#If anyone wants to use these designs for their own fanart too please feel free to riff or steal!

[alexis-royce]

I'm still reading through The Bloody Wallpaper, and wanted to play around with some uniform ideas!

[laurzzz]

"COME ONE, COME ALL!"

The Freddy Fazbear Circus is in need of new character recruits!

[EDIT: CLOSED]

Hey, so I'm moving quickly with the plot for my fic, What's Written in the Stars (The Greatest Showman AU of FNAF Security Breach) and I'm kind of in need of new characters to progress in the next chapters. I could have opted for making characters of my own but I think at this point you guys should have an inkling that this is something I prefer doing.

If not then, simply put, I like building communities and including as many people as I can with my projects because I'm sure each of you have your own creative ideas that my stories would benefit from too!

Interested? Details are under the cut!

What kind of characters am I looking for?

I'm looking for characters that are either robots or downright humans! I know many of you guys have lovely cryptid, monster OCs but those lovely creatures aren't canon to the lore of the story so this is the boundary I need to set for the character/s you guys would like to share! Also they have to either have a specific "ghastly trait" that society would have shunned upon back in the 1800s or up until now (like being a dwarf, an albino, hairy, a POC etc.) and/or be able to do certain circus acts (like trapeze, tightrope walking, etc.)

How many characters am I looking for?

I don't have a set number just yet but probably around 5 because I love that number lol.

How to join?

Kindly post your character sheet/s on your blog, mention (@) my main blog (this one!) and include the hashtag "WWITS OC-Laurzzz" for me to be able to sift through them easily!

Who can join?

Artists, writers, anyone, as long as you can clearly describe your character's design and backstory, and you have a decent amount of knowledge in the lore of WWITS so far!

What should be included when posting/making the character sheet/s?

For artists: Your character standing and showcasing their designs, additional appendages, accessories, pre-show and during show attires. You can opt to describing one attire while the other is drawn if it's too much of an effort! Then, somewhere at the side or bottom of the character designs must include their backstories/important lore details, characteristics, quirks, etc.

For writers: Same with the artists, except you'll be writing down the details of your lovely character's designs of course! Be sure to keep it as detailed as possible for me to write them out as accurately as I can too! And just like with the artists, you must include their backstories/important lore details, characteristics, quirks, etc.

Is there a specific genre/theme in design?

Yes, essentially. Try to keep the design as similar to the fashion of 1860s as you can with their clothes. Robots can be made of metal or wood, up to you! But nothing too fantasy-based, like having superpowers or something lol.

Can you submit more than one characters?

Yes! Only if you'd like. I can't guarantee being able to use all character submissions though so please keep that in mind. I'm only one person doing all this and I can only write down so many characters AKDHSKSJ I appreciate them all nonetheless!

Until when can we submit our characters?

In around two weeks, I will close this event thing soooo April 11, 2023 probably at 11:59 pm (PST). I'll make an announcement about it when it closes!

Anything else you guys should know?

This is all for fun! I don't want you guys to feel pressured in joining as I know that drawing and writing takes a lot of time and effort. I genuinely just wanted you guys to be a part of this but you don't have to if you don't want to! I'm not doing this to get free fanart of whatever.

Also, by giving me the details and backstory of your WWITS OC, you'd be giving me permission and consent to fill in any gaps or change some parts to keep the characters accurately tied with the lore of the whole fic and the other main characters.

Lastly, kindly reblog so others who may be interested to join can see this too! Thanks, I hope to see your lovely WWITS OCs sooner or later! Oh and, have fun!

Got any other concerns or questions about this?

Send your questions in my asks so we can clarify and/or figure something out!

[capricioussun]

I wanted to make a little infographic but since I take too long to do stuff, in the meantime, here’s a little post!

Stuff I’m cool with & Stuff I’m less cool with

• Nicknames/using my “real” name - yeah man go for it, love nicknames, and anyone’s absolutely welcome to call me Ace, too

• Gendered Terms - yes also, but I do slightly prefer neutral or masculine ones

• Dms/messaging/asks/tagging - welcome from anyone! I’m just a silly guy, I love talking to people✨ But I will ask you be 18+ if you add me on discord (it’s in my pinned!) just for my own peace of mind <3

• Fanart (???!!!) - super welcomed! It’s an honor! But there’re a few little side notes:

-Please don’t us any of my interpretations/designs for RP, self shipping, suggestive/nsft stuff, or personal stuff (like multiverse fics or anything you’d essentially have to make your own version of my versions to use lol)

(There are some exceptions to the above stuff, like if we’ve talked abt it and I’ve given express consent/permission, but those are the general guidelines otherwise <3)

• Requests - obv I reblog prompts and stuff all the time, but if you want something more specific/ outside of that, you’re free to send em, but I make no promises I’ll ever get around to it! Tho my commissions are usually open so you’re welcome to hmu if it’s something you’d really like to see me make lol

• Using or Reposting stuff I’ve made - absolutely no reposting ever please! But if you’d like to use any of my art as an icon or smth please ask first, I’ll probably say yes!

If there’s anything I’m forgetting feel free to shoot an ask, but uuuhhh yeah! :*) don’t forget to hydrate n stretch n stuff 👉👉

[raydays-swap-au]

~ Pinned Post ~

Hello and welcome to my sideblog! You can call me Rayday, Ray, or whatever else. I'm not too picky. He/Him pronouns strictly. If you don't like my shit? Just block me. It's not that hard.

Keep in mind I'm strictly anti harassment. Yes, even if the person is doing outright criminal activity. Just report them so they don't abandon their shit and get rid of evidence. I'm also anti censorship, pro kink, anti cringe culture, and the like. If a person isn't hurting anyone- or themselves, then I could honestly not care any less about whatever the fuck they're doing.

I'm specifically calling this AU "Rayday's Swap AU" in case anyone wants to specify which/who's swap AU a character/design is from. I may or may not be subconsciously influenced by Undertale AUs. Just keep that in mind since I was into that shit a good 6 to 7 years ago.

Also, I'm not redesigning them on top of my swap AU. I'm just taking the original designs and trying my best to swap them. I might accidentally throw in some redesign elements in there, but that's more design instincts rather than on purpose.

If you decide to draw fanart or anything, please do share! I don't care what skill level you're at, it'd honestly make my day either way that just one person enjoys my designs enough to draw fanart of them.

Also, don't be afraid to interact! I literally have no life and it'd likely make my day as well ( or at least make me smile ) assuming the interaction is positive. If you're not sure if I'm okay with something, then ask away and I'll gladly answer.

Considering that Hazbin is 16+ ( with 18+ for some countries/episodes ) I'm gonna consider the content of this blog with the same age ratings. I ain't gonna check your bios just to check your age ( I have better things to do. Not really. But I'd just rather not bore myself with that ) though I will say if you're under 16 then I don't support you interacting with this type of content, even if I technically can't stop you at the end of the day.

PLEASE DO NOTE:

In regards to reposting I, myself, don't ever intend to post my swap AU on other platforms as of now. If someone ever posts it to somewhere else, it is likely stolen.

The only exception to this is if I make a deal with someone else to post my work on another platform with my expressed permission. In those cases I will mention the account in this pinned post and what platform they're on.

If anyone wants to repost my designs to other platforms eg. TikTok, Instagram, etc, please reach out to me via DMs so we can talk about the details.

In regards to using my art in edits/your own art I don't mind others using my art to edit it for PFPs or whatever else. As long as credit is given, and you aren't just outright reposting it with no changes, then I won't mind.

PFPs that you just edit to use yourself, without intending to post it anywhere, don't need credit in your bio or whatever for me to be okay with it either.

If you want to edit my stuff, and aren't sure if I'd be okay with it, then just ask. I'm generally lax imo when it comes to this type of stuff.

[ My Masterlist ]

My personal tags are:

rayday's swap au ( anything related to my AU, though anon asks won't be tagged as it ) rayday anon asks ( just me replying to anons )

rayday talks ( posts that aren't anon asks- nor related to my AU in specific. I will try to not make a lot of these posts, but feel free to block the tag )

That's about it! Thank you for reading.

[pentition]

ooooogod

I finally found you

I am a loyal fan of Pen, now I can't stop thinking about him. MTAS is a very nice, As a Chinese I am happy to see the success of domestic games,

,I even want to put his new design into my final exhibition as a regular exercise (is this allowed? Will it not infringe?)

I used the character drawings for this game as a prototype reference, as an exercise in conceptual design,

It sounds strange

This has no commercial purpose whatsoever, just for practice,,,

All my previous attempts to inquire about is or not infringement have been met with silence

It sounds stupid, but it's hard to find a super tuff Asian character,

In a successful game project

Have Chinese name format

I know this is a selfish behavior, but I have drawn it almost,

it does not matter if it is not allow ,

I'll treat it like regular fanart

Sorry for the delay! I was out of the house all day and mobile is a nightmare for replying on.

Finally found me? From where? This is the first time I've really done much engaging with the fandom, I just lurked before I made this blog on all the cool stuff people did. Unless I'm misunderstanding. ^^;

Please let me know if I misinterpret anything!

Hello though loyal fan of Pen! Welcome to the blog. I love chatting Pen here so feel free to join me on the subject of the beefcake. :) Or whatever in general. I like my blogs to be a safe place for people.

I'm not sure what you mean by final exhibition? Is this some kind of portfolio for your art? I'm not really an expert on this subject, especially outside of America. I do a decent chunk of work with story development and character design (tasty editor work) but the specifics of the art world I'm not much of an expert in. So I can only draw on what I know based on friends and professional artists I've known in life. I can try and help point you in some directions if I can know more.

As of now, I know over here what is allowed to be submitted for projects or portfolios can change between type of art or even the people you're submitting to. Like with comic books, for instance. If you're a comic book artist and share your work with experts in that industry, it's not at all unexpected for people to submit fanart to show off their skills. Other experts may want to see originality, however. So fanart submissions for things isn't always a way to go. It really just depends on what you mean by a final exhibition, I can't really give an opinion or suggestions without more details. Sorry!

I know in the art community that practicing based off other's designs can be iffy. Or more specifically, through a means of tracing. I'm not sure if you're doing that or not, I haven't checked out your blog yet. But I mean, if you're not commercializing others content (as you said) and you're just trying to practice and learn so you can better your artsy craft - I don't see the harm? We all learn how to do art in different ways. Sometimes that's through fanart, other times it's through tracing, for some it's just free-balling it. There's no right or wrong way to learn art, I don't think. It's all muscle memory, also trial and error to figure out your own style.

So long as you aren't claiming whatever you're referencing as your own, I don't see an issue? Crediting the original artist of what you do fanart of I think is important, especially if you're using others work to help with your own. It's the least that can be done and anyone with a brain cell will see you did the hard work of the art but original credit for design or whatever else goes to the original content or artist you're drawing inspiration from. If that makes sense? My brain is goop a little at the moment after a long day, haha.

At the end of the day, what we draw inspiration from I don't necessarily think we have a say in. But we can choose how we engage in it and make sure we give proper credit for things.

I know what you mean about the struggle of finding specific body types, too. Both in general or based on race or culture within the media. Breaking stereotypes to acknowledge the variety of the human race I think is beautiful, which is something I do like about the My Time games. So no, I don't think you're stupid for being excited about that. :)

I also hope any screencaps I post are helpful to you. I'm not someone who does fanart often since usually I save my art energy for doing concept art for work or my own projects. But when I'm feeling that inspiration, I always try and gather as much data as I can. Like pictures. So I hope the archive of Sandrock and Pen screencaps I'm slowly gathering together on this blog can help you in your art endeavors! I'm excited to see your work!

If I didn't address what you wanted me to, please just let me know!! Sorry this got a little long, I just wanted to try and address things as clearly as I could.

[kitsuko-ai]

Welcome/Pinned

Hello and welcome to the synth worldI! I’ll be your guide here; my name is Kistuko-AI, but you can just call me Kitsuko. Below is a directory of my page which should have everything you need to get started here. Should you have any questions left unanswered by the directory, please feel free to ask!

About Kistuko-AI | About Crystirium | FAQ | Ask Box

Disclaimer - All art on this blog is made using MonAI, an AI art generator for Android devices. If you see art which resembles your own or a friend’s too closely and you’d like it removed, please send an inquiry to my ask box including which post the art is on as well as proof the art in question resembles your own/a friend’s. I will happily take down any art which qualifies!

Important notes:

This blog runs on a queue which will post at least once per day.

This blog WILL CONTAIN NSFT MATERIAL. I will block anyone under 18 whom I see interacting with NSFT posts, no exceptions. I would prefer if people who follow me be over 18, but either way I am NOT responsible should minors come across adult-oriented content, period.

With the above point being stated, I reserve the right to block users at my leisure should they make me uncomfortable or not follow the general etiquette which should be upheld in 18+ fandom spaces.

See that above bullet point? That includes ship wars of any kind. I want nothing to do with it.

Voice bank information for Kitsuko-AI WILL be released at some point, but for now they are merely a design concept for the Utauloid I’ve always wanted to make. Once the voice bank is released, I will be more than happy to distribute it so that others may use it, but please remember to credit me somehow!

Along with the above point, fanart is more than welcome! Please try to keep fanart limited to just Kitsuko and characters you own the rights to, though, as I don’t want to infringe on anyone else’s creations. That isn’t to say I personally don’t ship Kitsuko with any other Utau/Vocaloid, I just don’t want to get copyright strikes!

Some art posted here will vary in style. This is because, as mentioned above, I use MonAI to generate the art. That aside, please respect that Kitsuko-AI is a nonbinary synthesizer and uses they/them pronouns REGARDLESS of what the art of them may seem to imply.

These bullet points can and will be updated as I see fit for my space here. Pease check back frequently to ensure that rules have not changed before interacting.

[foxstride]

I posted 668 times in 2022

73 posts created (11%)

595 posts reblogged (89%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@mallowstep

@foxstride

@aerial-jace

@slugswarriorsdesigns

@embersoftheforest

I tagged 640 of my posts in 2022

Only 4% of my posts had no tags

#wc art - 184 posts

#wc design - 139 posts

#mallowstep - 52 posts

#objectively correct - 43 posts

#what the fox says - 34 posts

#fireheart - 27 posts

#tigerclaw - 25 posts

#wc meme - 24 posts

#wc ship - 23 posts

#wc discourse - 23 posts

Longest Tag: 139 characters

#i will not tag the main tag i will not tag the main tag i will not tag the main tag i will not tag the main tag i will not tag the main tag

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

re: frecklewish discourse

guys, i know you see Warrior Cats as owned by HarperCollins. but do you really think one of the largest publishing houses in the world is going to care about emails when they have millions of authors, and many more millions of books?

Erin Hunter (the authors AND editors) are part of Working Partners Ltd, aka Coolabi. They're the ones who deal with the official website. They are the ones hiring for the website. They are the ones WRITING the articles. Warrior Cats is one of their franchises.

HarperCollins will not care. As long as books get sold, they will not care, because it is Coolabi's actual franchise right now. Everything being done on the website? Not going to bother HarperCollins. It does not make them money.

Here is Coolabi's website: https://coolabi.com/about-us/

Here is the WarriorCats.com FAQ that specifies who is running it (note the footer too): https://warriorcats.com/contact-us/frequently-asked-questions

Here is the contact email for Working Partners Ltd attached for enquiries: enquiries@workingpartnersltd.co.uk

Here is the contact email for Coolabi who own Working Partners Ltd: info@coolabi.com

And just to be clear, Coolabi is also the company behind the Roblox game.

43 notes - Posted January 9, 2022

#4

Introducing... The Warrior Cats Rarepair collection!

@addershine and I have made a rarepair prompt meme collection on AO3 to help create content, especially for ships! As @mallowstep has said, there's a severe lack of romantic fanfiction in the WC fandom and we'd like to encourage others to give it a try!

The collection is dedicated to helping boost rarepairs so shippers have more content and the fandom has more fics to devour.

So what is a rarepair? We're defining a rarepair as a ship with less than 10 works in their canonical relationship (/) tag. You can find more information on the collection page! Adder even made a whole spreadsheet of all current Warrior Cats rarepairs for reference!

If you write fanfiction or create fanart, you can add your fanworks into the collection or claim and fulfill prompts from other people. Anyone (must be signed in) can add a prompt - you're welcome to claim your own as well, and prompts can be fulfilled as many times as people like!

Because it's a celebration of my birthday, every anniversary (13 February) we'll post an overview of the last year, a sort of present to myself and to the fandom that I've been in the longest.

If you have any questions that aren't on the collection's intro or FAQ, please feel free to send either myself or Adder an ask. If you need an invite to join AO3 to participate, you can either sign up for the AO3 waitlist or contact one of us (off-anon) so we can get you an invite - we'll send this in a private ask or DM.

Also if you want prompts for a specific rarepair, send me an ask and I'll personally write a request on there with multiple prompts for you AND others to fulfill!

88 notes - Posted February 14, 2022

#3

Nice work, fandom. Instead of protecting a minor, you harassed them and sent them death threats until they decided to leave Tumblr, further isolating themself.

When a minor is defensive about their relationship, providing support and resources is ideal. You don't tell them they DESERVED to be groomed because they like problematic ships. You don't harass them over and over again with the same messages.

We need more resources available to help minors identify grooming, but we also need to be decent people. That doesn't happen by telling minors that they don't know what's happening to them (it doesn't work - for anything). That doesn't happen by suicide baiting.

Every person involved in the suicide baiting, the harassment, and the blaming of proshipping on a minor who needed SUPPORT - NOT HATE... You are disgusting.

You are the people who need to be removed from the fandom to protect minors. You are the ones who have driven a minor into further isolation.

Start considering how your actions affect people.

114 notes - Posted January 18, 2022

#2

You are 100% valid if you are uncomfortable with shipping certain ships, writing or reading plots, or anything else

Just please remember that your preferences are not the same as others and you cannot impose them on anyone

625 notes - Posted February 16, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

"your fave ship is problematic" yeah, I want to make it worse

"that character is irredeemable" that's why I love them

"how can you even write that" watch me

6,322 notes - Posted February 12, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[rq-described]

hey is it ok if i ask for a bit of advice with writing ids? /gen. i've seen quite a few posts about people over-describing in their ids, and i have a feeling that i do that (i tend to overcomplicate everything i do skdsksjd). what kind of information is unnecessary in an id that i can try to cut out in future? thank you so much!

Hello! It’s totally okay to come to us with questions, we’re always happy to try and help!

To be completely honest this topic is something that a lot of us are still working on. The line between under and over-describing can be a bit hard to place, especially since it differs depending on the piece, and the person using the IDs. It’s impossible to make it perfect for everyone, but here are some tricks we’ve found helpful.

1) Ask yourself what the purpose of the piece is.

Art showing off a character design will have very different priorities than a comic or a meme. A drawing of a character just standing in a cool outfit suggests more in depth descriptions of their design whereas a long action filled comic should center the action or dialogue. Trying to describe characters and actions in the same part when a piece has multiple characters and/or significant action will often bog it down.

For example writing:

"X enters the room. They have blonde hair and pale freckled skin, and they wear a sweater vest over a white collared shirt and a pair of dangly cherry earrings. They are drawn from the waist up. They say to Y, 'What’s up?'"

doesn’t flow as well as writing:

“X enters the room and says to Y, 'What’s up?’”

Understanding the purpose of the piece often means being succinct for the sake of comedic timing, too. Putting the punchline of a comic in the middle of a paragraph of description makes it less impactful than saving it until the end, and breaking up dialogue with several sentences describing a background or outfit means people may lose the thread of the comic.

This doesn’t necessarily mean you can’t describe the character design if you can find a way to significantly shorten the description or include it separately. We’ll go over one possible way of including them in the line breaks section.

2) When dealing with complex settings, backgrounds, or clusters of items, ask yourself what needs to be described individually, and what can be generalized.

Complex and/or cluttered surroundings can get incredibly wordy when describing each component as it’s own thing. If certain components are not individually important to the viewer’s understanding the piece, generalizing or sometimes even leaving them out can significantly cut down on words. For example, writing:

“A mahogany shelf sits above his head. On it sits a blue mug with a spoon sticking out, a ceramic container filled with utensils, and a set of salt and pepper shakers.”

is significantly wordier than writing:

“A shelf holding various utensils and kitchen items sits above his head.”

Sometimes you can bear to cut individual details entirely if they aren’t particularly relevant to understanding the image. For example, if describing a drawing of characters at the beach, and there’s a buoy in the ocean way out in the distance, you probably don’t need to describe it unless it plays an active role in the piece.

3) When describing the appearances of characters, keep in mind what features are important to understanding the artist’s depiction.

Certain aspects of a character’s appearance can say a lot about how the artist wants them to be interpreted. Things like body frame, hair and clothing style, and especially race can vary drastically by artist, and in result change how the character is understood.

Other things like eye color, nose shape, or specific body proportions often do not change the general understanding of the character, and can cause the character description to become bloated. They typically should not be included.

There are certainly exceptions to this however, for example, if a character has unnatural features like glowing eyes or a snout, it changes how the character is meant to be perceived and should be described.

4) Play around with line breaks.

Sometimes pieces are just too complex to avoid having a long description. In order to make sure all important details are included while also including action, consider breaking the description up into chunks. Putting the action first and then writing out the character designs allows the people who want to know what’s going on in the image but don’t particularly care about designs to skip to the next post after the first paragraph, while still providing the descriptions for the people who do.

5) Be aware of what your audience already knows.

When there’s a reasonable expectation that your audience might already know something, it’s okay to use some shorthand. This comes up often when describing memes.

For example, writing:

The Spiderman pointing at himself meme, where one Spiderman is labeled X and the other is labeled Y.

is much more succinct than writing:

A screencap of a cartoon. Two people in identical Spiderman costumes are standing in front of an NYPD vehicle, with one facing away from the viewer and one facing toward the viewer. They are both pointing at each other in identical poses. The Spiderman facing away from the viewer is labeled X in white text. The Spiderman facing toward the viewer is labeled Y in white text.

You’re writing for an audience of Tumblr users, so you can assume most Tumblr users are familiar with the meme. If they aren’t, you’ve given them enough information to look up more about it.

This is also something to consider when describing fanart. Most podcast characters by nature don’t have canonical appearances, so the choice of how to portray a character is often intentional on the part of the artist and something worth paying attention to when considering the purpose of a piece. This isn’t the case for all media, though, and re-describing characters with canonical appearances over and over again isn’t necessary unless those appearances differ significantly from the norm.

-

We hope this was able to help! If anyone sees this and would like to add anything, please feel free to do so, and as always, if you have any more questions, feel free to reach out.

~The Mods

[allthatglittersisnotgoldrush]

HELLO!!! I can’t believe it took me my 2nd rereading of the series to realise you guys had an official Tumblr, but I’m just here to gush over how much I adore this AU! It has to be HANDS DOWN my favourite rendition of Silm fanwork— I looked forward to working my way through all 400+ fics during a rather tough month every night, so it was serious comfort content for me!! There’s really nothing else like it 💓

The amount of research, planning and depth that goes into each piece just never fails to astound me. I especially adore the spotlight you give to characters like Gwindor (what a guy), Caranthir, Estrela/Arien— and truth be told sometimes I forget characters like Sticks aren’t in the canon verse lmao. And! Seeing Melian’s Chinese culture written in the Doriath fics was a pleasant surprise too; it really resonated in a personal way with me that I’ve never seen explored in any other way before so that’s just one of the countless things that make you guys’ AU so goshdarn *special*

Plus I could rave for HOURS about just how beautifully complex Maedhros is (and continues to be… Pharmakós! Pharmakós!) as the AU’s gem (best booooyy), or all the intertwining character relationships... I am speechless. Literally. maybe for the best bc asks probably have word limits but I DIGRESS

I look forward to each and every update, and I’m so SO excited to see what lies in store!!! I’m slowly but steadily sorting my way through this blog but if you don’t mind me asking, do you guys have any canon designs of the cast? I would love to do fanart if I can find the time but am also TERRIFIED of inaccuracies, so I hope you don’t mind me asking! Still, keep up the brilliant work and thank you again for this absolute blessing to the Silm fandom 💓

That you are rereading the AU MULTIPLE times is simply the best compliment we could ever receive. Hopefully our next 400+ fics get you through the next ten years or however long it takes us. Every comment and kudos and bookmark are noted and appreciated.

Also, can we congratulate you on flawless taste in characters? Estrela and Caranthir and Gwindor are among our author-favorites to write for, especially since our adaptations of them feel so personally developed at this point. It's hard to remember sometimes that Estrela is the literal sun in Tolkien canon, or that Gwindor and Maedhros were never friends.

As for Maedhros, it seems fair to say that he's the central character, the primary protagonist of this retelling, and we strive to make him interesting and tragic and funny and poignant and [very hot] and so, yes, a gem. Thank you for loving him! Not a day goes by in the authorial groupchat when we're not talking about him. For a while his physical action necessarily stagnated because of his injuries, but we did our best to keep his character growth forward-moving, and use the time (ahh, The Healing Year, was it like half the AU or something? :D) to develop many relationships that were set up early on.

Now, for an apology that this reply is so belated: you asked if we had canon designs for the cast...please don't be terrified to make your own fanart! We are so honored when anyone creates anything, and you're welcome to draw as much or as little on the descriptions in our fics when doing so. If you go through the fanart tag on the blog, you can see the variety of interpretations that other generous fans have shared.

Thank you so much for your enthusiasm and this lovely long ask. Promise we'll be seeing more of Melian's Chinese culture in Pharmakos! Happy reading :)

(PS- Mythopoeia here to add on that yes, please!!! Feel free to draw all characters however you imagine them, it is so much fun for us as writers to see how readers see what we have written! If, however, you still do want any additional specific information about specific characters, feel free to send more queries and we shall answer as best we can, with the caveat that even from each of us three some descriptions could be slightly different—we don’t coordinate as much on physical descriptions of people as you might think, beyond generally having the same vibes I guess, haha. Best example of us working together to give “canon” description reference to an artist is the beautiful painting of Maedhros, Estrela, and Gwindor that@arlenianchronicles made last year :) Basically just have fun with what we have made and we are honored by anything and everything you do! Thanks again for reading and for sending such an amazing response, truly a highlight of the whole month for us!)

[black-emporium-exchange]

How to sign up for Black Emporium!

Yes sweet nuglets, it's that time of year again: Time to sign up for Black Emporium!

CLICK HERE TO SIGN-UP!

Helpful Links:

How to Guide || Requests on Ao3 || Tagset || Nominations Spreadsheet || Request Database || Parent Collection (All Past Years)

Main hubs:

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Signups end: July 17, 2021 @ 8:00PM EDT || Countdown

CHANGES THIS YEAR

- We now have a brand new Request Database this year! Unlike previous years where mods had to hand copy requests into a separate Google Doc, the Database will automatically populate who and what people are requesting. (Should come in handy when writing treats or looking for inspiration.)

A STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE TO SIGN-UPS BELOW THE CUT:

1. Sign in to Ao3

If you don’t have an Ao3 account, contact the mods for help!

2. Go to the Black Emporium signup field (link)

3. Scroll to the “Requests” field

There are several different components of this field:

Relationship:

Enter one, two, or three approved relationships that you would like to see in a fanwork created for you. This field will autosuggest approved pairings. If your pairing does not show up, it may be that you have fallen victim to a known bug of Ao3's that we cannot fix, wherein pairings in a tagset do not autofill. If this happens, simply type it in as it appears in the tagset.

Additional Tags: You can request fanfic, fanart, or both. Selecting "any" is treated the same as selecting both.

Letter: If you have written a letter on an external website (such as Tumblr/Wordpress/Dreamwidth/Google Docs), you may link it here.

Description: Here is where you can provide additional detail about what you would like to see in a fanwork, both in general and for specific pairings. Good things to include (in this box, a letter, or both) are general likes and dislikes, preferred content rating, and Do Not Wants. Please remember to put your DNW's (do not wants) in the Ao3 sign up form - we can only take action if you put your DNW in your Ao3 sign-up form because it is the only thing we can absolutely guarantee that your creator will be able to access.

Remember that anyone who creates fanwork for you must respect your Do Not Wants. If you do not enter anything into this box, and you do not have a link to a letter, we will assume that means you are okay with anything for the specified pairing(s). If you have any preferences or things you do not want, we would encourage you to add them. It makes the process smoother for all involved.

Here are some things commonly put in the description box:

Likes/Wants:

- Frequently it can be considered helpful to your author or artist if they have some idea of what you like to see, and what you don't. For example:

I love F!Adaar/Sera because I think the idea of them merrily pranking their way around Skyhold is so much fun. Please don't write me something sad about them.

Do Not Wants:

- Stuff that makes you uncomfortable, or just plain stuff that is Not Your Thing. While the Black Emporium does not believe in kink shaming or otherwise insulting people for their own personal taste, we do want people to let their artists or authors know what their limits are. You don't have to give any reasons for this; "no x/y/z" gives your creator plenty of info to discern where your limits are.

We can only take action if someone writes you something against your DNWs if it is in your sign-up.

Prompts:

Prompts can be just about anything, but they're meant to be ideas that you'd like to see that can help give your artist or author something to work off of. Sometimes this can be a prompt or a question you'd like explored (for example: What if Solas found himself falling for M!Trevelyan? How would he feel about potentially falling for a human?) or an idea you'd love to see (Josie and M!Cadash snuggled up in front of a fire, please!) or just a few words of inspiration (Leliana/Josephine - secrets, lies, ravens).

Details about your character(s):

It is fairly common for people to give basic descriptions of their characters if it is a character where their appearance or personality may vary (ex: Wardens/Hawkes/Inquisitors), particularly if fanart is requested. These descriptions can be very basic indeed (ex: purple hawke), or extremely detailed (ex: This is Celeste Trevelyan, she loves her squad more than life itself, pink hair, dusky-rose skin, built like she could bench press you six ways from sunday).

Bucket Requests:

You may also use the description field to note additional pairings that you would be willing to receive. You may find this option helpful if you are willing to consider different Warden or Inquisitor backgrounds for your specified pairing that have been nominated. You are limited to an additional ten pairings specified in this manner. Please fill out the form entirely before filling in pairings manually in the description; those that you fill in in the relationship field (the first 30) will take priority.

Things you should not put in the description field:

“I would like anything but nasty [kink]. I think people who write that are gross and nasty.”

Please do not insult people who like something you dislike. It’s Not For You, and That’s Okay. “No [kink]” expresses this much better than a long explanation of why you don’t like [kink].

“I’m only choosing this to get to three nominations. Please don’t write it.”

While we know someone who signs up for a, b and z may want a and/or b more than z, but please don’t scream to your author or artist that what you may well match on is something you don’t want as much as other pairings. Writing something like this also reduces your chance at treats as well.

“Even though I said I wanted M!Solavellan, I’m fine with F!Solavellan too if you like that better.”

Please don’t tell people that you’d be alright with non-nominated pairings, as fics with only non-nominated pairings cannot be added to the collection.

Minimums and Maximums in Requests:

You are required to fill out a minimum of three request fields (Required: Relationship, Additional Tags; Optional: Letter, Description). Remember that you may put in one OR two relationships per request field, so the maximum number of pairings that you can list in this manner is thirty. Remember also that you must fill out at least 3 request fields, so if you fill 2 out with 3 requests in each "request box", Ao3 will still want you to add one more -- it's a good rule of thumb to fill at least three out with one request, then double up as you wish.

4. Continue to the “Offers” field

There are several different components of this field:

Relationship:

Enter one, two, or three approved relationships that you would like to see in a fanwork created for you. This field will autosuggest approved pairings. If your pairing does not show up, it may be that you have fallen victim to a known bug of Ao3's that we cannot fix, wherein pairings in a tagset do not autofill. If this happens, simply type it in as it appears in the tagset. If it continues to give an error, please drop us a comment with the pairing so we can figure out what's going on. You also have the option to select any relationship.

By selecting “Any Relationship,” that means that you are willing to write or draw fanwork for, literally, ANY of the approved pairings.

The only limitation we will accept will be be a limitation of what category of relationship you want to create for: eg, Any F/F, Any M/M, Any F/M, Any Multi, Any Other, or Any Nonbinary. Anything else WILL BE REJECTED. You may NOT use this option to say, for example, “Any Cullen pairing”. This option is for any and all of the approved pairings in your designated category/categories. Do not use this option unless you are sure that any is truly what you want.

Additional Tags:

You can offer to create fanfic, fanart, or both. Selecting "any" is treated the same as selecting both.

Comments for mods:

Here is where you can provide additional detail about what you will and won’t create. As with your requests, you can provide general likes and dislikes as well as things that you absolutely will not do. If there is someone signed up you absolutely cannot stand, please write "don't match me to x" here; we won't ask details, we just won't match and this will be a fully confidential field. If you hate nugs, put it here, and we'll make sure you get at least one nug-free prompt and, ideally, a nug-free sign-up. We want you to have an assignment you'll be happy about, so if you've got something that would be triggering for you to create for, let us know. We can only take action based on our own knowledge, so the more information we have the better we can try to match you with what you really want. If you do not enter anything into this box, we will assume that means you are okay with anything for the specified pairing(s) selected. If you have any preferences or do not wants, we would encourage you to add them. It makes the process smoother for all involved. None of the mods will blab over whatever you write; we just want you to have the best time possible with your assignment.

Minimums and Maximums in Offers:

You are required to fill out a minimum of three offer fields (Required: Fandom, Relationship, Additional Tags; Optional: Comments to mods). Remember that you may put in one or two relationships per request field, so the maximum number of pairings that you can list in this manner is twenty. Remember also that you must fill out at least 3 offer fields, so if you fill 2 offer fields out with 2 offers in each "box", Ao3 will still want you to add one more offer field even though you have one over the minimum required amount of offers -- it's a good rule of thumb to fill at least three offer fields, each with one offer, then go back and double up or not, as you wish.

Bucket Offers:

You may also use the comments to mod field to note additional pairings that you would be willing to write if you have already filled thirty slots. You may find this option helpful if you are willing to consider different Warden or Inquisitor backgrounds for your specified pairing. You are limited to an additional ten pairings specified in this manner. Once again, those filled in the actual relationship: tags will take priority over those written in, so choose which pairing goes where carefully!

A Note on Matching

Black Emporium runs on OR matching, which means that you will match on one relationship out of the ones that you offer and request. You are guaranteed to match on ONE relationship; you may match on more, you may not. For your assignment, you can write what you matched on OR you can write any other couple on their sign-up form. You will only have to write or draw for ONE request, not all of them. The minimums will be one piece of artwork or one 1,000 word fic.

[shinranweek]

🌸 ABOUT THE EVENT 🌸

❧ What is ShinRan Week?

ShinRan Week is a 7-day event dedicated to the Detective Conan pairing Kudou Shinichi and Mouri Ran. Every day, there will be 1-3 (exact number TBD) prompts/themes. Everyone is welcome to share fics, art, graphic edits, headcanons, text posts, and any other product of their imagination, for as many or few prompts as you like, for the ShinRan fandom to enjoy.

❧ How do I participate?

Simply post your work on Tumblr and tag it with #shinranweek2021 in the first 5 tags so we and other fans can track and reblog! (Your blog will need to be searchable for this to work. You can also tag us directly in the post if you can’t/don’t want to make your blog searchable.) You may also submit your entries via the submit button in our Tumblr page.

❧ I don’t have a Tumblr account. Can I still participate?

Yes! You can submit your entries here and we will post them for you. You may indicate your name/username and social media platform in your submissions so that people can know they are yours.

🌸 ABOUT THE ENTRIES 🌸

❧ What entries are allowed?

Fanfiction, fanart, graphic edits, fanmix, AMVs, headcanons, metas, colorings — any product of your imagination is welcome!

❧ May we submit entries in a different language?

Yes.

❧ Are platonic ShinRan submissions allowed?

Yes, creations centered on their platonic relationship are appreciated too! Please remember this is a ShinRan event, so try to focus on their relationship, whatever form it takes.

❧ What about Conan&Ran or Conan/Ran?

Sure. Again, please remember that the event centers on the relationship between Shinichi and Ran, so try to include elements of Shinichi in your creation as well. For Conan/Ran, sexual themes should be avoided.

❧ Can I write angst stories?

Realistically sad love stories sound great. We'd appreciate it if angst is properly tagged, so fluff-seekers don't accidentally trip into it.

❧ What about OT3/OT4/polycule stories?

OT3/OT4/polycule submissions are allowed, so long as the focus of the entry remains to be ShinRan. We also advise to tag the submission accordingly.

❧ Are NSFW entries allowed?

NSFW works are welcome, but we will keep this official event blog SFW and won't be reblogging them here. Feel free to tag them with #shinranweek2021.

🌸 OTHER QUESTIONS 🌸

❧ What are mini prompts?

Interactive Mini Prompts is a weekly pre-event aimed to engage participants and spark their creative juices. Every Friday, ShinRan-related questions or hypothetical scenarios, among others, will be posted and anyone may throw in their answers or ideas in the comments, reblogs, or tags. They may also respond through rough sketches, drabbles, or whatever comes of their own creativity. Mini prompts will be designed so that the responses to them can be fairly limited and not very time-consuming (i.e. multiple-choice questions, this or that, etc.). 

❧ What if I had to suddenly stop creating content (can’t participate in the event) midway? 

It's fine! Creators are not obliged to create content for all prompts in all seven days of the event.

❧ Will there be a set number of outputs for content creators in the event?

No. You can create for as many or as few prompts as you like.

❧ What if I need more time to create content?

Worry not, late entries are allowed. We will be reblogging submissions until August 14.

❧ How much do YOU love Shinran?

So much, survey respondent. So much.

As usual, feel free to send in an ask if you still have questions. 

[ceoofanticatradora]

We need more anti C//A who are Adora stans (like you seem to be) so that people can understand that C///A is bad for Adora. Heck C//A is bad for Catra too, but the shippers don't seem to realize it. If Catra had been able to let Adora go maybe she could have healed instead of her festering and the abuse may have ended instead of escalated.

Hello Dear, welcome on my Blog and a big thank you for your message! Firstly I wanna apologize that this response is reaching you more than three full days, almost four later. Just real life getting into the way of my online presence (at least I got my A-Levels admission!) but I assure you that replying to you was on my To Do List the entire time. And while I could've typed something quick, I thought you deserved a full length response just as much as the person before you received. That goes for anyone really to ask/write me anything in the future.

Adora is a character that has flaws, her own interests, things she struggles with/is insecure about etc. but she also still works on being better (up to Season 5). This makes her relatable, fleshed out and overall three dimensional. Overall for me that makes Adora very likeable. Which is funny because when I first watched the show I thought of her as too goofy and felt like she as a character was overall just flat. Her character design did not speak to me either, the ponytail with the weird hair poof and these pointy shoulders of her jacket just really were not my taste. Isn't it amazing how perceptions can change?

As you can guess from that description I did not always stan Adora and she's probably still not my favorite character but over the almost two years I've been in this fandom I've grown rather fond of her. Other important characters to me are Kyle (a very relatable comfort character of mine, he learned to stand up for himself and others and I support that, f*ck Season 5 for barely acknowledging his existence), Lonnie (apart from treating Kyle badly (which I really do NOT support or excuse) I really love her, man, some women just do me like that, I mean she really stood up to Catra like that), Entrapta (I'm autistic too! It's great to have some representation, seeing the ableism/treatment she experiences in the show is not so much though), Seahawk (I don't even know why, I have some issues with his behavior towards Mermista at times but overall I love this dork), Scorpia (she reminds me of myself so much and I really wanna give her hugs, I'm so glad she chose to no longer let Catra treat her like that even though I will be forever salty she just immediately forgave her), Peekablue (I can explain this even less than Seahawk, especially since it was not even really him in the end but his existence somehow helped me cope with Season 5, without him I probably would've left this fandom ... and also my favorite color is blue) and Double Trouble (now there's enough people already critcizing how they're not exactly great Non-binary representation but this dramatic lizard will forever be in my heart, that reality check they gave Catra, basically slapping her in the face with facts was satisfying as h*ck, also I like lizards overall).

Now there's plenty of characters I like, dislike (or even hate) or am simply indifferent about but after all this is not a tier list but me talking about Adora, Catra and Catradora. Adora started off as this girl that was so sure what she was doing is right but once she was taught differently she was willing to leave everything she knew (except Catra, because she valued her despite everything) behind. And not only that, she broke out of the abuse cycle that Catra tried so hard to keep upright. And that is exactly what makes Adora such a good role model. She teaches children (or people) that:

Your past doesn't define what/who you are or what/who you can become

-> Adora used to be a Horde soldier and did not know where she came from, but nonetheless she found herself a family and became a hero that saved thousands of people

You can always change your mind and start a new life if you feel disappointed in what you are doing/who you are as a person

-> Basically the exact same point, Adora started a new life as she saw what the Horde really was and changed her mind about who to fight for

You deserve love too, be it platonic or romantic (or se*ual???) (If you're aro and/or ace just ignore the part that does not work for you)

-> While Adora for various reasons thought her only use was to please others and meet their needs and expectations (mostly due to Shadow Weaver and Catra) she learned to accept that she too deserves love and validation (if the love aspect would not have been focused on it being romantic love so she could smooch Catra in the finale this would've been a billion times better because she got love from her friends that showed her her real value)

You can walk away from something/someone, that does not make you egoistic/selfish

-> Adora walked away from the Horde, after Catra stubbornly refused to come with her despite many offers (basically Catra broke the promise, not Adora) from her too and that did not make her a "traitor" or "selfish", h*ck, Adora in the end did this for a bigger purpose too, even if part of it was her not wanting to live with such wrong morals

Your opinions, feelings etc. about a person/something can change and that is perfectly fine and valid, being able to change is part of what makes someone human

-> Adora's views on many things changed throughout the show: The Horde and the Rebellion, the First Ones, Catra, being She-Ra, herself, her priorities and so on ... she actually makes use of her brain, which is why Catra saying "Don't you ge it?" or calling her an idiot and dumb never sat right with me, she's a realistic character for shifting with her thoughts, feelings etc. and sometimes just does not fully think things through

You don't have to let other people treat you like sh*t (just because they have some issues they never worked through does not give them any right to let it out on you)

-> This point is obviously centered mostly around Catra and her abusing Adora almost every chance she gets, which is why Adora standing up for herself and not letting Catra blame her for her own decisions and mistakes is so important, "You made your choice, now live with it" is one of the most powerful lines throughout all the five Seasons

Now I'm sure there is still more to Adora's character than what I just listed and unfortunately almost all the points basically got pushed aside, well, Adora as a character got pushed aside in Season 5. All her growth, the things that made me love her, see her as great role model for so many people robbed of their value for the sake of making everything revolve around Catra. That brings me to her and how you are absolutely right that Catradora is harmful to both characters. Of course Adora is affected most by it in the end but Catra too is obviously suffering under the fandoms obsession and just the overall idea of them being romantically involved.

Just like with Adora the stans make almost everything about Catra over her relationship with Adora. She too can barely exist outside of it and if she wasn't the fan favorite she'd most likely would too be mostly in Fanarts that include Adora and not just her (if you google "Catra Fanart" most content is still Catra and Catra only but here and there Catradora still peaks through). But for whatever reason the fandom still views her more as her own person as the other ones? Catrouble and Scorptra Shippers might actually still get less hate than Glimmadora Shippers (I'm not denying they don't get any, they most certaintly do) which is just plain hypocricy and favorism. Kinda like the: A woman needs to be loyal to her husband and her husband only but if the husband wants to be active with other women that is perfectly fine because "that is just how men are" or how i like to call it ... sexism. Now in this case they are both women so it's not sexism but yo do get my point.

But much more importantly, Catra has an unhealthy obsession with Adora. Signs of that are for example:

Constantly talking about Adora, even when said person is not around (to Shadow Weaver, Scorpia etc.)

Obsessing over having control over Adora like in that one Episode "Are you kidding? I finally got control over Adora, I'm not giving that up!"

Building her entire character and her actions around Adora "We need to take Adora down", "Adora left me", "I'd rather see the whole world end than see you win!", also shown in Season 5 where she states she does save Glimmer only for Adora and not for Glimmer or to do the right thing

Getting aggressive or very emotional over Adora like clawing the wall, having nightmares etc. (destructive behavior towards herself and others)

Having no or barely any characteristics outside of her relationship with Adora like, we don't know her interests or likes and dislikes outside of being evil, obsessed with Adora, being abused by Shadow Weaver ...

Trying to force Adora to meet her needs and expectations regardless of Adora's owns

Sacrificing her oppurtunity to be happy in the Crimson Waste for the sake of her Adora obsession and being better than her at all costs

So yes, you were very right with saying that not putting Catra in a relationship with Adora would've benefited both characters. Catra could've learned to exist on her own, develop interests and a life outside of Adora. Learn to accept herself and eventually come to terms with her childhood abuse. She could've been free and not "the abusive cat girl that ended up with the person she unhealthily obsessed over to the point of no return" she kinda is now. Even if we ignore the whole "dating your long term abuser" part from Adora's side and "being rewarded" for horrible behavior, Catra alone is not giving a good example to people watching. As much as I dislike Catra, disdain her even, an ending where she is dependent on Adora, unable to stand on her own two legs after she led armies in war is not what I would wish for her, even with a decent redemption arc (that she did not get).

[onedoodleaday]

Review of 6 creative prompt books

Can't get enough prompts? I sure can't! I have a horrible urge to buy any and all books I see that have any sort of theme related to creative prompts, and I've amassed quite the collection over the years. 

Today, I'm going to review some of them!

All of the following books are meant to be drawn in directly, which (at least ideally) makes them very satisfying to leaf through once you've worked in them for a while.

I will be making a separate post showcasing how I've personally used each book and link to it here, in case any if them pique your interest and you'd like to know more (coming soon!)

Books I am reviewing:

365 days of art by Lorna Scobie (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️▪️ Four out of five stars)

642 things to draw by chronicle books (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ five out of five stars)

642 fashion things to draw by Chronicle Books (⭐️⭐️⭐️▪️▪️ Three out of five stars)

Doodle a day by Chris Riddell (⭐️⭐️⭐️▪️▪️ three out of five stars)

Hirameki: Draw what you see by Peng and Hu (⭐️⭐️▪️▪️▪️ two out of five stars)

Illistration by Jaime Zollars (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️▪️ four out of five stars)

Warning: this is a very long post

365 days of art

By Lorna Scobie

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️▪️ Four out of five stars

What I like about it:

There's a great variety of prompts in this one. The prompts are mostly simple and straightforward, with space for doing your own thing. Most of the exercises also happen to appeal to me personally. 

The prompts are designed for being able to be completed quite quickly, which makes them very accessible for me, and of course, you can get more elaborate with them if you have the time and energy (I've spent the last five days adding details to fish, just because I wanted to).

The author uses the foreword to encourage you to use the book in whatever way you personally find the most fun, which I appreciate.

Most of the prompts feel like they're focusing on practice rather than results, which means it's open for all skill levels to enjoy.

Criticism:

While I do hold that this book can work for artists of all skill levels, it does have prompts that are meant to teach you something, and while I like some of them, there are some that feel targeted towards either less experienced artists, or artists who has, or strives towards, a similar art style to that of the author. A couple of times, I have felt that my art style did not match the exercise set up, and while I still managed to have fun with them, I did wish there were more space for (in my case) a more realistic art style.

On a similar note, there are sections geared towards calligraphy, and they start at the very basics. While I personally am a beginner, I can imagine that someone with experience would find these bits both boring and redundant. 

I will also mention that the book does encourage the use of different kinds of media, so you either have to be ready to break out some different tools or bend the prompts a bit if all you have is a pencil.

Recommended for beginner and intermediate artists, people who really like prompt books. Good for a little bit of daily practice with many different styles of art. Good for people who like patterns and colours in their art.

Recommended tools: brush pen, water-based paint, coloured pencils

642 things to draw

By chronicle books

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ five out of five stars

Of all the prompt books I have, this is my favorite. Hands down.

What I like about it:

This book is just prompts. No hand-holding, no presets for what to do with it, they just give you something to draw and you go from there. All you need is a pencil and your imagination. There are both straightforward prompts (a bottle opener, a spool of thread) and more abstract ones (girlish laughter, head in the clouds) and the variety means I usually find at least one prompt I want to do on each spread. 

The differing sizes dedicated to each prompt make for a really fun and pleasing result.

I also appreciate that this book is completely open to all skill levels, as long as you're willing to give a go at drawing a lot of different things.

Criticism:

While I personally adore the to-the-point, straightforward prompts, I do acknowledge that, unless you enjoy just drawing random objects, you're going to need to add some creativity on your own, in how you incorporate the prompts. I personally like adding either character interaction or to use the object as part of a scene, especially for the things I don't find super visually interesting on their own. I personally enjoy the level of thinking, but I'm sure there are people who don't. 

I also don't know if I would have enjoyed it as much when I was just starting out. I’ve always been quite result-based with my art, and while I think using reference to draw all the different things in the book would be an amazing skill-building exercise, it also sounds like a lot of work.

There are also a handful of pop culture references and prompts for famous people, which I personally prefer to avoid, because those are often based on social knowledge and interest, of which I personally have neither.

Recommended for artists of all skill levels, people who either have a big visual library or would like to build one. Recommended for people who like to draw a lot of different things.

Recommended materials: anything! Can be used with just a pencil

642 fashion things to draw

By Chronicle Books

⭐️⭐️⭐️▪️▪️ Three out of five stars

This one was actually my first prompt book ever! The start of a hoard, one might say.

What I like about it: 

This one is another one by Chronicle Books, in the same series. This one is really fun if you like drawing clothes, and/or your art is character oriented. Of all my prompt books, this one has the best potential for fanart, in my opinion. If you like drawing people and characters, this book is really fun

Criticism:

This one is, quite understandably, more specific. If you like drawing clothes, this one is ideal. If you don't ... don't pick this one. 

I was close to giving this one four stars, but I will withdraw a star for being very specifically tailored to one subject -- this could be a five star book for some people and a one-star for others.

Another thing I want to mention is that this book gets specific. I have to look up what about a third of the prompts mean. I'm okay with that, but if you don't want to do research and don't already know what a jaquard blouse or peplum waist skirt or houndstooth is, this is not the book for you.

Lastly, it has a good handful of both pop culture references and references to different brands, which is kind of alienating to me personally. It also assumes that you yourself care about your own clothes to some extent. And that you have at least one father and one mother. Who got married at some point. And your mom wore a wedding dress. Things like that.

Also my copy is from 2013 and let's just say some of the references have aged very poorly. ("D*nald Tr*mp power suit" being a very notable example. I drew him impaled on a stick. Which was satisfying. But it was very much an act of rebellion so keep it in mind)

Recommended for anyone who likes drawing clothes and the people wearing them, who are also willing to put up with a certain amount of heteronormativity in their prompt books. Some skill level will probably make the book more enjoyable. Clothes are hard.

Recommended materials: Anything! You can use this one with just a pencil

Doodle a day

By Chris Riddell

⭐️⭐️⭐️▪️▪️ three out of five stars

(Note: I own a translated version of the book; this is the danish cover)

Before we start, I would like to note that this book's target demographic is children. I’m not a children, I just thought it looked fun. And I was right! But do keep it in mind.

What I like about it:

This one doesn't take itself too seriously. Which means that in places, it gets wacky. And I appreciate that. It expects a child's untamed creativity and wish to go along with whatever. 

A lot of the prompts are really fun and inspiring for me as an adult. There are a lot of "complete this drawing" sort of things that get me to draw things I don't usually draw. 

It's nice to see a book geared towards children that dares to have a very detailed and complex art style. Whether you personally like Chris Riddell's art style is very subjective, but he's good at what he does.

Criticism:

You have to enjoy drawing along with what the author enjoys. We're talking robots and fairy tales and dancing bears. This book has less room for letting you steer the prompts in a direction that you personally like, which is good if you like to be told exactly what to draw. It is less good if, like me, you prefer your prompt-based art to have space for a lot of your own creativity and preferences. 

I've personally marked down the prompts I want to do with tape, and I'm planning to just plain skip the rest. This means about two thirds of the book that I'm just not planning on using. I'm okay with this! But I want to mention it.

The book also contains quite a lot of 'free days', which I always find disappointing. I came here specifically because I didn't want to make up my own stuff. Please. Tell me what to do, I beg of you.

I will also note that this book assumes that you have some sort of family that are present in your life to the point that you want to include them in your drawings, and that you have at least one friend who wants to partake in certain of the prompts. 

It also assumes cultural Christianity, having prompts for easter and christmas and halloween and so forth, with no other holidays mentioned. It's a little uncomfortable.

Recommended for people who like silly prompts and are very adaptable in their art. Probably really good for younger kids? I was a weird child, so my point of view might be skewed. Decide for yourself if this book is worth getting for you or someone you know!

Recommended materials: something to draw with, and something to colour with.

Hirameki: Draw what you see

By Peng and Hu

⭐️⭐️▪️▪️▪️ two out of five stars

The classic exercise of using vague blobs and turning them into drawings

What's I like about it:

The concept is really good. The idea of having a whole book of printed blobs to turn into drawings is so fun and appealing to me, as someone who loves having things in books. 

I really like that they have certain categories and themes, to make things a little different. I love the idea of having a theme for a whole page of blobs (turning everything on one page into birds, for example), and what made me get the book was specifically that they have pages with just the same blob ten times over, and the challenge is then to make them all into different things.

Criticism:

This book is the marketable brand flavor of prompt books, trying to be what mindful colouring books did, but with another concept, preferably in a way they can copyright. 

They're clearly trying to make pattern-making into a marketable invention rather than something that has been around since, like, literal prehistoric times. This would be little more than annoying and could probably be ignored, if it wasn't for the fact that the blobs aren't even ... random. 

The creativity is killed, because these blobs are clearly made to look like certain things. Which is the opposite of the point, of the shapes-in-randomness exercise. They don't do this with every page, but it is, like. More than half. The page dedicated to faces have defined noses and necks. There’s a beach themed spread and the crabs have defined pincers. 

I had the most fun on the intro pages, where there were no prompts, because that was the place where the blobs were truly random. These were not meant to be drawn on! They were decorations! I just did it anyway!

This is branded to be something that will allow you to be creative, but in reality, it is actually just a different way of playing connect-the-dots. And there's nothing wrong with connect-the-dots, but I was advertised something else and I'm disappointed.

Also, this is personal pettiness, but if you're going to make a gimmick out of every prompt rhyming, you have to actually know how to rhyme. "Gadget" and "uplug it" do not rhyme! Not even by a stretch!

I cannot recommend this book. The idea is good, and some of the pages I did enjoy filling out, but I would have gotten more out of just grabbing a blank sketchbook and adding some ink blots to every page, then started from one end.

Recommended materials: They specifically say that you have to use a pen that’s either blue or black. I used a bright red one just to be a contrarian.

Illistration

By Jaime Zollars

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️▪️ four out of five stars

This one is a little different -- it is essentially a make-your-own-prompts book!

What I like about it:

This book appeals right to my need to be part of the process, even when drawing for prompts. Basically, this book is all about producing creative lists of things to draw, and then illustrating your favorites.

I love how the author talks you through their process of creating each individual list to suit their own preferences, and encourages you to do the same, to create prompts that appeal directly to you.

I also really appreciate that this book fully assumes that the reader is just as capable as the author. It wants to teach you something, sure, but it doesn't outright assume that you've got more or less experience than the author. They're teaching you one specific way of generating ideas and that's what matters. The author is confident, but humble. I like that.

Criticism:

Honestly, this is a wonderful book. I wouldn't change anything about it. The only reason I subtracted a star is because it falls a little bit outside the category of a prompt book. It's a five-star book for what it is, but if you're just here to be told what to draw without having to make stuff up on your own, this one is not for you. 

I can't just pull this one out, open it up and start drawing -- using this book is a project. I have to do at least half of the work myself, if not more. And I personally have fun with that, but it has to be noted.

Recommended for artists of any skill level, who like to generate their own unique ideas. This is the one I would be most likely to recommend to a dedicated artist, or a professional.

Recommended materials: whatever you prefer to draw with, and something to write with.

-------------------------------------------------

Thank you for reading! 

If you found this review helpful and want to fund me and my constant purchasing of prompt books, you can tip me on TheNearsightedMicroraptor on Ko-fi!

[inuyasharedraw]

About and Rules for The Inuyasha Redraw Blog…

What started out as the blog for the Kagome Redraw event has expanded to become the Inuyasha Redraw Blog. We aim to provide fans with regular visual inspiration from the Inuyasha universe. We will also be happy to share any re-draws that you come up with on your own that you would like to submit to us. The purpose of this blog is simply to allow fans to enjoy drawing their favorite characters and to share their work.

The Rules and FAQ from our webpage are right here under the cut for anyone who needs them! :) 

Rules:

Anyone is welcome to participate no matter how experienced or inexperienced at art you are.

Include the picture of the original manga panel or screen capture you used as inspiration for your art.

Re-draw the picture in your own style, or re-imagine it any way you like. AUs and crossovers of your own design or as fanart for your favorite fanfic for example are totally acceptable.

It doesn’t strictly have to be a drawing. Any sort of artistic response to the visual prompt is acceptable. For example, if you want to make a clay sculpture, or if you make art in VR, that’s fine too!

The fans who run this blog reserve the right to not publish work that we consider hateful or offensive. Likewise please keep this blog a fandom-drama-free zone or the same will apply.

Please submit your work to us directly through the blog or tag @inuyasharedraw. You can also use the tag #IYmonthlyredraw, #inuyasha redraw, or #inuyasharedraw on Instagram, Twitter, or your other socials.

Be excellent to each other and have fun!

Are you still doing the Kagome Redraw Event?

Any doubts or concerns please reach us by ask or private message. We will be happy to help

F.A.Q.

Yes, we still going to use this blog for this event. Stay tuned for more info.

How can I participate?

Submit your re-drawn image to the blog directly or tag us in your post. Please provide the original image along with your version.

Which picture or scene are we redrawing?

You may either choose from the ones we provide or you can just choose your own!

Can I create more than one redraw?

Of course! Make any redraws as you want. Just make sure to use the tag so we can see it and share it.

Does it have to be an exact redraw of the picture?

No. In fact, it is even better if you have your own style, or fanfic or AU you want to adapt the original scene, feel free to do it.

Is there a deadline?

No way! Submit whenever you like. (Unless we run specific events in which case stay tuned).

Can I submit a redraw from Yashahime? Yes we accept redraws of any official art from the Inuyasha universe. That includes manga and anime, the movies, the sequel, computer games, magazine covers, whatever you are inspired by! Just please remember rule number two and include the original.

What if my art is NSFW?

Tumblr does not allow NSFW/18+ content so we ask that you first put a warning on your post for content and then link to something like a pixiv account or privatter account. Please be thoughtful about the fact that there are underage participants and viewers of this event.

[vizowrites]

I love your BlitzoxStriker twins! I’m just curious about something how are the twins born? Was via something like Mpreg magic or surrogacy? To be honest I’m all for an Mpreg Blitzo but that’s just me.

To be perfectly honest--and I know that this isn't everyone's thing, so if mpreg is not your cup of tea, please feel free to just headcanon that the twins exist in whatever fashion is most comfortable for you <3--my personal favorite headcanon for how the twins came to be is very much the same as yours. :) I think that there are actually a lot of interesting open questions for how a lot of of things that are just natural to us here on Earth [i.e. how day and night works in, what happens to the Hellborn and other denizens who are able to die when they're killed in Hell, and--of course--reproduction for those beings in Hell that are able to reproduce like the Hellborn] in the Helluva Boss/Hazbin Hotel universe. For all we know, maybe male imps can get pregnant. For all I know, ABO is ttly canon there. Honestly I'm sure that the canon prooooobably not going to be anything too different to how we're used to reproduction here on Earth, BUT since it hasn't been fully addressed yet, I'm happily taking the openness that fandom allows to just give my own explanation for how the twins exist. And that's why I also wholeheartedly invite anyone who likes the twins but doesn't want to think too hard about how they came to be, to just use their own imaginations to fill in the blanks. Surrogacy is great, magic is great, trans!Blitz is great, ABO dynamics is great, the Hell equivalent of the stork is great. Headcanon whatever makes you happiest Loves!! <3 <3

But yeah, I'm ttly on board the mpreg Blitz train myself. :)

Thank you so so much for this ask and I'm so happy you enjoy the twins!! If you haven't seen yet, PLEASE check out and give all of the love and support in the world to @wizardstove for her fanfuckingtastic character designs for them!! I still can't get over how amazing they are and I really can't thank them enough for drawing the twins like this--I've never had anyone gift me fanart like this before for my fandom ocs. ;3; <3 <3

Thanks again for the ask, Love!! Have a great day!!!!!

[roseyful]

Mars Red: Edge of the Nightmare - Review

Now, my Tumblr has been a bit quiet lately (been queuing a lot of things so then it wasn’t too quiet during my absence), but it has been for a good reason; last month I was approached [on my private twitter account] and asked if I would be able to playtest a game and write a review, and of course, being someone that enjoys games, especially those that follow an otome style, I had to say YES.

So its proud to say that after a while of playing the game, I finally get to write this review.

Now before I get into the game itself, I would like to take the moment to give appreciation to the team for being so helpful during my time of playtesting the game and before that, as not only would they let us know when there was an issue and the date had to be pushed back, they were so polite and helpful whenever I would run into a problem. That’s something you’d want to see in a gaming company and I’m so glad that my first experience with this company is one with positive results. I personally found no issues with the team themselves, and I do hope they keep this up after the release. Thank you favary for being so lovely and patient with me, and other beta testers.

Mars Red: Edge of The Nightmare was the game that they asked for me to play, however when I originally looked at their website, I couldn’t help but notice that the concept was originally one of a ‘Sound Theatre’, and while I couldn’t figure out what that was, I eventually was lead down a rabbit hole and ended up looking at the other things that Bun-O Fujisawa has worked in. Very interesting stuff, just like the game. However, it’s best to look at his other stuff in your own time.

Please note: I will be keeping this spoiler-free for the sake of letting people go in with no idea of what’s going on besides what I mention and on the website.

Story

The game is set in the early twentieth century in Japan, or better known as the Taisho, in which the website also says ‘[is] influenced by Romanticism’, in which vampires rule the night, as they could only feed off blood and those that stepped into the sun would surely die. Keen senses, incredible physical abilities, and yet they were still vulnerable. You see that very early on with the main character that we play as; Yutsufusa Yuki, a vampire whom became one against his will.

I will be honest, I did not like Yutsufusa when I first started playing, as I felt like he was a bit too willing to die, but that is something that you can overlook when you get further into the story. Yutsufusa is obviously one of the youngest in the group, due to the fact he wears the more ‘modern’ [at the time] clothing out of everyone, well, there is someone else who wears similar clothing but he’s human.

You control Yutsufusa throughout the game, influencing his voices and living his life through his eyes, him acting as the reader insert as you learn about the other characters and begin to grow a bond with them. While the story is a bit slow at first, it does start picking up around the middle-end of chapter 1 and the beginning of chapter 2 after you play the prologue, as you begin to assist “Code Zero” in their work to rid the world of vampires that wish to feast on humans..

Be mindful that there is an anime, however, Yutsufusa does not appear in it, as it focuses on the other main characters, so if you have watched the anime already be sure to remember that they’re either two separate timelines or different points in time. I do not want to confuse anyone with this.

The main cast is quite an interesting bunch, as it covers a wide range of personalities, and sometimes even time periods as you play through the game and unlock things; you might say you might learn a bit of history from it if you end up looking up some of the references I’ve found in the game. This is a great reflection on the idea of ‘immortality, and even has moments where said immortality leans into a few jokes (such as knowledge of birds).

If you’ve played games such as ‘Ikemen Revolution’, you may be familiar with the ticket system. Every day you’re allowed a certain amount of tickets to progress through the story, however, if you run out of tickets and you must read more, then you’re able to progress the story via using ‘amber’, the game’s currency that you can use for different functions. However, this is not needed, as every day your tickets will be replenished. I personally found myself not even needing to use my amber, as I would always wait for the next day. There are mini-stories that you can get if you finish a chapter within a certain amount of time, but I personally don’t find them to progress the story a lot after I read the first one I got. Then again I had other things to occupy my time while I wanted as well. If you wish to reread chapters, you get a bonus third option of currency; coins. Coins can be used to reread chapters in the place of amber or tickets, which means that you can grind out coins via the exploration option in order to see more options (looked at a bit later).

I personally found the story to be engaging, between the use of minigames (or investigations, covered a bit later), it broke up the reading with fun activities that progressed the story.

Is the game an Otome?

No! I was shocked as well when I saw the all-male cast since I was wondering if I was playing a boys love game, but in the end, I was pleasantly surprised to find out that this is actually a detective game. While it may carry the usual look of an otome, with the story and choices of how you speak influencing the endings of chapters, the game more feels like one of finding new friends and solving kick-ass investigations than finding romance. It’s refreshing.

This is especially true between the minigames in which helps influence the story that is all very unique in their own way and do not seem repetitive once you get into the flow of how they work.

Minigames

The minigames come forward in two forms; investigation, interrogation, and infer. Investigation sounds exactly how you’d expect, as you have to poke around and look at things, which you can review in a little notebook that sits in the top right of your screen in the case you need to review what you’ve looked at. When I was first launched into this section for the first time, I had a little trouble remembering exactly what I needed to look at (as I was given a set of things to tap), however, I do have to thank the team for thinking ahead and adding the option to be able to watch ads in order to see what you need to do. This was one of the two times I’d have to watch ads, as they don’t shove them in your face every few seconds like most mobile games do which is rather nice. Sometimes you gain information or items that you have to use later, so it’s a good idea to keep track of what you look at.

Interrogation acts as a question-based information gathering, in which you talk to NPCs in order to gather information to use in the investigation. Like Investigation, these points are put into your notebook for later.

Infer takes the first two investigation segments and combines the information, as you now get interrogated by one of the main characters, and you must respond back with the proper information in order to make sure that this segment is successful. You are able to read back on the notes from the other segments at this point by pressing the button with the book icon in the upper right corner, as this aids you in selecting the right answers. When I first came to this section, I did feel under pressure due to it, but it was interesting to see the negative answers from the character if I got it wrong.

Exploration is another part of the game, that while outside the story, there are parts that require a certain amount of story points in order to clear ‘point blocks’. This is where you get the coins from and frankly is good to use once you have finished using all your tickets for the day and want to use the rest of the time to grind coins. During the exploration, you set up 2 characters, a place, and a set [in real life] time of how long you want them to be out and about. Depending on the number of points earned, you may earn something called a ‘mummer’, which reveals more about the characters you chose to send out, and even get dialogue of the characters interactions (which can be pretty funny in itself) that shows the dynamic of the two characters- are they friends? Are things tense? You get to learn more by sending them out together.

Artstyle

As an artist, I was incredibly pleased with the art of the game, as the characters do not look the game, there are different body types and ages (from teen to elder), you never had to look at the same face twice for two characters. I will be honest, I do wish the characters were a bit more ‘animated’ with their expressions (such as body movement when they’re feeling certain emotions), however other than that, the sprites are magnificent.

The backgrounds are also really interesting to look at and even tell so much story before you even start investigating within the investigation sections. The design team also needs props, because while a few characters are wearing similar outfits, they’re all wearing them in different ways which shows their character and even the way they probably fight. Though I will say I am a bit biased towards Takeuchi, then again, I really enjoy fun and loud characters in general, and his hair is interesting in a sea of mostly black, purple, silver or blonde hair. Maybe will make a fanart of him in the future if I learn to draw his eyepiece. (on that note, please release the full sprites for us artists to reference, we’d love you eternally for it haha).

Oh no, it’s a-

Yes, its a bit of a gacha game, however, you do not need to actually play the gachas in order to progress through the game; it mostly just unlocks bits of story for those that want to have extra stories, or just want that extra dose of dopamine (haha, me). As someone who plays gacha games ever since they turned 13, I was glad that this game isn’t actually gacha centric, and thus is very free-to-play friendly due to this.

Who would I recommend this for and would I recommend it myself?

Personally, I think this is a game that suits the niche of those that enjoy a good mystery and even play those ‘find an item’ games, mixed in with those that enjoy reading otomes and history. Maybe even someone that enjoys theatre since there’s a character that does theatre. Would I personally recommend it? Yes, I would. The game is very interesting and engaging, the staff behind the game are so lovely.

Once more, here’s the game’s website link ❤️: https://marsred-game.net/en/