#a rough tutorial on How To Gun

[eldritchmochi]

i am going to become an intimacy coordinator but specifically for cosplayers and their guns

[mauesartetc]

Hey. I want to draw robots how do I do it? Is there something way to do it?

I’m flattered you’d come to me for this, seeing as I’ve shown maybe two drawings of the same robot on this account, lol. The Etherington Brothers have some great tutorials on the subject (in addition to numerous others).

But I'd say first and foremost you should consider what the robot was designed to do. What is its purpose?

Take Wall-E. He was designed to pick up trash and compress it into cubes. Thus, his body is cube-shaped, providing a mold for the shape the trash will take on. His hands are broad and his arms extend so they can bring in a sufficient amount of junk in one swoop, and he has treads to help him move around on rough terrain. And of course, the cameras in his eyes help him see where he's going.

But then there's also the question of how futuristic you want your robot to look. Wall-E's rust, angular edges, and visible seams give him a sort of antiquated appearance. Compare this to Eve, who has a sleek design that's elegant in its simplicity.

Eve enters the story as a mysterious figure. At first glance, we don't even know what she does other than fly and hover. We soon realize, though, she can use her arm as a gun, form the tips of her arms into fingers, and open a secret compartment in her body to store plant life. As Arthur C. Clarke once wrote, "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic". It just depends on where you want your robot to fall on the spectrum between fantasy and reality.

Finally, as with every character design, you’ll want to consider shape symbolism to visually convey the robot’s unique combination of traits. Is it friendly or threatening? Feeble or strong? Hopeful or pessimistic?

I think the biggest question, though, is why you want to draw robots in the first place. What inspired you? How do you plan to channel that inspiration into something new?

Hope that helps!

[ren-from-mars]

The awaited shrink plastic earring walkthrough (NOT A TUTORIAL!! DO SOME OF YOUR OWN RESEARCH PLEASE)

Hello hi hello! I've made a few pairs of earrings now, and especially on the Black Book pair I've gotten a few folks asking for instructions on how I did it!

The images are sorted by number so I could fit them all in one post. I am also still very much learning as I have only made a few of these myself, so please do your own experimentation and research to better understand the processes!

Let's get right into it !

I start by making up the rough idea in the size I would like the finished product. This will be my reference for all measurements.

I then use my shrink ruler (a 10cm by 10cm square with markings, then shrunk for a fairly accurate translation of size) to figure out the rough dimensions of the un-shrunk design.

I use the centimeter measurement to draft the rough size and shape of the design.

Connect the lines together with each measurement.

5. Make the design more fluid/more alike the original design based on the drafted shape.

6. Repeat the same for any extra shapes. The moon circles needed a 2cm diameter.

7. Place the shrink plastic over the design, and trace the rough shape onto it using any form of marker. non-permanent is preferred.

8. Lay out the pieces, and dont forget to flip the designs if applicable.

9. Start transferring the design onto the shrink plastic using the markers of your choice. Hold the cut plastic over the template to get accurate markings.

10. Wait for the marker to dry around the edges of the design before doing the next colour. This applies no matter what sort of marker you are using.

11. To get mirrored designs, finish one and flip it over, then use that as the new template.

12. finish the pieces, and add back designs if applicable. Use a hole punch to make space for the jump rings.

13. Shrinking time! use a heat gun to shrink the plastic according to its attached instructions. Be careful of heating up metal/pliers/tweezers, they get Very Hot Very Quick

14. I use UV resin to set in the design. I use a toothpick to spread the resin, then cure it under the UV light. Refer to individual product instructions for curing time, it varies heavily!

15. Gather and assemble any extra pieces, such as beads, jump rings, earring posts, and base pieces.

16. place two pieces on an opened jump ring, then close it to lock in the positioning. Make sure the pieces are in the right direction!

--Not pictured- Glue the earring posts on the back of the earring. Not applicable with hook earrings

17. do the same for the bottom pieces, once again ensuring they face in the correct direction. Jump rings can be undone, but it weakens the metal to be constantly bent.

18. Display and wear!

And the finished Product!

Once again, do some of your own research, This is mostly just my personal guide for how I make earrings currently! The same logic can be applied to charms.

A few things I have learnt-

Use permanent marker where possible. Paint pens like the ones I have used will shrink unnaturally, and crack on the surface meaning it is even more necessary to seal the design.

Make your own test square- different brands of shrink plastic will shrink differently, at different ratios and sometimes unnaturally. It is also a good opportunity to test how your markers work on the plastic, and which thicknesses are best for fine details.

Don't expect them to turn out the same each time- If you are making multiple of one design, remember that it is by hand and not a perfect manufactured piece. There will always be variations, so go into it with that knowledge.

Use each pair as a learning experience- Now that I've made this design, I know that I would like the wings to be larger by about a centimeter, so I will adjust the template before making a new one. Always learn something new from it!

Feel free to ask any questions, I am more than happy to answer! I do hope to sell some earrings in the future, so keep an eye out for that as well!

REQUESTED TAGS! @im-not-a-l0ser @strangeandinteresting

[camerasuits]

How I do my Bucket heads!!

Hello! This is how I do my bucketheads and after a lot of trail and error this is my favorite method!

—-

Materials needed:

- foam: I use 1.5 inch from Walmart for this specific project

- scissors

- flexible measuring tool

- hot glue gun and hot glue sticks

- sharpie or other marking tool

-optional clips: I used sewing clips to clamp foam while the hot glue cooled down

———

Step 1: cutting out the foam

I measure my head for this step, and I roughly got a 65cm circumference for my head and a 25cm height. For the height I added on extra to make it 40cm so I can cut the triangles to close off the top in the future.

Next I divided the 65 cm by 4 to mark my future triangles. I used all the area above the 25cm mark to add these lines. I then cut these lines after.

—

Step 2: Glueing the Tube

Here I glued to make a tube shape (this is where the head will fit inside). I did not glue the areas I marked off for the triangles, which is any of the space above the 25 cm mark.

—

Step 3: Cutting out the Triangles

Next up I cut the pieces dedicated for triangles into actual triangles! This results in the head having this kind of crown shape.

—

Step 4: Modifying and Glueing the triangles

I wanted all the triangle pieces to converge in the middle so I trimmed accordingly. From there I glued all of them in.

—

Step 5: marking area for the eyes and trimming to better fit my head

I slipped the buckethead on once the glue had dried and marked my facial features accordingly (nose, eyes, and mouth). I also added a dart below the facial features to better fit on my face.

From then I trimmed the bottom of the head itself, in the way shown below. This makes it so I can look up with maximum mobility. (The back of the head is shown in the picture below)

—

Step 6: cutting out the facial features

Using the guides I made from step 4 (and some extra ones I drew in later on) I created a rough area that would allow for me to see and breath.

-

And the bucket head is finished!! This is a very rough tutorial and my first ever one, so I hope it makes sense! Thankyou for viewing :)

[csleko]

Hero Forge: My "Souls-Borne" Characters so far...

I've cleared Bloodborne enough times to get platinum, and still enjoy going back to it every once in a while. It's undeniably my favorite of all Fromsoft's titles (that I've played, but I don't think DS3 or Sekiro are likely to usurp it when/if I get around to them.)

Anyway, I had a seriously rough go of it trying to get through Dark Souls 1, starting two attempts that ended in rage quits extremely early on. First try didn't even make it TO Undead Berg because I got lost right at the start and got eaten by endlessly regenerating skeletons, second try I managed to actually beat the first Taurus Demon, and don't remember exactly what I got stuck on and inevitably rage quit again, but it happened.

It was only my THIRD attempted playthrough- after getting hooked on Bloodborne and making use of the same strategies- that I was able not only to actually see the rest of the game (which I had up to that point theorized didn't even exist and any known details were just part of an elaborate inside joke among people pretending to have made it that far), but actually beat it.

And finally overcoming such an infamously difficult game was cause for some kind of celebration, so I immortalized the Chosen Undead I took from the Undead Asylum to the Kiln of the First Flame...as a Hero Forge figure trying my best to match the loadout I had when I defeated Gwyn. The Gargoyle Tail Axe carried me through the ENTIRE game after I got it.

THEN. I did what any sane person who hated every step of Dark Souls would do after finally beating it...I played Dark Souls 2. Again. After my two rage-quits of 1, I thought maybe 2 would be better and fix at least SOME of the things I hated about 1...

NOT SO. ONCE AGAIN I went the "wrong way" and got obliterated by a bunch of giant knights that, given my "I literally just got out of the tutorial area" level, each qualified as a boss fight by themselves even though they were just normal-ass enemies.

ATTEMPT #2 WOULD BE DIFFERENT, THOUGH. I beat Bloodborne AND Dark Souls 1, after all. It would be painful, no doubt, but possible. And no, it was decidedly NOT better than 1. I discovered entirely new things to hate about it in ADDITION to the returning obnoxiousness from 1.

But I slogged through, raged at the bad parts, acknowledged a few good parts, and EVENTUALLY the Bearer of the Curse became Queen of Drangleic by taking the throne (in contrast to to how I ended the previous game by *not* doing that.) Another Hero Forgery was in order! This one was a bit tougher just because of how much unique armor and gear there was. The life-stealing Butcher's Knife became my favorite after favoring various axes up to the point where I got it.

With that, my Dark Souls journey is done until 3 goes on a decent sale, but I did get Elden Ring, and that's actually been a ton of fun! Not "dethrone Bloodborne" fun, but it can comfortably take 2nd place in my rankings.

At the time of posting this, I haven't actually beaten it yet, but I am AT the final boss, and it's a massive Fromsoft-level pain in the ass. I'm sure I can do it, and I'm on track for the "marry the pretty moon witch lady" ending once I do, so I jumped the gun a bit and made...

I spent far longer than I care to admit trying to make something look like Ghiza's Wheel, AKA the Whirligig Saw, AKA the Pizza Cutter, but I just couldn't get anything to work for the blades.

NOW. If you've read this far, you're probably wondering something like, "Wait, you said Bloodborne was your favorite, so why didn't you make one of these for that game?" I didn't make a "Bloodborne Neiri" because my original Bloodborne character, and the one I first beat the game with was actually Tailii. I didn't make Neiri as a character until I realized that NG+2 Laurence was just too much for Tailii to handle. So I started a new character, played through the whole game again, and was able to take out Laurence and the Orphan of Kos, and get its weapon drop for the platinum.

Only after that did I decide to give the other Souls games another chance, and start making the different versions of Neiri in Hero Forge. For the sake of completion, I made Bloodborne Neiri after finishing the Elden Ring version.

And here she is. Because of how BB's armor system works, I actually frequently change outfits throughout the game, so neither Tailii nor Neiri ever had a consistent look, so I went with the Knight's Set purely for fashionable reasons.

Wow. This post ended up being a lot more text heavy than I planned.

If you want HF links to any of these, here:

Bloodborne

Dark Souls

Dark Souls 2

Elden Ring

[gertlushgaming]

Oceanhorn 2: Knights of the Lost Realm Review (PlayStation 5)

For this Oceanhorn 2: Knights of the Lost Realm Review. we play the sequel to the critically acclaimed action adventure. Experience a gorgeous new third-person 3D view and embark on an epic journey that unfolds the mysteries of what happened 1000 years ago.

Oceanhorn 2: Knights of the Lost Realm Review Pros:

- Beautiful graphics. - 2.77GB download size. - Platinum trophy. - 3 save slots along with a save backup system. - Ui scale slider. - Challenges act as the game's own in-game achievements and give rewards for completing them. - Action adventure gameplay. - Cutscenes are a mix of cutscenes and in-game sequences. - A full 3D world with full 360-degree camera control. - Fast loading time. - Has a strong Zelda vibe. - Cheerful upbeat soundtrack. - Bloodstone - hidden collectible. - Collect material drops and they then unlock and become accessible potions like health. - A caster gun allows you to shoot enemies from a distance. - Hack and slash combat. - Cut down shrubs, and bushes and smash crates, etc for drops. - Enemies drop exp crystals. - The map fills in as you play. - Search spots can be dug up for loot/materials. - Progress bars for crafting/challenges/missions pop up as you build it up. - Tutorial sign posts are scattered around the world but the core controls show on the screen. - Stamina system in place for swimming/climbing/running etc. - Can Invert the camera axis. - New dungeons/encounters will trigger a flyover of said place. - Play how you want. - Auto saves regularly. - Loot chests to find. - Running playtime clock on the menu. - Find heart shards to increase your health bar. - All enemies require different strategies to take out. - Earn EXP and level up to get rewards and your health topped back up. - Handy retreat button to travel back to the last save point. - Open world game with full control left to you. - Travel the world on your boat. - Missions come in both sides optional ones and the main progress is the story ones. - Get special shards that attach to weapons that make them stronger. - With your shield, you can deflect attacks but also use stamina and the shield to move certain objects. - Vending machines are where you can get some resources and upgrades. - Big boss encounters. - Unlock and use fast travel points. - You can recruit and have party members with you who act independently at times but you can give commands. Oceanhorn 2: Knights of the Lost Realm Review Cons: - The controls are a bit loose, not being able to toggle run or having a jump button or lock on makes it all a bit more tedious than simple tasks need to be. - Combat takes some getting used to. - Dropping down on ledges is a rough camera cut. - Sometimes it just feels like a Zelda game but with checklists. - Cannot drop down vines or climb them faster. - When you level up regardless of what's going on the camera turns to face you and stays there for a few seconds. - The leveling up feels redundant. - Mission/quest management is a nightmare, as you cannot mark/unmark missions, all side missions are one icon color regardless of how many you have. - Cannot place your own waypoints. - Sharp difficulty spikes. - The combat is very mashy. - Can be hard to know where to go or what's important. - Beautiful locations to explore. Related Post: Detective Archives Rain Code Review (Nintendo Switch OLED) Official website. Developer: Cornfox & Brothers Ltd. Publisher: fdg-entertainment.com Store Links - PlayStation Read the full article

[dancingroll]

How to Make Rope Mat

How to make rope mat - Coconut is a type of tropical fruit. That is well known for its benefits to human health. Coconut water is mainly used as a refreshing drink when it is lost due to strenuous activities. In some cases, coconut trees can be used almost partially. Therefore, coconut is called a multifunctional tree species. It never separates from community life. Especially, for those that live on the coast.

Generally, a coconut can only drink water from coconut water because of the lack of technology and information available to traditional farmers. Optimization of coconut fiber is not optimal because of the lack of intensive training. They need intensive training to increase the value and low quality of coconut products.

While various industries may use coconut products as basic materials for industrial purposes such as car upholstery, home furniture, mattresses, packaging, and ropes. Another advantage of coir is as a doormat. This rug has almost the same raw materials as palm fiber and coir brooms. Usually, this coconut mat is placed outside the house.

How to Make Rope Doormat Using Coconut Rope

Coconut coir is the primary material for the manufacture of various crafts. Rough coconut fiber is processed into fine coconut fiber in two ways. First, traditional methods (manual) and modern methods (mechanical). While the next one must be turned into a coconut fiber rope. The production of coconut rope is done by human resources, except for the separation of rough coconut fiber be

Here is a guide to making your own quick and easy doormat from coconut rope with a few inexpensive materials. This is a great hour or two-weekend project, perfect for a rainy day. Take your time with the gluing process. You will have a sturdy rug placed in a busy corridor or entrance.

MATERIALS:

Coconut coir rope. The amount needed depends on the size of the rug you want to make.

Inexpensive floor carpet.

Fast-drying construction adhesive. It is suitable for outdoor applications.

mounting gun

Cutter with a sharp blade

DIRECTIONS:

Cut all pieces of rope to size. Measure them to the length of the rug (cut the carpet to size if it's too big), then add an extra 2-3 inches at each end for the fringe.

Start applying the glue in rows and immediately lay the rope direct on the carpet. Press the pieces as tight as possible. If you're using glue that doesn't dry quickly, your ropes may move from where you put them, so put heavy books on top of these rows for a few hours.

Once your carpet is completely covered with a cord, grab some extra ropes and unwind the spools so that the fine threads work through the ends and keep the fringe untangling.

Weave the threads through and around each cord at the ends.

Unroll and fluff each end. It will be messy, but worth it!

And it's all! Here's how to make an outdoor rug in a few easy steps!

So what do you think of this awesome rope rope mat? Are you going to make one yourself? Let me know your thoughts on how to make rope doormat in the comments below and don't forget to rate this tutorial!

[carry-the-sky]

Hi could you do 14. touch on a bruise for brio please?

ahhh thanks for sending this one in!! have some post-s3 angst, hahaha. :)

(also on ao3)

.

The next time she sees him, he’s bleeding.

Okay, maybe not actively, but the jagged line of stitches etched above his ear looks like it’s seconds away from ripping open. Beth takes in the nasty bruise blooming along his jawline, the cut splitting his bottom lip.

“Um,” she says.

Rio smirks. “What’s up?”

“I—” she sputters, because he’s just standing there with that stupid, smug expression, like it’s the most normal thing in the world to drop by the showroom after hours looking like—that. “You—what happened?”

“Not your division, darlin’.”

He says it lightly enough, but Beth reads the undercurrent of warning in his voice like a neon sign. He wants her to drop it.

Well. She’s not feeling very incentivized to give him what he wants at the moment.

“It is when you bring that”—she pointedly eyes the stitches—“into my showroom. Those look awful, by the way. Did he do them?” She juts her chin toward Mick, who’s lurking in the doorway.

The two men share a look, and Mick folds his arms across his chest. “Maybe I did,” he grumbles. “YouTube’s got tutorials for everythin’.”

Beth glances between them both. She’s about to open her mouth—to say what, she has absolutely no idea—when Mick snorts, shaking his head at the same time that Rio’s mouth twists into a grin.

“Nah,” Rio says, still smiling as he casts a glance back at Mick. “Nah, he didn’t. Your concern’s duly noted, though.”

Mick makes another sound in his throat that he quickly covers by turning it into a cough. Beth’s face flames, but she draws herself up and meets Rio’s gaze head-on. Let him try to get a rise out of her—she knows better than to take that bait.

“Fine. What can I do for you, boss?” she says, spitting out that last word like it’s acid.

Rio’s eyes fall to the floor, but Beth can still see the ghost of a grin lingering at the corners of his mouth, like he knows he got under her skin. Like he’s won. For one furious second, she imagines how hard she’d have to hit him to split his lip, leave a bruise. She imagines hurting him and liking it.

But she doesn’t really have to, does she? Beth still remembers the weight of his gun in her hand, how the recoil from pumping the trigger once, twice, three times made her hand ache for days afterwards. She remembers him choking on his own blood, the sound of it filling up the loft—

No. No, she hadn’t liked any part of that. It’s a catch twenty-two; she hates him, she wants him dead, gone and out of her life, his name crossed out in permanent ink, but then—sometimes she doesn’t. It’s the not-knowing that keeps her circling the drain, pushing that damn boulder up the hill only to watch it come crashing down again and again.

She thinks she might hate that even more than she hates him.

Beth blinks, coming back to the office. Mick’s staring her down like a hawk, but Rio’s gaze is more appraising, head tilted to the side in a gesture that’s so familiar, so him, it makes her stomach flip.

“Just here for my cut,” he says, as nonchalant as if they’re discussing the weather. She hears the unspoken words as clearly as the night he said them—you, me, we. It’s just business.

Beth holds his gaze a second longer, then tugs a black duffel out from under her desk. She hands it off, dropping the straps like they burned her to avoid brushing her hand against his when he takes it from her. If he notices, he doesn’t show it.

“What, no mama bag this time?” he says, then presses his lips together like he’s trying not to grin.

Beth glares at Mick, who just shrugs. She snaps her eyes back to Rio, barely managing to unclench her teeth before asking, “Anything else?”

“Yeah, Mick’s gonna check the books.”

Of course he is. Beth isn’t exactly shocked, but it still feels like a slap on the wrist, another reminder that there’s a hierarchy and she’s the furthest thing from sitting on top. Even this, the operation she pieced together herself, the system she built on equal parts desperation and determination—even this isn’t hers.

You wanna be the king, you gotta kill the king.

Yeah, she tried that. Technically she’s still trying, but she shoves that thought down deep and ignores the twinge in her chest.

Rio’s already turning to go, slinging the duffel over his shoulder. “Next week, yeah?”

Maybe it’s the way he says it, like he’s glad he can pawn her off on someone else because he has better things to do with his time, or maybe the stress and exhaustion from these past few months are finally cracking her foundation—the reason doesn’t really matter. Beth can’t—won’t—let him have the last word.

“You should really get those stitches looked at,” she says.

He pauses, then looks back at her. In the low light, his eyes almost look black.

“I’ve had worse,” he says, and the words hang between them for a moment, heavy as a loaded gun.

Beth swallows. “Still. They could get infected.”

Something slides across Rio’s face, sharp and predatory. It’s the look he gets when he sees an opportunity, and Beth feels her stomach drop.

“Yeah?” he says, turning around so that he’s facing her again. He drops the duffel, and Beth can’t help flinching at the thud it makes when it hits the floor. “Sounds like you’re volunteerin’.”

“No, that’s not—”

But he’s moving, sliding into the chair on the opposite side of her desk. Beth’s eyes dart to Mick, but he just arches an eyebrow, not even bothering to look up from the list of sales projections he’s been checking.

Rio leans back in his seat. “A’ight, doc, fix me up.”

Beth stays where she is. The irritation that’s been bubbling just beneath the surface ever since he walked through the door is reaching its boiling point, but there’s something else humming under her skin, crackling like a live wire. He can leave whenever he wants—he was halfway out the door a second ago—but instead he chose to stay.

They’re circling the same drain, each of them waiting to see who will get sucked under first.

“I’ll—get the first aid kit,” Beth says, stepping around the desk only to be stopped in her tracks by Mick, who clears his throat audibly and pulls his jacket back to reveal the Glock tucked against his side.

Beth resists the urge to roll her eyes. “Really? You think I’m stupid enough to try something with both of you here?”

Rio doesn’t answer, just fixes her with an amused look.

“Fine,” Beth snaps, taking a step back. She nods at Mick, tips her head in the direction of the door. “It’s in the bathroom across the hall.”

Mick gives her a two-fingered salute and ducks out of the room, and then it’s just her and Rio.

He’s still—watching her. He looks relaxed enough, legs spread a bit and his hands clasped loosely in front of him, and if Beth didn’t know better, she’d say the expression on his face is almost neutral. But she does know better. His eyes are what give him away, flashing with the same electricity that’s thrumming behind her sternum. He’s waiting for her to make a move. She knows, because she’s doing the same thing.

God, she hates how much she likes this.

She barely registers Mick coming back—it’s only when he tosses the first aid kit onto the desk that she jumps, startled back to herself.

“Thanks,” she says, injecting as much sarcasm as she can into the word.

Mick’s mouth twitches, but he goes straight back to the books, sinking into a chair in the far corner of the office. Beth rolls her own chair around the side of the desk, lowers herself slowly into a seated position beside Rio. This close, she can see each individual color in the whorl-patterned bruise that stretches up toward the hollow of his cheek. She lets her eyes drag across it, then up his temple. The stitches look—well, not great. It’s clear they were done hastily, probably to prevent as much blood loss as possible, but the wound is seeping.

“Damn, that bad, huh?” Rio asks, reading it on her face.

Beth stares down at the kit in front of her. Her first aid knowledge extends about as far as patching up a skinned knees and Benadryl for minor allergic reactions—removing possibly-infected stitches from her crime boss’ head isn’t even in the same zip code.

“I don’t—I don’t know what you want me to do,” she says, abruptly exhausted.

Rio adopts an expression of mock concern that does nothing to ease Beth’s urge to slap him. “Oh, no?” he says. “What part’s trippin’ you up?”

Beth shuts her eyes for a second, briefly wonders why the hell she didn’t let him waltz out of here when she had the chance—except she knows why, and so does he, and when she looks again—

He’s practically beaming, that smug tilt at the corners of his mouth dialed up about a thousand percent, and it’s like a puzzle piece slotting into place. This is just another game—he’s messing with her, playing with his food before eating it.

The low buzz of electricity inside her ignites.

He’s not the only one who’s hungry.

“No, you’re right,” she says, popping open the first aid kit and digging around until she finds the antiseptic wipes. “I should at least clean those stitches up. Maybe even remove them, start fresh.”

She glances up, and that’s the only reason that she sees him falter, a blink-and-miss-it record-scratch behind his eyes before he recovers, slides the mask back on. Satisfaction floods through her. She can play his game.

“Whatever’s good, ma,” he says with a shrug. “You’re the boss, yeah?” He echoes her earlier emphasis on the word, grinning when he sees the barb land. “Shit, that’s my bad—poor choice o’ words.”

Beth rips open a wipe. “This might sting,” she says, pressing against his line of stitches, hard. She’s rewarded with him hissing a breath through his teeth, the hand at his knee balling into a fist.

“Easy, mama,” he grits out.

Beth flashes him her sweetest smile. “I’m sorry, is that too rough? I thought you liked that.”

Mick makes a noise like he’s choking, and Rio looks over, eyes bright with amusement. “Ay, cállate la boca.”

“Didn’t say nothin’,” Mick mumbles, still staring intently at the books.

Beth presses her tongue behind her teeth, swallowing a pinch of annoyance as she switches tactics. “Aren’t crime lords supposed to have, I don’t know, some sort of medical professional on retainer? For situations like this?”

“Nah,” Rio says with a shake of his head. “Why, you gunnin’ for a promotion? ‘Cause I gotta say, your bedside manner could use some work.”

And something inside her roars, because this is how she’s going to get him. She dabs gently at the wound beneath his stitches, swiping a thumb over the sutures. Rio winces, jerks back—

She sees it, the moment he drops the mask.

Beth leans forward. She brings the antiseptic up to his face again, stops just short of pressing it to his skin, as if to ask, okay?

She sees it, the moment he drops the mask.

Beth starts at his temple, softly scrubbing at the caked-on blood that’s streaked down from the cut above his ear. Her hand moves lower, fingers gliding over his cheekbones, and she’s not sure if she imagines his breath hitching when she reaches the bruise at his jaw. She drags her thumb across it, then back again. His skin is warm, under the pads of her fingers.

“How am I doing now?” she breathes, barely above a whisper, and she knows she doesn’t imagine him dipping a glance down to her mouth. Their faces are inches apart, close enough for her to count the shades of brown in his eyes. Her fingers trace lower, toward the curve of his lips—

His hand comes up to grasp her wrist, tug it away from his face. “Don’t,” he growls, low like thunder. A warning. “Don’t do that, Elizabeth.”

He’s looking at her again, but she almost doesn’t recognize the emotion swimming in his eyes. He’s—terrified. Of her. For a fleeting second she lets the thrill of it run through her, buoyant on the feeling of power, the feeling that she’s won—

(—she did it, she shot him, she’s free—)

The moment pops like a soap bubble, and she’s empty, hollow, everything good inside of her scooped away until this is what’s left. This is who she is. And maybe this game they’re playing was never meant to have a winner.

The realization leaves her numb.

She’s vaguely aware of Mick slipping the books back onto her desk, and when her eyes flick back up to Rio, his mask is firmly back in place. Steel, untouchable.

“I’m all better now, thanks,” he says, and then he’s pulling away, pushing up from the desk, slipping out the door. She watches his silhouette until it dissolves into shadow.

She’s alone.

[arorea]

I've really been trying hard to get a Kris cosplay together for a con that's coming up. But I'm stuck on the armor, How do you make your armor and such? As I've seen it and absolutely love the design and style of it. Love your cosplays btw :))

Heya! Thank you ;A;

My armor was mostly made from cheap EVA puzzle piece floor mats! :D Everything was pretty much drawing out rough patterns, transferring them to foam, using a heat gun to warp the foam to shape, sealing with plastidip, and painting but the hardest part was the chest piece. I basically doodled a heartish shaped breast plate on paper while holding it against me, tidied up the pattern and then transferred it to the foam. To get the front of the breastplate to come to a point on the chest I cut v shaped divots on the inside of the foam to a + design and filled them with hot glue! (That made the edges raised and the chestplate itself more fitted)

I Permanently attached the shoulder guard/strap armor to the front and back pieces and then used elastic on the sides of my torso to make so that I just pull the armor over my head!

(Exposing myself with how horrid my armor always looks on the inside but this one was particularly bad since I tried to knock it out in a couple of days xD)

I also used cheap gems to make my diamond rivets and the strips that come off the floor mats to make my edging!

She's been rotting in a box for like 3 years so she's not in the best shape 🥲 if I ever remake the armor I'll be sure to make a real tutorial!

The pauldron was a free thingiverse pauldron I modified and 3D printed but it could also be made with foam, I was just crunched for time xD

I hope this helped!

[kashuan]

All right, there are quite a few things that come to mind with a question as broad as this, so here’s my best attempt to sum up what character design means to me in like 5 minutes :,D. I’m going to start with a few very quick sketches that talk about more my general approach to drawing, but I’m going to build up to how it all connects with character.

Step 1) Find reference! Whenever you can, use reference, it will always make your character’s posing look 100 times more genuine than anything you can pull from your brain, and that’s nothing to feel bad about. It’s not cheating because we’re not stopping at Step 2 either, which is where the misnomer comes in that you’re just ‘copying’ (protip: even step 2 isn’t a straight Copy; as long as you’re not tracing, you’re not copying, and even tracing has its uses for personal studies). I could do a whole answer of it’s own about picking your reference, but I’ll keep it short by saying: not every reference will fit every character. Keep in mind your character’s attitude when choosing your ref. Some poses are so generic they’re one size fits all, but even this very simple pose has unique character to it. The way the legs are posed, to me, gives it a young and girlish feeling, and depending how you played with the expression, you could even make it come off shy. An overbearingly confident character, while also taking an arms crossed pose, will likely position their legs differently, assuming a stance that takes up more space, etc.

Step 2) Draw pretty much exactly what you see first, but keep it simple. Think of the body like individual shapes; anatomy is not the focus right now, and you’ll actually hinder yourself if you hone in on that first. What you want to do at this stage is capture what the pose is generally doing; character isn’t involved yet Step 3) Now, working off 2′s framework, start considering body type. If you skip the previous step, you might have a hard time capturing the gesture correctly, since it’s a lot for your brain to juggle at once. When I sketched these two different body types, I built it straight off the first drawing, erasing lines as needed.

So the first image includes some extremely basic body type variations, this one pushes that idea further. 1 is the basic frame from the last image, while 2 is about playing with proportions. There are a lot of ways you can play with proportions, and as I’ll come to sound like a broken record about: make those decisions thoughtfully. For example, when I made this version shorter than the reference base, I had to consider exactly where I wanted her to lose that height. Here, I made her shorter waisted, took a little length from the legs, and gave her a squatter neck as well. You can do one of these or all of them. Just keep in mind those are all individual options. Letting your train of thought stop at ‘this character is short/tall so I’m just going to generally shrink/stretch their body’ means you’ll run out of variety pretty fast, and sometimes the overall proportions can end up looking wonky (though there’s always exceptions to the rule, remember that the individual body parts should remain correctly scaled in relation to each other). Image 3 is another approach to proportional manipulation, except rather than focusing on height, it focuses on fat distribution and to a lesser extent bone structure. Again, there’s so many individual places you can focus on here, make sure to mix them up. Arm size, shoulder broadness, chest and hip size, leg thickness and musculature, foot and hand size and so forth.   Image 4 is a further exaggeration of image 3 and the lines have started to get a little more stylized. While image 3 is still reasonably realistic, 4 is just starting to cross into cartoon territory. Advantage of 4 is that when you are able to push the proportions further due to the leniency of style, you can sell a clearer idea and a clearer character. Downside is, well, it looks more cartoonish now, and depending on the needs of your image that might not be what you want ie: it can look like a mistake rather than a purposeful choice if everyone else around the character is drawn more realistically.

Also… I see variations on this general advice quite a lot for women, but don’t forget about doing the same for men. It’s great to see how eager a lot of artists are to experiment with the female form that is simply absent in a lot of mainstream media, but I find that men really tend to fall by the wayside here even though they often get equally shallow treatment in the mainstream. There’s usually like 2-3 ‘go-to’ body types for men and that’s it. Men’s bodies can have the exact same amount of variety as a woman’s, including the individual ways the fat can be distributed on it, and the assorted ways their proportions can be played with. Whenever I find an artist that does this it’s like striking gold to me tbh. 

So there’s some very rough hows. But, perhaps even more importantly than any of that, is WHY you make these choices. This is going to get a little stream of consciousness, but with a question this broad, I tried to hit on as many general points I could think of in regard to my own process.

-When I start to design a character, I really need to have an understanding of them first. This includes things like backstory, personality, habits, so and so forth… Yes, all of this stuff shows up in their design, even if it’s just a drawing of them standing straight up. This isn’t just like ‘this character got this scar at age 7 so I need to know where it goes′, I mean in depth info about them. I touched on this a little bit earlier, bringing up the different ways a character would assume the same general pose, but let me expand on that. -What do I mean by personality? So there’s the most obvious answer, which is that a bubbly character will assume bubbly poses, a sullen character will slouch more, etc… But let’s take it further than that. This is a concept I’ve touched on in past tutorials, but here’s a quick recap. A character’s personality involves their opinions, for one; how do you make that show up in their design? Well, one of the most obvious questions I always ask myself is: what is their opinion on their own appearance (the thing we are drawing)/how do they want to be perceived by others? Consider a strong character. I see a lot of artists who take this thought as far as: okay, this character is strong, so I’m gonna throw a 6 pack on him, maybe a nice pair of guns, and call it a day. Which leads to like, nice art, but also...kind of bland? I think that’s because this is a rather half-baked approach. How can we take it further? Ask yourself more specific questions. Is your strong character concerned with being perceived as an ‘ideal’ sort of fit by others (the type you give that showy 6 pack to) or does that not matter to them? (more likely to look ‘chubby’ if not outright fat, though probably is just as if not more capable of actually doing some real heavy lifting than saran wrapped abs man). If they’re some kind of mystical being that can look like whatever they want (ie: the anime waif that can also lift 1000 lbs-trope), you should still take into account their personal perspective on appearance. Don’t just stop at ‘this guy/girl is strong so they’ll look super shredded’ or ‘they’re magic so I’ll do whatever’. Doing this, you’ve instantly lost a chance to inform the audience more about the individual there beyond ‘they’re strong’ -Break it down further with their habits. What is their daily life like? If they’re running ten miles every day they should probably have some strong looking legs. If their job involves a lot of lifting, maybe focus on the upper body more and leave the legs less defined. Do they eat a lot? Or drink? The way the fat distributes in both these cases will be noticeably different (and this isn’t even taking into account points like an endomorph vs an ectomorphs body, which I always suggest reading up on). I’d definitely recommend drawing as many different body types as you can just as studies, in order to add these variations to your mental library. I’m sure every artist has seen this popular athlete line up by now, but really study images like this. Don’t just mindlessly copy what you see when you create your own characters though; think about why those athletes have the bodies they have, what they specifically did to get them like that, and how that can apply to your character’s own life. -One thing that has always bothered me is how often artists are afraid to use the head (not the features; I’ll get to that in a second) as an extension of the body when it comes to imbuing it with variety and character. While it is absolutely possible to have a thin face and a fat body (as is any combo), it’s another missed opportunity not to experiment with chubby cheeks, a soft jawline, etc. It’s a cliche to mention him at this point as an inspiration, but one of my very favorite things about Mucha’s art was how he was able to make fuller faces look so beautiful despite being a rather nontraditional approach (so many art books try to tell you this is a big NO). example, example. These faces actually look like real individuals to me than a drawing that focuses too hard on being generically aesthetically pleasing. -So, facial features. A face with less traditional features isn’t just going to be more memorable than Stock Beautiful Face #73, but it’s basically a more zoomed in version of informing the audience about the character in the same way the body does. -Know tropes, play with tropes, do not rely on tropes. Sunken bone structure, long features-guy will always pretty much read like a villain (or at least someone off-putting), but find somewhere to make the formula your own. Give him thicker eyebrows or big ears. Give the girl with the standard doll-face a nose that sticks out a little more prominently or a crooked smile. -Speaking of are so many different ways to draw a smile, do not underestimate the mileage you can get out of this one feature alone. Artists tend to have a favorite way to draw smiles, in my experience, but remember your character. Would they have a big toothy grin, a handsome ‘cool’ looking smile, a small shy lopsided one, ones that touch the eyes, ones that don’t… This is probably a repetitive point by now but just do whatever you can not to draw the exact same feature on two different characters, and make sure to think through your reasoning for every choice you make. To me, it’s always immediately evident if an artist really knows their character or if they’re just trying to make something aesthetically pleasing. The former is always more attention grabbing in my opinion. -One of my favorite things to consider when designing a character who’s part of a family: genetics and how you can play with them to inform the audience more about the character’s story. Does this character take after their mother or father? How? Why? Why why, you might ask? This isn’t a photo of a real person, this is an illustration that you should be making deliberate choices about every step along the way. It’s one thing to draw a character that looks like their parent simply because logic dictates they should, another to make meaningful decisions as to where and why they do. Some examples: He has his father’s eyes because they carry the same intensity and other characters are a little put off by him because it (conversely, maybe he’s such a gentle character that this detail stands out twice as strongly). He has the same hair as his father, but he styles it differently to avoid the association. She has her mother’s nose which everyone compliments her on so shes happy to be seen in profile. She has her father’s broad shoulders and she’s a little self conscious about it so she tends to wear baggier clothing. Etc etc! In all these cases, you can communicate these details through even a simple drawing of the character standing alone, and should try to as often as you can. -In the end, the only way you’re going to know how to draw all these different details, whether they be different body types or different facial features, is by studying real people. Draw as many different kinds as you can, add them to your mental library. Your reference will never give you everything you need to work it, and I’m not sure if that’s maybe what this question as getting at-- if I have a reference folder of go-to ‘types’ or something. I don’t. I have a folder of poses labeled with characters I think they’d fit, and that’s about it. If you’re just imitating what you see in a photo, you’ll always be drawing That Person, not Your Character. So you are going to have to pull some of it out of your brain. Note, however, the important difference between just ‘making it up’ and recalling information you’ve studied in the past. That said, while on this last topic of expanding your mental library, that includes not just doing studies, but also learning and observing the ways other accomplished artists work. Here are some of my book recommendations when it comes to those which have most helped me in regard to this particular subject. This includes books that specifically tell you how to vary your body types, but also ones that just have a lot of examples of different kinds: Morpho: Anatomy for Artists Morpho: Fat and Skin Folds Famous Artists School Course in Illustration and Design (If anyone is interested in this one and has trouble finding a non $500 copy, hit me up and I’ll help you out) Spirit of the Pose Anatomy Lessons from the Great Masters Drawing People: How to Portray the Clothed Figure Figures from Life (my favorite currently; not the most varied array of figures but he goes in depth on how to successfully grow an academic study of a model into an illustration influenced by your own ideas and personal style) If you found this answer helpful, although it isn’t specifically about character design, I go a little more in depth about some of the topics I briefly covered here (such as choosing the right reference, good vs bad reference in general, honing in on shapes, pushing the pose, etc) in this short book of mine :>

[crazythatcounts]

Cleaning Stuffed Animals: A Tutorial

So I have become, among my friends group, the Stuffie Cleaner. When people find their stuffed animals have gotten nasty or dirty, and the washer looks like a scary death machine for their friend, they come to me, and I’ve realized that this is happening enough that maybe there’s people out in the world also going “my poor stuffie!!” with no way of cleaning it and no one to turn to. In that vein, I’ve decided to write up this method for the internet to enjoy. Below is my method for cleaning any stuffed, fabric thing (animals, pillows, etc) that for one reason or another cannot, or probably cannot, go in the washer/dryer. If you’re worried about it falling apart, ruining the fabric, or getting mildew inside because it won’t dry, this method is your friend.

YOU WILL NEED

- A small tub, bucket, or other basin for water. It doesn’t need to be particularly deep or large, but it does need a wide mouth. Bathtubs can work just fine if that’s all you have. It just needs to hold water and be something you can reach into.

- Baby shampoo. This is also very good for washing wigs, if you need to do so.

- A jug of some kind. Empty milk cartons, water gallon jugs, or large pitchers are fine. It just needs to be able to hold warm water and be somewhat portable.

- A towel. Two if you don’t have any space that you can just get absolutely soaked, for underneath the bucket. If you’re worried about the space getting wet, you can honestly have any number around, but at least 1 is needed for the stuffie.

- Optional: a toothbrush, for set in stains. I have a small travel electric one that’s I love for this. Please do NOT use any toothbrush you plan on returning to your mouthhole, that’s nasty. Also do not use any toothbrush that’s got nasty stuff in it or has recently been used with harsh cleaners or bleach. If you’re worried give it a wash first to remove any chemical nastiness.

- Optional: A swimsuit. If you do this like I do you’re going to get very damp. You might want to dress for it.

- Optional: A hair dryer. Note that if you do use one, make sure it has a setting below Death Hot, as heat tends to be Reason 1 why stuffies should not go in the wash. You can melt fur or fabric with high heat, but as long as you aren’t using a heat gun, my method, used with ample caution, should not harm your fabric (though YMMV). If the dryer is too hot for your head it may be too hot for the fabric.

STEP 0: THE PRE WASH

The first thing to do is remove any gunk, debris, or physical yuck from the outside of the stuffie. You can do this with whatever you want - paper towels, regular towels, etc - but the important thing is that you get your stuffie down to just the bits that have soaked into the fabric. If, say, you dropped pasta on your friend, this is the part where you need to get the noodles off the stuffie. This is not always applicable, but when it is, it’s not something you can skip.

STEP 1: THE SET UP

Now that your friend is ready to be cleaned, it’s time to get your shit set up. Find a space that can get... reasonably damp. We have a basement with a concrete floor that works fine, but bathroom floors, tiled kitchen floors, or spaces like that are also fine. There’s just going to be a lot of water involved and if you’re trying to clean the water off a rug after you’re done it’s not going to be fun. If you’re going to change into a swimsuit, I’d do that here.

Next, fill your vessel - bucket, tub, whatever - with a small amount of warm water. I usually don’t fill it over an inch, which is roughly the distance from the tip of your thumb to the first line in your knuckle (yes, this is a tried and true method, trust me). I usually warm the water up to be just slightly warmer than what I want to touch, as our basement is cold and the water cools very quickly, but ultimately you want the water to be just touchable when you start.

While you’re filling, fill your jug, too. This should be warmer than the tub, because it’s going to sit for longer and will have longer to cool down. It should still be warm when you use it towards the end of the process, so use your own discretion in how warm you have it.

Once stuff is filled, get everything else you need together. Make sure your towel is nearby, lay any other protective ones down, have the rest of the stuff within arms reach. If you have a hair dryer I’d keep it away from the tub.

Lastly, once it’s all ready to go, add a very small amount of baby shampoo to the water, and mix it up very gently with your fingers. It should be just starting to create suds, but not enough to become a bubble bath. Soap lingers and leaves a residue if it’s not rinsed off, so while you’ll want a little for the water, less is better. You can always add a little more.

STEP 2: THE WASH

Once you’re set up, grab your friend, and assess the stain. Old, set in stains from being in boxes or storage may require the toothbrush, but newer things may not. Either way, the process will remain more or less the same: take a small amount of water in your hand and gently apply it to the stain. Think of it like when you are trying to remove dropped sauce from a shirt - you don’t want to get the stuffie soaked, but you want the area to be damp.

DO NOT DUNK THE STUFFIE.

I say this, because the reason washers can be bad for stuffed things is that most of these things are filled with what we call Poly-fill (it’s a brand that’s gone generic, like Kleenex). Poly-fill is a polyester bundle of threads that remain fluffy as to give your friend a shape, and if it gets wet and does not get dry, it can mold.  And inside a friend, it doesn’t dry super well or quickly, so the less you get the poly-fill inside the stuffie wet, the better.

Once damp, you can either use your fingers, or the toothbrush, to gently scrub the area. If needed, you can add a little more soapy water to the area to get a little more suds and break up the stains. This is where I love my toothbrush, because being electric, it vibrates just a little, but being a travel brush it’s got the power of a child’s toy, and that means its very gentle. The important thing here is that you don’t want to get too aggressive. You should be massaging the fur or fibers, but you don’t want to put too much stress on the threads, as that can create holes. It’s better to spend 20 minutes being gentle than 5 being rough.

This should remove the nasty stain. I’ve so far had this method take out stains that were 10+ years old and dry. It just takes some time, and repetition.

If you’re just trying to sanitize your friend, you can just gently work a damp hand through the fur. There’s no need to really scrub or get the stuffie super damp, as it’s just about getting a little soap on the surface to remove germs.

STEP 3: THE RINSE

You have by this point conquered the stain, yay! The area may seem darker than average, but that’s because it’s wet, though some very nasty stains can leave the spot slightly darker, which will always be more noticeable when its wet than dry.  Now it is time to get the soap off.

Grab your jug. It should still be warm, but hopefully not hot. If you can’t touch the water it’s way too hot still and you might need to cool it down somehow. Gently pour a little of the water into a cupped palm, and then pour that over the sudsy area(s). The goal is to rinse off the suds and soap while soaking the stuffie as little as possible. It’s still definitely going to get very wet, of course, but containing the wet spot and/or how wet it is will be helpful regardless. You may need to follow behind and wipe some suds away in between pours, and if so you can very gently use some fingers to do this. A wet hand is also very good at removing suds if you’re worried about pouring water. You can also pour with the jug if it’s rather small, but the idea is to keep the amount of water being poured as little as possible at a time, so use your discretion. Again, we’re trying to not soak the insides too much.

Don’t use the tub water to rinse it or your hands. It’s still soapy. This is why you got the jug full of clean water.

STEP 4: DRYING

Your stuffie is rinsed and (hopefully) clean! Now it’s time to get the water off. First, grab that towel, and towel dry your friend off. Try and agitate any fur as you do, as that’ll make sure it gets fluffed back up and doesn’t get stuck all pushed down in weird directions. As long as your friend isn’t falling apart you should be able to get a little rough with this portion. You want to aim to get them as dry as possible with the towel in the same way that you try and get yourself dry after a shower or the pool. You’ll likely wind up with a stuffie that’s just a little damp to the touch.

Once you’ve done that, there are two paths.

Path 1: you can, if you want, use a hair dryer to finish the job. If you do so, be very careful. Do not ever keep the heat from the dryer on one space for more than a few seconds. I tend to find passing the nose of the dryer back and forth almost like you’re trying to paint in broad strokes to be useful in terms of keeping the heat distributed. I do this for my hair, too, but I really don’t otherwise know how to describe it. Also, keep the nose of the dryer back about the length of your hand, so the heat has more space to spread out. I know it’s tempting to press the nose right up against the wet spot, and if you think you gotta do that, don’t keep it there for more than a couple of seconds at a time. Heat can murder a stuffie, so using the dryer is about making sure the heat is applied indirectly and making sure it has enough space to distribute across the area.

IF YOU: Smell anything weird, feel like the fabric is changing color or texture, or otherwise get a bad vibe, STOP and assess. Melted fabric tends to have a very hard texture, almost like plastic. You can always go back to it if your instincts were incorrect, but I have no idea how to unmelt fur, so it’s better to keep attentive. Trust yourself.

Path 2 is letting the stuffie air dry. You should put them in a warm space, away from the water, and check on them occasionally. If they’re still damp when you check, you can towel them off again and fluff the fur with it. Keep checking until they’re dry to the touch. This may take some time, depending on how wet they got, but if you’re worried about heat, letting them air dry can’t damage the fur. The less wet you got them during the wash, the less time this will take for them to be fully dry.

STEP 5: YOU’RE DONE

By this point, your friend should be fully dry. Give them a hug, run your hands through their fur, fluff them up a bit, and apologize for your transgressions. (I can tell you that, as a Professional Stuffie Doctor, they still love you regardless).

The only thing now is to just assess the area with the stain. Some very dark stains may leave behind a slightly darker patch, but 9/10 it’s not going to be noticeable without really looking for it. If there’s still some nasty, you may need to repeat the process again, using the toothbrush if you didn’t before. Double check that the area doesn’t smell funny - it should smell like shampoo, but if it smells sour, you may need to give it another wash.

If done right, it should smell fine, feel fine, and look fine in your hands now that it’s dry. If so, it’s time to celebrate! Also clean up because you’re probably very damp and so is the area.

And that’s it! I have used this method for just about everything. I’ve removed old stains, new stains, stains I caused and stains that just showed up. I’ve also used this method to sanitize friends I rescued from places like Goodwill, as the warm water and suds should kill any nasty bacteria from things like colds or COVID. (You have no idea if the people that donated the friend washed it ever, so I recommend a bath to remove snotty germs 100% of the time with rescued friends). I’ve also used this on everything from Mallowfriends to Beaniebabies to traditional jointed bears and everything else. There is no fur type this shouldn’t work on, no size too big or small, and no filling that is off limits.

When in doubt - be gentle, keep the water and suds to a minimum as much as you can, and be patient. This method is an act of love, and you can’t rush tender love and care.

If people have questions, my ask is open. Otherwise, go wash your stuffies!

[halloweencrafts]

DIY Cardboard Horns

From the comments section:

What sizes did you use?

I used a strap from 25cm long for the biggest circle and made them shorter for the smaller circles. They're 1,5 cm in width, but you can always change it for different outcomes! It's fun to experiment with it! How wider the strap is, how bigger the curve is going to be. And the cardboard is from an ice cream box, so I don't really know how thick it is. I can only tell you that if the cardboard is too thick, you'll see the edges through the surface, if you know what I mean  And it will be difficult to shape

... first I roll the biggest circle from a 25cm long strap. Then I take the next strap and make it a bit shorter, like 20 cm. I roll that one, glue the end and put it inside the biggest circle to let it fit in. And so on and on till you reach the middle  

How to put them on hair or wigs?

I used a thin metal hairband (black) to put them on. You can make two little cuts at the base of the horns and put the hairband through them. (Not sure if I used the right words)

Did you paint the horns or plaster them?

Um, I painted the horns with a rather thick paint and used a rough brush. That way you can see the lines in the way you paint. I also painted in different layers and used three different shades of the same color to make them more epic  (as you can see, the horns are beige and more reddish around the edges)

Did you use glue?

And I just wanted to say that I used hot glue, but from a glue gun. That way I could cover up the edges from the cardboard  And indeed, make a more awesome structure!

Find this tutorial and answers to questions for the DIY Cardboard Horns  from Deviant Art User MonkeyNumber5 here.

You can find this free crochet pattern  for a Krampus Hat at Morale Fiber here.

DIY Ram Horns Tutorial from Klaire de Lys here.  The horns are made of plastic shopping bags, wire, cling wrap and spray paint.

DIY Cheap and Quick Horned Headdress Tutorial from Alicia Sivert here.  

[jacscorner]

Pokemon All-Stars: A Fan Region/Game/Alternate Universe Idea

I like watching and rewatching Original Pokemon Game/Region videos. Like Mr. Buddy's "What if X was a Pokemon Region" and stuff like that. I wanna make-or, I guess, write-my own. Since Regions are kind of a character all their own and I'm a Wannabe Character Artist, I wanted to try and make one my own.

I've got no skills in coding, pixel arts, or anything, so this will forever be just some kind of dumb fanfic that sometimes incorporates Game Mechanics to justify things if it were able, for some Godforsaken reason, 'stolen' for a game. Cause, in 2021, no idea feels too big or too dumb. And, uh, trust me, this'll be a dumb fanfic of an idea. So be aware for the subpar writing talents of some wannabe writer who doesn't know shit.

Small disclaimer though:

>This region is being made with the intention that every extra feature will be available in it. Z-Moves, Regional Variants, Gygantamax, Mega Evolutions, and maybe some things I've forgotten. This probably won't matter cause it's just a dumb fanfic plot bible with mechanics peppered in. Competitive balancing be damn! Pokemon Fans can create their own balance! That's what the Battle Simulator is for! In fact, if this was a real game, then it'd have a Battle Simulator like Showdown built into it.

>This is an open source Fanfic Bible. You can take this idea and run with it if you want. You can omit all my bad ideas even!

>I won't be making my own Fakemon. I don't like a lot of Fakemon that exists out there and, trust me when I say this: I am no better than them. In fact, I'm fucking worse.

>If this WERE a game, it probably WOULD still have to cut some Pokemon. I doubt that kinda, and I won't get into why I think dexit was dumb personally, cause it doesn't really matter. But, like, my fan game/fanfic will have a lot of shit going on in it. So, like, realistically, there would probably need to be a cut, if not for data, than just cause there's a lot of work to do as is. But, like, again, under the context of a fic, this wouldn't be an issue.

>With THAT said, I'd want this game to have a Gen 2 Sprite aesthetic. My fangame, don't care if ya'll don't like that.

>I'm probably gonna copy a LOT of stuff from other Fangames I've played. My shit memory probably won't allow me to remember what I'm biting from what, so be free to call me out whenever. Cause if I stole the mechanic, I probably liked it the game. And if not, well, I'd like the recommendation.

Fuck, this was long already. The rest is under the cut, so, like, if you're already turned off, you can stop reading. I understand. I'm kind of a windbag.

Okay, so how many of you guys have seen this picture on the internet? It's a picture of a ton of Pokemon regions all...basically stitched together, since not only could this never be canon, but this goes beyond the size of even most open world games today. But this was the inspiration for this project. The map probably wouldn't, and probably couldn't, look like this, but it perfectly sums up what I'd want out of this game. Thus, it'll be our placeholder.

Our hometown of Capricorn Town is home to Professor Chestnut, and you, her faithful assistant, are about to set off on a Pokemon adventure of your own! The Professor is encouraging you to see the region of Sidus for yourself and is even willing to give you a Starting Pokemon!

Starting Pokemon

Now, if I'm not making new Pokemon, which Starter will it be? Well, the game will have the data for all the starters and will randomly select a Grass, Fire, and Water Type for you to choose from. Those will be your starters, with the option of also choosing Pikachu, Eevee, and Riolu, the two mascot mons...and Riolu, who is kind of a mascot mon, but a lesser one.

Let's say for this example, your options are Torchic, Piplup, Rowlet, Pikachu, Eevee, and Riolu. And, uh, get used to the words 'random' and 'generator', those are our keywords.

Anyway, once you get your pick, there'll be some kind of tutorial mission the Professor will send you on. This will introduce you to two very important things;

1. One of your Rival.

2. An Evil Team Grunt.

Rivals?!

Now to start getting into why this game might still be pretty big still be big despite the sprites on modern consoles.

Each of your Rivals would be one kid from each region of the 8 Mainline Games from Kanto to Kalos. How this'll be decided is that each pair of kids will be plugging into a generator and will pick between either the boy or girl version.

Ex. Brendan and May both cannot be in the game. Instead, they'll be plugged into this generator. Let's say the generator fell onto May. She'll be one of your Rival. Repeat this process 7 more times until you have 8 Rivals sprinkled throughout the world, each one given a defined personality and better AI to make them harder trainers to fight.

May will have one of the Hoenn Starters, sans Torchic. Regardless of whether or not Protagonist-San picked Torchic, May will either have a Treecko or Mudkip, again, chosen at random per kid. Whichever Starter you picked, your first rival will have a starter that beats yours. So, let's say moving forward, May has a Mudkip and you a Torchic. The other kids will have random starters of the various regions they originally hail from.

Anyway, your rivals will wander the overworld. If they see you, they'll battle you on sight. If they lose, they'll be gone after the next time you turn the game off. They won't battle you again until they respawn, but you can hang out with them. In fact, you can even recruit them to be in your party for a few days and they'll follow you around and just generally be your friend. It'll make every battle a double battle, but they'll battle you again before their timer runs out, so be prepared!

BANG! BANG! ENTER! Team Wild!

The two of you will have to face off against Team Wild! They have a Cowboy theme to them, using a mix of Ground and Steel-Types, with a few Pokemon being added in for good measure like the Ponyta Lines, Cacnea Line, and Remoraid. Cause...it's a gun.

They're an outlaw gang, they're rough and tough (or, at least, a mild threat) and will always throw down when they spot ya. Something I'm just sniping from JelloApocalypse is that they'll appear sporadically and act as Timed Events across the map.

You and your new Rival beat them and send you packing. I'd imagine May and the other Rivals would mostly be friendly, but I'm sure there's one or two that'll just be jerks to you. Regardless of personality, they'll be pretty tough and programmed to skill with you. Your strongest mon you have on hand when you fight them will be the level their entire team.

With your tutorial done, the world is opened up! Your mom gives you your running shoes, some Pokeballs, and your...I don't know, PokeCelular or something, just the regional gadget that does a bunch of stuff. From holding your map to holding your VS Seeker.

The PokeCelular will also give you notifications on where Team Wild are! You can choose to ignore the events, but if you do, then they'll start to appear in the overworld know and will get progressively stronger.

A Balancing Act

This game will be an open world, 8-Bit Sprite Game for you to explore after you leave Capricorn!

So how do we balance that?

Well, we got our Rival out of the way already, so let's move on. Gym Leaders will have a pretty linear progression. However, regardless of which Gym you tackle first, they'll all be at the same level.

It doesn't matter if you decide to go across the map and battle the Bug Gym, he'll stay at Level 10, just like the Normal Gym. Whe you get the second badge, they'll all jump to Level 15. NPC Trainers will follow the same progression; the higher your badge number, the stronger the number of Pokemon they'll be.

Wild Pokemon will also get stronger. The more badges you get, it'll attract stronger wild Pokemon because they'll see you're stronger and will come out more.

The overworld will also have various dungeons in them that'll be Level Locked. Say, you go through a forest and you're just trying to reach the end of a maze. The Trainers and Pokemon will function the same as I've mentioned before. But, you can decide to go deeper into the dungeon. These Pokemon will be level locked, usually something of a high level, because this is a more dangerous part of the dungeon. But, there'll be some goodies down there, like rarer Pokemon and some kind of really rare and good item like a TM or something.

How will you traverse? Well, first of all, HMs? They're semi-back. BUT, instead of having to deal with teaching Cut to a Pokemon, you just need the move Cut and a Pokemon that can use the move and you'll be able to use Cut. A few other Pokemon that are reasonable candidates, but don't get cut, will be allowed to do this too. Like, Gallade can use Cut. It can't learn the move, but just holding the HM will get the job done.

Controversial opinion, but I think I've always liked the idea of HMs. On paper, they give you a reason to explore the world and go back to areas you couldn't before for goodies and make for a good way to get off dungeons until you get the needed item. Even something like Cut can be used to open up new areas for exploration for your squad of mons.

BUT, well, HMs suck. As moves, they suck save for, like, 2...MAYBE and they're only for, like, a handful of areas. You either hand them out as evenly as possible, forcing mons to take moves you don't wanna use, or you just get an HM Slave or two to use 'em all. But like they, they serve their function and all you need is the Pokemon in question and NOT teach them the move. If you need a Move Deleter just so people aren't stuck having to use Rock Smash for three towns, then there's a problem with your RPG. Imagine playing Final Fantasy and you had to give your Fighter the Bronze Axe to get through a forest and still had to fight with it, even though you got a +12 Silver Sword! It's no wonder people hated these things! But I don't think getting rid of them and introducing Rental Pokemon was a good solution either and adds a different, albeit less intrusive problem.

Gym Leaders

So, how do Gym Leaders work?

Much like your rivals, they'll be randomly generated. Let's say, hypothetically, there's a pool of 60 Gym Leaders and Elite Four members. The game will randomly generate 16 to be Gym Leaders. The generator will have some kind of complicated math (at least, too complicated for me) so that you don't have more than 2 gyms of the same type. (Example: Misty and Nessa might be Active Gyms, Siebold can't be selected for a Gym cause the Water Slots are taken).

As a trade off, some Gyms might have special conditions before you can challenge them. Like, if you got stuck with Koga as a Gym Leader, than he'll only let you in if you complete a nearby dungeon and help his daughter out cause he doesn't trust her to make it back on her own. Or, like, Claire's a Gym Leader, but she won't battle you unless you've collected 7 Gym Badges prior at least.

The Gym Leaders, as mentioned before, will get progressively stronger with each badge obtained. After the 8th badge, you can go and climb Victory Road, face the E4 and confront the Champion! You can keep hunting Gym Leaders, but just remember that the E4 will always be 10 Levels above the strongest gym you beat. And they'll just get stronger with every one you beat until all 16 are slain.

Another handful, let's say 8, Gym Leaders/E4 Members will be wondering around as NPC Trainers. The justification is that this big super region is in some Alternate Universe Pokemon Game that has all the Pokemon and other important trainers in it, hence why we can have a game where Roxanne and Lenora are hanging out at a coffee shop. They're not Rivals, more like stronger NPCs you can rematch and wonder the map. They're not here to be the very best like no one ever was.

I mean, I'd like, like, 10-20 instead of 8 extras, but let's not get TOO greedy...yet...

Elite Four

And now, it's time to flip the script. Cause if E4 members can be Gym Leaders, then who are the Elite Four?

Easy. The Rivals.

All the Rival characters will be put in a random generator as well. The four that are chosen. You can have an Elite Four made up of Wally, Marnie, Hau, and Barry and you gotta deal with it.

This is excluding Brendan and May, Blue, and Calem and Serena. Anyone else is fair game.

Champion

So, the Champion. Who would it be in this? There was a funny idea I had, but this is a Pokemon Game. So there would be two versions. We'll call them Pokemon Dawn & Dusk. The difference between these games is the game Champion!

Benga would be the Champion of Pokemon Dusk, the grandson of Alder! His final Team will include Volcarona, Garchomp, and Dragonite, Pokemon he used in Black and White. I'd also include Scrafty, Rampardos, and Golurk, Pokemon used against you in White Treehollow and Black Tower areas.

Meanwhile, the Champion of Pokemon Dusk will be Zinnia, the Lorekeeper! Her team would include the Goodra, Tyrantrum, Altaria, Noivern, and Salamence she used in her original team, with her plucky Whismur sidekick becoming an Exploud and her ace.

You would've met them in the beginning of the game and would've showed off a bit by helping you with Team Wild before. They'll pop in and out throughout the game, at first amused by your tenacity, but not wanting a rookie like you to get hurt. But if you keep bonking Team Wild, they'll be impressed with how strong you are.

The show up to chat again when you beat 8 Gym Leaders, and will pop in if you White Out to give you some advice. White Out three times and they'll feel bad for you and give you an egg. Benga will give you a Larvesta Egg and Zinnia a Bagon Egg.

EXTRAS

So I don't got a lot of ideas for the Post Game, but there is one idea I thought would be cool if, if after you defeat the champion, they give you a call. They'll tell you that there are strong trainers wondering the Overworld and to be careful.

Because dotting the overworld will be Champions passed and proper! Cynthia, Blue, Lance; all of them are rocking Lv 100 Teams and are out for blood. They won't challenge you, but if you talk to them, there will be no backing out of the battle! You come with your A-Game!

sI'm not exactly in love with the idea of Team Wild. Maybe the Evil Team should go full fanservice and just be Team Rainbow Rocket. Or maybe go half-and-half; having past Evil Team members and leaders walk around in cowboy gear and acting as Team Wild executives.

I'd also would love Tournaments. Like, maybe that could be a weekly event in some town, they'll how tournaments and the characters that aren't designated as Gym Leaders and such will attend. Maybe there's a cash prize, maybe you'll win Pokemon Eggs of rare, guaranteed shines, or maybe you'll get some kind of important quest items.

Yeah, I want quests! All sorts of side quests! And can't forget what I'd do with Legendairs;

If you know Bengal's team, you'll know he's got the Lati Twins. I don't like that personally and would prefer Legendaries to be Super Bosses. Like, you gotta do a lot to find them. And when you do, their stats are boosted and they become an Uber Boss! You catch them in a cutscene after you beat them!

There's also just a ton of characters I didn't get around to or really have a place for. Emma, Looker, N, and the Stat Trainers all come to mind. Overall, I'd want them to pepper the world as well, but don't have anything to say except this: Pokemon has made a lot of memorable characters. Both good and bad. And this is probably my dream Pokemon Game; one where you can hang out with your favorites

[b00sh]

My Experience Playing Yakuza0

Because I still remember this clearly enough to make a post about it.

It has been a while though I might get some things mixed up

And there will also be a lot of spoilers for Yakuza0. In no particular order

Darling - Boyfriend man, got me to play the game and was on call for most major story beats. I'm calling him Darling instead of bf because "bf" or "my boyfriend" sounds weird for.. some god forsaken reason idk.

Me - Me. Am human.

So I got the game for Christmas, great stuff, wow, I was very excited to play it. Mostly due to all the weird side stuff. So I boot up the game. All's well. Badass opening. I'm liking the vibes so far.

*Kiryu just straight up gets framed for murder*

Ah. So this is what I've decided to play.

The first (2 I think) Chapters with Kiryu were great, had my attention (not that I remember much, most unfortunately). Tutorial stuff was a bit ugh but not too much.

Then I got to Majima's part.

Dear god I love the way this tutorial is handled.

The whole vibe it has was just great.

The music slapped.

The gameplay was fun despite being a tutorial.

I just love it.

The rest of his 2 first chapters were pretty good to, I don't remember much specifically but I still know the general story.

This is also the part where I'm just gonna start going off about Nishiki.

I absolutely love Nishiki.

I just very much like him. How he ckmes up in the story is just, so well done. Koi Boi gave me an anxiety attack and considering when that happened I say that was a well done anxiety attack.

Please don't hold a gun to Kiryu's head again though. Was not appreciated.

Aside from him, I also really liked Tachibana. Tacaba.. T... Tachibana. I had it right the first time. His character also had my heart. Then he broke it by dying at the worst time possible.

Also Makoto. Her and Majima's relationship was really great. I wanted it to go well. And I mean it technically didn't end in one of them dying but. I'll get back to that.

We're skipping to the last bits because that's what I remember most of Story wise.

The final "beat a whole fuck-ton of guys up" bit was pretty cool. I absolutely losved that. The boss fights were good to. I don't remember what exactly happened but I do remember punching a guy in the face over and over and over and over again.

I don't remember much of the gameplay side of Majima's part. I think there was a guy but I'm not sure.

I do remember the parts after in all the cutscene bits though.

Another spoiler warning incase you haven't seen that part specifically. I believe PS4 stops streaming and recording right here so there's a chance.

Anyway.

Extremely rough recreation of me and Darling talking during the cut seens.

Me :"I'm telling you. I'm not gonna cry."

Darling, already crying during all this :"Yeah you will, trust me it's going to get sadder." And then I'm watching through it. And I specifically remember two parts. The guy getting shot.

And Makoto finding her watch.

Darling: "Bishboosh..?"

Me, sobbing as I hear the watch theme :"S-shut up."

That part fucking got me. Along with Majima getting a new strap for the watch.

I did not expect it to have me crying like that.

God I love this game to bits now.

I know this post is all over the place but I just had to talk about it again suddenly.

Now I just play is sometimes to either do karaoke or work on progressing in the Cabaret Club side thing. I love having to manage it all at once.

Okay that's it.

I swear I won't talk like an over excited child next time I post about something. At leasst I think I sound like that rn.

[csleko]

Boba Fett Armor (Take 2)

It occurs to me that I haven't posted any updates on my Boba Fett cosplay since I made that original post about 6 months ago. I did actually finish these pieces for the chest armor, along with several more parts of the costume (including the helmet!)

While I was satisfied with how the armor came out, it could be better. EVA foam is flimsy, it's difficult to get it to keep its shape, and if you're not careful with it it can bend and get creases where the metal it's meant to visually imitate should never have creases.

On top of those material issues, the shapes I cut are...too perfect. Seriously, the one time I manage to get super clean cuts is when I actually don't want them. Boba Fett's armor should have worn and rounded edges, not this clean sharpness! It's been around the galaxy more than a few times.

ANYWAY. I heard about this "Worbla" stuff, and thought it sounded like a really interesting material to learn to work with. So I got myself a big ol' roll of the stuff and got to work.

I started with the small center diamond piece to get an idea of how to shape the Worbla. Most tutorials I found about the basics recommend shaping it around EVA foam pieces. My first attempt came out kinda wonky, as expected, and I tried a few different things with the second one.

So yeah! The idea is you cut out a piece of EVA foam in the shape you want. (Basically step one as if you were just making the armor out of foam.) Then you want to cut that same shape out of Worbla, but leave a good inch or so around the pattern, and cut notches into the corners because you're going to wrap this weird plastic around the foam cutout. After blasting it with a heat gun of course.

Of course, you *could* just make an entire piece out of Worbla, but doing this with the foam gives it some thickness and structure. The Worbla holds its shape perfectly once it cools down from being heated, and if it doesn't come out right you can just heat it up again and fiddle with it until it works. Weird stuff, but I love it already.

I had to stop myself from going overboard with dents and dings because of how easy and fun they are to do.

One of the OTHER cool things about Worbla is you don't really need to Plasti-Dip it before painting. (Unless you want a SUPER smooth finish, I guess, but the slight roughness of the material works perfectly for beat up metal.)

Full coat of shiny silver. Let it dry completely.

Then green. Let it *mostly* dry, then rough up the edges with some sandpaper until the silver underneath shows through. A slightly tedious extra step I have to follow is to spray it with a matte finish because the only green paint I could get was super glossy, so the matte finish just makes it less obnoxiously shiny. I've since used up the can I used on the original armor pieces, and this new stuff doesn't work quite as well, so these are still a good bit shinier than I would like, but it did get that same sort of crackly texture in some parts that I kind of like, so...eh.

NOW. Since I am now a master of wiring LEDs, having completed exactly one somewhat janky project, I wanted to actually make the little panels on the left chest piece instead of just painting in the cutouts. Unfortunately, I don't know how to program a number display thingamahoozit. Fortunately, I DO know how to model and 3D print things...

Nailed it.

Aaaaand...following the same idea as the first set, except only the left piece is held on by velcro so I can get to the switch and battery for the lights. Everything else is glued to the shirt, which has foam cutouts glued inside for support. Really, given the sturdier nature of the Worbla, this may not have actually been necessary, but it seemed like a good idea, so I did it anyway. Not like it can hurt anything.

Now I just need to redo the shoulder pieces. I was planning on just reusing the originals because they came out perfectly fine, but the paint just completely cracked all over when I bent them slightly, so...yeah...

[gertlushgaming]

Evil Below Review (PlayStation 4)

 For our Evil Below Review, where Take the role of a mother searching for her child in a mysterious world filled with dark creatures blinded by faith and greed. Prepare to run, hide, kill, and survive. The game centers around a mother searching for her son in a semi-open-world landscape filled with never-ending forests, abandoned villages, and claustrophobic caverns. In this world, several creatures made these lands their territory, and you are their prey.

Evil Below Review Pros:

- Decent graphics. - 13.59GB download size. - Platinum trophy. - Works on Playstation 5. - Uses the controller microphone. - Performance mode option. - Can Invert axis and sensitivity sliders. - Aim assist option. - Three difficulties - Easy, normal, and hard. - Accessible options - reusable resting places, and endless posture breaks. - Health regenerates when not in combat. - Checkpoints can be found and activated, by default they can only be used once. - First-person horror adventure gameplay. - Tutorial pop-ups as you play. - Stamina-based system for running, jumping, and attacking. - Breakable and Interactive points flash to let you know. - Photo mode. - Uses the controller speaker. - Play how you want. - A very intriguing game as you awaken from a car accident in a church with no idea what's going on and strange people talking about passageways and other Realms. - Find health and stamina upgrades. - 13 weapons to find. - Inventory upgrades. - You get descriptions of items picked up. - Emission swords come in three colors with each enhancing either health, stamina, or inventory space. - Find handwritten notes. - The world you explore looks fantastic. - You can store a couple of found weapons. - Each weapon gets stronger which means breaking and killing are quicker. - In-game cutscenes. Evil Below Review Cons: - Physics goes crazy like walking into a barrel can cause a lot of weird situations. - The breaking of objects is very unruly and weak. - Cannot rebind controls. - No field of view slider. - Can make you feel a bit nauseated because of no sliders or comfort settings. - The combat is very hit-and-miss. - The game gave me a headache and I felt rough after a while. - You spend a lot of time just smashing crates and barrels for ammo of guns you don't get for a while. - No help with guidance. - The inventory and storing system are messy. - The camera when fighting is not great and very floaty. Related Post: Omen Of Sorrow Review (PlayStation 5) Evil Below: Official website. Developer: Fire Raven Studios  Publisher: Fire Raven Studios  Store Links -  PlayStation Read the full article