#Project: April and friends

[lanavecorona]

today i offer you tmnt art. tomorrow???? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[luckyashes]

does anyone know what this is translated, or the context within on why Robo Nene is there 😰

[w1f1n1ghtm4r3]

kyushumi mizunene butterfly yuri

[fabuloustrash05]

Not saying I hate April's character growth and her development into becoming a skillful kunoichi and learn to control her powers (good for her!) but sometimes on rewatch, I miss April's short era of just being "normal teen girl who's life got crazier after meeting the Turtles" and I kinda wish it went on for a bit longer.

The April that could only defend herself with the stuff she can find nearby like a poll or her book bag, pretending to be an undercover cop to get info for the Turtles, breaking into Kraang/Foot Clan hideouts just cause, and had zero ninja experience and knew nothing about her powers yet but still put herself through the dangers cause she's THAT girl.

[dailyhtfboards]

Good news: Some of the Season 3 storyboards are online! Admittedly, I had to get this one from the Fandom wiki, but hey, it's official. (By the Seat of Your Pants)

Oh sick!!! Good to know they’re somewhere online at least <333 Also can I just say that caption cracked me up? I love when the board artists add silli stuff to the captions <333

[dailypjsekaipolls]

Daily Pjsekai Poll #61

[citruscitrushope]

The outfits for the April Fools units just being recolors ticked me off so I made my own with the power of photo editing and dress-up mode, under the cut :D

Since the main difference in Leo/need's outfits beyond the colors is their jackets and bows, I figured the same would apply to Aoharu/friends. Airi's is sleeveless like an idol's outfit, and Ena's is closed so she doesn't get paint and such on her shirt while doing art. Airi wears her ties as bows in her hair, and Ena's is a bow to emphasize cuteness and such.

Even though MORE MORE JUMP's standard outfits are already quite uniform, I wanted to give YUME YUME JUMP's more personalized traits, not only the ones shown in their live2ds but also Shiho's shorts and socks, An's knee socks and fingerless gloves, and Kanade's undershirt and leggings. The group also all wear flowers in their hair, An no longer having the stars in her hair due to no longer being a street musician, and Kanade's being attached to headphones to both help with her composing and so she isn't overwhelmed by noise and such as an idol.

I wanted to give Tsukasa and Rui more street musician-esque outfits and hairstyles, thus their anniversary hairstyles are used with Tsukasa wearing Len's No seek No find outfit and Rui wearing Akito's Find A Way Out one. Not much to say here, I just wanted Tsukasa and Toya to have matching necklaces and for Rui to still look whimsical whilst being a street musician.

I feel like Happiness Sentai Sunny-Sunny Wonder☆ have the best outfits of the five (seeing as, you know, they're not all the same thing), but I wanted to try and give them outfits that emphasize both their "ranger" concept and their stage names (Sunny-Sunny Happy Emu, Goodness/Darkness Smile Mafuyu, Stoic Challenger Haruka, Makeover Beast Kohane).

"That's just Painful Hope Haruka" shhhh shhh shush

I'm not sure why, but I feel like decora fits Fellow Hobbyists on Days Off a lot, at least going off of their Venom 2DMV, they just deserve to be pink and mildly over the top and somewhat edgy and yay.

[cielosuerte]

so fucking busy the rest of the year. being alive is awesome :]

[darlingpoppet]

Snippet Saturday—Where The Dead Forget Chapter 8

I’ve been banging away at this chapter for the last month or so, but it’s another doozy so I’m thinking it’ll take at least another month or so before it’s finally ready. In the meantime, here is the first 1k in somewhat decent condition. Something a bit light-hearted for once!

It was summer when Achilles and Patroclus left Mount Pelion and returned home to Phthia, well before the cold season. Their homecoming had been planned just a few days out from Achilles’ next birthday. It was to be particularly auspicious that year, for it was the one in which he would come of age, and at last be named a man. Those intermittent days therefore were ones of transition, as the two of them re-acclimated to palace life after their idyllic, isolated lifestyle on the mountain.

The morning on the eve of Achilles’ birthday found them in bed together, listening to the ambience of the ocean that they had long missed, the sound drifting into the airless room on a cool breeze from the window. Their bodies were joined in a careless tangle of limbs, still slick with sweat and heavy with warmth after lovemaking. Achilles’ face was buried in the hollow of Patroclus’ throat—he hummed softly as Patroclus cradled the back of his head, stroking him gently.

“The sun is rising higher and growing hot,” Patroclus remarked. “It will make drills miserable if we tarry much longer.”

His skin was beaded with moisture, but Achilles made no effort to move away—instead nestling closer into his heat, the smell of him, his beating pulse, all around him.

“Then perhaps we ought to forego them just for today,” he said. “I could not possibly move from this spot—not even if Lord Poseidon himself were to open up a fissure underneath the palace right at this moment and bring it all crashing down.”

Patroclus’ laugh rumbled against Achilles’ ear. He lifted Achilles’ head, bringing their faces close, and the sound muffled against Achilles’ lips. There was a fond lilt even in his reproach:

“What is this? Of all the things in the entire world, I did not think it were possible for my Achilles to forsake something so important as his drills.”

Achilles only clung tighter to Patroclus in response, so that he could not pull away from him—though Patroclus did not bother to try.

“Oh, can I not have a lie-in, just this once? I will be a man grown in one day’s time… I should be allowed to indulge in the careless leisure of boyhood one last time. The only spear I wish to practice with today is this one.” Achilles slipped a mischievous hand down in between Patroclus’ thighs. His companion gasped softly, and then chuckled, pressing his own hand against Achilles’, so that he might stay his movements.

“Have mercy, please,” he crooned, playfully beseeching. “I cannot hope to keep up with appetites blessed by divinity. At least give us a few more minutes of rest.”

“You would not stop me, then? I thought you would be displeased by your lazy prince.”

Patroclus extracted Achilles’ hand, placing it instead onto a jutting hipbone at his side. He pressed their hips against one another, their bodies now fully flush. Then, wrapping his arms around Achilles, it felt as though there wasn’t any one part of them that wasn’t touching. Achilles shivered at the feeling, despite the shared heat between them.

“Your entire existence is a continuous blessing,” Patroclus murmured into his mouth. “There is nothing that you could ever do that would possibly displease me.”

Some time later, when their growling stomachs became too insistent to ignore and at last roused them from bed, Achilles and Patroclus were passing through a corridor when they encountered Master Phoinix. The old man seemed in a hurry, rounding a corner with some speed and a sense of purpose. He stopped suddenly upon spotting the boys.

“Ah, there you are,” he said. “We did not see you at breakfast, and so your father began to wonder where you had gone off to. I had just been sent to go fetch you.”

“What does my father want?” Achilles asked.

“He has received tidings that he wishes to share with you both. He waits for you now.”

Master Phoinix turned around and began striding back in the direction he came; the boys follow him. After a moment, he turned his head around to look askance at them, and his steps slowed so that he could walk alongside them.

“Why Patroclus,” the old man said with a paternal air. “You appear rather out of sorts. Are you well?”

The question caused Patroclus’ still tinted colors to deepen. As if paranoid he had forgotten himself, he hastily smoothed down his tunic, checking the fastenings, and combed his fingers through his hair.

“Yes, sir,” he answered stiffly as he fussed.

Master Phoinix did not appear to be satisfied by this. He eyed Achilles sternly.

“Has Achilles been taking you along with him for early spear practice again?” When the boys did not answer, he sighed, taking their bemused silence for a tacit confession.

“I know the two of you are still accustomed to the solitude of Mount Pelion and the careful supervision of Master Chiron… but surely there is a good reason your mother did not wish for others to watch you fight, let alone face against you, Achilles. Your father defied her will and made an exception for Patroclus because he is your companion, but still you must remember to use restraint and not overextend him so. Is that understood?”

“I do not think you have to worry about it, sir. Patroclus enjoys it.”

Patroclus made a quiet, strained sound next to him. Achilles bowed his head with rueful affect, not daring to look at either Master Phoinix or Patroclus in the eye, and give away his composure.

“Well, be that as it may,” said Phoinix, finding nothing amiss. “I should not like to see him swept up in your schemes, if you please. He has a tendency to do so to his own detriment.”

“Yes, sir,” Achilles replied solemnly.

“Very well, then. Trust that I do not say this to wound anyone’s pride… I am simply an old and fussy caretaker, after all.” They reached the doors to King Peleus’ audience chamber, and he opened it, stepping aside to allow Achilles and Patroclus to pass through first. “Go on, then.”

[whattraintracks]

A BUFFY STAN?? BRO THATS SO REAL !!

(im pumpkinpie59 btw fjdkdkd)

Heck yeah, I'm a Buffy stan!! I loved "Poor Little Rich Turtle" because I loved her. Absolute crime we didn't get more of her. I am constantly haunted by the fact that I must create the content with her that I want to see. So thank you for your adorable art!!

[r1k-y9]

Prolonged Communications

April can usually keep her composure cool, calm, and collected but mutant turtles? Walking-talking unexpectedly tall rat? Aliens that speak broken English? Mutatagen? She's pretty sure that a typical teenager doesn't experience this kind of thing but she's not exactly any typical teenager, now is she?

Casey wanted one day in school to run wild and free, with no goodie teachers sending him to detention, and have fun every day. It would also be great if his best friend would stop ignoring him but eh, life can't always be happy, now can it?

You shake your nerves out as you rode the taxi cab to your new apartment. Goodbye Japan and hello New York City. Welcome, it's your new home. Hopefully, it's not that bad, right?

__________

[w1f1n1ghtm4r3]

kyushumi nene in the new nene 2* outfit

[terrazooid]

Just some silly au doodles of my guys

[probablyaseamonster]

Me: I don’t have any ROTTMNT headcanons. I mean, I know that Leo’s probably gay and April might be a lesbian and Donnie and Mikey being neurodivergent is sort-of canon, but like I don’t really care-

Sunita: *talks*

Me: Autistic. She’s autistic. I am her, we are kin. I want to jump into the screen and be friends with her right now. I want to make a green googly tbh creechur now in her honour. When do you get to cameo in TOH fanworks. You are precious and the fandom doesn’t talk about you enough and guess what you’re aro-ace because I say so.

[pers-books]

Nicola Coughlan Raised Over £70,000 for Trans Rights Following U.K. Court Ruling

The Bridgerton star called the ruling “stomach turning and disgusting.”

Allen J. Schaben/Getty Images

Bridgerton star Nicola Coughlan has raised over £70,000 (roughly $96,000) for the trans charity Not A Phase following the U.K. Supreme Court’s Wednesday ruling that the legal definitions of “man” and “woman” are based on a person’s “biological sex.”.

The ruling’s long-ranging effects are still up in the air, but it is poised to have chilling, far-ranging effects on trans rights in the U.K. As legal researcher Jess O’Thompson explained on LGBTQ+ news site Queer AF, trans people in the U.K. can now be excluded from all “single-sex” spaces under any circumstances and cannot make equal pay claims.

British anti-trans advocates have been publicly celebrating the news, including Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling, who posted a photo of herself enjoying a cigar and drink on X with the caption “I love it when a plan comes together” after reportedly donating over £70,000 to For Women Scotland, the anti-trans organization that had brought the Supreme Court case forward. Yet other U.K. celebrities, like Coughlan, have wasted no time publicly reaffirming their support for the trans community in the ruling’s aftermath.

On April 17, Coughlan took to Instagram to announce that she was launching a fundraiser for Not A Phase, a trans charity that aims to improve the lives of trans adults across the U.K. “through awareness campaigning, social projects, and funding trans+ lead initiatives,” per the organization’s official website. The actress originally set a fundraising goal of £10,000 and pledged to match donations up to that amount.

“To see an already-marginalized community… be further attacked in law is really stomach turning and disgusting, and these people celebrating it [are] more stomach turning and disgusting,” Coughlan said in a video. “If you are a cisgender person who is an ally of a trans person, I think now is the time to just… speak up and make your voice heard, and let your trans, nonbinary friends and just the community at large know that you’re there for them and will keep fighting for them.”

Just an hour after launching the fundraiser, Coughlan shared on her Instagram Story that fans had already met her £10,000 target. In just over 24 hours, the fundraiser has raised well over £70,000 at the time of writing. She has since set a new fundraising goal of £79,699.21 (roughly $105,725).

Coughlan isn’t the only cis U.K. celebrity who’s spoken out on behalf of trans rights following the Supreme Court’s ruling. On April 17, The White Lotus star Aimee Lou Wood re-shared a post from LGBTQ+ activist Ellen Jones to her Instagram Story denouncing the ruling.

“Pure rage,” Wood captioned her story. “This country is a hell hole.”

Coughlan’s Bridgerton co-star, Charitha Chandran, also called out the ruling in an April 17 TikTok that has received over 2.3 million likes.

“How pathetic to target one of the most oppressed groups in our society,” Chandran said. “Honestly? Loser behaviour… You don’t care about women. You just want to target those who are already oppressed.”

[dilfosaur]

well i haven't spilled my guts on tumblr since i was in college but it's the platform that's felt The Most Mine thru the years, so

let's talk!

i've had a huge chip on my shoulder that i wanted off before the year ends. very bad professional experience to follow

so firstly to get ahead of the speculating, i'm not naming names or anything. some of you will puzzle out who i'm talking about, but please don't bother anyone especially not on my behalf. i've worked hard to distance myself from them the past few months. shit happens, especially when you're a dumb bitch (that's me!)

but also this person was someone i considered a close friend and it makes me uneasy to possibly direct backlash at them. "then why post about it" bc i did intermittent work for them for over a year. this is just about that. so hear me out

basically it started off fine. i initially did some commission work for good pay, then was invited to become more involved with their team. unfortunately as i became more involved with their operation it became more disorganized over time. projects started then forgotten, constantly shifting schedules, lapsing communication between roles, confusing financials, and often inconsistent if not late payments. during mid 2023 i was doing colorist work, sometimes on a one day turnaround (all while also preparing drawfee's summer merch launch). the payroll wasn't set up correctly so i wasn't paid for that work for over a year (more on that later), tho to be fair that was largely my own fault at first as i just didnt realize the payments didn't go thru lol

i always consider myself decently capable of separating friendship and coworker-ship; i run a company with 4 wonderful friends, going strong for almost 5 years. that didn't really work out in this case. by early this year our friendship was on the rocks; work issues fed into personal issues and vice versa. so as the rest of this shit plays out, we had just had our first "big fight" which i felt very bad about and added to all the upcoming tension

a huge point of friction was the fact that i really wanted to work with them to make a music video for one of their songs. i've always wanted a chance to make a music video, was confident in a concept i came up with, and even did some concept art for the idea. everyone insisted they loved the concept and that we should do it, but we kept pushing it back for various reasons. it ended up becoming a huge sticking point for my frustrations, which i tried to express productively. TLDR, we eventually got around to discussing it seriously around april.

i planned to ask for $4000 with negotiable add-on for the whole project, which was my Friend Discount price. i was offered a contract for $1000 flat rate, as they insisted that was the only budget they had for it.

don't ask me why i signed it lol. i didn't even counter offer

there was some girlmath to it: i wanted an extra 1k for a student scholarship i provide every spring and well, there it was. but if i had to guess, i saw it as something i just couldn't back down from any more. i caused these folks- my friends- a lot of problems bc i dug my heels in so deep to chase this project, so fuck it we ball

i had about 4 months to solo a 3 minute music video. they wanted it done in august so they could release it before summer ended, bc "it was a summer song". to be fair i was asked if i needed them to pay for anything extra like assistants (which i would have to find and manage) but i was so immediately overwhelmed that i didn't wanna slow down to wait on that process lol. there was very minimal communication other than brief progress check-ins every few weeks. i did everything for that project myself: the original concept, character designs, storyboards, layouts, backgrounds. i even did the editing/compositing for the final cut of the MV. the only favor i did myself was limiting the amount of it that was actually animated to simple loops and motions. hardly my best work but it was work still done

i did it all in between my full time job. i ended up having to take nearly a month away from most of my drawfee duties (with the support of the others) to make the august deadline. i only ever asked for a 3 day extension (notice given about a week in advance, around the same time i was given the final song file lol). i finished the music video at 6am on the final deadline and recorded drawfee the next day on 2 hours of sleep

but it was done, coolies. the team was very happy with the final product. honestly, without getting into it, those were a very emotionally taxing 4 months. on the professional side, i regretted agreeing to the project and especially for the dogshit rate they offered. i felt like a hypocrite- as someone who always wanted to advocate for younger artists demanding their worth in a world that's getting increasingly hostile toward creatives, i failed myself

so when i met with the manager to discuss the release plan, i told them to do whatever worked best for them as i only had one request: i wanted my credit removed from the project

tbh... like... lmao this dramatic bitch right!! but really, i decided that bad practices only breed worse business. friends or not, it was unprofessional of me to accept such a low paying job so i just didn't want my name used in association. everything felt so muddled to me and i was just really tired at this point

the manager was very understanding and then offered that i could be paid more. they said that their team "was surprised" i accepted their low rate and they would be happy to up the amount. this confused me as the initial budget seemed pretty set and at no point between april and august was i offered a better rate. i knew these guys weren't made of money. so, i declined. i didn't want to put anyone out of their means over work that was already done and agreed upon. but more importantly, i was over the whole thing and didn't want to prolong the project with a contract renegotiation. i just insisted my name be removed

they decided to use a pseudonym (which i was fine with) so they could create a story about a character who made the MV (this sounds really convoluted but i don't know how better to put it without getting specific, sorry). that way if people asked about the credit, they could speak comfortably about it without signaling that something went wrong behind the scenes. ok, kind of a silly narrative imo but whatevs. and maybe this is where i finally went truly wrong but. yolo i guess

i gave the name "D. Smithee", D as in dilfosaur and Smithee as in Alan Smithee. look it up for fun film trivia ig! was it passive aggressive of me to reference that in this context? yeah, honestly. but i thought it was kinda funny and really not that deep. if it was a problem, i have other real, non-cheeky pseudonyms i regularly use. the manager accepted it and all i had to do was wait for them to post the video and i could leave the whole experience behind me

a week later i received a message from the manager that my pseudonym had been denied by the rest of the team bc one of them got the reference. fair enough lol. however, they decided that rather than ask for a different name, the were going to make one up for me that they liked and would "fit the [story]", without asking me

and that! is when i finally snapped!

i was so tired of giving them concessions at this point and having a credit made up for me without any input from me felt genuinely violating and unethical. i started to Panic bc of how stressed i was, and asked for my overdue payments (aka the $500 still owed on the MV, and the colorist rate from a year prior that was never paid even tho i reported it in january) to be scheduled ASAP as i was leaving the work discord immediately

i finally told them off for exploiting me throughout the months while i kept trying to just be nice and finish my contact cleanly. in return i was told that it was unfair to say that as i agreed to everything- i accepted their cheap rate and denied further payment so that was all settled, and it was ok to change my credit without my consent bc i "said they could do whatever with the release". i called bullshit, ended the convo as kindly as i could, and cried lol. they agreed to ditch the pseudonym and just give no credit. that night was the last i heard from anyone on that team

and the real kicker?

august came and went. then september, october... and they never released the music video

and i don't know why, because i was never contacted about it. i've been removed from the picture entirely i guess. 4 months and boatloads of stress. just. up in smoke. i don't know what i expected honestly

it's hard to not take everything that happened personally and as done in bad faith. i really do, honestly. i've had plenty of shitty deals in my almost 10 year art career, but it hits different from people you saw as friends. but to the point of "why not keep it private", i have never felt so disrespected as a professional as i did this past year. i can toy with money and credits and other formalities all i want, but my work- my ideas, my labor, my effort- is still so important to me. i felt like the biggest idiot for doing so much work, pouring so much of myself into a piece for someone's use, for what has amounted to nothing

but more importantly i hated myself for undervaluing my work, even if initially i thought this person was a trusted friend. money is not really an issue for me- drawfee is my main job and i am fine and comfortable. it's so important to pay artists appropriately but i often undersell my own work bc i value the collaboration and passion between creatives more than the reward. i think a lot of artists tend to feel the same, and it often makes us easy to take advantage of. it's so difficult to find the balance between passion and making a fair living, and i think there's some shame within ourselves when artists choose to prioritize that passion

i wanted to finally get all this off my chest bc i was ashamed of every choice i made. things like this happen all the time i'm sure and hiding these mistakes only make it easier for it to happen to other people

tldr always value your work and protect your passion from people who just see it as a product. and don't give cheeky pseudonyms i guess lol

(and again pls don't bother anyone involved about this. a lot of chaos has left my life as i moved past all this, and this is me closing a door without opening new ones hopefully lol)

this shit was truly

so ass.

but i'm moving past it now

but on a nicer note. outside of all of this nonsense, i made lots of good memories this year. i'm truly so grateful to the many wonderful people in my life who keep me going even when i fuck up big time!

and thank you to all of you strangers who, despite everything, give me the time of day. especially if you read this whole thing. you're a real one :')

happy new year!