he used to go all the time with his dad.

Takes Pony and Soda fishing whenever he can.

Makes the best s’mores

Yells at the boys of eating too many

Ponyboy Curtis

Boy has trouble sleeping like thats already practically cannon.

When he can’t he’ll just pace around his room.

Like he also definitely has ADHD like c’mon

Darry put him in track because he noticed how he CANNOT sit still for the life of him.

He was sitting next to Dallas on the couch and he yelled at him😭

“JEEZ PONY SIT STILL WOULD YA? QUIT YOUR SQUIRMIN’ “

Keith “Two-Bit” Matthews

Mans is like…really graceful???

Like idk if that makes sense but you would expect him to be clumsy but he’s weirdly graceful and has good balance.

Like if there’s something on the floor your would expect him to be goofing off and trip over it but he just gracefully leaps over it like a cat without even looking down.

Every one is shook.

He also taught his little sister how to throw a punch

She’s a kid but she’s still a greaser so she should still know how to defend herself in his words.

Sodapop Curtis

Mans has been BANNED from eating sugar

It turns him into a hyper maniac

Is worse than giving him drugs tbh

Probably also has ADHD but like more of the hyperactive kind.

LIKE HE IS ACTUALLY NOT ALLOWED TO HAVE ANY SUGAR BECAUSE MANS WILL GO INSANE

Same with Caffeine tbh

A DROP of caffeine and mans will be bouncing of the walls for hours after words.

Everyone in the group knows this and will stop him from eating despite him begging for candy because than it becomes EVERYONES problem to look after him.

Johnny Cade

Oh my sweet boy😭

He spends a lot of time at the local library because it’s one of the only buildings open late.

He eventually became close with the librarian and the little kids that come there.

He volunteers there and he sometimes reads to little kids.

It’s really cute and all the parents and the people that work at the library adore him because the kids are so comfortable with him.

Tim Shepard

He often checks in on the Curtis’ (Specifically Darry)

Like he knows they keep the door unlocked but goes in there when he needs a break from Angela and Curly

But he also really likes Darry and his little brothers and heard a bit about them from Dal so he checks in from time to time see how they’re doing

I don’t know much about Tim and his background but i’m pretty sure he also has dead/absent parents so he relates to Darry because he had to grow up too soon to looks after his siblings

So he understands him and checks in without making it obvious.

(Darry noticed and appreciates it but never mentions it)

Angela Shepard

Okay so like I never saw the movie about them but i’m just going off my personal hcs and ideas.

So my girl is like GORGEOUS like so obnoxiously beautiful that people turn to look at her in the hall at school.

She once got pissed at a soc kid because he was trying to pick her up and said she was “Way to pretty to be a greaser”

She didn’t like that. She’s proud of her friends and family.

Don’t get me wrong the boys ADORE their Angels but they hate the fact that she’s pretty because guys are trying to get with her every second.

And obviously Tim and Curly don’t like that very much.

Curly Shepard

So correct me if I’m wrong but I’m pretty sure his name is Charles

Assuming it is I’m just gonna say that he got that nickname because of his hair😂.

He has these beautiful jet black curls that are such a pain to grease down.

He doesn’t really like them so he spends time gelling them down.

One time on a particularly hot day he didn’t care enough and wore his hair natural to school and prepared to punch anyone that made fun of him.

But on the contrary a girl he was into told him she liked his hair the way it was and wear it natural more often

After that he did.😩

Hope you liked these!!!!

[beansprean]

Hey bean!!!! I love your art so so much and your comics fill me with joy!! Would you mind sharing what's your process to make them?

Helllooooooo ty!! Of course!! Tbh it’s pretty loosey goosey and procreate isn’t the greatest program for comic building, but I manage lol. I usually start with the dialogue (my favorite thing to write!) which may initially be written blearily in bed at 3am in my notes app or directly onto the canvas. I usually build scenes based on the dialogue, which I’m sure is obvious in hindsight since most of my comics are just long drawn out arguments LOL. From there, I do a very rough sketch/storyboard to get the idea of the page down and how I want the panels to look, expressions, movement, etc. I’ll use a piece from queening the pawn act 2 part 2 as a simple example:

I primarily use the 6b pencil for these two stages. Very rough!! Then I turn the opacity wayyy down and do a cleaner sketch over the top, nailing down more details and expressions. This is also where I will use pose references if needed and warp the lines if I need to make something bigger/smaller (bc I don’t have vector layers and they will get blurry once I resize lol). I also usually add the dialogue text at this stage so I can refer to it without having to open up and squint at the barely-there storyboard layer lol. (More under cut, I am not known for my brevity)

Now I can do the lineart (studio pen!) and draw the panel boxes (by hand like a loser using the monoline calligraphy brush). I do the panels after the lineart so I know exactly how to size them for the characters and what I might be cutting off. I do the background lineart after so I don’t end up drawing more than I need to outside the boxes.

You can see at this point I decided to change Guillermo’s position in the first panel, having his arms down rather than up and removing his glasses - the angle of his left hand ended up being very finicky and I decided I wanted to see his expression (and not worry about his glasses immediately reappearing in the next panel lol). I can now add the background, which I either erase around the characters or use a masking layer on (if I have room for more layers lol) Then I start coloring, primarily using a very plain no-pressure paint brush (custom, for to save my wrist) for base colors and then build on patterns from there, changing layers as needed. I add my cheek color at 50% multiply, pop on the dialogue bubbles, and that’s pretty much it!

Very simple shot-reverse-shot scene, but my process is pretty much the same even for more complex stuff like

I’ll play around a lot with effects and background and lighting if I feel like it or if I feel the scene demands it (like the glasses panel - the Tarantino eyes and the glasses flash add to the dra~ma lol), and one thing I know I need to work on is flow! My instinct is often to expect your eyes to go left to right, down, and left to right again, but it’s really pleasing to have something to follow with your eye -like dialogue boxes. In the above you can see how I warped the panels and the angles of Guillermo’s attack to try to make it more exciting to look at and have a smoother flow. Def better than just two rectangular panels on top of each other, but I could have gone way harder on the angle of impact. Always learning and growing!! I just run out of room so often bc I hate using different canvasses for multiple pages, I feel like I lose the flow if I can’t see them on top of each other lol.

ANYWAY. Long fucking post. If you want to start drawing comics my advice is to Just Do It. The more you do them, the better you’ll get and the more fun you’ll have making them!! I never ever thought I would be the kind of person who does longform fan comics (we love you reapersun), but here I am having a blast lmao. Hope this answers your inquiry even a little bit, I’m afraid I am both long winded and extremely undisciplined!! ❤️❤️

[shytastemakerthing]

hi id like to request a romantic twst matchup ^_^ i dont label my gender/sexuality and the way i present myself fluctuaes but i could consider myself as androgyne (he/she). im an afro-carib with caramel brown skin, 4a curly hair. im more on the chubby side with a round face (two moles on each side) and apple body shape. i have a bit of a resting bitch face as well.. and my voice is at most monotone amd flat.

im pretty calm and mellow most of the time.. like an observer in the background. im a soft-spoken guy. usually im relaxed and unshaken, though my motivation seems to come on a whim every other day so i may seem out of it at times. its easy to keep my composure for most things and keep my emotions in check.  i have tendencies to be passive-aggressive when provoked and im kinda stubborn but i swear that im chill and friendly.

its easy for me to pick up from setbacks. im naturally intelligent but i dont really study to keep it.. its not like i dont want because, im quite self-aware, its just the lack of motivation. im also quite clever when the time comes and people still seem surprised abt it. im also a realist and i tend to give advice rather than comfort when the time comes. when im around the people i love i seem more chatty that usual, not like super loud or outgoing but im def enjoying myself.

i also laugh at like everything even if its unfunny as hell. my humor is mostly sarcasm and satire tbh. i like trying new things for the sake of trying new things. i also like playing video games, indulging in my interests (drawing, fashion, movies, etc) or whatever seems to catch my eye. ive been wanting to get a bass guitar and grow a garden one day. im also told im quite good with babies but not toddlers. quite the pacifier. my love languages are quality time and parallel play and id like to receive acts of service and words of affirmation (or the ones i give). thanks!! ^_^

A/N: Hello and thank you so much for your request, anon! I do hope that you like your match-up! Enjoy!

Tw: None

I match you with..........

Ruggie Bucchi

Honestly, with how crazy his life is, between doing jobs for Leona, jobs for anyone else, trying to get his schoolwork done, being like an unofficial vice housewarden for Savanaclaw, he needs someone who is as calming as yourself, After such a long day, knowing that he could easily retreat into the safety and comfort of your arms makes his hyena beyond thrilled. It's his favorite part of the day.

Ruggie loved just how real you can be about things. Too many people just beat around the bush or try to sugar coat things when there are times where you just need the brutal honesty of a situation. Seeing how he grew up, it was easy to say that he had a similar mindset. Not everything is all sunshine and rainbows. So the fact that you'll just tell him things as they are, no beating around the bush or trying to make things better, it is something that he greatly admired about you.

Look at the hyena and tell me he isn't sarcastic in some way, shape, or form. Sure, he absolutely loved himself a good laugh, oh, but he just loved your sarcasm. It always brings a snicker out of him. This means he will also get sarcastic with you and at you, or crack some jokes as well, some being better than others.

Seeing how you keep your composure is something that's always impressed him (even more so if your the Ramshackle prefect, because if he was ripped out of his world, put in a brand new one where he knew absolutely nothing, put in a dorm that was falling apart at the very foundation, he didn't think he could keep his cool the way that you do), and he certainly thinks that a lot of the students here could learn a thing or two from you.

Oh, he absolutely loves your hair! He has seen hair like yours before, but not often. Now, he is a very dedicated partner (and also got some experience with a lot of the kids that were in the village he grew up in), meaning he learned everything about your specific style of hair. How to care for it, how to style it, the whole nine yards. If you ever need someone to work with and style your hair, he's the hyena for the job (he will even do it for free....... or maybe at least for a doughnut)

Overall, Ruggie is a very dedicated partner. He may not have much, but he finds anyway that he can be able to show that he can provide for you. Just the fact that you actually looked his way and gave him a chance means more to him than you could ever possibly know.