#and also i make sure that the sketch is on-model and the client is happy etc etc

[spearxwind]

Thinking about the time i commissioned an artist i rly liked for something and the result was kind of really catastrophic just from the preview image in the email so i just. never opened the actual image

[whatcouldgowrong-ohthat]

Between the Ink and Papers Ch. 3

Summary: Steve and Peggy have been divorced for a year and Sarah is still starting to find her groove in it. However, it becomes a lot easier when she and Typhanie realize it might be time for her dad to start dating again.

Pairings: tattooartist!dad!Steve x Reader, Typhanie x Sarah, Peggy x Logan, Bucky x Natasha

Word Count: 1592 words

Warnings: Mentions of past self harm, there might be cussing?

Between the Ink and Papers Masterlist - Masterlist to Other Works

Previous Chapter

--

Y/N had seen a lot of smiles in her life. Working as a counselor, they ranged, but the one Sarah gave her now was absolutely terrifying. She knew, in this moment, she would never be able to live it down. “Uh…Sarah? What are you doing here?”

The grin never wavered. Sarah intertwined her fingers, resting her chin on top of her hands. “Oh, just working. What about you, Miss Y/L/N?”

If Y/N could crawl into a hole, she would. This wasn’t exactly a setting she would have ever expected to cross with one of her clients. “I – “ Before she could stutter out an answer, a rhyme or reason for being in a tattoo parlor with her tipsy friends, someone came from the back.

She swallowed the lump in her throat, surprised to see someone that looked like that working at a tattoo shop. He looked like he should have been a model. His blonde hair was swept back and those bright blue eyes surveyed the room as if he owned the place.

And maybe he did.

“Hi. I take it you ladies are the ones Bucky told me about?”

“That’s right,” Y/N heard Wanda say, walking past her and to the counter he now stood behind. “All five of us wanted to get something.”

Y/N was hardly paying attention to the conversation. She was far more focused on trying to figure out why this guy looked so familiar. He held out a hand to Wanda. She promptly shook it, her grip lingering a little too long before he shook hands with Hope, Carol, and Val as well. They introduced their names before he looked at Y/N.

She noticed the dark circles under his eyes, but refused to let herself think too much about the cause of them. Instead, she took his hand. “I’m Y/N.”

“Steve Rogers. This is my place.”

Rogers. Y/N looked at Sarah. She was still watching, that amusement never wavering from her eyes. He was her – Oh boy.

As Steve took their IDs and handed them to Sarah, he explained how they would most likely have to divvy the women up between himself and Bucky. It would keep them from spending too much time here at least. Y/N also had a feeling it was something to do with getting Sarah home at a reasonable hour, but there was no way she could be sure. For all she knew, Sarah had a bed here that she slept in.

Oh, dear god, that was a horrible thought. Why would she put that idea in her head?

“Hey.” Y/N blinked, looking at the hand touching her arm. Hope was watching her curiously, clearly concerned but not willing to voice it. “You okay? You’re not already regretting this, are you?”

“No, of course not. It’s…” Y/N glanced at Sarah. Her back was to them, copying their IDs to the paper each woman would need to sign. “Complicated.” She remembered all the sessions she had with the young girl. How she was struggling. Was it because she was spending nights like this? How much of Sarah’s life was being kept out of their sessions? And what sort of stability did she really have?

“You comin’?”

Y/N jerked, looking towards the back. Steve was waiting there, and her friends were already putting down their pens. Sheepishly, she scribbled her signature on the paper. It wasn’t her first tattoo. She knew the drill. Sarah took the papers, straitening and filing them away as Steve led them down the hall. “Have fun,” she called just as Typhanie came out of the bathroom.

Seeing the smirk and glimmer in her girlfriend’s eyes, Typhanie frowned. “What? What’d I miss?”

--

“Hey, Buck!’ Steve’s fist collided with the doorframe, making the brunette inside jump a foot in the air. He grinned before jerking a thumb over his shoulder. “Got some customers for you if you’re interested.”

Bucky rolled his eyes, rising to his feet as Carol and Val stepped in. “Hi.” He was sheepish, obviously feeling bad for not noticing they were ready for him. “Um…come on in and we’ll talk about what you guys are lookin’ for.”

Across the hall was Steve’s room. He opened the door, propping it against the wall. “There’s two chairs there. If you want to wait and watch, you can. If not, you’re more than welcome to hang out up front and us come and get you.”

There was an awkwardness in the air. None of them really knew who wanted to go first and it seemed none were interested in making the first move. Y/N chuckled and said, “I’ll go first. You two want to wait up front?”

“Yeah! I saw the records and wanted to check those out, if you don’t mind,” Wanda said, already hightailing it out of the room.

--

Hope was quick to follow her. It had nothing to do with her wanting to be out of the room, Y/N knew that. It had everything to do with the fact that Wanda was the wild card of the group. Leaving her alone with two teenagers up front… No, Y/N definitely appreciated Hope going with her.

“Uh…guess that settles that.”

Y/N squeaked. She turned back to Steve, unable to fathom how she had forgotten that he had been in the room with her. “Sorry, it’s been a weird night.”

Steve chuckled and shook his head. “Don’t have to tell me twice. I’ve heard some weird stories.” He gestured to the table as he sat on his stool, rolling to her side. “So – is this a group tattoo? Or each is getting their own thing?”

“A bit of both actually,” she explained, voice a little softer than before. “We’re all getting the semi-colon symbol.”

Steve had been reaching for his sketch book, faltering when he heard that. A lot of people got that symbol. He knew the reason behind it. Sparing a glance at her, Steve understood why she was so quiet. Instead of grabbing his sketchbook, he rolled the stool so he sat in front of her. On the table, she easily towered over him, but that was normal. Gnawing at the corner of his lip, Steve wasn’t sure what to say so he simply started with, “Hey.”

She looked up, meeting those pretty baby blues of his as he offered a small smile. “Hi.”

“You don’t have to go into detail if you don’t want, okay? This is about your comfort.” He noticed the way her shoulders dropped and smiled. There. That was what he wanted to see. “Do you just want the black ink or something else?”

Y/N shrugged. “I don’t know. I figured the black ink was sort of party of it.”

Steve grabbed his sketch book. “It doesn’t have to be.” He took one of the pencils off the table and flipped to a spare page, tracing quick, rough strokes.

Y/N was amazed by the way he so easily moved the pencil, as if he knew exactly what stroke needed to go where. Her brain didn’t work like that. She wasn’t that creative when it came to artistic things. She tucked her hair behind her ear, sparing a small glance his way. Steve was concentrating, putting as much focus into this as if he were creating something completely extraordinary instead of a little tattoo. His brow was furrowed, pinched in the middle, and his teeth were worrying his lip.

He really wanted to make this right.

“We could do something like this.”

Y/N straightened, making herself focus on the paper as he turned it her way. She couldn’t stop herself from smiling when she saw the design. It was simple. Needing only a little bit of color. And it wasn’t so big or over the top that she couldn’t hide it for her job.

“I love it.” She turned back to him. The smile on her face made Steve proud of the creation even though it wasn’t anything fancy. It meant something to her. And that made him happy for her.

She shrugged off her jacket, setting it aside and turning her body back towards him. It wasn’t Steve’s first time seeing scars, nor would it be his last, but seeing those faint, risen lines on the inside of her wrist...it hurt. He could never imagine what had happened in her life to cause such a reaction, but he wanted to help her move forward now.

It was the least he could do.

“We’ll start with the black and then go to the watercolor,” he told her, spinning back towards his inks. He put a tray of them together, lining them up. “Sound good?”

“Uh…yeah.”

Steve chuckled. “Not having doubts, are you?”

Y/N shook her head. No, there were no doubts. She absolutely wanted this. “Not doubts,” she told him as he tested the pressure on the tattoo-gun. Setting it down, Steve turned back to her and started cleaning her wrist. “It’s just…I feel like I should make sure you’re properly informed.”

He laughed, running the razor over her skin and shaving away any little baby hairs that would get in the way. “Shouldn’t I be saying that to you?”

“Well, yeah,” Y/N admitted, knowing she was probably being silly. Still, honesty was important to Y/N. It always had been. “But I still think you should know.”

Steve raised a brow, finally meeting her gaze. “What?”

“I’m…” Y/N sighed, reminding herself that it wasn’t that big of a deal. It shouldn’t be, right? Glancing down at the sketch between them, she admitted, “I’m your daughter’s counselor.”

--

Tag List:

@fullofmultitudesfullofshit​

@abundanceofcarolines​

@patzammit​

@peaches-roses-sins​

@thisartemisnevermisses​

@works-of-fanfiction​

@coldmuffinbanditshoe​

[operationfazbear]

Timeline

OKAY

So the link I posted to my timeline wayyyyy back is broken, so I’m just sticking it directly here. 

It’s not complete (Will it ever be complete) and stops off right before security breach, but I’m waiting until the game comes out before I actually start forming opinions about it. 

--

1963:  Afton and Henry meet for the first time, begin discussing plans for a future restaurant.  -- 1966:  Afton and Bethany meet for the first time, agree to start seeing each other more  Bethany introduces Afton to the rest of her family, Abria’s first appearance in the story  Afton kills Paige and tries to combine her remnant to an endoskeleton he constructed, it doesn’t work. Her spirit is now stuck with him  Afton kills Mark and tries the same thing; gets the skeleton to writhe around a little but nothing else. Mark is now stuck with Afton as well -- 1968:  Bethany (Mrs. Afton) becomes pregnant with Michael, she and Afton get married  Afton and Henry meet up again, begin discussing the old plans for the place they talked about in college. Henry mentions how he went on with the plans and the skeletons  have already been built. Afton asks to be included in the project and Henry agrees Building is found that will hold the place Security Puppet is built  Underground testing facility is built, as well as first drafts of what would become  the Circus Baby robots Mark possesses Security Puppet -- 1969:  Michael is born early in the year First Fredbear’s opens Henry has minor springlock failure that permanently damages his right leg. -- 1972:  Sammy is abducted by William in the Spring Bonnie suit. Restaurant shuts down for the time being while the investigation goes on William convinces Henry to shut the investigation down and open the restaurant back up. Henry reluctantly agrees William begins noticing that Security Puppet seems slightly sentient and always goes crazy when he’s nearby. Begins  trying to sabotage his creation.  -- 1973:  Bethany becomes pregnant with Elizabeth (Ice cream girl) Charlie keeps asking people in the Spring Bonnie suit about her brother. William gets tired of it and lures her outside to kill her, after making sure Security Puppet can’t follow (Henry reprogrammed it to make sure it watched Charlie specifically, against William’s wishes). Paige helps the Puppet escape so Mark could control it outside to Charlie.  First Fredbear’s closes permanently Elizabeth is born  Security Puppet is scrapped -- 1975: William brings up the idea to try again, that making a new place might get his mind off his dead children, Henry reluctantly agrees  Andrew Wills is hired Freddy, Bonnie, Chica, and Foxy animatronics are built and go into testing phases  Lacey Phillips (Concept Artist) is hired to help with Circus Baby designs Circus Baby animatronics are designed and built Circus Baby’s Pizza World also begins construction  Underground Facility expands -- 1976:  Bethany becomes pregnant with Ben (Crying Child) William suffers his first (Yes, first) Springlock failure Ben is born  2nd Fredbear’s opens Samuel Meller (Phone Guy) is hired -- 1978:  Circus Baby’s Pizza World goes on trial run. Elizabeth is killed and the robots go underground for rental William begins the controlled shocks on the robots, Baby especially  Baby gains sentience  -- 1980:  Two performers Lucas and Matthew wearing the Spring Bonnie and Fredbear suits are caught in a Springlock failure and die, Fredbear’s closes for a few months  Ben’s nightmares begin Baby begins trying to  escape -- 1983:  Bite of 83 happens  First five children (yes there are two groups of them) are abducted  Second Fredbear’s closes  Murder accusations are being pinned on Henry Henry asks Afton to kill him, Afton refuses and declares he was just as responsible for Ben’s death as Michael was  Henry tries to kill himself but fails, makes accusations worse for him. Eventually goes into hiding  Bethany tries to reason with William and get him to stop verbally abusing Michael.  William, not happy with Bethany disagreeing with him, kicks her out of the house. She stays with Abria for the night  Restraining order set on  Bethany that keeps her from seeing Michael, Bethany leaves for New York -- 1984:  Construction of toy animatronics begins  Plans for Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza begin Underground testing facility expands  -- 1985:  First Freddy’s opens Abria’s investigation begins  Charlie inhabits the Puppet  -- 1986:  Abria finds some hair sticking out of one of the withered animatronics and takes it to be tested. Chased out of the back room by Afton’s assistant manager, Blake Roberts.  William begins suspecting that Abria is after him for something and begins trying to keep her off his tail. Enlists in the help of Blake to help him Abria is switched to the night shift, snoops around before the night begins and finds entrance to underground workshop. Requests switch to the dayshift  Baby and friends begin breaking consistently. Technicians are hired to fix them Michael gives Abria a key to the underground facility. She finds the blueprints for Circus Baby and friends -- 1987:  An employee named Nathan Pike takes the night shift for the second time. nearly dies and is constantly plagued  by nightmares. Pleads a switch to the dayshift Jeremy Fitzgerald is hired  Nathan tampers with the bots to try and get them to stop attacking people; fails and makes it worse Fritz Smith is transferred to the Nightshift (Afton hates him because he smokes so he’s hoping he’ll die) Bite of 87 occurs  Second batch of kids is abducted, murder is pinned on Nathan Blake messes with camera footage to keep the blame off Afton  First Freddy’s closes  Toy animatronics are scrapped -- 1989:  Baby has been persistently trying to escape and Afton is getting fed up Makes Michael a late night technician to keep the animatronics at bay Michael is scooped  Michael rejects Ennard and becomes a walking flesh gremlin  -- 1990:  Afton opens another Freddy’s location, uses the old models from the Fredbear location (they now have two ghosts stuck in each of them, they take turns controlling them) Afton Asks Andrew to test the Spring Suits to see if they’re still usable, trips the locks and kills him (Blames him for Elizabeth’s death, because this man doesn’t know what personal responsibility is.)  -- 1991:  Afton tries to suit up and kill another batch of kids, but Paige, Charlie, and Mark all trigger the locks. Afton is now sickly, weak, and slowly dying from rusty metal being IMBEDDED INTO HIS FLESH Samuel (Phone Guy) takes the night shift (and the record for how long someone remains on it) and gets mauled by Chica on his last week, somehow survives the attack and  manages to drag himself out of  the restaurant with a messed up leg and scars  all over his face and chest; presumed dead by the company. -- 1992:  Constant complaints of the robots stinking and weird fluids leaking  out of  them Abria takes the nightshift for a couple weeks Frustrated, the spirits stuck with Afton begin fully haunting him -- 1993: Michael takes the nightshift for the remainder of the time it’s open as he tries to find a way to free the spirits Freddy’s  closes for reasons that surprisingly aren’t murder this time  Paranoid by the spirits haunting him, William goes back to the abandoned building and destroys the animatronics, setting the rest of the spirits loose. He hides in the Spring Bonnie suit and dies in it this time  -- 2020:  Plans for Fazbear’s Fright begin, run by the Evans siblings: Lydia, Zach, and Dylan (Dylan is Phone Dude)  Michael begins trying to sabotage the project  -- 2021:  Building is bought and actors are wanted Lydia tracks down Abria and asks her some questions. Abria gives her the binder full of information from her investigation  Springtrap is found Dylan is killed by Springtrap in the attraction. His body is stuffed in a vent and found by Zach Lydia begins working in the attraction as the fright guard before it officially opens  Lydia goes down to the now abandoned underground facility and discovers some old blueprints and some sketches from Lacey   Michael burns down the attraction (did not know Lydia was in there. She lived, just has some bad burn scars on her arms now) Spirits of the children are set free aside from Mark, Paige, Charlie, Afton, Elizabeth, and Michael Henry learns about Fazbear’s Fright and goes to do something about this once and for all -- 2022:  Henry buys back the rights  to Fazbear Entertainment and opens a new Freddy’s with the promise of helping new entrepreneurs get a start  Michael hears about this, not knowing who started  this and  goes to try and sabotage this too.  Michael and Henry see each other for the first time in years. Henry explains his plan to Michael and Michael agrees to help.  Per Henry’s instructions Michael gathers all the  robots that appear in the alley behind the restaurant  After a week the plan is executed. Henry sets the establishment ablaze, setting the rest of the spirits free, except Afton who goes straight to Hell Michael and Henry also parish in the fire, at last able to be with their lost family -- 2029:  In attempt to distance themselves from the past and cover up Afton’s atrocities, Fazbear Entertainment sells the rights to a small game company, who begin development of an interactive experience based off the ancient pizzeria  Development officially starts. Team consists of Mackenzie Wood (Tape Girl), Jeremy, and their managed Dale  A client (Vanny) sends in a few things for the team to use in the game; old circuit boards that unknowingly contain pieces of William’s remnant  Glitchtrap starts appearing  Jeremy notices the appearances and tries to let Dale know about it. Dale doesn’t listen. Work continues as scheduled.  -- 2030: Things start steadily going wrong as the appearance of Glitchtrap persists.  Jeremy’s nightmares begin  Game progress slows; Fazbear’s Entertainment getting antsy  Nightmares worsening, Jeremy tries killing himself with the paper shredder (it’s implied. I think) Mackenzie takes over testing; learns about the coverup  Mackenzie notices Glitchtrap and begins documenting her findings and hiding them within the game’s code; Glitchtrap attaches itself to the tapes  Mackenzie tries to destroy him, but can only manage breaking him apart for a bit.  -- 2031: Testing moves on to new studio with a new tester, Nikki, hired for the job Nikki unknowingly sets Glitchtrap (Afton) free when she assembles the tapes  Afton rejoins with Vanny; begin looking for new recruits  (will be added on to later)

[wizardessheartprincess]

Bold of u to assume i have a title in mind (prologue, part 1/?)

Pairing; bakugou katsuki x reader

A/N; new au: reader’s sending out surveys and somehow one respondent makes it into a competition; reader is not paid enough to deal with this. So many wild assumptions, even the economics major in me is reeling. Many corners were cut. I’m mostly sorry. only ooc in this household. shoutout to @lady-bakuhoe whose incredible existence was the impetus for me to write a fic for the first time in 2 years. will i continue this? who knows!

edit: part 2 is here (x)

Your eyes are drawn to the little black text box that pops up in the bottom right corner of your screen - a new email. The subject line - a reply to the email you haven’t even finished sending to all the recipients yet.

You click into the notification, expecting it to be one of the business students critiquing your survey design - but no, it’s… from the Hero Course. Funny, since they’re usually off training, and you have to nag most of them multiple times to answer emails, even with the giant “[ACTION REQUIRED]” tag in the subject line.

You sit up from where you’re lazily draped over the bed, kicking aside the blanket as you decide to act more professional when you’re technically still on the clock for work. You shuffle over to the desk, gently placing your laptop on top of it before you’re much less gentle with how you plop yourself into the chair.

The survey was an exercise for the Support Course - meant to develop your communication skills with the heroes you would one day aid in their work. That meant designing a survey that your heroic audience would actually take the time to answer accurately, while providing you with feedback on your designs. 

Your specialty was in aerodynamics and chemistry - and the Hero Course student you most wanted to design for was Bakugou Katsuki. It was just your luck that he was also probably the worst “client” to work for… at least from what you’d heard from your classmates. Abrasive, picky, and downright destructive of his equipment - those were your classmates’ chief complaints about him. But while of course, you understood their annoyance at having to remake his costume every time he ran off into a new scuffle, part of you was attracted to the qualities that others seemed to hate. He was aggressive, and harsh on his support items, yes, but he demanded the best out of his own performance, too. It went both ways. Personally, you appreciated that he knew exactly what he needed, and you’d be happy to try to deliver-

It absolutely sucked, having two desires conflicting like this - one, to dive headfirst into your inventions, to create boundlessly, to really make an impact on the world through the users of your gifts - but the other, to simply create without having to interact with others. You envied people like Hatsume, who seemed to have endless energy to pour into marketing, to not just make, but also share. You? 

You had an equal ratio of 3D print files and trashed concept art, and a 100:0 ratio of ideas to actually publicized ideas. 

Sure, you’d tossed some small inventions into the metaphorical ring before, to some praise and interest from major support companies, but you’d always been too damn shy to really push anything to come out of those initial sparks of interest. 

You opened the email, drafting the survey you were originally planning to send out to Todoroki. He could wait.

Above the answers - quite thoughtfully composed, actually - was a note. 

“Is this the fastest reply you’ve gotten?” 

I quietly snort. Seriously? Not everything has to be a competition. But based on the way he acted in the Sports Festival (and everywhere else, let’s be honest)… you’re not entirely surprised.

You pause, curiously skimming his answers, slowing down every now and then so you can reciprocate his thoughts with your own, already brimming with fresh concepts to incorporate into existing designs. 

And... as much as you’d like to spiral into sketches and notes on how to buffer the shock wave effect of his large explosions on his own body, more complex biologic drug compounds to prevent any pulmonary issues from his quirk, and the possibility of adding an automatic shock wave source to his hero costume that would provide destructive interference with any aftershocks of his explosions that might put too much pressure on his body - 

First.

You check the reply time - he replied nineteen minutes after you sent the initial email. 

You hit the reply button.

“Dear Bakugou - 

Thank you for the prompt and thorough response! Unfortunately, Midoriya responded to the last survey in eighteen minutes - just a minute before you. 

- Y/N”

You hit send, and navigate promptly to the drafted email you were working on just before this one. While you could just mass email everyone, you’ve found that personalizing the emails generally gets better response and completion rates. Still, you’ve barely typed out Todoroki’s name before another notification pops up - 

“Did I beat it yet?” is the entire contents of the email.

You can’t help but smile a little - and you almost just reply with a short “Yes : )” and leave it at that, but…

This opportunity doesn’t come every day. You look at the clock - technically, you could stop now if you wanted. Even on school nights, you’re encouraged to generally stop working before it gets too late, to refresh your mind periodically. Still…

You open your files, navigating to the folder you have for Bakugou. While you have a folder for pretty much every student in the Hero Course, you’ve spent much more time designing possibilities for Bakugou’s costume, the potential of a better aerodynamic and versatile all-around tool for him to use in battle.

- Not that you’ve ever really shown these designs to anyone, let alone the person they were customized for.

But…

Screw it.

You attach a couple of files to your reply email.

“You beat the record.”

You make no written mention of the files - hopefully, he’ll see them anyway, because you have no idea how to introduce them out of the blue. Honestly, he’s probably too busy to study them too in-depth, and it’s just as well if he doesn’t notice the attachments, anyway. Maybe they’re not that useful after all.

You hit send again. 

It’s hours later when your phone lights up and dings with another notification - you sit up groggily in bed, trying to reach for it while cursing that you forgot to turn your notifications off overnight - when you see it’s another reply from Bakugou. Instantly, you’re awake, as if the man himself had come into your room and directed an explosion into your face.

Did he see your designs?

You scramble to tap on the email in your inbox, accidentally clicking into a reply from Kirishima that you instantly close out of, before you stop, and it’s as if the night has its own inertia in the still silence. 

“Can I talk to you about these tomorrow?”

Your throat goes dry - you swing your legs out of bed, and toddle to your desk again, turning on the room lights on your way. Flipping up your laptop screen again, you open all the 3D print iteration files, the word documents of notes, the code and corresponding comments, the CAD models, from Bakugou’s folder - there’s no way you’ll be able to sleep tonight.

Then, finally, you respond.

“What time?”

[girls-scenarios]

Paint and French Perfume

Idol: Chaeyoung (Twice)

Prompt: Hi. If the requests are still open, may I ask for a royal AU with Chaeyoung (TWICE). The reader is a princess and Chaeyoung is a painter in charge of painting the portrait of the royal family (which is something annoying because the models don't have to move for a long time, you know). When it's the turn of the portrait of the reader alone, she and Chaeyoung flirt or something like that. Nothing serious, mostly fluff, please. By the way, I really love the blog💗

Writer: Admin Kiwi

A/N: Thank you for loving the blog, I hope you enjoy this scenario!

♡ Tip Jar♡

Chaeyoung loved painting. She had to, in order to continue her profession as a painter. The long hours and painfully awkward sessions with her clients were enough to make her want to quit sometimes, especially since the pay was never enough for the cramping in her fingers and the lack of sleep, and the annoying nagging that came with painting for upper-class clients. She understood why many artists were so disagreeable. But she loved painting, and this was the only way she could support herself. So when a request for portraits came in from the royal family, she begrudgingly agreed to paint them.

For everyone else, an appointment with royalty sounded incredible. For Chaeyoung, she knew it would mean even longer hours and even more nagging. But the pay was enough to keep her alive for an entire year, should she choose to take a break and go back to her love of painting landscapes. She would be a fool to refuse the offer.

The royal family wanted a lot. A family portrait, along with portraits of each family member separately, despite the fact that their walls were already lined with portraits. Still, Chaeyoung agreed and showed up bright and early on the morning she’d been called, ready for her back to hurt and for her fingers to cramp and for the worst that the royal family could offer.

What she hadn’t been ready for was you.

At first, you were rather quiet. The family portrait came first, and everyone was mostly silent during the long hours of standing perfectly still. You looked uncomfortable, her mouth turned into a slight grimace at most times, but Chaeyoung was used to that. She easily turned your grimace into a slight smile. Something about you was different, though.

Whenever the break was called, you would stand and stretch despite the queen’s disapproving look, groaning and moaning about the pain you were in. There was a twinkle of mischief that she often caught whenever she would look up at you for reference. Something told her that you were not like many of the other aristocrats she’d painted for. Not once had you demanded for her to change your features or her position. The rest of your family had asked for changes, but not you. You didn’t seem to care in the slightest how you were portrayed.

It was a nice change of pace.

When it finally came time for the solo portraits, you were third in line. The process of painting the king and queen was exhausting, and by the time she got to you, Chaeyoung was very ready for a change. Thankfully, you were just what she needed.

For the solo portraits, no one else was around. Guards were surely placed outside of the grand room, but inside it was only her and the subject. She always preferred it that way. It seemed you did, as well.

As soon as you sat down, the twinkle in your eye was back. The dress you were clad in seemed to be uncomfortable, and there was no chance of bad posture with the corset tightened as close as possible around your waist. Your movements were stiff, but you used the most of your mouth to make up for it.

“Your name is Chaeyoung, is it not?”

“Yes, Your Royal Highness. I am Son Chaeyoung.”

“Oh, please don’t be so stiff, Chaeyoung.” You adjusted slightly before sitting still, noticing that she had started the process. “I am not my mother. I do get ever so bored during these portraits.”

“As I can imagine.” She tried to be as polite as she could, her eyes flickering nervously to the doors as if the guards might burst in and arrest her at any moment for being rude to the princess. You must have noticed her looking, because you let out a soft laugh.

“The guards are out of earshot, you shouldn’t worry about them. They trust you because you are a woman, you know. Although.” The twinkle in your eye sparkled, and Chaeyoung felt her stomach turn. “You are perfectly beautiful, with your tussled and curled hair and that beauty mark by your perfectly plump lips. I do love the look of a concentrated woman.”

This was totally not happening. Chaeyoung outlined her preliminary sketch furiously, hoping that her cheeks were not too flushed. What kind of game were you playing at? “Thank you, Your Royal Highness.”

“Please, when we are alone, call me (Y/N). I get so tired of hearing that phrase. I would love it if a beautiful woman like you called me by my name.”

“I’m not sure if that is appropriate-.”

You cut her off, laughing slightly. Somehow, you had not moved a muscle, yet you seemed to be enjoying yourself. “Then I order you to call me by my name. Will you disobey the order of a princess, Chaeyoung?”

You were sly. She liked that, but tried not to think about it as she dipped into her paints. There was no use falling for a princess. You were just bored. There was no way a princess would fall for a commoner like her. “I will not.”

“Then say my name.”

Chaeyoung took a breath. “(Y/N).”

You grinned, satisfied. “Thank you. Was that truly so hard?”

“They could have my head for the disrespect,” she said, arching an eyebrow to look up at you. “Would you vouch for me, (Y/N)?” Oh well. If you were going to play this game, she would too. Your face lit up at her response, happy that she was finally responding in the way she wanted.

“Of course I would, Chaeyoung. I like you too much to see you punished.”

“I would hope so.”

-

As the days went by, Chaeyoung found herself taking her time on your portrait. At first, she’d felt awkward and nervous at your advances, always paranoid that a guard would burst in to drag her away. But there truly seemed to be no one around, and eventually, she got comfortable. The two of you talked throughout the process, half flirting and half actually learning about each other.

“I hate this sitting still,” you told her, as if she’d not already noticed from the way you grimaced every time you sat in the portrait chair. “I would much rather be out doing things, but my parents insist that, since I’m the princess, I should learn to be still and quiet. It makes me crazy.” You sighed. “I bet you have so much freedom. I would love to be a commoner, just for a day.”

“Being a commoner is a lot harder than you might think,” Chaeyoung retorted, no longer afraid of being rude. “Many of us starve or die from illnesses you’ll never see. I’m not sure you’d survive even a day.”

You huffed, but seemed to understand. “Is your life truly that hard, Chaeyoung?”

“It was hard for a while.” She shrugged her shoulders, not looking up from her painting. There was some tricky beading near your shoulder that she had yet to get down. “As a painter, I only live off what the wealthy pay me for portraits such as this. There is hardly any selling of nature or common life, which is what I love to paint. The hours are long and I hardly sleep. So yes, it can be hard.” She bit at her lip, and heard you sigh.

“You look cute when you concentrate. I should like to kiss those lips someday.”

Her face heated up and she finally looked up at you, causing you to smile. “Do you enjoy to tease me, (Y/N)?”

“Oh, I do. But I also tell the truth.”

She decided not to press the matter any further, the hammering in her chest too much to handle.

-

Chaeyoung usually wasn’t one to congratulate herself, but she had to say that her portrait of you had turned out stunning. She owned most of the credit to you. You were beautiful, and your beauty shone from the canvas, the twinkle in your eye and your playful smile perfectly portrayed through her many days of studying you closely. She could not deny her own attraction to you, and wondered how many painters had met the same fate as her. The last session was coming soon, and she was doomed to leave with a broken heart, her love forever belonging to the mischievous princess. She was not sure how much she believed you when you claimed to be telling the truth.

To her surprise, however, when the last day came, you arrived with a sad sigh, your usually-grinning lips pressed into a frown. Thankfully, Chaeyoung had already captured your smile, but she still worried as she settled onto her stool, looking around the canvas.

“Is something the matter, Princess?”

“Like I’ve said, please just call me (Y/N).” You sent her a smile, but it was light and airy and unfamiliar. “I’m only sad today, Chaeyoung.”

“Why so? After we finish, you will be free of sitting still.”

“But I will also be free of you. And I’ve grown to like you too much.”

Her heart pounded in her ears and she added the last stroke of red on the curtains behind you. “Is it really wise to keep up this teasing?”

“I’m not teasing. Chaeyoung, I truly like you. I enjoy your company and think you’re beautiful, even when you end up covered in paint at the end of the day.” You shifted in your chair. “If I wasn’t a princess, would you consider me?”

Chaeyoung swallowed and paused, her brush floating above the canvas as she looked up at you. You were just as stunning in person as you were on the canvas, but your eyes were sad. This was not the princess that she was used to, and she missed your smile. “If you weren’t a princess, I would. But in our current situation.... I hardly believe that your parents would approve of you courting a poor common painter. I have hardly any money to my name and no royal blood. I am not a good match for you. Although I love you dearly.”

“Oh, how I wish I wasn’t a princess....” You fell silent. Then, as Chaeyoung put her last brush away, finished with the portrait, you stood from your chair. “Please. Don’t leave me yet.”

No matter how much her head screamed for her to leave, her heart would not let her move, freezing her in place as you walked up to Chaeyoung. This was the first time the two of you had ever been so close, and her breath escaped her. You were so beautiful it hurt.

“(Y/N), if anyone-.”

“Shh. We can be quiet.” Your twinkle returned as you touched her cheek, tilting your head ever so slightly with a sweet smile on your lips. “May I kiss you?”

She was pretty sure she couldn’t say no. Not like she wanted to anyway. Breathlessly, she nodded, and you leaned in, smelling if French perfume. It overwhelmed the smell of paint that usually clung to every part of her life. She realized, belatedly, that was was dirty: her clothes and hands had paint on them. But you did not seem to care, pulling her closer and kissing her desperately. Her heart floated away as she melted into your arms. She was so lost in you that she’d never be the same again.

When you pulled away, your cheeks flushed through the makeup on your face, your eyes were wide and hopeful. “If I can convince the king and queen that I must have more portraits, will you come back?”

“For you? I will come back as many times as you would like.”

-

An appointment with royalty. A commission to paint a portrait of the princess. Most people would consider this an incredible chance. And for once, Chaeyoung had to agree with them. Especially when she opened the gallery door and saw your familiar smile, your eyes twinkling with happiness and mirth and your arms opened wide, not another person in sight.

“You’re here!”

“Of course I am.” She smiled widely, setting down her supplies to hold you tight in her arms. “How could decline an offer to paint favorite model again?”

[venusxxlangdon]

draw me like one of your french boys

warnings: smut, fluff, handjob, oral (female receiving, facesitting), praise kink, sub!Michael, Hawthorne!Michael, shy!Michael, female!reader

 summary: reader is an artist looking for a live model for her new artwork. When she meets Michael, she realizes that the boy, who looks like a Renaissance painting, is exactly who she’s been looking for. They grow found of each other, and one day Michael asks her to draw him. Naked.

word count: 6850

Every artist experiences existential crises at least once in their lifetime, and if they haven’t experienced it yet, it means that they are about to. It’s an inevitable burden that occurs in everyone’s life, especially after they become successful and the dependency of other people’s opinion increases. An artist, who once created for the sake of the process itself, gets trapped in the idea of being liked by their audience. That’s what you were afraid most of all. To become a puppet whose only desire would be to meet somebody else’s expectations.

The sales of your paintings have increased drastically in the past six months and, as your manager kept telling you, it was high time to paint more. You started making new clients and getting offers for a personal exhibition, but it all felt like the weight of the world was forced on your shoulders. You wanted to rebel against it: tell your manager to shut up, and lock yourself in your studio, where you were alone with your thoughts and nobody told you what to do. It had always been your happy place with sketches all over the floor, your very first paintings hanging on the walls, a huge easel right in the center of the room. You loved the smell of fresh oil and ink, and two huge windows that offered a fascinating view of city skyline. How disappointing it was to come over one day and realize that nothing was making you happy anymore, and the main reason for that was right in the corner of the room. A big canvas of your last painting you had been struggling to finish. It was a drawing inspired by the early Renaissance period: a cherub in the rose garden, wrapped in a navy blue silk that was coming down his lean body in waves. The flowers turned out really beautiful, so delicate and precious with the drops of dew on the rosy petals. The problem was with the cherub. For some reason you couldn’t paint his face, and the blank space instead of its place was driving you mad. You wanted it to be special, and you had spent days trying to find a proper live model who could pose for you, but, unfortunately, all these handsome males, you tried to get inspiration from, lacked the innocence of an angel (especially that one guy who posed for you half-naked, when you were painting cherub’s chest, and decided to hit on you. You were quick to explain to him that the job of a live model wasn’t about hooking up with an artist and made sure that he wouldn’t appear in your studio ever again), the lightness and purity. Days went by, your manager started being really annoying, but you kept looking for that very special one, because you felt he was somewhere out there. Your intuition never deceived you.

It was a regular rainy afternoon when you found yourself sitting in a local coffee shop not far from your studio, thinking how bad you didn’t want to go there and face the unfinished painting which was some sort of a reminder of your inability to draw something decent. Another notification popped up on your laptop desktop, and you already new what it was gonna be about. One more email from Mallory.

“Y/N, Mr. Gallant called, and he’s expecting the painting to be done and delivered to his apartment by next Sunday. Get back to work, please”. You sighed disappointedly. Fuck this stupid time-management. You are an artist, a free-spirit and you will be done when YOU decide that it’s time. Having aggressively shut the lid of your laptop down, you stared through the window.

The rain was oblivious of your worries, as each drop bequeathed itself into a cooling air. You felt pathetic and unprofessional. Why everything had to be so complicated? Why did you let your perfectionism take over and prevent you from drawing a face of any model you could pick from a local model agency? It wasn’t even the artwork you’d hang in your apartment, and the man you were painting it for could care less about the face of a cherub as long it was pretty. You knew the answer to all of these questions — because you could never do things halfway — it was either all or nothing, even if it meant sacrificing set deadlines.

You rolled your eyes when your phone started vibrating with an incoming call.

“Yes, Mallory?” You didn’t even have to look at the display to know who was calling, Rubbing the bridge of your nose tiredly, you prepared yourself mentally for another lecture from your manager. “Y/N, you know I would really appreciate if you answered my emails” the voice on the others side was monotonous.

 You sipped your coffee and winced, realizing that the drink had gone cold. Damn.

“I told you I was busy” you answered and looked around the coffee shop, thinking that the way you spend your time could hardly be identified as “busy”. Chewing on your bottom lip, you brought your gaze back to the window.

“Please, tell me that at least you’ve read my last email and you are familiar with the new deadline” you could picture the way Mallory adjusted her glasses, her thin lips pursed, and pale face grimaced with annoyance.

“Yes, I have” you mumbled in response and narrowed your eyes, as you noticed a group of boys crossing the other side of the street. They looked young. Really young. Maybe in their early 20s. Dressed in brown trench coats, they were jumping over puddles briskly, trying not to get their feet wet. Only one of them had an umbrella, so the others were trying to get under it. They were pushing each other with their elbows, playfully fighting for dominance. And then you noticed him. A tall guy who was trying to follow the running boys with his coat unbuttoned, so you could see his black and white uniform. There was a silk ribbon tied neatly around the collar of his crisp white shirt that made him look like he was straight out from some 18th century novel about a private boarding school. His blond hair, wet in the rain, sticked to his chiseled face with sharp, prominent cheekbones and pointy chin.

You literally got glued to the window, admiring him, and forgot that Mallory was still on the line.

“Y/N? Y/N? Can you hear me? The painting should also...”

You cleared your throat and understood that it was either now or never. You didn’t have much time, as the boys took their way down the street away from the coffee shop.

“Mallory” you harshly interrupted her. “I can’t talk right now”, you hanged up on her without even letting her finish the sentence. Her complains were the last thing you worried about when there was a gorgeous boy, who had the face of a cherub you were dying to paint, just several feet away from you. You grabbed your jacket and stormed your way out of the coffee shop. It seemed like your heart was about to beat out of your chest with an overwhelming excitement like a trapped bird. You have found him. You have finally found him.

Faster than the wind you ran after the boys hoping they didn’t go far. You saw the tall guy take a turn around the corner, and without even realizing what you were doing, you shouted at the top of your lungs:

“Excuse me, sir!”

He didn’t pay attention. “Shit” you thought to yourself and speeded up. Raindrops were running down your cheeks, and the wind was blowing right in your face making it extremely uncomfortable to run.

“Heeey!” you almost stumbled and instinctively put your hand out to prevent yourself from falling. Your purse hanged off your shoulder and nearly fell down in the puddle, but you managed to catch it. “Excuse me!”

Right at that moment the guy stopped and slowly turned around. With a slight confusion on his face he watched you slowly approach him, as you were trying to calm your heavy breathing. You imagined that you looked like a wet rat with your hair clanged to you face and smeared mascara — definitely not the most presentable look for the artist whose paintings cost thousands of dollars.

“I’m sorry? May I help you?” the boy asked. His voice was low for an angelic appearance like his. He looked even more handsome up close. The gray sky tinted his blue eyes beautifully, making them brighter. They were piercing at you cautiously, as he was trying to figure out whether he found you familiar. Even though his hair was wet, you still were able to tell that it was curly, as they were sticking to his cheeks in messy waves. You took a deep breath and tucked a piece of your wet hair behind your ear, but it didn’t make any difference to your look.

“Hi!” You smiled brightly. The only thought “it’s him, it’s him!!” was ringing in your head, making you grin like an idiot. Nobody could understand your delight at that moment. It seemed like sleepless nights, when you were eating yourself up for the lack of inspiration, have come to an end. If only this beautiful boy before you agreed to work with you! You would be the happiest person in the world. “I’m sorry for bothering you, sir. But I really need to talk to you...”

“Mikey!! What’s up, dude? Are you coming?” the other boys were calling him. He turned around and raise his right hand in the air.

“Just a moment!” he shouted back at them. He adjusted the collar of his coat bringing it up, so the rain wouldn’t get behind his back. “I’m sorry, who are you again?”

You realized that you should’ve introduced yourself first, but you were taken aback by the beauty of a real-life angel, so you couldn’t blame yourself for that.

“My name is Y/N. I’m an artist” he furrowed his eyebrows, not understanding how it was connected to him, “and I’m looking for a model” you explained. “I’m working on a painting...”, you paused, “of a cherub for a very famous client, but I can’t finish it because I don’t have a model whose face and I could paint, and you are exactly what I’ve been looking for”, you bubbled excitedly.

You could see the blush bloom on the boy’s cheeks. He parted his finely-carved, scarlet lips, but didn’t say anything. Only somewhat confusingly ran his fingers through his hair.

“I’m sorry, but I’m not a model”, he mumbled, lowering his eyes. You couldn’t explain the feeling inside of you as you watched him. He reminded you of Botticelli paintings. There was something ethereal about him: in the detached beauty of his perfectly sculpted face. He looked so fresh, so innocent, so pure, as if he was made of ivory and rosy petals.

“It doesn’t matter”, you hurried to assure him, “you don’t have to be one. It’s just...” you took a deep breath, thinking that you might have die if he didn’t agree. “I’ve been looking for a face like yours for months. It would be an honor to work with you...?” You heard one of the boys calling him “Mikey”, but you wasn’t sure what full name it stood for.

“Michael. Michael Langdon” he said, still smiling shyly. He drew his bottom lip between his perfect white teeth and looked at you through his lashes. “Look, I’m really fluttered. Thank you for your words, but....”

“Michael, we are going now!”, the boys shouted, and he turned his broad back at you one more time. It was pouring by now, and you knew that you couldn’t hold the boy any longer.

“Michael, please, think it over and give me a call, okay?” You took your business card out of your purse and handed it to him. “I’m offering you 50$ per hour. One session usually lasts up to 3-4 hours. Please, do the math and give it a thought”.

His doe-like eyes widened at your words. Not only he was blushing from your compliments, but he was stunned by the boldness of your offer, as if you were asking for something inappropriate.

“I-I-I’m really not sure...” he stuttered. You understood his reaction: how often does one gets stopped by a stranger who offers them to model for a renaissance-inspired painting? But you really, really needed him, and you were running out of time.

“Look, I’m not expecting you to answer immediately”, you said looking him in the eye, and noticed that he instantly looked away, blushing even more, “let me know if you agree by Friday, okay?”

The boys started whistling at Michael. He took your card hesitantly, his fingers were slightly shaking. He looked up at you and nodded slowly, hiding the card in the inside pocket of his coat.

“Alright, thank you”, his voice sounded hoarse, so he cleared his throat and repeated himself, “thank you”.

The corners of your lips twitched, but he didn’t return a smile, being too confused and embarrassed with all this unexpected attention to his persona. You watched him join his friends. They tapped his shoulder, as he approached them, and shoot you a curious look.

You realized that you didn’t even care about the pouring rain anymore. You were completely soaked, but the only thing you were capable of thinking was a gorgeous blue-eyed boy you just met.

xxx

The sound of the ringing phone disturbed the comfortable silence of a Saturday afternoon you were spending in your studio. You were waiting for Michael’s call yesterday, but as the hour and the minute hands of the huge clock on the wall stroke midnight, you understood that he turned down your offer. That’s why you found yourself in your studio on the following day, standing in front of the unfortunate painting and thinking that you needed to start looking through the list of potential models Mallory had sent to you.

“Hello?”, you answered the phone, noticing an unknown number on the display. A familiar raspy voice made your heart drop.

“Hi, is it Y/N?”

“Michael?” you turned away from the painting and sat down on sofa, placing your feet on a small coffee table.

“Yeah, hi”, he said, “I’m sorry I didn’t call you yesterday. Got really busy with school”. School? How old was he? “But I have been thinking about your offer...”

You hummed.

“Have you?”, you had to admit that you didn’t like the fact that he ignored your request to call you back by Friday, because it meant that he wasn’t the most responsible person, and only God knew how you were gonna arrange the appointments with him since he was incapable of planing his time. But then again, weren’t you the same way? For a second you even sympathized with Mallory who had to deal with your own irresponsibility 24/7 (but only for a second).

“Yes”, you could tell by his voice that he was nervous. You smiled at the memory of him blushing in the rain. “Well, I-I-I think I’m ready to try...” you swear you could ready to explode brighter than the fireworks on the 4th of July, but you managed to keep it cool.

“That’s really nice of you. Thank you, Michael. Do you have a pen to write down the details?”

You two agreed that he would come on Tuesday for 2 hours, so you could look at him properly and decide what exactly needed to be added to the painting. Then he could come 2 time a week for 3 hour session. You didn’t plan for the entire process to take too long, 3 weeks maximum. Thank God you had managed to persuade Gallant to give you more time. Actually it didn’t even take a lot of effort: last week, after you discovered Michael, he came came to your studio and got so stunned by the painting that he let you take as much time as you needed. If only all clients were this way.

On Tuesday Michael knocked on your door in time. Dressed in a loose cotton shirt and linen pants, hair clipped in a messy bun, you went to greet him. He was chewing on the inside of his cheek, awkwardly shifting his weight from one foot to another. Just like you thought, his hair was curly indeed. Crisp, golden locks were styled messily, covering a part of his forehead. He was wearing the same coat and holding a big leather bag in his hand. You stepped aside, inviting him in.

“Hi”, he said, blushing, and you curiously wondered if it was an uncontrollable habit of his.

“Hello, Michael”, you took his bag from his hands and carefully placed it on a table by the hangers. “I’m glad you came”.

He nodded. His long fingers started undoing the buttons of his trench coat. He carefully hanged it, and you noticed how elegant his movements were. He pulled the sleeves of his black sweater a bit up, exposing his delicate wrists. You definitely were staring, but not in a romantic way. You were observing him like a picture in a museum and wondering how you got so lucky to meet this precious boy. He was looking around cautiously, as he followed you into the studio, scanning the unknown environment with his eyes. You made your way to the center of the room, took one of the chairs and pulled it closer to the window, not far from the easel.

“Please, make yourself at home” you smiled at Michael. He looked amused, as he studied a huge painting that was almost of the size of the wall for one of your old clients who ordered it about eight months ago. You created your own version of the Miracle of the Bread and Fish, and really like the result. For some reason, biblical scenes always were your favorite to work on. “Would you like some coffee or tea, maybe?”

Michael looked at you and shook his head.

“No, thank you, I’m good”, his eyes were searching for a place were he could sit, and you pointed at the chair. He took his seat and folded his hands neatly, lacing his fingers together, so you wouldn’t notice them tremble. You watched him amusingly with your head tilted to the side. He was absolutely adorable.

“Do you live here?”, he noticed your gaze and smiled shyly, tucking a strand of his hair behind his ear.

You shook your head and turned away to take the painting of the cherub and carefully place it on the easel.

“No, I rent this studio for work purposes”, you nodded at the painting. “So what do you think?”

Michael was in awe. His ocean eyes were glistening with excitement, the tip of his pink tongue ran along his bottom lips nervously, as he said under his breath:

“Oh my God, this is magnificent”.

For a moment it seemed like he stopped being nervous and expressed his opinion sincerely. That’s what you adored art for: it made people feel different spectrums of emotions, all at once. It lifted the armor and left one bare, vulnerable, and unguarded. “I’m not sure if...”, Michael covered his mouth with one hand and than placed it back on his thigh, “if I’m good enough for posing for such a masterpiece”.

You couldn’t believe that such a stunning human being could doubt his looks. Michael’s appearance was worth being painted by the best artists all over the world. How come nobody told him that?“

“I think you will be just perfect for that”, you didn’t admit it, but making Michael blush was your new favorite activity. “But it maybe a bit tiresome to sit still for such a long time”, you instructed him, “you’ll get used to it”.

It was quite a disaster, you had to admit to yourself after some time. Michael just couldn’t keep still. He was constantly shifting in his chair, playing with his fingers, and always felt the need to scratch his jaw or toy with the collar of his sweater. During your first session your were doing sketches of his face, and by the moment your time was up you were practically begging him to relax and stop frowning. He couldn’t let go of his pressure and shyness.

“I’m so sorry, Y/N”, he pleaded, as he was putting on his coat. You smiled at him, washing your hands and watching him get dressed from the kitchen.

“It’s okay”, you approached him and gave him the money for his work, “thank you for coming today, Michael. I’ll see you on Thursday”.

Despite his surprised squeak, you pulled him closer for a hug. You needed him to relax for the sake of posing for the painting. The sessions might haven taken longer than you had thought.

xxx

It took him a while to start opening up to you. By your fourth meeting his hands stopped shaking and he no longer seemed to feel uncomfortable. He didn’t feel embarrassed to ask you to make some tea for him, and you learned that he liked it with lemon and one piece of sugar. As he sipped on it, watching you preparer the canvas and oil paints (you were done with pencil sketches by that time), he told you about his studies at Hawthorne school (Michael was twenty, and apparently, hated his birthdays. You found this fact absolutely astonishing, and made a side note to change this horrible omission), his friends, and his family. Turned out that he had a very troubled childhood, so his behavior started to make sense to you. Sympathy towards him grew with every session, and at some point you caught yourself thinking about him all the time. The thought about your meetings coming to an end made you feel extremely frustrated. Even though you kept reminding yourself that the relationship between you two had to stay professional, and it was wrong of you to think about him in a romantic way, but every time his blond mop of soft hair popped in the door frame you couldn’t hold in a radiant smile. It was impossible not to hug him and accidentally brush your fingers against his flushed cheek. He looked so damn cute.

You grew found of this marvelous boy, who turned out be very sensual, with a bright and vivid mind that generated ideas at the supersonic speed. He loved asking you questions about history of art, he was genuinely interested in learning about your favoring painters and why you loved them so much. He never stopped amazing you with his mindset, and his child-like innocence bribed you.

Another Tuesday night was traditionally spent in your studio apartment with Michael at his usual spot in front of your easel. You were working on the cherub’s eyes. Crystal blue and bright just like Michael’s. Your brows were frowned as you were trying to concentrate on the movements of the brush. The smell of oil paint was filling the room. You glanced at Michael to pay very close attention to his long eyelashes framing his eyes. That’s when you noticed a very strange look on his face. You couldn’t understand what was that. Confusion? Doubt?

“Michael, what’s wrong, darling?”, you asked him adding another brush stroke to the canvas. He slowly shook his head, trying not to move too much. From hours of watching him attentively you had learned his body language quite well. Now you could tell that something was definitely up, judging by the fact how he was holding onto the chair. His knuckles turned white. However, you proceed to painting, considering that maybe he was thinking of his problems or whatever there was on his mind.

“Love, please, look up for me”, you asked him after a while, trying to paint the patches of light in the eyes of the cherub. Michal started biting on his lower lip, but obliged your order and lifted his gaze. Suddenly it all felt like you were back to session 1, when he refused to relax. You put the brush aside and whipped the excess of paint off your fingers.

“Michael, please, tell me what’s bothering you?”, his face turned bright red at your question.

“Nothing”, he mumbled in response.

You sighed and took a step towards him. Carefully you took his face in your hands, forcing him to look up at you. You were glad that he didn’t shy away from your touch like he used to at the very beginning.

“Love, I can’t paint you when you look concerned”, you gently stroked his cheek with your thumb, and he instinctively nuzzled against your palm. It was unprofessional of you, you thought to yourself, but whatever. “You know that you can tell me anything”.

His eyes flattered, long eyelashes were casting shadows on his cheekbones in the dim light of the room. He wrapped his fingers around your wrists and carefully put your hands away.

“You’re gonna laugh at me”, he said, looking down at his knees. You frowned. Why was that? All this time you were trying to show him that he could trust you and you were his friend, and his doubts almost felt offensive to you.

“Michael, darling, I would never”, you assured him, watching him closely.

A broken cry escaped from his chest, as he hid his face in his hands. You started really worrying about him, was something hurting him? Maybe he wasn’t feeling well? You petted his head lovingly.

“I can’t tell you”, he sobbed, and looked up at you. The expression of his face was unreadable. Eyes glistened with salty tears, as he was desperately trying to hold them in. “It’s so e-emb-b-barrassing. You...”, he sighed, “you’re going to think that I’m weird. I can’t ask you for this...”

By that moment you stopped understanding anything from what he was saying. You wrapped your arms around him and brought him closer to you, resting his head against your stomach.

“Shhhh, baby”, you coed, running the fingers of your one hand though his hair and petting up and down his spine with the other hand. “What do you want, Michael? Please, tell me”.

You felt him tightening his hug and nuzzling into your shirt like a cat. He sighed heavily before he answered:

“I was thinking”, his voice sounded so small and vulnerable, and you started wandering what sort of a dreadful sin Michael was going to confess that made him so insecure. “Maybe you could draw me?”

He lifted his puppy eyes at you, and you looked at him confused.

“Baby, isn’t it what I’m doing?”, you chucked softly. Silly boy.

Michael closed his eyes and nuzzled back into your stomach. You had to listen carefully in order to understand his muffled words:

“I was thinking maybe you could draw me naked?”

Your fingers froze in the air inches away from his curls. At first you thought that you must have misheard him, but as his shoulders started shaking in anticipation, you realized that you had heard him correctly. Your heart started pounding, you could hear the blood ring in your ears. The most terrible thing , in the context of your unprofessionalism, was the fact that his words sent impulses straight to you core making a thin cotton of your panties wet. You cleared your throat, looking for the right words. Michael was terrified. He decided that if you had stopped playing with his hair, you got mad at him, so he squeezed his eyes shut, fighting back the tears.

“Michael...”, you started slowly, but he interrupted you.

“Y/N, I’m sorry! I shouldn’t have...I’m sorry”, he was talking fast, afraid that you could kick him out for his foolishness.

Multiple thoughts were running through your mind at that particular moment. Could you really draw him naked and manage not to lose control? Of course, it would be a wonderful sketch for your portfolio, but you doubted if it would be okay for you psych. The silence was making Michael feel even more embarrassed, so he started standing up from his chair, but you placed your hands on his shoulders to keep him seated. God, he was so scurrying all the time, it was almost unbearable.

“Alright, Michael”, you finally replied, hoping that he didn’t sense how hesitant you were about this decision, otherwise it would devastate him. A wide smile spread across his cherry lips.

“Oh my God, thank you, Y/N” he whispered giving you that look through his lashes you could never say “no” to.

You nodded and made your way to one of the shelves to get a sketchbook.

“Well,” you turned back to him, “get ready, and I’ll go find the fabric to wrap you in”.

Michael was eager to oblige. You didn’t expect him to want it so bad, but as he quickly stood on his feet and rushed behind the folding screen, you thought otherwise.

Unable to believe what you had just agreed to, you started looking through the rolls of fabric, trying to decide what color would suit Michael. Probably silver. It would look good with his skin tone and the icy blue of his eyes. You grabbed the fabric and approached the changing screen behind which you could see the outline of Michael’s body. You hurried to hang the piece over the screen and shook your head, as if it would help you to get rid of the indecorous thoughts.

“I think silver will look good”, you said to Michael, “just wrap yourself in it when you are ready”, you swore your hands were shaking. What, you and Michael suddenly switched personalities? God, how were you gonna draw him when you were blushing like a teenage girl?

“Damn, Y/N, you’ve worked with so many models. Get your shit together and breath”, you scold yourself.

“Okay, I’m ready”, you turned around when you heard his low voice, and your jaw dropped. Adonis in flesh. You stood there blinking dumbly trying to comprehend the view of his broad shoulders, taut stomach, and his creamy thighs wrapped in silver silk. If the fabric had been navy blue you would have thought that your cherub painting came to life. No less. You opened your mouth and then closed it without saying a word. Michal blushed and awkwardly crossed his arms, waiting for the instructions.

You coughed and turned your gaze away from him.

“Alright, get comfortable on the sofa”, you figured that a chair wasn’t suitable anymore. The boy laid down on a green velvet sofa you had bought for an extremely expensive price at one of the auctions, and at that moment you were glad that you had, because Michael’s pale skin looked even more fragile, tinted by the emerald color of velvet upholstery. He bent his long legs, carefully put them on the soft material, and leaned back on the pillows with his hands behind his head. For a second you forgot how to breath.

But as soon as you started sketching you felt relaxed. You let the pencil wonder around the clean sheet of paper, drawing the outlines of Michael’s body. He couldn’t stop smiling and looked genuinely happy that you’d let him pose for you. The skin of his cheeks and neck was in delicate pink hue, and he was biting his lips again. You wish you could bite them, too. Fuck.

Your brows frowned when you noticed that the silver fabric slipped off a little and didn’t look as good as you wanted it to be, so you put your pencil aside and stood up to fix it. Michael thought there was something wrong with him.

“Did you do something wrong?”, he asked worriedly. You wondered why he always felt the need to blame himself for everything.

“No, I just need to adjust the fabric”, you explained, without meeting his gaze. You tried not to touch his skin, as your fingers cautiously folded the silky piece, draping it in wavy folds. But the skin of his stomach looked so soft, and couldn’t help yourself and brushed it with just the tips of your digits. The muscles in his tummy tensed immediately, and you heard his breath hitch, so you hurried to take you hand away. Then he did something that sent the remains of your self-control straight to hell. Michael wrapped his fingers around your wrist and put your hand back on his stomach. Feeling enchanted, you slowly moved it to his abdomen and stopped right above the happy trail of blond hairs that went under the fabric. When you glanced at Michael, he was watching you in awe, his lips parted and his eyes wide open. It felt like his skin was burning under your touch.

“You like this, don’t you?”, the tone of your own voice was so low, you didn’t even recognize it. Michael gulped and nodded. His lids fluttered, as you move your hand to his chest.

“Please”, he murmured, licking his scarlet lips. He looked so soft, so innocent, and you wondered how beautiful he would look all wrecked and fucked out. You felt the adrenaline rush through your veins and the familiar heat between your legs. The last thought that came across your mind was “Fuck it”, as you leaned forward and pressed your lips against Michael’s parted ones. He let out a surprised mewl, but eagerly kissed you back. You felt his hands sliding down your waist to pull you closer against his bare chest. The fabric couldn’t cover the outline of his arousal: you could see the contour of his erect cock in the crease of his thigh. The tip of your tongue ran across Michael’s swollen lips, and he gasped into the kiss.

“You’re so pretty”, you said, as you broke the kiss, pressing your forehead against his. The look in his big eyes was completely dazed. You smiled and cupped his face in your hands. “Babe, are you with me?”

Michael nodded and pulled you for another kiss. You yanked his head by his locks and moved your lips to his jawline. Numbing on the thin skin, you decided to test the waters and slowly snaked your hand down to his cock. He moaned brokenly when you stroked it through the fabric. There was already a wet spot of his precum. You moved the sheer material aside and took a look at the long shaft with flushed head glistening with the pearls of his arousal. He squeezed his eyes shut, when you wrapped your fingers around the base of his cock and slowly stroke it.

“Y/N”, he pledged. He sounded so needy, so desperate. You formed a fist and started making circular motions with it around the head of his cock. Michael opened his mouth, but couldn’t say a word, lost in the sensation. You couldn’t take your eyes off of him. He looked like a painting with his boyish features, soft curls, and ripe, sinful lips he kept licking. You started stroking him faster, thrilled to take him apart and find out what his angelic face looked like when he was cumming.

“Shhhh”, you soothed him, lacing the fingers of your free hand into the strands of his hair and gently scratching at the nape of his neck. “My pretty boy”, you kissed his forehead.

Michael whimpered and pressed his head against your breasts nuzzling into them through your linen shirt. Holding tight to you, he carefully cupped your right breast and squeezed it slightly, making you moan and throw your head back. He was pleased with your reaction, as it got him braver, and he started unbuttoning your shirt, exposing more of your skin. You kept pressing feather light kisses to his closed lids, his cheeks, the bridge of his nose and his lips. His face must have been carved by angels from the finest marble. He wrapped his lips around your nipple and delicately sucked on it, drawing broken moans from your throat.

His hips were rutting against the crumpled fabric, meeting the thrusts of your hand. You stopped only for a second just to lick your palm, and wrap it around him again to resume pumping your fist.

“Y/N...”, he whined hopelessly, “I’m close”.

You knew that he wouldn’t last long. He was so young, you were surprised he hadn’t cum right after you kissed him.

“C’mon, darling”, you encouraged him, teasing the slit of his tip, “cum for me, angel. My personal cherub...”

You adored the way his lips twitched, forming a perfect “o”, the tense muscles of his stomach that spasmed in a convulsing pleasure, as he came all over your palm in white ribbons. You wished you could paint him this way. The picture of him cumming undone was forever imprinted in your mind. You smiled fondly when he looked up at you, feeling the warmth coil in the pit of your stomach.

“Thank you”, he whispered, and you chuckled at his boldness. His hands traveled up to your unbuttoned shirt and slid it off your shoulders, reliving your exposed chest to him. He caressed the nipples and leaned forward to suck on them again, swirling his wicked tongue around the hardening buds. “I think I owe you an orgasm now”.

You looked at him in surprise. He didn’t have to. You just wanted to make him feel good, but Michael seemed pretty determined.

“Could you, please, sit on my face?”, he blushed at his own words, but managed not to turn his eyes away from you. Such a polite boy.

You hissed through gritted teeth, and before straddling his chest you involved him in another passionate kiss. He shifted on the pillows, sliding down the sofa to let you straddle his chest in a kneeling position. You scooted forward until your thighs were on either side of his head. The gold curls were disheveled. Lowering your body, as your pussy made contact with his face, you moaned loudly. Michael placed his hands on your thighs and calves for your leverage. As soon as his tongue licked a wide stripe across your wet folds, you cried out, thinking you were in heaven. The feeling of dominance was alluring to you, and in no time you started drawing figure eights with your hips, rubbing yourself against his tongue. You were probably suffocating himself a bit, but judging by Michael’s muffled moans he was enjoying it. He used his fingers to help himself and spread you open, wrapping his lips around your clit. The gently sucking was alternated with him lapping on your folds.

“Good boy”, you praised him, and his whimpers sent delicious sensation to your throbbing core. You reached for your hair clip and took it off, letting your hair down in loose waves. “Just like that, baby, just like that”.

You thought that you lost yourself when his started fucking you with his tongue, stretching your tight walls with each thrust of it. Your legs started shaking not only from your attempts to keep steady, but from the mind-blowing pleasure the boy between your legs was causing you. He was devouring you, as if you were his last meal. You looked down at him and moaned at the sight of him all soft and flushed beneath you. The fact you were sitting on the face of the boy, who looked like a real-life angel, made your insides quiver. A really warm fuzzy feeling spilled inside you, making you scream out Michael’s name, as your orgasm pierced through every cell of your body. It was so good, to the extent of being extricating. Everything seemed unreal. Michael had let go of your thighs, and you bent over to kiss his mouth covered in your wetness.

You were laying on top of Michael, skin on skin, legs entwined, as you two were kissing lazily on the sofa.

“What are you going to do with all the sketches of my face after you sell your painting?” he asked, stroking your bare thigh.

You folded your hands on his chest and rested your head on them.

“I was thinking of using them for my personal exhibition”.

Michael’s eyes lit up with curiosity.

“You never told me about the exhibition! Y/N, that’s awesome!”

You petted his cheek, smiling at his reaction. Thanks to him you started to remember what it felt like to be grateful for every little thing in you life. Somehow, despite all the difficulties, Michael managed to keep his inner child safe and happy.

“Am I invited?” he wondered shyly.

“Of course you are, love” you rolled your eyes at his silly question. “You are my muse, after all”

Tag list: @lovelykhaleesiii @langdons-rep @babypinkstyles94 @sammythankyou @kaigitana @ms-mead @sebastianshoe @langdonsdemon @iloveziggystardust @chaoticevillangdon

People who might like it: @lvngdvns @icylangdon @ritualmichael @langdonsoceaneyes @ccodyfern @sloppy-little-witch-bitch26 @sojournmichael @wroteclassicaly 

Amazing art by @theghostoflangdon

[thetaylorfiles]

Oh god, this is just so fucking fun! They’re losing their shit over this and I’m loving every minute of it! They’re picking apart all the tiny things they can because deep down they know that this video depicts a woman very obviously happy and in love and excited for her wedding, accompanied by her supportive family and loving husband.

Shall we begin?

Above, ‘the prologues’ argues that a tall, white, middle class, midwestern girl could never have doubted that she couldn’t have a fairy tale wedding.

Does she not know many girls...?

Since when are girls not allowed to doubt that they’ll not find the man of their dreams? Or ever get married? Or that they won’t be able to pay for an extravagant “fairytale” wedding? Or that maybe whomever they marry might want something more low key for their wedding day? Or that maybe a major fashion house won’t be designing a gown for them?

Nope. You can only ever doubt you’ll get your fairytale wedding if YOU ARE A LESBIAN WHO CANT LEGALLY MARRY didn’t you know!!!

‘prologues’ has decided that because it’s unusual to get married on a Thursday, it can’t be real. She doesn’t know Josh or Karlie or anyone who knows them, but it’s not typical so it can’t be real.

Then she decides because Karlies a model she wouldn’t know what her wedding dress would look like until she got the sketch. But clearly she doesn’t know what it’s like to have something couture made for you. That’s EXACTLY what happens. The model/person wearing the custom made gown describes what they’d like, to an extent, but then puts their trust in the head designer for the fashion house. Because if you just wanted a gown that you designed, you’d have it made. Instead she chose Dior.

Karlie wanted Dior to make her gown and gave them some parameters and waited to see what the designer would create for her. It’s far more special that way. It’s custom Dior. Not custom Karlie Kloss. Also, hence the mood board for reference.

Then ‘prologues’ goes on to be more flabbergasted about the wedding being on a Thursday. Something no mere mortal would ever do. Ever. Because that way, no one had enough time to get presents. Or to get off work.

People like David Geffen attended. Rich people. Who can go on a Monday if they wanted to, let alone a Thursday. Plus, every one of her sisters were there, his parents, and I’m sure all the other people they wanted so CLEARLY people can make it to a wedding on a Thursday.

Still, though. To her and Kaylors: Thursday wedding means fake.

I missed some stuff about how ‘prologues’ insisted there clearly wasn’t enough time to make this gown. But she’s forgetting the fact that the head of Dior was doing this for one of their best clients and friend. Ateliers can do almost anything basically. They can hand make a gown full of beading in two days if necessary. This is one of the oldest and most respected Fashion Houses/ateliers there is. They can handle it.

Now, she’s insisting Karlies mom was literally dragged through the fitting.

Was she? Was she though?

Or was that a giddy Karlie clasping her moms hand in excitement over her wedding dress for her special day? And if you’re still not sure which it was - actually dragging of a person who looks uncomfortable or giddy excitement between mother and daughter- just look to the other scenes with her sisters and father, who gather together in Josh and Karlies apartment to see her in her gown and get misty eyed over it. They all were clearly extremely happy for her.

‘Prologues’ says the dress does not reflect Karlie at all. Which, let’s not forget, she does not know Karlie or anyone who knows her. So, shut the fuck up. Oops. Sorry. That slipped out.

Perhaps, knowing of Josh’s asshole parents disdain for her profession as a “lingerie model” Karlie wanted something classic but modern (oh! Wait! She said that herself!) and more modest than risqué. Now, I know I’m using logic here to make small leaps, but bear with me. Beaudes, even if that gown isn’t your taste (it’s not mine necessarily, you can’t really argue that it’s a classy, beautiful dress)

Again, ‘prologues’ is on and on about this being a photoshoot for Dior. I’m sorry, but dont photoshoots usually end up in magazines? You know, for people to see said photoshoot?

Or hey! Maybe Dior has hit some hard times lately and is taking what they can get these days: advertisement on the YouTube Klossy channel a year later.

‘Prologues’ tells us what videos should show. Like Josh seeing Karlie walking down the aisle or real wedding tents and not production tents masquerading as wedding tents (has she ever been on set? Her knowledge of production tents would indicate: NO).

Again she says clearly it’s a shoot for Dior. That, again, never gets published ANYWHERE.

Then she tells us that Karlie knew how worried her best buddy fans would be on this day, the Kaylors. You can tell how much Karlie cares for the Kaylors by how she keeps deleting most mentions of them from her comments.

And that she did this to tell the Kaylors to relax. It’s a direct message to Kaylors, guys! I love when celebrities send cryptic messages to their conspiracy theory fans! So, they have nothing to worry about. Phew!

Well, until tomorrow when she posts about how much she loves her husband and makes fools out of all the Kaylors mocking the dress video saying “is she marrying the dress? Huh huh. Where’s the groom? Huh huh. We caught you. It’s fake. Huh huh.”

Tune in tomorrow to watch the Kaylors pick apart every tiny detail of her heartfelt tribute to her actual husband so they can continue to live in their fantasy world.

[cmudesignleague]

Andrea@Beyond

Hi! I’m Andrea, and I’m a design sophomore currently pursuing the products and environments tracks! This past summer, I spent ten weeks interning at Beyond Design; a product design and development firm in my hometown (and the best city on Earth), Chicago. Even though I didn’t feel too much pressure to find an internship the summer after my first year, I felt like the small team at Beyond would be a great way to dip my toes into the product design realm and see if it could better inform my track choices for sophomore year.

Before going into my main takeaways from my summer, here is a little bit about Beyond:

It’s a very small team (around six full time employees) consisting of two industrial designers, a UIUX designer, an engineer, and a marketing/account manager.

As a product development firm (as opposed to a strictly product design firm), there is really no limit to the types of products or projects that Beyond works on. It can be anything from household appliances to toys to apps.

It has a BEAUTIFUL studio and courtyard located in the Ravenswood neighborhood of Chicago.

The Beyond Design team has always prided itself on a learning culture for interns, so this summer, I was with four other interns (mostly in engineering or design-adjacent fields).

About the internship

Although I can’t go into too many specifics on the actual projects I worked on at Beyond, I can say that as an intern, I definitely got to do a little bit of everything. One day I could be making a presentation or pitch deck for a client, while the next I could be making concept sketches or low-fidelity prototypes. While it could be overwhelming to jump from project to project and not always be able to carry a project to completion, it also helped me become faster and sharper when it comes to idea generation, as well as allowing me to participate in many different stages of the design process.

In fact, I kind of progressed through the internship in a similar manner that a project progresses from start to finish. I started off doing a lot of the preliminary research that goes into the early phases of a project, including client pitch decks, moodboards, and market landscapes, but as the weeks went on, I moved more into the idea generation (sketching and modeling) phases of projects, with the final week being an entirely self-directed research presentation.

Highlights and takeaways

Overall, I’ve thought a lot about what my main takeaways were (both good and bad) from my internship and this is what I came up with:

Sometimes an inexperienced perspective is a very useful one: I think at the beginning of the internship I was somewhat scared to interject my ideas because I didn’t have the experience to back them. However, as I gained confidence and began to question certain things or push the bounds of the projects more and more, I realized that my less restricted or inhibited ideas (while sometimes unfeasible) could actually be helpful for the leads to break out of the “normal” way of doing things.

Absorb everything: I think it was important for me to have designers to look up to and learn from, but also to have experienced certain things I didn’t agree with (whether that be a design choice or something with regards to the management of the company) because in the end, all of those things ended up being good learning experiences, helping me create a reference point for myself for future jobs.

Have a good understanding of a company’s design identity: This might be something that was very specific to me, but while working I did find that there were many times when my design preferences or style did not align very well with those of the company and while I kind of adapted my style as best I could, I didn’t realize how difficult that type of compromise can be. So that might be something I still have to work on, or it could also mean that in future job searches, I should be sure to identify the kind of design philosophy that interests me the most.

Small teams have their pros and cons: After working at Beyond, I noticed a lot of things about working on a small team that I had never considered before. I would say that the one-on-one attention and the overall working environment, especially as an intern, is a lot better at a smaller company, but at the same time, there are less opinions being taken into account which could sometimes make compromising harder.

I think there’s a lot more I could say about my experience at Beyond Design, but this is already very long so I will leave it at that. All in all, I am very happy with my choice to intern this past summer and I have already begun to see a lot of the practical lessons I learned playing a role in my classes this year. If you have any questions about Beyond or anything else, feel free to reach out!

[sheeping-around]

Sheeping Around Retrospective: By The Numbers

tl;dr: Scroll all the way down for the numbers.

Sheeping Around has been live on the App Store for a little over ten days now. I think it is about time I look back at the development cycle, the good parts, the bad parts and also share some sales figures while I’m at it. I’m following the trend of transparency to help other indie game developers know and understand the market of premium games, for which I gained inspiration from Eric @ Slothwerks and Arnold @ Tiny Touch Tales. I’m also inspired by the way they work: solo devs working with talented people across the world on a contract basis, and I follow the same pattern.

While I’ve worked on games in the past, this is my first official release on the App Store, and I’m really glad to have been able to reach that goal. My previous games got stuck in infinite iteration loops and never got to see the light of the day. 

Inception

I have written in one of my previous posts how the idea of Sheeping Around was born. The idea began as a turn based (asymmetric) strategy game, and eventually turned into a card game that it is today. You can read more about it in the below two posts:

Sheeping Around Inception

Inspired by Card Thief and More

Inspirations of Sheeping Around and its inception as a physical card game

Development

I have around 8 years of experience as a Javascript developer. While I am familiar with other languages like Java and Objective-C/C++, my core expertise and speed of development is still in Javascript. Also, I had begun using TypeScript at work since mid 2017 and had loved it. Reminded me of the good ol’ Flash and Actionscript days.

When the physical version of Sheeping Around card game was proven to be fun enough, I began working on a web-based prototype version of it using Angular.js on the front-end and Node.js on the backend in the first week of November 2017. I deployed the system on Heroku on its free plan, and used Heroku Postgres as database of choice. (It was free upto 9000 rows, more than sufficient for a prototype.)

Initial prototype version of Sheeping Around

For the native mobile version of the game, I used cocos2d-x JS with TypeScript.

I pushed the code to GitHub as private repositories. I maintained separate repos for client and the server.

Multiplayer

Initially I had planned on Sheeping Around to be a solitaire card game, but it ended up being too similar to Card Thief. It wasn’t much fun anyway either. I decided to prototype a two player dueling game on paper, and it proved to be a lot of fun. I figured it would be much more challenging to handle a multiplayer game, but given my full-stack experience, I was confident I’d be able to do it anyway.

Architecture of Sheeping Around

Sketch, GraphicRiver and GUI

Around March 2018, I began working on the GUI of the game. I had recently switched my role to Product Design at my company Sumo Logic and had begun learning Sketch and loved it. I bought some assets off GraphicRiver and heavily modified a lot of them and put them together in Sketch.

All screen designs in Sketch

I wasn’t very happy with the initial designs, but towards the end of April things had started looking much better and professional.

Initial designs

Final designs

Google Indie Games Accelerator

The progress in the initial few months was somewhat slow. I spent time refining the balance of the game and tweaking the progression. Meanwhile I was also designing some UI for the native mobile version of the game.

By the end of June 2018, Google announced the first ever Indie Games Accelerator for games made in South East Asia. The submission deadline was July, so I started rapidly working on the mobile version for Android and iterating it really fast. By mid of July, I had the gameplay fully functional. By the end of it, I had the entire progression system and marketplace fully set up. 

Some charts from the progression and reward system of the game inspired mainly by Pokemon

While I was not selected for the accelerator program, it did help me accelerate the game development process anyway and I am thankful to the accelerator program for that.

Art and Animation

I discuss a lot about art style with Rashi, and we had finalized that the characters would be anthro. Check out some concept art and final artwork for some of the characters below:

I really loved the idea of in-card animations in Card Thief, and wanted to have something similar in my game as well. I was fortunate enough to run into Robinson Millaguin in the Indie Game Developers Facebook group. He began his work on animating some of the initial cards in Spine and my mind was blown already. Check out the video below:

You can see more of the animation GIFs on the official website for Sheeping Around.

Tragicomic Theme and Music

I had contracted someone for music, but it did not sound so fitting. It was very difficult to decide what kind of music would fit this game because it was such a unique premise. I started scouting out for tracks on AudioJungle. Farms are usually associated with country music, but I had ruled it out completely. Western style music with gut guitars and ukuleles are a close second choice associated with farm themes. Somehow that style didn’t fit either, and sounded rather cowboy-ish. 

I explored all kinds of genres of music and tried to see if they fit in the game. Finally, I found that the music in Comedy genre seemed to be the most fitting. I stumbled upon the profile of AudioAgent, who had an amazing portfolio of comedy tracks. His tracks are tragicomic themed, and coincidentally, he kept adding more tracks in the genre as the game progressed.

The game now features a total of 9 comedy audio tracks by AudioAgent. (The tracks change every 10 levels.)

You can check out the tracks in the below Youtube playlists:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1Ajh9Cn23k&list=PLnTakDx63B8L0pBpjPD10VB3NJEcXj2l4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXeq713R444&list=PLnTakDx63B8IS3hr4Sd-tnZXgu5vCIoi6

Sound

I had already made a list of suitable sounds from AudioJungle, but it was from a variety of artists and didn’t seem to fit together. I was not sure if I should hire a sound designer for the project. I figured it would be a good idea to ask around anyway.

I am active on Twitter in the gamedev community, and I found Elise Kates’ profile there. She had done some amazing work in the past for games like Moss, and I thought she’d be a good candidate to help me out with the sound. And it was a great decision afterall. The sound effects added the finishing touches to the polish in the game and really brought the characters to life!

Putting It All Together

I’m glad I’ve been able to put all of this together in a single package. The pun in the name, gameplay mechanics, art, animation, sound and music all come together really well. It would be perhaps be one of my proudest achievement since it is an important skillset to have.

Translation, Screenshots, Trailer and Preview Videos

In December, I took help from the Indie Game Localization community to get the game translated in 12 languages. It was an overwhelming amount of work, about 5000 words. I maintained separate Google Sheets for each language.

But what was harder was designing screenshots and preview videos and localizing them into all languages. But it did pay off eventually because it got the game featured in most of the regions that I had localized for.

Check out the preview video below:

Robinson helped in creating a landscape trailer for the game as well, since Android needs a landscape video regardless of whether the game is landscape or not. it was more of a theatrical trailer that served as an introduction to the premise of Sheeping Around and dab a little bit into its gameplay:

Freemium, Premium or Paymium?

The hardest decision for me to take was whether to go premium or freemium (or paymium), and if premium, what would be the price point of the game. Early on I had decided that the game would be premium on iOS and free-to-play on Android, given how easy piracy is on Android (more on piracy in the Piracy section below). I had thought of keeping the game’s price to $4.99, as I had read that Card Crawl had recently upped its price to $4.99 from $2.99 and it increased their month-on-month sales by more than 2x. Turns out, it won’t work very well during release when both developer and the game are new to the market and there are no ratings and reviews. This is also why my day 2 sales were more than day 1 sales, when I dropped the price to $2.99.

My game also has in-app purchases, and most people object to the idea of IAPs in a premium game. But if you look at the top paid charts in the card game category (or even any other category for that matter), you will find that more than 70% of the games have IAPs. This model is called paymium on mobile platforms, and has only recently entered the debate alongside freemium and premium. In the PC world, most games are paid, and the concept of DLCs is fairly normal and accepted, so I don’t understand what the issue with IAPs in premium mobile games is about.

Besides, the IAPs in Sheeping Around aren’t your typical in-your-face popups that appear at the end of every game to give you a reward or to increase your life. They are subtle, just two coin packs that you can buy if need be. You probably won’t need to though.

Pre-orders and the Coming Soon Feature

I set the game to be available for preorder on 31st December 2018. That would make my first new years’ resolution to be to release this game. I set Thursday, 17th Jan as the release date. That is because App Store refreshes every Thursday and it would get greater number of days in visibility if it gets featured then. (Most features last at least a week.)

That is also when I also submitted my game and my story to Apple via App Store’s promote link, hoping to get featured.

On January 5, the game got featured in the Coming Soon section, and it started getting a little spike in pre-orders. From 1-2 per day to around 25-30 per day. On January 20, the game got featured in a lot more territories, including US, UK, South Africa, Middle East, Australia and New Zealand. I netted about 250 pre-orders from this feature. But it turns out that in some places, since Apple lets you preorder without having a linked credit card, they would fail to be billed on release of the game. Because of this, only about 200 pre-orders went through successfully. App store still shows -1/-2 net preorders days after the game’s release.

New Games We Love & Top Charts

Upon release, the game was featured in “New Games We Love” in US, China and the Greater China Area (HK, Macau, Taiwan), South-East Asia, India, UK, Europe, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand. It also went on to become #3 card game in US (iPhone) during launch and stayed between #3-#5 during the first week. In China, which is the second biggest market for me, the highest it went was #9 in card games. (Competition is quite high in that category there, with most paid games priced at ¥1 ($0.15).)

I especially love the words UK editorial team used to describe the game in Games We Love.

Reception

The reviews so far have been positive, with occasional negative reviews talking about some bugs, most of which I have fixed in the week after release. Here are the current reviews and ratings stats for the game so far:

US: 4.6 / 5 (56 ratings, 32 reviews) China: 4.3 / 5 (41 ratings, 23 reviews) Thailand: 4.7 / 5 (15 ratings, 11 reviews) Germany: 4.0 / 5 (11 ratings, 6 reviews) Russia: 4.6 / 5 (8 ratings, 7 reviews) UK: 3.7 / 5 (6 ratings, 4 reviews)

Some encouraging reviews:

“I’ve only played this game for 20 minutes, and I love it already. The creativity, the idea, everything about this game is just beyond my expectations, and I can only assume how addicting this game will be.”

“It a really good game. You should make a physical card game for this game. I really like it and it’s definitely worth buying it.”

“Don’t really review apps, let alone end up playing one a day or two after I started. But this one... this one got me hooked! It’s fairly simple gameplay but sometimes it gets pretty exciting.”

“Pre-ordered it, I've played Card Monsters since release & Hearthstone for 4 years & this game is very solid & entertaining.”

“I think this game is another new twist to a card game, I can definitely see potential for this game. I can’t wait for the next update, hopefully with some new cards to use.”

“This game is family oriented and so easy to play. It has the simplicity of UNO yet with enough strategy to keep you engage but not overwhelmed. This is highly addictive and fun to play. The element of luck is always a factor but how to use the cards given is the key. The games are short but competitive. Those who love card/card battle games should download this without hesitation! Kudos! Look forward to updates to see what you guys come up with next!”

DAUs, Screen Time and Retention Rate

I use Tableau for my data visualization needs, and have custom graphs and dashboards created for all kinds of metrics. 27% of the players have played the game for at least one hour, which is quite encouraging. 4.5% of the players have been addicted and have played for more than 5 hours. I’ve been seeing an average DAU of around 750 and average total session time of over 450 hours. Not that it matters much for a premium game, but I’m tracking it anyway. In terms of retention, my day 7 retention is about 10%, which isn’t so bad. I will give it more time to see what my day 30 retention is.

Press Coverage and Critic Reviews

I had mailed a lot of media sites and YouTubers to review the game. A lot of them covered the game. Thanks to the localization effort, the game was featured in a lot of foreign language blogs. 

Specifically Pocket Gamer and Pocket Tactics wrote about the game. The review from Pocket Tactics was negative with a 2.0 / 5 rating, and from Pocket Gamer was somewhat above average at 3.5 / 5 rating. Pocket Tactics review, though negative, gave me a chuckle because of their words of choice.

You can check them out here:

Pocket Gamer: A surprisingly tense, exciting and fun card battler that doesn’t quite have the tactical depth for the long haul.

Pocket Tactics: Sheeping Around looks the part, but sadly the game turns out to be as dull as you would expect for a game based on an animal that stands around in a field all day chewing grass.

The criticism though has been pretty good in these reviews, and I will add more content and depth in the future updates to address the weaknesses they have mentioned.

Piracy

One thing I wanted to point out was that about 25% of the users of Sheeping Around are using a pirated version. I was under the impression that it would be very hard to pirate an iOS game, because it would need jailbreaking and it isn’t very easy to jailbreak your iOS device. Turns out I was very wrong. There are pirated App Stores like AppEven that you can install on your device, and you can install premium iOS games for free using those stores. You don’t need to jailbreak your phone and the whole process is dead simple. Turns out these folks are abusing Enterprise App certificates for ad-hoc app distribution, and Apple hasn’t been paying much attention to them. 

Within about two minutes, I was able to download a pirated version of my own game from AppEven. It even added its own ads that pop up once every few minutes that bring revenue to the owners of the pirated app store. It made me a little sad, but that’s the way it is. No matter how many attempts you make to prevent piracy in your app, the hackers will have a workaround to bypass it. They can remove the code in your app that prevents piracy, replace your ads with their own. It is their daily business.

Promotional Artwork

For games that Apple finds worthy of promotion using a banner feature or on the Today page, Apple requests developers for promotional artwork. I got this request last Monday and I submitted the artwork by Wednesday. The game hasn’t gotten a banner feature or Game of the Day yet, so I can only hope it will happen one day in the future.

By The Numbers

And finally, the moment you’d been waiting for. Sales. Sheeping Around was able to break even about 50% of its outsourcing costs (art, animation and sfx) in 10 days since launch. 

The top 2 territories where the game made some decent revenue are US and China, followed by Germany and UK.

What’s next?

I’m already working on some new cards that add more variety to the gameplay. These include:

Bonus cards

Peek - Look at the opponent’s hand. 

Undo - Undo the opponent’s last move. It can also potentially undo a stolen or whistled sheep.

Lucky Pendant - Draw half the number of cards in your hand (rounded off).

Shepherd cards

Fence N (N = 2, 3, 4) - Build a fence around all sheep preventing any of them from being stolen for N turns.

Electric Fence N (N = 2, 3) - Build an electric fence around all sheep preventing any of them from being lured or stolen for N turns.

Quarantine N (N = 1, 2, 3) - Cure all sheep of Infestation or Intoxication by N turns.

Vaccinate N (N = 3, 4) - Prevent Infestation or Intoxication on all sheep for the next N turns.

Thief cards

Infest N (N = 2, 3, 4) - Infest all sheep with pests to prevent them from being whistled for N turns.

Intoxicate N (N = 2, 3) - Intoxicate sheep to prevent them from being grazed or whistled for N turns.

Thrash N (N = 1, 2, 3) - Damage a Fence or an Electric Fence and reduce its value by N turns.

Termites (N = 3, 4) - Spread termites to prevent building a Fence or an Electric Fence for the next N turns.

Changes to existing cards

Rescue N (N = 1, 2, 3) - Reduce the effect of Trap, Infestation or Intoxication by N turns on one sheep.

Distract N (N = 1, 2, 3) - Reduce the effect of Guard, Fence or Electric Fence by N turns on one sheep.

You can already add an ally that unlocks at Lv. 20 to the game. Future updates may include upto 5 allies in total:

Shepherd’s side

Beaver - Jack Kim (Lv. 10)

Llama - Fuzzy Wumpkins (Lv. 20)

Sheepdog - Casper Cloud (Lv. 30)

Emu - Emily McCoy (Lv. 40)

Donkey - Muriel Miller (Lv. 50)

Thief’s side

Raven - Merlin Kook (Lv. 10)

Eagle - Cradoc McClaw (Lv. 20)

Coyote - Roxy Fang (Lv. 30)

Badger - Agent Chaos (Lv. 40)

Bear - Boris Rockpaw (Lv. 50)

Additional Features I’ll also be working on some features like: - Expressions and dialogs - Offline mode vs AI - Pass and play multiplayer - Quests

Conclusion

Sheeping Around was a fun project, and unlike my other shelved projects, it saw the light of the day, and it is a proud achievement for me in that regard. For the past 14 months, I’ve worked part-time at a consistent pace on this project (and full time for a few months). Especially as a solo developer being able to develop a PvP multiplayer game where people in US can battle people in China with servers located in London, I think it is a great feat.

Look forward to more updates in the future on this blog. Follow the blog on Tumblr or me on Twitter to keep yourself up to date on the progress of the game.

[lejeannedarysworld]

MASTERPIECE PT 2 [Taehyung x Reader AU]

[TAEHYUNG POV]

"What?" I stared at her in confusion. Did i hear that right?

              "Nude paintings.. you know, like the one in movies." she said, staring at the blank canvas in the middle of  the messy set up in front of her.

           "I don't know, i didn't have the chance to… i have no model so I-"

                "Well do you want me to?" She said, finally looking at me. I gulped as I felt tension running through my veins. I felt awake as ever, as if it wasn't late, as if i wasn't drunk.

         Well now for sure I am really not drunk.

     "Would you?" And that was her cue. She puts her arms down, propping herself up and faced me.                    "It's not your first time seeing my body , isn't it?  I also wanted to know how I'd look like in your paintings." She said. I was speechless, confused, excited, i don't know. I just nodded and stepped back before I went to my area and prepare myself.

        Did I save the country in my past life? Why am I being blessed by an angel right now?                   I sharpened a few more pencils when my peripheral view got caught with a vision of her taking off her shirt. I became so nervous for a reason, and it was obvious.

          "So should I lay down? Sit? Or what." She asks as she stands up to take off her shorts.                 "I…i'm gonna need additional lighting…" i said and went to my storage room. The lighting was only an excuse to get away, I needed to breathe.                     "You can do this. She's a subject. It's only art." I said to myself. I hurried to my kitchen and opened another bottle of beer. "Wake up, idiot." I bit my lip as my fingers tapped nervously against the counter.                   "Taehyung?" I heard her voice from the room. I panicked. I almost consumed the entire bottle when I remember i would be sketching her, not touching her.

                  I walked back, peeking first before I stepped in. And in my 25 years of living, I have never seen such beauty right before my eyes. Every curve was inviting, every edge was on point, flawed but still beautiful. She looked uneasy at first, as she shifts to a position she finds comfortable. Her insecurities showing up as she covers her chest when she saw me walked in.                 "Where's the light?" She asked. Damn. I forgot.

         "Uhh, I don't think i need it." I said. I sat on my stool, getting a good look at the subject in front of me. I think the alcohol's working because instead of getting me all hyped up and anxious, i became relaxed and focused. My attention is solely on the art in front of me. I started sketching the outline, casually looking at my model.                                  "You can talk you know." I said, meeting her eyes for a second before getting back to work.                                "What do you wanna talk about?" She asks.       

             "Why did you leave?"         

               I saw her heave a sigh before she looked away. I had to ask, i don't believe she felt nothing after that night. I was also scared that time, i didn't know what to say. I've never had a girlfriend before. I don't even have that much friends. I'm just a simple guy who goes out for a day to look for an inspiration and stays at home for weeks putting that inspiration to work. I only have one friend at the gym, and another one at the comic book cafe where I usually go when I want to take a break from painting. Other than that, my life is as boring as a blank canvas.                             "I left because I was unsure, and because I was scared of feeling something that would probably never work out." She said.                              "Why did you think it would never work out? Don't move your shoulders too much." I said as I started sketching her body outline. I am a perfectionist when it comes to my work so I didn't want to miss any single detail.                              "Well you're an accomplished artist, i didn't want to drag you to my messy world. It would take too much of your precious time. I'm a clingy girlfriend as well, i thought we'd never suit each other." She confessed.       

                "Well I like clingy. I've been living alone for so long, I need someone to hug me in the morning, kiss me every minute, and keep me up at night." I said, intentionally teasing her. I wanted to see her blush once again, she looked so amazingly gorgeous with her cheeks flushed.                                      "Kim Taehyung, are you flirting with me?"  She snapped.

                                "Isn't that why you're here? To flirt with me?" I said, and i think I just stepped on a land mine. She moved and got up immediately, anger evident on her face. I wanted a shade of pink, like flowers and butterflies but her face was fuming red, it wasn't the blush i was looking for. She was angry.                            "Why did you move? I can't get the perfect angle anymore." I sighed.                        "Maybe I came to the wrong place." She said and grabbed her underwear and shorts. I put my pencil down and walked up to her. I was trying to grab her arm but i didn't know what kind of sorcery just happened that I ended up touching her breast.                      "Who's flirting with who?" She glared at me, yanking my hand away as she reached for her bra and shirt.                                     "Wait, wait… okay, I'm sorry. I'm not so good with words really… but i didn't mean to offend you. In fact.. i wanted it… i wanted you… to flirt with me." I said to her. She had her shirt in her hands when she looked at me. I tried so hard to look normal but deep inside my raging hormones were already telling me to seize the moment.                          "You're hopeless." she shook her head.                   "Oh come on Y/N, I'm serious. I really can't stop thinking about you."                    "About that sex." She said back.                  "No." I was serious this time. I pulled her arms down, exposing her raw beauty one more time. Her breasts weren't that big, it was just the perfect size. Just perfect for my hand.                             "I know how it feels Tae, i get it. It's your first time, you feel great but when you find someone new, you'll totally realize the feeling's the same every single time. It's just sex. Nothing but sex."  She was almost yelling.                             "F*ck Y/N, if it's about sex then I should have just taken home any girl I deem admirable on the street. But it's not just about sex. It's how perfect everything was when I was with you. I felt different, i feel complete. I've been contented with my life painting stuffs, getting paid and buying them with all the things that I want but when you came… it all became meaningless. I kept asking for more, i kept searching for more, i had so many questions that kept me up for so many nights until my client woke me up and brought me back to reality. I had to draw something but I couldn't keep my mind working because everytime i do, it always brings me back to you!" There. Finally, I said it.                                    She neither talked nor moved after, she just stared at me, waiting for some kind of a go signal to breathe. I sighed and opened my arms up to her. I embraced her, her face straightly pressed against my chest.                                 "Can't you even hear my heart pounding? Can't you feel how nervous I am right now when I'm with you? Why are you so clueless?" I asked. She still kept her silence.      

                       "I'm glad you came back. I don't really believe in miracles, but now i think i do. Don't you think destiny has something to do with us meeting again like this?" why is she not talking? Is she still angry?                               "Taehyung… what if I'm not the girl you think i am?" She says.                                "Isn't that the goal of romance? Getting to know each other? I don't alter my paintings and adjust them to the world's preference just to make them look more beautiful. Let them judge. It's mine anyway… therefore it's beautiful, and perfect in my eyes. And you're just the same, who cares about how the world looks at you? I may not know you that much yet… but, i really like the Irene in front of me now… with or without the sex." I said and somehow I'm glad it made her smile. I don't really know how she ended up coming here to my house but i don't care, I'm so happy i could cry.       

                     "You said you're not really good with words. What was that just now?" She said, finally putting the shirt down.                                 "Well… you're so irresistible, i couldn't help it." i teased, my hands going down to her hips.                                "Stop it before it gets cringy, let's get back to work." She says and was about to pull away but I didn't allow her to.      

                           "You can't pull off the same angle again Y/N." I sighed. It was a waste, i really liked her position.            

            "Oh. What do you suggest? What about your drawing?" She asked.         

                       "Don't worry. I think i can finish it without a model…" i said, as i trailed my fingers on her cheeks.            

                "What? How?" Her eyes rounded as she looked back at my unfinished work. I cupped her chin and let her face me again.    

              "You have to let me memorize every single detail, first hand." I said, trying to getting closer but she wasn't feeling it yet.  

   "What? Tae... what about the painting? You could sell it a fair price. It could be a masterpiece. It could be a-" She said, taking a step back.     

         "You are my masterpiece." I said before flopping on the bed, pulling her down with me.

A/N:

Haha. Let me stop there. 😂 I'll leave it up to your imagination. 💜💜💜 Thank you everyone.

[latinegro]

Sketchy

I am a brilliant asshole and not in a good way. I’m always putting myself in a situation that sounds great at first, but as it happens, it’s not so great at all. 

I put the pencil on the paper and I begin to outline the basic layout of my model. Myra is laying on the couch in front of me. It’s old couch too, she’s probably the best thing that has happened on that couch in years.

She posed herself in a particular way so that the contours of her curves can be accentuated. I nervously erase the first mistake I make. It’s been a very long time since I’ve drawn a nude model. I’m acting like I’ve never sketched a naked woman before, it’s really not that hard. But, this is absolutely the first time I’ve drawn a woman that I’m acquainted with. It doesn’t help that I find her to be one of the sexiest women I know.

I can feel my heart racing because I know what I’m doing is wrong. I know that I shouldn’t be doing this but an opportunity presented itself and I had to take it. It does sound selfish but in a way, it really isn’t. First of all, the artist in me will not allow me to call this whole thing off. Secondly, I try to tell myself that she’s not a hot woman that I have been attracted to for a while but rather a future portrait for a client. I take a few deep breaths so I can maintain my concentration. Nervousness will only lead to a shaky hand and that’s not good for any sketch.

But, of course, I had to open my big mouth. I’m a writer at heart and by trade. I can describe what she looks like the best way I can use words and adjectives not with this damn pencil that I’m pretending was my hand going down those beautiful thick brown legs of hers. The thing is, I used to draw fairly regularly. I was one of those kids that would be so annoyingly good at drawing anything that I felt I didn’t need those pretentious art classes. I could freehand any comic book cover I see. I could draw anything or anyone if they were standing in front of me. My only weakness was I could never draw anything as I good as I wanted to from memory. My measurements were always wrong, at least that was what I was told.

At the end of the day it wasn’t big deal to me because no matter how good I was at drawing, my heart wasn’t in it. I didn’t love it like other people love it and that’s probably why I didn’t take it as seriously. I felt much more at ease using words to describe anything. I can perfectly describe how beautiful Myra is. She’s like a brown-skinned Athena from Themyscira that Wonder Woman would never talk about. Myra is the reason some would believe that God exists. When scientists talk about how we’re all made from stardust, they had Myra in mind.

I need to focus.

I have the basic shell of her body that fits perfectly on my old couch that should seat three people comfortably. Her black curly hair may be a problem for me. Myra chooses to wear it natural which makes her even more attractive but if I don’t shade it correctly this whole drawing would look like a caricature. But, alas, her big brown eyes look past me. She stares off into space truly hoping that I’m capturing this moment and indeed I am catching this very moment of her looking past me. I will consider that to be my fault. I may be good with writing words but actually speaking them to women is another thing entirely.

I met Myra first but I lacked the basic courage to kick it to her. We ended up being a little less than friends but more than just passing acquaintances. Of course, when Jules met her it was all downhill from there. I was always happy for them but mad at myself. Jules is a decent guy and when they first got together, all they did was fuck. Yes, I know that is normal because if it were me, I would hope that she would break me every damn day.

Another mistake. I may need a better eraser.

I get up and she asks, “Everything OK?”

“Sure, I just have to get another eraser,” I answer. She shrugs her bare shoulders as I walk to the desk and open the drawer. Jules is the real artist in all this. He’s one half of the team behind the independent Black comic book, The Insiders. We met at the NY Comic Con years ago and Jules and I became fast friends. Through the years we created our own comic book universe that has a plethora of characters. The excitement for this project is palpable because we’re building something important. In our universe, there are no meaningless black characters created for the sole purpose of being sidekicks. Together we’ve molded superheroes that matter; superheroes that look like us. There is a true meaning behind every page and we’re ready to take the industry by storm.

Jules has tons of different art supplies in this desk that it’s hard to keep track of all of it. But, at least I know where the erasers are. He stores most of his art supplies in my apartment since it has become our default workspace. It’s just easier this way since both of our day jobs make it hard to be the creators we are. We need a place to work and bounce our ideas off of each other. I pick one a small eraser and close the drawer. Before I walk away from the desk, my eyes focus on one of the sketches he was working on from issue #3. One thing about working with friends is, at times, it’s hard to come to a real agreement on the philosophy of a particular story. I really don’t think that the splash on page 11 is necessary but clearly, he’s working on it anyway.

I walk back to my chair and I smile at Myra before I sit down. I grab my pad and I keep going. My eyes scan slowly scan her from left to right. She’s laying on her right side with her right arm holding up her head and her left arm resting on her hip. Her breasts are a perfect size. They don’t sag at all and her tummy is a result of a lot of gym work. No visible stretch marks and no tattoos. This makes this sketch easier than what I originally anticipated.

I draw carefully. My pencil tries to mimic everything that my eyes absorb. I cannot believe that Julius’ wife is laying on this couch modeling for me. She wants this to be a present for him on their upcoming anniversary. Has it been two years already? It must be. That’s was around the time we decided to build this whole comic book company together. He’s the artist and I’m the writer. Now, look at me, doing a sketch that I may be getting more pleasure from than she is. Granted, this probably a bad idea, but how can I deny her this. I tried to convince her that perhaps it would be a better idea to dress up as a sexy gender bender of Grand Admiral Thrawn and I would make sure to get the colors right. She denied that, but I can, at least, convince myself that I tried to get her to wear the most clothes as possible.

I scan her navel trying to make sure that I can get the correct dimensions and diameter of the belly button ring. It looks like a small little pendant that sparkles from the light coming from the ceiling fan above. I scan further past her navel toward her vagina. Her legs are slightly crossed with her left leg slightly bent downward covering her right. It casts a shadow from the light.

My pencil breaks. Shit, was I pressing down that hard? She chuckles, “Having trouble?”

“Not at all,” I reply as I grab the extra pencil next to me. I want to try to be as emotionless as possible. Mentally I’m shaking my head. How did you get into this Zander? I will tell you how; I was cocky. I thought that I could talk enough shit in hopes to just flirt a little and now... my partner’s wife is my living room, nude.

Did I mention I was a brilliant asshole and not in a good way?

I remember staying over their townhouse in Brooklyn one night and while I have wondered what is that she does that allows her to own such a place, that was the night I got a glance of how skillful she was.

It was a late night of partying and they offered me a room to crash. I was so drunk that night that I just passed out as soon as I hit the bed. It must of been an hour or two later when I really had to use the bathroom. I got up and there was a long hallway that I had to navigate despite my lightheadedness. As I begin to walk down the general direction of what I thought was the bathroom, I hear noises. I slowly passed the room where it coming from and that is when I catch a glimpse of her reverse cowgirl riding Jules in a way that made me realize that twerking needs to a sport. I tried not to voyeur too long and thank God I had to piss, but all I remember was my heart beating so much that I felt it in my dick.

I need to continue on her legs and feet. I really do hate drawing feet. I can never get the right angle. I need to take my time and make sure the curvatures are correct. Shadowing will also be a problem. The lighting is pretty decent in here but I will need to at least need to define her curves with some type of shadow.

I can’t even imagine actually inking this. The good thing is that I can scan this into the computer and work on all the coloring there. I assume she wants it colored. Actually, I never asked. “Did you want this sketch in color?” I do my best to look at her eyes when I converse with her.

“Hm, You know, I think that would be a nice touch. Sure, if you can do it. But I will take one in black and white, just in case,” Myra chuckles a bit. I think she knows that coloring may be a tad difficult for me. Not only do I have to make sure that I color inside the lines, but how do I get her exact skin tone?

Then it hits me. I put the pencil down and I look at her. “So, I have an idea and it’s totally ok if you’re not willing to do it.”

“What would that be?”

I’m nervous to even suggest it. “You know what? Never mind. It’s a dumb idea. I don’t even know why I would even think of such a thing.”

“Just tell me.”

I take a deep breath, “Ok so, I want to get the shade of color just right and once I scan this in into the laptop I will need to..”

Myra laughs, “Zander, just spit it out.”

“I need to take a picture of you so that I can match your skin tone with the RGB color code.” I look down at my unfinished sketch as soon as I said it.

“You sly little devil!” Myra sits up and looks at me with a surprised look on her face as if she caught me red handed.

“What do you mean?” I ask

“Why the fuck you lyin?” She asks in a sing-songy manner. “You just want a nude picture of me!” I honestly can’t tell if she’s being serious or not, but she’s absolutely telling the truth. See how much of a brilliant bastard I am? This is how I get myself into trouble and once again I feel my heart coming through my dick.

“I mean, I would delete it as soon as I got the color correct.” Which is a lie.

“I don’t know about that. In all honesty, you can just take pictures of me with my clothes on and then screen-grab the color.” She was totally right about that. I hadn’t thought about it. Then she continues, “The reason why I am asking you to do this sketch is because I do trust you. That is why I never said anything to Jules when I saw you peeping into our room that night.”

“What are you talking about?” I ask nervously. I was never sure if she actually saw me and I assumed that since no one said anything that perhaps we were all just drunk. Of course, I cannot forget that after I went to the bathroom I returned to continue my voyeurism. Shit.  

Myra gives me a smirk, “Please, do not insult my intelligence. I know you’ve seen me naked before and I am quite comfortable with my body. So I will save you more embarrassment by saying that I do want this drawing to come out correctly. So I will allow you to take a picture but I want you to delete the picture in front of me.”

I pull out my iPhone from my pocket and ask her to return to her original pose. Myra is right about this but I don’t care right now. Even if I delete all the photos from my device and the cloud, I will still have her body burned into my brain. If not, there is always the original copy of this sketch… for portfolio purposes of course. I take a few pictures with and without the flash.

Myra smiles and asks, “How many photos do you plan on taking?” I want to explain lighting and such but then she cuts me off, “I hope you have enough space on the cloud for all of these.”

I freeze, “Um…”

“I am not stupid, Zander. I fully expect you to find a way to try to keep pictures of me. Just know that…”

Bang. Bang.

We both look up. There’s a knock on the door. I look at Myra as she gets up quickly and covers herself with a robe I gave her.

“Who is it?” I ask cautiously.

“It’s Jules. Dude, let me in. We need to talk…about everything.”

Shit. I put my face in my palm. This could be four years and three issues down the drain.

[dyinglikeicarus]

Hi 13! I have a few questions about (general)concept art. Firstly, how long does it take for you to complete an entire Character reference sheet? Another is how do you make your concept art pieces (character or environmental) from start to finish? My school just gave us a project where we learn about something we choose I wanted to do mine on generalized concept art but aside from knowing the book that I want to do concept art of I have no idea where to start or what to do. Thanks for reading!

//Hi there! So glad you’ve choosen concept art! It’s really a very interesting subject tho it takes a lot of time too u.u

This is a little long so I’m putting it under a Read More:

About your questions: it depends on the person. I had to learn to draw quickly (and it’s a very useful skill in concept art tbh). For my latest model sheets I’m taking around 10 hours each one, but I’m only working on the faces. If you add a expression sheet and poses, it will take longer. When I was working on my portfolio I had to finish at least one page per day because I had a short deadline x.x So it really depends on your skills and the time you have, of course.

Regarding the concept art process, don’t worry. It may seem a little overwhelming when you start because you have a lot of things to do but after organizing the pages, it gets easier ^^ The best thing you can do is finding something that motivates you, the rest is working. As for the first steps for that, I would say you have to start with documentation. Know the subject: read the book, find references for backgrounds/clothes/aesthetics… Make a folder with things that inspires you and another with all the references for the world and era. Watching related films can help you too. Some people look for what other artists has done about the story before (I personally don’t like doing it. But it may help you). I even did character’s cards where I took note of their personalities/events I considered important for their development/gestures and ticks I could use when drawing them… Etc. Think of them as something you can quickly check when you are drawing.I’m sure there is a lot of tips for backgrounds and props but my area of expertise is characters so I can only give you solid advice on that one xD

Second: A planner! Make some thumbnails to know what you are including in the pages. I.E: this was the planner I made when I started working on Les Misérables:

for concept art (as visual development) it would be perfect if you could include: characters (line up (as fundamental, if you have time you can include expressions, poses, turn arounds…), backgrounds+color key concept and props. If you have time you can include vehicles, animals or illustrations. If you are making the visual development of a game you can also do “In game” illustration/ logo / menu…

Third: WERK. And patience. You don’t have to make the final version of the character/background/prop. As a concept artist you usually make different versions before your art director/client is happy with it. Play a little, you can always include that sketches as early concepts!

[charlieharry1]

Web Design – A Quick Guide for Beginners

So you're pondering getting more into the entire website composition schtick? All things considered, it's very worth  Digital Marketing Agencies Sheffield reconsidering a portion of the nuts and bolts before you choose to make a plunge. Have no dread, in any case, in light of the fact that in this blog entry I will translate all the fundamental necessities you have to remember when planning your site.

Arrangement, Margins and Rules

So how about we bounce straight in. In the event that you've at any point done any website architecture work whatsoever, at that point you'll know wireframes are an absolute necessity. They help you portray where the substance goes and how the general site structure will look. Well that is all okay, yet is there anything to consider if it's simply wireframes? That is to say, there's not actually much as far as configuration is there?

Be that as it may, while making a site, having a solid arrangement is essential. Why? Indeed, that is on the grounds that it makes content simpler for individuals to peruse and makes more harmony among substance and blank area.

So how would I do that? Indeed, I'm happy you inquired. It's in every case great to set some type of rules set up to guarantee all your substance is kept spotless, organized, and attractive. In the mockup beneath, you can see the network lines used to help recognize the edge of the site.

wireframes

Presently, it is not necessarily the case that everything ought to consistently be kept in the edges. This is even more a format to help make your structure look neater. Things, for example, foundation shapes, pictures, and pennants can be somewhat overlooked as these components are a greater amount of an emphasize to the plan, not an auxiliary component. There are different aides you can download for both Sketch and Photoshop which I assurance will support any learner. Here are a couple of rule bundles:

Void area

I'm beginning this area by expressing the self-evident. Void area doesn't really mean a space which is white.

Blank area is something that can be genuinely emotional. Some may state you can never have enough blank area, while others state it makes your site look plain. All things considered, I for one trust you can never have excessively. Long story short, blank area is a decent method of inciting more thoughtfulness regarding your picked component and making more significance to it. Investigate this model from Squarespace.

white spaceThis screen capture gives a solid, away from of how whitespace can be utilized to cause to notice the picked segment and propose more significance to it. Here are a couple of other genuine instances of blank area utilization.

Substance, and How To Keep Things Simple

Since we've secured the blank area, it's presumably worth referencing duplicate. Duplicate is essentially another term for the substance composed on the page. Furthermore, in spite of the fact that it might appear as though that has nothing to do with the architect, it really does.

Having an excess of duplicate in one region can make the page look jumbled and indistinguishable. On the off chance that you need your area to stick out, it's important that a little passage of text can fill precisely the same need as a large portion of a book of text.

Investigate the screen capture from Squarespace once more. Notice how there are just three lines of passage text spent? That is on the grounds that they need to incite a message through a fast, straightforward section so the client essentially doesn't get exhausted. So long story short, keep your substance little.

Stages – Expectations versus Reality

Right, how about we proceed onward to a portion of the limitations you may confront. Presently, in case you're a planner as of now and you've had the advantage of utilizing WordPress, or some other CMS so far as that is concerned, at that point you most likely know there are a reasonable not many limitations. Notwithstanding, for those uncultured in the CMS world, it's important that not all that you need to remember for your plan is really conceivable.

WordPress, for instance, is an incredible stage to use for building any site. It offers a crazy number of various highlights, subjects, modules, and substantially more. Be that as it may, it's not generally as exact as you might want it to be. Things like foundation components and site structure can shift contingent upon the subject you're utilizing, so I enthusiastically suggest taking a gander at what framework you will use before you jump into the plan work.

I've really composed a blog entry about utilizing WordPress for amateurs on the off chance that you need to look at it.

The good to this story is to consistently check what subject you will use before you plunge into the structure segment. The quantity of issues you could confront when attempting to execute unthinkable highlights on a site is going to cause you much more work, significantly more pressure, and significantly additional time. So be accommodating.

As a matter of fact, while we're on the point, here are two or three sweet subjects for WordPress that are entirely acceptable with regards to customisation. In any case, as usual, on the off chance that you need quality, it includes some major disadvantages.

Photoshop and Sketch – Which Design Software to Use?

Sketch

How about we start with the newcomer. Sketch is generally new in the structure business. As indicated by Sketch's site, the main update of Sketch was discharged fourteenth April 2014, yet different sources state it was discharged seventh September 2010. Be that as it may, don't be tricked by its age, it's still genuinely pressing some punch.

Sketch is ideal for introducing structures. With the capacity to see in HTML position, you can see a live see of the webpage in a program window, permitting you to see to a greater extent a continuous look of the site.

Furthermore, Sketch can likewise be considered as a speedier stage for structure as it permits you to make custom formats for your site. So as opposed to replicating your "Header-1" record from report to archive as you do in Photoshop, you can essentially add a custom layout to drop into any artboard you please.

So what else does Sketch bring to the table? All things considered, in case you're a first-time fashioner, view yourself as favored. The (UI) is very easy to utilize. I can hand on heart state it took me around two days to feel sure with it. Just as this, you can likewise discover moving from Photoshop to Sketch incredibly simple as both UIs have a ton of similitudes, which is a saucy little reward.

Notwithstanding, this product has one colossal disadvantage that all you Apple haters won't be excessively satisfied about, and at this point I can envision you definitely recognize what it is. That's right, it's for Mac OS as it were. No Windows, no Linux, just Mac OS.

As per Sketch themselves, they expressed they aren't anticipating supporting some other working framework separated from Mac OS due to the "advances and structures restrictive to OS X". Along these lines, just clients with an Apple figuring item can download the application, which is presumably the greatest downside for any product ever. Yet, hello, such is reality.

Photoshop

Presently, how about we view the granddad of plan. Since the get-go itself (1990), one programming has consistently been available (not so much). Photoshop. This product has been utilized for as long as 28 years in the plan business. Also, it's quite evident why. Truly anything should be possible in Photoshop. Website architecture, application plan, banner structure, marking, photograph altering, everything.

So let me know, why use something else to Photoshop? All things considered, that is altogether down to you. On the off chance that you like Photoshop and you're glad utilizing it, at that point carry on as you seem to be. Photoshop is an awesome stage for configuration, offering components including different changing strategies and 3D creation instruments that you most likely didn't have any acquaintance with it had.

As far as highlights, Photoshop commands the market by storm. Since this product is an inside and out plan stage, you can make essentially anything in it. This makes it ideal for website architecture as it offers all that you requirement for a strong plan, to say the very least. You can make the ideal structure of your site, sprinkle it with typography, include some photograph altering, and slap a spoonful of illustrations you drew up on there and blast, new web composition.

Presently, there's nothing saying you can't do precisely the same thing with Sketch, yet toward the day's end, the stage is absolutely down to client inclination. I'll by and by be adhering to PhotoShop (on the grounds that I have windows yeehaw), yet we additionally use Sketch at Bowler Hat, so there's no genuine set in stone with this one.

Marking Guidelines

OK, so now the entirety of that is off the beaten path, we should concentrate on marking rules. Any business will have some type of marking or brand rules. You may have been sent from God him/herself, and have just a couple of marking hues. Bangin'.

Then again, you may have numerous brand hues and concluding how you will consolidate each of the 612 distinct varieties of pink and red into your structure will be a test (simply remember that these ought to be highlight hues).

Fundamentally, don't go slapping a splendid pink foundation on your site with lime green accents completely through. Keep things straightforward. Have a white foundation and set one as a feature shading and the different as an emphasize. We utilize different hues quite well at Bowler Hat to help recognize each assistance, so in the event that you need motivation, simply fly over to our landing page.

Read Also:-  “Domain name scam”, what is it, and how it works?

End

Right, how about we have a speedy recap: arrangement is vital, blank area is vital, keep your duplicate basic, recollect what CMS you're utilizing (in the event that you are utilizing one), choose what stage you're planning on, follow brand rules, and, for the good of god, don't utilize Comic Sans (I'm imploring you). One thing to consistently remember, in any case, is that your structure is never going to be ideal the first run through around and changing the entire plan after some time is totally typical for any planner.

Ideally, this blog gave you some understanding into the entire website composition thing, however for more assistance, download our site arranging guide for a more intensive glance at  Digital Marketing Company in Sheffield all that you have to consider when arranging a site, or connect today to get familiar with our web architecture administrations and let us do the hard structure work for you.

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[coppolafrancis]

In Jewelry, the Personal Connection

Julie Pellerin lives with her boyfriend at his stud farm in Normandy, has an apartment in Paris and adores New York.

So when a friend of her family gave her a bracelet in the shape of the Manhattan skyline, she was thrilled. “So many people have all the same jewelry,” Ms. Pellerin, 24, said, “but this you don’t see on everybody.”

The friend was the jeweler, sculptor and artist Mia Fonssagrives-Solow, and Ms. Pellerin has turned to her since to create more highly personal, one-of-a-kind pieces, including two wide cuffs. One was in black stingray; the other, silver leather, and both have silhouettes of horses crafted in sterling silver prancing around their circumferences to reflect Ms. Pellerin’s love of horses. (She rides competitively and often travels to watch equestrian events.)

“When I wear them, so many people ask about them,” Ms. Pellerin said, twisting her arms to show off the cuff on each one. “When you have special jewelry, people are attracted to it.” 

It’s little wonder bespoke jewelry is becoming more popular. “Custom and customized jewelry is very hot right now,” Karen Giberson, president of the Accessories Council in New York, said, “and we see it continuing. It appeals to the desire for something unique, individualized and thoughtful.” And “there are great options” at a variety of prices, she added, “from mainstream to luxury.”

While the consensus among jewelry makers and retailers is that the sector is growing, there are no estimates of total sales or the proportion of jewelry sales it represents.

Yet custom jewelry is in such demand that Bergdorf Goodman is rolling out a series of trunk shows featuring custom jewelry makers, following on the success of its Custom Jewelry Event, which for two years brought together more than a dozen jewelers who create one-of-a-kind pieces. Increasingly “our clients are looking for something truly unique that expresses their individual style,” Elizabeth von der Goltz, the store’s senior vice president overseeing jewelry, said. “They are looking for something meaningful to them, something they can relate to. They want a personal connection to the jewelry.”

The term custom can be confusing. Jewelry that is engraved or has a charm or bead added to it is generally known in the industry and in retail circles as personalized jewelry; such customization is readily available at department and jewelry stores. But jewelry that is made for one person is custom, or bespoke.

Most people are familiar with custom clothing — like a tailored men’s suit or couture dress — and as technology has accelerated fitting and assembly techniques, fashion brands’ “made-to-measure” lines (a kind of demi-couture) has grown. But while jewelry made for individuals has deep roots in the history of people around the world, it is only recently that public taste has gone beyond manufactured pieces to again embrace distinctive designs. “We’ve seen it in fashion, and now it’s nice to see it in jewelry,” Ms. von der Goltz said.

Ms. Fonssagrives-Solow, the New York-based creator of Ms. Pellerin’s horse cuffs, said she has created hundreds of pieces of custom jewelry as a result of word of mouth. “I loved the Booth dogs in ‘The New Yorker’ cartoons and made myself a pin of one,” she said. “People would say, ‘I love your dog, but can you make one of my poodle?’ ”

For one family extremely fond of its Jack Russell terrier, she made cuff links of the pet for the husband, a pin for the wife and earrings for the daughter, all in silver with sapphire eyes. “For private customers, I’ll do anything,” said the jeweler, whose custom prices start at $200 and can be emailed at mia@miafonssagrivessolow.com. She said she even made a silver meerkat belt buckle for a woman whose son was researching the animals in the Kalahari Desert, adding, “I get wonderful, funny requests.”

Other commissions are sentimental, such as one that the Russian-born jeweler Alex Soldier got from a New Yorker. “It was a husband who wanted something special for his wife for their 10th anniversary,” said the New York-based jeweler, who has done work for the Bolshoi Ballet and the Princess Grace Awards in Monaco. “They had met at the New York Botanical Gardens and he wanted to commemorate that.”

Mr. Soldier created a diamond and ruby anemone — her birthstone was a ruby, for July — that could be worn as a pin, pendant, ring or bracelet.

“With everyone on the computer today, there’s a backlash against mass production,” Mr. Soldier said, whose custom pieces with precious jewels begin at $10,000. “People want something unique, something special.”

Lily Gabriella Elia, a Brazilian designer working in London, has also received romantic commissions. She made a ring with two grade A natural Tahitian pearls (“It took me four weeks to source them,” she said) that she placed as if they were “kissing” to commemorate the 30th anniversary of a couple who spent their honeymoon sailing the South Seas.

Ms. Elia said that creating such a piece can take weeks, if not months. “I discuss with the client about each of the specific requirements of their bespoke jewelry design, to ensure I create exactly what they have in mind,” she said. “This includes the precious metals and type of stone, whether it is a diamond or a stunning gemstone, I can truly customize every single portion.

“Clients sometimes have an idea of what they want the item to look like,” she continued. “If not, I will provide them with ideas. I create hand-drawn sketches. This is done with the client together, or I scan and email the drawings at a later time. Once the client is 100 percent happy with the design, one of my craftsmen creates a wax or silver model. The client can now see exactly the shape, size and thickness of their piece.”

One the model has been approved, the metal base is made and sent to the London Assay Office to be stamped with her maker’s mark, the metal quality mark and the leopard’s head that indicates it was examined in London.

“Once returned,” she said, “the stone or stones are set and the finished article is polished and placed in a personalized jewelry box, ready for the client.” Little wonder prices for such efforts start at about 10,000 pounds ($12,200).

By all means, get the 1 3 carat diamond earrings you can afford, but make sure they has also the clearest, best cut, and most colorless diamonds you can afford.

[ignitingwriting]

Igniting Writing ‘Explore’ Contest 2019, Submission by Cameron from Igniting Writing

We have just received another ‘Explore’ themed teen creative writing contest entry, submitted by Cameron from Igniting Writing! The competition, led in tandem by Igniting Writing, Lake Erie Ink, Fighting Words and Young Writers Project, is now up to five entries and this is the second from an Igniting Writing group member. Cameron’s entry is titled ‘The World Inside the World’ and it’s a very different take on the explore theme, going with a writing style reminiscent of a Victorian adventure or a Utopian exploration! Have a read of Cameron’s contest entry here:

So it was, that in the Autumn of 1916 – while the War to End All Wars was raging away in the thundering west – the crew, the Intrepid Explorers for Pay (otherwise known as the IEP) in their black machine: a flying vehicle based upon the indomitable sketchings of a certain Leonardo Da Vinci, turned North and flew towards the Arctic – wherein their next commission lingered.

Now, it would not be correct to say that the IEP lived out their lives in the occupation of professional explorers extraordinaire; instead, it would be much more correct to say that they were mercenaries, who specialised in the particular niceties of exploration, adventure and dangerous but exhilarating research.

The Intrepid Explorers for Pay’s newest client was a shadowy company that had called the crew to an unknown location somewhere near the North Pole, though the exact co-ordinates were undefined and the IEP found themselves flying by ear. The client was a business calling itself Manumissions LLC, and, according to the representative who had approached the Captain of the IEP, were “a company who makes considerable profit out of selling armaments to revolutionaries trying to dethrone tyrants and/or bureaucratic tyrannies. We have done business in the past with a certain Gavrilo Princip, and we have just done a very lucrative transaction with a Russian: a Mr Lenin, a Bolshevik... though, I’m sure he won’t amount to much.”

The IEP themselves were made up of three members. Captain John Schmitt was a German who had lived in England for fifteen years but had fled the country to join and take command of the crew after a wave of anti-German sentiment swept the West coinciding with the birth of the Great War. He spoke with a perfect English accent which only took on German inflections in times of great stress or excitement, and dressed in an impeccable suit which suffused him in an air of reliability.

First Officer Lord Rexford was the oldest member of the IEP and seemed in his bearing and mannerisms the perfect embodiment of the bureaucrat. When he spoke, it was in the Queen’s English, and his posture and actions were modelled on those of a perfect gentleman.

The third member of the crew was Weapons Officer Miss De Trice. She was an anomaly, not only was she the first ever female aeronaut in recorded history, but she was also the first ever aeronaut whose first name was unknown to just about everyone apart from herself. Nevertheless, she performed her duties aboard the black machine with consummate ease and brilliance. And so, armed with its three bumbling, bless’d, and byzantine human cargo, the black machine of the Intrepid Explorers for Pay flew high over the icy tundra, towards where Manumissions (LLC) officials waited on the ice, gesturing and waving to the adventurers above.

“Our job for you is an interesting one indeed! and one that we hope you can take upon yourselves with the same confidence that you exhibited when communicating with our representative.” So said a tall company official, standing beside a wide and deep hole that penetrated the ice very near to the centre of the North Pole.

“Please don’t keep on old fellow,” said First Officer Lord Rexford. “Just tell us our job, what what. I say this with the utmost respect you understand, what.”

“Yes,” said Captain Schmitt. “My first officer of course speaks the truth. We are people who enjoy doing jobs in the shortest space of time as is efficient; it would be very pleasing to us if you could tell us the purpose of our hiring so that we could get to it straight away. We, my good sir, do not hang around.”

“Well yes of course,” said the official smiling with cold, expressionless eyes. “This hole,” and he pointed to the immensity before them, “is a direct route down into the centre of the Earth. We as an organisation are fascinated with the idea that the planet is hollow and the latest scientific studies show that this is almost certain to be the truth. Your job is to fly down that hole in your craft and investigate the hollow Earth. Return and report to us about what you find and you will have a rich reward,” he said, sneering.

Inside the hole the air was cold; all three of the members of the IEP wore their warmest clothing and huddled over their instruments as they sent the flying machine into a faster and faster dive through the bowels of the planet. Then, with a sudden burst of heat the machine exploded into the widest space that any of the IEP had ever seen. They were hanging near the roof of a well-lit cavern and looked down on a gargantuan expanse of lustrous foliage: tall and steaming forests and vast fields and…

“Is that a village…? No, a city… No, a town!” exclaimed Weapons Officer De Trice. And it was, a large collection of tall houses and other structures that were too numerous to be a town and too few to be a city.

“Quick,” said Captain Schmitt, “set a course for the town. This! all of this! It is amazing.”

They flew, and then touched down in a wheat field near the town which puffed smoke into the thick air from a dozen chimneys. Yet when the IEP emerged blinking into the light of the subterranean day, they found themselves surrounded by soldiers.

“Are you emissaries of the Inner Earth Empire?” asked a soldier.

“No!”

“Then come with us, you must be from Outer Earth, welcome to the free colony of Virginia.” The three were escorted through the town until they reached the largest and longest city hall. Taken up winding steps they were brought into the presence of the Mayor of the town, an old woman with strange, careworn features and an accent reminiscent of old cave systems and dripping stalactites. Informed of their coming and of them being inhabitants of the Outer Earth, she smiled at them and after refreshments were brought by an old waiter, she launched into the history of the Free Colony.

“Our ancestors were members of an English settlement funded by Sir Walter Raleigh in the early days of the colonisation of America, but they ran out of supplies and the natives attacked. They fled for a long time through the wild – always harried by the doggish natives – until they came to a curious, cavernous crack in the Earth. Having nowhere else to go and finding that the sides of the hole were perilous but climbable they descended from the surface and the natives chose not, out of some mythical respect and fear of the place, to follow. They emerged inside the Hollow Earth and found the hospitable landscape that you have discovered. Finding that they were happy here, they created our town and traded with other towns: other groups of people that had fallen through the cracks of the world to relocate underground, for three centuries. This was until the last decade or so when they – and this troubles me to tell it – formed into an alliance against us, calling themselves the Inner Empire and, lustful of the land that we farm, warred against us.”

She continued in this story for a long time and, as she expounded upon the atrocities of the war of Inner Earth, the three Intrepid Explorers for Pay, even the secretive Miss De Trice, found themselves sickened by the plight of Virginia, and all at once leaping up they hurried from the room, a half-formed, hair-brain scheme flickering in their minds. Climbing back into their black flying machine, trailed by a phalanx of puzzled Virginian officers, they took the ship up, up, up until they turned it and flew it away from Virginia and towards the hostile lands of the Inner Empire.

As they approached however, a shot rang out, and a cannon shell hurtled over the open cockpit of the machine. “Quick,” instructed Schmitt, his German accent becoming more pronounced. “Put up the flag De Trice, do not fire, we want to end this strange war.” A white flag slid from the interior of the craft as it settled down upon the ground, swarming as it was with soldiers and ordnance. When they reached it Schmitt and Sir Rexford leapt out, but De Trice remained within and lifted off again, sending the craft to hover ten meters above the ground. Meanwhile, on the earth beneath, the two IEPs found themselves surrounded by more armed soldiers, these with features that seemed even more alien, aiming strange muskets and rifles.

“Put down your guns, what what,” said Sir Rexford, “we’ve only come for peace.”

“And how would you bring us peace?!” said a soldier in green epaulettes, pushing forward so all could see that he was a General. “We outnumber you Outer Earthers, two to a thousand.”

"Three my good fellow,” said Sir Rexford, “three my good man.” And looking up they all saw the black machine above them, flag retracted and weapons extended, hovering like a grotesque bird of prey. There was a long standoff while the three realised that after this they had no idea what to do next and the Inner Empire’s soldiers prepared themselves for the slaughter that was sure to follow. But then Schmitt started up, a new light burning behind his eyes.

“You should have peace because… because above this world – in my world – there is a war, a Great War. Millions are dying but no one will declare for peace, there are machine guns, poisonous gases, barbed wire fences...” And he went on describing the apocalypse occurring above their heads even now. In fact, as Schmitt went on, they all seemed to perceive the tremor from falling shells and the feeling of mud and rats and lice crawling with insidious feet over their skin. In the end, as Schmitt illuminated all human depravity before them, peace seemed the only option and they all knew they had to submit.

Afterwards, as the General commanded his troops to retreat and the Virginians dismantled their gun emplacements, the three Intrepid Explorers for Pay flew back to the Free Colony of Virginia and endured the celebratory feasts and long dances held in their honour. All that had gone before seemed to become a dream. Somewhere in the midst of the days that followed Schmitt’s climactic speech, Weapons Officer De Trice deserted them.

“I’m done,” she said. “This was the greatest adventure of my life and I will not end it with us going back to that horrible company and getting our payment. I don’t want a payment! I’m going exploring with some Virginians – there’s another world within this world, what is beyond the Inner Empire? Now that we are not at war I can go and find it out.”

Schmitt nodded; he could only admire her. “You’re the true explorer out of all of us,” he said, but Miss De Trice was gone.

Later First Officer Sir Rexford took the machine and returned to the outside world. “I’m not done, what what, still things to do out there old chap.” Schmitt promoted him to Captain Sir Rexford and let him leave. Schmitt remained.

He walked to the centre of the town after an afternoon of feasting. Laying his head against the trickling coolness of a fountain he stared up at the pirouetting minarets that stretched above him; and he wondered, considering that he was at peace and the war was above not below, was this place Heaven and the upper-world Hell, or was it the other way around?

[hello-hannah-universe-blog1]

Through this experience I learned the awkwardness of starting something like out. It’s a hard thing to begin because you really want to make sure you listen and get everything right. You want to make the person happy with what your creativity is able to create. After drawing the sketches, he seemed to like the designs and was able to choose one from what I drew. Building it was the hardest part, mainly because I ran out of time. Showing him the design was a little less stressful because I knew exactly what he wanted and I was able to model that. I think this was a good exercise because it gave insight into how something like this may happen in my future career as an interior designer. I will have to meet with clients and build a relationship with them, learning their likes/dislikes, who they are, what they do, etc. Then from all of that information I will create a few design options, just like I did for the wallet. I will present those design ideas to the clients in hopes of them liking one of them. Then from there I will make the idea a reality and try to match it just as I had designed it. This wallet exercise gave me a little taste of how I may be feeling as I listen, create, test, and model. It also gave me an idea of how someone else feels on the other end, as I had to do the same for my partner. Being able to empathize with knowing the feeling of trying to get your own ideas in your head out vocally to someone else who is designing that idea for you without being able to see exactly what it is that you’re picturing in your head.