#am i the only who shades with airbrush???? like no

[touteytout]

i think the day i stopped following these cardinal (digital) art rules from deviantart or whatever is when my art got infinitely better. like things like Dont shade with black/always shade with purple, Dont use airbrush, Never EVER trace anything etc arent inherently wrong as they are based on actual techniques that work. its just that when theyre simplified to this degree and applied regardless of art style/end goal theyre absolutely useless.... theyre made with this very specific lineart-flatcolors-celshade comic/anime style in mind and aimed at like 12 year olds drawing like warrior cats or whatever. and even then its still better to (try to) learn how light/shadow etc actually works

[kimeoshi]

hello it's me again! Your biggest fan (LMAO) The one who asked for tips on coloring...

Another question has came up on me while I was coloring (finally aughhh). How do you shade hair? Without it looking unnatural?

Thank you for your help before!!! 😊

Hello and welcome back! I'm glad my previous advice helped! That is a difficult question as I do admit it is a bit challenging to me as well. It is guesswork + studying references, adjusting tid bits until it looks right, my own process relies on a trial and error approach.

Therefore, I suggest you pick some pieces you like where you find the hair gorgeous, and figuring out how the artist does it, or how might they do it, per active learning principles. Try to deduce it. While the following guide can be good for your starting concepts too, it's important to adapt it to your style and preferences. And I even encourage you to go against it, as creativity thrives on experimentation.

That said, I'll guide you through my own thought process, however. (With a quick Ratio sketch, because I really love to shade his hair; fluffy hair is very forgiving.)

Let's start off here (I'll be skipping the black and white part for simplicity's sake from the previous guide. I'll also be using a white environment with a pale overlight):

For highlights, I begin laying down a Glow Dodge layer with a hard brush that doesn't have full opacity, and draw a halo-like shape. After that, I refine the shape by erasing parts of it with a rough eraser to get the desired effect.

Alternative to the Glow Dodge layer, you can use pure white, or other layer types such as Lighten, Screen, Add and Overlay, etc.

In the following pictures, note that I adjust the layer's opacity freely.

Above, I simply blended it a bit to my own liking.

With an airbrush I softly start introducing shadows (Multiply layer, dark purple/blue color).

Then, I start introducing sharper shadows in a separate layer.

You can use a lasso tool for this to map out a jagged like shape which should remind you of mountains. You can blend this out too at certain segments.

(Sidetrack: if you feel like, I suggest reading up on the balance of hard and soft edges in painting, the topic is very interesting and I am still trying to grasp it as well, yet I find it immeasurably useful. This can come in handy upon rendering principles. A very skillful master of it is the artist Yuming Li.)

Furthermore, I add reflections. I've used a Lighten layer with a subtle blue color. As this is subtle, I want to point it out that it appears on the lower parts.

For a final touch, I pick out the skin's color and airbrush, shift the picked color to a more saturated one and apply it near his face/to the bangs, with an airbrush.

For the fundamentals of hair shading I usually wrap it up here and go off to rendering. I use a painterly brush to do this and pay attention to the jagged shape I mentioned earlier. The brush I use is already tilted, so it's easy to manipulate to make such shapes.

Additionally, I experiment with Overlay, Multiply (or any!) layers with either airbrushes or hardbrushes— as I said there isn't a specified way of doing this. Go wild; for such is the nature of hair. Add any shapes or lines you find appealing, introduce new colors from the environment nearby too to make it moredynamic and interesting as well.

EDIT: An addition! On Rendering tips and advice

(apologies on leaving this out initially! I only realized I should include this now )

Including astray curved lines to simulate how hair flows also builds to the hair-like quality. I also prefer to use it closer to the silhouette of my character as it adds further detailing and a fluffier look in the end!

Attempt to render each strand according to this diagram in mind, note the parabole-like(?) shape for the light, and note standard 3d spheric shading for shadows.

[trapsanchez1]

For the Q and A, how do you render/add shadows, I have no clue 🥲

Also please give me a random headcannon

Thanks!

For the first question, I render them different way but most of the time if I use a colour like blue, I will add a purple shadow that is darker than the blue. I don't shade with black for the most part. I think of where the light source is coming from and I add the shadow to the opposite part. I am on of those artist who does shade softly with the airbrush tool but I also do cell shading. Here is an example of me mixing up both techniques (this is the cover art for the fic Faulty Wiring by Faceless(or Nameless) Artist/Nameless Writer on Wattpad)

As for the second question, here's a VERY random headcannon based on the Spanish Dub for SMG4: I headcannon Kaizo as actually being bilingual (English/Japanese) but uses only Japanese when everyones around cause he doesn't really wanna talk to anyone except Saiko who only speaks Japanese. When Saiko sings in English, it's because Kaizo teaches her how to phonetically say the words so in songs like Saikosis (which I think Kaizo either wrote or translated) Kaizo taught Saiko how to say those words good enough for her to be able to sing them even if she doesn't speak the language. This headcannon came to be as Kaizo does have a Spanish Dub voice but Saiko does not.

[likesdoodling]

It has been a while since I started digital art,

Quite a while.

So here is a 'progress over the last two years' since I gained access to a drawing tablet.

:D

This is my first ever digitally illustrated piece- compared to my latest one-

So, a little bit different.

I do think my art took quite a jump around June 2022, when I took a break from my Steve comic strip, (for obvious reasons- it was about Technoblade's polar bear so...) and decided to try practicing gesture drawing to see if it helped my general anatomy knowledge. This is before,

And this next one is after.

The most obvious change here is that I switched to using thinner lines. There is a gap of about two months between these.

This was when I realised that you could improve art by practicing it (mind-blowing I know), and then started to do just that. Some other notable jumps forward would be when I discovered the airbrush-

Well, discovered a new method of shading with it anyway.

Then after that I had a few pictures that I actually still like, despite them being pretty old at this point, the one below is actually from September of 2022-

I mean, the hands are a bit iffy, but the rest looks alright. This was when I was going through a bit of a melanie martinez phase-

This next one was from January of 2023, I'd only just gotten into bungou stray dogs via some random memes on pinterest about this weird brown haired guy who had lots of bandages and who had this running gag with wanting to die- I actually looked him up at one point, but that didn't really explain much. The main one that I remember was 'life is short, so make it shorter, shorter than chuuya~'

Which at the time was just kind of confusing,

Then I watched the show and it made perfect sense.

I'd discovered ascendance of a bookworm in like, 2021, but I hadn't really been doing fanart of it since I was mainly doing dsmp related stuff and I kind of assumed nobody would know what on earth I was referencing. Turns out tumblr has a lot more bookworm fans than I orignally anticipated. Instagram still has no clue. I think maybe one person out of my followers on instagram knows what I'm on about-

Then we've got these two which I am still proud of btw-

The first one is from a dystopian/time travel fanfic called viridian.

The second one was after I learned about rim lighting. It was inspired by a song actually, 'crash' by noevaii. (and yes I found that song from a sad-ist animatic, it was cool) The character isn't anyone in particular. They're both from February 2023.

Then there's probably my most liked picture on instagram, (not tumblr, since tumblr knows about bsd and bookworm, but y'know. This was even sadder than I originally intended since the last half of my comic strip was finished AFTER everything happened)

Then the final conclusion of my Steve comic strip in May of 2023.

I don't think my art really changed much in between those, but eh.

Then I switched to doing a bunch of ascendance of a bookworm stuff to see what would happen and turns out there are way more fellow fans out there than I anticipated-

Then I guess my next breakthrough in tumblr popularity, (even if it might not have been a breakthrough in art skills necessarily) was when things went DOWN in the bsd fandom with chapter 109 and I did probably one of my most liked tumblr posts I have ever done-

If you want to see the rest of that, feel free to scroll down on my tumblr page, the original's like eight pages long-

This was before anyone knew what was going to happen btw.

I still think it's hilarious that I put in chuuya having contacts. My reasoning being, they're on a film set,

It was a pretty interesting exercise in shading in monochrome.

Then I started a 30 day art challenge in October that I didn't get past day six of, but it was still pretty fun. This is the best one of those-

After that I spent most of my time studying for the jlpt n5, so I didn't really do that much art related stuff,

This is one of the two non-commission related pictures that I finished over the two months after I kind of gave up on the art challenge. This one's from November,

Then I finally finished an art commission I'd been working on for the three months prior, as well as studying. Here is an example of the type of pictures I was doing for that,

Then I was occupied with christmas and birthday presents for my siblings, both my little sisters are into ascendance of a bookworm- (completely my fault I am proud to say) so I was able to do stuff related to that, here's a couple of snippets, but you guys don't get the colour version hehe

And one of them has also read the entire fma manga just like I have so-

Anyway, it's been quite a progression since I resolved to master digital art in 2021.

I reckon I've come a fair way since then. I mean. My art skills in general are way better than they used to be. The last two or three years have been pretty interesting.

Also-

Just had to include this one, I'm gonna do a more detailed version but still-

I think it's funny so I'm posting it here. Even if it's not really related to art progression-

[americanphysco]

What I Took

An Essay by Heather Sellers

From my mother’s house, in 1982, when I left for college—for good: her prized crimson cashmere sweater, which she never wore (Orlando, average temperature in January: 70 degrees Fahrenheit), the most collegiate item in our house, which I washed in warm water, which turned my t-shirts, sheets, and underwear pink, all of which I put in the dryer. I pulled out pink everything and the now tiny sweater. I wore it proudly. I called it a “snug.” I wore it with ultra-tight black jeans, black boots. Hair in a ponytail, long earrings I hand-made out of fishing tackle, as though I intended it all to be just this way.

A bowl with a rooster on it, cream on the outside and inside the most interesting shade of ochre, a color I associated with my mom’s happiest days, the 1950s, when she was a reporter, then a teacher, making a weeknight dinner, laughing with my father about this or that.

A blue floral pillowcase. From a set she used so much the cotton had worn to shining, was smooth as silk. How much I wanted my head where her head had been, my cheek against hers.

Her one gown, a color with no name, palest cinnamon mixed with skin tones, tulle. It never fit me. I wanted to give the dusty dress a proper life at college dances and in ballrooms someday when I was tiny and slender as she was, which never happened, could never happen.

Her father’s wood rosary, carried in a pouch in my purse. Her father, Patrick “Buck” Keating, died on Christmas Eve when my mother was fourteen.

I was never the same again, my mother said.

When I came back from university to visit, the first thing she said was: “I know you’ve stolen some things from me and I want my belongings returned.”

I looked my mother in the eye. “I don’t know what you are talking about.”

I didn’t take her jewelry or money or even the paperwork I needed from her to get financial aid. I wonder now at what she chose, this seventeen-year-old girl that I was: a pillowcase, a sweater, a dress, a bowl, and a rosary. Are these the archetypal elements of woman to a girl? Mostly, I didn’t take. I assembled. I assembled just enough to make a complete and good sentence, trying to create a story a girl could live in.

My mother always said to me: You could be so pretty if you tried.

What I took from my father’s house: nothing.

He, and every thing, every body, in that place smelled of smoke, gin, perfume, decay. Damp to the touch.

But wait. Wait. I did take something.

From his blue bedroom, from on his dresser. But it could have been from anywhere in the house, he strew porn magazines in the living room, bathroom, foyer, kitchen counter. I took the fall issue of the magazine Easyriders, containing the only such girl of his I ever came across, a girl who looked almost just like me. She was photographed, in her modest poses (am I airbrushing clothes onto her with faulty memory?) in mossy woods and dry fields, somewhere in the south—kudzu, pine trees—and paired with a gleaming motorcycle, of course.

The way the light fell through the trees, so familiar.

Her motorcycle was small. Similar to one I’d had, a Kawasaki 200. She looked like a junior high school student. She was so small, long wavy light brown hair. My hair. The only small-breasted girl I ever saw in those magazines.

Summer turning to fall, naked under her leather jacket.

I wanted to put my arms around her. Friend. It wasn’t her naked body that captivated my attention, but rather how she was doing life, her body along for the ride. I took her from my father’s house and with me to college.

Talisman. Marker. Back-up plan.

And I took from my father so much that was invisible to me, and I wouldn’t begin to see any of that until decades later.

[acaplaya-musings]

Voiceplay Visuals: Little Mermaid Medley

I already knew right from the start that this was going to be a long post, but how am I only just now realizing that the video itself is like nearly 8 minutes long? Like I knew the Wicked Medley was one of Voiceplay's longer-length videos, but somehow I never realised that this video is in fact longer by 10 seconds! (I guess it's just so good that I never noticed!) God I hope I don't hit the picture limit on this one, because I have a lot to talk about, so let's begin!

Bit of a far cry from the Moana Medley 3 years prior, hey? (This was released in September 2020 btw). I may be wrong, but I believe this is called "we have a bigger budget now" 😂

Right, so Eli (already doing a subtle Eyebrow Raise, might I add), is dressed as Flounder, Rachel is of course Ariel, J is repping Sebastian, Layne is Chef Louis (I think that's his name), and Geoff went freaking all-out as Ursula (aka "Geoffsula"). The hair! The necklace! The airbrushing on the skin! (Seriously that ain't just a standard layer of face/body paint, there is shading going on there!)

(Also what's up with the green wristbands which I've never really acknowledged till now?)

J and Rachel echoing the "heave ho!" bit to each other (gonna try and limit my screencap-taking just a little bit, because I'll probably end up including a ton anyway)

Rachel slipped on that bracelet really smoothly, is it just me? Like girl how did you do that so easily?

Love the little detail of Rachel throwing up the fork (aka "dinglehopper") and it not coming down again. No clue how they did it

(Also that is a very pretty bracelet. And cute necklace!)

I wasn't exactly searching for this screencap, but I felt like I had to include it when I paused on it!

Layne "blowing bubbles" out his mouth!

I love J's little dance moves here 😄

Geoff on air bass again! (representing the line "the plaice play the bass")

Whose idea was this? 😂 (Layne was in charge of both the arrangement and the video, I'm guessing it was him?) And then Voiceplay stuck it on a shirt and made it into merch! (And also for J's farewell party, they got him a cake that had a picture of snail!J on it!)

We're about to get into my favourite part! (Also cool painting!)

Eli and J hamming it up as Flotsam and Jetsam 😝

J's face makes me laugh every time 😆

Purple flames in his eyes! (Voiceplay used a very similar effect last year, on Geoff again, during the Hellfire video)

Hang on what was that little move that J just did there?

"This one longing to be thinner, this one wants to get the girl, and do I help them?"

"Yes indeed"

(Also fun fact: the woman shown here is Rachel Evans, one third of the singing group The American Sirens, who collaborated with Geoff a year later on his cover of Mele Kalikimaka, and the man is her husband!)

"They come flocking to my cauldron crying SPELLS!" "Ursula please!"

(Also shoutout to Eli for the lighting design! He always does such a fantastic job!)

The colouration/tint of the lighting does really interesting things to Geoff's blueish skin colour in this video. In some shots the skin is a really vibrant colour (e.g. see a couple of the shots above), whereas in others, like this one ^ here, it almost looks close to regular skin tone.

This little moment greatly pleases my drama/theatre kid heart 😁

Not talking about vocals not talking about vocals not talking about vocals not talking about-

Okay but the signature bit was very cool, and definitely feels like something Voiceplay would not have been able to do back in 2017

Pfft 😂

Also the lighting here is making Geoff's hair (which got coloured grey for this video) look almost blonde!

Cool smoke effects!

(Also the only reason I haven't done fanart of "Geoffsula" (other than the fact that I don't wanna keep drawing him in black outfits) is that I would not be able to do the skin colouration justice here. Shoutout to Rick Underwood for the makeup!)

"Sing" (sir you're not allowed to look that pretty while looking like that!)

Yeah nah yeah they really went off with the effects on this one

I am getting dangerously close to the image limit and I don't wanna have to split this into two posts, but Layne's whole Les Poissons bit is comedy gold and screencaps don't do it justice anyway

To quote Elizabeth Zharoff: "it takes a confident man to Seagull!" 😂

Love Rachel's awkward-yet-cute little wave at the start of Kiss The Girl (and her dancing a bit further into the song!

Confusion(tm) 🤣

Firstly, Rachel's acting is 100% on-point, and second of all, I love Geoff's evil smirk here, doubly confirming that Rachel is being Vanessa, aka Ursula in disguise!

And now that "Ariel" has got her voice back, everyone else is super happy/animated, while "Ursula" is very subdued. Visual storytelling!

Just managed to avoid the image limit, thank goodness! Also J pops a bubble right at the end 😁

It's hard for me to say whether this is one of Voiceplay's best medleys or not, because how can you compare it to the Boy Band Medley or Trapped or A Chance To Fly? But I will say it is very deserving of the 5.5 million views it currently sits at on YouTube. A lot of effort went into both the arrangement and the video (well done Layne!), and honestly when it comes to Disney stuff, Voiceplay never fails!

[emojireviewpage]

🤯 Mindblown (Exploding head) emoji review 🤯

Apple: The mushroom cloud is reminding me of an hydrogen bomb. The head bits are going around! Was the explosion too strong for them? I like the details and the crack textures. They had the most shocking moments of their life. 9/10 the expression is a bit fake though.

Google: What were they hiding on their head, marshmallows? The head is cut too sharp. I’d like it better if it had the crack details. I guess it is kinda cute and they look so surprised! 6/10 adorable surprise

Samsung: Omg this is so cute! I love the colors on the inside of the cloud. It’s like they merged apple and Google emoji. Must be a dorky guy and fun to be around. He even has a realistic mouth! 9/10 he had watched fnaf jump scares.

Microsoft: Cross-eyed. Reminds me of my club’s mate who is Asperger’s. I guess this is kinda cute, but looks like an exploding bowl with a face. 3/10 why does it have a purple mouth.

WhatsApp: Honestly, the explosion is so RED, it looks like it’s raining tomato sauce. Am I the only one who thinks this? 7/10 it’s cold that you can see the outside.

Twitter: No hope for twitter. 2/10 because I don’t think it’s that horrible.

Facebook: it has a shockwave! Must be strong. Sorry, were you so shocked your eyes froze? This might look so good if they animated this emoji for a reaction, or do they already have a reaction version of this emoji? 8/10 I don’t use Facebook.

Skype: If this was a cartoon character, its name would be Richard. Here we have, Mr Richard, who is mindblown because they saw a 1 min Clip of kingda ka. It is understandable since that ride is INSANE. Its parents would be Samsung and Google. 5/10 Yummy inside. Is it chocolate?

Twitter emoji stickers: Can we appreciate how detailed the explosion is. It even has blue sparks and lightnings. They probably got an entire concert on their head. The face reminds me of Toad of Mario bro. I don’t know why. Absolutely exquisite shading below the flying bits. Tilted mouth expressing how intense that was. 9.5/10 Cute eyes don’t really fit though.

Joypixels: I’m digging this. The mouth is nice. The shading, It looks like it is airbrushed with a procreate brush. It is like my drawings. I guess they watched a Tekken fight and got shocked. 7.5/10 btw Who mains Kazuya in smash.

TossFace: No rating because protect this adorable toddler before they die from a fatal injury.

Emojipedia: Ah👏Yes👏You👏Look👏Like👏A👏Chef👏Could👏You👏Please👏Cook👏A👏Tasty👏Rib-eye?👏Im👏Sure👏You👏Are👏A👏Michelin👏Star👏Mastermind👏Is👏The👏Explosion👏White👏Bread?👏 Chef/10

LG: Amber eyes. Posible gem treasure? I like the shockwave and the cracks are amazingly detailed. I like the little glints. 7/10

Thank you! 💗

oh my gosh!🤯

[txlktoomuch]

His Butterscotch Curls - Part 1

Author's Note: This is Part 1 of 10 (If I ever finish this). I do not own the characters, only this piece of writing and the fanon storyline/versions of them.

This story will contain angst and mentions of poor mental health, so if these topics are sensitive for you please read with caution. Please note that this is not an attempt to romanticise mental illness, but instead focus on how it can negatively impact relationships with oneself and others. If you are someone who is struggling with your mental health, I urge you to seek professional help, and take care of yourself.

This chapter does not contain the mention of any sensitive topics, other than a mention of bullying in kindergarten. If this is a sensitive topic for you, feel free to skip the parts highlighted in red.

Kageyama

“Would you like to share my lunch with me?”

I look up to see a pale face, framed by soft, butterscotch curls. Large, round glasses sit over the bridge of a roman nose, golden eyes blinking down at me. His cheekbones and the tip of his nose are airbrushed with a soft, cosmos blush. 

Flinching, I hug my grazed knees to my chest, bringing my knuckles to my tear filled eyes and rubbing them away. He doesn’t seem to take it back or change his mind. I nod, sniffling and shuffling over to allow him to sit beside me. He sits down, our thighs brushing together, and I take this moment to notice that he’s a lot taller than I am. He could hurt me a lot worse than the other kids if he wanted to.

He doesn’t. He simply places his lunchbox over our thighs, and reaches for his chopsticks. I glance up at him as he holds some food up to my lips. I accept it, thankful, doing my best to avoid looking at what remains of my lunch on the concrete. 

The sounds of the other kids’ teasing and laughter seem distant now that he’s here. I feel safe. They can’t hurt me, not when he’s around. We continue to eat in a comfortable silence. 

“Earth to Tobio?-” I’m brought back to the moment by a flick to the forehead, blinking up at the same golden eyes, this time framed by rectangular glasses. 

I realise that not much has changed about Kei since we first met. He still has the same unruly yet incredibly soft locks, the same airbrushed cheeks and nose, even the same resting pout, the existence of which he has always denied. This thought makes me let out an audible giggle. Kei huffs. 

“What’s so funny, Tobio-chan?” he pouted down at me. I booped the tip of his nose lightly with a grin, and he responded by scrunching it. 

“Nothing, just thinking about when we first met…” I started, sighing dreamily as I began.

“...Back in kindergarten.” we murmured in unison, and I stared at him in disbelief, feeling my cheeks heat up at the fact that he’d said it with me. Was I really that predictable?

He seemed to notice my embarrassment, and let out a chuckle, followed by that teasing asshole grin he always has. “Hmm, it’s only the…” he paused, making a show of counting on his fingers, my cheeks progressively flushing a brighter shade of red, “...9th time this week, and it’s only Wednesday.” 

I buried my face into my hands, peeking at him from between my fingers “Shut it.” I huffed, causing him to grin even more, ruffling my hair. 

“Tobio-chan~ Was that day really that special to you?” He teased, and I punched him in the stomach, eliciting a groan out of him “Ow- fuck- fine- fine! sorry.” He huffed, rubbing at the area I’d just punched him. I let out a triumphant ‘hmph’ and crossed my arms across my chest.

After a few moments, he leaned in and wiggled his eyebrows suggestively, and I sighed, but mumbled a soft “...Mph.. yeah, you were the first person to ever treat me like I was something other than a punching bag.” I continued to pout, but melted at the sight of him smiling to himself, as if it was an achievement to be my first friend. 

I left it at that, relaxing slightly as I watched him zone out, probably reliving some of the fond memories of childhood. He stared down at his hands, absently smiling to himself. 

I shuffled closer to him, letting my head rest against his shoulder, my eyes fluttering shut. I could feel him adjust to make it more comfortable for the two of us, soft smiles plastered on both of our faces as he wrapped an arm around my shoulder. 

We spent the rest of our lunchtime basking in the comfort of one another, no words exchanged. They weren’t needed. All that mattered was that he was here for me, and I for him. 

***

Tsukishima

The bell rang just in time, snapping me awake from my half-asleep state. The silence had grown a little too comfortable, causing me to almost doze off. Tobio made no move to get up, and I assumed that he had fallen asleep. Wouldn't be the first time that’d happened. 

I tilted my head to look at him, admiring his fiercely sharp and incredibly captivating features. I was so used to seeing them scrunched into a variety of expressions, that seeing them completely relaxed caught me off guard. 

The sunlight caught the fly-away strands of his fluffy dark hair, long eyelashes casting a shadow over his flushed cheekbones. His eyes were underlined by dark circles, which based on my observations, had gotten half a shade darker since last week. Tobio’s insomnia was getting worse. 

I was torn between letting him catch up on sleep and waking him up so we wouldn’t get in trouble for missing class. It didn’t take much contemplating for me to come to the conclusion that his sleep was way more important than a lesson on quadratics. I already knew the whole topic anyway and it wasn’t like the teacher was going to help Tobio understand it, being more focused on trying to get everyone to pass rather than helping people who struggled. 

Having nothing better to do with my hands, I started playing with his hair, allowing him to curl up to my chest. I wrapped my arms around him and held him close, resting my chin on the top of his head and letting myself relax once more. I inhaled deeply, blanking out for a few moments as the smell of his shampoo brought a single thought to my head.

God, how I loved the smell of sea kelp and lemonade.

***

Kageyama

Strawberry shortcake. Vanilla. Icing sugar.

The comforting smell engulfed me, causing me to stir. My head was resting on something comforting. It wasn't a pillow. It rose and fell in sync with my breathing, and once the initial post-nap fuzziness passed, I realised it was his chest. Kei’s chest. One of his hands was resting on the small of my back, the other tangled in my hair, implying that he’d been playing with my hair before he too fell asleep.

As soon as I registered this, my eyes snapped open, a decision which I immediately regretted. Bright sunlight blinded me, causing me to scrunch my eyes shut for a moment, before blinking furiously to let them adjust to the light. I looked around lazily, coming to the conclusion that we were cuddling. On school grounds. Out in the open. How we hadn’t gotten in trouble, I didn’t know. 

Sitting up, I reached into my bag to grab my phone, wanting to know how long we had left until class. 4:06 pm. I dropped my phone, letting out a louder than intended “Shit!” Not only had we slept through class, but I’d missed the bus. Walking home was an option, but it’d be an inconvenience and extremely exhausting. 

I heard a groan from beneath me, and glanced back to see Kei stirring. “Mhph, Tobio?” he mumbled, blinking up at me. He seemed to realise I was awake, a soft smile making its way upon his face “Sleep well?” So he knew I was asleep? And he let me sleep? God, he was such an idiot. 

“You let me sleep?” I mumbled with a huff. He sat up a little, resting on his elbows. 

“Your dark circles looked worse than last week, and I didn’t have the heart to wake you up, especially since you seemed like you really needed it.” He explained, slowly making his way into a sitting position by the end of his sentence. 

“We missed maths! And I missed my bus!” I huffed, and he looked more amused than anything.

“I’ll give you a piggy back home~” he offered smugly. I responded with a simple glare, and he laughed but lifted his hands defensively. “Okay okay- I’m sorry- the offer still stands though, yknow, since I caused you to miss your ride home I’ll gladly be the substitute to make up for it.” 

And that’s how we ended up in our current situation. Kei, carrying me home in a koala hug, our backpacks swung over either shoulder; my face buried in the crook of his neck, out of both affection and embarrassment. I could feel his grin as he marched down the street, which to my luck was pretty much empty at this time of day. 

“So~ My place or yours?” He asked. The question itself was less important than what it implied. He wanted to hang out. I hummed in thought, feeling him shiver at the feeling of my breath against his neck. I smirked, taking it as my little victory against him. 

Deciding to avenge all the teasing I’d put up with today, I leaned closer, murmuring softly as my lips brushed the shell of his ear, “Mine, parents aren’t home~” I spoke in the most sultry tone I could muster without breaking out into a fit of giggles. I felt him tense up at that, his skin growing hot against mine. 

I let out a “Pff-” before starting to laugh, and he huffed as he looked away. He took a turn into my street, and I grinned to myself.

I relaxed, keeping up the act until we go to the door, holding my laughter as he tried to open the door, which swung open. The look on his face when my mother greeted him at the door was priceless.

[kylo-wrecked]

@graysistance ://

— ☾ —

He doesn't know what he's doing at an annual Foster Care and Adoption Conference, only that Dad warns him, 'Your mother will kill us both' if Ben doesn't attend, and he for one would prefer 'to be alive and well backstage—supporting'. And so Ben waits in the designated Ben area with whoever can still tolerate him. It's a short list: the interns and their head-sized smartphones, Ian the IT guy, Mr. Pryde (who only darts his ugly mug inside now and again to ensure Ben's ongoing presence), and Miss Rugy. 

Miss Rugy was initially hired to give each member of the Organa-Solo family a pass with a makeup brush and a blotting sheet for such functions as the adoption conference and has, over time, become Ben's PR department. Tonight, his sage advice? 

"Do not piss off your mother, you hear? This is her moment, okay? Nobody leaves or shits until she does. Now, if you sweat off my Bobbi Brown, come to the left vomitory, and I will do you up again and douse your inners with a little lemon water. I am your personal spa. We are going to get you through the night."

"Now," Miss Rugy says again, affecting Bela Lugosi, wetting his matte red lips and squeezing a dollop of concealer onto a sponge, "Do not move."

"I am not moving," says Ben, whose face takes on the structural moroseness of the neo-Gothic friezes facing the North, East, South, and West of their indeterminate ceiling. 

The foam wedge oozes with makeup. It's green, and that is the point, Miss Rugy tells him as he blots the sanguine swells beneath Ben's eyes.

"Now, look up," he demands, pressing the heel of his palm into Ben's jaw.  

"Please don't touch me there," Ben says. 

"Quiet. I am rehabilitating you. You look like fifty shades of shit."

"I think that gets the point across." 

"You—" Miss Rugy says, going in with an angled sponge the wet color of Ben's skin, dabbing and dabbing. "—are playing mama's child tonight. You are going to look the part." 

"I've never looked like my mother's child. I think she found me under a bridge and took pity on me. Tonight might be the night she gives me back." 

Miss Rugy snorts and scolds, "Ben! Do not make me mess up!" 

What's meant to be gentle daubing motions feel like Miss Rugy replacing his skin with octinoxate and titanium dioxide. Two more dabs, and done. 

"Remember, the lemon water refresher later. Now go." 

So, Ben goes the route of a thousand print-out arrows. On his way, he discovers a corridor mirror and, repulsed by his new laudatory reflection, glossed and airbrushed as a magazine ad but more orange, indicating tonight's company of Nikon cameras, Ben tears at his under-eyes with his thumbs until Miss Rugy's blended magic is undone. He wipes the makeup on the inner lining of his suit cuffs and straggles on, idling behind the deco ingress of an ilk that once dominated lower Manhattan, until they open upon an 'I've very much bloody had it' Mr. Pryde, who may well have pulled Ben in by vaudeville hook.  

The belly of the assembly hall is like an Anabaptist church, holy in its ugliness, its staunch rows of oak flip-down seats arranged in an inelegant continental and bolted down into stale blue carpet. The curtains obstructing the dearth of the stage are the same blue, flanked by pillars of lilies on either side. Their scent gives grandma's musty sunroom sarcophagus or school play from the Sloth Ring of Hell. Whatever it is, it's cloying. It's confining. It's inescapable. 

Ben is the only conversation piece in Belphegor's auditorium not to take the stage at a time when all the movers and shakers therein have long since been introduced, once upon Senator Organa's successful reelection. The day Ben died. Again. 

Many are already seated. Just as many gather in small annular cliques, buzzing at low volumes. Theirs is the conversation written thousands of years ago by Beelzebub, and Ben pretends not to pick up on the contours of their words. The guests, in turn, pretend not to see him. Nobody waves or raises their paper cups and straws in welcome, as was writ. 

Snoke's absence is notable, but his senior associate, Armitage, stands beside an equally steely tripod. As Ben makes his way toward the front rows, he tries to treat his fixture there like any other camera by ignoring his existence completely. 

By the time he sits, he has already sweated through his shirt underarms and is sure he'll die tonight, too. He soaks up the measly space closest to the emergency exit in case he needs to throw up beforehand.

This is why Ben wears black. He's never sought to make a statement with the custom threads that detain his frame's jumbo bones and musculature or the color of his perspiration. He's trying not to do anything except shield himself from the added heat of the relentless stage lights when his mother approaches the lectern. 

She seems piqued while she adjusts the mic, but not at Ben—because she looks at him. Because when she looks at him, the corners of her eyes crinkle, and she eases her death grip on the bezel. He thinks while sweating buckets: it's a wonder his presence could ever mollify anyone, let alone his mother. 

She taps the mic and begins; Ben goes far away somewhere. Until he's jolted back by the sudden incline of her voice, introducing the next speaker, and he realizes he's missed the entirety of his mother's address. Every word of it goes into the ether or on a camera for later, where they will be hacked to pieces. 

Feeling chilled and disoriented, he looks around. Everyone else is still seated—thank God—but in this gap of mild laughter and riveted applause, Ben registers someone, a woman, sitting just one seat away from him. She's pert, either much younger or less miserable than him. Perhaps both. He has never seen her before. She is the one, the only stranger to him at this event. 

Twisting toward her, Ben's lips form the word 'who' before knotting themselves into a confounded lump. Left without words, he lodges his ill-fitted frame into the seat again and wills himself into... one of those wooden statues of the Three Kings. Whatever they're called. Where are the words? He wants to scream through the knot on his face, his soft and fleshy apparatus called a 'mouth.' 

The materialization of this perfect stranger dislodges the other knot, the clump of ice-cold dread he'd tried all the previous afternoon to chisel loose. And in its place, heat rises, and there's that feeling again. Now might be a good time to take Miss Rugy up on his lemon water, only, despite every protracted moment, he's just got here. So exactly when did she show up?

Call the feeling bad nerves, bad vibes, or poor human mechanism; it always feels like a rush of anger; and is always a loosening agent for speech. 

Finally, Ben turns to the woman and whispers, "Excuse me, are you lost?" Winces and yet adds, "I have literally never seen your face. I have no idea who you are. I wish I had seen you before."

The next speaker takes the stage, more clapping, Ben whispering fiercely: "Tell me you're not in politics. Lie if you have to. I will—" 

And if she did? If she responded to his maelstrom of verbal vomit at all? Ben would what? He starts undoing his tie, the stupid Armani noose that strangles him. 

"I will stay all night."

These are the ramblings of a certifiable thirty-year-old man hissing under the ovations of a Green Party delegate who once called Ben a ticking time bomb. 

[kustas]

I like monstress on a very basic level of enjoyment cuz it is very blasé specially considering Marjorie Liu works on marvel specially her time on daken dark Wolverine and black widow so I might ask what do you dislike about the art?? Just wanting to get a more in detail of the art on general not the character stuff

a few things haha

complex to the point of buisiness for no good reason: there's just so many details that serve no point. readability is important in comics, you need to prioritize what you want to show. also, it's hard to get good composition with that level of shit going on in your panel

lackluster technically. stuff like lighting and anatomy are sketchy. i talked about volumes before, that too. the lineart is messy too, with a lack of control that doesn't feel deliberate with stuff left unconnected or lines that wobble around, it looks like a penultimate pass to finished lines not final lineart

digital slop yaaay why paint when you can throw a gazillion layers of color and blending modes with an airbrush on photoshop this was no one can see your lines or your flats but it's not actually painted

can i please get a character who does not look like a model. can i get wrinkles stubble some sag perhaps

im going to be real now that you pointed out she works for Marvel it all makes sense bc most of this is prevalent in superhero US comics and I hate the art in them. i like simple stylized things and i like my worlds and characters that inhabit them to look boring. busiest comic artists I enjoy are probably Sfar, Segrelles and Toppi and their work is both technically impressive and boasting strong sense of style

sfar is the busiest here with little space to breathe but only uses flats, and while his lines and volumes are lose so is everything so it looks stylish - its both uniform and deliberate. segrelles has eye searingly corny realistic oil paints but his composition and anatomy are so polished each panel is a standalone painting. toppi has a lot of texture but equally as much if not more empty black/white flats and could sneeze on a pen and somehow convey a 3/4 and a half face in perfect counter shading with that lvl of draftsmanship

but i can bitch about the technical stuff, a lot if not most of what I don't like about it is sheer personal preferences. feels bad to run my mouth on this when I myself am a mediocre comic artist :/ she can probably draw better than I do

[belladoesmakeup]

❤️Favourite Beauty products from 2022 Countdown ❤️

Favourite Foundations of 2022

Hi all,

This week I am posting Monday - Friday to show you all my favourite makeup products I have been loving in 2022. Today we are looking at my favourite foundations I have used the most in 2022. Compared to previous years my foundation taste has really changed this year. Instead of only wearing medium / full coverage foundations I've been leaning more towards the light / medium wave, enjoying a more natural face base. I think it's because my skincare has made a real difference this year so I'm more comfy wearing a thinner face base. Let's start our countdown (in particular order):

Nars Sheer Glow Foundation- This has been a staple in my makeup bag and personally I think this foundation made me appreciate a more glowy foundation. This foundation looks so luminous on the skin and yet gives me a gorgeous medium coverage. The shade Oslo is my perfect colour and pretty soon I'm going to need a new bottle. The only downside with this foundation is it does not come with a pump so you need to buy one. Other than that I adore it.

Yves Saint Laurent Nu Bare Look Skin Tint - This skin tint has been a new discovery for me this year because it is by far the most sheer coverage out of my countdown and yet one of my favourites I've used this year. This product can be used as a tinted moisturiser or as a buildable lightweight foundation. This skin tint gives my skin a natural dewy finish that looks so natural it doesn't look like you're wearing makeup but it evens out complexion! So for the people out there who don't like heavy duty makeup this is for you!

Makeup Revolution IRL FIlter Longwear Foundation - This foundation is my favourite medium to full coverage foundation I have used this year. This foundation has a soft focus breathable matte formula that is oil free, shine free, crease proof, lifeproof and smudgeproof whilst providing 16 hours wear time from day to night. It is crazy pigmented and like a filter leaves your skin looking smooth all day. I adore this foundation and surprisingly used it more than my Airbrush Flawless foundation which was a shock to me too.

Charlotte Tilbury Light Wonder Foundation - This is a foundation I've had for a long time but started wearing more this year when I became more obsessed with lighter coverage products. This foundation is a light to medium coverage that is designed to smooth, hydrate, illuminate and minimise pores. I adore using this foundation when I want something with more coverage from YSL skin tint but still leaves your skin with a natural glowy finish.

Hope you enjoyed this makeup favourites countdown and I'll see you again tomorrow!

Lots of love

Bella x x

[sehersu]

Why are "bad" artists more popular than "better" ones?

Now, don't get me wrong. Every art style is unique, blah blah blah but there's a specific person I've seen on IG, she has over 7K followers and basically she makes a living out of her art. Her art is... basic, to put it on the least. I mean, her art has vibrant and basic coloring, less to almost none airbrush shading and her propositions are off. Meanwhile I've seen other artists who has really good rendering and accurate propositions and better coloring style had only 500 followers or something.

This got me thinking, is it the consistency that's important? Because the girl who has extremely basic artsyle posts really often which is not surprising, her art probably doesn't take too long. But I've made a realism art which took me 5 hours and I only got 17 likes. So I don't get it. What am I doing wrong?

And what I'm really jealous of is that the girl is having so much fun doing her art. Like, she genuienly enjoys it. Meanwhile I cry over the smallest mistakes, or get upset when the finished result isn't looking like what I imagined.

Am I taking art too seriously? I know that "art should be fun" but people just don't like my art unless it's realism...?

[myearts-uwu]

How I colour jewelled blue eyes!

Hello! This is a simple tutorial I made for @a-perfect-summer-storm but other people are free to follow this tutorial on how I colour the iconic jewelled blue from WMMAP!

Just a bit of a heads up! I am by no means a professional in this. I am simply someone who draws a lot of WMMAP fanart for fun and this is a tutorial on how I personally colour the eyes after doing tons of experimenting in shading the eyes until I found a way I’m most satisfied with. There are several different ways other people colour the eyes and Spoon even made her own tutorial about it! If you guys like the way I colour the eyes and would like to recreate it, feel free to follow these steps! 

Also... this is the first time I made a tutorial so sorry if what I’m explaining doesn’t make much sense!

Let’s begin, shall we?

Step 1: Draw your eyes!

I decided to draw a fairly simple eye sketch. If you guys have drawn your eyes already, we can immediately go to step 2.

Step 2: Add your base colour!

I usually use the airbrush tool to add the base colour of the eye but you guys are free to use whatever brush you want! I only prefer doing this because I like the fading effect of the eyes. I’ll be providing the colour pallette of the colours I often use to colour the eyes so you guys can freely colourpick them!

Step 3: Add in the first layer!

After adding in your new layer, clip that layer to the layer underneath it which is your base layer!

After that, pick a darker shade of blue and colour the top half of your eyes! You can use whatever brush you enjoy using for this! For me personally, I used one of the default watercolour brushes on CSP.

After colouring the top half, set your layer into ‘Multiply’. If you don’t like the way it looks at 100% opacity, lower it until you get to the shade you think looks best!

Step 4: Add in the second layer!

Once you’re done with the previous step, you can head on to the next one! Add in another new layer and clip it to the layer under it.

This time, pick a lighter shade of blue and, using the airbrush tool, colour a bit of the lower half of your eyes. Once you’re done with that, set your layer into the ‘Add Glow’ blending mode but if your art apparent doesn’t have that option, you can go ahead with the simple ‘Add’ since they’re almost the same.

Lower the opacity of the layer if you don’t like how bright it looks! I prefer having my opacity around 50-60% because I like my eyes having a bit of an obvious glow to them. This up to you guys though!

Step 5: Time to add in the ‘jewels’

Now time for the part where you guys can go wild with this one.

SO! There are a lot of ways to give your eyes the ‘jewel’ effect as I like to call it. I often switch from using triangle brushes and just have them be scattered around the eye area but for this tutorial, I went with my go-to way: by using the ‘Lasso’ tool.

The lasso tool’s my best friend when it comes to colouring the eyes. And this is the part where you guys can go wild with this one.

So, pick a random blue colour and, using the lasso tool, make random shapes with it. Make zig-zag motions or even cross-hatch motions or heck, you can even make any kind of shape you want. However, sometimes you might not be satisfied with the way it looks so you have to do try a few more times until you get it right.

It’s kinda hard for me to explain this part. Basically, experiment a bit when using the lasso tool if you wanna do this.

Once you’re done with using the lasso tool, you can now colour with the colour you picked. 

I usually do two layers of this and it would look like this afterward!

For the first layer, I put the layer into ‘Linear Burn’ blending mode and I set it to 51% opacity! As for the second layer, I set it to ‘Add Glow’ mode and set it to 30% opacity!

You can even do more than two layers! I sometimes do three layers instead of two and it will still look good! Other than using blue colours in this step, you can also use various shades of pink or purple to have more variety!

Step 6: Add in another layer to make them have pupils

Add in a new layer over the layers in the last step. Using a darker shade of blue, shade the top part of the eyes again and colour in an oval shape in the middle of the eyes so now the characters have pupils :D. 

Set the layer to ‘Multiply’ and set it to whatever opacity level you want. For this tutorial, I went with 71% opacity.

Step 7: Add a bit of colour!

This is honestly my favourite part to do :D

Basically, choose two contrasting colours and for this one I chose a random shade of pink and a random shade of light blue since they’re opposite from each other if you look at the colour wheel.

Use a random watercolour brush and just colour the middle part of the eye like how it’s shown in the picture above!

Set it the layer to ‘Hard Light’ and set it to the opacity you want. I went with 73% for this tutorial!

Step 8: Optional Step!

I don’t really do this often but if you want your eyes to have a bit more colour in them, adding a dark purple colour at the top part of the eye certainly gives your eye a bit of ‘Oomph!’ in them.

I used the airbrush tool for this and it does give the eye a bit of a softer look, you know?

Last step: Add some finishing touches!

Finally, add some personal touches to your eyes! And after you add in a bit of the eye whites, your jewelled blue eyes would look like this in the end!

And yeah, that’s all there is to it, really.

I hope this is helpful for you guys who are still clueless on how to colour jewel blue eyes! If you guys have any further questions relating to this, please don’t hesitate in asking me!

Finally, here’s the colour pallette I used for this colouring tutorial as well as the ‘Blending modes’ I used for their layers.

Hope this is helpful to you @a-perfect-summer-storm​!

[arminhug]

hello, pumpkin || annie leonhardt x reader: chapter four

series masterlist

。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。..・。.・゜✭・.・✫

MARCO

It wasn’t until Marco and Jean had returned from their first year of university, the two of them practically ready to burst with endless stories and experiences from their year in higher education, that Marco and I put our plan to go clubbing together into action. The last time Marco had visited home, I was drowning in revision, caffeine and the looming anxiety of exams that would dictate for which university I was eligible, and a night out was completely out of the question for me in such a distressed state. Fast forward a few chaotic months, the languid summer heat had bestowed upon Connie, Sasha and me the end of exam season and freedom from school. Marco immediately revisited the idea of taking me for a night out, which lead to a group sleepover at Jean’s, whose mother was docile enough to not only permit five loud teenagers to stay the night but also allow two of them to return deep into the night, drunk. Jean was recounting a tale of a rather wild house party to an engrossed Connie, whilst Sasha blended makeup over my face and Marco was occupying Jean’s bathroom.

“So how come it’s just you and Marco tonight? No offence, but we’re the true party animals here,” Sasha quips whilst dusting my cheekbones with an expensive-looking highlighter. I swallow deeply, still not comfortable in sharing the real reason as to why it’s just Marco and me tonight. I still haven’t told my closest friends that I may be gay, and I cannot quite understand why. Even the loosening up from a few pre-drinks doesn’t ease the nerves at the prospect of coming out.

“That’s exactly why you’re not coming,” I respond half-truthfully. “You know how much I love you three—two, depending on Jean’s mood—but I’m looking for a more casual night. Not club hopping until you and Connie can’t stand and we get thrown out because of Jean snorting—“

“Hey! I wasn’t snorting coke, you know that!” Jean bites, interrupting his university escapade to scold me. I giggle. Of course, Jean, being surprisingly austere despite his macho facade, wouldn’t do such things, but the time when we went to a rough, gaudy nightclub with bouncers that seemed double the size of us all and Jean, who was recovering from a head cold, hurried to and from the bathroom, sniffling from his flushed nose so often that the bouncers assumed he was coked up and had thrown us out instantly with threats of contacting the police, will never get old.

"Regardless, I think that me and Marco can stick to a more relaxed night out. Hit up a few bars, maybe off to a club if we feel like it, and most importantly not getting paraplegic,” I say pointedly. Sasha busies herself, rummaging through her makeup bag as to conceal her flushed face.

“What’s all this about Sasha being paraplegic? Are we talking about the time when she kept falling over in the road last December?” Marco teases, emerging from Jean’s bathroom. His jet hair is combed and light jewellery adorns his colourful button-up shirt.

“Looking good, Marco. We’re actually talking about the time when she was crying on the floor of McDonald’s because she got some nuggets. Remember when she grabbed the worker and thanked them—“

“Okay, shut up!” Sasha barks before I can recount another one of her inebriated antics, and I see her leathery skin, freckled by the summer sun, is now burning red.

“I’m just teasing you, Sash. How’s my makeup coming along?” To which she slips a compact mirror from her bag and lets me admire my airbrushed face, gleaming with various products.

“I’ll let you pick whatever lip gloss you like if you promise to stop telling that McDonald’s story.” Sasha deadpans. I select a sparkling shade from her bad, coating my lips as I tell her that I cannot promise such a thing, to which she groans, lithe, pyjama-clad body stretching dramatically onto Jean’s carpet.

“I think I’m done, then. Are you ready to get going?” I ask Marco, who helps me to my feet. I am suddenly glad that I opted for black doc martens over glittering heels, as I know my tendency for clumsiness would have caused chaos in such moments.

“Let’s go and boo—“

“I swear if you say boogie one more time I’ll stay with this sorry bunch and watch Wreck-it Ralph for the hundredth time,” I interject, ignoring the protests from the other three over the validity of Wreck-it Ralph. Marco shakes his head, his signature grin lighting up his freckled cheeks as he hails a taxi from his phone.

We arrive at an alternative looking vodka bar; cosy, sultry jewel tones in every furnishing and the vermilion walls plastered with old gig posters and various musical artefacts from the decades. Already, the bass thrums invitingly through my body. Marco grabs us a menu each as we perch on a mahogany table for two, and I fawn over the various vodka-based concoctions.

“Who knew they had Skittles flavoured vodka?” I raise my voice to Marco, who grins and points out the shots flavoured with my favourite sweets.Once they arrive, I am almost glad that the other three aren’t accompanying Marco and me tonight, as even the saccharine taste of candy can’t mask how bitter the vodka is; I shudder as the creamy liquid travels down my throat, unlike Marco, who manages to knock his shots back with relative ease before making a start on a rather funny looking emerald green cocktail.

"Damn, Marco, straight down the hatch. You could give Sasha a run for her money!”

Marco raises his eyebrows. “Well, besides now being at university, this isn’t the first time I have been to this part of town before, you know.” He reveals. “There’s a great alt scene down here, especially for the LGBT community. Why else would I take you here?”

“You’re adorable, but why didn’t you tell me you were living a double life as a badass bar hopper?” I tease.

“Bar hopper? Not quite. But I do like a….” Marco trails off, his dark eyes set into the distance. I go to turn my head, but Marco gasps out a strange noise. I laugh. “What?”

“Don’t look behind you! I just noticed probably the most gorgeous guy I’ve ever seen in my life,” Marco fawns, and I immediately know from his moony expression that he's probably clocked a goth guy. I roll my eyes. “I thought we were here for me, not you!”

“We are here for you.” Marco insists, but his heart may as well be beating out of his chest in the style of a 40s cartoon character, still fixated on the man behind me. Defying his order, I surreptitiously turn my head to follow his gaze. A man, thin in frame with unkempt black hair, jacket adorned with buttons and patches smirks back at my friend, beckoning him to come over, stay a while.

Of course, a boy who’s just Marco’s type would be here tonight. Of course.

“You can go.” I sigh flatly.

“You’re coming with me,” Marco responds, his tone almost patronisingly soft. All of a sudden, I feel the fact that I am so inexperienced sitting on my chest, taunting me. “Look at him. He’s with a whole group! It’s not like you’d be third-wheeling.”

“Fine. But only because I love you. And I know how much you wouldn’t be able to keep your hands off a boy like that.” Merely seconds after I finish speaking, Marco stands tall, adjusting his shirt collar and tousling his thick hair. Begrudgingly, I take our drinks and follow suit.

“Was hoping you would come over,” the guy says, his eyes fixated on Marco, gesturing for him to sit next to him in the small crevice between him and a friend. However, I barely have time to truly feel the weight of his slightly exclusionary comment as a slight figure with flaxen hair framing her face brushes past me.

My heart stutters in my chest.

It couldn’t be.

“Sorry! the queue for the toilets was a nightmare.” the girl takes a seat on a reworked crate and I try my hardest to shake off the disappointment at the cheery cadence of her voice, nothing like my Annie.

That was rather silly. Why would it be her?

“No worries; we’ve got some new company. Why don’t you guys introduce yourselves?” the alternative looking man suggests, and I almost feel irked by the heart eyes that he is not so surreptitiously giving my friend.

“Ah, of course! I’m Marco, and this is—“

“I’m (y/n).” I cut Marco off coolly, disappointed at my tone. Why am I so distressed all of a sudden?

The small gang collectively greets us, and the blonde girl who tricked my heart for a second slides her gaze over my body, a hungry smirk toying at her tinted lips. “(y/n), why don’t you sit next to me?”

Wordlessly, I perch next to her, wondering if everyone in this niche indie vodka bar is so brazen about their queerness, and if one day I will ever be this bold. She pinches the hem of my outfit with her polished cerulean nails. “This is cute,” she muses. “How come I haven’t seen you two around here before?”

I swallow. “Well, Marco says he’s been here quite a bit, but I’ve never really been out much. I’m still only eighteen, so—“

“Shut up!” the girl interjects, her thin fingers resting on my bicep in a flirtatious gesture. “You’re only eighteen years old? Oh my God, come with me. We’re getting another drink.” I cannot even protest before I am swept up to my doc-clad feet, my hand in her iron grip.

I decide this girl is too obnoxious for me to consider.

As we arrive at the dimly lit bar, the girl salaciously leans her chest towards the bartender, demanding six shots of assorted flavours. I begin to feel the panic rise in my chest as the bartender beckons to her will, my body turned almost beseechingly back to Marco.

“Down the hatch, sweetie,” she chirps, nudging three small glasses of straight liquor. The alcohol I’ve already consumed numbs my urge to stand my own ground, so I wordlessly take each shot, willing every fibre of my being to not writhe at the taste. The girl looks at me dead on, gaze flitting to my lips.

“You took that like a champ, pumpkin. I’m impressed.”

She leans in.

I back away.

“I’m so sorry—" I stammer. “I’m just—I’m off to go and get some fresh air.”

Before I can even gauge her reaction, my boots are slamming against the hardwood floor. My mind feels like cotton, every cell of my being screaming out.

I’m outside.

I sink to the floor, not caring for one moment who sees me.

All the times Annie called me pumpkin.

She was my Annabelle, and I, her pumpkin. Both started as infantile nicknames to tease each other; now holding such weight in my heart.

I want to go home.

。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。..・。.・゜✭・.・✫

a/n: hello all, it's been a while! i have been updating infrequently on ao3 but i remembered i have this snk sideblog and forgot to update here so i'm just going to format all the chapters here for the tumblr readers :) i'm now at university so please do remember that this fic, although a great break, is not my priority, so please have patience!!! lots of love and i hope 2022 is already treating everyone well xx

[canyouhearthelight]

The Miys, Ch. 134

Since I am queueing this chapter the same that I queued the last one, I just want to say:

If you have found my story in the last week, and liked it, thank you. It makes me smile when that happens.

If you shared my story with others, and they liked it, or even found a little bit of themselves in it, I’m very glad. Thank you for sharing something with your friends that they enjoyed.

As always, thank you to @the-raven-fae, @anotherusrname, @baelpenrose, and @charlylimph-blog for being my ports in all storms and the family everyone deserves to have.

Annnd the podcast. Don’t miss the podcast!  I don’t profit from it in any way, shape, or form, but the idea of a version of this story that is more accessible for people who would struggle to read it is something that should always be supported! 

A week later, I was wincing and out of breath when I reached my office for the day.  Tyche had enthusiastically agreed with Arthur’s suggestion, and after some tests from Maverick showed that I could apparently kick hard enough to break a grown man’s pelvis - although not without also breaking my foot - I had been expected to be in the gym for nearly two hours every day.  My legs hurt and my feet looked worse than the time I tried to learn ballet en pointe.  As if that wasn’t bad enough, I was also apparently very slow in reacting with my legs as a result of years learning to fight with, you know, my hands. Like a normal person.  This meant I was also wearing five pound weights on each ankle, all day, including when sparring.

So far, the only thing I had noticed was a demonstrably shorter patience and a reduction in how much I bounced my legs. Or sat comfortably.

I was so absorbed in my bad mood and how badly my legs hurt that I had already gotten coffee, greeted my mentees, and sat at my desk before I noticed something out of place.  As usual, Parvati and Hannah were across from each other at the table they typically sat at, but Parvati was standing and demonstrating something.

While using the table emitter, which they only ever used for my benefit.

Tilting my head in what probably looked like what Sparkle’s expression when she was denied a treat, I watched as Parvati picked up a vaguely pen-shaped object - it really looked more like a sonic screwdriver than a writing implement - and started making neon pink lines of various widths, swirls to test the slant it would make, and using it at various speeds before closely considering the color of each line.

“What in the world is that?”

“Paint testers,” Hannah explained. “Charly dropped them off with Vati last night, along with the programming to simulate how they work so we could test them with an emitter and not a wall.”

“Paint?”

“For the Festival. Charly designed these for us to use instead of trying to get permission to use actual spray paint.  The fumes of spray paint are apparently very caustic to Noah.”

I shuddered. “Yeah, no spray paint, clearly.”

Apparently satisfied with the pink, Parvati keyed her datapad to clear the emitter and picked up a different pen.  This one was a beautiful lapis blue. “She’s quite brilliant,” she murmured as she tested the pen. “The pens work like an airbrush, but she took some inspiration from something Arthur Farro gifted her several years ago and ensured the pigment will only last three Ark-days.  It also only appears under certain lighting.”

“And it’s non-toxic, of course,” Hannah added with a smile. “Because, you know… Charly.”

I hesitated before asking the next question. “How non-toxic are we talking?”

To my utter horror, rather than respond, Parvati opened her mouth and used a different button on the pen to paint her entire tongue blue. “They’re edible.” She closed her mouth with a smile before her eyebrows shot up. “Oh! That one is pomegranate!”

Hannah furiously made notations on her datapad before looking back up at me. “Vati already tested them on canvas in her quarters, but we also wanted to make sure the simulation software works so that we don’t waste pigment trying to figure out the design elements.”

“We’re also rather curious about what flavor each one is,” Parvati admitted before swapping to a toxic-looking green. “This one is peach, I do remember that. The pink was popcorn.”

I shook my head. “Do you want people licking the walls? Because this is how you get people to lick the walls.” I walked over as I was speaking and idly picked up one that was labelled as Titan Black.

Hannah snatched it away quickly. “That one is scotch bonnet flavor. I found that out the hard way.”

“I get making them non-toxic, but why are they flavored?” Hannah arched an eyebrow at me and I held my hands up defensively. “Other than the obvious application. Why design flavored paint pens for the Food Festival murals?”

Parvati blanked the emitter again and swapped pens. “That is going to be part of the design and experience,” she started to explain. “We originally wanted them non-toxic in case of the non-zero event that Else tries to eat the paint off the walls.” I nodded since ‘non-zero’ was putting it lightly. “Then I had the idea to include the possibility of Else eating the mural into its design.  Rather than worry that Else will eat it, I am planning on it: I am going to create a piece that changes as the various colors are devoured.”

“Annnnnd how do you plan on controlling what order Else eats everything in?”

She waved to the row of pens on the table. “These are each in a flavor that we know Else likes. I am currently testing in my quarters what the order of preference is.”

As my mind started to catch up, I started nodding. “Your test swatches last night.”

“Precisely. I have them laying out in a grid, easily accessible to Else, and they are being monitored. We will take the recording and determine what the order of preference is from there.”

I shook my head with a huge grin. “That’s one hell of a performance art piece.”

Hannah straightened her posture in an imitation of Pravati’s normal ramrod-straight demeanor. “There is nothing more fitting for a celebration of how humanity persists in surviving, despite how transient and brief life can be, along with a clear showing of how we intend to welcome and embrace the differences between ourselves and those most different from us - even those who once nearly destroyed us but wished to make peace.”

“That’s frighteningly good,” Parvati praised nonchalantly as she squirted a fluorescent yellow into her mouth. “It makes no sense for that one to taste of something spicy.”

I took the pen and forced myself to spray it in my mouth. I perked up when it was actually very familiar and delicious. “It’s gochujang…” They both looked at me skeptically. “Apparently Else likes spicy food?”

“I’m starting to think this is how she flavors her popcorn,” Hannah murmured.

My head shook on that one. “No, all her popcorn is decidedly popcorn-flavored. The coloring is added while it is being made, along with the flavoring. Same thing with her ice-cream, and with the candy bars.”

“I agree,” Parvati added. “This pigment is quite wet, it would never work on something like popcorn.” Pausing in her testing, she turned to me. “She has made popcorn in your quarters before, did you notice how she colored it?”

I thought back to the movie night, fighting through how nostalgic and relaxing it made me feel. “It has to be a high-saturation powder.  Other than the actual oil she used to pop it, everything she put in was powdered.”

“But it was toffee popcorn,” Parvati argued. “I remember because it was such a lovely shade of purple.”

Hannah and I both glanced at each other before turning concerned looks to Parvati. I was the one who eventually spoke. “You make toffee popcorn by adding sugar and salt while it’s being popped, Vati. Both are powders.”

“And how am I supposed to know that?” she demanded with a scowl before picking up a pen.

I looked back at Hannah, who was as baffled as I was. “Vati? Do you cook?”

She scoffed. “Of course not. Xiomara is a brilliant cook, why would I give that up?”

“But you know how, right?” I prodded. “We always have cooking classes going on here.”

She decidedly ignored us.  I gaped at Hannah, who eventually crowed with laughter. “Oh my god! We found something Vati doesn’t know how to do!”

“Xio does make a wicked roti with veg curry,” I tried to defend her. If she was deflecting, Parvati clearly didn’t want to talk about it.

“And I can cook,” Parvati argued. “I can roast meat, and forage edible plants, and clean them both.”

“Works for me!” I chirped, trying to defuse the situation before Parvati actually got upset. “If you can cook enough to feed yourself in an apocalypse, I consider that a solid fundamental basis.”

Hannah finally took the hint. “Well, if you ever want to learn more, gods know you have plenty of friends who can teach you. Hell, Sophia taught Maverick to cook, and when they first met he had a very iffy relationship with the concept of food in general.”

That got me a look. “He had been through a lot, okay? You spend thirty years with everyone blaming your sensory issues with food on just ‘being picky’,” I used air quotes for emphasis, “and yeah, you start living on the three foods you like and a lot of vitamins and protein drinks.”

Parvati stopped in her tracks and slowly turned her head toward me before taking a seat. “How did someone who doesn’t even eat to live end up with two people who live to eat?”

I felt my face heat up, but managed to limit my reaction to a shrug. “If he said he didn’t like something, I took that at face value and didn’t make him eat it. If he never had it, I thought really hard about how similar it was to things he did or didn’t like, and offered it to him - or didn’t -  based on that.  I never took it as a challenge I needed to make him overcome, just as a challenge I needed to rise to.”

She considered this for a moment, glancing to Hannah who nodded in confirmation, before speaking. “This is why you cook.” It wasn’t a question. Parvati stated it as a fact.

And I confirmed it was, indeed, a fact. “One of the few things Huynh and I agree on is hospitality. I don’t want anyone to come to my table and feel they can’t eat.  It’s how I was raised.  There will be food they like, and plenty of it.”

I heard a popping noise from Hannah’s direction, and turned only to realize that it was her neck popping when she turned from Parvati to me.  Eyes wide, she was barely audible when she whispered, “That’s why the Food Festival is so important to you…”

It took several attempts and a lot of nodding to swallow the lump in my throat. “We were all scared, and all strangers in this insane reality that we weren’t even sure was actually real.  I thought - knew - it would ground us, and even start uniting us. If we could all see that arroz con pollo, paella, chicken biriyani, chicken etouffee weren’t all that different? What’s more familiar than chicken and rice, or fried puffs of dough, or pancakes?” I shook my head. “I remember my first day on the Ark. I was in a mess hall, and even with my sister and cat, I knew I was luckier than most but so lost.  I just - “ I gulped and fought back tears. “I wanted shepherd’s pie so bad it hurt my soul. And I tried and tried to get it from the food consoles, and it was never the right thing. I must’ve tried eight times. It was so frustrating!” I didn’t catch myself in time to keep from slamming my fist a couple times on the table. “I felt even more lost.  Someone came up to me and asked what I was doing.” 

I took a deep breath to banish the concept of Arantxa from my head. “And dragged me to Conor because she realized that what I was saying and what she was hearing weren’t the same thing.  That’s how I actually met him. And, bless his face, he knew exactly what I was asking for and got it for me if I promised to help him get French toast, of all things.”  The memory made me smile. “Believe it or not, that moment mattered more to me than even waking up on the Ark when I should have been dead. Just… the idea that this person who knew nothing about me except what I wanted for dinner, was able to fix that lost feeling.  I want everyone to have that.”

Parvati was staring at me like she was watching the most romantic story in the world, but at least Hannah nodded seriously. “Steak and ale pie. I always want that when I’m stressed.”

I snapped my fingers and pointed at her. “Exactly. And multiply that by every type of steak and ale pie anyone can possibly make on the Ark? I know I don’t have to convince you two to keep the Festival anymore, but yeah.  That’s why it matters so much to me.”

I turned to Parvati, who was drumming her fingers and looking down somewhat sheepishly. “Most cultures have a kind of curry, so I never really thought about it,” she admitted. “But it makes sense, from that perspective. I never thought about it.”

Reaching out to pat her hand, I gave her a serious look. “That doesn’t mean you have to learn to cook anything more than what you already know,” I assured her. “It’s my motivation. No one else’s. If you ever want to learn to make something you don’t know how to, I’ll be happy to teach you. If you never want to learn how to make anything you don’t know how to, I will be happy to cook for you. Just… don’t ask me to bake? That’s a Tyche thing.”

She groaned. “Those mini black forest donuts….”

“Exactly. Don’t ask me to make them, I’ll ruin them ten times out of ten,” I laughed.

“She should make donuts for the Festival,” Hannah suggested wistfully. “Do you think we could talk her into it?”

I held up my hands in surrender. “I’m not asking her to do it, so have fun.”

“But you’re her sister.”

“How the hell do you think I know not to ask?” I gave them both a flat stare that set them giggling. “Donuts for the family? Fine. Donuts for the whole entire Ark? Not touching it.”

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[upperranktwo]

Hi everyone 💙 I thought I'd make a little colouring tutorial! Just for a laugh really 💙 my advice for anyone who wants to colour is to just play around with everything and eventually you'll come up with a style you can all your own!! I'm not the best with words but I hope someone finds this helpful! This is gonna be under a read more! (I’m sorry if this is really long. I’m not good with tutorials so this is very text heavy!)

Software I use: Paint Tool Sai (Also I use a tablet and pen which is connected to my laptop for my stuff) 

First of all, I get the image I wanna colour. For this instance it’s this image of Kenma!  Sometimes I resize the image a little sometimes I don’t depends on how big or small the original is 

Once I have the image I want I’ll reline it by bringing the opacity down of the original image and putting a layer on top and then drawing over.  I always use a pen size of 9 to line. idk I just think it looks better. It’s small but also a good size where I can see clearly. My brush is just the standard pen brush. I use a pen stabilizer of around S-6 (slow and easy to control) 

Once I’ve got the lines I put the flats down and also colour the line art! 

To colour the line art I go to the layer I wanna colour over and then select ‘clipping group’ this means I will only be able to draw on the layer I want to go over!! You can also preserve opacity of that layer but idk I’m just used to using the clipping group. I tend to use a colour that’s slightly darker than my base colour. Oh yeah, each thing gets it’s own layer so if I’m lining the hair then I make a hair layer and if it’s a shirt then a shirt layer and so on

Once I’m done with this I can start shading and lighting things!!!! I prefer the cell shading style which is the one I do in all of my stuff. Idk I just think it’s easier for me!!! To shade I play about with darker colours (Don’t shade with black) of different hues and then do a clipping layer over what I want shade and make that layer multiply and bring the opacity down to around 38-40% to lighten something I tend to make another clipping layer under the shading one and use an airbrush on an luminosity layer and bring it down to around 10% that way it makes the base colours look a tad bit lighter without doing anything massive.  Whilst I do this I also add my little details like my stars in the hair and the little ‘sparkles’ these are just things I add because I love stars and sparkling things!!!! These are all done with an luminosity layer and I don’t bring the opacity down at all!!!

Finally I make a new layer at the very top and add an overlay layer. Normally I use a dark red, pink or purple and bring it down to between 20-40% depending on how it looks. This makes things more vibrant and idk I just really like it!!! I also add a background colour. I’ll also use this as a time to edit up any missing spots I might catch onto 

I really hope someone found this helpful!!!! If you ever need any help with anything or even little tips you can always ask me!!! I’m still learning myself but I promise you aren’t going to be a bother!!! I’d love to see the things you make!!!! Just keep playing around and you’ll find your own style developing!!!!!!! Try to not compare yourself to other people!!!!! Also please take your time and don’t rush things!!! You’d rather post something that took a while but you love it as opposed to something that took forever and you don’t like it. Don’t post for the sake of posting or else you’ll feel burnt out!!! Also, if it takes a while that’s fine!!! Sometimes my stuff takes me a couple hours and sometimes it takes me a couple days. Depends on how I’m feeling and how motivated I am!!!! If you did read this then WHOA! I hope you have a wonderful day!