#I'll be using this project to experiment with digital art

[root-clan]

Rootclan. Moon: 0. Prologue.

[thedrawnherbarium]

sketch dump alert!

TW mild? violence (Lim-0's condition immediately after the fire & fusion) under cut

[keeps-ache]

'aside from all these things, i'm going to need a new helmet'

[traditional sketch below]

[mortalityplays]

You need more free art.

I quit my job yesterday. Well, actually I quit my job eight weeks ago, but they finally released me yesterday for good behaviour. Don't get me wrong, I love what I do - but I do it for the wrong reasons. Working for major charities, you learn very fast that 'I want to make the world a better place' is a phrase you use to ask people for money, not to give them things. I was an ass-backwards fit for that world.

You need more free art. I need more free art. Everyone has felt the shift in our media landscape over the last ten years, away from access and towards nickel-and-diming the human experience. That lack of access is making life and culture worse for all of us, across the board. Paywalled news sites leave us less informed, attacks on the Internet Archive leave us less capable of research. Algorithmic social feeds and streaming walled gardens trap us inside smaller and smaller demographic bubbles, where we are increasingly only likely to encounter ideas that have been curated for us by marketing departments. Hasty efforts to resist AI commodification have only led to more artists locking their work away and calling for even more onerous systems of copyright law. This is not good for us.

We all need more free art.

So what am I going to do about it?

This is a question I have been asking myself for years. It's easy to sit here feeilng frustrated and thinking 'boy I hope SOMEONE does SOMETHING'. It's harder to take action in a world where I still have rent to pay. But hard doesn't mean impossible. Sometimes hard just means time-consuming, frustrating and slow. And sometimes it's worth doing something time-consuming, frustrating and slow because...I want to make the world a better place.

I'm going to do this:

1. From April 1st, I am relaunching as a freelance writer and editor.

This is the one that will (hopefully) help to pay the bills. I am a very good and experienced editor. I've worked on hollywood movies, I'm a member of the Chartered Institute of Editors and Proofreaders, I have clients who have been coming to me exclusively for more than 10 years.

Alongside bigger contract jobs, I am going to refocus on offering my services to small-press creators at a reduced rate. That means you, graphic novelists. That means you, itch and amazon writers. I want to help you develop your work, the same way I help large organisations. You can learn more about what an editor even does and what kind of pricing you can expect here.

2. I'm also going to start giving shit away. Like, constantly.

Next week I'm going to launch a new free shop. If you're unfamiliar, a free shop, giveaway shop, swap shop, etc. is an anarchist tradition of setting up a storefront where anyone can take what they like for no cost. Offline, this often means second-hand clothes, tools, furniture, food etc. Online, I am going to be giving away digital art. Copyright-free, no strings attached. It will (eventually) feature everything from print-res posters to zines, poems, tattoo flash, t-shirt designs and anything else we come up with.

Yes, I said 'we' - while this is a curated collection, it will feature work from a variety of credited and anonymous artists and activists, all of whom have agreed to give their work away to the public domain. Some of it will be practical, some of it will be political, but a lot of it will be decorative or personal. This is, in part, a response to recent difficulty I had finding somewhere that would print a one-off joke poster for a friend that featured the word 'faggot'. Enough. No middlemen - no explaining ourselves. Just print our shit and enjoy it.

I'm very, very excited about this project. I'll have more to say about it closer to the launch, but you can expect it to go live on March 27th.

2.2 I forgot to mention the ACTUAL LAUNCH GIVEAWAY

To celebrate my launch, I am going to be giving away a ton of physical prints. When I went looking for my old stock to see if it was worth setting a new (paid) storefront up, I realised I had way more old work in storage than I thought. This will be announced in its own right on Monday, but this is why I've been hinting you should go follow my Patreon.

On April 1st, I will pick 8 random patrons (from across all tiers including non-paying followers!) and mail them a bundle of assorted prints and postcards. The prize pool includes A3 and A4 posters, packs of A6 postcards, and printed minicomics that I've previously sold for up to £12 each.

You don't have to be a paying subscriber to enter - this is strictly no-purchase necessary. It is purely and entirely a celebration of the concept of GIVING ART AWAY FOR FREE.

3. PORN, YOU PERVERTS

Because I still have to pay to stay alive, I am going to be subsidising all this free art with the introduction of Fuck You Fridays. Starting from March 29th, I will drop a new 18+ short story on the last Friday of every month, over on itch.io (yes I know my page is desolate right now, don't worry I'll get there).

The first edition, Go Fuck Yourself, is about, well - telling your boss where to stick it. Julia has had it with her millionaire man-child manager, and is just about ready to let him know what she really thinks. It's a short and steamy 5k words, with a gorgeous cover illustration by @taylor-titmouse, and you can pick it up for $3 starting from March 29th.

4. ANOTHER BIG SURPRISE

I'm keeping this one under wraps for now, but April 1st will also play host to one more (FREE) launch. If you've been following me for a long time, you might remember the other significance of this date (no not April Fool's day, though that is certainly thematically relevant to this entire effort). That's all I'll say right now. Watch this space.

tl;dr: I'm sick of paywalls and career ladders. I'm literally putting my money where my mouth is. More free art for everyone and I'm not kidding around!!!

[goddessinnerglow]

Become Your Best Version Before 2025 - Day 18

Creating Healthy Boundaries

Hey Goddesses! Do you ever feel like you’re running on empty because everyone seems to want a piece of you? Work, family, friends, obligations, they all add up, and before you know it, you’re left with no time, energy, or space for yourself.

If that sounds familiar, trust me, you’re not alone. Most of us weren’t taught how to set boundaries, and even when we know we need them, it can feel so hard to say, “No, this doesn’t work for me.”

Just like clearing out our physical space makes room for what matters, setting healthy boundaries helps us make space for the right people and experiences in our lives. And honestly? It's one of the kindest things we can do for ourselves and others, even if it feels a bit scary at first!

Setting Boundaries 101

Think of boundaries like the walls of your house, they show where you end and others begin:

Your time and energy are precious resources

"No" is a complete sentence

You're allowed to change your mind

Your feelings are valid guides

Your needs matter as much as others

Signs You Need Better Boundaries

Let's get real about some common situations:

Feeling resentful after saying yes

Apologizing for things that aren't your fault

Always being available for others

Feeling drained after social interactions

Taking on other people's problems

Struggling to speak up for yourself

Some simple ways to start:

Begin with these simple steps:

Take a pause before saying yes

Use "I" statements: "I need time to think about it"

Start with easier situations and people

Practice saying no to small things

Give yourself permission to have limits

Practice phrases like "I'd love to, but that doesn't work for me right now"

Turn off app notifications during your personal time

The Art of Saying No

Try these gentle but firm responses:

"That doesn't work for me"

"I'll need to check my calendar"

"I can't commit to that right now"

"I have other priorities at the moment"

"Thanks for thinking of me, but I'll pass"

Setting Work Boundaries

Protect your peace at work:

Define your work hours clearly

Take your lunch break away from your desk

Don't check emails after hours

Learn to say no to extra projects

Communicate your limits professionally

Digital Boundaries

Create healthy limits with technology:

Set specific times for checking messages

Remove notifications that stress you out

Don't feel obligated to respond immediately

Mute or leave overwhelming group chats

Take social media breaks

Relationship Boundaries

Nurture healthy connections:

Express your needs clearly

Respect others limits

Share what feels comfortable for you

Take space when you need it

Don't compromise your values

Self-Care Boundaries

Protect your relationship with yourself:

Schedule non-negotiable me-time

Honor your emotional needs

Listen to your body's signals

Protect your energy

Make time for what fills you up

Setting boundaries isn't selfish It's actually about:

Teaching others how to treat you

Maintaining your mental health

Having more to give from a full cup

Building authentic relationships

Creating space for what truly matters

The Challenge for Today

Identify ONE area where you need stronger boundaries

Practice ONE new way to say no

Set ONE small boundary today

What's one boundary you're proud of setting? Or what's one boundary you want to work on? Share below, I’d love to hear from you!

See you tomorrow for Day 19! Remember, every time you set a healthy boundary, you're showing yourself and others that your wellbeing matters. And it absolutely does!

♡ ☆:.｡ Keep glowing, babes! ♡ ☆:.｡ With love, Goddess Inner Glow.

[this-is-z-art-blog]

Introducing: Jewfirmative Action

Hello lovely phandom! Starting today, August 4th 2024, I'm launching a standing offer that if you make something that nods at Sam Manson's Jewishness, I'll make you a simple drawing or sketch request.

Sam and her family are canonically Jewish in Danny Phantom! I think a lot of us forget this, or maybe never realized in the first place, and I want to encourage us to recognize and celebrate this aspect of her character more. It can be anything as in depth as the whole family celebrating a holiday together or as simple as giving Sam a Star of David necklace.

There is no minimum requirement beyond 'clearly present', any good faith effort is welcome!

All mediums and experience levels welcome! Digital or traditional art, writing or fabric crafts, sticker or multimedia projects! Member of the phandom for years or your very first piece, lifelong artist or a newcomer!

This is not a commission, it is something I am doing for free, so I am not guaranteeing speed (it took me a few months to finish all the prizes for last year's Eight Ecto Nights, but I did finish!), and reserve the right to refuse things and talk over what idea you'd like instead

I am not seeking things out in the wild, if you'd like me to make something, you have to reach out to me!

You of course do not NEED to participate in this project to create Jewish Sam content; I'm not an arbiter of if you've done it or not. It's just really, really lovely to see folks including and celebrating her Jewishness, so I'd like to recognize when folks try, and to say thank you (check out my tag for shouting out folks' Jewish Sam work here)

As always, if you have a question about respectfully including Sam's Judaism in your work, I am here to help! I love talking about this kind of thing and know research can be daunting, so feel free to come and chat

[ryanbarnesart]

Finished Art Academy (Nintendo 3DS) Introductory Course Lessons

In between projects, I've been doing some research for a video I want to produce on my YouTube Channel. Recently I have rediscovered my New Nintendo 3DS (yes, "New" was actually part of the name in the last line of 3DSes), fell in love with it, and wanted to experiment with Art Academy: Lessons for Everyone.

The thing that attracted me to Art Academy was that it was a game that promised to teach real world art techniques for beginners and experts to enjoy. Though my video idea is still in a valuable state, I want to see how well they translate over but, rather than jump in blind, I needed to do basic research and experience some of the lessons myself to help guide how I would do this. I'll probably speak more on this when production actually starts but for now, this is where I am at.

I wanted to share some of the pieces I created within the Art Academy game, following along with the lessons, and what I have found. The most difficult part for me was not so much the rather small screen size but how the screen is NOT pressure sensitive and I would have to stop myself from literally stabbing the stylus into the screen to make the brush stroked bigger/bolder.

That said, I am actually impressed with not only the lessons but how well the game performs as a digital art software. It is no Photoshop or Procreate but, in many ways, I almost prefer it over those programs. Rebelle 7 is probably the closest app to how Art Academy's drawing program functions. While in both Rebelle 7 and Art Academy you paint in a very real world way to get the color you want, Art academy allows you to add water directly to the paint where Rebelle 7 only allows you to increase or decrease the amount of water if using the watercolor brush tool. If there is a way to add water to paint using the Acrylic / Oil brushes, I haven't found how to yet.

[voidheartkisses]

Okay hello hi hello,

First off you're amazing and a gift to the world, I wish I had even half your talent. Your last piece blew my mind and I just HAD to ask,

How long have you been drawing/painting for? I imagine forever but I'm always curious how long it takes before artists reach these sorts of levels where it evolves into full-scale projects as opposed to smaller hobbyist crafts. There are so many beautiful art pieces on this platform as a whole and I'm constantly baffled by it all

Sorry if my excitement is off-putting that piece is heavenly and my mind is blown. Hope you're doing well!

Hi and thank you! That's a good question

So I've been drawing since I was born, but I've been drawing digitally for 8 years. I think in the very beginning most artists should just focus on having fun, you'll basically improve by default

after a while you will want to improve. It will be slow, but this is the stage where you'll recognize what you need work on

I'd say the turning point is when you've finally gotten far enough into your art journey without any sort of formal training (ie, a lot of artists dont learn the basics/fundamentals first, which is fine since most of us start as hobbyists) But I think learning them really did help me a lot. You start to think more about how light and shadow lays, depth, 3D objects, and more.

I highly recommend watching this video about levels of art, it's been really helpful and motivating to me throughout the years

This part is going to be long so you don't have to read it but I just wanna give my personal journey and how I got to now if anyone thinks it'll be helpful:

(2017) With digital art, I started off on ms paint and occasionally ibis paint x. Mostly using anime deviantart bases (EMBARRASSING), but after a while I developed my own style based on the people I was inspired by at the time, I was just happy to draw and didn't care much about improving at this time

(2019) The people you look up to artistically will naturally change over time (and thats okay), after a while I decided to switch to firealpaca, where I guess I got more invested on how light and shadows work, as well as making my characters look a bit more natural and develop my own style, your preference in aesthetic may also change over time which is noticeable here

(2021) Eventually, I began to lean more into semirealism (which isn't everyones preference and thats okay! realism shouldn't be the ultimate end goal of art) but I really enjoyed making stylized characters look 3D and in natural looking environments, since I felt it spoke to my own experiences, a lot of artists draw from real life experiences. I focused more on anatomy at this time as well as textures and environments, composition also became a big deal for me at this time, as well as wanting to use different colors

(2024) The change from LINEART to DIGITAL PAINTING in 2022 was the hardest for me once I switched to clip studio paint, it was basically like starting all over and I was so lost. I had a lot to figure out on my own but I knew it was a transition I had to make to draw the kind of art I wanted. But I began to study and take more things into consideration, I didn't like my art so I simply kept going "I can do better", learning from my previous mistakes and slowly making something I would be more satisfied with. At this point art felt more like "projects" then anything, because I wanted to make pieces that were of quality and had time and care put into each of them, sure it meant there was no longer much quantity. but hey that's what my smaller Cult of the Lamb lineart drawings are for!! 💙

I'm still growing and I definitely have a long way to go, but I am very proud of my progress this year, and I'll continue to grow until I'm satisfied (haha im stubborn) I also want to develop my secondary lineart style that I do when I'm not painting, since I feel that is important too

in short; time, practice, dedication, and passion are the most important, draw what you love above all else because it will be your drive to keep going, staying motivated was the most important for me

Sorry for the long post 😭

[its-short-for-jackalope]

🎶 that's what Herschel found up there 🎶

I was listening to TGMH one day and that two guys pointing meme was just beamed into my head when I heard this part, so I thought it'd be fun to use that silly idea as a springboard for some digital art experiments. This is the first time I've attempted digital painting, and I'm probably gonna shop around for different painting methods until I find one I really like, but I learned a lot from this, and I think it turned out pretty neat. :)

click for quality!

(+ process pics under the cut!)

unfortunately this is another project with a case of Looks Better As A Sketch disease, lol... when I practice & get better at rendering hopefully I'll be able to retain more of the flow & energy of the sketches?? still pretty happy with this, overall!

[goldnhourwrites]

HEARTSTEEL COLLEGE AU HEADCANONS

This phrase seized me yesterday and I have not been able to stop thinking about it. Who knows, maybe I'll write a fic :)

inspired by my experiences as a college student in the US!

Yone

Pre-med student with a minor in psychology

Does peer tutoring and notetaking for his biology classes

always doing work. being a pre-med student is so much Work All The Time. this is why Yone is always seen with coffee and dark circles under his eyes.

He manages fairly well for someone with so much on his plate - he keeps an impressively functional sleep schedule (goes to bed at 10pm every night, wakes up at 8am every morning)

Is an RA (resident advisor) for his dorm floor and tries to be a good resource for freshmen

Bikes everywhere, enjoys taking walks/getting outdoors for a break from studying

Likes to make and listen to music in his free time (which is not a lot)

Sett

Majoring in athletic training to be a sports coach

Student athlete on the wrestling team - spends a lot of time training and traveling to meets off-campus, so he's not around much until the off-season

Hangs out with the boxing club when he's not doing wrestling

Part of an all-men a capella group and enjoys singing/rapping

Joined a fraternity in his sophomore year because most of the wrestling team was on it and enjoys chilling with his friends in it

Casually bakes things in his free time and brings them to the wrestling team/his classmates/office hours/his frat brothers

K'Sante

Anthropology major, education minor - interested in becoming a teacher/professor and enjoys working with kids

Also a student athlete, on the powerlifting team

Part of a hip-hop dance group on campus and likes to choreograph

Involved in campus queer life and helps organize/run events

Takes voice lessons - used to play trumpet, but didn't have time for both in his schedule

Also part of a fraternity, enjoys the sense of community it offers and plays an active part in organizing/managing their social events

Seems like he's constantly busy, but always makes time for his friends and enjoys the feeling of being on-the-go

Ezreal

History major with a minor in classics (studies Latin/ancient Greek literature and languages)

Acts with a theater club in his spare time - loves musical theater and plays, especially Shakespeare

Hung out in the history/special collections section of the library so much he got a student job there

Loves wandering around campus to find cool, obscure places that he's probably not supposed to be in

Joined a debate team in his freshman year (Kayn was on it) (they hated each other)

Big on going to parties but can't handle alcohol so instead of getting drunk he goes back to his dorm and falls asleep at like 11pm

Aphelios

Computer science major with a minor in graphic design

Does digital art and traditional art; enjoys taking studio art classes when his schedule isn't full

Occasionally does game design and similar coding projects

In the orchestra and plays the violin!

Enjoys physically making things every once in a while - jewelry, paintings, etc. and often doodles in a sketchbook absentmindedly

Sometimes publishes his art and poetry in a student magazine under a pseudonym

Kayn

Political science or government major with a minor in studio art

Spends a lot of time in the woodworking/metalworking studios, partially for art classes and partially because he just likes hands-on projects

Plays electric guitar and was part of a student band for a while (the one he got kicked out of)

Likes parkour and rock climbing, regularly shows off his ability to climb up things that he definitely should not be climbing on

Member of a fraternity (but it's the kind that throws a bunch of parties and probably has illegal drugs)

Goes out to party every weekend and doesn't wake up until 1pm the next day

Skateboards everywhere and knows a bunch of cool tricks

Alune

Film production major with a minor in biology

Part of a fashion design club and does photoshoots for/with them

Does a capella and loves performing! Does musical theater every once in a while

Active in political causes on campus

Works as a barista in one of the campus cafés

Likes to roller skate around

i have a couple combined/group headcanons that i'll post tomorrow if i have time :3 this AU has grabbed me and is currently shaking me by the shoulders and won't let go

[scroll-of-thought]

https://www.tumblr.com/scroll-of-thought/772711201071398912/good-things-will-happen-things-that-are-meant-to?source=share

did it work?

Honestly, I think it's fuckin working? Nothing I expected to happen has happened, but I've found myself in a really interesting and positive position. It's a weird one, but I've got a story to tell, and some stuff to show off at the end.

So out of the blue, about a month ago, my friend and business partner found a random card game posted on a random tiny facebook group that he's not even part of. He doesn't even go on facebook often, really only to check on his family, but as he scrolled to see his parent's recent post he saw it. Who knows what arcane algorithms the ol' Zuck is working with, but it looked neat and found the right audience, so he told me and we tried it out. Really fun strategy/roleplaying card game with a digimon-esk vibe.

From there were joined the discord to ask some questions on rules we didn't really understand, see if there was more content coming out, just hang out and see what's what.

Long story short, we've become fast friends with the solo dev of the game. He's a really cool guy, just making the game he wished existed, and putting 110% of his time and work into it. I have stayed up until sunrise just chatting with him about all kinds of junk, game design included.

So far he's commissioned me once to do a quick 3d model design of the interior of a building, which he's going to use as a perspective guide for illustrations in the game, and wants more when he has the funds. He also wants to commission my SO, Silver, to illustrate cards and other stuff for the game once he has funds, and even license some of the fanart she made for fun, so it'll be in the games rulebook.

I won the first official tournament of the game, which was a blast, and the prize was some art of one of my OCs as a character in his games world, and it came out awesome. So now I have art of a character I've been writing in my novel for years and that's awesome.

The community is really small, but passionate and full of cool people making and doing cool stuff. One of the fans does a weekly "pirate radio" show that covers upcoming events and content, 100% in character as if it were in world. I've been helping him with that where I can, having a lot of experience in audio editing and a huge library of sounds and music to pull from. Today the radio host realized he used to watch my youtube channel like 8 years ago, and that was an awesome small world kinda moment.

So generally, yeah I think it's working. I've made very peculiar connections with some cool people, earned a little money helping a cool project come to life, and found a fun game to play, all from a spur of the moment decision to try a game a friend saw a post that found him totally by chance.

Time to pay it forward! If a digimon meets punk skater RPG/card game sounds cool to you, check out CybrFate. Really fun game, awesome art, cool little community, I'm personally having a blast. Games free on Tabletop Simulator right now. Physical copies exist and are being printed and sold in batches as a presale thing. There's probably going to be a kickstarter soonish, once the guy making the game finishes prepping the massive expansion he wants to launch with it. I've seen him online at 8am working on it, the man does not sleep. And if it grows I'll probably get more commissions from him too, so win win. If it does really well he might hire me and my business partner to make a digital version of the game, or maybe some other game in the world, which would be a lot of fun.

Alright, below I'm posting art from the game.

Top picture is my OC, Robin. She's from the novel I've been working on for a couple years. You can read the first couple chapters here. Man, she came out so good. I'm super happy I won that.

First picture in the next row is my favorite starter, Buglit. After that we've just got an assortment of other cards and characters. Tons more on his instagram https://www.instagram.com/panlee37/

Robin's Buglit is named Keiri, and I did some work in blender to make her. I describe her as a Sticker Disaster 4 Year Old with a Taser. She calls herself the Princess of Stickers.

So yeah, that wraps up this update. Some weird stuff seems to be falling into place. If anything, this may be a good example of how weird the path magic takes can be. Like, didn't see any of the past month happening. Hope that all answers your question!

[muchinternalscreaming]

A Not Particularly Comprehensive Recount of my experience painting me first digital art piece

Created an ao3 account to gift writers fanart, Created a tumblr account to gift writers fanart,

Turns out this trend ✨️has yet to end✨️

Delved into the world of digital art to - once again - make fanart and gift it to writers.

Also I am making this post to procastinate on WIPs and coursework.

This piece of fanart was inspired by a throw away line (the one about Sam in a suit, Danny in dress) in the lovely fic :

Also available on tumblr @jaewritesfic , though the ao3 link is the one that updates

I: The Beginning, A Sketch.

Ignore the figure on the left, the half-done (quarter-done?) Figure on the right is the subject of interest.

II: Lineart

Hell yeah, you can correct any anatomical mistakes on a totally anatomically correct body (eraser, my beloved).

III: Colouring (My Beloathed)

Ew.

Had to take a few hours away from this puece to recover from the psychic damage, watched approximately 2.5 colouring tutorials, absorbed 0% of the information shared, then proceeded under the modus operandi ✨️fuck around, find out✨️. Anddddddd

It paid off :D!!

But value-wise, the it was v boring. (fixed it l8ter)

IV: Details are the Devils

Pain. Also involved way too many layers (is what I thought at this stage, only to exceed that amount by over 50% 15 mins later) (gave up labelling and my memory is somewhat akin to swiss cheese so for the duration of this journey I worshipped the visibility button)

Anyway, time to fix the boring range of values, simply by mighting the light lighter and the shadows more shadow-y (very technical, such jargon, i know. Plz don't use this as a guide for digital art, I only knew about 0.37% of what I was doing at any time)

not enough shadow, kind of boring. Also need to clean up the areas where the paint overlapped the lineart but that is a problem for future me.

Better!! (At least to me) Also, would probably have to redo the hair b/c it is def stylistically different from the rest of the piece (I did not do that for one very good reason; 'M lazy :) )

If I decide to go w/ this version, I'll probably have to put some shadow on his teeth.

V: Conclusion

What did I learn? Colouring takes way too long (even excluding the time spent procastinating on it), I am sticking to simple colouring for the nxt few pieces. (The full art piece will b posted with those)

[steelthroat]

Me: "oh I haven't used Paint in years, let's have a bit of fun w it"

*fucking makes their best digital drawing*

Like okay fuck you.

But actually from this experiment I understood that it's not "drawing digitally" that's the problem. I AM THE PROBLEM.

At least my approach is wrong. My mistake is trying to draw digitally the same way I would sketch/paint traditionally. Which isn't wrong, maybe it could work for someone else, but evidently not for me since I'm not satisfied with the results.

So paint, which is the most basic drawing program ever is my "comfort zone," something I know how to use, and that is also the closest thing to traditional.

So yeah the moment I start thinking differently and I understand how... I'm probably gonna be happy with my works. Until then I'll have to experiment.

Like wtf why didn't I understand it sooner, it's like a different language. You develop new ways of thinking when you learn a new language. I think differently whether I speak Spanish, English or Italian... so why didn't I apply this to art?

Ffs just traditionally I already "speak different languages". Watercolors, acrylics, markers etcetera etcetera are different, I already have different approaches to them.

So yeah I need to start speaking a new language to make art that makes me happy. YE :D

Ah also this is the thing that gave me this existential crisis

But just pretend you didn't see this here. I have to use it for a different project w a friend. Btw no it's not.the best, it's not my best work ever, but it makes me happier than most of my other works for a reason. And I don't know if I conveyed what I wanted to but yeah...stuff.

[tamas-and-the-clowns-sol-left]

Hello, you've made it. You reached the Rubyverse.

What is the Rubyverse, you may ask??

the Rubyverse is an alternate universe for Aiden Thomas' The Sunbearer Duology that I, Tamas, have been creating since August 6th, 2024.

This is going to be more detailed after my small info bit, boundaries, and trigger warnings.

What is the point of this project??

This is my place to add as I wish and have content to my desires. From character pages, headcannons (that are subsequently cannon for this universe), or being my indecisive self, I am using this to express my creative freedom in hopes of finding some audience who cares enough about it

What are the boundaries??

My boundaries aren't designed to be difficult, but if you find them in such way than we are not for eachother's interaction.

I will not tolerate anything NSFW about myself, my characters, my ideas, or my posts in all. I am an asexual guy and my comfortability isn't with that stuff about me or my creations. Every creation of mine has some of me in them.

Feel free to ask questions, but think before you speak. I'll respond as much as I can and when I can, but I am a human, I'm going to be treated as such. Creating and sharing my creations doesn't lessen or add to my humanity and that's something I see many people struggle with.

No discrimination against me or my characters. this includes use of: Slurs, homophobic/transphobic comments, racism, ableism. If you are grown up enough to be on the Internet you should be grown up enough to not discriminate and keep your inside thoughts inside.

Use tone tags for sarcasm and jokes at minimum. I struggle with tone often and take everything at face value especially the less there is for me to analyze. I speak at face value, I don't use jokes or sarcasm without clarification that it is such so others can know. /j means joke and /sar means sarcasm.

What can you expect from this series??

You can expect characters that are more than just beauty standards and stereotypes. I may fall into some tropes or pairing types(such as loser boyfriend x absolutely stunning girlfriend) but my characters all have some sort of difference. They're not all perfect beings.

You can expect many, many spoilers for both The Sunbearer Trials and Celestial Monsters, aka the whole Sunbearer Duology.

You can expect changes to the trials and to the world building. Fear not, I haven't wrecked too much chaos upon this world's setup.

You can expect even more queer and trans characters, as well as some more disabled characters!! Not only do they have a soft spot in my heart, and I find representation largely important, I myself am a disabled queer trans person and love having characters like me.

Be prepared for some art style inconsistency and some writing that will *hopefully* get better over time. I'm not the most beginner of all beginners but I'm definitely not what I'd call a very seasoned artist and writer. (I also use a few different mediums for art, I stick to pencil to paper, watercolor, and digital art more often than not but I still like trying new things and having fun.)

Be prepared to read tags as this gets posted onto Ao3(And ONLY will I post on Ao3) and be prepared to read the trigger/content warnings for any thing I post here, especially writing.

Many things are based off of my own experience!! They may not be your experience, they may never be your experience, quite a few I truly hope aren't amongst anything anyone must experience. However on the flip side of the token coin I have put forth research to make anything and everything that is not written with my own experience is going to be as authentic as I can make it.

What are some trigger and content warnings I can give right off the bat??

For the sake of separation, each one is a bullet list instead of a paragraph, and I added everything planned that is something I think could risk triggering anyone.

Spoilers for all of The Sunbearer Duology!!

Major character death

"Human"(semidiós) sacrifice

Injuries

A character with hypermobility that experiences real struggles (aka not dumbed down to "oh I'm super flexible!!")

depersonalization/dissociation

self put pressure

Symbolization of needing accommodations for a disability and how society will reject or even mock thoes needs and overall will refuse to accommodate without harassment

Forced Assimilation (forcing a culture to rid their culture in order to fit into the other culture)

bullying/discrimination

abuse(parental)(physical and possible mental/emotional)

war and past war of high significance

manipulation/deception

this gets religious seeming as all main characters are dióses and semidióses (gods and demigods) however it is not a place to spread religious beliefs, no matter how good or ill intentioned

unsafe binding

Past self harm/self harm scars/non graphic current self harm

Struggles with eating (Arfid sensory type in specific)

I MUST EMPHASIZE. IF ANY OF THESE MAY BE TRIGGERING FOR YOU, KNOW YOURSELF. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED BY ME NOW, YOU WILL BE WARNED EVERY TIME ANY TRIGGER WARNING IS APPLICABLE. If you choose to skip triggering chapters or sections that's up to you, if you're looking at this and going "oh this may be not for me" feel free to keep scrolling because your health is more important than one more reader will ever be to me.

Welcome to the Rubyverse

In the world there are three godly races, The Golds, the Jades, and the Obsidians.

The Obsidians and their monsters are trapped in the stars, Jade and Golds now are the only Dióses in Rino De Sol. Right??

What if I told you there's one more set of Dióses??

Ruby red blood, the "weakest" of Sol and Tierra's godly children.

Follow eight dióses and their semidios children through their rediscovery, their "grand reveal" to all of humankind.

[sincerely-sofie]

Check-in for 01/28/24

It's been a while since I did one of these. Time to remedy that!

I've been doing well in my assignments, but due to some registration issues at the start of the semester I was unable to sign up for any web development or programming classes :< It's nice to take a break, but I'm really worried about getting stagnant in those skills, and maybe even losing what I've learned over time.

This is where a couple of new projects come in: A blorbo database and a tool for drawing pokemon from memory. These things are going to keep me avoid stagnancy and help me develop my web dev and Python programming skills, and I'm real excited to talk about them.

First up, let's talk about that tool for drawing pokemon from memory. I love drawing pokemon from memory, but it's a bit of a struggle to find tools online that work well for a solo experience when you're doing this challenge alone. So I made a program in PyGame to solve this problem, and I've actually already completed it! It was a great learning experience when it came to getting a taste of APIs, and PokeAPI really helped me do all the heavy lifting with it. I also ended up using ChatGPT to help me understand how to phrase my questions and the things I needed to research. This is the end result:

If you click "Get Random Pokemon", the program will provide a pokemon's name. The point of it is to draw the pokemon as best as you remember it, and then click "Show Pokemon Image" to see how you did. You will then have the option to get a new random pokemon, which clears the image from the window.

There's a lot of stuff I don't understand about how the program works--- APIs evade my understanding, and Tkinter is a dark art beyond my comprehension. But I was able to make a program that solved a genuine problem for me for the first time, and that's super exciting to me!

Now, for web development--- long story short, I'm making a website dedicated to cataloguing my OCs that's very much inspired by tumblr user @snekkerdoodles's personal site on neocities, which I regularly stare at in an effort to motivate myself to make cool things like it (everyone reading this should check his page out IMMEDIATELY and tell him how cool it is). Here's the screenshots of the WIP I'm chipping away at right now:

I don't have much to say about it, as the interesting stuff will really be the content of the pages, and I still have yet to finish the template page I'll be filling with my OCs' information. However, I can say that I'm very upset with the lack of proper teaching that took place in the first (and currently only) college web dev class I've taken. I spent an entire semester doing my own research to learn everything they were supposed to be teaching us. I'm still very peeved about that.

To summarize this very rambling post I'm too sleepy to edit properly, I'm making a digital blorbo encyclopedia, and I finished making a little desktop app thingy, which means I need to summon a new programming project. I'm tempted to make it a video game... maybe I should turn back to that visual novel idea I had ages ago and boot up RenPy!

[artfandroid]

I'll be taking a long break from this blog.

I solved a sensitivity problem I had with my graphic tablet, so now I can draw fully in digital from sketch to color. It will take time and practice before I can do cool render or adapt my own style. Until then, I am not planning to post any colored transformers stuff here for two reasons:

This is a fanarts blog, not an artist's journal. No megaratch is coming soon due to me going through my Megatron phase and using him as a study material (what a handsome lad).

I'll be directing my new skills to other projects. As much as I love AUs, I aim to put effort into original arts, something I can call my own.

Overall it was enriching experience - sharing my messy doodles of favourite ship and watching people welcoming them. It boosted my confidence and helped lower my anxiety about being not good enough.

Thank you. And until we meet again!