#and also was testing a brush in a program I used before I started using krita

[flyingwea]

Comparing artyles side by side to understand the differences better

[factual-fantasy]

I am gonna send you a bunch of questions, instructions, and remarks regarding your tech issues. Please don't feel pressured to answer them.

Have you tried Updating your graphics Driver? (On WIN 10, Open search bar, Type Device Manager, then go to Display adapters, and right click your graphics card.

2. Does the problem happen anywhere or only in a specific location. (regarding the glitchy pink green grid) I mean Physical location. Like: "This only happens while I'm sitting at my desk"

3. In what way does FireAlpaca stop working. Does it crash, does it Hang(not respond to anything), Does it not respond to brush strokes on your tablet? Does the rest of your computer also stop working or slow down? Does your Mouse cursor do anything?

4. Does the Task Manager (or Equivalent, Idk your Operating system) note anything weird? (Hard drive at 100 all of the time, Memory at 100%, CPU at 100% for very long)

5. Combine 3 and 4. Have Task manager open while you're doing things in Alpaca and look at it if Alpaca starts being weird

6. From what I can tell, you have a Touch-Screen tablet that connects to your computer. (please correct me if I'm wrong) That matters because the tablet also uses your PC's OS, which means that your problems, if not hardware related, are usually your OS's or drawing program's fault.

7. If you can, Try using your drawing tablet for literally anything and everything else. Similarly, Try using Alpaca without your tablet. This way you can maybe figure out if Alpaca is being weird, or if it's the tablet.

I sat on this ask for a while in an attempt to fully test out/do all the things you mentioned. Here's my response:

1. Have you tried Updating your graphics Driver?

Yes I have! :0 I know I did this right because my super techy friend did it for me.😅 My Laptop drivers are for sure up to date.👍

2. Does the problem happen anywhere or only in a specific location. (regarding the glitchy pink green grid) I mean Physical location. Like: "This only happens while I'm sitting at my desk"

It doesn't matter where I am, the glitchy screen and the buggy FireAlpace happened anytime I tried to use them. Though I will note that after buying a new chord for my tablet, the pink and green glitches and weird black outs completely stopped. But FireAlpaca continues to bug out every few minutes. :(

3. In what way does FireAlpaca stop working. Does it crash, does it Hang(not respond to anything), Does it not respond to brush strokes on your tablet? Does the rest of your computer also stop working or slow down? Does your Mouse cursor do anything?

I am not great with my words so I took a video of FireAlpaca bugging out to show you. (I apologize for the low quality.. I shrunk it down so I could send it to a friend on Discord but now I cannot find the original video for the life of me😔)

In this gif I am selecting all these different tools, but they're all acting like the pen tool. Which was the tool I was using before it started to bug out. I forgot to clip it but the undo/redo button is also broken.

4. Does the Task Manager (or Equivalent, Idk your Operating system) note anything weird? (Hard drive at 100 all of the time, Memory at 100%, CPU at 100% for very long)

I have checked Task Manager when FireAlpaca was and was not bugging out. Everything seemed to act the same each time.. <:(

5. Combine 3 and 4. Have Task manager open while you're doing things in Alpaca and look at it if Alpaca starts being weird

Have tried this and I didn't notice any change when FireAlpaca started tweaking. :(

6. From what I can tell, you have a Touch-Screen tablet that connects to your computer. (please correct me if I'm wrong) That matters because the tablet also uses your PC's OS, which means that your problems, if not hardware related, are usually your OS's or drawing program's fault.

My drawing tablet is an XPPen Artist 13.3 Pro. Its not a touch screen but it has a drawing stylus. It's basically another monitor that I can use a stylus with. :0

I don't know if that means its using my laptops OS.. nor do I know how to fix it if my problem lies in that connection <:((

7. If you can, Try using your drawing tablet for literally anything and everything else. Similarly, Try using Alpaca without your tablet. This way you can maybe figure out if Alpaca is being weird, or if it's the tablet.

My tablet seems to work fine outside of FireAlpaca..? I think..?

But what I have tried is when FireAlpaca is bugging out I would move the window to my laptop monitor and try to use the paint tools with the mouse. The first few times I did this the problem fixed itself when I opened snipping tool to record it.

So I then set snipping tool to record my laptop screen, drew with my tablet until it bugged out again.. and then moved FireAlpaca to my laptop and kept drawing with a mouse. This is the result.

It broke the way it did before. Selecting multiple tools and either drawing nothing or only using the tool I was already using. The undo/redo buttons still do not work.

The only way to fix this problem is to save my canvas, close FireAlpaca and then reopen it. Sometimes clicking out of FireAlpaca and back into it fixes it..? But not always.

Anyways, I did my best to answer these as best I can. With my tablet drivers being up to date..(??) My laptop drivers being up to date and FireAlpaca being the latest version,, I'm not sure what could be causing my problems :((

[artharakka]

Every time I see your art I remember how much I love your colours - its just...aaaah I can't even explain it, but it's so perfect? Its..muted but not washed out? And it gives such a natural feel to the works that I adore! Do you have any proccess for determining colours?

Thank you!🧡🧡 Colours are often what I think makes or fails my drawings so either way means a lot! Sorry it took approximately a thousand years to answer but this inspired me to do an illustration to experiment and explain with. (Though as said, I don’t think I always nail the colours and I have only little formal art education etc so take with a grain of salt)

With line art, I usually fill in different sections (like character, environment in front, background) with base colours first. Most often with some orange or sienna.

And to mimic the effect that underpaint has in traditional art, I’m usually choosing the final colours by picking a colour I think would be close to the “actual” colour (like skintone), and, probably not very professionally, “mixing” that colour with the base colour by using a brush that is not 100% opaque. I’m also testing and fiddling here & usually doing some kind of colour sketch before cleaning them up.

This way the colours become a bit muted & more harmonious (though I also prefer using more muted colour schemes to begin with).

Orange “underpainting” is usually my go-to, especially when doing “neutral” light like in character sheets. If I want the piece to have a certain atmosphere or environment, I might use other base colours. Sometimes I use actual photos as inspiration or guidelines:

Note that I don’t have strict colour reference sheet where I pick my starting colours from. I’m adjusting those as well even before the sketching brushstrokes:

The skintone’s starting colour (1st one) is redder here, because green underpaint eats some of the redness away as red and green are complementary colours. The blue of the lightest shirt is also darker as the character is more shadowed in the latter version.

Here I used red as a base colour. If I had used skintone’s base colour from the green version, it would’ve been too red. Instead lighter and a bit more orange/yellow tone ends up looking more natural (even though still very red, but it doesn’t stand out that much with everything else also having a red undertone). Hair’s starting colour is also more yellow so it still looks like a blond instead of red hair.

Shadows & other details I do with the same method, just using the picked flat colour as the base colour (so for skin, picking slightly darker & usually bluer colour and painting with low opacity brush over the skintone instead of over only the orange/yellow/etc underpaint)

Here I also did highlights with the soft light layer:

I hope some of that was useful as I’m not native English nor art jargon speaker! This was also mostly my line art process, with paintings (esp. ones that aim for realism-ish look) I look more references from photos and how light & colour acts in them.

And as said, sometimes I miss and the work comes out too washed out. For example these Patreon collection icons came out too dark & colours too similar to each other. Against my dark mode drawing program it looked more vibrant, woops. I edited them a little from here, but should probably re-do them at some point.

[koolades-world]

for the secret santa with @obeymeholidayexchange, i wrote something for Pen! (you can find them over at twitter and insta at PensAerts :)) i also uploaded it to ao3, which you can find here!

sorry this is after christmas! i intended to have it to you on christmas but i thought i lost everything thanks to an issue with the program i use to write. no clue what happened but basically everything recent just vanished. it eventually fixed itself, but by that point, i'd already restarted so i had two half finished pieces. i decided to combine them and just have it be longer. tried my best to get it to flow! i decided to go with the prompt of purgatory hall members decorate the common room together! really hope you enjoy <3

December First

While the sun never rose in the Devildom, Luke rose out of bed at what was presumably the crack on dawn on the first of December without an alarm. His internal alarm knew that the time had finally come. Without being so silent, he dashed around his room, getting ready for the day. Once he was changed, he flung open the doors to his closet, searching for one box in particular. Usually, he'd ask for help getting it down, but he didn't have time for that today. Not when he had Christmas cheer to spread.

So, he carefully moved the chair from his desk, and placed it near the shelf that held his special Christmas box. He had to stand on his tippy toes, but he was eventually able to reach the box. Luke placed it on his bed, and opened it with glee. He was so excited, that he didn't bother to return the chair to its proper place. The first thing he did was don the cute reindeer headband he'd dug out. He made sure each of the bells attached worked by ringing each one individually. He also tested the lights, and ran through each setting. The second thing he did was gather three more festive headbands for his housemates. If they weren't awake, they would be soon. They had a lot of work to do, after all!

He hurried off to the bathroom to brush his teeth and comb his hair. He was in so much of a rush, in fact, that he had forgotten to take off his headband, and almost combed it in his haste. Once he was done there, he scurried down the stairs.

Good, he thought. He was the first one awake. That meant his plan would be much easier to execute. He knew his housemates were much less enthusiastic about decorating for Christmas as soon as December rolled around. He'd actually been ready weeks ago, but Simeon had asked him to refrain. This was one of the few times they openly disagreed. Simeon thought Christmas ought to be just for December, while Luke wanted Christmas to start as soon as Halloween was over.

Luke had always been very enthusiastic about celebrating birthdays. At least a month before someone's birthday rolled around, Luke was already planning exactly how to make their special day perfect. If you took a step back, Christmas was a birthday! So, really, he was just doing as he normally would. It just happened to be the birthday of his boss' son that he didn't personally know, nor would any of the presents or decorations be for him. A little odd, but he tried not to think about that too hard. He just wanted to enjoy the holiday.

The first step of his plan involved making a festive breakfast. How could you be in the true Christmas spirit without a hot chocolate? He dragged his little stool, which Barbatos had bought for him so he could reach the kitchen appliances, over to the stove so he could start preparing an entire pot. He expected all three of his housemates to partake, so he needed enough to share with everyone.

As he was pouring the milk into the pot, he heard a heavy sigh behind him. Luke jumped and slowly spun around with a guilty grin on his face. His headband jingled as he moved, making him feel like a little clown. He was greeted with a very exasperated looking Simeon. "Hello." Luke waved as if he wasn't standing over the stove at about six in the morning in a reindeer headband.

"Good morning, Luke." Simeon smiled knowingly. He didn't ask what Luke had been up to, but they both knew that the other knew what was happening.

"Do you want some hot chocolate?" Luke weakly offered.

"Are you already preparing for the holidays?" Simeon already knew what his answer would be.

"Yes…" Luke hung his head, as if he had been caught doing something he knew was wrong.

"Is there anything I can help with?" Instead of giving whatever answer Luke had been expected, Simeon offered his assistance. When Luke's eyes sparkled, he couldn't help but let any stern facade that might have reminded slip away.

"Thank you!" Luke threw his arms around his mentor. With a chuckle, Simeon squeezed him back. "For breakfast, I was thinking confetti pancakes, but with festive sprinkles." Luke reached as far as he could to try and reach a canister of sprinkles that was sitting out on the counter. Simeon grabbed them for him, and read the packaging.

"Extra festive holiday sprinkles?" Simeon questioned.

"Is there something wrong with them?" Luke narrowed his eyes, feeling a little insecure about his choice.

"No, no. They're very adorable. Just what makes them 'extra' festive, though?" Simeon made sure to quickly dispel the younger angel's obvious worries.

"Oh. I'm not really sure." Luke furrowed his eyebrows. The pair bounced ideas off each other as to what made the sprinkles extra festive as they made breakfast. The pancakes turned out well, besides the fact that for whatever reason, the color from the snowflake sprinkles leeched out. Luke said it looked almost like snow had fallen on their breakfast, and Simeon much preferred to look at it that way over mulling over why that had happened.

However, by the time everything was ready, their other two housemates weren't awake yet. The idea of starting to eat without them made him feel guilty. He'd started making the breakfast with the intention of sharing it as a surprise. It was less of a surprise, considering Simeon had helped, but at the very least, it could still be a surprise for the other two.

"Should we go wake them up?" Luke asked. Each plate was set out, and the pancakes were set out on the table.

"Go see if they're awake." Simeon stepped back into the kitchen, waving the younger angel away.

"You don't want to come with me?" Luke gathered his remaining festive headbands. After a little debating, he decided to give the candy cane headband to Simeon. Candy canes were his favorite, after all. Simeon took it from him without a second thought, and put it on.

"I'm certain you and Mc are the only two that can safely interrupt Raphael's beauty rest." Simeon chuckled nervously. "Besides, I know Solomon will ask for bacon. Do you know if we have any?"

Luke wasn't sure if what Simeon was saying was true, but went along with it anyways. "I think we do." After that, Luke ventured off up the stairs in search of their other housemates. To his shock, he ran into Solomon in the hallway as he was exiting the bathroom.

"Good morning, Luke!" He exclaimed. In his arms was a damp towel, and a couple toiletries.

"Good morning! I was looking for you. Simeon and I made breakfast!" Luke looked between the two remaining headbands, and passed Solomon the one that resembled a Christmas tree.

"These are cute. You don't mind that my hair is still wet, do you?" Solomon paused before putting it on.

"I don't." With Luke's affirmation, he snapped the headband on.

"Thank you. I'll be down shortly then. I have to attend to something I was working on first." Solomon seemed eager to escape the conversation in order to get back to his room. Luke was left alone in the hall, wondering what could've been so important that he wouldn't rush to festivities. He could hear the door snap shut.

With a shrug, he continued down the hall the Raphael's room. He'd never been worried about waking him up in the past, but Simeon's aversion to doing so made him rethink his choice.

No, what was he thinking? Raphael needed to know about the festivities he had planned for the day, and he needed to know now. He gently knocked, and waited to hear back. When he heard no response, he knocked harder. "Raphael?" He pushed open the door slightly. He was astonished again to find that he wasn't in his room. His bed was neatly made, meaning that he likely wasn't there anymore.

What could he be doing at this time of day? Maybe he was out training? That seemed the most likely. But, he needed to find him to be sure. He started his search outside, but that turned up nothing. Besides, Luke would've seen him exit the house. Raphael must've stayed inside, then. He peeked into every room in search of him, and followed every noise in hope it would give him any clues. After about ten minutes, Luke felt as if he'd checked everywhere.

Luke sat down in the hallway with a huff. He felt his stomach rumble mid-thought. He wasn't sure where Raphael could've gone, but he needed to figure out fast. Otherwise, his stomach might start eating itself like he heard Solomon mention one time. This thought clouded his mind, but he still wracked his brain for any ideas. As he was doing just that, he heard the ceiling above him creak loudly, and a cloud of dust rained down onto him. Luke let out a loud sneeze, and moved out of the way, just in case it happened again.

The only possible origin of that could've come from the attic. The thought of going into the attic made him shudder. It was so dark and dusty up there, and it felt like something was looming in each dark corner. Behind him, one of the attic doors swung open, and the ladder fell down with a bang. Luke almost jumped out of his skin, and he promptly ducked behind the nearest hall table. He peaked his head from behind the table, observing to see if anything might happen.

There must've been a reason it opened as suddenly as it did. In his waiting with baited breath, he realized he hadn't checked up there yet. There was no reason to, right? The last thing he wanted was to check in the creepiest place known to angels. Who knows what could be up there?

But then he remembered the reason he had been looking in the first place. What if Raphael needed his help? What if something had dragged him up there, and he needed Luke's help? With the stakes in mind, he sucked in a deep breath and started up the ladder.

After he pulled himself up the final rung, he felt consumed by the darkness. "Hello?" He carefully stepped forward, and turned the lights on his headband back on. It wasn't much, but Luke needed all the help he could get. Behind him, he heard the shuffling of boxes. He whirled around, searching for the source of the sound. It was too dark to see exactly where it had come from, though.

"If someone is there, come on out." He bravely squared his shoulders and stood as tall as he could. A terrifying figure came out from behind a large stack of boxes. It was large, and was shaped like a spike. Various other spikes protruded all over. Luke couldn't even begin to imagine what that thing was. The Devildom was full of odd and dangerous creatures, but he'd never seen anything like this one.

He immediately froze. He hadn't expected anything to actually be there, or for his demands to be respected. He silently said his goodbyes to everyone he loved, and braced for whatever was about to happen. He took a step backwards, and nearly tumbled back down to the previous floor. The last thing he expected, however, was for this figure to reach out and snag him by the front of his shirt. He was yanked back up and towards the mystery figure.

"Luke. What are you doing up here?" Raphael asked, dusting him off gently.

"What are YOU doing up here? I thought I was about to die." He let out a deep breath, clutching his chest.

"I'm setting up the Christmas tree." After looking closer, Luke realized the spiky thing he'd been carrying was the pieces of their tree. "I figured you'd want the help, so I got a head start." He tossed the pieces down the opening on the floor, letting them clatter to the ground. The sentiment warmed Luke's heart, despite the fact that he'd given him a heart attack in the process

"I thought you were a monster." Luke admitted shyly. Raphael didn't respond, but Luke knew he was amused. "Oh, right! Simeon and I made breakfast. I was looking for you to tell you." He felt stupid for forgetting the entire point of his mission.

"Let's head down then. The rest of the decoration can wait until after" Raphael descended the ladder. Luke went down after him, and although he made it down safely, Raphael seemed ready to catch him again if needed. In return, Luke helped him carry the parts of the tree down the stairs and together, they staked out a spot to put it. Before they headed back to the dining room, Luke threw his arms around Raphael's middle.

"Thank you." Luke then put the last headband on Raphael's head, which was gingerbread themed, with a little help from Raph himself.

"For what?" After realizing that Luke wasn't going to be letting go, he hugged him back, the ghost of a smile on his face.

"For being in the Christmas spirit, of course! And saving me, too." Luke was grateful for him, and he felt like he didn't say it enough. "In general, too. You're always there for me!" Raphael seemed like he was at a loss for words, and when Luke looked up, he was silently smiling down at him. With one more tight squeeze, Luke let go.

"Breakfast has been getting cold for forever now! Let's go eat so we can put this together." Luke began to tug Raphael back towards the kitchen, where hopefully the others were waiting. Raphael followed without resistance.

Once they finally arrived at the kitchen, it felt like hours had passed. Simeon and Solomon were in the kitchen, like he'd hoped. The distinct, biting smell of coffee filled the air, cutting through every other scent with ease. Simeon was enjoying the homemade hot chocolate, while it seemed as if Solomon had made himself a coffee. When Luke finally came back with Raphael in tow, they could all enjoy breakfast together. Luke recounted the story, mouth half-full of pancake the entire time. He was glad everyone was so receptive to Luke brining Christmas to the Hall as soon as possible.

As soon as he was finished eating (which was at record speed), Luke popped out of his chair, washed his dishes, and moved his legs as fast as they would go to the living room. He and Raphael had decided the tree would look best in the corner of the living room. That way, they could enjoy it every time they sat there as opposed to putting it somewhere like the foyer. He did what he could until someone taller came to help him out. With the help of Solomon, they assembled the tree, and plugged it in. The lights glimmered a pale blue. While Luke liked it, he decided the tree needed much more color.

Again, with Solomon as an assistant, he headed back up to the attic. Together, they dug around before realizing Raphael had already done that for them. All the Christmas related box, labeled or not, had been sorted into a pile in the center of the attic. However, finding the boxes was only half the work. To get it out of the attic, Luke was able to kick back and relax as Solomon used magic to transport them back to the living room. Once they were there, they were able to sort through them. Once they found the garland, tinsel, and ornaments, the fun was able to begin.

Luke decided they'd be putting up extra lights on the tree first. Working as a team, they wound the tree up with lights. The process was repeated with a couple strings of tinsel in different colors, because they couldn't find anything that matched. Since Luke wanted to save the tree topper for last, they then worked to put all the ornaments up. Spacing them out proved hard for Luke and Solomon, while Raphael and Simeon watched on in amusement. It felt like no matter where they tried to put them, there was always something else too close. When Simeon helped upon Luke's insistence, he was able to place them perfectly every time.

Finally, it came time to place the star on top. While magic could be used, Solomon insisted Luke do it. Solomon said it was hard to ignore the grin that appeared on his face every time the star was mentioned. After Raphael placed him on his shoulders, Simeon passed Luke the star. He gently placed it where it belonged.

"How'd I do?" Luke asked as he was placed back onto the ground, barely keeping his excitement from creeping into his voice.

"It looks great. You did a superb job!" Solomon gave him a thumbs up. Raphael nodded in agreement.

"Yay!" Luke did a little jump for joy.

"Do we want to take a short break before we get to decorating the rest of the common room?" Simeon took a seat on the sofa, looking more winded than it seemed like he wanted to admit.

"This is the perfect time to tell you about our plans for the rest of the day!" Luke jumped at the chance to let them in on what he was doing. He'd made it with the intention with doing it alone but, he knew they'd help no matter what. It would be easy for onlookers to tell just how much the elder housemates cared for the younger one. It was clearly one big, happy family.

"We're listening." Solomon took a seat. Simeon looked at Luke like a proud father might at his son during a big moment.

"Before I do, I'd like to thank you guys!" Without further explanation, he caught all three of them in a hug. Solomon and Raphael seemed stunned, but Simeon was quicker to reciprocate. "I love you guys." Luke muttered.

"We love you too, Luke." Simeon was laughing, but Luke knew he meant it.

He'd never thought coming to the Devildom would mean so much love. But, going was easily the best choice Luke had made. He would've never met Beelzebub, Barbatos, Mc, or Solomon, nor would his bond with Simeon or Raphael grown that much tighter. Christmas was a time to spread the love, and he intended to make sure each demon, angel, or human close to him knew, starting with the three most important to him.

"I know it's only December first, but Merry Christmas you guys!"

"Merry Christmas Luke."

[less-dev]

We're making a Starbound/Terraria inspired space sandbox game!

We're making a 2D sandbox game similar to Starbound! Or uh, terraria in space.

#nodev contains shitposting

#planetarium contains dev progress

Specifics under the cut

Who are you?

Aspen - Project Lead, Programmer, Pixel artist, Sound Designer.

Hey! I'm Aspen, I've been programming and making games for many many years in basically every engine there is... But never felt the drive to finish one, until now! I consider myself very experienced in the engine we're using (Gamemaker Studio 2.5) and have confidence we'll be able to make this game a reality. I also run the Tumblr account, so assume it's me behind the wheel as a default. Thank you for checking the game out!

Alec - Concept artist, Character Designer

H a l l o I'm Alec, I like writing and drawing and painting and designing shiiiiiiiit. I adore world building and have frequent bursts of creative possession in which I conceive and birth the greatest ideas and concepts in a mere moment. Otherwise, I can be a total dumbass and completely useless. I'm good at colours 👌 I have been a 85% a home-brew DM for about 2 years now and that is the greatest proof of my ADHD-given God powers of creativity. Slay.

What a cool guy!

Design pillars

Immersion. Above all else, I would like roleplay (casual or serious) to be natural and well supported. I would like players to find engaging with the world, and it's characters to be very personal.

Innovation. Tropes such as "You spawn in a green forest and can walk left or right" will be actively avoided. Biomes will have generation that presents more unique movement opportunities. Such as geysers in rock pools launching players high up, or giant twisting vines that hold up chunks of land to hop between.

More quality less quantity. Planets will be significantly more content-dense than Starbound, and perhaps controversially travel between them will be more difficult/expensive as well. This would encourage players to take advantage of all the resources presented on each planet, instead of hopping from one to the next. This would also encourage us throughout development to give each planet as much love as possible. Each planet should feel like a 'miniature terraria world'. Though actually achieving that is easier said than done.

Meaningful content. Procedurally generating creatures from 100 different pre-set monster parts could technically produce limitless alien creatures for players to encounter. But in both No Man's Sky and Starbound. I find this novelty to wear off quick, these creatures are not manually, meaningfully crafted and beyond an unusual appearance and some shallow gameplay changes... They do not create much of a memorable experience for the player. In my opinion, anyway. I would rather hand-craft every creature and make them all significantly unique and interesting. That's not to say procedurally generated creatures won't ever have a place in the game, but they certainly wont be as prevalent as others games.

Okay well... What's finished?

Fundamental lighting shaders akin to Starbound.

Some world generation brushes and basic commands.

A text mark-up language (heavily optimised), and game chat.

Extensive custom debugging tools

Hard and soft-loading of chunks to save on as much memory and CPU usage as possible.

Complete unloading, and compression of chunks on top of the previously mentioned system. As well as a live-saving system.

Setting, Story baseline, and conceptualization of the first 3 playable species. Each species will have a different starting planet, and immediately different playthrough.

Designs and cultures of several additional unplayable races.

Character proportion tests, sprites and sketches.

First-pass on collision functions.

Weighted Tile variance and tile connections.

CONCERNS

Multiplayer. While I have made an online multiplayer game before and it's definitely doable for this game, it would require some practice in a one-off test game to be fully confident. It would also take a LOT of time.

Modding. As far as I know gamemaker games are notoriously difficult for players to modify. Something like Unity is far easier even without mod support. Gamemaker on the other hand is difficult even if I want to design systems in favor of modders. This is kind of a problem for later, I have faith there'll be something we can do to make it work... But a cursory look says it won't be easy. I would be extremely disappointed if there was nothing we could do.

[kichona-s]

You might have talked about this before, but what tool (device, programs, etc.) do you use for your art? I'm thinking about getting an iPad, but like...I've never really done digital, also never owned an apple product...I feel like an alien :D

i think i've answered something vaguely similar before, but fuck it new year new answer (entire thing below the cut because its long):

For most of my work now (since around Jun '24 onwards) I use the XP-Pen Artist Pro 16 with Clip Studio Paint Pro (perpetual license), total should set you back around USD560~ish. Key note is that this needs to be plugged into your laptop/pc, so if you have a shit computer this may not be the best option for you

Pros:

CSP is very full-featured, so pretty much anything you need it to do, it can do

Huge fuckin screen (16 inches) so you can have all your layer/brush menus out like a madman

Way more bang for your buck in terms of screen real estate/performance if you already have a good laptop/pc

Can work as a second monitor when you're not drawing

Cons:

Unportable

If you've never used any digital drawing tool ever, CSP is.. quite a bit to take in (dont let that scare you though, you can customize what menus you want to see etc to ur perference)

Needs to be plugged in otherwise its useless

No touch inputs (either use the controller they give u, a tourbox, or keyboard shortcuts)

If you dont need such a big screen though, theres definitely cheaper display tablets available (xp-pen artist pro 13 gen2, xp-pen artist line, huion kamvas line) -- thankfully we live in an era where Wacom's competitors are good and sometimes even better than it, so you can stretch your dollar a lot

For pre-Jun '24 I used a 2020 11inch iPad Pro with Procreate on it, which should set u back the cost of the ipad + USD13 + apple pencil -- note I still use this if I'm travelling (i drew the first mini norris on this while in japan!)

Pros:

Crazy portable - I used to bring my iPad to draw at malls with my friend (i also drew nsfw and a kid almost saw it so uh,, dont be like me)

Procreate is very stripped down in terms of drawing software so its really easy to learn the basics

You have all you need in 1 device (no need for another laptop/pc)

TOUCH INPUTS are SO useful when u first start when u need to rotate the canvas

Cons:

If you already have a laptop/pc this is gonna be more expensive

Procreate gets limiting over time - i used it from mid-2020 to early-2024 before i got sick and tired and swapped over

Apple pencil ergonomics is ass

Small screen unless u wanna splurge for the 12.9inch ipad

A fun third option if you wanna try testing the digital art waters without committing is a pen tablet (wacom intuos, xp pen deco, huion inspiroy), but those don't have screens so you need to look at ur laptop/monitor while drawing, and the hand-eye coordination may have a bit of a learning curve

Theres also free drawing softwares on both iOS and PC (autodesk sketchbook/ibis paint/krita) if you wanna fuck around on those first

But back to your main point - apple product software is generally a good experience (to me), and if you're mostly drawing on it you will learn the procreate interface more anyway so its not as important. The key between iPad VS Other Options is mostly portability & software (CSP on iPad is a subscription that I refuse to pay). And overall if you're not certain that you wanna stick to digital, get something that would be easy to sell off second handed in your country, so you dont lose your entire investment if you end up hating digital art lol

Good luck with your decision and if you have more questions, really feel free to ask -- i have a lot of fun doing product recommendation/comparison posts

[honeyhotteoks]

Re: differences around touching, etc in a soulmates universe--

You're both so right about more and bigger social bubbles for sure! (I think gloves would be a thing, too.) But I've been thinking a lot about the opposite.

If you're the kind of person who really wants to find your soulmate (like me), there have to be others who also want to meet their soulmate, right? So I was picturing things like meetups that consist of long lines of people holding out one hand and you go down the line brushing fingers with everyone else to see if anyone "sparks." There are probably parties within insular communities (like, say, immigrant communities, or queer groups or the ultra rich) to try to find soulmates within your own/desired group. People post pictures of their soul marks in forums online to see if they can find a match. There are computer programs that analyze images of uploaded soul marks to find matches in databases (kind of like fingerprint matching). There are people who explain being very touchy (both in a genuine way and in a creepy gross way) as them trying to find their soulmate.

(Maybe you can tell that dating in my thirties has been a living hell for me 😅)

And the new industries! I would think that some famous and/or rich/resourceful people would hire companies to hunt down their soulmate just to take that random element out of their lives. Imagine a kpop company finding their idols' soulmates and then ensuring those people did not come into physical proximity of the idols in order to be *sure* to keep the availability fantasy alive (or as another method of control over the idols). Unscrupulous people would want to make sure no one could surprise them with this kind of thing. Politicians would want to find their soulmate to use them to increase their poll ratings. Finding someone's soulmate could be huge leverage over them. There would also be an entire industry of people testing the legitimacy of a given soul mate bond to prevent fraud, and then another one that was just full of frauds taking people's money and claiming to test the bond.

Anyway, I'm going feral over this fic and have read it start to current spot at least three times and have read some small sections even more. I'm so excited to read the conclusion!

🍑

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THIS ASK JUST LIFTED ME OUT OF MY BODY ITS SO EXCITING

Some of the ideas you threw out are in my really big outline for the stardust universe actually, so i love that we’re on the same page with what we see for this universe. the idea that there would be different cultural dating implications are definitely there, especially with the idea of speed dating (like you describe), what your dating profile might look like, etc. that are far more soulmate centric. I also love the idea of smaller communities / insular communities because that could be a good thing or a bad thing. It would be amazing to have queer safe spaces, but conversely could you imagine the mormon-esque forced soulmate culture that hyper religious groups might have? and then what implications there would be if someone matched outside of that insular community? the possibilities seem endless tbh

I never considered the idea of a company finding out about a soulmate BEFORE the idol themselves and essentially running interference on it, but it makes perfect sense and i love the kind of drama implications that kind of thing would have for a fic. companies large enough could even have whole dedicated staff members to combing through social media and dating profiles just to prevent it and that’s super interesting to me.

The idea of money though, that I definitely am obsessed with for this universe. I think about dating apps like Raya that are soulmate focused and with a high subscription cost, really amping up how companies prey on people’s want to find their person etc. Politicians, rich people, all of those things that I think would be really interesting narratives to dive into.

When it comes to fraud and legitimacy, this is the thing I find the most interesting. Just like you said, there would absolutely be industries set up to try and investigate those things, but at least for this moment in my universe I see it as kind of pseudo/pop science. It’s a deep metaphysical connection that people can’t really describe i words, but there would be those who could fake it well…. and there would be those who would seek to question it and make a business out of “testing” or “verifying” those connections even if it’s all fake.

Ultimately….. this universe kind of grew on me in such a crazy way that I keep fantasizing about writing a series of romance novels in it. I’ve dreamt of writing a book for a long time, and I feel like this universe has so much potential for soooo many different stories within the framework of soulmates/fated mates. I read a lot of omegaverse novels and scent matches/fated mates is a huge trope there, but I kind of love the potential of a more contemporary universe where the soulmark is the only ‘fantasy’ element etc. and all the things that would go along with it.

If I ever do write a book you guys have to promise not to doxx me for starting off in RPF though lmao I have a feeling the general public would not understand that 😅

[optimisticallycyn]

End of the year wrap up!

I noticed that a lot of people have been posting 'Art of 2024' and I thought that was pretty neat so I thought I'd join in!

So, the reason why mine doesn't start until October is because I only got my ipad around mid October. I'd never used an ipad before or an art program (I've always used traditional because it was cheap, but I saved up and got one because everyones art on here looked so cool!) And I'm not going to lie, it was very frustrating at first.

The turtle picture is the first thing I ever drew on it and I hated the whole process. I didn't understand the brushes or the colours or the layers and what line art was or what colour flats were ect. Honestly I almost thought that I made a mistake, but looked up tutorials or spoke to these really great people in this tmnt discord I'm apart of and kept at it.

Then, come November, two people in the discord suggested a tmnt winter (christmas) art/writing challenge! I wasn't going to do it at first because I didn't think I could do the whole month, but theu put out the prompt in November so I figured 'Why not?' and went for it.

It was a fun challenge and I learned a lot while doing it! I would look up videos on how to do certain things (finally found out what colour flats were, what a clipping mask was, how to layer things properly), I played around and tested out different ways to create different effects. Made sooo many group pictures, which, was a lot but showed me that I could tackle and complete bigger art projects.

The discord group was also amazing during this challenge! Especially Rose, who would help me out whenever I got stuck or would give me further ideas when I was stuck on one! Everyone was really good during this challenge and super motivating!

During December because I'd finished a lot (not all, but most) of the Christmas prompts, I spent time playing with other ideas and ways to try things out and I wanted to play more with comics and how people do comic bubbles and the like and creating pictures for the stories that I write!

I hope by next year maybe I'll have some little comic series or something and that I'll have improved even more and learn lots!

Here's to hoping everyone has a great year and improves their skills in whichever way they work for! 😁😁

[wolfythewitch]

have you ever used procreate and even if you haven’t, would you say it’s worth trying to switch to a different art platform? i was gifted procreate on an ipad before I really started digital art and i don’t hate it but I don’t love it either, also I’m still learning art in general so it’s hard to say really. Was wondering if you had any tips when it came to choosing a drawing/maybe animating software, especially when it comes to money or even considering buying an actual drawing tablet??

Uhhh I mean if you got it for free, yeah! I haven't used it a lot but I remember really liking their brushes and how user friendly it is haha. For buying programs, honestly Ive been using CSP for like 4ish years now so you kinda just have to experiment around with what works for you. My friend uses krita, another uses Photoshop, another uses procreate. We all like different features each provides haha. For tablets, honestly I have no idea I've had the same one for years. I'd say stick with the iPad you got and try it out first, it's pretty similar to a screen tablet and you can decide if you like the feel of it. If you want you can buy a small/cheaper drawing tablet and test if that works for you

[blondeaxolotl]

Do you think Clip Studio is worth the payments? ( asking for a friend/j ) And do the pros outway the cons or is it the other way around? Also, do you use custom brushes? And one last question.. Do you just draw on your laptop? Like, do you use a mouse, touchscreen or maybe a drawing tablet?

I've never seen anybody ask these questions and I'm curious, you don't have to answer though! Have a bagel 🥯🤲 and if you don't like bagels... 🥪🤲 Have a sammich.. and.. if you don't like either uhmm- Have a whole damn cake 🎂🤲 happy birthday [/silly], or hell, take all three! Have a wonderful day ❤️ [/gen]

Do you think Clip Studio is worth the payments?: When it comes to payments, I think it's always better to get it when it's on sale (which do come every now and then), it is a onetime payment and it's better to get it when the price is as low as it can be For pros and cons, the biggest pro of the program is you can get new brushes, blenders, erasers, tools, etc (anything that will help you with drawing easier) from the programs own little assets store (and majority of the brushes are free to download). And it's also easy to import brushes you get from other places (ex: you buy a brush from Kofi made by another artist). Meaning you have options in CSP's own brush store, and also other places on the internet, you aren't stuck with just using the default brushes you're given when you start the program That's the biggest pro to me, besides that you have everything else that comes with your average art program,

I will also mention that clipstudio also has it's own 3D modeler program, like you can import 3D figures and use them as your reference if you can't find one on pinterest. Though I've haven't used it myself so I do not know how easy it is or what the features are, so I can't comment much.

I think the last biggest pro is that if you program crashes (not often, but the chances are never low unfortunately), clip studio will restore your drawing for you and your drawing won't be sent to the shadow realm meaning you don't lose progress. I compare it to dropping your phone and you slowly pick it up out of fear that theres a crack in it only to find out oh there's not one it's fine.

Now for the cons, the biggest is the definitely the price, which is why I recommend getting it while it's on sale while it's at it's lowest. The program is insanely pricey. I also recommend the PRO ver instead of the EX ver. The PRO ver is cheaper and it's main focus is illustrations which is all you need if you're only planning on drawing. The EX ver is both for drawing and animation, while you can still animate on the PRO ver, it limits you insanely, like you can only make 25 second long animations and refuses to let you do more unless you pay for the EX ver. Now I have the EX ver and I'm learning animation, I will say Clip Studio's animation set up and layout is very confusing and tedious to beginners (I had to watch a good amount of tutorials to understand the features and everything), I believe some people compared it to animating on Photoshop, so if you haven't animated on Photoshop before, good luck. I'd say just use another animation program for animating (Flipaclip, ibispaint etc), the only reason why I'm sticking to animating to ClipStudio is because I'm stubborn and don't like switching programs. Clip Studio also has a free trial feature (which I believe lasts for 3 months), now this is good yes, but the problem is that the program refuses you to save your drawings with the free trial. I don't know if this was changed or not since it's been a while when I used the free trial, but if you want to get a hang of the program and test it out, there is a free trial, just be aware that it won't let you save your progress at all which is bull.

Those are my pros and cons, I have a lot more pros than cons but I tried to sum it up as best as I could. It's really your choice to decide if the program is worth it or not (again there is a free trial, and if you do plan on buying it, get it while it's on sale) The assets store with all the downloadable brushes is my biggest pro, but I'm aware other programs like IbisPaint also have that. I think that's all I have to say now for ClipStudio, i've yapped alot gulps.

---- do you use custom brushes?:

A good handful of the brushes I use are brushes I bought from other artists:

These brushes from PharanBrush on Kofi , I'm someone who likes to experiment with alot of brushes, so I often download/buy from other artists (I also have no self control). The EnpitsuP set comes with 100 brushes, alot I know, but your options are endless. The Krupuk set comes with 160 brushes, and alot of them are similar to like copic markers but for digital art. And the last one is BōrupenP sets, these are free and mimic school supplies, if you miss the feeling of drawing on your school books with pens, this one is also neat (plus it's free) Another brushpack I have is Cole's Pencil Pack , it comes with 19 brushes, of all kinds of taste and texture. I use this set alot, especially the "Cream Sketch 2" pencil as it's fun for lineart or sketching.

(Can you tell I like supporting artists) next set I have is Brush Box Vol.1 Markers by Olguioo this set mimics the feel of traditional art and even has a brush that makes your canvas look like paper!! It's very neat

Now of course I do have brushes that are free from the assets store, like these, which you can easily find by searching up their content ID codes:

Ofc there's more, but these are just some I use which I find neat!

---- Do you just draw on your laptop? Like, do you use a mouse, touchscreen or maybe a drawing tablet?:

I use a laptop and a drawing tablet! I specifically use the VEIKK Studio VK1200 pen display, my brother bought me it as a birthday gift this year, but before I had that one, I used the beginners One by Wacom tablet for like 4 years or more, I still use it sometimes, but only when i'm on vacation somewhere I can't bring my main one

OKAY I think that's about everything!!! Very long post so apologies if there are any typos or misspells or repeats! And thank you for the food, in return I will share the food with you because sharing is caring (ALSO if anyone elses wants to add something like other pros or cons about ClipStudio, or other brushes or anything like that, please feel free to leave it in the replies!!!)

[colorico-art]

Resource - Digital Tool Assets

Okay, so I've jumped around with several programs to try out based on the needs I had at any given time. These are program specific assets and resources that I've come across while using testing out the various programs.

Sketchbook

I still use this program, though strictly while on-the-go (I use an Android tablet). I personally use it more for quick sketches and then carry them back onto my PC to render, but I know @kreature1827 uses the app and has done some incredible work within the app. The link provides free brush and texture assets.

The program does work across multiple platforms, however I am unsure if there are any sync features present.

Clip Studio Paint

I purchased this program some years ago and tried it out for a bit, and don't get me wrong: it's a really good program. The issue I personally have is that when I moved over to Linux, CSP has no functionality within the system (that, and the pricing model past V1 was not something I personally liked to get involved with). The CSP Asset store is accessible through the program, and includes a lot of brush, pattern, model, and stamp assets.

Since CSP moved into a subscription model, they've added the option to have the program sync with multiple devices.

Krita

This is my current program of choice, and it's also one of the programs I started out using when I looked into illustration work. I did drop it a couple of times, though the reasons were always surrounding the need for on-the-go use and resource management (before Krita 4, it demanded so much out of my laptop that I couldn't use it effectively). The link provided provides a ton of brushes, plugins, and tutorials.

Krita does have an Android app available for beta testing, however my reason from moving away from the mobile app was due to the odd interactions within the app (i.e. some of the tools, like Transform, don't behave properly and require multiple specific alterations to only get a half-decent result).

Medibang Paint

This is what I used whenever I got a tablet before I coming across Autodesk Sketchbook. It's a very robust program, but it does have a specific use for manga art work. You can make some custom brushes, however the program didn't particularly click with me or how I approach my art pieces (i.e. I didn't stick with it at all). The link provided gives program-specific tutorials on getting specific results, such as halftone screens and tool usage.

Medibang is excellent with the cross platform use (it's even better than CSP in that it's free with a simple account), and can be synced with almost any device or operating system. The program does feature ads, which I personally detest. But the ads aren't intrusive and they're mainly out of the way.

[reconstructwriter]

Wip game 'science side of the force'? ;0

I have not forgotten *crawls out from pit of tax forms*

So I wandered across a post asking ‘why isn’t space magic studied more if I lived in the Star Wars…’ and started listing all the reasons I could think of: the rarity of Force Sensitives, the damage infamous mad scientists have done to their trust of the scientific community, the difficulty of studying something more spiritual than scientific, Force Sensitive Scientific Study being classified as a ‘soft’ science resulting in less funding and lower pay for such scientists, etc.

Then my thoughts turned towards ‘hey a scientist character/Jedi character would be interesting and thus was born the story. I originally wanted to do Ferus Olin x Roan Lands but I couldn’t help insert my favorite Mandalorian nerd Jaster Mereel instead, maybe with Feemor or Jon Antilles, but Jaster, while a nerd, didn't quite seem to fit.

Finally I landed on Arla Fett whose a pretty blank slate in canon. I've seen her written a lot of ways but never as a scientist, which really got ye ole creative juices going. I could out-of-universe contrast her with fanon nerd!Jaster and in-universe with Coruscant student Satine!

Stass Allie, a Jedi healer working through her college medical degree made more sense than my usual blorbos, especially if the university offers the Jedi free tuition...if they volunteer as guinea pigs. I can see that. Plus I didn’t write her enough in Standing Above the Blood. With Jenna Zan Arbor plausibly going to school at around the same time and Galidraan threatening I had the beats of a plot I could really dance to XD

"Arla knew when she came to Coruscant to study Force Sensitivity that she’d be painted with the same brush as Demogol. But studying the Force was so fascinating. It was magic, however its practitioners balked. But magic science could make understandable. Who wouldn’t want to study that?

Well, maybe those who had Dr. Antilles as a professor. “Many infamous scientists forcibly abducted test subjects.” She smacked the desk with her ever-present ruler instead of giving Jenna and several other drowsy students the hiding she wanted. “Not only is this a horrific breach in scientific ethics but as a practical matter been ruinous to scientific study of the Force. The likes of Demogol,” her gaze lingered on Arla several unnecessary moments, “And the flood of similarly inclined experimenters have bottle-necked our volunteer programs. The likes of such...scientists also rarely bother with documentation and what they do bother with is often destroyed as their abductees make their way to freedom. Demogol was, in addition to being an atrocity of a sentient being, a horrible notetaker. I hope you do not follow in his footsteps Arla Fett.”

Arla’s vambraces creaked in protest, her blank pad protested her grip but she squared her shoulders beneath the aur-the students’ gazes who took Dr. Antilles focus to gawk their fill. Even with a compromise of torso armor and open-faced helm in a subdued grey and black – only the mythosaur a vibrant splash of red – Arla Fett stood out among most college students, let alone the type to study the Force. “I have heard this particular lecture before, enough to have it memorized.” She stated as diplomatically as possible. She would not (couldn’t afford) to start a fight but refused to wilt beneath their stares.

“Then you may recite the rest.”

An anticipated challenge; Arla spoke confidently: “That is why we must take ethics courses like this one, properly submit applications that consenting sentients must be able to understand. We must ensure our volunteers’ comfort within our laboratories, never use locks except for data storage and acknowledge consent may be revoked at any time. We must not only take good notes but ensure our experiments are repeatable – morally and literally – by other responsible scientists.”

Which was probably why the Coruscant University’s Force Study program had such a high rate of drop-outs.

The teacher moved on, ignoring her. Sadly that was all the reward she would get for her recitation. Arla stayed, never dropping out as her classmates did. Beyond her scientific curiosityof the Force, this study was the first thing that brought her out of the darkness of her own loss, the first thing to spark her interest after her parents’ death and the first thing she and Jaster really bonded over. Pissy teachers and annoying Coruscant outsiders weren’t going to deter her."

[bucky-bucky-bucky-bucky]

I cannot even describe how much I hate my school.

I hate their policies, their staff- I hate the institution as a whole.

Rant below:

It's a for profit (read: expensive) school that does not deliver anything that is up to par with the price.

The ultrasound lab is tiny, with only 6 ultrasound machines. Two machines are pretty good, one is fine, and the rest are fucking abysmal. They are what is referred to as "non diagnostic", meaning that you'd never use them to scan a patient. The image quality is so low it's like staring at TV static. But I was forced to take my competency (scanning test) on the worst machine in the lab. It was so awful that by the end, I felt like I couldn't see anything because I'd basically been staring at TV static for 45 minutes straight. My teacher even said that the machine sucks and that when you turn the gain (the brightness) up, it only makes the image more fuzzy. But yeah, I was forced to use it on my competency. And I was the only one who had to use that machine! I haven't gotten my grade back yet but I know it will be awful. And if I fail, I will have to do remediation with my teacher where we go over my images and he tells me what's wrong with them. I can already tell you what's wrong with them- the machine is a piece of shit. Also if I fail, I will have to retake it, but I am only allowed a grade of 75. I'm not the type of person to blame my short comings or failures on things outside of myself, but come on...

And when I spoke to my teacher about it after class (privately) he brushed me off. He told me he wouldn’t penalize me for the fuzzy, subpar, low quality images- but that was only half the point. I was trying to communicate to him that the issue was the machine quality + my eyes being completely fried by the tv static appearance + the horrible quality nearly threw me into a panic attack + I was the only one who had to use that machine. But he didn’t listen. And I know that he won’t take what I said (what little I was able to say before he interrupted) into account.

And the rules... oh my god. Your attendance and professionalism are rolled into one grade that is referred to as your "professionalism grade". You can get points deducted for missing class, being late, not having your textbooks, etc. And I have to laugh. Like, I went to an actual university before attending this two year program, and The fucking University of Texas as Austin did not deduct points if a student doesn't have a textbook one day. It's like we're in middle school.

Plus, this whole attendance / professionalism thing is bullshit. They said at the start of the program that if you have to miss class because of an extenuating circumstance, they will understand. But they do not understand. There is zero understanding. My classmate's brother was just murdered. Brutally murdered. She missed class yesterday to attend his memorial, and they gave her a zero for her professionalism. You're telling me that the murder of her brother isn't an extenuating circumstance?

The school as a whole has no empathy or understanding for their students.

One of my teachers also constantly eavesdrops and polices our conversations. Even when we're talking quietly in a small group during break time, she butts in. She makes judgmental comments and has to lecture us at least once a week about how we don't have it that bad. She's one of those "if it was bad for me, it should be bad for you" kind of teachers. She's always like "well when I was in school I was a full time student and working full time and doing clinical full time and I was a full time wife and a full time mother" and I just simply DO. NOT. CARE. She just wants to invalidate us and what we're going through. And she does it at every turn. She's actually done the whole "oh, let me play a song for you on the worlds tiniest violin" bit and she thinks it's sOoOoOo funny. She told a classmate of mine that he "isn't allowed" to say that he's tired when he only got 5 hours of sleep, because she "only ever gets about 2 hours of sleep"- and she says it like it's a flex. Maam, you're gonna be dead and buried at 50 if you dont sleep. Thats not something to brag about. And not sleeping is not going to help us succeed with our academics. This teacher has told us to not sleep and to skip meals in order to study- but doing those things will only make retaining the information harder.

Plus, the teachers know how fucking stressed we are and they don't care. They know the program is really hard in regard to subject matter, but they make it even worse because they are horrible when it comes to scheduling and communication. First semester, we were told we would never have a test the week before finals because it's not fair. But second and third semester, my teacher has casually added another test the week before finals as though it's not a big deal. They're constantly adding and changing test/ quiz dates- and it's never in out favor. Plus, our two teachers always make it so that we have tests / quizzes back to back. We have class Monday through Thursday, but they always choose to put their tests /quizzes on Monday and Tuesday.

Generally speaking, it feels like sabotage after sabotage after sabotage. It feels like they are setting us up to fail. I'm dreading my competency grade. I'm dreading the next two semesters. I'm so miserable.

[cevans-is-classic]

18+ only, please! Sexual content below, also spoiler alert, is not about swimming

My Masterlist

Sebastian Stan Masterlist

You lean on the edge, head tilted back to face the sky. He lowered himself down next to you, dangling his legs in the water before slipping in — letting the water swallow him as he peered up. The sun beamed through the water surrounding him in a hazy wave. When he broke the surface, something came to life inside him, bringing air back into his lung. 

Glancing over at you, he wades until he could stand in front of you, watched the way your eyes followed his movements before he could stand before you. “Hello.” His fingers brushed your sides.

“Hi.” You smiled, up close and personal. He brought his hand up to brush over your bottom lip.

You shifted, “Tell me if this isn’t wanted, okay?” Seb didn’t have time to respond before legs are wrapped around his waist, not quite pulling him in but setting firm pressure against him. 

Oh fuck. 

He used the pool wall to press against you, feeling the slick slide of skin against his own, your legs tight around his waist. He watches your eyes and sees You flicker between his own and his lips.

“Nice pool.” 

“Thank you.” Your fingers traced his collarbone. Heat raced through his core when you squeezed around him. 

“Sebastian,” You started, “I’m pretty sure it’s obvious why we’re here.” 

“To go swimming.” Seb reached for your thighs, letting his hands glide over you, skimming your skin. When he reached your knees, he rubbed circles with his thumbs. 

“Same page, huh?” That smile was going to become deadly, he could tell. Your fingers carded through his chest hair, one finger brushing over his nipple, sending a thrill through him. 

“This story is rather enthralling.” You tilted your head back, showing off the curve of your throat. He hesitated for a moment, watching the way you swallow before leaning forward and brushing his lips over your neck, licking away a bead of water.

“Is this wanted?” He echoed you.

“I’ll tell you when it’s not.” You whispered, arms circling around his neck to press closer. Seb smiled into your throat, mouthing along the column before he tested the waters and skimmed his teeth along your skin. The gasp it earned him was worth it, made his blood burn hot even in the cool water. He pulled back long enough to catch your eye before you pressed your lips to his and sighed against his mouth. Both of you took control, going back and forth, a push and pull before Seb felt your body loosening and let him lick his way into your mouth. 

“Se-Seb,” You pulled back, hands grasping for purchase, “Come here, come on.” You pulled at him until he got with the program. Seb hauled himself out of the pool, crawling over you until he had your legs back around his waist; left hand holding your bottom up. Both of you rutting against each other. 

You tasted sweet.

Seb imagined the way your tongue would trace those damn popsicles you were fond of. As the kiss progressed, you squirmed against him, shifting, wrapping yourself tighter than letting go to take a breath before diving back in. Something hungry, feral, and hot rushed through him when he felt the nip of teeth along his bottom lip. Seb grabbed at you, hauling you up onto the edge of the pool causing a yelp to escape, but the quick glance he made before pulling you back in assured him it was okay. Your legs came around him again, knees against his ribs.

Fuck.

You fit around him like a puzzle piece, sliding into places Seb didn’t know he had. You clawed at his shoulders, nails tracing across sensitive skin, pushing him closer, dragging your tongue across a bite, hips meeting him in a dry tandem. He could do this for fucking ever, taste the inside of your mouth until you both ran out of air. The way you wrap around him, thighs squeezing when he gripped tighter, back arching when he ran a hand up along the swell of your chest.

He licked away the taste of the pool, over your collarbone to nuzzle against you, “May I?”

“Please,” You moaned, moving to help him pull at your top, exposing you, and holy fuck. He thanked whatever pushed him to agree to this vacation, to this getaway. Your breathing was erratic, chest rising and falling, whimpers begging him to devour until you were a quivering mess.

“Dammit,” You cursed, nails scratching along his shoulder in a blind reach, “Fuck, dammit, okay. I need more.” You shoved at his chest, Seb moved back, watching you bounce up — that was a sight. Your cheeks flushed, redness spreading from your face to your chest, and oh, when did he make that? Reaching up, he played at the red spot along your neck. 

You grabbed his hand. “Come here.” 

He obeyed, standing up and following you towards the house. You hardly opened the door before climbing him. With a laugh, Seb helped lift you up, wrapping one leg around his waist while the other dangled at the knee. “Couch?”

“Yeah, yes, condoms are in the bag.” He almost forgot about the condoms, a smile pulling at his cheeks thinking of you standing over your bag with the box in your hand.

“Put me down, please.” You kissed his temple, his chest, and his left bicep as he lowered you to the ground. Not quite catching what was happening before you sank to your knees and peered up at him. “Is this okay?”

He nodded, a tad too enthusiastically, “Definitely okay.” 

“Good.” Steady hands tugged at his drawstrings, pulling until Seb could help push down the shorts. You leaned forward, eyes flashing up at him before those lips wrapped around him and sucked him to the hilt. 

“Fuck.” He stumbled, catching the arm of the couch, the other hand going to your hair and carding his fingers through it.

“You,” Shit, “You are really ah-yes.” You swallowed him down again, slower this time, letting him rest in your mouth as you played with him.

“Holy fucking-” You sucked again tongue joining the race as you pulled off enough to lick at his tip, tongue darting into his slit.

God damn if he could catch a breath for a moment, that would be nice. Some kind of rational part of his mind was taking over. You lifted a hand wrapped it around his shaft and pulled off only to lap at his balls, sucking once, twice, three times, making his knees weak. Your hand never once slowed as you pumped him.

“Holy shit, Aren’t you something?” That seemed to be the right response if the moan it dragged from you was anything to go by, but it felt too good, drawing him too close to the end. 

“Hey,” he petted your hair, moving strands of it away from your forehead, “If you’re wanting more, you might want to stop.” A smile tugged at your lips the best it could as you released him, pulling off with a wet pop.

You’d lifted, “Lay down.” 

Seb nodded, “Okay bossy.” You smiled hand staying on him as a guide. 

When Sebastian settled on his back, rather surprised that the couch fit him, he reached for you, but a head shake stopped him. “Hold on.” 

“I’m a patient man.” You bite your lip, guided his hand to his cock, and waited for him to continue. He did, slowly, keeping it interested as you moved around the room, turning off the ceiling light and flicking on the side table lamps. Digging through your suitcase before coming back with a smile.

“Here.” You handed him a foil. “Keep touching yourself, please. I want to do something.” He did as instructed, watching you move closer to him, stripping down. Seb could see your fingers disappearing between your legs. When you moved towards him, he expected you to wrap around him. Instead, you settled over his head, straddled his chest knees on either side, “Is this okay?” 

“More then.” You smiled, soft, quick, fingers reappearing to trace his lips. Seb licked your digits, moaning at the taste. 

“What level of control are you wanting?” A sick, twisted part of him hated that this was the most verbal he’d ever been with a partner. That it took this — this getaway — to feel this trusting again.

You tangled your free hand in his hair. “Enough to tell you when I’m ready.” 

He nodded and helped shift you closer to his mouth, maintaining eye contact until you hovered over his mouth. Seb turned his head and nipped at your inner thigh, eyes taking in the scene above him. He followed his nips with his tongue feeling you squeeze in anticipation above him before he moved his mouth to the intended target and set to work.

He saw stars.

“Fuck.” You throw your head back, one hand moving to your chest as the other grabs the armrest behind him. Seb looked for a moment, taking in the devastating image of you over him before he closed his eyes to focus on your pleasure.

You gasped louder when he brushed over your clit, squeezed around him when he nipped it; before delving deep with his tongue until you were grinding down against him.

Your hand dropped to his head, carding through his hair, tightening and loosening in time with the snap of your hips. The hold was tight enough to hold him in place, and Seb knew what this meant. He didn’t move, stayed where you wanted him. 

Fuck. He tore his hand away from his cock, trying to calm himself down.

Instead, he held your thighs, slid his hand underneath to reach for you. You made a whiney noise when he pulled away before going back in, sucking as he worked his fingers in and out; moaning at the gasp you released. 

“I,” You ground down again, “Oh, I-fuck, yes-” God, he needed you to come, needed you to drown him. 

“Seb.” You moaned, hips bucking sharply, and Sebastian fucking lost it at the feel of wetness coating his fingers and tongue, mind reeling, body hot. He pulled a hand away to grip the base of his cock.

“Do you-” You were trying to move away. He shifted to help you shuffle down his chest. “Condom?” 

“Yeah. yeah.” He ripped the foil open and reached between the two of you. “It’s on.”

You bent down kissing him hard, fast, licking the taste out of his mouth. You hovered over him, a hand closing over his to help guide his cock inside. 

“Yes.” You moaned in unison as he sank deeper.

 God, you were wet, hot. He held back until you circled your hips and moved over him before he lifted, wrapping an arm around your waist. He buried his face in your chest as he pounded into you. 

You met him thrust for thrust, calling his name out loud, clawing at his back, shoulders, legs tightening around him, and Seb was right there; right on the edge.

 He groaned when you shoved him back down; the noise cutting off when your hand pressed against his throat. The pace you picked up became intense, fast, riding him within an inch of his life. His mind exploded, air sucked from his lungs as you fucked yourself over him, harder, faster and he came when you squeezed his neck and his cock with a shout of your own. 

The room fell away. Nothing mattered but the hand at his throat, the pound of his heart. 

Holy shit. 

He didn’t come back to himself until he felt you pulled off, still on top of him, but curled up against his chest, breathing hard. He could feel your heart beat against his chest. 

“That was-” 

“Right.” He brought a hand up, brushed it along your spine. Following the curve of it he up to your shoulder and back down until both of your breathing calmed. 

“Thank you.” You laughed, lifting back up to sit on him, “Seriously that was fucking rad.” 

He laughed, “Did you just say rad?” 

“Hell yeah I did,” Yo pinched his chest, a softness overcoming you, “Really, though. We needed this.” 

“Yeah.” Seb kissed your forehead, wrapping his arms around you to hold you closer, “We really need pizza too.” 

“Fuck yeah, we do.”

welcome to "I am brain blocked, and this has been sitting in my docs for months' Sunday!

[draconicdeityarts]

Hey there! I love you’re semi realistic, semi cartoonish art style bro! I hope you don’t mind me asking but what software/mediums do you use? I am trying to work on my lighting and shadows and textures but I have no clue how artists like you achieve such detail

First off- thank you so much! I truly appreciate it. And second- oh my goodness I am so sorry for how long this ask has sat in my inbox! I hope some of this can still help you :’D

As far as software goes, I’m almost exclusively working in procreate as of late. There’s plenty of great programs- if you need something free and desktop based, I highly recommend Krita. I have a few brushes from different packs that I often default to. You can see them all and links to said packs through this answer I gave to someone asking about my brushes earlier:

As far as detail in my work goes, that’s just through a loooot of practice and doodles and drawings. I’ve been drawing since I could pick up a pencil, so I’ve had a lot of time to figure out the way I like to do things- but even then I have so much to learn!

I do, however, work in many traditional forms of media as well! I haven’t done so as much lately since digital doesn’t require cleanup, but I honestly believe that working in traditional for my entire life up until 5 or so years ago has a hand in how I approach things digitally as well. I’ve done pen and marker illustration, pencil and colored pencil, acrylic painting, as well as 3D work. I’ve worked in a lot of media and I want to get around to trying as much as I can when I have the energy to! If you have questions specifically about what traditional media I use or work with let me know!

When it comes to improving on rendering, doing small studies of images you really like the lighting in helps a lot for me. Learning how to break light in a photo down to simple, blocky shapes helps to figure out getting an initial layer down to refine later when doing full pieces! When rendering a character, especially if drawing something that isn’t in a scene, I always recommend marking out the direction the light is coming from as well as color of the light before even starting, so that you can determine where highlights and shadows would be placed in an initial blockout. Keep in mind there’s different kinds of light in a piece- I would recommend looking into tutorials about direct light, indirect light, reflected light, etc to get a better feel for how it works- while I do my best, I don’t think I am quite skilled enough to explain those nuances.

When approaching most textures, especially unfamiliar ones, references are my best friend always. It might be a good idea to just do test sheets/practice making the textures that would be useful to you on occasion! And in the end, textures also tie into lighting as well, since a lot of what makes textures super distinct is how light hits them, especially when it comes to things like metal. It may be a bit of a hot take, but in a lot of cases I tend to avoid a lot of digital texture/object brushes, especially those meant to simulate natural textures like leaves, and I do those textures manually instead. I just personally like having more control over those shapes and feel it looks better when each texture is made intentionally by hand! Sometimes I do use texture brushes especially for backgrounds, abstract work or subtle layers, especially if I’m working on something very fast, but it’s not my first choice. However I do know there’s plenty of artists who use texture brushes in ways that look great, so that’s just personal preference. :)

I do apologize it took me so long to respond! But if you have any specific questions, my dms are open and I want to start replying to y’all more!

[irvingdrivingtrainingschool]

Choosing the Best Driving School in Irving, TX

Selecting the right driving school in Irving, Texas, is crucial to becoming a safe and confident driver—especially with busy roads like MacArthur Boulevard and ever-changing traffic conditions. Whether you're a teen just starting out or an adult brushing up on your skills, the right training program can make all the difference. Here’s what to consider when choosing a driving school in Irving:

1. Look for Certified, Experienced Instructors

A qualified instructor can shape your entire driving experience. Choose a school that hires Texas DPS-certified professionals who bring not just experience, but also a talent for teaching. Many Irving schools employ bilingual, patient instructors who can tailor lessons to suit different learning styles. Prioritize schools that showcase their instructors’ certifications and years of experience for a more effective, personalized approach.

2. Verify Texas DPS Approval

Make sure the school is approved by the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS). This ensures that the curriculum meets state standards, including requirements for the learner’s permit and road test. DPS-approved schools typically offer:

32-hour classroom instruction for teens

Adult driver education programs

The mandatory Impact Texas Drivers program

Choosing a DPS-recognized school guarantees your training counts toward licensing and that you receive up-to-date road safety education.

3. Assess Course Flexibility

Top driving schools in Irving’s understand that students have busy schedules. Look for programs that offer flexible options such as:

In-person and online classroom sessions

Weekend or evening classes for teens

Self-paced modules and private sessions for adults

Customizable packages that include classroom time and behind-the-wheel training

Flexibility helps ensure you stay consistent and make progress without added stress.

4. Inspect the Quality and Safety of Training Vehicles

Your comfort and safety during lessons matter. Choose a school with modern, well-maintained vehicles equipped with safety features like dual controls and automatic transmissions. Schools that take pride in their vehicle fleet help build student confidence, especially when navigating real-world conditions on streets like I-635 or Belt Line Road.

5. Consider Local Knowledge and School Reputation

Driving in Irving comes with unique challenges, from dense suburban neighborhoods to fast-paced highways. A school with in-depth knowledge of local routes can provide better hands-on training. Before enrolling, check online reviews and testimonials. Positive feedback and familiarity with Irving landmarks are good signs of a school’s commitment to quality instruction.

Make the Right Move Toward Safe Driving

Choosing the best driving school in Irving, TX involves more than just cost—it’s about quality, credibility, and fit. Look for programs with certified instructors, DPS-approved courses, flexible schedules, safe vehicles, and local expertise. The right school will help you gain the confidence you need to drive safely and pass your test with ease.

If you’re looking for a trusted program in the area, DFW Driving Training School stands out for its comprehensive instruction and personalized approach. For more details or to schedule your lessons, call us today at (214) 970-1444.