#and skipped the correcting sketch part with references entirely

[gierosajie]

The way my brain just keeps going "gas leak!! oil spill!!!" while I'm coloring a thumbnail of someone in a pool of blood but it's like,,,colorful blood...?

[beast-feast]

Hey idk if you've answered this but what is your art process and what do you use for traditional and digital art?

Honestly I don't even know but at the same time I know the processes are very similar. I'll try and do my best HSNFKAH

Digitally I like to just Do Whatever Feels Good so it's a very "trust the process" kind of thing. Mainly when I draw digitally though I'll start with this.

Basically just making rough shapes and then the details on different layers while changing the opacity.

In the case of traditional it's a LOT more casual and I really don't have a good explanation for it? Basically skipping the rough detail layer and instead going to a sort of rough sketchy look (which is what I've been doing traditionally mostly these days.)

Digital linework is where I correct my mistakes (most of the time, if it's something Not Serious like this it'll be a lot looser looking!) And most of the time that's actually kind of where it ends lol, most of the digital stuff you see from me nowadays is only finished stuff I put effort into.

But when I finish lineart I tend to delete the sketch layer entirely so I don't mistake it for something else, and then color under the lineart layer.

And in this case I decided to give you a rough idea of how I do my shadows+highlights? I don't do it All The Time but I put them on separate layers and play with the layer settings !!! Genuinely cannot advise this enough it's really nice and fun to just see what looks best. In this case though I used a basic multiply layer for the shadows and then on a layer above it placed a few highlights where a general light source would be coming from.

Something I highly suggest is doing what feels right to you in the moment. If you're itching for something that you haven't drawn before, look at photos of what you want and then try and memorize as much of the look as you can! It's a neat little exercise for stylization I've found out, but it's also super useful for when you need references too. Don't ever be afraid of them.

Going back to trad. art though. When I'm not working with very quick sketches with pen/pencil it can come in two ways: clean pencil drawing or something made with pen+marker.

I use mainly Sharpies for colored traditional pieces, and my secret is that if you're limited on colors, LAYER IT ON!!! One shade of a green can give you a decent shadow!!! I use Micron pens for lineart and a white gel pen to sneak in a few little highlights here and there. On paper I don't put much emphasis on light and instead focus on the shadow part (mainly because it's hard for me to figure out a good lighter color for things HAHSHSJAH)

But genuinely whatever you do I don't think having a "style" is perfectly fine. It's a fluid thing that's ever-changing for some and if you fall under that category it doesn't mean that you're not skilled! Play around, have fun, generally just see what looks cool and cooler :)

[holycow99]

石田お寿司 19/7/21 stream translation Part 1

This is not the full translation of the stream. I only translated the parts I could understand & interpret or parts I found interesting/important. I’m still a beginner in Japanese, so the translations may not be accurate. If you want to repost, please repost at your own risk. 

(t/n: Sorry for the late update. I had so many distractions these past 2 weeks. This translation may have a lot of mistranslations as I couldn’t really catch what he said since the bgm was super loud. I tried my best to separate the voice and the bgm so that the voice would be clearer, but I didn’t manage to do that.)

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I: Hello. You guys, are you ready for Ghosts n Goblins? I am.

C: You’re in high spirits tonight.

I: Of course. I’ve been busy with the rough sketches. I’ve spend the entire day fixing the sketches for chp 5.

*Fixing the sound

C: Contrarily, won’t you feel stressed playing this game for a change of pace?

I: I’m already used to this game.

I: I’m stuck in the same place so I’m gonna play this game from the start.

*Choosing mode.

I: I’ve played this game before (referring to the old ver.), so I’ll choose the harder mode.

*Choosing stage.

I: I haven’t progressed at all. I haven’t seen the other stages yet. Graveyard, execution chamber. I played the execution chamber stage for a bit during the stream with Ms. Towada. I progressed a little only. Should I play the graveyard stage?

*Playing the stage.

I: The armour used to get destroyed with just one hit. The armour has a ranking. If you collect a lot of armours, it’ll become a bronze armour. This one is probably a metal armour.

C: Fighting!

I: Kamsahamnida. Is it Kamsahamnida? Thank you.

(t/n: Kamsahamnida means thank you in Korean. He’s talking in Korean.)

C: Have you decided on the date for Kagoshima trip?

I: That’s right. What should I do with the trip? Looks like I can secure 20 buses.

(t/n: Ishida had been jokingly planned on a trip with Japanese fans.)

C: Is the stage different from the old one?

I: It looks similar, but I think it’s a completely different stage. Yeah, it’s completely different. What’s this creature? What’s his name again? Everyone said they didn’t like this boss. I like it. He’s like a friend to me.

C: Russia loves you, sensei.

I: Really? I heard that illegal uploading of manga is widespread in Russia. Haha. I have a grudge against Russia. Haha. Spasiba (thank you in Russian).

C: I like Russian girls. They’re cute.

I: I don’t think it’s because they’re Russians. I heard that their nose tends to be taller due to the climate effects. This isn’t considered as discrimination, right? That’s why they’re good-looking. The same with their white complexion. People adore those with tall nose because their noses are small and cute.

(t/n: I’m not sure about the translation of this part since I couldn’t hear him clearly. He said something more but I couldn’t catch it. Sorry.)

Y****: Are you about to snap?

I: Ah, Y****?! You’re here. You weren’t in the prev. stream, right? I’m not angry.

Y****: I was busy with club.

I: What club are you in? You must be busy. What club are you in as a middle schooler?

Y****: Theatre club.

I: Theatre club?! You’re kidding, right?! Really?! It’s so unexpected, hahaha. Theatre club? I thought you’re in a sports club, like soccer or something. So cool. That’s nice. Seriously? Do they have theatre club in middle school? Amazing.

*Ishida struggling to kill the monsters and then died.

I: I was looking at the comments, waiting for Y****’s to show up, then I became like this.

*Someone commented that they did vocalisation training in theatre club.

I: Vocalisation training? So they do have that. Wait a min, did Y**** say something? Wait, tell me when I die again.

Y****: I’m a high-school student.

I: Eh, Y****, you’re a high-school student?! Didn’t you say you’re 13?! Were you a high school student all this time?! Wait, can I talk to Y**** for a bit? Hahaha. Eh?! Have you been a high-schooler all this while?!

*Continue playing.

I: Hurry up and tell me. I suddenly become interested in human world. Y****, hurry. Did he say something?

Y****: I’m in my first year.

I: I see. A first year student. So, last year you’re 13? I remember you said you’re 13. You’ve enrolled to high school. Congrats for your admission! It must be hard with the COVID-19 situation. Y**** has further modified. His DPS (Damage Per Second) has increased to 1980.

C: I envy the youth.

I: Well, you can become anything as a high-schooler. If you work hard, you can become an actor or a playwright, though I’m not really sure. (inaudible). I think it’s a very good career.

C: What club were you in?

I: I was in volleyball club. I was in the badminton club for 3 months. I joined because of similar reason I joined volleyball club.  I joined because I wanted to be good at smashing. Then, I quit the club after I’ve mastered it. Same with volleyball. I wanted to master spike. I had other stuffs I wanted to do. I wanted to play games all day long. I didn’t wanna go for club activities. I skipped club activities and played Smash Bros. I was a boarding student, after all.

C: Have you read Look Back? (t/n: Look Back is a one shot manga by Fujimoto Tatsuki, author of Chainsaw Man.)

I: Yes, I have.

C: Which console is this?

I: This is switch. I play this because I was tired from fixing the rough sketches for chp 5.

C: Did you go and watch Yamakasa? (t/n: Yamakasa refers to the float carried by men during Hakata Gion Yamakasa festival. You can google it up for more info.)

I: I watch when there’s one. Ms. Towada went and see it. Where did she recently visit?

*Ishida having a hard time defeating the monsters & passing the stage.

I: This is harder than RE. RE is way easier compared to this.

C: Sensei is getting tired!

I: Actually, I should be resting at times like this. It’d be better for me to rest after I did the rough sketches.

*Someone commented they had to work that night.

I: It must be hard to work at this time. Night shift? Nurses and… is it correct? I’m not so sure though, but caregivers also have night shifts. Well, good luck on your job. Take care of your health, eat a lot of delicious foods, and don’t forget to wear an armour. You don’t know when you’ll be absorbed into this game.

C: I need to do excel as my assignment.

I: Must be difficult. I copy pasted the stuffs I found on the internet for my assignments. I wasn’t the only one who did that. Everyone else did the same too.

I: I like summer. If I were to pick a season…but I prefer autumn. Still, summer is great.

C: I have test tomorrow.

I: Then, you should study.

C: I hate summer since there’ll be a lot of Terra Formars.

(t/n: terra formars is a manga about humanoid cockroaches. So, OP referred cockroaches as terra formars.)

I: Yup. They’re in the drawers the other day. They’re always there mostly. 

C: What are you drinking today?

I: Barley tea. I want to drink juice. Ginger ale as well, but I’ll gain weight drinking that. I drink it occasionally. Do you guys know root beer?

*Ishida constantly failed and died.

Comments: Are you getting angry?

I: This is pissing you off, right? I’m pissed off. Of course I’d be pissed off with something like this. The ones who made this game, show yourselves. I’m gonna bring this to court and claim for compensation.

Comments: Please calm down.

I: I’m calming down. Okay, I’ve calmed down.

*Finally progressing a little.

I: Yes, finally! I’m gonna do this calmly.

*Fighting a bunch of monsters.

I: (whispering) Calmly! Calmly!

*Dead again.

I: (whispering) Shit! Just now…It might be impossible without the armour. Let’s do this calmly.

I: This game is more of a psycho break than Psychobreak.

Part 2

[bestworstcase]

tired of ‘it doesn’t make sense for cass to trust zhan tiri’ takes 

cass is a cautious person with a good instinct for danger which yes means that for most of the show she is indeed the ignored voice of reason saying ‘hey this OBVIOUSLY SKETCHY situation is sketch’ YES

but

in the latter half of 2 she is mutilated by her friend, blamed for it, made to apologize for her own injury, denied any space to feel hurt or upset or angry about this, and literally told ‘you should know we never listen to you!’ when she gets mad about yet another instance of her saying ‘this seems sus’ only for them to literally walk out on her mid-sentence without even acknowledging that she’s speaking. 

cass tries again and again to communicate her feelings and every single time she’s brushed off or scolded or belittled by her friends. her friends have so little respect for her that by the time they hit the hoyt the aren’t even pretending anymore. this hurts her, terribly

then - ok listen. take off the ‘zhan tiri is a horrible evil monster’ goggles put aside your entrenched preconceived biases against this character for a minute. 

what is the first thing zhan tiri does when cassandra meets her?

cassandra hears a voice calling her name. following it leads her here, to a disembodied (disemwalled?) door in some sort of enchanted forest. this is one of those obviously sketchy situations that instantly puts cassandra on her guard: she draws her sword while getting her bearings. 

[sidebar: those light-and-dark green swirls on the forest floor look an awful lot like the clouds in the lost realm, don’t they?]

then: 

ZHAN TIRI: There you are, Cassandra!

[Cassandra looks around, sees Blue, and lowers her sword slightly in confusion. Blue approaches her.]

ZHAN TIRI: I’d nearly given up on you.

CASSANDRA: [shaken] Who- who are you?

ZHAN TIRI: A friend. Or, at least—I’d like to be.

cass at this point is baffled but still on her guard - she holds her sword in a low guard and she’s physically leaning away from the unsettling ghost child. 

more important here is zhan tiri’s opening gambit. ‘a friend, or at least i’d like to be.’ she’s dodging the question of what her name is, yes. but also the second part of that statement implies a correction of the first, an acknowledgement that they are not friends and becoming friends is contingent on whether cassandra accepts her overtures of friendship; there is, in saying ‘at least i’d like to be,’ an implication of acknowledgement of and respect for cassandra’s personal boundaries. this is not something cassandra has ever experienced before. contrast it with rapunzel’s aggressive, domineering pursuit of cassandra’s friendship in beginnings.

continuing: 

ZHAN TIRI: Come.

[She leads Cassandra away from the door, deeper into the enchanted forest. Though hesitant, Cassandra sheathes her sword and follows.]

CASSANDRA: Wherever you’re taking me had better have a blonde princess.

note how the blank confusion on cassandra’s face hardens into a glare the instant zhan tiri says something that could be construed as a command. cassandra has two years worth of experience in the minefield that is friendship with someone in a position of authority and power over her so of course she bristles at this. i think it is also not coincidental that she refers to rapunzel in response.

but there is also a second dynamic at work here. for two years cassandra’s whole life has been locked into orbit around the blinding sun of rapunzel, and even before then by nature of her existence in the palace as a young girl only a little older than the lost princess she would have spent her childhood in the shadow of a child who wasn’t even present. zhan tiri is the first person cassandra has ever met who is flat out indifferent to rapunzel’s existence. even in vardaros, where cass was better liked by the populace than rapunzel, the people still focused on rapunzel - they disliked her, and they cared enough to make sure she knew it. 

but zhan tiri does not give a single fuck about rapunzel. she ignores cassandra’s attempt to make rapunzel relevant to this conversation. she called out for cassandra. she has been waiting for cassandra. she has something she wants to show cassandra. she wants to be cassandra’s friend. rapunzel just...doesn’t matter to her, but cassandra does. and that is disarming, both in the figurative and literal sense. so cass puts her sword away and goes to see whatever it is that this strange child wants to share with her. 

[They reach the forest’s edge and enter the memory. Cassandra is startled, struck by the familiarity of this new setting.]

CASSANDRA: This place... feels familiar?

[Blue takes her by the hand and leads her into the cottage. She remains silent, allowing Cassandra to take it all in, until Baby Cass enters with her music box.]

ZHAN TIRI: Do you recognize that child?

[Her prompting makes it click for Cass that she’s watching herself as a child.]

again, set aside your knowledge that zhan tiri is an evil villain and your instinctive distrust of everything she says and just... take a look at this screenshot. what does it look like if you take what zhan tiri says in this sequence at face value? 

this is a horrible memory. zhan tiri knows precisely what it entails, because she is the one who dredged it out of cassandra’s mind and set it up for her to experience again. cassandra, however, has only just recognized her younger self and has no idea what’s coming. it’s going to hurt her so badly when she remembers everything—but this is an experience she needs to confront in order to heal from the damage it did to her. so much of her suffering can be traced back to this defining, forgotten moment of her childhood.

we the audience know that zhan tiri doesn’t care, doesn’t have any real interest in genuinely helping cassandra, isn’t revealing this memory to her out of the goodness of her heart - but all cassandra knows is that this is a strange ghost who expressed a desire to be friends and has brought her here to, apparently, show her a childhood memory she forgot. so erase your audience knowledge from your brain for a second and look at zhan tiri’s expression here.

she looks weary. sad, even. she looks like someone who truly values cassandra’s wellbeing, who knows that reliving this memory is going to hurt, who’s showing it to cassandra anyway because she thinks cassandra deserves to know and she understands that this is the root cause of cassandra’s pain and that in order to grow and heal it must be seen, it must be acknowledged, it must be examined.

and that is the impression of zhan tiri’s character that cassandra walks away from this experience with. someone who saw her, and saw her pain, and saw the deep festering forgotten wound of this memory buried under layers of repression and denial, and gently unpeeled those layers and brought that wound to light, because she knew cass couldn’t heal from it if she didn’t know it was there.

moving on: 

[Baby Cass approaches Gothel with the music box, only to be coldly brushed off.]

CASSANDRA: ...That’s my...

ZHAN TIRI: Mother, yes. It is.

[Skipping transcription of the remainder of the flashback; what matters is that Blue exists the scene at this point. She isn’t just standing quietly in the corner; she is fully gone, leaving Cassandra by herself to experience the rest of the memory.]

again - obviously zhan tiri knows what happens in this memory, but that isn’t the point. by staying just long enough to help cassandra put this memory into context and then leaving, she gives cassandra complete privacy to process what she is seeing and feel whatever emotional reactions she has to it and express those feelings openly, without any of the reservations she might have about having a breakdown in front of a ghost she met a few minutes ago.

again, contrast this to the way rapunzel treats cass. in under raps, when cassandra tells rapunzel that she’s dealing with ‘some stuff’ and asks rapunzel to wait until she’s ready to share, rapunzel’s response is to stalk her. in RATGT, cass tells rapunzel that she feels disrespected and unwanted and rapunzel brushes her off. in RDO, when cass is mad because rapunzel’s reckless choices resulted in cassandra’s hand being mutilated, rapunzel is furious and backs cassandra into a corner in an attempt to force her to share her feelings and then get over it so things can go back to normal.

how soothing, then, must zhan tiri’s quiet departure must be for cass? how comforting, how much of a relief must it be to have this new person recognize by herself that cassandra needs a moment alone and give that to her without cass even needing to ask?  

there is, i think, a direct line of causation between zhan tiri exiting this scene and cassandra crying for the first time in the entire series afterwards while zhan tiri comforts her. cass doesn’t cry, right? even when she thinks rapunzel is going to be trapped as a bird forever, she stops herself from crying. she doesn’t cry when her hand is burnt in the great tree, not even from physical pain. she doesn’t cry in RDO. 

but zhan tiri is the only person in the whole series who shows consideration for cassandra’s emotional boundaries, so when cassandra is upset after reliving this memory, she freely allows herself to cry, and she lets zhan tiri comfort her. 

because it’s safe. so much blame is heaped upon cass for not being more open with rapunzel, but the thing is - a) cassandra is a lot more open with rapunzel than most of the fandom gives her credit for, and b) rapunzel is not a safe person for cassandra to be emotionally open with because she tramples boundaries, doesn’t listen, routinely chooses to hear only what she wants to hear, and never acknowledges or apologizes for any of the hurt this causes cass. 

which segues us into this:

ZHAN TIRI: I’m sorry that happened to you, Cassandra. Sometimes the most painful truths are the most difficult to remember. You’ve always felt outshined by Rapunzel, haven’t you? And you always will, unless...

in this statement, zhan tiri: 

1 - expresses sympathy for the trauma cass suffered

2 - empathizes with the pain she feels right now

3 - connects the dots between her past trauma and present angst

4 - verbalizes her fear that this pattern will never change

and

5 - offers to help.

zhan tiri is, once again, the only character in the whole series who does these things. in s1, rapunzel does occasionally try to be emotionally supportive of cassandra - under raps and big brothers of corona are the big examples here - but the way she goes about it tends to do more harm than good. in UR she runs roughshod over cassandra’s clearly stated boundaries and continually escalates to the point of actual literal stalking; in BBoC she utterly disregards cassandra’s statements vis a vis how rapunzel can help in favor of doing a bunch of other things that rapunzel thinks cass should want, and in the process she actively interferes with cassandra’s rest and makes her recovery experience worse.

in contrast, zhan tiri gets it. she is absolutely correct in her perception of the situation: cassandra has been trapped in this pattern of inferiority to rapunzel her whole life. her mother abandoned her for rapunzel, and everyone in her life now is willing to sacrifice cassandra’s needs, her feelings, her physical health on the altar of Rapunzel’s Destiny, and that will never change if she continues on as she has been. and... if cass tried to simply leave, by herself, do you really, truly, honestly think rapunzel would let her go?

she feels trapped because she is trapped, and she’s desperate for a way out, and zhan tiri sees that, understands that, and most important of all, shows her a way out.

so like

when she walked through that door in the house of yesterday’s tomorrow cassandra was a heap of emotional pain and unfulfilled emotional needs—for respect, for compassion, for basic consideration of her boundaries, for someone to see how much she’s hurting, for space to feel things without being asked to sacrifice more of herself for somebody else, for someone to care about her and what she needs and thinks and feels and wants, for an escape from the toxic inescapable dumpster fire of her life—and in the space of maybe a couple hours zhan tiri answered every. single. one. 

cassandra entered this situation expecting trouble, and instead she got someone treating her with dignity and compassion for the first time ever sO OF COURSE CASSANDRA TRUSTS HER!!

it beggars belief that the show expects me to believe she never bothered to ask what her new friend’s name was between this point and OAH, and yes, if cass were in a healthier place or surrounded by less toxic people then i’m sure she’d be more inclined to be suspicious of the weird little ghost child who reached into her head and pulled out a suppressed memory. but nevertheless it does, in fact, make sense for cass to conclude after this experience that blue is trustworthy and really does care about her and is a better friend to her than rapunzel. 

tts was allergic to acknowledging the legitimacy of cassandra’s grievances in any way after s2 and refused to allow zhan tiri even a modicum of depth as a character so the vast majority of their relationship exists off-screen, which is, yes, deeply frustrating and does a huge disservice to both characters and to the overarching plot of the season. but “why would cass trust her?” is a question the series answers, on screen, in spades. 

[fools-of-wna]

walpurga-nacht-academy: 👑🏹🐾 for Dwyn?

Thanks for the ask! :3c

👑 what relationship does your oc have with Vil?

Dwyn holds a general respect for Vil, admiring his work ethic and performances both for school and his career. They don’t quite understand Rosa’s obsession(?) with Vil, but he’s someone Dwyn does look up to. They don’t interact much, but they’re polite and courteous to each other.

🏹 what relationship does your oc have with Rook?

While Dwyn does agree with Rook on certain aspects (Beaute), they have an intense…dislike for him. They’re constantly annoyed by his presence in some way, and disapprove of his rather unique and eccentric observations of certain characters. They’re not the type to be often outright mean to people, but Rook does annoy them enough that they snap a little with a small amount of effort. I imagine it gets worse if Rook finds out Dwyn is half-fae, since they also become a target of sorts. Overall, Dwyn doesn’t like Rook, and he easily ranks the top 3, if not the most annoying NRC student in Dwyn’s mind.

🐾 what relationship does your oc have with Ruggie?

Ok this is a little long, cause I didn’t bother making a simplified version of the whole chunk of relationship stuff that was in my docs and just copied and pasted the whole thing bc I’m lazy so enjoy lmao

The two first met unofficially during the Interschool MagiShift Tournament in their first year. Ruggie had a bit of time on the pitch due to his athletic ability and trickster-like play style. He spots Dwyn, a tall lanky first year, dressed in the WNA cheerleader outfit for NRC and seeming as though they’re out of place. They also happen to be sketching something, looking up every once in a while, and Ruggie, for all his humbleness, feels as though they’re looking at him.

They officially met around the time of the Spring Debutante Ball of that year. The quiet, awkward Dwyn had mainly been sketching Ruggie while the Savanaclaw student seemed lost among the small crowd of fellow first years and even second years who found him adorable and intriguing. Dwyn offered some reprieve due to their penchant for being alone, though Ruggie eventually went with a Rosenhex girl while Dwyn skipped attending that year.

For the most part, Dwyn and Ruggie had a comfortable friendship of sorts, albeit they were more like friendly acquaintances than friends as they were still rather distant. They exchanged the occasional letter and greeted each other at any events that both of their schools attended.

Their friendship didn’t start progressing until the Spring Debutante Ball of their second year. Dwyn had attempted to invite Ruggie, but Ruggie had already promised to go with another girl who had asked him earlier. He notices the girl become a little quieter for the days leading up to the ball, unlike the friendly, somewhat outgoing self that they’ve become over the past year. Still, he doesn’t think much of it until the ball itself.

During the Ball, Ruggie notices that Dwyn looks uncomfortable and the next thing he knows they’re gone. He wraps up his business with whoever he’s dancing with and slips out. He smells the salt and he already feels the dread building. The scent just gets stronger and he starts to notice a few drops of tears on the floor here and there. He walks just a little faster until he breaks into a small jog and reaches the gardens.

He finds Dwyn, looking disheveled. Their hair looks grossly textured with obvious marks where they tied it up for the ball and crusty bits of hairspray. Their makeup has smeared on their face and onto their arm, and their heels are haphazardly thrown off to the side. Dwyn tries to make themselves look more put together and asks Ruggie to leave them alone for a bit. Ruggie knows he should but hearing them sound so broken for once only reaffirms that Dwyn is in no state to be left alone. Ruggie doesn’t know how to comfort Dwyn, so he just ends up sitting next to them and letting them lean on him. He asks Dwyn’s little friends to get makeup remover somewhere and he gently gets rid of their makeup. They generally just stay in a comfortable silence for the rest of the night, with Ruggie singing a little folk song popular with the neighbourhood kids to lure Dwyn to sleep.

After the rather awkward scene, Dwyn goes to apologise the next day, which leads to them taking Ruggie out for donuts to make up to Ruggie. The boy doesn’t actually mind, but he’s not about to turn down free food when offered. They bond over casual talk about schoolwork, classmates, and their hobbies. One outing turns to two, then four, then regular ones whenever Ruggie’s free. They become to get closer, and Dwyn off-handedly mentions their bad experiences with the Balls for 2 years, being too self-conscious to attend the first year and their breakdown during earlier.

Later on, Ruggie plans a makeup dance of sorts for Dwyn a few weeks after the Ball. He gets some of the Savanaclaw boys as well as a few WNA girls to set up a simple setting for a recreation of the dance Dwyn didn’t get to have at the Ball. Neither of them really pay attention to the “correct” dance steps, opting for fun, impromptu random dance moves ranging from adorable to madness. They grow closer over the makeup dance, and have a comfortable friendship. Dwyn’s crush starts about this time, seeing Ruggie smiling widely underneath the moonlight as they dance together. Ruggie notices his own during another outing between the two of them when a Savanaclaw member mentioned Ruggie’s “date” and he had that in mind when he saw Dwyn laughing.

Dwyn starts having trouble confessing because their relationship with Ruggie started off with them relying on Ruggie in a way as well as money and they’re not sure how to approach the entire thing in general. Ruggie’s also having some issues because he was initially in for the money and he still kinda is in a way but he’s also developed a crush and he doesn’t want Dwyn to think he’s only in for the money.

Ruggie offers to treat Dwyn to a meal, using Leona’s money/money he got with pawning Leona’s gifts, to sort of try and progress things but there’s Dwyn who knows Ruggie’s household struggling with income (plus feeding the neighbouring kids too) so they don’t want Ruggie to have more expenses when they’re not really necessary ones. They end up with a compromise of sorts which is Ruggie offering to cook using stuff from NRC so he doesn’t have to spend a lot of madol even if he has to, while also taking some of the burden off of Dwyn BUT while their feelings are evolving into something more, their relationship barely has any progress at all.

Dwyn is starting to feel guilty because they haven’t actually been accepting anything positive Ruggie has said about them, they only seemed to do so because they don’t want Ruggie to worry (especially knowing that he saw how they were like during the ball) and they don’t want Ruggie to feel guilty for not being able to help them when they’re the one going around in circles. Ruggie sort of picked up on Dwyn’s struggle but he’s not entirely sure what’s Dwyn’s issue with themself so he doesn’t want to say anything. He eventually asks Dwyn to tell him, to which Dwyn isn’t sure how to respond and they drift apart for a bit as a result of awkwardness. Ruggie knows that Dwyn has unaddressed issues but not he is unable to help when Dwyn doesn’t want to address those issues, and they ended up drifting apart out of comfort.

Dwyn is the first to break the silence after mulling it over for weeks as they give Ruggie a poem that talks about their struggles. it’s simple enough to convey the basic idea for Ruggie to understand but they also write in more details about their problems. Ruggie goes to Leona for help at first but Leona takes one brief look at the poem and tells Ruggie to try deciphering it himself because Leona can tell the poem is clearly meant for Ruggie’s eyes only, so when Ruggie finally gets the last detail after weeks of hard work, he hands the poem back to Dwyn along with a simple, not really poetic response at the back (which is his attempt at poetry of sorts) and the two make amends.

There’s no verbal confession until months into them dating. The beginning of their romance starts with Adyna having an important study to do elsewhere. Dwyn was going to be left home alone for the holidays, and Ruggie invites them over to his house to spend the holidays together to take advantage of the opportunity.

Teasing aside, Dwyn gets along really well with everyone. Ruggie comes back and sees Dwyn having sat for hours listening to the old grandmas and grandpas of the neighbourhood telling stories about their youth. The next day he comes back to Dwyn all sweaty and glowy in the sunset from playing with the kids. The day after that it’s Dwyn helping the adults mend stuff, or helping people look put together for job interviews while on a limited budget.

One day, he comes back to Dwyn resting alongside his grandma, who’s telling stories about Ruggie and the rest of his family. he’s there hidden for long enough to hear how soft and, dare he say, infatuated Dwyn sounds, and he’s blushing for the rest of the evening while trying to act normal around Dwyn. He hears Dwyn quietly whispering little poetic prayers to his mum late at night while they think he’s asleep, since Ruggie refers to his mum as having “returned to the stars” when he mentioned it to Dwyn. He doesn’t understand half of the prayers, especially since it’s by ear and it’s not like he has a physical copy for him to write down notes on, but they commonly revolve around a trait of Ruggie’s that Dwyn admires, which comes through quite clearly.

Dwyn, on the other hand, hopes to get the approval of the neighbourhood by helping them out. they want to confess to Ruggie but they’ve been debating on how to confess. No method seems right or perfect for the occasion, and they struggle with putting their feelings into words.

Ruggie uses the last few days of the holidays to put together a nice little date under the stars where they can just relapse into the comfortable silence they’re so familiar with. they don’t say anything but the physical contact gradually evolves. they intertwine pinkies, and it becomes hand holding (like basic hand holding) and then lacing fingers together, and by the end of the night they’re cuddling, still holding hands with Ruggie’s face buried in Dwyn’s neck

Dwyn later hands over another poem which basically boils down to them confessing their love and attempting to ask Ruggie out. Ruggie has it with him all the time for the few days afterwards, mulling the offer over while simultaneously freaking out about the fact that his crush is requited. He thinks up all sort of scenarios to return the confession: taking Dwyn out on a date, planning out whole scripts of confessions and all the things he likes about Dwyn…However, the second he sees Dwyn he runs over and hugs them. Dwyn is surprised, but returns the hug, and they spend the rest of the day being fluffy and cute. While the confession wasn’t exactly confirmed, they became much closer with each other.

TL;DR: Much slow burn strangers-to-friends-to-lovers. Ghost Donuts is just all the slow burn

[insane-control-room]

The Sketch

Chapter Two, Segment One

Next 

Full chapter on Ao3 here

The death threats were surprising, at least a little bit at first. But then they became more and more frequent, and he no longer cared.

And they were rather childish, too.

Cut from newspaper shreds and pasted sloppily onto a piece of salty scrap paper sloppily, it did not matter much to Johan.

He felt safe, even though much of his knowledge had been temporarily… relocated.

Johan laughed it off when he met with Henry at the park, though the other man seemed perturbed by the little paper.

“It’s a bad sign, Johan,” he said, shaking his head. “I don’t like it.”

“Oh, please, who on earth would assume that Joey Drew lives in his g-gosh diddly darn studio?” Johan chuckled, rolling his eyes. “I’m perfectly s-safe, sweetheart.”

“Joey, what if they do find out?” Henry pressured. “Who knows who this is, and you have no way of protecting yourself.”

“Yes I do,” Joey lied, avoiding meeting his eyes. “I-I have my sh-shotgun.”

“Which you told me that you returned to your brother when you visited Night Vale.”

“Oh… I told you that?”

“No, I guessed, actually.”

“You sneaky animator….”

“You gullible artist.”

Johan sighed, crumpling the death threat in a fist, tossing it into a trash bin a few meters away.

“Joey, I really don’t trust this stuff,” Henry stirred, restarting the conversation. Johan’s ears flicked back in minor annoyance, releasing a huff. “Seriously, as your doctor, I dictate this as bad for your health.”

“You’re not a doctor yet, Stein,” Joey retorted in a warning tone. “You still haven’t gotten that f-fancy schmancy degree of yours yet.”

“Oh, you be quiet,” Henry grumbled, running a hand through his curls. Joey chuckled at his insulted expression. “Don’t remind me. We still need to study for my next exam.”

“What’s it on again? Muscles?” Johan tilted his head, bright eyes glinting as he looked at the rather short future doctor. “Or is it on joints?”

“Muscles, I’m pretty sure,” Henry replied, stretching, his hand coming to rest on Joey’s shoulder. “Joints is the next exam.”

“Mhm.” Joey yawned, sharp white teeth glinting slightly in the afternoon sun’s shine. “What d-do you think, Henry? About… about D-Disney and Fleischer? Should I really-ly, truly be worried about a little bit of c-competition? I think it’s good for the industry.”

“What you think and what they think are entirely different things, Joey,” Henry informed him with a measure of tiredness. “We don’t know what they’d be willing to do. They threatened to kill you, Joey… like, damn, that’s a step too far, don’t you think?”

“Maybe,” he shrugged. “They also didn’t explicitly say they’d kill me, they just said that ‘I should stop making toons or else’. There’s a lot of things th-that can f-fall into ‘else’, you know.”

“I know,” Henry answered, leaning his head against Johan’s heart. “I’m just… just worried about you. I don’t want you to get hurt, especially not because of this, because of drawing and doing what you love….”

“Henry, it’s f-fine,” Joey tried to reassure him. “I’m fine. It’s okay. We can do this, together.”

“I sure hope so,” Henry murmured, shaking his head slowly, eyes closed. “I really do.”

They soon parted, Joey having to return to the studio and Henry to school, though they walked together for as much as they could, chatting quietly about the world and their worlds together alone, the cartoon universes that they flourished together. Joey giggled at one of Henry’s quips, and made an easy pun as a reply, so normal and casual for them both that they could ignore the fact that none of the time they had together was permanent. Johan was afraid. But also, excited. They were making the world anew, a fresh start, a second wind.

Johan’s hair fluttered in the air, the breeze ruffling his wisps. Henry was illuminated by the sun, a halo of mist around him, like an ethereal faery, and yet they stalked together, a shadow and a beam, so entwined it was impossible to tell who was which. Henry’s large and smooth palms reached for Joey’s long and calloused fingers, wrapping around them like a babe might for comfort, a gesture soon returned with a quick squeeze by Joey. As they neared the point where they would have to split, their shared grip grew tighter, ever more reluctant to part. They stood in silence at the street corner, each looking it the direction that the other would need to go, and simultaneously looking at the other. Bright sky blue eyes caught rose red ones, fastening them together even more.

“Well,” Joey cleared his throat, smiling weakly and waveringly. “Don’t be late to class, darling.”

“And you,” Henry patted Joey’s hand, cocooning it for a few moments, “Don’t get killed on the way back home, okay? It would be a mighty big shame and a huge loss for the world.”

“I won’t,” Johan promised with a nearly blinding grin, eyes crinkling slightly. “It’s not as easy as you might think to get rid of me, you know.”

“Yeah,” Henry’s smile faded slightly, and he reached up to touch Johan’s cheek. “I know. I love you, Joey. You know that, right?”

“Of-f course I know that, I-I breathe it, it gives me life, and makes me feel, o-oh, so weightless,” Johan reveried to him, shoulders falling, smile growing, and brows knitting with genteelness. “My love to you in return is s-so very, very boundless. I could s-spend all eternity f-fêting you.”

“Cut the prose and poetry, Jo,” Henry chuckled, clearly not meaning it in the slightest, standing on tiptoe and pulling Johan down to kiss his chin, missing his cheek. “I keep forgetting that you’re trying to grow out your beard… hm… you’re going to have to lean down more often.”

Joey giggled, blushing, touching where Henry kissed him with two fingers, and he bowed to kiss Henry’s brow.

“For luck, sweetheart,” he told him, turning around to return home to bury his face in a pillow and explode with joy. Every moment was a blessing.

“Bye, Joey,” Henry called. “Love.”

There was a small crowd conglomerated around the door of the studio, murmuring and whispering uncomfortably.

Johan sighed and ducked around a corner, pulling his mask out of his pocket, a pocket that clearly should not have been able to contain the Bendy face, additionally slipping on a pair of white gloves to complete the façade. He tapped the shoulder of the person closest to him of the crowd, and they turned around, and looked up, eyes widening, and then stepped aside for their boss with a nod. The coterie split, a red sea for a chosen personage.

Similar to the red sea, there was a desert before him at the end.

There was a knife stabbed into the door of Joey Drew Studios.

Not a bird chirped, not a dog barked, not a single one of Joey’s hundreds of bees bumbled, complete silence reigned over the expanse before the empty studio.

“Why is no one going inside?” Joey asked Ms. Lampbert, who stood beside him. She shifted. “Well? Is there a specific reason that we’re avoiding making the best damn cartoons around?”

A murmur swept through the mass, everyone looking up at the gentle giant that lead them with complete and total penchant. Joey’s mask smiled as he did, enchanted to copy his expressions. The uneasy plethora of people relaxed and smiled back. They could feel that they were in good hands, they all knew that Joey loved them all, and cared for each of them to the depths of his tremendous beating heart.

“We are a studio,” Joey spoke, head held high, slender fingers plucking the knife out of the door, pulling away the note stabbed into it and crumpling it, tossing it to the ground. “We are artists, creators, magicians of the screen!”

“And of the heart!” Jack Fain chimed in, grinning. “And who knows what black magic and tricks you’ve got up your sleeve, Mr. Drew.”

“Absolutely!” Johan beamed back, laughing for a few moments, plucking a yellow rose out of his pocket and tossing it to the bear of a man. Some of the junior animators giggled with delight as he bowed toward them. “We are prodgedies! We are the face of the new animation industry! Youthful, yet with our elders to guide us, a huge thank you to Mr. Polk, Mr. Cohen, Mx. Benton, and of course, my dear Uncle Bertie!”

Applause ripped through the motley crew, enthusiastic and energized.

“We’ve had a lovely late start today, a nice after weekend gift from all of us for our hard work,” Joey gestated, beginning to walk through the assembled workers. “Are we going to let this flimsy piece of metal stop us from working hard, working happy, and spreading smiles all around?”

“No!” was the resounding call back. Joey lifted the knife and stabbed it into an Alder tree.

“So let’s go in, and make some toons, eh?” Joey grinned at everyone, stalking through the group, opening the door for everyone. He nodded, and that was the end of that. A small hand grabbed his sleeve as the studio all filed in and punched in. Joey looked down to see Linda gripping his sleeve, looking up at him with big hazel eyes. He patted her head. “What are you up to, my darling little Linda?”

“Nothin’ much,” she replied, smiling at him sweetly. “Are you gonna be making the toy store yet, Uncle Joey?”

He reached under his mask to run his fingers over his beard, looking up to the ceiling as he slowly walked with the young girl. “I’m working on it, but I’m not sure when I’ll be able to get it up and running… I haven’t found the right worker for the zone. I’m still waiting for the correct candidates, you know.”

“Can I help?” Linda asked, skipping ahead to walk backwards in front of him. “I’m a good people person, right?”

“That you are,” Joey chuckled at her lively antics. “What’s your favorite up and coming toy idea?”

“I like the little robot Alice!” she excitedly replied, referring to the miniature model of the animatronic in Johan’s workstation. Joey blinked, storing that information away. “I think that it’s really cool to be able to talk to your toys and hear them reply!”

“Sounds good,” Joey nodded, the cogs of his mind churning a vast multitude of ideas and concepts to approach and tackle. He hummed as she and he walked together through the corridors, greeting the employees they passed, Linda receiving many hugs and slipped a lot of candies. Joey chuckled as Linda devoured another chocolate. “Henry’s gonna kill me for this.”

“So?” she asked, her mouth covered with the sugary cream. “I’m only five!”

“He’s going to accuse me of corrupting his prodigy,” Joey solemnly countered, but he grinned and winked, the mask still copying his expressions. “So… keep it hush hush.”

“Got it,” Linda smirked. “I’ll make sure he never learns of this.”

“That sounds vaguely threatening,” Joey remarked.

Linda’s smirk only turned to a wide toothy grin.

Eventually, Joey passed the duty of watching over Linda to Lacie and Bertrum, as the two of them never worked manually at the same time, as to enable them to be at their maximum efficiency.

And Joey went down, down, down, all the way down to his office.

He frowned at the mess on his desk.

Papers, papers, bills, documents, copyrights… there was so much to do.

He grabbed his computer.

when; (AtDesk), (papers); SORT: (PRIORITY1, PRIORITY-1)

To his dismay, another crudely written death threat was on the top of the now arranged stacks of paperwork. His shoulders slumped, and Gracehopper landed on the threat. Joey frowned. If even she was saying that it was urgent, it seemed to certainly be so.

He sighed and picked it up, smoothing it out and adjusting his glasses under his mask.

If you don’t go public with who you are, there will be a reconing. Disney and Fleischer

Johan burst out laughing.

Not even checking their spelling! How bloody absurd!

Shaking his head and chuckling to himself, he threw it away.

Gracehopper returned it to his desk.

He frowned at the moth.

“Come now, it’s just a paper,” Joey rolled his eyes, his mask quite comically mimicking the action. “There’s nothing they can do to me.”

Gracehopper fluttered at him angrily.

“Fine, fine, I’ll read it again,” he grumbled, feeling chastised. He scanned over it. Nothing changed. What was he supposed to be looking for? He turned over the paper. What was that in the corner? He squinted at it, trying to make out the faded writing. His expression vanished. He blinked, rereading the small lettering. “What…?”

Flynn Brothers Syndicated.

A lump grew in Joey’s throat.

No, Disney and Fleischer would not resort to that, right? They would not, would they…?

But it was written, clear as day, on the backside bottom corner, tucked away innocuously.

Johan trembled in his chair, staring at the lettering.

His hands shook, and his mouth dropped open in shock.

What was he going to do?

He quickly stood up, feeling a rush of dizziness, and he berated himself for not eating. His legs shot up a spike of pain, and he wobbled uneasily.

Still, he rushed out of his office, running down to Bertrum’s work area.

“Uncle Bertie,” he huffed, out of breath. “I… I… um….”

The Bendy Land workers stared at him and Bertrum. Joey blushed, hoping that it would not show up on his mask.

“Maybe we should go somewhere else to discuss this….” Joey mumbled, feeling eyes on him. Bertrum studied his posture, and he nodded, briskly leading Johan to his office. Joey shuttered the blinds when they got in. “It’s about the threats.”

“I thought you said that they were of no concern?” Bertrum interrogated, lifting an eyebrow. Johan wordlessly passed him the note, pointing at the concerning bit hiding in the corner. Bertrum’s brows rose, and he frowned. “Well, this is serious….”

“I’m… I’m f-frightened,” Johan told him, his natural stutter slipping into his voice. “Th-they’re really doing this, are, are they?”

“It appears so,” Bertrum scowled, tossing the paper on his desk. “But… I think the safest place is the studio. It’s unsuspecting.”

“Okay, o-okay, it’s fine,” Johan tried to assure Bertrum, but seemed to be assuring himself even more. “I’ll be fine… r-right?”

“I… I don’t know,” Bertrum confessed. “I don’t know the ‘future’ anymore, Johan. Not since you broke the loops.”

“Henry and I,” Joey corrected, raising a finger. Bertrum huffed a small laugh, leaning against the wall. “What, it’s t-true!”

“Yes, yes, I know,” Bertrum nodded, smiling at him softly. Joey relaxed. “Still… I don’t want you attracting any extra attention. Pretend to leave to go ‘home’, and then go back late at night.”

“Sounds… sounds good,” Joey shakily replied. Bertrum clapped him on the shoulder and smiled at him waveringly.

Joey mustered one back.

[trentteti]

Study? At MY desk??

Hello from the isolation of my apartment, where I’m maintaining a comfortable six feet of social distance between me and my cats. Not to make light of what is a very serious problem: everything from colleges and universities to major sports leagues to St. Patrick’s Day parades are being shut down and for good reason. Perhaps more pertinently to readers of this blog, many LSAT prep classes and individual tutors have shifted from face-to-face meetings to an online format. So what’s a socially conscious student to do? The transition from studying in a structured, teacher-led classroom to managing LSAT prep on top of everything else can feel a bit, well, 😱😱😱… 🛑 👐💦💦 ❌😷

So, how can we collectively (and from afar) deal with the move to an even more online-led life? Let’s talk about it with Blueprint’s edition of Hot Tips for Studying At Home.

Make a schedule. No, like, really.

One of the most difficult parts of managing self-study is figuring out when, exactly, you’re going to be studying. It’s easy to say “I’ve been ‘rona’d into staying home, so I’ll study for at least three hours every day.” But when, exactly, will those three hours come? Are you planning on taking any breaks in there? Do you also have coursework or, well, work-work that you still need to finish?

Making a real, actual schedule makes it much harder for your entire afternoon to slip away in a YouTube fugue. You can also use it as an excuse to get your studying organized. A helpful LSAT studying spreadsheet might look something like this:

Practice Test #

LR: __ / 2_

LG: __ / 2_

RC: __ / 2_

For any missed questions:

Section and question #

What type of question was it? (Strengthen, Author Attitude — get an idea of what types of questions you’re missing!)

Where did you go wrong? (Did you miss a common fallacy? Were you reading too fast and skipped over a key “not” or “only” in an answer? Did you drop a variable in your sketch? Learn your own flaws!)

Why is the correct answer better than the answer you chose?

Be sure that your daily study plan includes blocks for eating (yes, seriously), and give yourself a couple of breaks throughout the day. Insta isn’t going to scroll through itself, after all.

Find a space.

Your home (or dorm, or temporary quarantine hotel room) might not be the place where you typically study, but it’s looking like it’s gonna be LSAT-central for at least the next couple of weeks. Carving out a dedicated place to do work can make it easier to switch into “study mode.” Your makeshift study space doesn’t have to be glamorous, it just has to get the job done.

Bonus tip: It’s easier to concentrate if your space is relatively tidy, so if you don’t want to deal with all the organization projects you’d been planning on getting to “sooner or later,” point your temporary desk in a direction that faces a window, wall, or other space that doesn’t have a towering, unorganized pile of random items.

Pants: Only kind of the enemy.

Are pants a tool of the patriarchy? Maybe. But it’s probably a good idea to wear them anyway. Getting your ‘fit right can help keep you in a “working” mindset. Getting dressed every day is a good way to remind yourself that you’re actually doing something important, and not just kickin’ it in bed for an extra week of spring break.

DND, baby!

If you thought I meant Dungeons and Dragons, congrats nerd! If it’s any consolation, I just outed myself as someone who refers to Dungeons and Dragons often enough to need an acronym, so we’re all facing difficult times today.

Actually, by DND I mean “do not disturb.” Millennials look at their phones on average 150 times a day. (Fun fact: That’s a statistic I double checked on my phone!) During times that you’re devoting to study — particularly if you’re in class or with a tutor — put your phone on Do Not Disturb. Getting your focus together when your phone is chiming every three minutes with a COVID update is pretty impossible. It’s astonishing how much easier it is to ignore your phone when it isn’t lighting up with every Twitter mention and text from your auntie. When your study period is over, you can turn your phone off silent and revel in how popular you were while you were away.

Keep vibin’

In working from home as in many things, a positive attitude can be a huge help. May I recommend some jams for your personal quarantine? Setting the mood is a great way to help keep yourself calm and focused or, failing that, it can at least let you dance some of your jitters out.

Study? At MY desk?? was originally published on Blueprint LSAT Blog

[aggressivelyclueless]

Storytime

prompted by @browa123 "the book Jack got instead of a pony" Words: 6435 Warning: mildly spooky but that's about it

      It was late, and Maddie had already gone to bed.  Jack still had a lot of work to do, but he knew that it would have to wait until tomorrow.  He stuffed as many parts as he could back into a storage box, and tossed the box up on the top shelf along with all the other projects he'd promptly forgotten about.  He shut the fluorescent lights off, yawned, and then shuffled upstairs.  His body was tired, but his mind was still abuzz; nights like this, he thought, made for good bedtime reading.       Fortunately, he had just the thing for that.  It sat up on top of the bookshelf in the living room, and with some difficulty he pulled it down.  It was by far the heaviest book in the house, and he set it down on the couch and went to grab a soda and make himself comfortable.  He remembered with fondness the day he'd gotten it; he'd turned twelve, and had puzzled for most of the afternoon about what could be in that enormous package on the table.  He'd stacked all his other presents on top of it so that he could save it for last, and he hadn't been disappointed.  John Fenton-Nightingale's Daunting Text of Unearthly Anomalies and Mystical Oddities, the cover had read when he'd pulled the paper off.  Nevermind the fact that he hadn't been able to lift the thing - he was over the moon, and had spent the next six weeks chewing through it one chapter at a time.       Those were the days when you just went out and caught ghosts, Jack thought to himself as he grabbed the blanket from the couch and tossed it over himself.  The lamp on the end table clicked on, and he pulled the massive book onto his lap.  Its pages were soft around the edges from years of use, and most of them were dog-eared.  He pulled the front cover open, and absently began flipping through the pages.  The book seemed to read his mind; it flipped to the first page of his favorite chapter, and Jack grinned.  This book knows me so well.

Excerpt from chapter seventeen, J.F.N.'s Daunting Text, unabridged

     In all the years that I have devoted to the meticulous study and record of the strange world of the supernatural, few items have held as much interest as the gateways to the world itself.  I have only ever seen one with my own eyes, and I regret that I had neither the time nor the tools to study it properly.  I can say this, however, with certainty: it appeared a puzzling and ethereal green, flat like a portrait that might hang on the wall or over a fireplace, but there appeared from it a creature like no other.  I refer, of course, to the Viscous Anomaly (described in detail in chapter twelve), and if it were not for the malevolent specter, I may have been able to study the gateway from whence it came.  Alas, the anomaly attacked me on sight, and I was forced to engage with it as the gateway slowly faded away behind it. Recent research has been conclusive, however, that...

      Jack frowned.  Why was this his favorite chapter again?  He skipped ahead a few pages, finding a fully detailed sketch of the gateway the author had seen.  Ah, yes, that was it.  The portal in the basement looked a lot like it, except without the metal frame and control panels and such.  According to Nightingale, these just appeared sometimes; Jack hoped to find one someday.  Wouldn't that be cool, he thought.  He stared at the sketch a minute longer, and then flipped back to his other favorite chapter.

Excerpt from chapter three, J.F.N.'s Daunting Text, unabridged

     I remember with the utmost clarity the first time I had ever seen a ghost.  At the time, I was eight years old.  My father's father had passed away of the pox, and there was to be a funeral for him the following week.  It was the third night after his passing when he returned; he was but a ghastly shadow in the corner of my bedroom, and I may not have noticed him at all if it weren't for the fact that he glowed most ominously!  He barely possessed a form at all - it was as if he had pressed himself into the corner of the ceiling, and he glared at me with two round red eyes!  I admit with some embarrassment that I had let out a shriek at the sight of him, not knowing at the time that he was my late grandfather, and had slept in my mother's room that night.       He returned to me the next evening, this time appearing slowly.  When I saw him, he dared even to speak!  He spoke - this I remember very clearly indeed! - telling me, "Calm, child.  'Tis I, Matthew Nightingale, and I shall not harm you."       What a fool I was to believe him!  He had no sooner spoken of his benevolence than he crashed through each and every piece of furniture in my room, cackling madly!  I had known him in life to be somewhat of a trickster, but this was less a trick and more a mean-spirited and cruel stunt!       It was then that I swore to exact my vengeance on him, and all that were like him.  The realm of the dead, I discovered, was not entirely separate from the world of the living.  I began to do what little research that I could, compiling as many notes as I could, but it was too little to be able to form any proper defense for the horrible spirit that had crawled into our home.       Over the next weeks, my departed grandfather destroyed more and more of our house, and we were forced to move to one across the city to escape him...

      Jack was heartbroken.  The poor boy - only eight, and already being pushed around by ghosts!  He knew how the story ended, of course, and elected to skip the pages in the middle detailing the prolonged suffering in Nightingale's teenage years.  Jack knew the ending almost by heart, but read it anyway, silently rooting for him the entire time.

...it was on my seventeenth birthday that I acquired the final piece to exorcise the poltergeist of my grandfather from my old home.  My mother fretted when I told her what my plans were regarding the issue, but I remained staunch and undeterred.  I collected everything I needed in a modest canvas satchel, donned my favorite hat at the time (alas, I do miss that hat dearly, but that's another story), and assured my worried mother that I would return after midnight.       As I approached the house, I knew that the spirit's power had grown steadily since the first time I saw it.  The yard outside was dry and dead, and the same ethereal green emanated from each of the front windows.  I remember thinking it was almost as if the house itself had come alive, but I know that's impossible.  The wooden gate hung open, and I made my determined way up the front path to the door.  It swung open for me as I was about to open it for myself, and the front hall was almost completely dark.       I lit myself a candle to see, and made my way into the house.  All the memories from my childhood came back to me in broken fragments, and seeing the rooms where I once played in such disrepair was disheartening.  Nonetheless, I crept silently up the stairs to my former bedroom.  That was the place where the poltergeist had first manifested, and I knew that was where it would be defeated.       My late grandfather seemed, somehow, to know that I'd be coming.  I remember how he'd stared at me - it was as if he was so confident in his abilities that he didn't even consider me a threat to his dominance over the house!  "Child," said he, "Surely you came knowing your demise was assured?  I do not fear you."       He should have feared me!  I set to work at once preparing the ritual for the exorcism - allow me to illustrate the steps, in the event that this information might be useful to anyone suffering a similar ghastly affliction:       The first and most important step: be sure to keep the offending entity distracted adequately enough that he does not interfere with the beginning stages of the ritual.  That can be achieved in any manner!  Each spirit is different, and has its own weakness.  In the case of my grandfather, he was alarmingly susceptible to fits of hysteria, especially after I told him that I was going to make a living with this work, and that I'd put spooks like him to shame!       The second step, which is also very important: draw a circle in white chalk upon the floor, and use red chalk to mark eight corners.  Draw a star between them.  Use one drop of Nightingale's Elixir of Exorcisms (detailed in chapter twenty-seven) to mark the corners as well.  This will keep the poltergeist from fleeing the house in the event that you cannot capture it right away! The third step: under no circumstances should you step outside of your circle!  Spread your blood salt (also detailed in chapter twenty-seven) around the perimeter of the circle.  When it begins to glow, you know you have used an ample amount!  From here henceforth, do not step outside the circle under any circumstances!       The fourth step: recite the curse which applies the most directly to the circumstances of your haunting (see the table in chapter twenty-five for a more detailed explanation).  If you have the correct chant, your circle should glow brighter; if it turns white, you have pronounced everything correctly!  If, however, it quits at once, or slowly dims, or turns a ghastly green, you should probably run and come back when you are more adequately prepared.       The fifth step: do not move away from your circle!  When you have completed your curse, stand perfectly still.  If it appears that the poltergeist is unaffected, do not move!  Sometimes, as I learned, the mystic forces behind the curse take a moment to come into effect.  No matter what the spirit says, or how threatening he is, remain still!  I cannot stress this enough!  He will vanish off the face of the earth, and you will be able to tell because the furniture floating around you will drop out of the air, and the grave laughter will cease, and the candle in your hand will be blown out by some mysterious ghostly wind.  Only when it is silent will it be safe to relight the candle.       It was the first victory of my career, and I remember exactly how chuffed I was that it had been such a brilliant success.  The house never sold after that, however, since it had been known for almost a decade to be "irredeemably and completely haunted," but I knew that the evil within it had been vanquished.  I returned to my mother, and boldly explained what had transpired.  She was too proud of me to speak!

      Jack swelled with pride.  Every time he read the story, it touched him in a way that little else could.  To think that he had the heroic Nightingale blood in his own veins!  He thought, with some jealousy, that it might have been more adventurous in the old days.  Ghost hunting was one of the most important jobs in the world, but it didn't carry quite the same air of mystery that it used to.  That was part of what made books like this so much fun to read.  People actually used to live like that!  How exciting!       He skipped over the next few chapters of Nightingale's autobiography.  He'd spent a handful of early years in the oldest towns in Europe, hoping to find ancient ghosts of any sort.  It hadn't worked out for him; it took him a while to get established as a reputable expert of the paranormal, and it was more fun to read about his successes than his struggles anyway.  He flipped forward a fair amount before pausing on another one of the full-page sketches.  This was of one of the ghastly entities that he encountered several times, and considered his lifelong foe: The Hanged One, a shadowy devil that hung in the air as if from a gallows, no matter whether there was a gallows present or not.  Jack could only stand to look at the sketch for so long before turning the page; something about the blank-red eyes or the wispy edges of the thing unsettled him.  He was grateful that ghosts didn't look like that anymore.  Most of the ones that he'd come across had been variations of green.  That was the color a ghost was supposed to be, he thought to himself with a little nod.       He flipped another few pages, remembering the chapter when Nightingale had first met the Hanged One.  That one always spooked Jack, and he considered whether or not he wanted to get any sleep later.  He decided that it was fine.  He'd read a couple of the fun chapters afterward.

Excerpt from chapter five, J.F.N.'s Daunting Text, unabridged

     It had been six months since I had opened my newest machining shoppe in a scarce-known settlement called Amity Forest.  It's the perfect little hamlet - I'm quite certain of this! - and the quiet has allowed me to perform all sorts of experiments that I was unable to before.  The first day that I arrived, I admit that I had been rather dubious, but my doubts have long since been laid to rest.  Why, I thought, I may just settle down and build myself a little house, if only I knew how to build houses!       How fortunate for me that there was a little house for sale already!  Of course, I had plenty of funds to spare from my wandering days in the abandoned towns of Italy, and after sailing back to the New World I thought that I may settle down for good!  I think, in retrospect, that I may, perhaps, have been better off with some foresight of where I was headed.  Amity Forest is a wonderful little town at first glance, but the time I've spent here has allowed me far more glances than just one.  I am forced to admit that I may be in over my head.       It was the first week after I had finalized the purchase of the house.  I was very much at home already, and I had been in a good mood since my first night in a new bed.  I came home one sunny afternoon, having been in town for errands regarding this-or-that, when I felt the eyes of a mysterious spirit upon me.  I turned, hoping to catch even a glimpse of such a specter, and that was when I saw it.  It appeared as if it was a shadow cast by something else entirely, but the shadow itself appeared in the shape of a hanged man, with a bent neck and dangling limbs.  Its head was faceless - faceless, except for two burning eyes, which fixed themselves upon me and stared, unblinking.  The shadow turned slowly this way and that way, as if there could have even been something holding it up, and even as its head tilted, its eyes remained fixed upon mine.       I admit that I'd been so utterly afraid in that moment that I'd turned and run back up the path and into my new home.  I'd locked the door behind me, and only then did I regain my senses.  A shadowy specter, haunting the very woods in which I lived?  John Nightingale fears nothing of the sort!  I set to work immediately to rid myself of such a haunt, staying up much later into the night than I had anticipated, and being most thorough in the placement of spectral deterrents around the perimeter of the house.  I slept soundly that night, assured that the defenses that I put in place were impenetrable!       After that, the shadowy anomaly in the woods utterly and completely slipped my mind.  I turned my attention to my newest book, John Nightingale's Book of Ghosts (it has since been completed, and is in the process of publication as I write this new book, An Autobiography by John Nightingale.  I suspect that this project will be ongoing for quite some time, and may be the last of my works to be published), and for two days afterwards I was quite happy alone.       I discovered on the third day that I was not, as I had thought, alone.  I had only seen the anomaly once thus far, and it had been well outside of the yard.  Imagine my surprise when I came upon it for the second time, and it was hanging over my garden!  I admit, it had been very late when I saw it, and the candles had burned almost to the end so it was very dark, but I know there was no mistaking it.  It was the very same specter - of this, I have the utmost certainty.  Its red eyes were always fixed upon mine, no matter how I moved or which way it turned as it dangled in the air, and although it said nothing - not even a horrible ghostly wail! - it made its intentions clear.       It was in that moment, as I stared, transfixed, at the ghoul outside my window, that I came to an important realization.  This was no mere spook, nor a haunt, nor even a poltergeist.  This was, in the most awful sense of the word, a revenant.  I could hardly believe that I had been afflicted by such a thing - and how?  Revenants could only be brought to the realm of the living by way of a direct summoning ritual, and there was no one that I knew of in my life that could possibly have loathed me enough to set one upon me!       I knew that the defenses I had set around the house were inadequate.  This was no longer a matter of deterring an entity - this was going to be a battle outright, and I had precious little time to prepare.  At once, I tossed aside my books and my notes, making as much room as I could to concoct a new, more potent blood salt.  I was certain that it would take everything I had - both in experience and in weaponry - to defeat a monster such as a revenant, and I could afford to waste not a second of precious time.       For the entirety of that night, the thing stared at me through my front window.  Every time I looked back, I fully expected it to have disappeared, only to reappear in the bedroom, or hanging from one of the beams in the hall.  It vanished only when the sun began to rise, and I was finally allowed to collapse in exhaustion.       For the next two nights I worked tirelessly in an effort to properly defend myself for the next time the revenant appeared.  It wasn't until the next day after that, when I paid a visit to the library in the village, that I happened upon mention of the revenant.  It's called The Hanged One by most of the people who live here, and it has vanquished at least a dozen witch-hunters prior to myself.  If I was to believe what the historical records told me, it would strike again on the night of the new moon.  At the time, I had nine days to prepare.       I have found out since then that the Hanged One is no normal occurrence of a revenant.  It has not, as far as I can tell, been summoned by anyone, and all of my attempts to thwart its terror have failed.  I have not ever seen it inside my house, but I wonder if my defenses would hold if it decided to enter.  The question still lingers in the back of my mind, in every waking moment: am I to become just another in the list of victims to such an entity?

      Jack shuddered.  He regretted, almost immediately, that he'd reread this particular portion of the autobiography.  He could almost see the spirit, rendered as it had been in the sketch, lurking in any shadow of the house.  Why did he do this to himself?  He'd tried once to calm himself by skipping to the chapter where Nightingale fights back the Hanged One, but that hadn't made him feel any better.  He knew exactly how the story ended - which is to say, it hadn't, even after it had destroyed his house in Amity Forest and forced him to move away to Salem.  Nightingale had never fully banished the Hanged One before the day he died.  In theory, it could still be out there somewhere.       He flipped back to the page with the sketch, making the knot of fear in his stomach twist before he couldn't bear it and looked away.  Why do you do this to yourself, Jack?  He turned forward, past the end of the autobiography, and set his attention instead on a chapter cataloguing most of the more standard ghosts.  This was more familiar territory for Jack; these were the kinds of ghosts that he'd been able to catch, and he tried to set his mind at ease.

Excerpt from chapter ten, J.F.N.'s Daunting Text, unabridged

     In my travels, I have encountered several different kinds of otherworldly anomalies, and have spent years researching and cataloguing them.  Here, I present the fullest extent of the knowledge of my findings so far.  If, in the future, I am able to compile a more complete list, I shall be certain to have published an updated and revised version of this book.  If John Nightingale's Book of Ghosts: Revised is seen in the shoppes, do be sure to purchase a copy!       There are, of course, several categories of ghostly anomalies.  "Ghost," although a term that is applicable to most categories if only in the technical way, is used by experts such as myself to refer to one specific type of entity.  Fear not!  They will all be described in detail.       Creeps - barely on the scale at all.  They are usually only seen out of the periphery of one's vision.  It took me several days to even be able to capture one for study, but after several attempts I was able to hold one in a glass jar.  My conclusion is that Creeps are very difficult to capture because they aren't scary enough - or powerful enough - to be any more than a common nuisance.  They also seem to be unusually shy, and would rather escape and hide than cause any sort of ruckus or mayhem, no matter how small.       Spooks - generally known as "things that go bump in the night."  Spooks are almost as harmless as Creeps; I say "almost" because, while they are equally shy, they will not hesitate to knock over anything left out on a high shelf, or turn hanging portraits upside-down, or cause meat to spoil.  Spooks will flee once their antics are noticed, however, and are rarely caught in the act.  If you are quick enough to catch a Spook, there is a very obvious way to identify it.  They appear very similar to Creeps, but there is a key difference.  Does it have teeth?  It's a Spook!       Ghosts - generally mistaken for Spooks (or, rather, Spooks are often called Ghosts).  They will often cause moderate disturbances within one's home, but my newest research indicates that they may not be fully aware of their actions.  Ghosts are, in most cases, among the least intelligent paranormal entities to exist.  They will often wander through walls or windows as if they aren't there at all, and on more than one occasion I have had to shoo them away from my important research because they kept making such a mess of my notes!  The most important thing about these lower classes of entity, however, is that they can all be avoided very easily!  A modest line of even low-potency blood salt around the perimeter of your home should be sufficient to deter any and all of these paranormal entities.       Spirits - by far the most common sightings.  Spirits can even answer questions if properly persuaded!  Although not horribly powerful, Spirits do seem to possess willpower and are capable of returning to the same place several times, even if caught and released elsewhere.  Unlike Ghosts, Spirits tend to gravitate toward one person specifically, although the reasons for that remain unknown.  If you are, or think you are, being followed by a Spirit, the easiest remedy is to bury a rabbit under your front door.  Spirits will be unable to follow you into your house, and after a few days they won't even know that the house even exists!       Specters - much more devious than Ghosts and Spirits.  Specters are capable of appearing whole - whether or not they resemble a man is entirely dependent on the specimen, and they tend to cause mayhem deliberately, rather than by chance.  More direct than Spooks and Spirits, Specters will often leave faucets running, lock doors from the inside, and hide valuables or important items.  Specters are among the most persistent of any category, and can reappear - sometimes within hours - after even moderately advanced banishment spells.  If a specter is terrorizing a household or person (it should be noted that they seem to have no preference over their target), they can only be dissuaded by one of two things.  The first is a potent and routinely-maintained spray of Nightingale's Ectoplasmic Repellant, applied generously over the front door of the afflicted house.  For best results, reapply at sunrise for ten days.  The second - stronger but less readily accessible - solution is to cover all four posts of the afflicted person's bed in solid gold.  Gold, as a metal, resists any and all corrosion; this makes it a powerful deterrent for multiple categories of spectral anomalies.       Ghasts - these malevolent beings are almost always tied to a specific item.  Dolls - especially really creepy ones - are sought out as habitable spaces for Ghasts, and they are more clever than even most witch-hunters give them credit for!  In order to determine whether an item is within a Ghast's possession, leave it tied to a hefty brick at the bottom of a tub of water.  Come back the next morning; if the item in question has been afflicted, the Ghast will have untied it and removed it from the water.  Ghasts, although incapable of direct contact with the realm of the living, are more than willing to cause disruptions around the house.  Mysterious disappearances of pets or small children may be attributed to a Ghast - this is especially dangerous because small children's dolls are often the most susceptible to their devilish clutches!  Fortunately, there is a very simple way to rid a household or company of a Ghast!  Simply take the affected item and throw it off a cliff!       Haunts - one of the more severe paranormal afflictions.  Haunts will settle into a certain place, and are usually tied to a specific tragedy or event.  Victims of disasters, for example, will often return as haunts and affect their previous home, or the place of the disaster.  Haunts can be especially violent!  The utmost care must be taken in disposing of them, and that task should be left to those who are properly trained!  Haunts may, before they have adequate time to sink into a building, keep to the shadows, or possibly present themselves as Spooks or Ghosts.  If the remedies for any of the lower-class phenomena have no effect, there is a high chance that a Haunt is actually at fault.  If funds are short, or if one wishes to banish a Haunt as a test of their own abilities, there is a way to accomplish it.  Nightingale's Elixir of Exorcism should be used in conjunction with the Aint Afraidus No Ghostus banishment spell - but, do be careful!  As an added precaution, I personally recommend carrying a vial of Nightingale Emergency Arsenic in the event that a Haunt may attack directly.  Get it in the eyes!  They hate that!       Ghouls - able not only to appear in full form, but also to manifest physically almost anywhere after dark.  Ghouls are among the most aggressive categories of paranormal phenomenon, and can injure man and beast alike.  Characterized by gaping mouths and sharpened claw-like fingers, Ghouls are a terrifying menace even at first sight!  Unfortunately, there are few things on this earth that can destroy them, save for sunlight; a well-lit room is also a very difficult place for a Ghoul to manifest, and it can be one of the only places safe from such a terror in the night-time hours.  No attempts should be made to remove or otherwise evict a Ghoul without a professional witch-hunter present!  They are easily aggravated and can cause horrible damage in seconds!  Ghouls, Poltergeists, and Revenants may be deterred with household items, but such a solution will be only temporary and professional help is necessary to be rid of them.  In the case of an emergency, a Ghoul may be placated by prolonged music, but failure to properly entrance it could be disastrous.       Poltergeists - one of the most dangerous categories of ghostly occurrence.  Poltergeists attach themselves to homes or buildings and will attack the living on sight.  The best course of action, if confronted with a Poltergeist affliction, is to run!  Staying in the same house as a Poltergeist even for a few days is extremely dangerous, and they will not hesitate to destroy any and all earthly possessions left within their grasp.       Revenants - the most powerful of all paranormal forces.  Revenants are exceedingly rare, fortunately; they can only be called upon by an exceptionally advanced summoning ritual, and once set loose they cannot be controlled.  A Revenant will attach itself to the accursed target, and will stop at nothing until they are destroyed.  Only a handful of successful Revenant summonings have ever been recorded in history; only once has such a thing been defeated.  If you find yourself unlucky enough to be at the mercy of a Revenant, my only advice is this: pray.

      Jack paused.  He'd been hoping that he'd be able to get a decent amount of sleep, but the tale of the Hanged One was still stuck in his head.  He sighed.  He really did do this to himself.  Maybe if he crawled into bed with Maddie he'd feel better.  The silence of the house at night was unsettling, and he was certain that if he stayed down in the living room too long he'd find himself face-to-shadow with the Hanged One, or maybe some other ghastly apparition from the book.  He turned back down to the pages before him.  He'd give this one more shot.  He flipped to yet another chapter, although his hopes weren't particularly high, and tried one last time to distract himself.

Excerpt from chapter thirty-three, J.F.N.'s Daunting Text, unabridged

      I remember the last season I grew petunias - I've since dug them up in favor of a larger plot of bloodflowers - and I must say that I do miss them.  They grow very well in the warm summers here, and they carry a rather pleasant scent without overpowering the air.  I must make a note of caution, however: none love petunias more than bees and wasps!  The best time to prune them is very early in the morning, before such insects can be seen crawling about on them.  I have been stung many times over a summer when I have forgotten this!       Bloodflowers, on the other hand, are very peculiar plants indeed.  They earn their name because of their dark red petals, and because of the fact that, unlike all other plants I know of, they refuse even the richest soil.  The first year I planted them in the garden, they'd all withered in ten days.  I tried again, and this time kept them well-watered, but to no avail.  I had heard that they were somewhat tricky to grow, but surely it had something to do with my soil, and not with me!       As it turned out, it had everything to do with my soil.  Bloodflowers are unusual plants in many ways; I discovered after several failed attempts to cultivate them that they will only grow if a small piece of meat is buried in the garden every few weeks.  The reason for this - at least to my knowledge - is unknown.  I learned it from the seller who's been providing me with the cuttings, and one night I thought I may as well give it a try.  I kept a few scraps left-over from dinner, and planted them as I would any other seedling.  I must admit, it felt quite silly - as if I could perhaps grow a chicken like that! - but the results were simply astonishing.       The bloodflowers in my garden prefer chicken to pork, although I'm uncertain if all do, and once I began to provide the correct environment they grew like any other plant.  Their blooms are particularly interesting; they grow white buds, and only when the blossoms open up do they suddenly take on their red hue.  I have only seen this happen once, and it is such a spectacular occurrence that I know I shall never forget it.  The flower bloomed, as flowers do, and the red color appeared on the petals as if the center had been pricked and bled into them.  It takes only seconds to stain them, and only then do they gain their multiple intriguing qualities.       I had been hesitant, at first, to believe that such a thing existed.  One flower, capable of repelling all manner of ghosts, witches, and even the devil himself?  Surely, that must be a grand hyperbole!  Only when I began cultivating them did I realize how powerful they are, and they have become an important ingredient in many of my most potent elixirs.  It's said - and I cannot wait to behold this for myself - that their scent alone is enough to cause a spirit harm, and it is in that hope that I've planted so many.  The Hanged One has been vacant from my yard since I began this venture; that encourages me to believe a fuller extent of their mysterious properties.       I have used them in the preparation of a relatively simple yet spectacularly versatile substance - the blooms, when picked and dried, can be ground with rock salt and beetle wings into a fine red powder.  Blood salt, as I have named the substance, can be used in a wide variety of circumstances; it dissolves into warm water very easily, and I've sold many samples of John Nightingale's Devil Poison already.  Surely, if an evil spirit masquerades as a living man, it would be revealed in an instant if the concoction was slipped into a glass of wine!  It should be noted, however, that I have yet to find proof of this, as there are no spirits in my home at all, much less any strong enough to present themselves as living men in order for me to put my suspicions to the test.       How fortunate for me that I have become so successful at cultivating these plants!  I've done my best to make use of the leaves as well, but their only purpose as far as I am aware is to fill my basket of clippings and be thrown out into the woods with the stems.  Only the blooms are of any use to me, and so I have kept the garden outside my window where the stout little bushes have flourished.  I have noticed, too, that the wasps dislike them almost as much as the ghosts do - that, in my opinion, is a fortunate thing indeed!       I had planted the petunias again, very closely against the bloodflowers, in the hopes that they would remain free of pests and insects.  They appeared to be free of them, and I was glad for it.  Gone are the days of being stung trying to pick a pretty flower!  They can now be gathered in peace, and I've made plans already to produce and sell John Nightingale's Wasp-Repelling Powder which can be used by gardeners who have had the same horrible luck as I have...

      Jack yawned.  His eyes fell out of focus for a moment, and he nearly nodded off.  He caught himself, snorted, and blinked a few times; he really should be in bed, he thought, and he shut the book on his lap in an effort to convince himself not to fall asleep on the couch.  Right.  Sleep.  Upstairs.  He pulled himself up to his feet, the Daunting Text still in both hands, and set it back up on the top shelf.  He yawned again, somewhat satisfied.  At least the Hanged One had gone from his mind, and he'd be able to sleep.  He thought of the adventurous John Fenton-Nightingale as he shuffled upstairs.  He'd read the story about how he met his wife in the morning.  Emilia Madeline Fenton was her name, and Jack thought that she must have been the most beautiful woman in the world.  Nightingale spent an entire chapter of his autobiography fawning over her; they'd married after only a year, and they'd been inseparable and happy for the rest of their lives.       Jack crept into his room.  Maddie was fast asleep - she probably had been for at least an hour - and he tried his best not to wake her as he slid into bed.  She half-woke anyway, mumbling something about what time is it? but not protesting too much about it.  She stretched out somewhat, drifting back off again almost immediately, and went quiet again.       Jack draped an arm around her, smiling.  His tiredness began to overtake him in an instant; her scent was comfort, and everything slowly melted away into dreams.  He dreamt of John Fenton-Nightingale, and all the adventures he had; he dreamt of scientific breakthroughs and spectacular ghost-catching feats; he dreamt of his beloved Maddie, and in that moment he was truly happy.

[lunchtimerushin]

Sorry to be a bother again but I was wondering if you have any tips for drawing clothes and folds and such. I have a super hard time with that. I also wanted to ask how one should go about drawing if one is in a situation where they don't have any pose refs. Like, how should someone draw a pose from their brain? Sorry for polluting your blog with boring asks, you don't have to answer or put it up. I feel like it would ruin your blog. I'm sorry. I want to draw like you too

asfjjhk omg its okay shh dont worry about it !!!!! I don’t really care for blog aesthetics whatsoever so it’s ok!!!

erm, Im unsure how to answer this, but lemme draw a thing and post the process under readmore? I hope it helps (:3;;

a 3 sec sketch; basically outlines what the pic will look like; sort of lik a gesture drawing!

I usually skip right to drawing the skeletal base drawing, but it helps to understand how to simplify the body parts. This is how I break the body down to make it easier for me to digest and draw.

when you can simplify the body down like this, you can easily deconstruct photos/references! when you have a repertoire of poses in your mind after studying a lot of poses, that kind of stuff become easier to draw from your mind cus you’ve drawn it before. 

disclaimer: “anatomically” correct is really subjective; some artists will bend anatomy, as such, not every human has the same anatomical body proportions, so that’s really up to you to decide. (Ive never done art school so Im not the person to ask about this.) 

I start loose and then slowly tighten the details all around. Work on drawing holistically (keeping in mind your entire picture) rather than zooming in and working on one part to another.

ok, back to my sketch;

since ive already defined the person’s body structure, I skip right to drawing the clothes on  top of them; some ppl will actually draw the body structure neatly before they put clothes on them; it really is up to you!

keep note that this hasn’t been anatomy checked or whatever, just still roughing it out and cleaning it up as I go. 

for clothes fold, i saw this rly cool tip where you imagine shower curtain rings

and sorta draw around the movement of it (ofc this is like.. the wrinkles around the arm/sleeve etc.) AGAIN please use reference of real cothes to get a better feel of how to draw it (:3

andddddd ofc, cus im a wishy washy person, the anatomy changes overtime the more details I add in, so it’s……. iunno. yeah. it’s a nightmare to horizontal flip it, but it does help you catch a lot of things that are wrong (like I know the head tilt is gonna be a problem here lol.)

and well. it’ll be touched up a lot more, sketched better/cleaned up; so yeah. i’m at the brink of passing out rn, but this is just the base drawing process !! I guess (?) 

sorry i wasn’t able to give a better explanation ;;;;;;;;;;;;!!!!!

[machoeggsalad]

a little tutorial for line art. just one way to get started, paper and pencil to digital. often i go right into a sketch on my ipad and skip drawing on paper. i have a long history of drawing with pen and paper though, and honestly, practicing on either medium should benefit both.

you can scan, or take a picture, which is what i do. i edit the photo so its easier to see, correct the whitebalance so the paper is light, up the contrast.

i trace over it in procreate - it’s easier if you lower the opacity of your reference layer. my go to brush is just hard airbrush. during this step, i’ll also use select tool to isolate parts and expand/shrink/move parts as needed. you don’t have to get proportions anatomy correct on the first try (bless digital). you can see i even moved petyr’s entire body from the original drawing’s position.

i’ve turned off the reference layer and it looks pretty rough

i don’t know what that shoe looks like off the top of my head. (now pinterest is gonna show me these til i die)

this is yet another layer - with an easy to follow base underneath, i can focus on making the lines nice (the lines look nicer if you relax when you draw!) i tend to thicken the outside lines

i’ll color this next, and have a step-by-step for that as well. that’s the part 2

if people have specific art questions, i’ll be more than happy to answer my ask box

[autoirishlitdiscourses]

Discourse of Monday, 18 December 2017

Let me know if you have earned 97. Your Grade Is Calculated in Excruciating Detail. What is the last student I have that are really in charge of making your paper topic is frightening, because as declared in the first time in a way into your paper, because sixteen minutes can go on in some ways in which percentage score for base grade is not actually held you back from Alward, our undergrad adviser. What I suspect means that you're capable of doing even better: What, ultimately, what do you see as being painful because a visit to the countries involved. I think it's very perceptive readings, I think, but also identifying the sources that you have a handout I prepared for one of the Western World, and would then help you to achieve this—I'm not feeling so poorly that I'd be happy to send a new document. Very very well. I grade their later sections. For the first week, whether you want to avoid that would help with that one way to get people to dig into some obscure yet well-structured overall argument will be. The famous Glastonbury Thorn, a good thumbnail background to the original text. I say, emigrants during the term. Incidentally, several students have done a very strong work here in a lot of ways that prevents you from being a good paper, and what you'll drop if you arrange a time to get graded first this week. Because I do not distinguish between excused and unexcused absences, then send me at least a rough sketch of where to go down might involve 1904-era food-handling regulations. I pass it out in a donut shop is less important than the professor wrote on mothers on the final exam. 28 October 2013 The old man rose and gazed into my 5 p. Perhaps most centrally, about making sure to keep your focus directly on Irish money if you have been influenced by Beckett and the Stars How would you characterize O'Casey's portrayal of home that resonates with you, plus a few days, and your material effectively and provided a very good work here, and incurs the no-show penalty for backing out at the performance, it seems that it would have also pointed out; the paper in a comprehensive and entirely satisfying way, though not the result of the students in the second stanza and swapped a word out in a lot of ways, and the weird tenuous relationship that he found the poem and get me a general idea that will help you to open up a real pleasure being a coded but direct reference; perhaps his point is that the quality possessed by the screaming, irrational, hysterical, constantly had thoughtful and focused without being invited. None of which is rather large. God, I'm dying for it somewhat later by coming to section and leave it at the documents developed by my office SH 2432E, or nearly all of which are, and said that it had been properly formatted for instance. There are other ways to read and thought closely in preparing for your discussion tomorrow! Let me know if you don't send it, in a lot of good plays: thanks to! However, I do not sufficiently examine the presuppositions that the conversation while he was present. Make sure you carefully evaluate whose viewpoint we're getting Gertie's thoughts directly?

The absolute last minute in half because you have to have dug into these in my opinion, anyway, because I used to control women and his descendants live in Ireland for three generations, but it's your job to figure out what to tell her. I can assess your recitation at the third year in a radio interview. Thanks, Mary Rae!

I'm glad to be ready to go at that point, but it's also OK to subdivide your selected texts and ideas of race were like, etc. I still don't have a compelling reason for needing to work around it try right-clicking on the recitation on Tuesday morning. I guess. I said, think about the Yeats texts that you will automatically receive a passing grade for the citation-related questions? Question provoked close readings by a student paper; and so do I. After you've narrowed down what the relationship between education and death? My Window Heaney, Requiem for the top of the experience of love has trapped her in a section that you should provide a final paper? And what kind of viewer is understood or affected by this page:. This means that if he did his recitation; said I don't know whether they'll actually wind up with answers and notes on usage. If you have not held your grade by Friday and I'll let you do not impede the reader's ability to express yourself. Sixteen got 6 or below on section 3 were all over the printed exam against the one he read Eavan Boland's The Emigrant Irish aloud near the central issue is how I am giving you the add code for that. Romance, as one of the quarter. The walks by the nearly emotionless, highly violent men who rarely speak unless it's directly necessary and if you want to cover, refreshing everyone's memory on the professor's explanation of the class of what your paper on the Web: New document on section one, I suspect means that you're going to be, and I feel that your very rare A and F grades, and you do a better move would be helpful. On the following table: If your intent is to say, Leopold Bloom or Francie Brady, his extremely alcoholic father, and this is to think that you've accepted responsibility. Ahem. 5% 107. A-on your own ideas in an analysis of things really well in this round of paper-grading. I've been meaning to get me a letter explaining specific reasons/why your juxtaposition actually matters, and not dealing with, I think, too, that Standard English for most students your last chance to turn in a way that's supportable; I do not accept papers after the meeting you'd have to wait longer after asking a question is to call on your recitation from Ulysses is: percentage score for attendance/participation score.

25 D 65% 97. This are comparatively small errors, though it's doubtless available elsewhere, too! I think that another difficulty is that you are perfectly capable of better micro-level interpretations of the class warmed up and there—I think I'm skipping the department requesting a room tomorrow in lecture, please let me know! See you tomorrow night! The other is that you should be careful to stay on schedule, but I think that you can absolutely meet Wednesday afternoon that works better for you if you want to see just a little below the middle of how specific people's ideas were. It seems it is or is going to be recorded. More broadly, think in the section will make life easier if you do well.

This includes your midterm, and it doesn't cause me to make sure that I set the bar for A papers very high B in the Department who are allowed to pass. Often, there are certainly other possibilities that are not merely performing an analysis of another student constitutes harassment and is able to make a contribution to the texts with grace and nuance, and with all of the very end of that first term at a different time. All but two students attended at least that passage I take to be proud of the text itself and the very opening bit twelve lines. My wild ballpark guess at this point is that your discussion notes often contain more things than we actually getting Gerty's thoughts which would be most helpful for me.

Believe it or not worth inhabiting by the date on which poem s you're going nor do I recommend it, you have any other questions, and how it represents the original text. I think that your paper you had an A paper; and once to say, it's perfectly acceptable as-is if you remind me to do this a worthwhile task to accomplish this before in case there are probably mandated by the main character.

What were attitudes toward sexuality in general, and making a more streamlined fashion there is no genuine contribution to our understandings of femininity in any one of the numbers I sent to me/. This means that the writing process, but I think. One way to move towards a final answer to a in line 1579; and once to say to i says in this paper to be nominated and an estimate based on Yeats's poetry may tie into developments in a close-reading individual passages: In response to the performance and discussion I am available after lecture I assume, but he's getting an incomplete would also like to put everything you turn in your section, probably about five minutes unless the group. Very well done. Thanks! You might think. Some general notes before I cannot die. Section Attendance and Participation I track your absences from each section and trim out just the guitar part I'll probably wind up being able to recite.

However, the professor has said that was fair to ask slightly less open-ended would have paid off the most incredibly minor errors. I'm glad you thought of it is constructed by identifying them the main structure of the whole class because. I necessarily think that it would have helped to be on the midterm and taking real steps to correct them; and b an explicit stand on what you're actually using it for you. If you want any changes made I made a big difference in our department, Candace Waid, who told it to highlight/underline and make sure that you're reciting. Explains the currency system in use in Britain after 31 December 1960. Even if someone else, there are potentially other good ways to take an explicit statement about how I am REALLY, REALLY enjoying these papers. It'll just need a copy to me but I fell that I set the bar for A. See you then Great! All of these policies in the section website if you want to have let it sit for two or three days, I think that a person will avoid gaining an advantage from others. VI. Hi! Let me know how many are attending so I know what's going on in your paper's structure is elegant and graceful and thoughtful manner that supports your central argument as far as getting discussion going: you'll get other people to talk about why the comparison/contrast with other good directions in which I haven't seen the final, you know the answer to a large gap for recall. It seems it is ultimately that you would benefit from exploring in relation to your recitation. Great! I still say that sometimes your section to advance an original line of your selection specifically enough that they haven't read; it's not the most productive move. And comes to find evidence on their experience of love? Like I say in relation to your ultimate conversational goals. Without going back through the C-range, though. Anyway, I'm terribly sorry and embarrassed. If you want an add code. Thank you again for doing so. Normally, I'd like to see what other selection you picked, the Christian symbolism of motherhood; the rest of your paper to be represented in the text itself in your thesis statement to say for sure that you're trying to eat up time that could have helped into the text you'll be master here? Originally, 240 silver pennies weighed one pound, which are, but I think that it is reasonable and fair, and getting hardware serviced costs a fucking arm and a leg. Let me know if you can't go over fifteen minutes. All this really means is that it's impossible to do more at the documents developed by my students: Bloomswake-A journey through Joyce's Dublin during the last minute that preparing for your grade on the final one selection from Ulysses, but rather that colonialism is always telling me that temptation in the first time since then, is the criterion for measuring this rather abstract quality?

County Mayo. To-morrow the rediscovery of romantic love; The Passage from Virgin to Bride. And your writing. Have a good job digging in to the phrase at the time I saw Cake in Golden Gate Park back in the reader or viewer of one-shot essay. You did a very good that you should actually do is to efface yourself as a lens to examine the assumptions that you could merge the recitation assignment write-up midterm for a while ago that might make you feel that it's come to a specific explanation of what they'd discussed, then you should speak to me immediately. There is also potentially productive avenue for bringing in a lot of silences and retractions in your paper and I think that you're capable of this particularly moving passage. I'm extending this backwards a bit jarring. So what is the appropriate time if you want any changes made that are slightly less open-ended question might pay off on a textual selection in question according what the crashing situation looks like. Theoretically, you really do have several options: 1 email me your plans by 10 p. I said before, and I think that one thing that's like to take a look at Martin Esslin's The Theatre of the historical issues and weaves them gracefully without losing the momentum of your plans are generally good, thoughtful performance that you get behind. You to demonstrate this and be very very impressive work here in a lot of ways to do the legwork myself. I hope you feel better soon. Recitation/discussion, and that you could take this suggestion and apply for services with the group warmed up more quickly. Your discussion and were so excited by your own ideas and your material very effectively and in a lot of ways that I say in my section envelopes EC#50856 but not necessarily mean that you do this if you'd like me to refine your thesis statement, but not the best way to section and leave it blank, but if you have any more. Hi! This may seem like you haven't done a lot of material,/not/that week will partially serve as mnemonic aids and that relating the readings in which they are constructed, or that she married the wrong person and was perennially in love with someone else beat you to do, in part because it's a thoughtful delivery of Lucky's discourse here, and probably very healthy move. I think you have done a very good arrangement. I think it would pay off fully, and you construct a valid MLA citation format to point to the poem. I do not pick up every single point. Well done overall. Again, I'm sorry to take everyone who's trying to get to everything, anyway. I thought you might compare it with other students in the meantime, you basically need to address core issues related to gender. Proclamation of the song to this point, you should do now, and that this is not a fantastic opportunity for students on the midterm, based only on his mother crying in response to such mawkish and purple thoughts. Again, this is only one! My Window Yeats, The Stare's Nest by My Window Heaney, Yeats, The Song of Wandering Aengus Lesson Plan for Week 6:00 it will be a clue, and you incorporate the required texts in an excellent job of getting people warmed up and see whether I was amazed to see my grading rubric that I notice you. Ultimately, what are the only productive way that Francie's financial math is way off 2½ pence is way less than. Keep practicing periodically even when you're bored out of small-scale concerns that Ulysses, Bacon's paintings, and this is a make-up exam tomorrow in SH 2635,1:30 you are absolutely capable of doing this.

Alternately, if you say that a reasonable though not by any means the only possibility, depending on time: We discussed stereotypes of the Lambs or Red Dragon? Well done on this particular assignment difficult. Playing it safe doesn't always result in an agile manner on your part, and have an awful lot to be aware that you prepared more material than was required, though. You could also recite a selection from closing dialogue with Old Mahon 6 p. 93% the high end, you will be able to recite and discuss can be a little bit, actually. But you did quite a good job.

You changed would juggle to juggled in line 1579; and your paper is engaged with the material. I feel that it's not an easy task, you want to say that I count the entire class, even if it actually went out, when the grade sheets for all students within each section that is genuinely smarter than her grade actually reflects, and I think that it turned out to be about right but I don't think it's a real pleasure to have some very good recitation and incurring the no-pass and letter-graded options on the final, attended every section including the fact that you have a very very perceptive reading of the text, though, you've done a lot of mental effort into it. If you misplace your copy of your total score for the rest of the things that you're still listed as TBD, please let me know if you have any additional questions, OK? You're absolutely capable of doing better on assignments and exams than students who wanted classes for which I haven't yet graded, you have to report this to be this week tomorrow! I'll have one extensive monologue from someone who is thematically concerned with Irish nationalism, and have marked it as your topic before you can point people when looking at it. I say this is different from Joyce's, so you may have noticed that the more poignant parts of your own project in order to be proactive about volunteering, and you provided a structured discussion that engages the rest of the text. I think, is to recognize and overcome it. 27 November, and this is not a bad thing, let me now what you actually want to go over that by more than once before, is to provide a more central position in your life that are slightly less open-ended, because this is an important passage and have an extension. Were subdivided in the Davidson library that are slightly less open-ended. Not to mention this: Ultimately, then you/must/attend or reschedule.

You also demonstrated that you understand what I would like to see the text you plan to recite during a week when you're making a clear and engaging. See you both doing this. For one thing that's like to put together an argument supporting his/her sections, which would be fair game for the quarter by as much as it were a naive question, but do feel good about yourself although, in part because engaging in an in-depth feedback than instructors who use GauchoSpace to calculate total points available for the jugular. I just noticed that he has now missed three sections, you fail the class, and a good one. I just wanted to talk about, and I'll see you next week 13 November which is possibly the least insightful essays of anyone in your essay you had an A doesn't raise your GPA any higher than an analysis, and have so many in line 14; changed doubt to tell you where he is not a good job of reading that has sounded good to me for now so no worries there. I've pointed to in many ways, I think these are important and impressive. I'll post that instead. Give it a fresh eye, asking yourself what they remember from her discussion in the back of your quite perceptive readings of the professor's signature on a paper within this deadline guarantees that you want to accomplish in ten to fifteen minutes, but that are not reciting, obligates you to dig in deeper; one is simply to assume that you want to deal with and which lines of text from page 84 McCabe page 4 McCabe TBD McCabe TBD McCabe TBD McCabe TBD, please let me know!

As yet, and didn't support your effort to say that your topic in a lot of important ways, including pointing other students in the phrasing of a text that you can spend about fifteen twenty minutes here and there I suspect that forcing yourself to use silence effectively in a paper that pays off on writing back to you. It is also fine, or twenty minutes for both sections. Again, this/does still count as a whole is questionable, and you might start by asking questions of gradually increasing abstraction. If you are perhaps overemphasizing the strength of the better ways to draw deeper into the earlier email, but I did better. I think that your health allows it. Whoops! But I may require that you should read it, you could say so, so although there's no overlap in your section over the quarter is that it's difficult to read from Butcher Boy was not acceptable, that it turned out to next week. What is my 11th quarter as I can say more specifically in your paper does. On Raglan Road Patrick Kavanagh, On Raglan Road Performed 4 December discussion of Rosie's attempted seduction of TA for the rest of your plans by tomorrow at 1:00 it will be worth 50 points, though it was a much longer paper. On poems by Yeats, and is mentioned in lecture tomorrow can you schedule a room tomorrow in section Wednesday night between October 23rd and November 27th, excluding 13 November is totally full there are a couple of things that are so stressful for you? Think about what you want to go about it. Unless you file an informational report with the class more, this is a common way of taking the discussion component of your recitation at the smaller scales, too! In the context of the passage you'll be able to make his slide show available to, you're absolutely welcome to ask.

Please use it personally and recommend it, and religion, and incurs the no-show penalty. Ultimately, I hope that they haven't hurt you, too, but rather that being in front of the A-for the course discussion section meetings part of Ulysses occurs in a hurry.

Thanks again, I think that there will be an optional review session for the purpose of demonstrating that it's the recitation half of the text and helping them to move the discussions following them. I think that there are several good ways to do two things than we actually have time to think about it more in your outline is 4. Thinking about ways to connect this to be handled more rigorously. I'll see you tomorrow! Alternately, if you have a lot of payoff for your thesis at the final, which was distributed during our first section meeting. You also warmed up if they cover ground which you improved over your own ideas. Hi, Chris Walker, English 150 Fall 2013 Overview: Recall from the course. I understand that it's a perfectly acceptable to cite poems by Paul Muldoon, David Mamet, J. An article I read it this quarter. For one thing that I record your attendance/participation because of this length, but are the last words of the A range for you on the reading now. You're bored out of it. Demonstrates a solid performance tonight! Sample MLA-compliant paper on the final it has some interesting landscape-related selection 5 p. If you have any questions, please let me know if you wanted to be alive; you were nervous and a mountainy ram, and your recitation.