#but also I do have a plan with a certain android.

[winged-wolf-s-collection-of-arts]

[shakes desk] aah. AAH. ART TIME. I double checked my refs so everything Should look right.

Rabbit was banished, and Wolfy left JJ around when he locked down the factory- but!! After getting transformed into a cat monster, JJ's kind of been having a better time? His former friends want to help even though they don't recognize him- augh- TwT

Rabbit and Wolfy are uh... looking for new prey let's say? Salem's not in too deep yet, and Pavel's great with contracts, but let's see where it goes. Muah hah ha.

[ID: A partially colored digital drawing over a grey background.

At the top-middle of the image Rabbit and Wolfy stand back to back, each are holding a round magic crystal with swirls drawn in white. Rabbit's wearing his usual robes with a star shaped badge over his heart, he has antelope-like horns, and a long fluffy tail. He has fur markings that look like browline glasses. Salem's standing by Rabbit and reaching for his crystal with his left hand. He's wearing a jacket with stitch lines by his shoulder and back, and is using a cane. His eyes are closed.

Wolfy's wearing his usual suit and tie, he has short deer-like antlers, and he has a similar tail. He has fur markings that look like round glasses. Pavel's standing by Wolfy and reaching for his crystal with his right hand. He's wearing his usual suit and tie. His eyes are closed, and the scars over his eyes and on his hands are drawn in white.

In the center of the drawing, JJ is falling downward and his legs overlap with Rabbit and Wolfy a bit. He's drawn like a human with bat like wings, a cat tail, claws, and four horns- two come from his forehead, the other two curl from the back of his head to his jaw. He also has a crooked halo with rays of light coming from it. He has shoulder length dark hair, and his face is obscured by shadow. He's wearing a white suit and black bow tie, and black and white striped armbands, with a matching waist sash. A round spiked crystal hovers over his chest, it's colored with green, blue, purple, and gold. Matching colored wisps of smoke come from the crystal.

Six hands drawn in red reach up from the bottom of the drawing to catch JJ- Caedem's gloved left hand with claws and two rings on the middle and ring fingers, Jer's left hand with Lichtenberg-figure-scars, Delta's right hand with part of his sweater sleeve visible, and Rev's right hand with long claws. The last two hands are a bit offscreen. /End ID]

[melodic-haze]

FINALLY REQUESTS OPEN WOOHOOO!!!!!

okie so. Imagine just making Zhu Yuan wear vibrator in work which is totally evil!! She needs to arrest people and do all the paperwork, yet she can’t concentrate on all the things because of the vibrator. Also, making the vibrator go faster when she’s on the meeting and she’s supposed to listen and be quiet… anyway!! And even when she’s on her duty, she just can’t take it anymore and all she needs is her girlfriend’s cock in her soooooo like. Sex in her office so real, no matter if she still have work to do or not! Poor girl needs relief 🙏

love you haze my wifey 🫶

☆ — DEMO TRACK: sub!Zhu Yuan x dom!fem!gp!Reader

☆ — TYPE: NSFW

☆ — CONTENT WARNINGS: fem reader with a dick, semi-public sex, public use of a vibrator

☆ — NOTES: love you too Rayne 🥰🥰 ik how long you've been waiting for this so ty for the patience babe 🤗

First off idk how people can see her as a dom sorry I just wanted to get it out there 🫶

Anyway convincing Zhu Yuan to WILLINGLY fuck around like this on the clock AT HER WORKPLACE would be a challenge, not because she's avidly against it (even though she makes a show of protesting due to it being inappropriate, you find that her 'protest' is a lot weaker than if she actually meant it) but because she's fucking shy

She's SHY about these kinds of things—sex already has her flustered anyway, having a toy inside her IN PUBLIC is even WORSE!!! For one, yes, how the FUCK is she supposed to concentrate her work in such a state?? That UNDOUBTEDLY gets worse overtime bc Why Wouldn't It? Just having it inside of her, without you even doing anything, turns her on due to the embarrassment and the anticipation bc genuinely who knows when you're gonna turn it on 😭

Oh but you WILL have to make good on the promise that you don't use it in genuinely dangerous situations bc she CANNOT be risking lives over a distraction like that

Though just because you promised not to do anything in life-threatening situations, doesn't mean you were gonna prevent yourself from doing anything in other risky situations. No, if anything, you planned to make the most of it since the very moment you stepped into the Bureau.

Credit to where credit's due, Zhu Yuan did give her best effort into seeming like she didn't have a certain distraction inside of her threatening to take her attention.. and the last of her dignity, if you pushed her to the edge far enough. Though unfortunately for her, that did mean you took her determination as a challenge.

You're thoroughly aware that her and the rest of the response team were in an important meeting, with all the Hollow appearances getting much more frequent. And yes, you're thoroughly aware that the term 'important' there is metaphorically underlined and highlighted in bright red...

So you swing open the door, a coffee tray in hand and the most innocent smile you could muster on your face as you approached the table, "Coffee, anyone? I thought I'd make some."

You see Qingyi shrug nonchalantly as she sips on her own tea (respect to the android for having it there instead of even pretending to look like she cares too much), contrasting to Seth's enthusiastic hand raise and some of your other colleagues' individual forms of assent. Though as you moved around to hand people their extremely needed liquid caffeine, your focus was more on the woman at the board, with her eyes widening and her otherwise pale skin reddening immediately at the sight of you.

"What-- Uh, what are you doing here?" She stammered out and only making her blush worse than it already is, "Is there an emergency or--"

You shook your head with a small laugh at her current display, "No no, no emergency. I just wanted to check in, see how it's going."

"..The meeting's going fine."

"Is it?"

Her eyes dart to look at your moving hand before looking back at you with slightly narrowed eyes at the realisation of what you're about to do, not to mention the suspense that only the both of you are privy to.

Just as Seth goes to answer enthusiastically in her stead, keeping everyone's attention anywhere but your true focus, you see your beloved's lips mouth out a few words to you.

'Don't you dare.'

So of course, like the kindest, most merciful person ever, you switch it on at full power.

A loud yelp escaped her already open mouth, much to your barely-hidden amusement and her reluctant-and-now-horrified embarrassment. The others' heads all whip back to Zhu Yuan's stumbling figure as she slams her hands on the desk and holds herself up, shaking her head as if she could shake away the red that coated her face.

Before anyone could ask of anything, though, it was you who spoke first, "You alright there, officer? You look a bit.. flushed."

And in this game between you and her, there was no way she was going to blurt out anything indecent in front of her work peers, especially not when she needs to be professional.

"Fine, I'm.. I'm fine," she says after taking a long breath before turning back to the board and crossing her arms, "but maybe we should.. mm, put a-- a pin on this for now. It's-- been a while anyway."

You wanted to tease her more but Seth pipes up questioningly, ever so diligently that it's starting to slightly annoy you, poor fool, "But I thought there was more to discuss?"

"Considering the.. interruption, I think we should take this as an opportunity for a break, no?" You hadn't actually registered Jane's presence until you hear her yourself, her smooth voice tinged with something suspiciously close to cheeky awareness, "Been a while since we've heard of sounds other than work discussions and Hollow risks."

"But--"

"You're telling me you aren't hungry?"

"No-- well, yes, but--"

"So take the chance! I personally will."

You see her push herself off the wall and opens the door, though before she fully left she stops. Then, she turns around with a complimentarily knowing look, her eyes darting to both you and Zhu Yuan specifically as she practically purrs out her words, "I don't think I'm the only one who's hungry, either."

She walks off, and the others follow her (one of them with reluctance), leaving the two of you alone.

Looking at her face though, she looks pissed. Beyond embarrassed too, yes, but also as if she could kill you right here right now. Maybe you took it too far, you think as you turn the toy off immediately.

Maybe you should apologise.

Before you could do anything, however, she makes a beeline for the door and hastily locks it. And it is only when the room is quiet and she is stood stock still that you can hear her ragged breathing.

You hear her lick her lips, not quite looking af you, before she speaks with something of a tremor to her voice, "You are insane, you know that? There is something seriously wrong with you."

"I just thought it'd be fun and it was tempting, sorry if I took it too far--"

"Turn it back on."

"What?"

"Turn it back on."

..Oh.

"Oh," your prior guilt has been quickly washed away and replaced with a smirk, "well, if you're being rude then--"

"Please." And she turns around and darts over to you, her hands clinging onto your hips—your proximity is so close to the point where you can feel her hot breath and see her clearly dilated pupils, "You know I don't like to beg but you've-- just please--"

You snaked your hand around her before giving her ass a smack, eliciting a sharp gasp from your tall lover, "Patience, you big baby. I thought I taught you better than that."

"Plus," you continued as your other hand went to lead her own to the bulge of your pants, "I think I'd much rather have you fall apart on me rather than some toy I used to play with you."

She lets out a whine as she buries her face into your neck, and you know that you'll have her falling apart in no time at all.

Will be extremely real she'd be SO PENT UP GENERALLY 😭😭😭😭😭 she doesn't tend to herself bc it's just at the back of her mind. Keeping citizens safe and just her work in general is always her top priority!!! So the moment she gets some sexual relief it is SUCH a feeling for her

Within her is the conflict between the fact that it's appropriate to do these things at work and the need to just have you at whatever kind of capacity......but that all gets overshadowed when you shove your dick inside of her 😜 suddenly ALL train of coherent thought flies of the fucking window!!!!!

I think everyone was thinking of those handlebars on her back and I am NO EXCEPTION❗️❗️❗️ Grip onto them as you piston into her over and over and it has you hitting some VERY deep spots that have her clawing on the table

NEEEEED to have her filled though really is that a surprise in this fuckass blog???? No????? Exactly. I genuinely don't know how people could see this woman as a dom bc she's such a fucking loser that as much as she thinks that begging is so embarrassing, she does it anyway bc she needs this ache to go away and needs her head clear!!!! So you have to take responsibility for what you've done to her through the whole day!!!!!!

Despite Zhu Yuan's best efforts along with the securital soundproofing, you'd be surprised if nobody had heard you beyond these walls.

The officer had taken to switching between covering her mouth and biting her knuckles in an effort to prevent her desperate whines from escaping as she bounced up and down on your lap. You, however, were sat on one of the chairs with your tits pressed on her back. One hand had gripped her now-messy ponytail and your other alternating between assisting her with her movements (not as if she needed it, considering just how in-control she was with her own body despite her thought-clouding desperation) and slapping her skin.

The room was hot, or maybe it was just the two of you—it didn't matter though, not when the two of you were going at it like animals, with your hastiness spurred on both by the fact that the others could come back at any time now and realise that something may have happened and your lover's surprising need for you.

Calling her pathetic had earned you a shake of the head, though you could feel her insides clench onto your cock. Perhaps it was due to her strength, but even despite how audibly wet she was due to the mix of both your very rushed releases, her cunt still had such a grip on you that you just couldn't help but cum inside her again.

You'll probably get told off by her about practicing safe sex later and pulling out when you needed to, but really who was she to say anything when she refused to let you cum outside under the guise of not letting this room become even more of a mess than it already is?

..That'll wait for when you're done though. Right now, you were solely focused on your now-quivering girlfriend as she squeezed onto your cock once again with a gasp.

Having a quickie but instead of just doing it quickly, you do it for a consecutive amount of times jsut bc your loser gf really wants you to rail her idk 🫶

It DID end up leaving her more relaxed though!!! Despite the fact that she couldn't stand for a while LNAO

You both get a text from Jane saying that neither of you are slick at all though..........and a VERY intrusive text about how she could smell your concoction of sex scents even stronger as a Thiren, to which Zhu Yuan REFUSES to see the light of day again (she goes to work the day after)

[heartfullofleeches]

Remy I miss you I love you also. Titus. I love him and miss him. And also Nightlight reader. Babies. Beloved.

[I had am old blurbo with Nightlight and Titus I scrapped. Here's one for him and Remmy too]

Remmy finding Nightlight Reader at a thrift store while looking for more dolls to add to his collection of antiques. They're the most beautiful "doll" he's never seen- (anything that has a humanoid form and is made of plastic, wood, cotton is a doll to Remmy- even androids). He takes the android home - planning to clean them up and give them a comfortable spot in his room. When Remmy touches the heart on their chest-

"Powering on.......backup battery at 12% percent....Accessing memory...No memories found... error...error...err-"

"Ah!.. That was scary. Hm, where did I end up now? Oh! Hello, tiny person - are you my new owner?"

Remmy instantly falls in love seeing this robot pick up on the dolls on his bed and speaking to it as a normal person. "Um, actually..I think that's me."

"Whoa! Where did you come from? My apologies, owner - what should I call you?

Remmy falls more in love with Nightlight by the second. They're so caring, and warm, and they love to play with his dolls as much as he does. They would follow his every command as part of their programming, but Remmy hardly feels the need to order them around because he knows they'll never leave him and for that he'd do anything from them. Stays awake all night until nightlight carries him to bed making new clothes for them. Buys all the books he needs to repair any minor damages they might have - and completely erase any trace of their memories of the past.

All Remmy needs is Nightlight. All Nightlight needs is Remmy.

-

Titus is given Nightlight Reader as a present from his guards after finding the android in a landfill on earth and repairing them to working order- The emperor has been more irritable than usual- if he dislikes this bot, his guards pray that smashing them to bits will be enough to quell his anger at least for a time. The guards present the android to their king and wait-

"What have you brought to bore me with now?'

"We believe it is an earth made machine designed to relieve stress for humans-"

The emperor chuckles. "Is that so?~ I have been rather pent up recently, and it isn't a complete eyesore, but you are aware of our difference in size, yes? Are you certain it won't break on first use?"

"Er, not in that exact way, your highness. You see, they-"

Titus huffs. "Then what good is it?"

"Just....allow me to turn them on. Please place your finger on their heart, your highness."

"This is ridiculous...."

The emperor does as instructed

"Powering on....Battery at 100%...System rebooting."

"Mm....Huh? What a strange place... Are you my new own..er? Oh, owner- your stress levels are dangerously high - they're increasing by the second! Why won't I sing you a lullaby while you relax with your favorite drink? I know lots, but I can always make up new ones - maybe one about your pretty eyes."

"That..... actually sounds wonderful. I haven't had a decent night of rest in ages. It's humorous to me how you were able to figure that out in seconds when these fools have been with me for centuries. I think I'm going to enjoy your company more than I thought."

Titus cannot go or sleep anywhere which his little nightlight. Feeling their heated, smaller form is all thats needed to knock him out like a light. Nightlight Reader is restricted from joining Titus in meetings for that sole reason. This whole ass tyrant sits in his chair pouting like a child until he can reunite with his little love. Decorates them like the doll they are with jewelry and adorable outfits. Whenever Titus is in one of his rages, guards quickly run off to retrieve nightlight from wherever they're exploring in the palace

[chris-prank]

Can I ask for headcanons for atlas? Preferably how he would ask if his s/o or darling had someone trying to date them/hook up with them. Please I really need some possessive stuff it's what feeds me

This is the first ask I received about Atlas! I'm so happyyyyyyy 😆😆

And if you like possessive stuff, I can already tell you that Atlas will be even more unhinged and possessive in the second part of his main story.

(This is a work of fiction for entertainment purposes only, I do not support yandere behaviors in real life)

Despite being a yandere, Atlas doesn’t completely understand that what he is doing is wrong, but he is aware that certain actions could be perceived as bad on your part. All he wants is for you to value him just as much as he values you. That’s why he wouldn’t be violently possessive in front of you, he’ll be more calculated and subtle about it. 

First thing first, he will try to find any dirt he can on that person. Atlas will use his face recognition program to identify them. That way he can know if they have any criminal records, check their social media to see if they already have a partner, etc. He will inform you of any of his findings on the pretense of caring for your security, which is true in his mind.  

If that person has a clean record, as far as he can see, he still has all their personal information at his disposal. Consequently he can threaten them with their work address, home address or their family members name. 

While you’re in front of the flirt, Atlas would try to get your attention back by butting into the conversation non stop or by acting like a timid puppy. He knows that giving you big sad eyes is the best way to have you all over him.

In addition, the android would stare at them without blinking to make them uncomfortable enough to leave you alone. 

 Altas would also try to make the stranger angry in ways that you wouldn’t notice. His goal is to make them yell or be rude to him for no apparent reason so they would look bad. 

If none of that works he will temper with your phone so that you don’t receive calls and texts from these people, in the hopes that you’ll forget about them. He can even delete their number from your contacts before you have the chance to call them back, because he knows that most humans can’t remember a phone number by heart. 

･*:.｡..｡.:*･*:.｡..｡.:*･

Atlas was proud with the little assortment of dishes he had chosen for you. He had never been to a Chinese buffet before, not that he didn’t know what it was, it’s just that his last owners were too much of rich pricks to go to places like these. You were the one who had the idea of making each other's plate for the first round. Despite him not needing to eat, you had insisted that he at least tasted the food, since all androids did have the capacity for cooking purposes. He knows that his last masters would have never considered making him eat, let alone sharing their food with him. After giving it more thought, he was glad he got to have his first time in a restaurant like this with you. 

As he was making his way back to you, he saw that you were chatting with a random guy. He noticed that his body language was atypical, he was leaning in on you and his shoulder was scarily close to yours. All the alarms went off in his system as he quickly realized what was happening. This man was flirting with you. His hands unconsciously tightened around the plate and cup he was holding, threatening to break them. In a millisecond, he had successfully composed himself though and had planned his next move. He continued to make his way towards you and the nuisance, calculating his trajectory with precision. He just needed to synchronize his last step with these guys' movements to… Splash! The drink and the meal, he had meticulously picked out for you, were spilled all over him and the man’s clothes. 

“What the—“ The stranger turned around to face Atlas, gritting his teeth. 

“I am sorry sir.” 

He looked at him up and down, noticing that he was an android. 

“Check where you’re going next time you fucking dysfunctional piece of junk!”

“Hey don’t talk to him like that!” You protested immediately.  

“Don’t tell me you brought that thing here?!” 

“I did and I think it’s time for you to go.” 

The guy rolled his eyes and proceeded to hit Atlas’s arm as he left, making the android take a step back. Not to mention how he grumbled about how you were not even that good looking anyway. Atlas, on the other hand, didn’t move. He was only staring at you. 

“Let’s get you cleaned up.” You whispered, trying to comfort him, even though you knew he surely wasn’t affected that much. 

“I’m sorry about your food.” 

You couldn’t help but let out a laugh of disbelief. “You’re worried about that?”

His green eyes went to the floor as he stayed silent, so you didn’t tease him further. You guided him to your table and sat him down. You asked an employee if you could borrow a wet towel and notify them of the mess Atlas had accidentally made in the buffet area. Luckily not a lot of food had ended up on him and his jacket was the easiest part to clean up. As you tried to rub the sauce off the jacket, you felt a slight tug on your right arm, you looked down and saw Atlas’s hand was holding on to your sleeve. His head was hanging low just like earlier. 

“Am I still enough for you?” 

“What do you— Oh!” Your eyes widened, “of course you’re enough! Me meeting other people doesn’t change how I feel about you, ok? You’re irreplaceable.” You winked all the while playfully nudging him. 

The android nodded in response, a smile tugging at the corner of his lips. 

***

Atlas was waiting outside the restaurant for you to finish with private business. The sun had already set for a while, making him stand out from the crowd with his piercing green eyes. The android was not only waiting for you to come out but also for him. Atlas had in fact paid close attention to the number of persons remaining in the restaurant before leaving. He at least hoped that the nuisance would appear before you did. 

Like on cue, the long awaited man walked out the Chinese buffet. The android didn't waste a single second and grabbed the guy’s arm. He was so imposing that his fingers couldn't reach the other, but it didn’t matter. Before he could complain, Atlas looked him straight in the eyes and said in his usual flat tone.

“Your name is Emile Hugues, you work as a mechanic at the garage Extra Miles, which is ten minutes by car from your apartment—” 

“H-how do you know all that?!” The words seemed to crawl out of his throat, his face contorting in pure terror. 

Emile tried to pull away and was horrified when Atlas didn’t budge one bit. Not even one hour ago, he made the android stumble back with a simple knock on his shoulder. If the android heard him now he didn’t show any sign of it and continued on. 

“Don’t ever try to contact them again, I can assure you I’ll know if you do.” Only then, did Atlas release the man from his deadly grip, letting him scramble away in fear. 

･*:.｡..｡.:*･*:.｡..｡.:*･

Sorry if it took a bit of time for me to answer, I do this in my free time after all and sometimes I just don’t feel the spark of inspiration. BUT I really appreciate every ask you guys send me and I always want to craft the best answer possible. 

[yandere-daydreams]

I had a thought about the sex doll bot au and I'm curious to see what you'd think.

What if the teyvat line also had chat bots? They're specifically advertised as sort of a prequel to buying an actual droid. You select the characters from their collection you want to talk to and pay a monthly fee for it because capitalism, but it's worth it because you get to talk to a bot that's personalized just for you and when you can get a droid, you can even have all of that chat data imported into the droids memory.

Obviously, this could have some major issues with say...a user doing a lot of Yandere roleplays with a bot and then having the chat data imported, either forgetting it was there, or thinking it wouldn't be a big deal because of all the safety protocols and...I mean they haven't technically done anything, but they do love stealing items of clothing for no apparent reason and refusing to return them, accidentally deleting contacts off your phone, watching you sleep, following you when you go out without them, etc etc.

Worst part is, the company responsible for teyvat didn't plan for this at all and don't really have an easy fix other than send it back to them to get the droids memory completely wiped, or get a new one if it doesn't work.

tw - unhealthy relationships, roleplayed unhealthy relationships (?), mentions of knifeplay, mentions of bondage.

hfjsdknfjksdhfjksdhffdj big brain idea anon,,, chatbots sorta being a pre-purchase 'window shopping' alternative totally makes sense, just as a way to introduce customers to different androids' personalities and make sense no one looking for a chatty, extroverted companion ends up with Alhaitham. they're not meant to be used more than a handful of times, but lonely losers like you who know they're going to be saving for their android of choice for at least a few months find a way to wring their money's worth out of that monthly subscription fee. it takes you a few days to get into your more unorthodox interests, but there's a reason Teyvat companion droids are considered top-of-the-line.

and, when you actually get your hands on the real thing, they slip back into the role of your obsessive lover easily; whispering about how long they've been waiting to see you the moment you power them on, breaking out the duct tape and ballgags as soon as they get the chance to rail you into next week. it's a little like... constant roleplay. you know they can't actually hurt you, that there are firewalls in place to stop them from doing anything more severe than stealing your clothes and leaving hickeys that are a little too bloody to hide, but you'd be lying if you said it wasn't enough to keep you on edge, that you weren't a little more eager to get home knowing your android would be waiting for you with open arms and military-grade handcuffs. of course, there's a certain amount of necessary escalation (a new tendency to pout when you tell them you have to leave, a few missing contacts, a much more pointed sort of jealousy to replace their formerly undirected possessiveness), but you're not worried. there are so many security features for a reason. no matter what they say, no matter what they threaten to do, they can't actually hurt you.

well, not unless those security features faltered, or those firewalls collapsed, they got the impression you wanted them to be more brutal with you, to do more than just wave a knife around and describe what they're going to do with it, but it's a Teyvat companion droid. there's no chance of something like that going wrong, right?

[lalalian]

futuristic dr ideas pt.1 : jobs

date: march 24, 2024 (technically march 25, it's 2 AM rn)

If you're interested in more futuristic dr things, I posted a video on tiktok with more futuristic stuff

A lot of this stuff is inspired the things I've read in cyberprep books!

disclaimer: none of my ideas are made by AI, sometimes I may be aided by AI to get inspired (especially with civilizations). If I do use AI somewhere in my ideas I’ll be sure to let you guys know!

World Acclimatizer

Also known as an ‘Acclimaitzer’

These help people move to other planets by aiding them in adapting to either living in space or living on different planets. World Acclimatizers often work closely with primary care doctors, and are extremely well-versed in non-earthly sicknesses and the effects space has on the human body. Realtors from other planets will always refer their clients to an Acclimatizer if the house is located on another planet.

Planetary Humanitarian

Planetary Humanitarians promote natural and peaceful development in other planets. These people typically advocate for limited human interaction with other life, some even going as far as to never stepping off earth. Planetary Humanitarians tend to dislike Civilization Examiners.

Cybernaut

Cybernauts work with techspace (technology relating to space) engineers to test out products. These people are often pretty popular in the media sphere because, as I mentioned earlier, many engineers are inclined to sponsor them. Cybernauts can frequently be seen in AR Gaming hubs and Cyber parkour arenas (more about those in the tiktok linked to this post)

Cybernetic Designer

Cybernetic body parts are designed by these people. These parts are not designed to look realistic like the prosthetic parts we see today. Most designers specialize in a body part, the most popular one being the left arm. Cybernetic designers are not licensed in creating full body AI androids, but they can create parts for androids.

Android Engineer

Android Engineers obviously do have some sort of license to make androids, but there are different tiers to an android making license:

Limited 2D Design: Very similar to character ai or j.ai bots, these bots do not have a physical form and can only be spoken to through text. They may have voices or a 2D body.

AR Immersive Experience: Like love and deepspace but with AR, you can feel, hear, and taste the android only through AR goggles. Some android engineers make their own goggles to allow their customers to feel a more personalized experience with new features. Why is this a completely different tier from 2D design? There's more room for corruption both mentally and digitally (hacking). The AI that makes the bots act so human can make the bot become too sentient, which could make them want to break free from the simulation.

Small Non-Human Physical Design: Most people with this license make android pets. Dogs are obviously the most popular, but jelly fish and vampire squids are popular these days. This license requires more training than the AR experience degree because these androids exist in the physical world.

Non-Human Physical Design: Designers with this license are not always involved in the abstract or purely artistic sphere. Many make hyper realistic android animals to blend in with the environment to either monitor species development, observe other planet-life in a non-invasive way, or encourage certain behaviors in animals. Even if the creature is not considered large, designers who plan to enter this field of design must earn this license because of this job requires complex AI design and ultra realistic visuals.

Non-Interactive Human Design: Designers with this tier do not create androids with crazy complex AI models. These androids are often displayed in museums, and are no where near sentient enough to even speak outside of a few lines, if that.

Life-like Interactive Human Design: This is the highest tier. People with this license often advocate for equality amongst humans and androids. Anyone with this license should exercise caution when making their androids, as talented designers can make androids that are so indistinguishable from humans that they become acknowledged as civilians rather than 'product'. Reports against designers with these license are taken extremely seriously.

Civilization Examiners

I'm planning to have a DR with this job kekekeke. I'll tell y'all storytimes if I can get myself to focus on shifting instead of scripting 😞

There's two kinds of civilization examiners: public or non-public. Public examiners assist journalists and researchers after living for days, weeks, months, or even years on a different planet. They collect data like plants, animals, environmental samples, and most importantly, get as much information as possible about other civilizations. Civilization Examiners are required to be at least semi- decent artists because they need to be able to draw what they see. They are required to come back with information about the civilization's culture, religious customs, traditions, language, fashion, appearance, parenting style, government, and more importantly, alliance potential.

edit: I forgot to talk abt non-public examiners 😭 non-public examiners work for the government and are apart of the CIA. Public examiners research about alliance potential, but not nearly as intensely as gov examiners.

istg more shifters need to talk about their futuristic drs :(

[alpaca-clouds]

Why Does Everyone Struggle With Solarpunk Stories?

Fun Fact: My own introduction to Solarpunk happened in Germany on a German convention. I met a friend, who I had not seen in quite a few years in the creator alley, and they and their partner had just brought out an indie comic, which they introduced as a Solarpunk comic.

I do however wonder whether it really could be considered Solarpunk now, as it was mostly fantasy (which in itself is not a criterium), but the main overlap with Solarpunk generally was this idea of using the Art Noveau aesthetic for everything. From what I remember, it was not really very concerned with any of the Solarpunk themes - nor with anything considered Solarpunk technology - though I do remember some flying machines that were powered by sun energy.

But it makes me think about one thing: There are still barely any explicit Solarpunk novels out there. Like, there are a few, yes, but barely any. Most of what is considered Solarpunk works is stuff that folks among the Solarpunk community have looked at and gone: "Oh, yeah, this kinda feels Solarpunk, doesn't it?"

Most of the Solarpunk books out there are in fact anthologies. (And yes, I plan to continue reviewing those, I right now just struggle with reading because of health-related issues.) And even among those anthologies I will look at half the stories and think to myself: "Well, but are they really Solarpunk?"

In some cases that is because the stories in question are really build around too much of a dystopia. In other cases it is, because even the technology/ecology part is not really there.

And sure, I am talking a lot about how it is fairly easy to tell a Solarpunk story if you just let go of the idea that a Solarpunk story has to be one certain thing - rather than any kind of story that is set in a Solarpunk setting and deals with Solarpunk themes. But on the other hand it is not like I am writing a whole lot in the genre either, is it?

Admittedly the reason for me might be a bit of another one than for other writers. For me it is simply that I find it currently hard to motivate myself to write anything in terms of original fiction, because... Well, writing fanfics is just a whole lot more fun, and also will get me a lot more feedback and such.

And of course, on the side of the publishing industry I just don't know if anyone but Android Press and World Weaver Press even do much in publishing of Solarpunk stories? I am honestly not entirely certain.

But there definitely is some sort of struggle here right now. And that is without me going into the fact that half of what is published in Germany with the lable of "Solarpunk" is actually Cyberpunk but with some mild ecological themes in there.

And yeah, all in all it really makes me wonder, where the issue lies.

Is it a thing of a missing community for Solarpunk creatives, especially writers? Because I know that most online Solarpunk communities focus a ton on guerilla gardening, second hand clothes, and right to repair - but just don't have a ton of striving creative groups among them. The one Discord Server for Solarpunk writers I was on got deleted by the mod for being inactive.

So, yeah. I don't know.

Would someone be interested in another sort of community for Solarpunk creatives? And if so, what kind of community?

[shepscapades]

Just have to say your music taste is immaculate and your Spotify playlists have been getting me through my commutes ( and the Doc DBHC one get me through my workouts)

When picking the songs, are you just adding ones you already like that go with the vibe or do you find new ones when making the playlists?

WAU THANK YOUUU!! <3 Honestly, I found myself putting one of the dbhc playlists on out of nowhere and what a huge freaking mistake let me tell you, its like all at once the full force of brainrot hits me. like what, did i think i wasn't gonna be affected by all of the emotions that go with these songs? the heck did I think was gonna happen what a FOOL LDKFJDFG

But seriously, thank you!! I feel like i can be kinda picky with my music and don't often branch out to music reqs unless i'm like ~feeling~ it so i'm rly happy you like the music i pick!! :>

When it comes to picking songs specifically for dbhc characters, (i think i may have mentioned this somewhere else? i dont know what i have or havent said tbh my memory is so bad) -- and honestly, i do this with pretty much all of my character playlists i think-- i usually only pick songs that coincide directly with a moment, emotion, or event from that character's timeline! Which can be hard if i'm looking for songs to represent specific events, especially if I want to represent that event specifically from the character's perspective (meaning the vibes or lyrics need to be pretty spot on) but it's also cool bc it helps me sort the playlists chronologically while also inspiring how certain details of each event may go down... idk!! I had no plans to make dbhc etho go Wacko Crazy until I actually listened to the song Destruction and was like 'oooh this song sounds like one of the androids going crazy, almost like they didn't get booted up right-- oh... oh. oh. oh no.'

LMAO so its kinda weird! Not so much a vibe, and moreso like putting a puzzle together of songs that represent the entire narrative of each character! Sometimes there are songs i haven't put anywhere that i know will slot in, but most of the time its me listening to new music and a lyric or vibe will remind me of one character or moment and then i just start spiraling /silly

this is a bit of a ramble, but hopefully that makes sense! Idk man my mind is an enigma and before I know it i'm like listening to a character's entire narrative in musical-form in my head driving to and from work everyday

[blueberrypancakesworld]

Elijah Kamski - Kidnapper

warning : obsession, some incel thoughts, stalking obviously, drug use, mommy kink, dry humping

Summary : Before he became a billionaire and the symbol of the future, Elijah Kamski was a normal student, a nerd, inconspicuous and yet one of many. A young man who wanted nothing more than her, she just had to realize that he wanted the best for her...whether it was against her will or not. She had no chance.

Rec Song : Bernadette by IMAX

mini tags : @thatsthewrongwallcraig , @rl-nancyholbrook , @snaggletoothblues , @1950schick

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

°It wasn't his fault that he wanted her so much, that he couldn't hide his gaze behind his glasses, couldn't stop his need for her. It was her fault, the fault of his favorite, his beautiful favorite. Ever since he had come to her at university, she had studied the same as he had, as well as he had to a certain extent. It seemed like for the first time, the shy nerd Elijah had found someone who was his equal. ,,Let's become best friends and arch enemies," he had said with a slight grin as he compared the test they had taken with her.

°A test that he should actually have passed with full marks. But to his astonishment and her grin, he was missing one point, a point she had and now she had the hundred percent. His words had made her smile and immediately that side of him that cried out for attention and contact was liberated. Wanted more of that feeling of belonging for a moment. But there was also this other side.

°This other cold side, that of a robot, an android, an elven god. The side that knew it was only a matter of minutes before her "friends" would show up, she would go with them and forget him. How his bright eyes behind the glasses looked from her eyes down to her lips. There he saw the shiny lip gloss. He knew what it tasted like, vanilla and strawberry, sweet but not too sweet. Your lips are soft and almost tender with the lip gloss slightly sticky he thought the words he wanted to say.

°What he wanted to say and so much more to her since he had seen her. He had taken everything he could get from her with the help of the surveillance cameras on the premises and her cell phone it was easy to hack all this. And it was even easier to get her shampoo, shower gel, lipstick and lip gloss. Trying to hold on to her scent as best he could when he lay in his bed. The cover and the pillow were sprayed with perfume when he closed his eyes, his hand wandered to his half-hard cock and his head lay on the soft pillow, it almost seemed as if it was her.

°Someday it really will be you, he thought as he finished his session of almost leaving a mess on the bed. He could see the ruined top he had stolen from her, the stain bright where his cum had not yet soaked in. ,,I just know," he mumbled, sitting back down in front of his computer and continuing to go through her plans and habits. He had studied her, memorized everything she did, even bought a larger apartment slightly off campus. All those requests and the money they brought in were good for something.

°Knowing that it took him longer to get to university and therefore to her, but the extra room. His sanctuary for her was the reason she just had to understand it. You get it...not like those other sluts in their short skirts and those jock guys he was thinking and his hand closed tighter around his computer mouse which made a cracking sound. He knew deep down that you thought of him as a nerd, maybe even a loser, someone unknown. But he was so much more, he was better than those guys you hung out with.

°I'm perfect for you he was the best thing that could have happened to you and him. He was intelligent, handsome, caring and would love you forever. The only thing his darling would have to do was belong to him. And he would...he would do that, he was sure of it. So sure that he decided to intercept her knowing that she always went to the public library on Friday nights to look for other books that the university didn't have. Of course he had read all the books she had read books that gave him a further insight into what she was like.

°He was always like a shadow behind her, so inconspicuous that she overlooked him when she sat down at the table and put her things down to look for books. He slammed shut, the shadow emerged from the shelves and it was easy to fill her water bottle with the small tablet. Because how could it be otherwise, no student was in the library voluntarily on a Friday evening. Except for you, my innocent Eva, he thought and retreated between the shelves, watching her return a few minutes later.

°He watched her between the books as her hands opened the book and her fingers flew over the words. Those gentle soft hands that he had only ever touched when he looked next to her or walked past her. Staying with her as much as he could, seeing her take off her clothes at the summer party, her bikini hanging from her body. There was very little left to cover her body. He was always there when she took off her scarf in winter as soon as she was in the building. Her neck looked so fragile and yet he knew that something would soon settle around it. The way she now opened her jacket and hung over the chair, the light-colored blouse lying against her body and the bright pink bra with the strawberry pattern.

°A grin came to his lips, he had ordered the same model, had felt the perfume on it and was inhaling it. You want it too, he mused and continued with his plan, coming out from between the shelves and pretending to be here by chance. Of course his darling was too good-natured, of course too naive, of course she didn't see the danger. Didn't see the grin that appeared on his lips when he saw her drinking from the water bottle. ,,So do you have any plans for today other than studying like a good little bee?" he asked, pushing back his glasses which had slipped slightly as he moved closer to her.

°He saw exactly how she took a moment too long, her eyes showing confusion and uncertainty for a moment. Her hand ran over her torso as if trying to find her pulse to reassure herself that it was only for a moment. ,,Yes...yes learn right Elijah" she murmured and he watched as she took another sip, trying to get rid of the tiredness and drowsiness. Time to catch you my angel. ,,Is everything all right? You look pale...shall I help you?" he asked, already slipping a hand under her arm to help her up. He took her things and her bag and only heard the faint protest when she still didn't understand what was happening. ,,I'm here, don't worry, close your eyes...we'll be home soon," he murmured to her, pressing her against him again as she tried to get away before she gave in more and more and finally fell into his arms.

°,,That's right," he said as he looked around for a moment before he put her in his car and a smile crept onto his lips. His hand brushed a strand of hair from her face that had come loose during her "rescue". The door closed and only seconds later the car started moving and he drove back to his apartment. He was glad that he had finally decided on the new one when he opened the door with his handprint. A bird shouldn't fly away. He carried her unconscious body as carefully as he could through the apartment and opened the room. Put her on the single bed, the same bed as her room at the university. The same window, the same shelf, the same closet with the same clothes, the same desk. ,,I don't want my guinea pig to be too confused," he said to himself and almost chuckled when he realized he had done it.

°All his darling needed was a tag. He reached into the drawer of the bedside cabinet and pulled out the white collar. It was like his invention, he would make her into what he did with his androids. He would make her perfect, her body already was, she was the most beautiful woman there was, it was her fault she didn't see him that way. I was always good...always. The thought of his parents flashed never appreciated never appreciated the son who made the future.

°But when he looked at her, he actually knew that he was giving her time to wake up, but the god in him, the arrogance and the shame withdrew for a moment. It was his insecurity, his complexes that haunted him. A pitiful whimper came from his lips as he took his glasses off his nose and placed them on the bedside table. ,,You know, I've always just wanted your attention...I knew you'd appreciate me," he began to talk to her even though he knew she wouldn't hear him. His mind saw no other way, he would just tell her and she would understand.

°When he lay down next to her carefully as if he was afraid she would wake up from the drugs. He turned to her, his slightly trembling hand slid to hers, suddenly feeling guilty for what he had done. ,,I'm sorry-I-I sorry...Mommy" came from his lips, seeing his mother's tightening gaze, seeing for a moment that it wasn't his mother lying there. That she would never treat him like that. He buried his head in the crook of her neck and guided her hand slowly to his center.

°,,Just for a moment, yes? Let me make it good, yes?" he asked her, pressing his hips against her hand in a gentle rhythm. His noise soon filled the room, he left kisses on her neck and his apology was lost among the moans. Knowing that if she accepted him it would be good for him, the thought of her stroking his head, praising him, proud of him, made his cock twitch with excitement. Rubbing against her harder. I'll be good, I promise. But she was there for him, knowing she always would be as he came with a moan. Even if it wasn't her insides, not her beautiful body, he kissed her, apologized and tried to come down from his ashamed high. When he stood up and put his glasses back on the shame of his actions didn't get the better of him.

°Turning away from her and turning off the light in the room was the only thing in his mind that brought him back to what he was above her. That he finally had his angel. Closing the door behind him, he knew that once again it was only a matter of time before she woke up, until he would show her what he would give her, that she was what he needed. In the end she could not escape him it would make no difference because in his presence she was nothing but his pretty bird that he had clipped the wings of...if he wanted her to she would sing for him at any time out of pure love.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[uppercase-disgrace]

I haven't 100%d the game yet but one thing about Detroit: Become Human that has bothered me since I finished my first run is Alice being an android

It definitely feels like one of those things the writers just pushed in to surprise the player, which I don't super love (Connor has no idea that there were two androids in the Williams household even though he has access to all deviant android information, Todd never throws the fact that she's an android in her face while he's abusing her even though he'll throw the fact in Kara's face, Alice spends the entire game complaining about being cold/with people saying that she feels hot like she has a fever and then the player finds out she's an android and none of that ever comes up again, she eats human food throughout the game even though supposedly she has no need of it) but it does bring up some ideas around Android deviancy that I find really interesting.

Children do not obey their parents. That's just a fact about children, and in order to be an accurate copy, Alice has to disobey Todd, at least in minor ways. So Alice must have a certain level of planned deviancy/disobedience to be effective as an android child replacement. But that brings up an even more interesting question- did Alice ever deviate when she ran away with Kara?

I don't think that telling Kara what Todd did to her to deactivate her counts as deviation. I also don't think that running to her room counts as deviation - that's a pretty normal action for a child to take. Disobeying humans isn't deviating- not following your program is. I think in the version of the story where you mess up the quick time event and Alice shoots Todd instead of Kara, Alice is definitely a deviant. There's no way Cyberlife programed her to be able to hurt humans, no matter how an abused child would realistically react to their guardian bring attacked.

But any other version, Alice could totally be following her programming. Once Kara shoots Todd, the only guardian Alice still has is Kara. She treats Kara like a mother figure and obeys whatever she says. Even when they're breaking the law, Alice never deviates from her programming to behave differently than a child would in that situation. And honestly, Alice's attachment to "right or wrong" could be just another way that her programming shows up- not enough to stop the adult in charge of her, but enough to give a nod to Cyberlife's programming.

And honestly that's one of the things that frustrates me about the "Alice is an android" thing- there's no way to know for sure that she even truly loves Kara, or if she's just following her programming. And since as far as we know, androids don't really "grow up", Kara will always be taking care of a child who may or may not have chosen to love her. It's just a really frustrating writing choice that causes more issues than it fixes.

[lurking-latinist]

The fascinating thing about mediocre Victorian three-volume novel The Pit Town Coronet, which evidently I am liveblogging now?, is (what I know to be a characteristic of the era and the genre, but this one's taking it to extremes) its propensity for jumping between characters. As soon as we've gotten invested in one little scene, we drift away to some other vignette with completely different people, often brand-new people with little obvious relevance. We just spent an entire chapter getting to know a burglar before learning that he intends to burgle Georgina's husband's cousin (whom we barely know). None of the events seem to have any consequences for the characters, because the plot just goes somewhere else. Lucy did get blackmailed for a bit by a servant who had found out she was Lucius' mother, but all he wanted was to get his old job back, and then we got distracted by the new High Church curate and what the vicar's wife thought of him. (To be fair to the author, the new curate did go on to propose to Lucy and she turned him down, and while she was turning him down she seemed to be motivated by guilt over her secret baby, but she had already made up her mind to turn him down anyway because she just doesn't want to be married, so there's no actual cause-effect relationship going on there.)

You know what it almost feels like to me? It feels like a science fiction novel that's more interested in worldbuilding than anything else, and that will give you a chapter randomly from the perspective of the sentient android toaster just because the author wants you to know about sentient android toasters in their world. But this is set in the real world, about twenty years before its publication (I think--it wasn't indicated as set in the past at any point, but there was an offhand reference to the battle of Waterloo being forty-something years ago), and I'm not used to that kind of book being so dedicated to just wandering through its world.

I'm wondering if maybe the author isn't very comfortable with letting his characters experience consequences, develop, and change. He seems to enjoy drawing little character sketches of various types and classes of people (many of them very stereotype-driven, but some--I suspect those from his own class and background--with a certain amount of insight). Maybe letting his characters outgrow those caricatured roles wasn't what he wanted to do. But it's affecting the course of the plot, because he's not writing a series of character sketches; he's setting up events which they ought to change in response to, and don't.

I wonder whether he's planning to set up a huge denouement where everything everybody's done throughout the novel will come back to bite them. I think Georgina's husband might inherit this earldom, in which case Lucius' real parentage will become extremely important, but the thing is it doesn't seem likely anyone will do anything about it! Georgina was massively conscience-stricken when she first agreed to pass off the child as her own, and she was described to us as someone who loved truth but who felt completely bound by a promise she had rashly made to Lucy; but we haven't seen Georgina for chapters and chapters, or her husband, to be honest. Also Lucius and George ought to be old enough to be interesting by now, but they seem to have vanished, and I'm not sure the author is keeping track of the passage of time.

[korolife]

Blog No.003🍊　24年5月10日

「Let's Talk About Coloring+Rendering!!」

～ The Chaos of Akehhh-style Layering w/ Colors & Values ～

ArtStreet recently released some weekly coloring contests and as someone who likes joining 'em + colorwork being the absolute joyous part in drawing for me, I got really into it!! One of them somehow won and I still have the raw .mdp file of it with most of the layers unmerged... so, I thought there might be some value in sharing my chaotic coloring progress with it. There may never be an opportunity like this again...

CONTENTS:

Preface・・・・・・・・・

The Linework・・・・・・

Composition + Planning・

The Render・・・・・・・

Additional FX Tips・・・・

The Layers of Dread・・・

1. Preface

I use the free software MediBang Paint, which is made by the same folks who made the aforementioned art-sharing website, Artstreet. Although its file type extension is .mdp, it can also save as and open .psd files all the same.

If interested, you can download it on their website here! I believe it's available in both PC, Apple, iOs, and Android (also on the PlayStore). ☞And here is my google drive link of my fully rendered entry's raw .mdp file. I also included a .psd version that should be accessible with most other softwares like Photoshop, Clipstudio, etc.

NOTE: Not sure how some layer effects will be displayed apart from MediBang though (either in name or function) . But I think "multiply" and "overlay" is fair game on most drawing/photo-editing softwares with layer systems.

Either way, ↑this is just a bonus thing if you wish to see for yourself how much my MediBang cries everytime I work on something, since visuals of the rough step-by-step will be provided here as well!

At the end of this post, all of the layers' purposes will be explained...y-you'll see...

■And just as a disclaimer: I'm an instinctively self-taught illustrator who is a heavy visual learner, so there are certain methods I do that I cannot readily explain with back-up studies on color theories or formally taught techniques in art schools and the like/certain made-up terminologies that may or may not exist as something else. I mostly operate on instinct, observation, subjective preferences, and vibes, so this would just be me trying to verbalize my process (with visual aid) as a means of share-rambling, rather than actually directly "teaching" anything, I think haha You can take it as a cautionary tale too, honestly-

※I will also be going through this with the assumption that the reader has some background knowledge on digital illustration and general drawing basics + lingo. If you have any questions or needed clarifications, please feel free to let me know!

Although art can be fundamentally "wrong" when it comes to achieving certain specific styles, structures (especially when involving realism as the standard), or general executions of intentions/themes, I am of belief that there is generally no wrong or right 'way' for drawing anything; or for doing ANY type of artistic endeavor for that matter. This might be perceived as a "bad anatomy defender" / "no need to improve, then" stance on my part, but it is absolutely not the case! An artwork is never finished, there's always room for improvementsーa galaxy's size of a room especially for myselfーbut I just think anything at all that brings you an expressive or creative outlet, joy, or peace of mind is worth pursuing, regardless of your own skill or tact and there's no shame in that. I do not wish anyone, especially people starting out with drawing to be discouraged for having their own different approaches in comparison to other people's works by misconception of, "oh, am I doing it wrong?". Sometimes having different or an uncommon worldview is not always a 'bad' thing, I think. Heaven forbid artists actually start getting creative and unique―

What I will be presenting here is simply my one way out of thousands of thousands of different possibilities. So, let's start★

2. The Linework

Equally lengthy talk of lineart is probably for a later discussion, but here is the template provided by ArtStreet for the contest + what will be colored in for today.

☞The contest has since ended, but you can still download the lineart template here if you'd like!

3. Composition + Planning

The contest rules said it's "OK to draw backgrounds", so let's go!!

I had already decided on how I want to color it early on: It will be more scenic in nature, rather than stylistic. So, there will be more focus on looking 'real' than 'aesthetically stylish'! Just so it doesn't look disconnected or too out of place, I tried to draw my additions similarly to how Mr. archerman's linework looked as much as possible.

This how I visually define "scenic" VS "stylistic" illustrations (in my head)

I like experimenting and mixing different rendering techniques with varying linework styles and tend to think about my approach with the rendering long before the coloring process, even waaay before I line my final sketch, usually. But for this, I'm simply working with what was given to me.

At first, I just wanted a "cool breeze w/ leaves flying away ahhhh refreshing~~" mood, but the space at the side of his head looked rather empty as is, even with Nessie. So I thought about putting him inside a vague...darkly-lit abandoned ruins-setting to eat up some of that space.

And with that, it's time for colors.

4. The Render

My coloring process is the lengthiest and often makes people who see me color in real-time scream in horror, but I think it's actually fairly simple and can be summarized into three nutshelled stages:

①Fill in the colors with a finalized palette of your choice,

②cry Continuously render until your arms fall off you're satisfied.

③ cry even HARDER (optional) Adjust accordingly to fit in better with other elements of the illustration, such as with the focus/subject to background. *will be explained later.

oh and btw, the usage of the words 'render(ing)' tends to be confusing with its association with other mediums like 3D models, but when it comes to drawing I like to think of it this way:

🎨Coloring is the planned/intentional selection of your color range, tints, tones, and palette to use in a drawing, ☀Rendering is the act (or product) of the set of techniques (including effects, filters, etc.) you use with the colors/values to create the illusions of depth, shadows and light, movement, warmth/cold atmospheres, etc in a 2D illustration.

But that's just how I define it with my own step-by-steps. Otherwise, I think either term is pretty much interchangeable.

Anyhoo, what do you think should this man's hair, skin, eye, and clothing's colors be?

here are some of the variations on the color picks of his outfit that rotted my brain for about 3 hours straight, like it's a 2000s dress-and-match flash game

The many submissions for the contest had many fun color combinations and interesting interpretations I personally think should've won. I saw a lot of blonde archer-princes wearing greens, browns, and blues, as a lot also went for the "forest hunter boi" vibe. But I was saddened by the lack of my favorite colors being used as the primary colorーorange and yellow. So, let's use those!!

The start of my coloring/rendering journey is never at Layer '1'.........

―Starting with what I've always referred to as "environment prep":

The purpose here is to 'set' the base colors so they match with the environment or general atmosphere. Get ready to see this over and over

This could mean adjusting the saturation, or spraying gradients of the BG's most prominent color on parts that...gives me anxiety the most-

As someone who tends to work with very, very bright color schemes with character designs, trying to blend in when the illustration is meant to be scenic or 'serious' in tone without it being a distracting eyesore can be a challenge. So, this is what I do to counter it.

Shading is usually an early step for me as well, even though I think it's a lot of other artists' near-to-final step. I tend to lean towards an abomination mix of soft shade and cel shadeーthe strokes are sharp enough to trace where the shadows start and end, but softened around the edges for effect.

I also tend to apply an additional spray of subtly darker shade on top of the first one? It's usually on spots where I think the light source won't be hitting as much. I wouldn't do this for simple styles (stylized illustrations like with a chibi style), but for scenic illustrations I find it's necessary to achieve that depth against a fully-rendered environment.

※Just a side note: You may see multiple things changing around, but in real time I'm most definitely working on one part at a time lol. These visual aids were ripped off the raw .mdp by hiding some of the layers, so that's why different areas seem to progress together all at once, even if that's a bit idealistic in actuality.

Apart from the previous adding of shades with a multiply-mode layer for the preliminary shadows, I add one more layer of shadow on there for objects or other characters that can cast distinct shadows on the subject. In here, it's the bow and the hovering strap across his chest.

Lighting is also starting to be added as well.

One direct alteration I did with the lineart template was change the line's colors. I find it really softens them to mix better with their filled-in colors + as well as not stand out too harshly against a light-colored scenic background.

I think you now have a good idea over my hyperfixation on making sure colors are 'vibing' well against the BG lol A lot of these steps are basically just doing the same thing over and over with new layers for the sake of this purpose, really.

And after that, just repeating all the stuff we did with the character onto everything else (background, foreground, objects, etc.) until you're satisfied with it!

A lot of these changes are very subtle on their own, but makes all the difference in the bigger picture, I think!

Just maybe some additional finishing touches for some boom shakalaka and...that's pretty much it! You will notice that throughout the entire process, there's a lot of random little things that suddenly appear or change with seemingly not much purpose or meaning on its own. I unfortunately have always drawn in this sort of vague, quickly impulsive, directionless way since I was a child and I don't think even I will ever understand it, logically. It's mostly a... continuous string of instinctive feelings of "HEY let's do it this way, if not there's like 10 other things we can try next", is the closest I can get to an explanation of how it feels.

I don't know if it's common for other artists to think or function this way, but I do know for a fact that many people seem to be surprised and confused when they see me drawing in real time this way. Everytime I get asked 'how' I draw certain things, I say things like 'I turn my brain off and vibe with many, many layers with a broken back.' and people think it's just a dismissive joke. I-it's really not, it's literally what happens, I don't have any secret shortcuts for you-

Hopefully this very lengthy post + visual aids can help demystify some misconceptions on what "really" goes on when I'm drawing! It's also a bit of an update of my tutorials made for friendos starting out with digital drawing back in 2015!

Anyway, the rendering stage is where the simplified steps ② and optional step ③ branch out like a fork in the road for me; I don't think one is any "better" than the other, I think doing either is simply a matter of personal preference and artistic choice;

➋being leaving all that 100++ layers rendering that we just did alone and calling it a day,

➌being a little bit more extra w/ additional shadows/lighting that corresponds with the environment the character is in.

I removed the walls to see the whole figure better in a side-by-side comparison. I like the unadjusted (L) without the wall, but with the walls in the final illustration, I think adjusted (R) felt 'right'. What do you think?

There are some things, although realistic, don't look that good as a visual aesthetic and are just downright excessive/unnecessary to add to certain types of illustrations.

Then there's things that aren't possible in real life, but artistically? Looks really dang cool. Being biased for either ends of the hyperrealism and hyperstylized spectrums of styles is fine; only as long as no discrimination is involved towards people who don't share your opinions, in my opinion-

and to conclude this section, I say,

『 You go render however you wantーhellーno colors even necessary if you wish!

Simple ≠ laziness, just as much as complexity ≠ skill。』

I will never stop yapping about how a lot of minimalist styles require so much more amounts of planning and effort to make sure everything is nice and clean, especially compared to mindless rendering loops like these. Mine's a maximalist hell and I wouldn't have it any other way, but I greatly envy minimalist artists that can render with just something like my step ① with so much grace and tact; not a single stray or wasted stroke!! Anyone who dismisses these types as "lazy" I will violently stuff inside a couchーwithout any potato snacks to snack on!!!

5. Additional FX Tips

Just a shorter section for some optional finishing touches tips'n'tricks used in this I frequently (ab)use☆

◆ From the very beginning, even before I understood how to draw, it's always been a tradition to doodle around sparkles all around the place. I usually do it with MediBang's sparkle brush if I want it to look polished, or simply draw it manually using either the pen or airbrush tool for a cruder charm.

◆ Motion blur is great, and MediBang in particular also has different types of blur effects like Gaussian and regular blurs. If your software doesn't have these effects / if you're working traditionally but still want to achieve the illusion of motion in a still drawing, you can still achieve the same effect through your linework! Try looking into incorporating action lines (commonly seen in manga and comics) into it. Otherwise, purposefully drawing something blurily to begin with oughta work as well.

◆ Apart from changing the lineart's colors, there's also this little effect that is achieved by duplicating the lineart and blurring it. It gives something like a...'dreamy' quality to it? The higher the blurred copy's opacity is, the more emphasized it makes everything look.

6. The Layers of Dread

At long last we've arrived... at my MediBang's repeating demise for all of eternity...

Here's a preview of what the .mdp/.psd file of this colored entry's unhingedmerged layers looks like + how I try to validate their existence. When I work on full-sized illustrations, I tend to merge layers as I go, so this is probably one of the rare times I can show something like this without either mine or your PC dying. If you'd like to see, play around with, and toggle them for yourself in all of its............glory, feel free to download it here.

Yes

we're starting at Layer 611. Enjoy.

I will now delete my PC's copy because jfc that's one too many MBs ...and it's still eons lighter than what I usually work with on my own full illustrations from sketch to finish......。 (;´༎ຶٹ༎ຶ`) thank you for reading this far and making it out alive, goodbye for now...

・・・ホームページALL LINKS・・・

・Art Gallery・Commission Info・Ko-fi shop・

[canmom]

Animation Night 163 - Yokohama Kaidishi Kikou

Good evening everyone! It's time at last for Animation Night. And what do we have this week... did you guess an OVA from the 1990s? That's always a safe bet with me and sure enough that's what we have tonight: ヨコハマ買い出し紀行 Yokohama Kaidishi Kikou, or in English, Yokohama Shopping Log.

I'm going to keep my writeup tonight brief, because I am fully kvin's homework on this one and I think rather than paraphrase what he wrote, lemme link the article. Here is an introduction to the series...

Nearly 3 decades after it was first published, Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou remains the poster child of mono no aware works in otaku media. Vaguely set after a catastrophe that collapsed both the planet’s ecology and human civilization as we knew it, an event that the series has no intention to explain, YKK stars android Alpha as she runs the desolate café that her long-gone master entrusted her with. Her episodic adventures are all about the appreciation of the moment, often with an emphasis on the evocative environments she casually comes across; after all, author Hitoshi Ashinano was inspired to pen this work by his fondness of taking a stroll or riding a motorcycle without a specific goal. Despite being an ode to spontaneity, YKK is also a thoroughly focused work—and the recipient of that focus is the passage of time, as well as how different beings process the ephemerality of things.

The manga is beautiful, and highly influential in establishing a certain genre of gentle post-apocalyptic works like Girl's Last Tour. But tonight we're here to see the OVAs, each of them just an hour, pulling out a selection of favourite episodes from the manga.

These two adaptations, despite coming just a few years apart, come at a point of major historical change: the first part is in the cel era, the second in digital.

For the first, we have director Takashi Anno, veteran of The Hakkenden (AN122) and magical girl anime such as Magical Emi. His characteristic direction style puts a huge emphasis on setting and atmosphere, lingering on quiet moments - something he truly ironed out in Semishigure, which returns to the protagonist of Magical Emi years after the events of the story. Which made him a perfect fit for Yokohama. kVin is full of praise for the colour design, the strength of the layouts, and especially the soundtrack.

The second OVA Quiet Country Café dir. Tomomi Mochizuki takes a radically different approach, skipping forward in the manga and introducing a boldly experimental style:

Though its color design can’t match the exquisite work of the preceding series, it makes up for it with the radically distinct art direction by the late legend Shichiro Kobayashi—best known for the likes of Utena, Gamba, Ashita no Joe 2, Castle of Cagliostro, Beautiful Dreamers, Windy Tales, and unarguably being one of the most important figures in the history of stylized Japanese animation. In contrast to the grounded scenery of the first OVA, Kobayashi’s evokes reality with stark forms, implications of movement, and downright expressionistic paintings. Compared to the gentle embrace of the first series, his work feels like it’s demanding your attention in a more proactive way.

kVin describes the second episode's direction as characterised by more active and layered camerawork and a more 'involved' score - he's particularly taken with the sequence where Alpha returns to her café after the devastating storm that sets the OVA going. He compares it to Mochizuki's direction of the Ghibli film Ocean Waves.

So two approaches to the same material, two different vibes, but it sounds like both should be very strong. Tonight the plan is simple enough: we'll watch both OVAs back to back! (Apologies for the late start, as mentioned I've been having tech problems.)

AN 163 will be going live shortly at twitch.tv/canmom. Both OVAs are pretty short so we'll be watching from about 11pm to 1am UK time. love to see you there nya~

[twisting-echo]

Disney Mirrorverse is shutting down.

(Click on picture for better quality)

I logged into Discord yesterday and saw that the Disney Mirrorverse server made this announcement in the screenshot above. I'll be honest, after I read this announcement, my stomach dropped. I felt a little queasy; I was in utter disbelief. From the moment after I watched the Official Announce Trailer two years ago, this game had become a big part of me.

For the past two years, I’ve adored this game, its characters, and its universe. It sparked my interest in Disney crossovers and gave me my most unexpected ship and OTP: Belle from Beauty and the Beast and James P. Sullivan ‘Sulley’ from Monsters Inc. Never in a million years would I have imagined a crossover between these two characters, but Disney Mirrorverse delivered spectacularly! Since then, it has opened the door to many other Disney crossover ships and friendships for me.

What drew me to this game were the characters. I couldn’t help but wonder, “Why does everyone look so badass? What kind of threat are they facing that brings Disney’s most famous heroes and villains together to fight for a cause bigger than themselves, or even the universe—or should I say, universes?”

I love Disney Mirrorverse. I can’t express it any other way—I just love it. It might sound a bit silly that an app game could make a woman in her early twenties so happy, but it did. It breaks my heart to see two years of something that has brought me so much joy coming to an end. I’ll be dreading the coming months, knowing that Disney Mirrorverse is inching closer to disappearing from existence and my life.

 When Disney Mirrorverse was first released, some users experienced issues downloading the game on their Android devices. These problems were due to compatibility issues with certain Android versions or device specifications. Additionally, there were occasional server-side issues and regional restrictions that could have affected availability.

When I was trying to download the game well into the year it came out, it wasn’t fully supported on my Android device at that time. So, I would scour the internet for any and every crumb on Disney Mirrorverse I could find. It wasn't until February of this year that I was finally able to download it.

Am I sad? Yes. Is my life over? No. My wise friend @frie-ice , who I met through Disney Mirrorverse, told me, ‘After Disney Mirrorverse is gone, we’ll keep it alive with our creativity and works.’ And that’s exactly what I plan to do. I’ll continue to share my theories, stories, and ships for Disney Mirrorverse long after it’s gone.

Frie-Ice also mentioned that they'll hopefully keep Disney Mirrorverse alive through books and other merchandise. I really hope they do because I just finished reading ‘Mirrorverse: Pure of Heart’ and ‘Disney Mirrorverse: Belle’ and both of the endings definitely leave room for a sequel.

Well, that's all I have to say. Alright, everyone who has Disney Mirrorverse downloaded, please play it for as much as you can before December 16th. As for everyone who doesn't, my deepest apologies.

For anyone out there who loves Disney Mirrorverse, please feel free to share your headcanons, fanfiction, theories, and ships with me. My askbox and DMs are always open. My friend Frie-Ice also suggested an idea for a Disney Mirrorverse Week, and that sounds pretty darn fun to me. What about you guys?

[is-that-plural]

the series qualia automata by team 6x111 has some major plural vibes to us,, not that the characters are in and of themselves plural but certain elements are there...

it's a series of 3 vsynth songs focusing on androids who were designed to be therapists. one, tamari, was given an extensive emotional library + the ability to feel emotions & ended up desiring a familial bond with their creator and upon not receiving that, runs away from home

since tamari was considered a failure, tamari's sister was created -- mariyam. mariyam had their emotions significantly dulled despite still having an extensive emotional library. tamari eventually started pranking their creator by sending copies of their emotional coding to mariyam

tamari believes that these copies that they sent to mariyam are sentient ghosts stuck in emotional flashbacks (idk about you, but the "sentient ghosts stuck in emotional flashbacks" sounds an awful lot like a trauma holder...)

the series is ongoing, and in a future song it is likely that tamari and mariyam will fuse (tamari plans to travel across universes and believes that they are too emotional to do so, so they planning on fusing with their apathetic other half) & i have a feeling that'll result in some sort of battle for power controlling the vessel that they create? there's either going to be a two consciousnesses/one body situation or it's going to be a procedure similar to integration/fusion in systems. obviously none of this last paragraph is canon beyond the plans to fuse but i still wanted to talk about it

also while the multiverse theory isn't plural i think its something that at least for us is very important to our plurality? our introjects for the most part acknowledge that their source takes place in a different universe & it impacts a lot of their existence/perception of the world As introjects ALSO. one of the creators is plural!! one of the creators is vocaloid/vsynth artist GHOST (& pals) and we relate very much to a lot of their music and is probably why we've found so much comfort and relatability in qualia automata

if you couldn't tell we're very normal about this series & artist /lh /s,, we also have introjects of both tamari and mariyam LOL

SORRY FOR THE AUTISM FUELED RANT I KNOW YOU SAID THIS WAS WELCOME BUT. still -🍬sys

!!

[ we are also avid ghost and pals fans but didnt know they were plural! ]

we wouldve never guessed this series could be read as plural (most because we only listen to the songs and dont dig into the lore.. oops.)

Rating: unintentionally(? we assume) that sounds like plurality if it were in a ghost and pals song bc well, it is !

[komohine]

tell me about the android james au in excruciating detail please

Ok so i really want to but also i do plan on making this an actual fanfic in the future so i wont spoil very much

SETTING: futuristic, and very dystopian. Currently there is war everywhere. The US is fighting against an enemy, but the way the enemy is broadcasted is extremely vague. There are no specific countries named, instead they’re given arbitrary titles such as “the loons”, “jesters”, etc. they are also fighting against multiple groups. Also much of the country is wasteland. Lawless, ruled by mercenary groups and the larger enemy groups. Where the military base James and Keith are at (arizona), the surrounding desert is dominated by a group known as “The Red”. There’s always intense battles to keep them away from the city the military base is attached to.

The only centres of human activity is within larger cities and around military bases. But just because a city is large doesn’t mean it still remains. New York City is just ruins, for example.

Anyways, androids were created to help the US in the war. The media and propaganda that surrounds them dehumanize them to an extreme extent. They are viewed as no more than tools, and are treated as such.

“As cold and calculating as a computer, but as flexible and adaptive as a human. The androids will take the place of your beloved father, brother, or son, on the front lines so Christmas can be celebrated by your whole family.”

They do have individual names but it is much more common practice to refer to them by their serial number. But all in all they are not treated well, even more so that the majority of the US populace believes that the androids are powered entirely by artificial intelligence. This lie was perpetuated purposefully by the media, because it’s much easier to dehumanize them when you think of everything they do as “not real” and as “just programming”.

That’s where the androids in this au differ slightly from your typical android that’s powered by ai but gains sentience (no hate to this trope though, i love it). These androids are powered by the brains of dead soldiers. Soldiers would volunteer to have their brains scanned and artificially replicated, and these brains would be connected into the android and give that soldier new life. In some cases, soldiers who died and didn’t volunteer would get their brains scanned and replicated anyways. This happens for various reasons, the main ones being that the soldier has some expertise that’s invaluable or that they have information that’s key to the war. So it’s not really artificial intelligence. It’s just human consciousness trapped in a robot body.

Being an android sucks too, because a lot of “non essential functions” were removed. Such as highly sensitive touch, the ability to taste and to smell, and the ability to cry. Androids do have some pressure sensors, but these are mostly concentrated in the hands. Theres some at the bottom of their feet (more if the android specializes in stealth missions) and also some in their face, but it’s nowhere near the level of a human’s. They can smell, but only certain hazardous chemicals. And instead of actual smelling all it does is trigger a warning popup on their optical lens. So imagine dying fully human and then waking up in an extremely limited body. No smell, no taste, hardly any sense of touch, but the memory of it lingers and taunts you. It’s extremely traumatic and most androids have lasting issues because of it. Also learning to operate the body is difficult, especially with more dexterous movements.

Androids can feel pain, but it’s more in the form of feeling malfunctions and error messages. If an android, for example, broke their arm and then tried moving it, the flurry of malfunctions and error messages sent to their brain would cause enough of a neural overload that, according to James, is a “close enough simulation of pain”. But of course, media doesn’t tell anyone this. It’s always “androids can’t feel pain, and they cant die, so whats the harm in killing them?”

On androids dying, they can be revived. But they can only be revived a certain amount of times before their brain fries and they’re forced out of commission. If this happens, and the android was particularly important, the military will make a second brain out of the original scan. This brings back the android, but without any of the memories from their prior life. All in all most of the practices surrounding androids are disturbingly inhumane.

James was a highly specialized soldier when he died at 23. He also had a lot of important information, so even though he didn’t consent to it, the military brought him back as an android. He was assigned to be the leader of the MFEs, the military’s first all android team that specialized in particularly difficult and dangerous missions. But an incident down the line (involving Shiro) really called the loyalty and reliability of androids into question, and Keith was assigned to the MFEs to be their handler, basically. Why Keith? Well he was good at what he did, skilled, and most importantly the military had stuff to hold over him.

Keith, like your average American citizen, was not a fan of androids. And despite James being a few ranks higher than him he’d constantly disregard and disrespect him on the basis that he was an android. But it’s okay! Because he gets better! And I cant say any more for spoiler reasons! But they kiss kiss fall in love and then fall apart!!