#also updated the type of stuff i draw bc i need to draw my other interests more so its not just genshin here

[enden-k]

updated pinned a little. it might be good to check every now and then

[smalltimidbean]

Hi! I'm Ruben, and this is my art blog! I mostly post silly OCs and original stuff, or whatever I happen to be hyperfixated on at the time! Read on to find out more!

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About

I am Ruben, but most people call me Bean, and I also go by Ben - so feel free to use any of those names, I'll respond to them all!

I'm 28, Non-Binary, and I use They/Them pronouns. I've been doing art pretty much all my life, and I do it somewhat professionally. I enjoy all types of art, but my mains are drawing and animation - but don't be surprised if there are some crafts or other medias here and there too!

I am autistic, and have severe social anxiety (among other disabilities), so please be patient with me if I take a while to respond, have an under/overreaction to something, or do not understand something right away! I also tend to forget things a lot, so you can always give me a reminder, if it has been a while - just please do not spam me!

I love getting asks about my characters, and AUs, even if I cannot answer them all - I have many askblogs for more specific characters/settings, which are linked below if you wanna check them out!

Please keep in mind that some of my characters are villainous, aggressive or just plain mean, and any actions or responses may be rude, violent or upsetting! When I respond in character, I am just playing a character, and their actions do not reflect me, and should not be taken personally!

DMs I am more hesitant about bc of the mentioned anxiety, so if you wish to DM me, please have a reason to be doing so - I don't tend to respond to just 'hi', and asking for free art will probably end up in a block. I also do not RP at all, so please do not ask.

I tend to vent a lot! I use art as a form of catharsis and to avoid hurting myself irl, so there might randomly be some upsetting content posted, but I do tag these with 'vent tag', and the appropriate CW tags - please see below for them

My art (and characters) is not for free use! So please do not repost, edit, trace my art, and please do not use it in videos/games, or for AI bots/databases. If you see my art somewhere, that I did not approve of, and regardless if it is credited or not, please let me know!

That being said, if you really want to use my art somewhere, please ask first! Usually the use as an icon, or in a silly meme, is fine - just ask first!

I don't do requests for things I am not interested in, and I probably will not draw your OC for free. I do take suggestions for things I am interested in, and might do the occasional art trade with mutuals/friends. I do also take commissions (but my sheet needs a big update, so prices may change soon).

I switch sonas around a lot! Bean is my main one (in a semi-realistic style and a more cartoonish one), but do not be surprised if I am sometimes depicted as a furry or a monster now and then.

These sonas are also both a representation of me, and characters in my stories. I try to define when I am 'in-character' and 'out-of-character', so please keep this in mind when commenting/asking.

Fanart of my characters and AUs is okay, and always appreciated! Please try to represent the characters(s) the best you can, and ask before doing making significant design changes (such as a 'Genderbend' or 'Species Swap' etc). Again, I am forgetful, so if I do not acknowledge it within a week or so, please give me a nudge!

I don't mind minors following, as most of my stuff is SFW, but please keep in mind that I am an adult, and may upload an occasional suggestive post or joke. These are also tagged as needed.

Good golly this is so long, but I think that's it for this part

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Interests

I am currently mainly into Pizza Tower, and the OCs I have created for it, so that is mostly what you will see at the moment! - I have currently two AUs I am focused on, mainly the one where it's just my interpretation of the game (no name for this one yet), and then my secondary called 'Cheeseshop AU', with Brick the Rat as the protag, and species are swapped! (So Brick is human, Peppino and Gustavo are rats etc)

I also have a lot of original stories, characters and concepts, and will post those too! I tend to jump from idea to idea and back again, so do not mind if I am talking about one genre in one post, and then it completely changes the next post. (Although most are just slice-o-life with fantasy elements)

Other interests are: FNAF (previous hyperfixation, kinda comes and goes and may have occasional posts here), Bugsnax (also a previous hyperfixation, mainly when the game came out but not so much any more), Pokemon (not a hyperfixation, I just think they're neat), and... That's pretty much it, that I can think of! I don't tend to get into fandoms much, and I just focus on one thing for years haha

I am also not really looking for other things to be interested in, so please do not take it personally if I do not look at or get into anything suggested to me.

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Content Warnings

As mentioned before, I vent a lot, but I also enjoy drawing some body horror or gore for fun, if the mood strikes! These are tagged simply as '[thing]' for blocking purposes, but please let me know if there are tags I have missed!

Common, will not be tagged: Mild Body Horror (things like extra eyes or limbs, or slightly melty people etc), Scars, Foul Language, Depictions of Panic Attacks/Meltdowns, Use of Caps and Glitched/Zalgo text

Uncommon, will be tagged: Eye Strain, Alcohol Use, Smoking (mostly regular cigarettes, but maybe weed too), Partial Nudity (bare chests mostly), Mildly Suggestive Jokes or Imagery, Emetophobia/Vomit, Blood, Violence, Moderate to Severe Body Horror (like excessive amounts of extra eyes or teeth, beings fused together etc), Guns, Self-Harm, Suicidal Thoughts, Gore, Implied Cannibalism, Implied Death

Rare, will be tagged, and under a read-more cut: Very Suggestive Jokes or Imagery, On Screen Cannibalism, On Screen Death

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Tags and Other Blogs/Links

My text post/ask tag is 'bean talks too much' and OC tags are 'OC: [OC's name]'. Other tags are for organisation, or just me talking to myself - and I do that a lot.

I am SmallTimidBean pretty much everywhere, although I mainly only post here, my characters to my Toyhou.se or ARPG stuff on my DeviantArt - and I have a Kofi, if you want to send a tip my way! (Not necessary, but very much appreciated if you do!)

I do have a Discord, but I am not comfortable giving it out unless we have interacted at least a few times! If you do find it by chance, please do not just send a friend request, I am unlikely to accept it for my own comfort.

My main blog, and the one that I follow from, is @smalltimidbean-reblogs - mainly just reblogs of art I like, animals or funny posts.

My currently active askblog is @ask-the-totally-real-peppino - an ask blog for Pep (my version of Fake Peppino from Pizza Tower)

I have several other askblogs, and just blogs in general, but I will put them under cut, as most are inactive or plain dead (I just keep them for archival sake, or the rare chance I may return to them)

@ask-the-music-man - Inactive FNAF askblog for Music Man, DJ Music Man and other FNAF characters, might return to it at some point but not right now

@we-bear-wicked-smiles - Inactive FNAF askblog for Nightmare and the other Nightmare animatronics, might also return to it but also not right now

@ask-lionel-ottaviani - Inactive askblog for a monster security guard named Lionel, will probably never return to it bc the group it was a part of disbanded, and I have bad memories with it - however Lionel and his friends show up here and an AU version where he is human feature on the Music Man blog

@bensnax - Inactive Bugsnax blog, was mostly reblogs, but I did intend to post my Grumpus characters there too (I think there's like one post of some of them) - probably will not return any time soon, as Bugsnax is not a major interest right now

@ask-a-genectric - Inactive Pokemon askblog for a Gengar/Manectric hybrid called Lexus, would like to return to it but unlikely

@the-bashful-skuntank - Inactive Pokemon askblog for a Skuntank named Fleur, would also like to return to it but unlikely

@thedailyzangoose - Previously a daily blog for the Pokemon Zangoose, but was revamped into an askblog for a troop of Zangoose characters, inactive and unlikely to return to it

@little-beast-bakery - A suggestion based blog to create little characters for people to adopt, never got off the ground and probably never will

I have a few other blogs that were OC specific askblogs, but I never posted to them, so no reason to link them. I did also have two NSFW blogs that are still technically up, but were nuked after the NSFW ban of 2018 - I am not going to link them for obvious reasons, but if you do somehow find them, keep it to yourself please!

Okay, this is very long, but I think that is it! Thank you for reading if you are down here!

[2n2n]

Hi, hi !

I've been getting back into tbhk lately and found your blog out of nowhere and wanted to say thank you for the great content. I've really been enjoying reading your posts !

So I wanted to ask, bc I saw you mention jp tbhk twitter, would you happen to have some twt acc recs/keywords for someone to search ? Since my hyperfixation seems to be back on tbhk/amatsuka, and I refuse to set a foot again in the cesspool pit that is the western fandom..... /shudders

Thanks if you do, but also thanks if you don't !

sure, I'll link most of the accounts I follow...!

from there, you can look at anyone's likes or retweets and find more branching artists and commentators to follow :3 a lot of people quiet down between things like chapter or volume releases. You'll see them explode the moment stuff is happening!!

I'll also suggest some other things to liven up your life and suckle at outside of twitter, and I hope that's useful. There is honestly so, so much out there, I don't think anyone needs to bother with most western engagements... it's enough to follow a couple of ramblers and helpful translators, a fangirl or two, and leave it at that.

there's also always a 5ch thread that updates... sometimes greatly amuses me

bilibili meanwhile is a chinese website similar to youtube (you won't be able to 'signup' for it though, as it requires an ID... if you want to save anything, you should just make a bookmarks folder in your browser. you can ignore notifications from bilibili to sign up and resume videos, so don't be intimidated. to turn off scrolling comments, click the little television symbol under the video) and there's tons of wonderful stuff there, like people doing vocal imitations of the twins and covering songs, animations to songs, AMVs, MMDs... there are some unique tags for certain trends, suchas MMD usually being tagged with 【地缚少年花子君MMD】 BUT not all videos bother, so you're best to just click around relevant things and plug in various terms and see what you get!

nicovideo also exists and you can use the tag 地縛少年花子くんMMD if you like MMD! I love this HanaNene one for Picture Perfect...

as for terms, here are various in different languages (with apologies that I can't provide all for all languages ... but it's a start!)

あまつか / 아마츠카 - amatsuka つかあま / 츠카아마 - tsukaama

普司 - amanetsukasa

司普 - tsukasaamane 柚木兄弟 - yugi kyoudai/yugi brothers 25日は柚木の日 - the 25th is yugi day 柚木の日 - yugi day 花寧々 / はなねね - hananene 普寧々 - amanenene あまねね / 아마네네 - amanene つか寧々 / つかねね / 츠카네네 - tsukanene 花寧々つか / はなねねつか - hananenetsuka 花寧々司 - hananenetsukasa

more likely what you would find on bilibili/CH fandom

under the cut here I'll link twitter accounts. Many periodically lock/private, especially while actively discussing spoilers for new events.

a note about a kind of cultural difference; western fandom often has a much, much stricter divide between things like hananene and amatsuka, with fans of one rarely tolerating the other. It's not often the case over yonders; often everyone will celebrate hananene illustrations and cute moments, or laugh about tsunene kiss and joke about them dating, even if the artist only draws the twins. That is to say that certain types of people won't survive in this environment!!!!!

https://twitter.com/ariarimap -- presently, mostly makes tsunene content, but likes the twins and hananene as well! https://twitter.com/bami_ko83 -- industrious twins stan. More of a tsukaama than amatsuka https://twitter.com/emotaro_0 -- twins stan! not very active right now but comes & goes! https://twitter.com/grcmk0 -- twins stan… https://twitter.com/bluehyke -- sadly not active anymore, but wonderful twins and some hananene https://twitter.com/chi1000ex -- atmospheric twins stan https://twitter.com/silawin1122 -- twins stan https://twitter.com/Wakame_21 -- mostly into the twins, dabbles in other things like tsumitsu lol, and engages in more fandoms than just JSHK https://twitter.com/Miiiiiihana -- a delightful tsukaama filled with hijinks. one of my favorites!! very funny tweeeets too when events GO DOWN!! https://twitter.com/1Shinru -- mostly a hananene! occasionally some flirty twins stuff hehe https://twitter.com/askrhnkkn -- amatsuka! my favorite reactions and responses to things..... my favorite amatsuka account! https://twitter.com/furagi_2585 -- tsunene!!!! https://twitter.com/appleteasoda22 -- hananene !

[thegreenhordes]

Ooc I LOVE THIS!!!!THIS AU IS SO COOL AND IM SO IMPRESSED YOURE STILL UPDATEING!!!!

I'm so excited to see the other infected as I'm in love with mimics. I can only imagine what the others are!!You're doing amazing!!I'm so invested and so excited for updates though I do hope you take it easy for your wrists!!

Aah! Thank you so much! <3 I admit, sometimes I get a little burnt out, mostly bc of personal stuff going on irl. But, I love this AU and I'm determined to see the story I want to tell finished! Also very excited for when the rest of the infected are revealed, I'm so glad you love the Mimics! So far my favorite out of the revealed types. I tried leaning into the Uncanny Valley, as well as my inspirations, and especially the idea of Mimics looking progressively more and more 'wrong' as they go through each stage. And don't worry- I take breaks when i absolutely need to, sometimes a day, sometimes a few. And if I really want to get something done soon I have a wrist brace I can wear to go past my usual limits, though I try not to strain myself too much. Can't get stuff done if I'm in too much pain to draw, after all!

[vidawhump]

I was daydreaming again and then the characters in my head (they normally look like an idealized version of my art style) became creepy

I drew them and they kinda look like Mandela cataloge alternates meet that one sentient mask scp thing

Anyway, status update (verry long)

For artfight: I have realized that I don't know what the fuck I'm doing and the site as a whole is kinda confusing and scary so while I am gonna set up and link my artfight acc, I'm probably just gonna "attack" yall by making a post and tagging you lol (EACH MUTUAL WILL BE ATTACKED AT LEAST ONCE. THERE MAY ALSO BE A COUPLE TARGETED DOODLE DUMPS. IF YOU ARE A NON AUTHOR/ARTIST MOOT I WILL SIMPLY DRAW YOU INSTEAD. I'M LOOKING AT YOU, FINLEY. I'M GONNA GET YOU /silliy/pos)

For Whumpmas in July: Things actually aren't going terribly, but I am a bit behind. Definitely going to work on that a LOT more during the last week of June. I also renamed Brilla and Nilalang's story if anyone noticed that. Name change or not, they're still the main focus for my Whumpmas in July.

For Library Lockdown: I'm not quite sure where I'm going with the current plot, and I'm kindof falling out with the story I'm working with. Don't get me wrong, I love Reese (/p). They're my lil guy. But I don't really know what I'm doing with it anymore. I'm probably going to go in and start scrapping pieces, and reworking the entire plot. It's still going to be CYOA academia whump, but I'm making a genre change to domestic/urban fantasy and dark academia. Or maybe light academia. I'm still working out the vibes on that. Anyway, I'm going to make a post later (later being anywhere from two days to this time next year lol) and I'm gonna tag everyone that was on the original taglist to see if yall still want in on it. No hard feelings if you don't hop on the taglist, I just want to rework Library Lockdown into something I'm much more enthusiastic and passionate about. (It's probably gonna get a name change too)

For Featherbound: I SWEAR I haven't forgotten about the blorbos but between all the other shit going on and the big pile of laundry on my dresser that is staring at me menacingly from across my room as I type this, I don't have the spoons or general motivation to work on Featherbound :/. What's gonna push me over is probs gonna be something like I make a cool ass art of them or I see something that reminds me of them and I motivate myself to get over the tedious shit and get into the plot heavy stuff and also the whump. Especially the whump.

For general stuff (both paragraphs are going to have 0 continuity and be very disorganized but I need to dump out the words somewhere. And that somewhere is Tumblr aka. the one diary my brother can't snoop through) down here

Relevant stuff: Between all of the above and just the general batshit lack of routine or motivation, I am pretty burnt out. I am very much tied up between the need to be creative and the need to relax and recover (I might manage to do neither). I'm trying to hold my shit together but it's still kinda rough :/

Not so relevant stuff (warning: 0 continuity. 0 organization): I'm reading Angels Before Man right now and it's soooooooo good I love it (crep i think you write the religious trauma type shit, right? I think you'd like this book :3 /nf). I ordered a green crossbody bag on amazon and its gonna come in sometime between july something-teen and august 5th and the hunt for one that's good was hard bc my laptop is big as shit and it needs to fit in the bag and most of them are teeny tiny but I found one that I think will work!!!! I'm excited for that :3333 The laundry pile is still staring at me I'm scared but I don't wanna put it away but it keeps building up I don't like this :((( Jay I meant to message u abt this earlier but I kept forgetting and i didn't know how to bring it up but remember the one crossover drawing I made with Dew and Hell Followed With Us (another very religious trauma one)? Another book by the same author, The Spirit Bares Its Teeth by Andrew Joseph White, has a lot of the same vibes as Blood Runs Cold, at least in terms of mechanics. One of the main things in the story is the existence of "the veil" which is the barrier between the alive people and the ghosties and that reminds me a lot of what's going on with Aspen, if u wanna check it out! /nf :333333 Uhhhhhhh what else. I have an XC long run (probs 30 minutes for me) tommorow. Idk what I'm gonna do when I get home tho. Might make another poll for that. Its like 8;30 over here I should probably go asleepy haha. My bday is july 27 btw :333333333 definitely have to make some sort of art for that. There's probably also a couple character bdays in july that I dont remeber off the top of my head but I know they're there. Ok I go alseepy now byeby :3333

[welcome-to-the-petting-zoo]

Looking back on my life now, I'm seeing how formative it was to me to follow this blog. You presented challenging texts on psychology and queer activism, and gave me an example of a polyamorous life far richer than I could allow myself to imagine. From the bottom of my heart: Thank you. I wish you well. Thank you. How are you doing? Thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you

Hi Frozenbasalt!! Cat ( @neuroglitch ) here! Thank you so much for this wonderful message! It means the world to me - us - that this blog was able to provide you with something that was helpful and formative to you ❤️ I sent it in the group chat and it's much appreciated!

While none of us have been very active on this blog, nor have we been making updates to the podcast for years by now, it's not because we aren't doing well, it's just that other projects took precedence and in some ways it's hard to come back to something like this years later, when everything has changed but also everything is the same. Also there definitely have been some rough patches of life where the energy just hasn't been there. But running this blog + making the podcast is a very dear memory to me and I'm so proud and happy to hear that it was helpful to someone!

I still live with Moose and Hound+TP&Co. Moose ( @moose-mousse ) finished his education and got a job as an engineer. The firm is kinda crazy, but hey, they pay him, so that's good :p He's doing a lot better overall now that uni isn't constantly fucking him over anymore.

I finished my education as a psychologist, but ended up on disability pension for now. I'm working hard on making time for my own projects and dreams, but it's a work in progress, especially as I've been struggling a lot with negative symptoms and/or executive dysfunction for a while.

Hound and TP are now more of a collective than they used to be (lots of new and old faces) but at the same time they also have less in terms of dissociative amnesiac barriers between them, and can better be described as a collective rather than two very seperate people who never get to hang out. This past year they've gotten back into driving around the countryside on a scooter, and they have collected an infinite amount of pebbles. Also he's 2 years on T!

The wonderful Bear ( @prygelknabe ) has found work helping students with special needs get through high school. They are on a type of partial disability called flex job, where they work 18 hours but get paid full-time. They are also rediscovering their kink social life and figuring out how to live their best life!

Bat ( @the-life-of-bat ) is learning how to draw, making a comic, doing an internship at a comic book store and more. She has long since recovered fully from surgery and it's been awesome to see her grow. And it's been great for the two of us to be able to meet each other on more equal footing ❤️

Katten is still going strong at @compassionatereminders , bless her - she was broken up with by her long-term bf, but as a result, she is also having a glowup bc dude was kinda .. uninspiring. She went down in medication, has had more energy as a result, and now she's starting to get involved with the local political scene and stuff!

and Lynx is trying to get back to the job market after a lengthy battle with her mental health + immigration services trying to throw her out of the country. Definitely early stages of picking things back up, but there's a momentum now and there's a sense of depression lifting.

This all to say, that yes, ofc we are all facing challenges, and have been as well, but there's good to be found in everyone's narrative too, and we are still in each other's lives, and there's love and care to go around!

I hope you are also doing well! I'm always happy to see you in my notifications, and this message means a lot to me. Thank you for sharing!

[dreamtydraw]

hi there!! so I was recently looking for visual novels to occupy my time with, and I came across 21 questions, so I played it. and I loved it. so I played tulipe. and I liked that one a lot too. then I checked out your social media and I was really curious about the ✨️paranormal club lore✨️, so I just played all of them-

I didn't realize it when I was playing the game, but I've seen a lot of your our life art here on tumblr and I can't get over how pretty it is! even when it's just doodles that you do for fun, I still really like your style cause you make everyone look so nice. even if you're just drawing clem in a clown suit, we still love that

I don’t usually draw anymore because even though I used to like it, I feel like I lack all motivation to do it now, but seeing your art is really giving me inspiration to pick up a paper and a pencil and start drawing again :D

I personally share your love for visual novels, and I enjoy replaying yours because they're honestly so nice. I guess I just like seeing the way the story progresses and how relatable the characters feel, especially as a non-binary person who struggles to see themselves represented in games. plus I just like the voice acting in 21 questions

if I'm honest, even if it wasn't my usual genre of romance, night shift was a good play as well, especially for your first game! I can feel the inspiration from horror games and I love those types of things sm. I get why you'd wanna go back and redo it someday, but I think especially in terms of the plot and characters, it had a captivating plot and it was well written... françoise betrayed us tho rip

also this isn't about the games but from what I've seen, it honestly feels like you're a really nice person who happens to be really talented and so you deserve really nice things. even if you haven't been getting them until now, I hope you do start because you deserve it!! I like reading your visual novel rambles bc I agree with a lot of stuff, just me nodding my head in agreement like I wouldn't look crazy if anyone saw me. and it feels nice to see that people still talk about fictif stories to this day cause god they've been collecting dust 😭 I miss those days where I'd be so excited whenever an update was announced... guess I'll never get my rime route now :(

lastly, I just wanna say that I love clem sm. they're literally so cool but still so adorable and I wanna give them all the love and affection. I want us to bake together and then paint each other's nails 💅

and this question has been keeping me awake at night so I just have to ask, I know that at the end of the game he said we'd keep in contact like aurore and her partner, but would they let mc just. follow them to London while he does his thing? there's no point in being in France without your blond french, and I've always wanted to move to an english speaking place anyways... clem can put me in their suitcase, I'll be good 🫶

thank you for listening to my silly rambles, I hope you're having a good day and if not, I really hope it gets better! remember to take care of yourself and take breaks whenever you need them, you're only human so you aren't always gonna be perfect, but at least you know you always try your best even if things don't go the way you want them to <3

Anon whoever you are I love you and I really wish you a wonderful day I started sobbing a bit too hard and now my eyes kinda hurt a bit but your message makes me feel a lot of things and I’m really grateful for such kindness. I’m fucking crying on my poor plushies cause I don’t have tissue, they are all wet and miserable 😭😭😭😭 Words trully can’t explain how much this message means to me, like, this is the kind of message that i’ll keep in my phone gallery to look at when i feel sad and it’s just so sweet and it rassure all the bad things I think about myself so I’m very emotional. It’s 2 am and I had a very long day so I physically and emotionally don’t handle it well but i promise it’s / pos i’m just blabling incoherent thoughts just to say thank you so much and I’m glad you enjoy what I create and I’m glad you draw again and I hope you find joy in making stuff you like + you get soft and cold pillow at night and warm meals in winter anon.

Now i am so sad to spread bad news BUT…. The canon ending of 21 questions is the platonic ending. 21q happens in 2019, Clem move to London in 2021 and ( spoiler alert ) will be spotted in Apple bag which takes place in 2022. Clem’s character and story haven’t entirely been revealed in his game for reasons that I’ll hopefully share in a futur but it’s for the same reasons that realistically… the relationship in 21q is destined to end with distance.

BUT that not the end if you imagine a future with Clem. If your intention is to romance them then there is an open window for the timeline where he’s a bit older. When exactly ? I won’t spoil but all I have to say is that this relationship can work on long term ! It’s just a good person, wrong moment situation and once you know everything about him, then his romance options become more real :}

Mystic talk sorry, like i said i just had an emotional breakdown and it’s late so i will shut my mouth and go to sleep ! Once again thank you so much for your kind words an hopefully you’ll like what I plan to release in the future. Tons of love ❤️

[mokutone]

🌿🌱 Mokutone Masterpost 🌱🌿

Hi! Welcome. This post will function sort of as a FAQ and will be updated as such. You don't need to read it, but if you've had these questions, here are my answers:

"Do you take Commissions?"

Not yet! I do, however, have a Ko-fi, where I'll do some little thank-you doodles!

"Do you have a shop?"

No, not at the moment! I am considering it though...

"What materials do you use?"

By far the questions I get asked the most are about this, so this will get very long and I'm going to put it under a readmore. I will address the papers, inks, watercolors, dip pens, brushes, and other materials that I have used.

I also answer questions about my materials under the "my ninja tools and scrolls" tag, and give art technique advice under the "my jutsu" tag. Yes it's silly, but this is a Naruto art blog. this is what we all signed up for.

Mostly, this will be a list of my traditional materials. I will address the paper, pens, inks, and various types of watercolor that I use!

📄 PAPERS: 📄

—Strathmore 400 Series Heavyweight Drawing Pads 100lb/163gsm. (these numbers refer to the weight/thickness of the paper. thicker paper is less likely to buckle) ———> This paper is extremely cheap (a 9"/12" pad is often under 10 dollars), takes inks EXCELLENTLY, but it's a much lighter paper, and it will buckle under watercolor. For this paper, it's good to only paint small sections, to paint very slowly, or to paint with the paper taped down to another surface.

—Fabriano Hot Press (Hot Press means the paper is smooth, not rough) Watercolor Paper, 140lb/300 gsm ———> I use this paper the most because it's fairly cheap to buy in bulk, while still being good enough quality that my picky watercolor teacher approved it, Lol. I can usually find a 9"/12" block of it with 50 pages for about $20 if i look hard enough—and the paper is hardy enough that if I'm careful, I can paint on both front and back of the paper. Bad for archival purposes maybe, but great for having fun and not spending more money. [Example]

—Vision Cold Press (Meaning the paper is rough and textured) Watercolor Paper, 140lb/300 gsm ———> My watercolor teacher said this stuff was garbage, but...I don't really care! It is DIRT CHEAP and YES it buckles a little despite being thick, and YES it feels like cardboard in your hand, and YES it ONLY comes in coldpress, but the texture is grainy and even and nice... and like. when I say dirt cheap I mean dirt cheap. I used to get the 6"/9" 30 page pad for like 6 or 7 bucks. [Example]

—Arches Watercolor Pad/Block, Hot Press, 140lb/300 gsm ———> This is that expensive shit. I got a pad of it for a class back in college, and I dip into it now and again—I also bought a little bit more when there was a sale recently, a 12 page. It's 100% cotton, and it takes pigment based watercolor REALLY well, but it's not so good about dye based (I'll discuss the difference between those later) [Example]

🎨 WATERCOLORS: 🎨

DYE BASED:

Dye based watercolors, because they are based in dyes instead of pigments, are not lightfast. They are not archival. If you expose them to sunlight, they will begin to fade, and some will fade rapidly. That said, if you hoard your art in a dark place once you've documented, go hog wild! The fact that they're all liquid already makes them really easy to use.

—Ecoline Watercolor [Liquid] ———> These are a little watery, but they are cheap and easy, and I used them for the majority of my early watercolor art on this blog!

— Dr. Ph. Martin's Radiant Concentrated Watercolors [Liquid] ———> They are expensive, and sold in small quantities. They are, however very bright, like that label isn't lying! They're super concentrated! I have not actually run out of any of the ones that I bought (at a store closing sale bc otherwise they're too expensive lol) because they only use a small amount at a time

— Dr. Ph. Martin's Synchromatic Transparent Watercolors [Liquid] ———> They are also expensive, and also sold in small quantities. They aren't really made for paper either. They're fine. Probably not worth it though!

PIGMENT BASED:

—Black Sheep Art Supply's Pans And Half Pans! [solid watercolor] ———> These have been very enjoyable for me to work with!! They're very bright, affordably priced, and the paints are from a small business, as well as being handmade and from the first Black-owned art supply store. I've had wonderful experiences ordering from this store, and I wholeheartedly recommend them!

[EDIT: apparently the shop is on a break or something! oh well]

—Dr. Ph. Martin's Hydrus [liquid watercolor] ———> These are liquid watercolors, like the dyes, but they are archival and somewhat light-fast, which means they can be exposed to moderate amounts of sunlight without fading. I haven't gotten to use them much yet, but they seem fine. You do have to shake them a lot to mix the pigment in. They can also be a little difficult to rewet, and may appear somewhat flaky.

—Turner Professional Artists' Watercolors [tube/semi liquid] ———> These are watercolors stored in tubes, you know, the traditional way! I used these for class, back in college. They're cheap, but well pigmented as far as cheap watercolors go. If you're really on a tight budget, this is probably the best pick.

—Holbein Artist' Water Color [tube/semi liquid] ———> My best friend (the one who got me into naruto!) gave these to me! Usually they can be very expensive. They're very high quality, and gorgeous. I'm so enamored with them and touched by the gesture that I use them very rarely, I don't want to lose them! They're special to me!

✒️ INKS: 🖋️

I only use permanent inks which will not bleed (much) when water is applied, due to working in watercolor. This list will reflect that

—Dr. Ph. Martin's Bombay Black India Ink ———> I use this the most frequently. It's a little shiny, but not too bad, and it is completely waterproof once dried. Of the Ph. Martin inks, it's the cheapest by far, and a 1oz bottle (which lasts me months) can be found for about $5. —Dr. Ph. Martin's Black Star (Matte) Ink ———> Very waterproof, does not shine much at all. If you record your art with photography rather than scanning, this may be useful to you! Unfortunately, it's about $10 a bottle. —Dr. Ph. Martin's Black Star (Hi-Carb) Ink ———> Very waterproof, very shiny. I don't use this much because I don't like my ink to shine, but it can be very nice with the right application. Unfortunately, it's also about $10 a bottle.

—Yatsumoto Sumi Ink ———> you can get this stuff cheap. Like, you could get a 12oz bottle of it for like $12. That's very cheap. Unfortunately it's not completely waterproof, and if you agitate (rub the brush vigorously) over the ink, it may seep into the watercolors. If you're careful though, this won't be a huge problem. It's also good for ink-only work.

—Liquitex Acrylic Ink ———> This is also very waterproof, but it also takes longer to dry than the other inks, so I find myself smudging it a lot. It's also about $7 for a 1oz bottle, but about $20 for a 5oz bottle, so if you're committed to the ink, it can be cheap to buy in larger sizes.

—Diamine Registrar's Blue-Black Ink ———> Expensive. Really more of an interesting find than a practical ink for me. This is mostly waterproof, but a very thin ink, and you can feel the nib get scratchier when drawing with it. That's not a bad thing, it's just a textural thing. It's produced in a similar way to medieval inks, with iron and oak-galls, and because of this it has some interesting properties: When first applied to paper, it's a pale or sky blue, but it darkens rapidly as it dries, becoming almost black over time. It runs the rusk of corroding metal pen nibs due to its chemical makeup, and so nibs which use this must be washed extra thoroughly.

✍️ PEN NIB HOLDERS: ✍️

—Speedball Sketching Pen Set: ———> Easiest to get your hands on. Comes with two nib-holders and 6 different nibs to try out, available at most art stores, and usually around $10. It's also not bad quality—I don't use the tiny little nib-holder any more, but I use the standard black one all the time.

—Tachikawa Comic Pen Nib Holder, Model 40/ Model 36 ———> My Favorite. Thank god it has a little rubbery thing around it, because I grip pens hard 😭. It is able to hold standard-size AND small-size nibs. Occasionally, I find that some "standard-size" nibs might not fit, but I've never had this issue with the small size nibs.

Honestly, those are my favorites, but it's really hard to go wrong with pen nib holders. If they fit comfortably in your hand, and they hold a nib, they're good!

🖋 NIBS: ✒️

Nibs are difficult to acquire. They can be expensive too.

— Speedball ———> If you want to get a variety of nibs to experiment, this is my first recommendation. They have a wide variety of nibs to experiment, and find out what your favorites are.

—Tachikawa Pen Nibs ———> They've got less robust options than Speedball, and a little more expensive too, but they're very good nibs! The G-Nib is the standard nib used in comic making, and especially for lettering. It's a very stiff little nib, so it doesn't flex too much. This makes it pretty reliable, and especially good for lettering/writing.

—Manuscript Leonardt Pen Nibs ———> A lot of options for everything from caligraphy to cartography to sketching, also a little expensive—what is notable is that their pen nibs tend to be on the more flexible side, allowing the artist to get a lot of line weight variance. This is bad for lettering, but fun for drawing! They also have pens shaped like hands. Neat.

—Brause Pen Nibs ———> These were always super expensive where I was. I got a few. They come in this dorky plastic case with a sliding top, and I kinda wish they didn't bc that's a whole lotta plastic for something that coulda been stored in cardboard or paper, lol. I now use the cases to hold perfume samples. They're good pens, they're just expensive and the packaging is dumb.

—Whatever the hell is on Etsy. ———> People love to sell vintage things on etsy, and pen nibs are no exception. Often, you can find random samplers of pen nibs, or collections of pen nibs for sale. Sometimes you can find a whole box of one kind of pen nib, often times with a lot of nibs in it. I once bought one of these for like $45 and i don't even regret it because it's got a shitton of nibs and I realllly like using them. It will literally last me the rest of my life.

🖌 Brushes: 🖌

I don't have a lot to say about brushes! Ultimately, if it makes a mark on paper, and you like the mark it makes...I think that's a good brush.

I've been told you should go for ones which hold a shape, I think, and don't spread out in a big puff. Ones which use animal hairs are apparently best, but they are also very expensive. Generally, with watercolors, you will want to use "round" brushes, especially for beginners. If you want to experiment, I recommend Filberts, but there are also sword/dagger brushes if you're painting something like grass. Mostly I use:

—Creative Mark Mimik Kolinsky: ———> As the name implies, these are meant to mimic (synthetically) brushes made from Kolinsky fur. These are nice and I like them. They're cheap, but hold their shape well, and feel good in the hand. —Creative Mark Mimik High Performance Synthetic Squirrel Hair Watercolor Brushes: ———> What a name. I find these to be just as good for me as the Mimik Kolinsky, but a little bit cheaper. As long as ur careful not to treat them too roughly you'll be fine.

—Princeton Watercolor Brushes ———> Good. Expensive, but good. They have a variety of synthetic + natural materials, they are well made, if you have a little money to throw around + want a brush which will preform very well but will not destroy your bank, this is a solid brand. I've used ones from their Velvetouch, Mini-Detailer, and Heritage collections before, and enjoyed them all very much.

Additional Supplies:

—Porcelain Palette ———> I highly recommend using a porcelain palette instead of a plastic palette, both because I like to cut down on plastic when I can, and because the porcelain palettes are just....so much more convenient. The glass-like coating means that they will be easier to clean, whereas all of my plastic palettes over the years have gotten permanent stains. They're a little harder to accidentally knock around because they're heavier, which probably isn't a problem for most people, but I can be kinda clumsy. I can't tell u the number of times I've sent a full plastic circle-palette of watercolors flying lol

[cryptidofthekeys]

Btw showing the desc of my fursona now (i forgor- oop I still swear to god I've forgotten a detail but I can just update it at any point so ye) But anyways here's uh my fursona! I bet y'all can tell im not super used to making furry characters

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| Name: Lunar Nightwing Creepybonez

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| Nicknames: Usually prefers to just go by Lunar, or his actual nicknames: Luny (Loo-ny), Creepz, or Bonez

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| Pronouns/Sexuality: Trans FTM, goes by He/Him, and he is Pansexual

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| Age: 24

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| Height: 5’5”

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| Species/Race: Anthropomorphic Animal (Mouse/Bat hybrid)

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| Hobby: Writer/Artist

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| Eye Color: One’s pastel purple and the other’s pastel green (light pastels) his eyes are normal pupils (sometimes they go silly mode, going wide like a cat’s, slits, his eyes can also swirl like a hypnosis effect)

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| Fur Color/Body Type: His fur is also Pastel Purple, from his neck to his belly is Pastel Green, his wings are a mixture of the colors (the back of his wings are fully pastel purple but the inside of his wings go in a row, pastel purple, pastel green, and then repeat essentially until his wing span ends, his wings are big enough to wrap around his whole body or someone else’s, and he’s fat.

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| Likes: Horror Stuff/Halloween, Demons, Sharks, Dogs, Bears, other Bats/Mice, Writing and Drawing of course, Baking, Rhythm Games, Sweets/Candies, Wrestling (it’s a special interest of his, has been since he was a kid, he can talk your ear off about it)

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| Dislikes: Shitty people in general which is obvious, dolphins, Owls, Hawks, not being able to do the things he likes, Anxiety, the stigma around sharks (has a fucking vendetta for Jaws but also watches it just to give correct and accurate shark facts), Dolphins …he just doesn’t like them,  and …tbh I can’t think of much else, he doesn’t dislike a WHOLE lot lmao

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| Appearance: Imma get this out of the way, Lunar’s wings are attached from the back, his arms/paws are separate, he’s got a pink mouse tail as well, Lunar doesn’t wear clothes, he doesn’t… Really need to and besides, do you know how hard it’d be to cut out holes to fit his wings through and also his tail, it isn’t like he needs them anyways, he has pastel purple and pastel green toe beans on his paws too, and his toe beans squeak when you press them, as does his nose, his nose is pastel purple with little pastel green dots on them.

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Lunar has pointed ears like a bat’s, long whiskers like a mouse, his eyes usually have little white heart shines in them, he’s got two front buck teeth (but their razor sharp, like buck fangs)

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And his other teeth are just sharp and pointy, his fur is super soft and smooth, there’s three little tufts of pastel purple fur though that are always sticking up on him, no matter how much he combs it, it always sticks up, so he just kept it like that, he thinks it looks cool anyways, he has top surgery scars that kinda look similar to bat type wings.

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His eyes can go from heart shines to hypnotic swirls of pastel purple and pastel green (why? Bc I love designs like that)

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This is just me writing down the basics of like when I make the fursuit- which’ll be a LONG time from now bc I legit don’t know what I’m doing and need to learn

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…I realize he doesn’t really need a personality since uh he’s MY fursona- so he’s kinda just,, like me essentially- but some uh side facts I guess is in order-

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| Side Facts: Lunar is amazing at playing the old game ‘Snake’ when he was a kid he used to play all the time on his mom’s old Nokia phone (I’m giving him things that I did as a kid yes) if you put Snake in front of him he may not beat the full game but he can get a damn good high score on it, same with Tetris.

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Contrary to loving horror, while he has horror games he plays, he much prefers cozy games or relaxing ones, Stardew Valley is one of his most favorite cozy games.

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Lunar has a loud screech that can be deafening, it’s one of his defense mechanisms technically, his loud screen can hurt your ears hella bad if he does it loud enough, and accurate to real life bats, Luny can’t just fly up suddenly in the air, no, he has to get to a high enough platform and THEN take flight, he’s pretty fast too, both in the air and when running, I mean he IS a mouse/bat so yeah.

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Lunar is a scare actor at one of the haunt conventions in his hometown, he does it every Halloween (my dream to be a scare actor lmao) and Lunar’s house is decked to the nines in terms of horror merch, his house is like a damn horror house itself, he does sleep upside down most of the time with his tail and wings curled around himself, but sometimes he sleeps in a coffin bed he made himself just for dramatic effect.

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This fucker goes FERAL over Teddy Grahams, give him one of those and his life is yours, literally has been caught in the middle of the night eating a whole box of them, he fucking LOVES those things.

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His biggest comfort food is Graham Crackers and Milk, if he doesn’t feel like eating anything else because some days for him all food sucks or makes him feel sick, but they never do, it’s a huge comfort food to him and he could eat it at any given time.

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His favorite bands/singers include: Will Wood, Lordi, Circus Contraption, Creature Feature, and Ice Nine Kills mostly (but he'll always listen to anything at least once, he loves his music)

[darktypehuman]

hey call me darr. they/them. i am not a zoroark i swear. i just look like this. im a dark/ghost type trainer from unova and im like, tryin my best to prove that ghost and dark types arent evil. tryin to get all the badges in the region for the fifth time

this is a battle subway stan account lol love those guys

will link my team HERE and any other pokemon i have HERE. i have a support pokemon (love u louie :D best lucario) so ask me abt that. if ur not a dark or ghost type fan this is not an account for u

for some reason i am frequently mistaken as a zoroark BY zorua/zoruark so i know a lot abt them. ask me shit abt them if you like! i have a zoroark travelling w/ me (they go by the name zelda) but they're not part of my team they're just a friend of mine

posts abt my life/stuff happening to me will be tagged #darrs journey stuff abt the zorua line is #darrs illusions anything abt support pokemon/louie (and disability in general) is tagged #darrs disability anything abt dark/ghost types will be tagged #darrs goths battle subway stuff is #darrs trains queue tag is #darrs not here just me talking is #darr chats

all my pokemon get their own tags too bc i love them n any pictures/posts of pokemon the same species as them will go under their tags. posts i make abt my team specifically will be tagged #darrs team

lmk if you need anything tagged

(( ooc about under the cut ))

Hi, I'm Hollow/Ingo and I adore zoroarks if that wasn't clear. I wanted to jump on the pokemon irl train the moment I first saw this account! This account will be almost solely in character, so basically consider this whole account to have an unreality warning on it. Since it's meant to be an in character account I won't be doing any rp on here, but if you want to rp in dms or discuss events happening that our characters can post about, I would be happy to!

Pokemon on this account are considered sometimes/semi sapient, I go into it more here! Lmk if you'd rather I not interact!

I am an adult! This account is SFW though. At most I might post silly joke innuendos, but those will all be tagged as #suggestive text if you want to block that. All posts I make will include the tags "Pokemon", "Pokemon IRL", "PokemonIRL", "Real Pokemon", "Pkmn IRL" and any relevant pokemon species (or canon characters).

I will be basing Darr's experiences with disability on my own experiences, as well as my personal headcanons for pokemon!

Any "photographs" that include a real life background not based on a photo I took myself will include credit to the original photographer under a cut. All pokemon art used is either official art or drawn by me.

My main is @infinitelysilvr! I follow back from @infinitelysilvr2 due to weird tumblr issues. Feel free to interact with the other RP accounts I run! You many be interested in @highlandswarden, a version of PLA's Ingo sent to a very curious location...

This post will be updated if there's anything else I feel needs to be mentioned. Have fun everyone!

Also, here's a quick drawing of Darr, for reference's sake

[havethetouch]

update~

Still alive n kicking my guys, disassembling ikea furniture like it owes me a shitton of money and packing boxes with a vengance.

I am also incredibly pissed off currently but that works fine for me because spite is a good fuel and I have to get shit done so it works in my favour. Don't worry my absolute darling sibling from other parental units helped me through the thick of emotional bs I stumbled into a few days ago so I am doing well in spite of shit which is good because I don't have time for any of that crap anyway.

The 14th is gonna be M-day sponsored by Mama and BroBro and their sick ass big cars and if we employ our generational Tetris skills we might get this show on the road with just one big trip.

And given that the big day is around the corner I am vibrating again with possibility and my inherited need to make home and nest I am so ready to flip off the flat and run for them hills baby~

So yeah big excite around the corner lotsa stuff to remember still like quitting the utilities and have my mail forwarded to catch stragglers ans all that jazz. First thing to assemble after will be my workroom obviously everything else is secondary. My darling aunt gifted me her slim glass cabinets that I will mount to the wall and sort my inkbottles into which already has me giddy mainly because sorting these babies after type and colour is the most carthatic thing ever and I earned myself some carthasis me thinks.

Imma post some pics once I'm done with it, still need to rig up the electricity in the workroom up properly bc right now it has a 50s chandelier going and that is not enough light for a proper workroom especially since I am a nocturnal beast and good light makes the difference when mixing colours and getting the hues right (used to have a real shitty desklamp and had sometimes to go off memory with my tools to get the colours right which is a point of pride but also wasn't fun). Anywaythe workroom will get the all white treatment mostly, white furniture (imma sand down my table and repaint that in white too), mostly white walls to hang my favourite artworks without visual discrations and some turquoise accents. Other side of the workroom gets a bigass rattan circular disk chair I dream of a massive thing with pillows and blankets that I can curl up in like a nest while I do embroidery and I even saw some neat fireplaces that come in white too which will be needed bc the workroom is hit with cold on two fronts as it is the last room on the corner of the house and it gets icy, which mind, is good for my materials like the copics bc it will keep em usable longer but I need the fireplace to warm myself up in winter if I stay too long in there which I will bc I can draw for hours and should not become an icicle while I am at it hah.

Either way plans start to take actual shapes now and it's hella nice. But also lotsa work ahead like I need to retile my bathroom at some point too. The good things about all my renovation projects and plans for breathing new life in some of the furniture is that I can do most stuff by myself bc my dad was a handy man and he taught me a broad spectrum of things you usually call handimens and specialists for. Hope my old man looks down at me fondly from whichever afterlife and laughs his ass off when I start cursing over retiling the bathroom though bc tiles are lil bitches but man I can't wait. I am so excited.

[liquidstar]

5 and 13 for nova stella :D

HIII MY FRIEND IM GOING TO HAVE TO PUT THIS UNDER A CUT AGAIN BC I TYPED SO MUCH <3 BUT TY FOR THE ASK YAAY

5.) pick a theme song for the tv adaptation.

Oh picking just one song is SO hard. Dare I rip off Assassination Classroom and say I like to picture Polaris walking to the tune of Hello Shooting Star by Moumoon as she meets the other characters on her journey? hehe

13.) how long have you been working on this project? what has changed from the outset?

I would say… Around January 2021? That’s when I posted my first drawing of Polaris! And actually the drawing itself has been slightly updated now! Nothing major, just cleaning up some details, adding a few things to better reflect her character now that it’s more figured out and all. Like, now she has a compass on her side and the nautic star symbol on her collar, and her hairclip is a snowflake! Her bow has also been moved lower down her braid. She’s also less thin, to have a more different body type than Bella.

Other characters have gone through some design changes like that too! Some are actually fairly character relevant (like Saiph getting the sleeves and spike cuffs around his wrists) while some are just more practical (Going to have to connected Felis’s cat ears to where her human ears are. Or would be. So she wouldn’t have four sets of ears LOL. Same goes for some other characters). 

And as for story changes, I think I went through a few different concepts for what exactly it would be before I settled on a guild. Stuff like Polaris adventuring the world solo (Which she still does pre-story), or becoming somekind of knight, idk! Throwing ideas around! That’s why despite not being super relevant, the zodiac knights were characters I drew before the rest of the main guild! (I think some of them need a bit of a re-vamp too). 

There were also different archetypes I played around with before settling on what would be the main group! Like for example, at first I wanted Andy to be a main character who was sort of a runaway princess. But I felt like that added a layer of complication I didn’t need. She was actually going to be more like how Bella is now lol. They have similar name themes in a way, with “Ruler of men” (Andromeda) and “Female warrior” (Bellatrix).

The other Nova Stella characters fell into place sort of naturally, I think. I liked to just come up with concepts and see how they’d fit in. And as I added new characters, dynamics changed, which made character’s change! Barnard was always going to be the nerdy smart dude of the guild, but once I added Juno (Who was the last character created for the main guild!) he now had a buddy, which I got to make an entire backstory for that totally added to both characters. Both the pre-existing Barnard and the newly-made Juno lol. Or, like, Lacerta for example was sort of just the Mean Girl at first, but adding a bit of a more complex dynamic with her and Mira (ex. “She’s too nice and I don’t like it/trust it” type thing that makes Lacerta lash out, partly out of insecurity, while Mira continues to be herself which pisses her off more) I think added more to her beyond that too. Like, actual insecurities about being.. The Way She Is. AND ALSO speaking of Mira, really her entire dynamic with Felis and Saiph is a whooole thing that I figured out later on. Boy these three sure can fit a lot of self-destruction and death themes into them! 

As for the other guilds, as soon as I had a concept for them the archetypes sort of fell into place, since, like I said, they tended to be a bit more gimmicky. Not all of them, I had some trouble parsing what I’d do with Pluto’s guild (Tartarus) for a bit!

Eventually I figured… Wouldn’t it be fun to kind of full circle things? Like, okay. The event that really kicks everything off is Polaris meeting Saiph. They meet because Polaris was kind of getting mugged by two Tartarus members, and Saiph steps in to help and kind of fucks it up so now they have to work together… It’s a whole thing! Anyway the epiphany I had the other night was, what if post-timeskip they meet again for the first time in a while because Saiph is getting mugged by THE SAME TWO ASSHOLES and Polaris has to step in to save him lol. (But the reason she was there is a bit different this time!)

Anyway thank Dumb and Dumber for being responsible for the whole story happening. Twice. They’ll be drawn w the rest of the Tartarus guild when it’s time ^_^

[deliveryclan]

If the 'issue' is lack of attention: As someone who's been reading every post on the clangen tag for months, the times you post are fine, you just. Only ever seem to post short text posts about a clan no random person scrolling by has any context on and that doesn't seem to have started yet. and 'there will be something here eventually, here's a few shreds of info about it' definitely puts you on people's radar(you're certainly on mine!) but doesn't necessarily spark conversation with you.

oh, i do know that! i am planning on putting most crucial information in one post for once, however i feel like i need to show them first in proper context of a moon page and THEN make a coherent post. me saying 'hey there are monsters in there' sounds meaningless if i wont show them.. in actual comic first. i think people want visuals first and wall of text second.

"oh but you could draw for the post too' problem is im a slow worker, and if i could draw then i could just draw the moon itself, also this isnt the only thing im drawing. also im not unemployed, so that another x hours taken from my day.

alas i feel like it's. awkward. to put some major information about groups or plots that won't show up until like later moons (we wont see inside of the major non-sharing-border-with-one until like.. moon *39*). could it build up anticipation to see them in action? maybe?? i dont know??? i suppose???? it does for me personally, but i might be a Spoilers Georg, an outlier and shouldnt be counted. it could work bc reader knows stuff but the characters dont and it makes sense in most context. but also doesnt that make people discouraged bc 'well i know about the x now, so why keep reading' type of thing. like with spoilers for shows and books and games. i seen enough webcomics with people going 'wow the character is so fucking stupid for not figuring out the killer. like we readers saw who killed, why the character doesnt know that already'. 'wow the clangen cats are fucking dumb for not knowing about the other group's deal, like. we all saw the introduction post, didn't they also??? how they dont know all this crucial information, are they stupid' (< please read What Lurks Beneath and The Exiled, some of the comments are just like that and it's making my head hurt soooo badly)

also i feel like making random posts every now and then is a good way of showing that hey. im still here. im working. its absolutely incoherent to anyone but me. you know how some blogs dont update for x weeks or months and you wonder if you should still follow them, until they post a random post out of blue and then disappear for another month. i dont unfollow blogs for that, but i know others probably do 'clear' their follow lists if they see someone not post for few weeks, so.

so i do appreciate the message!! unfortunately we all know that people will learn something and then acts like the characters should know that too and act disinterested. or something doesnt get cleared for several pages and act like it's a plot hole. obviously its not going to stop me from working and all, attention or not. world is my oyster. but it's still good to hear people are interested, even if it is barebone?? damn.

[jsdgfsdf]

Cain newscast btw i have the prologue done for the au thing oh my godi still need a title. I just remembered that. damn.. anyway i finished the prologue or at least i'm happy w what i have for it for now &i have enough substance for the first chapter (which is the only reason im considering sharing it now) and i SORTA want to publish it & get it known already but i also kinda want to wait until maybe august or something cus it'll probably get immediately bogged down by my artfight posts since im cranking those things out like hotcakes. Then again it's not like i'd..post it on my art blog..but maybe...?? I dont really know what im gonna do w it it's not A drawing nor does it have anything to do w Drawing really so it's not much of a contender for my art blog. and i don't want to put it on my website and leave it to collect dust i dont like doing that bc the update previews scare me. mfw demand avoidance (theres mental gymnastics here I also don't usually like my work being front and center right in your eyeballs especially not my writing). but i also don't want to put it on some random fanfic website (most likely ao3) because i don't thikn anyone would really see it much less Guy me and like 10 other ppl care about x My oc that people are even less likely to care about and also i rewrote the entire story type stuff. i dunno. ill probably wait until tomorrow or something to figure it out but i wanna get this thing into the public at SOME point

[summonhouse]

im going to ramble abt art websites for a bit and its maybe going to be disjointed and potentially mean bc 1. i speak for myself im not here to convince anyone of anything so i dont care about sounding nice? and 2. im feeling a little offkilter lately BUT

these are no more good art websites and its a pain to see a new art website crop up every week and everyones like, thisll be the one guys! bc i dont think in this day and age its possible.

first; websites should not be profittable. ive been thinking abt this w like, twitter and tumblr and deviantart too where the problem is that people want to make more profit- they dont want to break even, theyre not trying to cover the cost of hosting and paying employees, they need an excess. it shouldnt be like this bc thats how we get the lower in quality, thats how we get this trying to appeal to third party money providers and not users and its always bad and more than that its just unnecessary. every art website that people love are the ones that remain stagnant because its reliable, people do not want continual updates to the ui of something they depend upon for posting and money. new experimental features esp on art websites are just.. useless unless theyre asked for and the garbage fed to us isnt what we asked for.

what makes a good art website? something you can post images, gifs, perhaps low quality videos on, have larger text posts for pinning and smaller text posts for status updates. id say an important feature is a gallery and featured page- profile customization is also important, at the very least have icons, text around a username, descriptions, and headers.

can you tell im thinking of deviantart? i think deviantart is the premium art website and i am so sad everyone left at eclipse- honestly not even that sad at eclipse. it was bad, it was broken, deviantart now has a fuck ton of little holes in it where pages just dont load right, ill get on the fucking new notification page and user profile later, but the way that, in the old days, it had huge spanning galleries, and it had “post type” search too! and it was annoying at the time, we hated this, trying to pick what kind of art your posts were, but it helped make searching for specific posts so much easier (now trying to find gifs on my old accs without it is impossible..). thumbs were good easy ways for ppl to spread content meant to be spread while immediately linking to the actual post- it stopped people from reposting art or using html linking the image itself without a hyperlink to take back to the post and credit, because the thumb was immediately easy to use and way easier than working around it. there was so much... community. like ok from 14-16 i was harassed hard fucking core by adults on deviantart because i was an annoying whiny kid that used dA as my support platform, because from 11-14 it really was! everyone was nice to me- my art was hot dog shit, but i dont think i EVER got a comment calling it bad. i got a LOT of comments telling me that it was good, and i really did believe that! being a preteen drawing dogs online and getting genuine support, often from other artists of my ilk but not uncommonly by artists who were immediately visually BETTER than me really really helped me get to where i am now- i never doubted myself because i was surrounded by people who were so happy to draw just like me, and people loved to see everyone elses work and characters- the joy for characters and stories is really what propelled popularity even when my art wasnt good enough to uphold this. i remember seeing a post a long time ago mentioning that like... sites like dA remained bc they werent just for visual artists which is a great point too- it hosted lurkers really well, artists were really friendly to people who commented on their stuff even if they didnt post anything, im p sure it did fairly well for people who wrote a lot of content, i know some people got popular just because they commissioned people a lot, not bc they drew anything but bc their characters and name got popular.

i miss the old dA notification page, it was SO GOOODDD the folders for where you could store old notifications, the way it was so perfectly set up to maintain a bunch of different notifications all categorized by type, the way that they took note to stop posts that were submitted in multiple groups from appearing again and again in your notifs, the birthday warnings, it was just.. so sweet! page customization too- it was just so fun finding cute little things to put on your page, and so versatile and useful too because you could get like, boundary or commission status or language stamps on there! and like, when i was 14 i had recoded my page a few times over myself, it got me interested in html coding! and now its all gone- for what? because the sleek look is modern, and modern things get more money from investors, and the platforms dont appeal to users anymore, they appeal to investors, because they want more money- they need more money. its a hole they dug for themselves, kind of- i feel like people down the line hosting THEM want more money and so it dominos.

i loved points too, ik people thought they were useless and the worth was hard for ppl to get but $1=100 points was SO GOOD like i know buying points w usd incures a fee and so ur not getting 2000 points if you spend $20 but trading between people for a lesser fee was SO FUN i got banned for doing this a few times LMAO but it really brings a community together. it encourages younger ppl without paypal to try and do commission artwork without breaking the law, and it wasnt as if points were WORTHLESS, because i know i traded usd for them!

and like, everyones like.. twitter is better. twitter is chock full of algorithm nonesense, theres ads between every post, video audio doesnt really work right (if you click on a video on mobile it just decides you will hear every video you pass now. which will be in between every normal post in the form of a fucking ad), images get compressed to hell and ive never heard any information as to how to avoid this, gifs turn into bad videos, you still cant post multiple gifs (i think youre supposed to but well it doesnt fucking work!), just fucking try and host pixel art on here, theres on way to say long form things to people easily- “use threads” real talk, as a user, if i see a thread i do not click it, its too much work if not offered to me. i am 1 person and i represent hundreds who see your tweets. if you scroll down onto any featured popular post you will see nsfw or violent bigotry. i used to report every bit of bigotry i saw and got fast reception, near immediate banning- since owner turn over, a post disparagingly saying faggot has not been responded to in the past 48 hours. the community is fucking insane and i cant blame them, its how twitter is built- there is no separation between official posts and casual posts, like on deviantart wher ethere was differences between journals and statuses- everything youd post as a status that would have gone under the radar is a big proper real post, every comment you make is a big real post as well, it forces a lot of passing commentary to the forefront of peoples attention which of course incurs drama. and ofc its an ALGORITHM BASED PLATFORM which means it REWARDS RECEPTION, inlcuding NEGATIVE- any of your posts that you intended to have as private and only for your 5 followers if it gets enough traction gets blown out of proportion and every single other user will see it only as the post itself, as a big number post which means its open for ridicule. i feel like it was host to more psyops than dA ever was? dA had a bunch of trolls but never any govt psyops like that drug minor one

anyways new art platforms dont work out bc they dont have enough people or draw- if you just are allowing people to post images and text posts, even if you have better page customization id just use twitter because despite its cons it has the major pro of, you know, having people using it- if you make a new art platform every week, theres no real point to pursue any of them, id just wait and see which one flourished- and because i dont participate, they dont get clicks, they dont continue to grow, and they ALL die. anyways moderation is impossible in the way people like- i know everyone wants to believe their niche discourse is clean cut and actually go to show deeper oppression but moderators on websites do not care- discourse is ever evolving and so heated that they cannot afford to throw out a guess and likely no one ever explains themselves, just say This ideology is something or other. and we all want it to be so simple that everyone has the Right opinion on pro/antiship, or fetishes, or terfisms, or mogai, but i promise no matter how easy it seems to you there are thousands who violently refuse and will make up their own buzzwords about how their side is right and the other is something or other. like aside from banning slurs or cruelty they really cannot do much and likely would not ban people who have a special word in their description that you and you alone recognize as a dogwhistle for x ideology. this is the problem i know a few art websites had where they had to say clearly what they would and wouldnt allow and NO ONE was happy. also to revisit that point on hosting a lot of people, an art website that is JUST an art website is like.. its not going to get community or that response i mention from other ppl. if i get on a website just to post art, why would i comment on anyone elses?

and like, dA i know it has like front page or new algorithm which spotlights a LOT of fetish content, but honestly like. you just have to accept that theres going to be fetish content, its an art website, if you want new unseen artists spotlighted you have to acccept that in the fallout of that theres going to be fetish content.

so uhmmm theres nowhere to go and nothing to do. get your asses back on dA eclipse was glitchy and sucked and showed dA didnt respect user opinion but it has not been that bad. its functional at the very least and its only ever dysfunctional because YOU all left. i cant get reception not bc dA is broken but because theres no one left to see it

[morelikedoccock]

Mer!Otto AU masterpost

I have to admit that I made this au specifically for spicy purposes, but it quickly turned into something much more extensive in my mind, so here it is!!

I got inspired to make my own Mer!Otto by this art and this fic. The idea was playing around my brain for a while, then someone asked me to draw something I’d been wanting to but hadn’t found the time to do yet and I said “bet,” and then my mer!Otto happened. He’s gone through a few little updates as I’ve continued to write, but I’ve more or less solidified his physical design at this point.

Physical refs here, here, here, here (spicy), and here

And my fics are up on Ao3 under a different handle than my usual one, if you want the link just ask me😆

The good stuff is under the cut!! (warning for spicy) and I’m also gonna include a small blurb on my sad timeline mer!Otto at the end❤️

The Info

History/story:

This particular au Otto has a super long lifespan, upwards of a few thousand years

He’s one of only a few remaining merpeople of his particular species, most of whom died out fairly soon after he reached maturity

He’s been around long enough that he was once revered as a sea god, and people painted him on pottery, most of which has been lost to time

He began his life quite innocent, just learning about the world on his own

Was amused and unbothered by the groups of people who thought he was a god, mostly because he was still fairly young at the time

He became more aggressive as he got older, and had a few phases of about 50 years each (first in early sailing history, then maybe in the early 1600s, and then later in the 1700s) where he fought a lot of whalers/sailors/general seafarers, and was even known to terrorize smaller ships for fun

The seafarers of all kinds who mistook him for either a whale or were hunting him specifically during those times usually didn’t return from their voyages

He has had a decent amount of interactions with peaceful land-bound humans during his lifetime, mostly from people who had heard the myths, who were trying to make some sort of sacrifice to a sea god, or who plain stumbled upon him by accident, his dealings with these types of people have mostly been pleasant

In more modern times he has mostly retreated to one particular hidden cave, in an attempt to live in peace and avoid modern recording and hunting technology, though he’s a little magical so cameras don’t really pick him up properly

Physical stuff:

He’s BIG and incredibly inhumanly strong

His human skin is a very pale blue/green/grey color, his octopus skin is a dark blueish-green

His eyes have black sclera, orange and gold irises, and horizontal pupils (like an octopus lmao)

His teeth are bone-colored and very sharp

He’s got half-inch long dark green claws on each of his fingers

His hair is brown and wavy just like canon Otto (more like NWH Otto)

His octopus half connects to his human half just below his tiddies, and a trail of octopus skin leads part way up over his sternum

He has three hearts (and other as of yet undetermined strangeness in his organs bc of the human/octopus hybrid business lmao)

His blood is blue, which makes his mucus membranes (inside of his mouth, etc) blue-green in color, and also makes him blush the same blue-green

He’s cold blooded but can still function totally normally in water of any temp including freezing deep sea water

His skin can change colors for camouflage purposes and it also sometimes does randomly when he’s asleep and dreaming

He doesn’t need to sleep as much as humans do but does anyway sometimes just because

The tip of his hectocotylus (reproductive tentacle) is shaped a bit like a rounded bud, with six segments that open like a flower, allowing the tentacle to lodge inside a host for better egg-transferring success

His body makes eggs constantly, so there’s always a fresh supply, and any that are over a few days old just get absorbed back into his system

He can also produce several different types of goop, mostly for reproductive uses

Personality:

He’s very similar to how I imagine canon Doc Ock, aka suave, jaded, with a slightly more prickly exterior, but on the inside he’s got a heart(s) as soft as the squishiest marshmallow.

He is initially a bit aggressive toward anyone who finds him, mostly to figure out what they want, but if the person takes long enough to explain themselves and is nice, he softens up quite a bit

He likes music, tasty food, and pretty things

He doesn’t like people who want to hunt him

He doesn’t fall in love often, but when he does it happens fast and hard

When he does love someone he wants nothing more than to absolutely smother them with affection of various different kinds, physical and verbal

Extras:

He eats mostly meat, but won’t turn down the chance to nibble on a variety of other things

He’s ticklish

He has three biological children, carried to term by 2 humans

He has both ear lobes and both nipples pierced, and has several nautical tattoos

If there’s anything else y’all wanna know about, please feel free to ask me!!!

(Also about my sad timeline mer!Otto, basically his story is the same as my regular mer!otto except instead of getting wiser and calmer as he aged, he got wilder and angrier and sadder, eventually devolving essentially into a real sea monster. He’s quite broken and fucked up until someone comes along and just accidentally finds a soft spot inside him that he didn’t even know was there any more😭❤️ Cue soft hurt/comfort-style relearning of trust and kindness and love and all that sappy shit💕💕💕)