#I'm trying to *round out my artistic abilities*

[emry-stars-art]

they're judging you

[factual-fantasy]

23 asks! Thank you!! :}} 🎀

what

Originally I added the bandages to mirror my real hands being covered in Band-Aids when I made my sona. :0 (It was due to cat scratches and dry skin don't worry-)

Now they represent my "artist hands".... and my still really dry skin XDD

Oh yeah absolutely. His crab arm is so heavy that if he falls into the water he'll sink 😬 he cant move it fast enough to help him swim to the surface.. good thing Blue Beauty is always nearby! <XD

It also takes a lot of energy to move and he deals with sore back/shoulder muscles a lot. The way the crab arm formed, its like all the muscles in his back are used to lift and operate it. When he walks around he kind'a uses it as a crutch or a third leg. His legs each take a step and then his crab arm lifts forward and clunks on the ground.

"tap tap.. CLUNK. tap tap.. CLUNK."

Despite all this though, Louis still really likes his new arm and isn't bothered much by all the hardships it brings :)

@neo-metalscottic

Thank you so much!!! :DD I'm hoping I get over this soon 🥺

As for Grim's eyes, I mention that coloring mistake in the tags of this post. It was simply a matter of me misremembering what Gengar looks like :// But I'm thinking I'll keep his white eyes anyways. He looks a lot more friendly that way :}}

THEY HAVE SPARKS?? THEY'RE INDIVIDUALS?? I thought they were just mindless clones! Man.. That makes things in the show even darker-- <XDD

And ohhh, yeah I can see it. I wonder why they decided to add him of all characters? He does have cool shades tho XDD

@holly-opal

Yeah, that's the idea. <:/ I have yet to plan out how she died tho-

@glitchhayden418

There she is!! :DD She looks great!! :}}

And thank you, I'm hoping I get well soon too 🙂💔

She never has to stop! I've decided that my characters can eat as much as they want, whenever they want, however they want, and suffer absolutely no consequences what so ever.

Cici just seems to be taking advantage of this ability more than the others <XDD

@artblock200322022

:DD Thank you!! I'm so glad you like my interpretation of the Octonauts! :}}

@possibly-astraeus

Oof. Always disappointing to hear people finding me through stolen artwork..

But yeah, you're at the source now! :} Just remember, if you find my artwork anywhere else other than here? Its stolen ://

@shallow-isles

I simply misremembered what Gengar looks like and colored his eyes wrong :/// (I talk about it in the tags of this post) But I think I'll keep them white. He just looks so friendly and soft with white eyes.. 🥺

As for Sylveon, I like to think that tying his ribbons around others like that is his way of giving them a hug :}} Since Grim is so r o u n d, there's not many places the ribbons can comfortably tie and not be in Grim's way. His ears are the perfect spot! :}

@tallchest13-blog

THANK YOU! :D WOULD YOU BE UPSET IF I GAVE THIS TEA TO CICI THO? SHE REALLY WANTS TO TRY IT :((

@aishutoon

Ohh! They look so round and cozy!! :333

@yourstrulylightstar283 (Referencing this post)

Thank you! :}}}

@circadiananomaly (24k post in question)

Thank you! I'm hoping this is all over soon as well. :'(((

@candyglumboy

Like, my Pokémon Violet team? :0 There will not be any new members no.. you can only have 6 Pokémon in your party at a time!

...Then again there's Patty.. the Hoppip that Anastasia replaced.. I miss her.. 🥺💔💔💔

I hope I feel good too.. 😔😔😔

@graminos

:DD Thank you! I'm glad you like them!! :}}}}

(Post in question)

Me reading this ask ksjnakjn 🥺🥺💞💞💞 that was all basically on point!! :DDD

@youlikwjazz004

I'm afraid I have absolutely no idea how to explain that :'(( 💔💔

The very best I can explain my art process is; "I just.. draw it. And if it doesn't feel right, I just draw it differently until it does feel right." Its all down to muscle memory and drawing what "feels" right. I don't think I'm able to explain that-- 😭😭😭 I'm very sorry! <:'(((

@askladyinwhiteandfam

Woah! What a critter! :00 ✨✨It looks great! :DD

@square-the-cyan-idiot542

WAAAHGG THANK YIU!!!- Oh crap you ok tho--

@littlelightfish (Post in question)

:DD Thank you! I'm so glad you like him!! :}}}

@beryl-shade

He'd be amazed! :00

[vivi-the-goblin]

Oh hey I actually made a thing again, who would've thought. I've been making some stuff for a new adventure, trying to make the monsters in both 5e AND PF2e. Gonna start doing that from now on, best of both worlds I guess. It's my first ever PF2e monsters though, I hope you like! Here's the associated video first.

The Priest I think has the most interesting abilities despite relative simplicity for a spellcaster. The area I'm putting him in has an effect that randomly swaps the party members around every round, which combined with his ability to swap with other party members will make for a fun fight. I know some of his spell list isn't divine, and there's a reason! He's a devout of Sivanah, whose domain is all about secrets and illusions and tricks. In 1e her illusionist followers were said to mimic divine healing using Shadow Magic. Shadow magic's gimmick is that disbelieving it makes it barely real. I wanted to reference that here, he's actually an arcane caster able to mimic Divine Magic. This includes his "Belief Manifest" ability, basically allowing him to replicate any spell as long as the target believes he can do it.

The Oilslick Spiders you may remember from last year, I touched them up to be a bit more interesting. Nothing too special though, I was mainly just practicing using a monster I'm familiar with.

And here's Amy, the wildfire witch! She was kicked out her town as a child for being an uncontrollable little wild magic sorceress, but now she's back and out for REVENGE. On the first version, the "miraculous escape" is for lore reasons and help her reach stage 2 later in the path. Originally when the priest tried to kill her, her wild magic kicked in to warp her away at the last second. So she developed magic to recreate that moment if neccessary.

In the big version, the "new enchanted form," she's all about that AOE and burning difficult terrain. I really like wildfire primal mages if you haven't noticed. The 5e version is focused more on slowing the party, the PF2e version is focusing her efforts on setting everything ablaze. Less outright danger, but good luck if you go down with that persistent damage. Did mention I got the idea of this adventure from Aviator's Scarlet Vow? Inspiration can come from anywhere! Especially from Aviators, an artist I've followed for...11 years now, holy shit. Somehow still hasn't made a song I didn't like.

[sm0kebreaks]

So like. As amazing at the tma has been about fat acceptance and love and has been absolutely vital to a lot of my self acceptance as a fat trans man, because this fandom actually talks about fat people (as opposed to other fandoms where fat characters and hcs are nonexistent), it means it’s also exposed me to the most and worst fatphobia of any fandom. I genuinely don’t even gaf about the actual discourse discussed in this fandom, it’s generally the people who negatively react to discourse of ppl complaining about fatphobia. The initial problems are usually ignorable to me, but it ends up bringing up peoples voices that make it incredibly clear what their true thoughts about fat ppl are. Idrk why I thought I should share this with you, ig just seeing if you have similar experiences.

I struggle here because i don't like to feel like i am attacking other artists. i'm a hater and i love to complain but i know i have my own short comings. but when it comes to the fatphobia in this fandom im always left not knowing how to talk about things because people will come to me and tell me why my complaint about someone thinning out a fat character is wrong or bad.

do keep in mind i dont really engage with the tma fandom as much i feel very much on the outskirts so this is jsut what i feel like i see on my end and i'm sure theres way more going on i simply dont know

in recent months we have had a newer influx of artists in the fandom who have come in with their own interpretations of the characters which is all fine and good. its jarring sometimes when we become so used to these formless characters looking a certain way that when new people enter the fandom with different ideas it feels wrong and like an attack.

the biggest issue has been people drawing a thinner martin. and while of course everyones welcome to their own interpretation and martin expressing that he's not exactly the smallest guy has multiple ways to be interpreted it is extremely frustrating to see people take that as giving him the most bare minimum extra weight. especially when having a fat character as desirable and as a love interest and such a Fun character is so far and few between

i could go on and on about how each time a popular artist posts a thin martin it gives everyone who looks up to them the excuse to do the same and it's why it's become such a prevalent thing lately. i don't think popular artists should have to worry about being good role models or anything in a fandom i think if youre making art you should do it for fun but it sucks to see when someone becomes so influential and are creating a problem. i deleted like three paragraphs on this alone so i'm going to move on.

i think what i see in the fandom most in regards to fatphobia is a skill issue. people don't know how to draw fat characters. but it also feels like people are barely trying. the artist i have in mind who i would consider to draw skinny martins DOES add a bit of roundness to him. i can aknowledge theyre doing SOMETHING. but you can't come to me and tell me that i can't criticize their art because culturally that's fat to them... like sure it could be. but it's also definitely a limitation of their art style and ability and instead of defending them and patting them on the back for doing good enough shouldnt we encourage people to grow and improve? what an amazing asset to be able to draw people of all size and variety. thats an AMAZING abillity to have in youre tool belt. i wish i had more resources for drawing bodyfat but unfortunately i do not. i have learned from looking at people and luckily having a lot of large loved ones in my life i've learned from as well as you know.. my own body to learn from. and learning to draw bodyfat and drawing characters i love with it has done wonders for my body dysmorphia.

i went on a rambling tangent and idk how coherent all of that is but the end point is that fatphobia sucks it has no place in this or any fandom and we need to practice our skills instead of erasing something that has made this fandom so wonderful to me.

here's some resources

[technicianuprisingau]

Drawing the Rest of the Copy Ability Stars, Round 1!

I wasted a lot on this... so let's get this show on the road!

Yes, there are oh-so-many abilities that are canon in Technician Uprising, but HAL doesn't bother making ability stars for them. And so, as an AU owner... I have a full reign to design all of them! I am going to comment on each of them as well! Click down below to learn more about the process of making each star and what I think about the ability overall.

From top left to bottom right:

Balloon - The first one I draw overall (and the first ability fully illustrated, though I wanted to design Light fully first). This ability really just appeared in Canvas Curse, which is canon to TU, and due to a totally not secret plan of mines, I had to turn this into a full-fledged ability. Honestly. It just existed for Canvas Curse, so I hope the revamp moveset will give it a bit more versatility outside just "haha easier to control ball go brr".

Light - The MOST underused and underrated ability, FIGHT ME. God I love the concept of Light being used as a power but MAN. BIGGEST OOF FOR THIS ABILITY. Literally exists as early as in Adventure and was left for the slumps, never to be adapted. Watch as I make this a permanent use ability. I had to check the illustration of this ability in Adventure to get the icon.

Metal - Once again taken here due to a due to a totally not secret plan of mines. Honestly this is just Stone but Stone Change is always on. But I'll figure out what to do with it. And no, we're not using the scroll's additional ability, that's just Ball (which is also here in this round). I really just ctrl+c ctrl+p the icon from Squeak Squad directly.

Missile - Oh I would make this a Technician Mode... IF JET DOESN'T HAVE F^CKING MISSILE SALVO, making this ability UTTERLY OBSOLETE. Thanks HAL, but okay. Honestly it's pretty... eh. Maybe I haven't seen it too much in action. Also redrawing the Missile was. Hm. Okay I guess. I struggled setting up stroke thickness and setting since I'm limited to two colors and I don't want it to look weird, but the flame exhaust effect on the back is nice.

Bubble - I would make this a Technician Mode but at the same time I'm not so sure, it's already perfect enough to, you know, not change much... while the point of the modes is to EXACTLY twist the abilities' skills in a sense (at least for Technician. Idk. Most of Robobot Armor's ones are just normal attacks with bigger damage™ and that's it). Thank you Squeak Squad icons for saving me once again. Btw, Animal aside, this is my favorite ability in Squeak Squad. Though I'd change it to just trapping opponents in bubbles in my AU perhaps. Idk, turning them immediately to ability stars sounded... OP?

Ghost - Hahahaha spooky. I would also make this a Technician Mode... except I have an OC with Technician + Ghost with a rather complicated backstory, so, uh, no. I tried drawing a ghost, ends up just being frustrated because the proportions aren't right, but hey I did it!

Freeze - I cheated from Air Ride. Anyways, I guess I remember a Kirby gijinka artist (KirbyTardos, if I recall that username) who noted this might be more focused on defense, which I'll happily steal. Sir if you see this, I hope you're doing well, I should really check your comic series. Anyways... this one was supposedly fused with Ice nowadays, but whatever, it can co-exist I suppose. Trying to make it fancy but ends up giving up and settled for this.

Paint - Uhhhh... Isn't this just Artist? Nope! Decided that Artist and Paint are for two different specialties just like Ice and Freeze, in this case Artist is for precision while Paint is for R A N G E. I think their style should be differentiate too, with Artist you have the user having much cleaner, detailed art that needs thinking into it, while Paint is just. Graffiti. Go crazy. Go insane. Spread 387493743 splashes of paint to the wall of your neighbours!! I tried to recreate the icon in Super Star Ultra, but then I realized it looked wrong every single time and after more tweaking I just leave it like this. Could've done it better. Maybe I will revisit it someday.

Animal - Another one I could've done better I guess. Stealing again from Squeak Squad's icons! Tried adding a claw mark. Didn't work. F^ck. But oh well! ANYWAYS I LOVE THIS ABILITY HOW DID HAL DIDN'T ADD THIS TO FORGOTTEN LAND??? NOOOOO!!

Magic - Insert that one song from Milgram here. I love Deco*27. Anyways. Went simple with this one. Three cards and a magic hat that I stole from Squeak Squad. I also stole the colors of the illustration as we already have abilities with black and white ability stars and I doubt I can change em much to make it distinct. Yeah, yet once again taken here due to a due to a totally not secret plan of mines.

Ball - Ballin huh? You guessed it, it is, yet again, once again taken here due to a due to a totally not secret plan of mines. I don't think this one has to change a lot, it's just so goofy. I like its vibes, but I bet it will be a pain in the ass to use properly in-game somehow. Shoutout for Nightmare in Dreamland's little ability illustration for this. Also it's hard to design the ball icon itself so I went with a beach ball.

Laser - I kinda want this to be a Technician Mode, so we'll see this one with great interest! I wanted other colors but the illustration artworks only gave me colors that already exist or too close to other ability star's colors... then I realize that not all copy abilities have to share their outfit colors with the ability star, because Wing existed - it doesn't have blue but the star's blue-ish anyways! So I decided to go for pink, the color of the laser beam that was shot in the illustration!

Iron - Yes this is canon. Yes I will have to revamp this to avoid this being just Stone 2.0 but with deflect system, and in fact, I have made a full moveset from this long time ago! It's now a construct creating ability, creating simple things such as pillars and stuff. Still retains the "deflection with staff" technique and the one that reminds you of Stone Change... but I made the latter time-restricted rather than "as long as you hold it you're invisible" spiel. Anyways. The ability hat, as well as some iron blocks to hammer it to the point that HEY THIS ABILITY'S ENTIRE THING IS IRONS and not just "snek????"

Top - Went with green because that color is rare for copy ability stars, THANK GOD. It's also one that I purposely made canon because it's funny! Also young me already made a full-fledged moveset for this, thank f^ck. Tried to make it look like the top is tipping and gliding. And still spinning. Kinda looks smooth me thinks.

Baton - Oh god the ability's design itself is kinda mid imo but I'LL REDESIGN THAT JUST YOU SEE. Anyways. This is another one in the "so underused it hurts" category. For some reason the ability is one-use in the anime!!! Wow!! F^ck it!! Young me made a full-fledged moveset so WE'LL GO BY THAT THANKS. I went with pink... again... Or red... uh... I guess it's just pale dark pink, I used color picker on the staff don't ask. Tried to bring more of a Suplex vibe with a puffball holding the staff as if spinning it. S p e e n. I like the concept of the ability though, Motion Manipulation baby!

We might have more abilities on the go, but we'll see. I might move on to redrawing all Technician Modes after this. I'll also update the spreadsheet eventually with all these damn stars WAHOO.

Please enjoy ^^

P.S. if anyone wants to use these for their TU OCs, hmu and I'll give you separate version of the ability star you want!!

[woosh-floosh]

IDW Sonic issue 57 loose thoughts...

Lanolin finally gets to be a character, yippee!!

For those that don't know, Lanolin was first a background character designed by Adam Bryce Thomas for the second issue! Adam Bryce Thomas got attached to the design and fit her into more backgrounds, and later so did other artists! Seeing how Lanolin already had a character sheet long before her proper introduction, a name, and a general acceptance by the other artists (Evan Stanley drew her for one of her winter outfit sets one year) I wonder if her proper introduction got pushed back. I believe Sega asked some for some characters to have their introductions pushed back, but I can't think any evidence right now so I could be misremembering! Lanolin also got a bit of a redesign, now with a cool bell styled wispon to replace her cowbell, a curly tail, and a new magenta wisp friend named Maggie. Compare her old model sheet to the photo above!

Bonus trivia: Lanolin is a type wax sheep secrete that protects their wool. It's used by us in almost everything that uses wax, but mainly moisturizers!

Casual readers not investing in the background process may be surprised at just how often Lanolin shows up before this issue!

Lanolin as a character in this issue, kinda seems like a substitute for Sally Acorn. She's kind of a generic animal, has no real special skills or abilities (besides her cool bell wispon), but despite that has a rounded skill set (maybe a reference to many applications of lanolin wax?), and seems to excel at leading field work. Lanolin is to Sally Acorn as Surge is to Scourge. I know the writers are trying very hard to bring the freedom fighters back, but I'm not sure it's going to happen at this point. But I like the new characters and so far Surge has been proven to be very much more than just a Scourge clone.

I think I could see Lanolin and Jewel being co-directors like how Amy and Knuckles were in the resistance. Jewel does the paperwork, logistics, and humanitarian efforts and Lanolin leads the proactive, offensive, field efforts.

Okay enough about Lanolin, the other thing I wanted to talk about is the Eggperial city, which in this issue is revealed to be using the same tech as Eggman's vr tower in Test Run. I always though Test Run was one of the weaker arcs and felt like it had no real purpose or payoff (besides the Belle side stuff) but now it does! I'll have to revisit that arc now with a different perspective.

Also I don't know how I didn't pick up on this in Test Run but the portals Eggman is using is probably the warp topaz! Tails and him supercharged it during the Metal Virus and now it seems Eggman's found it and is supercharging it again (or maybe a convincing fake?) Having another magic rock might make the magic rock department a little bloated but I like the warp topaz, and not just because I am God's chosen Starline warrior. It will be neat to find out exactly how he is using it in the coming issues!

Adam Bryce Thomas and Matt Herms also did a wonderful job on the interior artwork as usually. I particularly like the page were Lanolin and Tangle descend into the mine, excellent paneling and excellent use of space!

My favorite cover this issue was cover A by Min Ho Kim, but unfortunately my local comic book store did not have it! Oh well! Until Next Month!!

[marciabrady]

i rewached the hunchback of notre dame on friday for the first time, in a long time, and i'm still in shock.

hond was a film that was around when i was a child, because it had just come out, and the merchandising was still prevalent. it was being pushed a lot, so to speak, and growing up in the era that i did, the kids on the playground or online were either belle, meg, or esmeralda girls- there wasn't room for anyone else. as a child that gravitated more toward the classic princesses and femininity, it was not a movie that spoke to me and the fact that i felt it was shoved down my throat turned me off of it for a time. too much happened, even in the first five minutes, and there was constantly a wild series of events that i would try to reel my head in from. it wasn't a universe i wished to inhabit and, frankly, i think the crux of the reason why i didn't like it was because esmeralda was really the only female character (aside from laverne) and there wasn't enough for me, as a child, outside of the violence and shouting men and misery showcased. i revisited the film when i was twelve and i loved it so, but i think parts of me valued it at even higher a premium because of how rare and forgotten it had been. i even wrote esmeralda for a time. needless to say, it didn't last, and until now i've kind of been undecided about it

but watching it on friday...wow. i'm filled with both wonderment and despair. after craving quality content from disney for so long and continually being disappointed with tangled and frozen and moana and brave and raya, and every other movie i've tried to watch, i was instantly transfixed by how adult hunchback was, from the opening frames. the epic scale of the art, how ambitious it seemed, how elevated the jargon was- but mostly, how raw and realistic the storyline was. this movie threw no punches- it contained swear words, topics relating to disabilities, religion, death, genocide, se*ual assault, you literally name it. it exposed an underbelly of society that could be flattering and unflattering. while parts didn't age well, i'm surprised at how nuanced the conversation was around certain topics- decades before me too and social activism became more commonplace. i couldn't believe how beautiful it was and how much guts it took for the artists and writers to really go there. i was in disbelief for how evolved their viewpoints seemed, and this was before the internet was commonplace and they could've gotten as many viewpoints as readily as we can get them now...but then it filled me with instant sorrow, because i know they all got so much pushback and this film was so discouraged, we never saw the likes of it again.

it's funny because this film came years after the little mermaid, and you can tell how much of a higher budget this crew had to work with. the film's crew had sharpened their abilities and skills from previous years and made astounding technical advancements. that, mixed with how varied and diverse their topics became really signaled them finding their footing- or trying to. can you imagine, if they didn't give up on these types of movies, where we'd be today? how many more diverse stories, in diverse settings, we would've gotten- all adult in nature? the beautiful 2d designs and animation mixed to heighten the effect and impact and how it would've rounded out walt's vision, of wanting these films to not only be kid's stuff but genuinely be able to compete as a film genre unto itself? how different this movie was from any other??? and compare that to now, where they're all the same. what's the difference between dreamsworks, pixar, and disney movies anymore? and the activism they push now is 20 years too late, nothing cutting edge, and it's all the same. this female character is this much more badass, our first (minor) gay character that actually has no weight, addressing x about generation trauma, etc. even the topics we address in films now have been so sanitized and vetted out for audience approval that there's no real risk or edge to anything anymore, it's all monolithic and as safe as you can get.

but that's the thing with how experimental these later movies were- pocahontas, hunchback, hercules, mulan...while certain elements aged better than others, these movies should've been the beginning of an entirely new genre, not the last of their kind? how disturbing and offputting is it that tangled and brave came out decades after these films? that we've replaced the 'hellfire' villain type song with 'shiny?' we really could've had so much and it's sad that everything collapsed out from under us in that last breath of disney creating true art

the only thing that gives me hope is that we, the generation that grew up on these films, are the marketplace now. perhaps that will make these films come back into vogue and disney start producing them once more? but can they ever pick back up after such a long hiatus, without the original creative teams? is it all just a lost art form? also disney is making more money than ever with their marketable, but soulless, movies that are coming out now...also if these movies are to be in the spotlight again, does that just mean they'll be primed for another unnecessary remake? don hahn recently said disney only did animation because they couldn't make the special effects look real, but now that there's cgi to achieve hyperrealism, there's no need for 2d anymore and that's so sad to me. just because photorealism is in (which looks dated by the minute) and 3d is what people prefer, does that mean 2d is banished forever? that's like saying the invention of photography justifies the banishment of art. idk i just hope our generation can get these renaissance style movies back and to stay

[99yikes]

Hi! I’m a beginner artist when it comes to digital art and was wondering what app and brushes do you use for your art, or maybe if you have any tips on digital art. I figured I’d ask you since your art is so cool and looks so nice!

aksjskdjf hello there! thank you so much for the compliments, i'm flattered!! my art is super sloppy, but i'm happy you like it (꒦ິ꒳꒦ີ)♡ i'm honestly a little embarrassed to post this cuz i'm pretty much still a novice at digital art stuff, so there are probably better/more concise ways to go over all this, but i'll gonna try my best anyway!! sorry if i ramble ;;

to answer your questions, i use procreate! i'm also pretty lazy and i don't really like to switch brushes often, meaning i work almost exclusively with the 6B Pencil. i sketch with it. i line with it. i even color and render with it sometimes. i knew when i got into digital art i would want to use a textured, pencil-like brush bc my favorite artist did and i always loved the way it looked.

here's an example of just how excessively i use it lmao (with some Pro Tips™ /j):

but ! because i use it so often, i've made some minor adjustments to the brush -- not enough to warrant calling it a completely different brush, but enough that there's a noticeable difference between the original and what i use when actually drawing.

personally, i like a tapered end when sketching and lining so i gave it a little fall off and adjusted pressure taper settings, and i also appreciate more control (less loose/shaky lines bc a pen tip on a glass screen is SLIPPERY), so i upped the streamline setting too!

here's a look at what settings i tweaked if you want to try it out yourself:

other brushes i tend to use are:

Round Brush for coloring. very super mega basic, but easy to work with!

and it's worth mentioning that lately i've been using Baskerville to line things! i used it in this itafushikigi piece. it gives me a lot of control and it's very tidy so i like it (bˊᵕˋ)b

and that's...really it lmao. of course these are all default procreate brushes. no matter what program you use, i just recommend testing out different brushes and adjusting settings until you find what works for you! you can always reset to default if you dislike it and duplicate the brush if you adore it. you can also download other brushes, but i don't have much (read: any) experience with that 💃

other tips would just be get familiar with your app and practice as much as you can. i'm very much a "pick one thing and draw it a million times" kind of person bc repetition gives me an opportunity to work on things i want to improve. 'if i draw yuutafushi enough times, eventually i'll perfect how i draw them' -- that kind of mindset?? idk if that method works for everyone, but, y'know...having a muse helps ;;

digital art was like a whole nother ballpark for me and i felt like i had to relearn how to do everything, so don't feel discouraged if your traditional art abilities don't immediately transfer over! it just takes time to get comfortable with it. drawing with your finger on a screen vs a pen on a tablet vs a pencil on paper are all very different experiences and there's a learning curve for each!

anyways, i hope that helps a little. sorry this is super long! good luck on your digital art journey ❤️

[little-peril-stories]

2024

It's the time of year where many of us think about the future and what's to come. I don't really do New Year's resolutions, and I've never done a real list of goals before. But as I'm thinking about what 2024 will bring, I'm feeling for the first time the desire to lay out my goals - or, at the very least, create a to-do list.

It might be interesting to see how much I overestimated my ability to get stuff done next year. 😅

No pressure to read this, it's largely for myself!

The Queen of Lies

Continue posting semi-regularly. Given the way the first half of the school year has gone, I figure that's probably the best I can do.

Rewrite Act 3. I'm actually so excited for this, and it's all planned out! But it's still not written, even if a lot of the juicy dialogue is sandwiched between bullet points of what happens.

Edit it...eventually. Perhaps in the latter half of the year. Or perhaps that's a 2025 job. Who knows?

angsty heist wip

Reveal the title. Coming sooner than you think.

Post the WIP intro early. TPOT's came when it was about half posted, and TQOL's came only a day before Chapter 1. I think I'll mix it up for angsty heist wip. Nobody peek on my drafts and see how long the wip intro has been chilling there. 😅

FINISH WRITING THIS DAMN BOOK. It's just got to happen. I've hit 2/4 POV character's midpoints, and the delicious confrontation/finale still needs to be written. It's all the good stuff!

Figure out posting plans. It's not coming until TQOL is done, so this is a very vague and fluid goal.

Book 1

Review beta feedback thoroughly.

Make a concrete plan for what I actually want to change and what I don't.

Apply feedback.

Reread and edit for typos/little things.

Do a second beta round.

Start preparing query materials in earnest.

Book 2

lol. start it again? postpone to 2025? who knows. low priority.

The Prince of Thieves -- the journey to self-publishing

Okay, real talk: the list below is long. I've never done any of this before, so I have NO clue of what's realistic and what's not. Is all of this possible in the year 2024? Maybe not. Is that okay? It's gonna have to be! The point of it isn't to marry myself to this list or else I've FAILED, but to have a clear idea of what commonly needs to be done in order to self-publish a novel. If some of the stuff doesn't happen, well, so be it! I’m also quite aware that the list below is not exhaustive. There are probably a million things I haven’t thought of!!

DONE - ISBN account made and approved

DONE - decide on pen name. Finally!

Beta stuff! Send it off, wait for feedback, review feedback, and then apply it. I'm almost there.

Attempt cover design. I am 73% confident in my ability to do it well. With an artist AND a graphic designer/marketer in my family, I think I've got a team who can help me with the technical/Photoshop stuff.

Hire cover designer if failure. (Definitely a possibility.)

Decide on book format/interior design elements. Pretty confident I can do this myself. 96% sure.

Make an author website. For realsies. (aaahhhhhhhhh)

Increase social media presence. Try not to cry about the existence of TikTok. Try not to get in my own head about this. The truth is the thought kind of makes my skin crawl but I also understand how it is is pretty much a necessity.

Learn marketing and create a marketing plan. I got this. probably. maybe. ennnhhhh.

Consider character/scene art commissions. I am uncertain about this one. Finances will determine whether this happens or not.

Cry a lot and be okay with that. I think I'm going to struggle a lot with this whole process. And you know what? That's all right. I will learn a lot. And even if it's scary...well, that will make it all the more rewarding in the end. 💕

[thatgirlwithasquid]

I got tagged by @hg-deranged-edition (ty <3)

20 Questions for Fic Writers (& Artists)

1. How many works do you have on ao3(Tumblr)?

41 on AO3, but I think I have another 2 one-shots on Tumblr that I never got round to cross-posting

2. What's your total ao3 (Tumblr) word count?

253,123 which... wow ok neat

3. What fandoms do you write for?

A lot lmao. I organised my google drive a few months back and I have a lot of folders now hahaha. A quick count says I've started something for 24 fandoms, good lord.

The ones I've actually posted for are Stranger Things, Harry Potter, Andi Mack, Detroit: Become Human, Arcane, Encanto, The Host, and Little Nightmares

4.What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Playing Pretend : 2,204 kudos

Severus Snape and the Burden of Responsibility : 694 kudos

Thirium Pooling in His Chest (Bleeding Different, Feeling the Same) : 511 kudos

Communication and Cuddles : 440 kudos

Not Quite Less Than Romantic : 396 kudos

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I used to make a point to respond to every comment, but I fell out of the habit. It's something I really want to get back into doing, because I really appreciate receiving them <3

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Either I've Been There For A While or Severus Snape and the Burden of Responsibility (I got a fair few distraught comments on the latter lol)

7. What is the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Playing Pretend, probably. That one's just a lot of cutesy friends to lovers that I wrote in a state of sheer obsession when Encanto first came out. Or maybe To Cherish and be Cherished which is just 400 ish words of fluff

8. Do you get hate on any fics (Art)?

I've been lucky enough that people engaging with my writing have been overall really kind. I have had like 2 slightly rude comments, but I don't think that was intentional :)

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

I have! It was a challenge cause my ace brain doesn't like working that way, but I wrote a voyeurism/exhibitionism Jonathan x Jason fic. I actually feel quite happy with it.

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

I haven't posted any, but I do have an abandoned wip in my drafts, if that counts?

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not to my knowledge

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

No, but if anyone wanted to translate my stuff I'd be perfectly happy with that.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

No, but I am open to the idea of that. If anyone wants to co-write a fic feel free to reach out :)

14. What's your all-time favorite ship?

Cunningway!! At this point I think everyone knows lmao. I feel like I bring them up a lot, even though I am trying to not be obnoxious about them. I just love them a lot!

15. What's a wip you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

Uh, is saying 'all of them' cheating? There are so many wips in my google drive that, realistically, I'm never going to go back to. But if I had to pick one... maybe the this untitled Thomally fic I was writing?

16. What are your writing strengths?

lmao fuck if I know. Coming up with ideas, maybe? Everything else is a bit of a struggle.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Sustaining my ability to focus. I also feel like I struggle with balancing speech and description.

18. thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

Idk. I've done it before in Playing Pretend to match how the characters speak in the film, but I can only speak English so... I gave it a go? I don't mind reading dialogue in other languages in fic, if I need I just have google translate open to understand what's being said.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Depends how we're looking at it. Technically WWE when I was like 7 but idk if I'd count that. The first time I wrote fanfic and was aware that was what it was would've been Andi Mack, but the first fandom I wrote for on AO3 was Little Nightmares.

20. Favorite fic you've written?

I feel like I'm most content with the writing in Thirium Pooling in His Chest (Bleeding Different, Feeling the Same) but I am probably proudest in myself for Ceramic Hearts because that fic was a real labour of love.

tagging: @half-oz-eddie @brightside-of-the-upsidedown @bigdumbbambieyes (no pressure!! hope you guys don't mind being tagged. I was really blanking on this aha)

[bitchfitch]

Like, I have aphantasia. I can't picture things in my head. When i sit down to draw or make something, i don't know what it's going to look like in the end.

I have a massive encyclopedia of visual elements stored away in my skull. when I sit down to make something, for myself, or for a client or for a friend, I'm pulling from that encyclopedia.

Clean lines: Add structure and rigidity to a piece but also induce a layer of abstraction. they'll always feel more polished even if they themselves lack polish.

Scratchy lines: When done well they add energy to a piece. Nervousness, Excitement, Panic, That sense of there being Too Much within you that you need to get out. Note: Scratchy lines when not used well can look to be lacking polish. They can hide mistakes but also reduce the viewers ability to easily tell where a shape begins and ends.

Structured lines: Lines that have had weight manually added after the initial pass they ground a piece and create a sense of rigidity. Rounding theses lines out can reduce that effect and instead create a solid flow.

Thick lines, thin lines. Warm cool tones, cool warm tones, Round, Rectangle, Triangle. What does this shirt mean, what does that way of rendering hair convey. This pose is part of the cultural lexicon, this one is not. Dark in a light compostion. A flat tone.

I can't picture something in my head. There's just a list of attributes. I know my goal. I know what I'm trying to make, i just don't know what it looks like.

...

When i look at another artists work, I break it down. I take what i see and quietly catalog it all in with every other element. Store it away and keep it for when i need it next. I can't copy a style. but I can make a piece that feels like someone else's. I see the amalgamation in my own works. I see the lack of influence too. The wrote expression of reality translated to a drawing with the simplest approach.

I want to pick apart art. I want to eviscerate what I love and put on show the discreet pieces of it that made it work. I want to show you it. to tell you how to look and See it too.

Other artists don't often like being on the examining table. A style is a brand and being able to Have one that's is yours and unique and unknown to those around you is your pay check. Having it picked apart, the elements held up and taught is scary. That's why the dead are picked at over and over again in class after class. They can't complain. Their bank account can't hurt from this treatment.

I can't picture things. I have an encyclopedia in my skull. I love the creations of my contemporaries. I want to show you what I see in these works, how to find them and build with them in your own. I want to show you how to eviscerate and learn and dissect.

I can't picture every combination, I can't see the results of combining this with that until I've already put it on the page. I don't think I'd even want to be able to do that. But you might.

[vital-information]

“I just love sketching,” Casarosa shares. “And I just love travelogging. I come from drawing comics, and watercolors. When I pitched La Luna with a presentation using watercolors, I remember someone asking me, ‘But you want to do it in watercolor?’ And I was like, ‘Well, I mean, you know, we're at Pixar and I think we should use our tools, but how do we bring in some warmth and imperfection...’ The thing I don't always love about computer animation is there's a certain sheen, a certain perfection to it. Now it's gone past that toward realism. But I come from loving sketches; I'm not one to love a perfectly painted picture that is realistic.”

“…So that sketchiness, that cartoony expressiveness, was part of our early story reels. And they were the part that made us laugh. It felt unique, these connections to kinetic and comedic moments.”

Casarosa’s artistic sensibilities stem in part from the animation he loves most. “I love Miyazaki movies,” he shares. “I love Wes Anderson’s stop-motion. I love Aardman’s stop-motion. Some of that ends up in my drawings, that sketchy and expressive style. We wanted to bring that to the film because it felt like this is a kid's world. This is a playful world. And it felt true to the story to go in that direction. I love the immersion of 3D, but I sometimes I feel it can go towards coldness. So, I wanted to bring the warmth of imperfection. That’s why some of the silly drawings made us laugh when we started boarding them and then put them on a screen.”

“We wanted to capture some of that in our animation,” he continues. “Which meant, we needed to inspire the animation team to embrace it. And they took it and ran with it, literally and figuratively, in a wonderful way. I didn't know where it was going to exactly go, but it was really fun because some of them were showing more limited animation, with these snappy, kind of wonderfully held poses.”

…

It’s an old-fashion cartoon technique in some ways,” Casarosa says, referring to the multi-limb motion. “Like with Peanuts. It came out of the drawings, the essence of someone running extremely fast. We wanted to use the multi-limb technique in areas of the film where the characters were doing extreme physicality, where it would add to the personality of the silliness of the moment. There were only so many chances to use it. I wish there were more. But it was so much fun to use it when we could.”

Venturini goes on to explain how they also had to back away from their inherent instinct to move towards realism in the animation. “One part of our 2D inspiration is that in 2D animation, more often than not, you're animating on every other frame - on twos, as they say. And when you do that, you must be more descriptive in your shapes because you have fewer opportunities to describe the dialogue. Your shapes become a little more caricature, or a little more like graphically abstract art.”

“Our films are always done on ones,” he notes. “We use every single frame and in dialogue, it allows us to be incredibly rich and realistic in detail. So much so that we pride ourselves in the ability to turn the sound off and still be able to tell what a character saying. For Luca, we didn't want to be that rich in detail. Part of our 2D inspiration was to simplify the mouth shapes and try to animate only every other shape. Simplify it a little bit. That allowed us to be round in the mouth corners because we didn't have to do accurate phonetic shapes. We had to liberate ourselves from that level of realism before we could really consider doing round shapes and not wanting to be phonetically accurate. The other thing was that in the Miyazaki film library, and in a lot of anime, is they get really big with the mouth shapes because they're being emotionally expressive. It's less about the dialogue being said, or the anatomical accuracy. So, we thought, ‘Let's be big and expressive. These are kids, the world's huge to them.’ And then, let's be as small as we can and just bring those corners all the way in and keep it round.”

“We watched a lot of Aardman animation where they go from a big toothy mouth to a little one with no teeth,” Venturini adds. “They'll go to these shapes where there's no teeth and we thought, ‘Let's do that.’ So, we also developed the ability to turn the teeth on and off over a single frame if we wanted. Those were some of the things that influenced us that we thought were playful, fun, more emotionally expressive, and less chained to reality.”

— Dan Sarto, “Creating the Stylized, 2D-Inspired Fun of Pixar’s Luca”

[nulliustram-webfiction]

KeyMates Progress Report!

One week after the poll has completed, and a lot has happened! Let's break it down, shall we?

Story Development Notes:

While the pilot takes place with the main characters in junior high, they are high school seniors for the majority of this run. (Aside from arc two, which is a flashback arc.)

Anne is confirmed aroallo. Flynn is alloallo all the way, but finds their QPR to be more emotionally fulfilling than any romantic relationship.

There's a lot of conversation about monogamy and societal expectations and where they stand on that. In simple terms, they lean more on the 'platonic' side of queerplatonic.

✨New Major Characters Mention✨: Another pair of psychics with only one link between them have been added into the mix! They have an electric current running between them, and when they make contact without earthing, lightning goes everywhere. Fire. Explosions. Amazing. Mica and Olivia are both punk lesbians, and are the inverse of Flynn and Anne in that they are romantic, but get "best friends"-ed all the time. I love them, and also they serve as interesting foils in the conversation I'm taking note of.

We are looking at around three to four plot-heavy arcs in this one season, not counting whatever requests and asks people send in (which I hope you will!)

Production Notes:

I have started college. The workload is a bit heavy, which is understandable. But I failed to account for how much commute times would cut in to my worktime?? Crazy.

This, added with rounding out my EndWalkers series, has slowed down my ability to develop this series as fast as I generally will be able to.

We'll be shooting for 60k~ words of plot, which is the lower bound of what is considered a novel.

Our little team has grown to three!! I have recruited an artist and a beta to join the crew behind this. They can't help much, because this isn't a profitable project and they are also starving college students, but we're trying our best!

There is some art on the way, so look forward to that ;)

So, where does that leave us? At best as my timeline is working, we might be ready to launch in November, but that's optimistic.

I'm still working on the perks of the prospective KeyMates-centric tiers on my Patreon. Early access is a given, obviously, but what else would you guys like? I'm always open to ideas!

If you'd like to help support this project, you can unlock three chapters more of content on my Patreon and ko-fi.

[cophene]

author's note || ✦.⁺ from pace with love.

table of contents

geez.

can we get a round of applause up in here? not for me, but for the fic and all of you for making it here. it's been over a year of updates, 56 chapters and something like 100k words.

absolutely crazy.

of course, i must pay my respects to the esteemed araki and david productions for making this fever dream of a series. they not only brought me back into anime and manga, but also into creative writing. it was dry until they found me, not gonna lie.

thank you to the insanely talented fanfic writers on ao3 and wattpad who inspired me to write this fic. your imaginations are wild, and if anything, you made me fall more in love with the series. thank you as well to the wonderful fan artists. your modern au art of the gang gave me life and sustetenance.

thank you to all the luxury clothing brands out there. gucci, dior, louis vuitton. it's highly unlikely i'll ever own some of your pieces, but a good portion of the outfits in this book are straight from your runways, so thank you. if you're interested in checking out where i got my inspiration, poke around on the vogue site :DD

  honestly? it's been such a long time that i'm hard-pressed to remember the initial inspiration for this fic. i was actually working on a few other fics before I started this one. none of them wanted to fly, though, so now they're sitting dustily in my drafts.

i think the start of pseumino was this other vento aureo fic i wrote. it was pretty cool, but way out of reach for my inexperienced ass. i might go back to it one day, but i was like, can I write something easier and less complciated than this? i think I might have been reading some college thing, who knows, but the idea stuck, and here we are.

  for original concepts, i fumbled around with making y/n's stand ability the ability to flatten things (like zucchero, i guess). i got pretty far with it before i found the inspiration for white satin. (who was orginally going to be named paradise city for it's floaty, glimmery apperance).

some of you might remember when this fic was called "elaborate" and was a female reader insert. that was inspired by some song lyrics i found with the lyrics "elaborate lies". i thought it fit the vibe really well (at the time, anyway).

narancia, fugo, risotto and abbacchio were meant to be an opposing group to the sapiena elites. i remember planning some kind of power struggle and trying to get them to overthrow the elites somehow. eventually, it just became easier to lump them all together.

i don't think risotto was supposed to be in this fic, but he snuck in somehow.

  i'm gonna be real. this fic isn't quite 100% in my mind. it sort of feels like I took 3 different fics and tried to mash them together. (like, the sapiena elites, narancia and fugo, and then abbacchio and risotto feel separate and don't quite mesh). the original concept i had changed drastically, and i still feel that y/n's motivations to become noticed are petty and childish. i tried to expand on them, but it still feels clumsy.

ironically, the sapiena elites were the hardest ones to write for. it was easy to come up with scenarios for everyone else, but the detatched glamour that i attatched to mista, bruno, trish and giorno made it hard to get into their heads and find interesting scenarios to put them in. if i could go back, i would've scrapped the elite idea completely and just made them regular students.

going back to edit the entire fic was pretty grueling as well. i surprised myself with just how much my writing style and abilities changed within a year. if i could rewrite this fic, i would've changed the entire beginning. elaborating more on that supposed bizarre activity that was happening, fleshing out the relationships with everyone, really clamping down on the reader's flighty personality because i had no idea what i wanted it to read like (and it shows, i think).

this fic was rocky, and i appreciate your patience with it. it helped me to ground my writing style, and plunged me into the world of competent writing, characters and plot. i still have a way to go, but i'm glad i started here.

hmmm, what else. oh! please let me know if you guys were wondering anything about the fic or had some thoughts to share! (your favourite moment maybe? something you didn't really like? something you expected/w ould've liked to see?) or feel free to share any questions for me about vento aureo or jjba in general. i don't get to talk jojo enough so i'm always up for it.

(personal favs of this fic for me happen to be: narancia and fugo, absolutely adore those two. abbacchio's got some of my best, prettiest writing. writing for bruno was probably the hardest. and my favourite chapter is one of those last ones where giorno left for milan. i think i'm a whump writer in disguise.)

thank you all of you for reading. whether you made it to the end or just popped by, i sincerely appreciate that you gave me a bit of your time. like there are people who are here from when I first posted this fic. y'all are troopers, for real. cookies for all of you :D your comments were the highlights of my day, and every update put me on cloud nine. thank you thank you thank you. you're all absolutely wonderful. i liked to write before, but it's a huge ego boost to know there are people who might like to read my stuff <3

but even if this is the only time we ever see each other, grazie again for reading. here's to more and more jjba.

table of contents

[sambltrs12]

Samantha Ballesteros

G11-St. Francis                 

<<< Blog >>>

Celebrating Little

Successes

Who are you? 

If I were asked to describe myself, I would say that I am contended even in the smallest things. I like to keep smile on my face no matter what I am going through and that's smile keeps me going. My name is Samantha Ballesteros, 17 years of age and I was born on December 12 2005. Living in a simple life in Barangay San Jose Cuyapo Nueva Ecija. I'm studying at Saint Pius X Institute which is a Catholic School. When it comes to my personality, people can have different opinions to me because they see what they want to see in me and that's okay. So, I would describe myself as a perspicacious person because I see myself from in different aspects. I'm an extrovert and I like to meet people and interacting with others. In decision making I would say I am not very proud of my strategy and I'm still depending on my parents opinion. I consider myself an open book because I am sharing important details about my life with you without a worry. I also have a couple of jokes and I love to make people happy which I bring joy from time to time to lighten the mood. I am reliable but very short-tempered, I lose my calm if not understood properly. Good or bad this is me trying to take risks the world as it is. When it comes to my hobbies I feel a great sense of enjoyment from playing with my dogs because it gives me a lot of happiness and they are always there for me when I need someone to talk about my problems. I also entertain myself by doing the things I want like watching, reading, playing badminton and going out with my family/friends. I am as humble as a dove, I can never say no to anyone because just like a dove I want to shed a light of hope to everyone who is in need. I have always been to learn new things and achieve good grades. As a person, I believe life is an art full of struggles but we are the artist of our life and it is up to us on how are we going to solve and surpass those problems that will come. I am here to encourage you all to not give up and keep fighting no matter what life throws at us. Life is a gift and it should be treated with love, care and respect. All in all, I believe that my experiences and relationships with others plays a great role in building me for who I am today.

How are you? 

For me I can say that over the last few months and years I have been okay and happy. No matter how difficult life and many problems come I am happy that I have solved them in my own way and with the help of my family. My experiences before were like staying at home and being stopped from face to face classes due to the Covid19 pandemic. It was not easy because the things that I used to do suddenly changed and many adjustments were made and it's difficult for me as student on how to handle or dealing with it but God has his plans, he helped me to study and answer the modules as how I used to be while at home. There is also a limit on going out, so we can't go out with my friends and we only use cellphones to communicate during those times. Now I'm happy that even in the small way everything is going back to what it was before like a normal life. I experienced going to school to study and bond with friends again and being careful about the things I do, because of what happened it also helped me  to get myself better.

I believe that life is a never ending experience. Our strengths and weaknesses are essential part of our overall learning process. It helps us to become more well rounded individuals.  As we go through our life it is important to learn who we are and have the ability to grow from our own strengths and weaknesses. For me my strengths is my family and God because they are always there to guide me in life. Being kind to myself as well as others. My love for them and ability to fully understand someone without having to talk to and  simply  relate. My weakness is my mother because every time we talk about it I feel sad because she left us when I was a child and until now we don't even communicate with each other. It hurts but I always think that there is a reason why she did that and I hope someday we can see each other. Being a shy person and not so confident when speaking in front or by doing something.

Among my strengths, I realized that these will help me grow as a person and they inspire me to work hard. It's either might positively or  negatively affect I know that I did my best, and there is no doubt. I will get better because I know they are always there to support me. In my weaknesses if there was a one person in the world  that I knew better than anyone else, shouldn't that person be myself because I know that even though I grew up without a mother by my side to guide me, I'm still lucky because my father and my grandparents took care of me and loved me from the beginning. As  for my behavior that I have and that affects my weaknesses, I realize that I must face it and always believe in myself. 

III. Tanaga Poem

I hope we make it that far

Chin held higher and brighter

It's not easy to achieve

But with God always believe

[twohundredpower]

❱❱  : ( CANON QUESTIONNAIRE ) –  ACCEPTING

@revivancy​​ said:

↪                              2, 9, and 20!

2. How did you get into this franchise/fandom?

my first ever tales of game was actually symphonia! i didn't own it, but a friend of mine brought their gamecube over to my place a few times, and i got to play it with them then-- i'd seen the characters before in the rp circles i was in, so i was so excited to finally try it out. and it's genuinely one of my favourite games of all time! i'm still making my way through the other titles in the series, especially some of the older ones-- i'm not the most well-rounded tales of fan, but rping lloyd has definitely reignited my love for the series!

9. Have you tweaked the character from canon? If so, what did you tweak?

there's definitely some things i've expanded on with lloyd's character, mostly his skills as a craftsman/forgemaster. at the start of the game, he's still honing his ability, and a lot of people comment on it still needing work-- he has a few moments where the trades he learned from dirk come in handy and obviously grow, but i've definitely leaned on him being a bit more artistic in my portrayal. at his canon point, he's had time to garner more experience, and the trade is something he really values learning from his dad, so i think he would continue to let it grow any chance he gets! there has been some canon material outside of the game that shows this too, so i don't think i'm too far off in seeing lloyd that way!

also, though lloyd is definitely still childish in his own ways, after all the development he received in the game (and in the group), i don't make him quite as forgetful as he usually can be. the game opens up on colette's birthday, which lloyd has promptly forgotten about and quickly tries to scramble to get her present done. where he is now, after all the things he's gone through, time spent with his loved ones has become very important to him; so i believe he would make more of an effort to remember things, and to not take important dates like that for granted.

he still gets bored from time to time, though. that's the ADHD in him.

20. If you could sum up your character with one sentence, what would it be?

rather than a sentence, i think i'll use a direct quote from lloyd in the game that speaks to the kind of person he is-- "no matter who or what you are, once you are born into this world, you have the right to live!"