#do comic artists just not have color guidelines at all or what.

[x-letsbreaksomerules-x]

the DA comics have some great action and fight scenes but they cant keep Fenris(or other characters) consistent for shit. His eyes AND his skin tone change color multiple times. sometimes on the same page! how do you fuck up like this.

[duckprintspress]

Calling All Artists!

In celebration of January 1st, 2024, and Public Domain Day, Duck Prints Press is thrilled to announce that we are doing open recruitment for artists to contribute to our next fanfiction and fanart anthology A Truth Universally Acknowledged: Queer Fanworks Inspired by Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice”!

Are you an Austenite? Do you love Regency romance but lament how, well, straight most of it is? Do you wish Mary Bennett found a partner? Are you positive Charlotte Lucas deserved better? Do you pity Miss de Bourgh? Do you dream of Darcy and Bingley OT3s? Well you are NOT ALONE! We at Duck Prints Press are right there with you, and we’re here to say: this is your moment to shine! We want your wlw pairings, your new happy endings, your P&P ot3s and ot4s, your “but what if they’re trans,” your queer art and fanart inspired by this beloved story! This story has such a lovely main and supporting cast, the possibilities for taking Pride and Prejudice and MAKING IT QUEER are endless!

This is the third in our Queer Fanworks Inspired By… series, publishing legal fanfic and fanart inspired by popular works in the public domain. It builds on the success of our first two, And Seek (Not) to Alter Me (inspired by Much Ado About Nothing) and Aim For The Heart (inspired by The Three Musketeers). This is a paid arting opportunity; artists will be asked to complete one full-page (A4/210 mm x 297 mm), full-color piece, and we may have space for some artists to complete more than one page and/or short comics. Base pay is $50 per page, with the potential for raises up to $400 per page depending on our success during the eventual crowdfunding campaign.

Want to Learn More? OF COURSE YOU DO!

A Truth Universally Acknowledged Rules and Guidelines

A Truth Universally Acknowledged FAQ

A Truth Universally Acknowledged Schedule

Sample artist contract

Ready to apply? YAY! Follow this link to the sign up form! Applications close at midnight, January 15, 2024!

Interested in writing for this anthology? Unfortunately, author applications are only open to writers already involved with Duck Prints Press. Sorry! If you’re on our private Discord server, be on the lookout for the announcement with sign-up forms there.

Interested in buying this anthology once it’s available? Make sure you follow us on social media and/or sign up for newsletter so you hear the latest!

Eager to see how this project develops, read sneak peeks and see art previews, and more? Back us on Patreon! Patrons also selected this anthology theme – you can have a say in our future anthology themes, too, just by backing us at any level!

Please signal boost to help us spread the word!!

[rockmiyabideusexmachina]

2024 Megaman Summer Fanart Contest *CLOSED*

Happy Rockman Day! Time for this year's Megaman Summer Fanart Contest rules thread! Two categories, in which you are allowed to submit one entry for each category, if you would like. If you place in one category, you will be automatically disqualified from the other, for reasons of fairness, and to give other people a chance to win a prize. CATEGORY 1 (Talent): Pallette Pastiche

Ms. Museum Curator is back, looking for new pieces of art to display in the Kattleox Art Museum! A couple years ago for Valentine's Day, she needed your creations to display for an exhibit that featured a little bit of red and showed a little bit of love. This summer, her new exhibit is all about pastiche on your palette. What is pastiche? It's an artsy term that essentially means to imitate another work/artist/period. Or to just simplify it, we're talking a parody. So, for this theme, I would like you to parody any work of art, be it a famous painting, sculpture, etc.,…or maybe a piece that isn't as popular…only with Megaman characters involved in it.

As a visual example, way back in the CapcomUnity days, for Mega Man 10's release, there were fanart contests for each new Robot Master. When Solar Man came up, I decided to do an homage of this cognac poster art by Leonetto Cappiello:

Your possibilities are endless, depending on how ambitious you want to be! Alien Dr. Wily in Munch's 'The Scream,' Botticelli's 'Birth of Shield Sheldon,' Higsby carving the 'Venus de Mariko,' Da Vinci's 'Mona Laika,' or even 'The Last Cross Fusion Supper,' featuring the immortal Barrel and his 12 CF disciples. Just to throw out a few ideas. Content Requirements: * Megaman character(s) of your choice in a parody of a real art piece * please also send me a pic of the actual art piece with your entry, just so we can all see what you were referencing CATEGORY 2 (Humor): Pirates of the Alohahabean

Y'arr, ahoy me hearties! As voted by you on Twitter, the humor theme this year will be pirate-themed. Pirates have plenty of rep in the franchise, from Classic's Pirate Man, Marty and her band of pirates in Iwamoto's X manga, the Bonne family sky pirates, unused Tribe forms in Star Force, or, well…Ashe huntin' for booty.

For this theme, you can take any of those aforementioned pirate-y characters, or use any others of your choosing dressed up or acting like pirates, in the hunt for treasure. It could be a chest full of zenny, jewels, The Mother Lode, or whatever other booty you can imagine. The only problem is, this pirate treasure hunt is disturbing other characters who are just trying to enjoy a summer day on the beachy sands or the high seas. Your job is to draw the most hilarious scene in which this quest for a glorious bounty goes awry. Savvy?

Content Requirements: * Mega Man character(s) of your choice who are pirates or dressed/act as pirates hunting for treasure * A comical scene where these pirates interrupt a nice day on the beach/in the water for other characters PRIZES: The winners for each category will receive the following: 1st Place: $175 USD 2nd Place: $100 USD 3rd Place: $75 USD SUBMISSION GUIDELINES: When you submit, I would prefer you to include the following information in this format, along with your entry: • (Your name/preferred alias) – As much as I usually know who you are, there’s always someone new or somebody who has a different preference from what their email name says. • (Category this entry is for) – You can either say 1/2, or talent/humor Only submit your own work, as usual. Any character, major or minor, from any series is allowed. OCs are allowed, as long as your art contains at least one canon Megaman character. As always, participants are allowed to submit from all over the world. Paypal is still the preferred method for cash prize payouts. Please have a valid account to receive your winnings. Kids, get your parents permission before entering. Entries do not need to be colored, but it is preferred. The more effort put into things as always, the better chance you have! Entries can either be e-mailed to me at rock2125[at]hotmail[dot]com, or you can just PM/note me a link to your pic. DO NOT post your pics in this journal, your dA galleries, Twitter, tumblr blogs, other sites, etc. until the contest is over. This is the fairest way for competitive reasons. I prefer to keep them all secret until the deadline has passed. I'll edit a confirmed entry list in this thread when I receive them. So you won't be in the dark about whether or not I've received your entry. DEADLINE: The deadline for this contest will be Sunday, August 25th, 2024 by 11:59PM, global end of day. This gives you over 2 months to finish your entry! MISCELLANEOUS INFO: As usual, If you don't plan to enter, but would like to help me judge, please let me know through DM or mention so here. Never hurts to have extra opinions on all the entries. Bug me with questions if you have any. Please join in, and good luck to everyone who enters! Confirmed Entries: Cat 1. - @aw-colorcat, @digitallyfanged, JazzmanZ, Ryan Vogler, @dwn-059, @puyonlilah, Ivo, @purplerubyred, @nightopianfoxgirl, Tori Campan, ArtisIan, @sylviidaee, Cat. 2 - @pstart, @dwn-059, Kamicciolo, @duskblogsthings, AbilityField, ArtisIan, @megagundamman, V-Campan,

[averageludwig]

tips to draw the mercs please? demo esp hes SO BEAUTIFUL

THIS IS SUCH A LATE REPLY,, sorryyy some reqs get completely buried sometimes... I can't go on a full blown tutorial for all the 9 mercs BUT I can give some tips in bullets cuz I am a lazy fuck! hope this helps :p

🕸️ For practice, Try adding guidelines to the mercs faces to get a sense of distance between and placement of every feature!

🕸️ No matter what style you draw in, You can always mostly capture the Mercs' likeness by keeping the shapes true to the models!

🕸️ I recommend using the game models as reference when it comes to the face. Its WAY more consistent and more recognizable than the comics (different artists and such!)

🕸️ Some Demo specific points are; - Color pick his skin tone from a model, avoid directly picking from where the light source lands on his face! somewhere between the light and shadow should be his exact skin tone! - His hair appears appears to be either 4c or 4b in his hats off cosmetic! Its very thick and coily so make sure not to give him wavy or curly hair. use references of 4c/4b hair!

🕸️ When it comes to simplifying the shapes in any of the Mercs' face, Use blocky shapes then smooth them out! curves and circles usually have to many details to start. stick with cuboids, you can always make them irregular :)

🕸️ Try practice-tracing over models! a fun activity that I used to do (Which I should definitely get back to) Is tracing over SFM screenshots! It will help you understand how each of their faces move with different expressions ! try to keep it blocky as well when you trace, Not just blindly trace over every curve (to understand the angles of their face)

🕸️ For bodies, Use a lot of reference. All the Mercs' have very diverse and unique body types, Take your time studying them. Practice on references of similar real bodies. (pinterest has a lot of those)

🕸️ The more you draw the mercs the more you get used to stylizing them whilst keeping them recognizable! take your time :3

Okay I will stop ranting now... hope... this helps....

[bloomburnweepwilt]

Harrier's short guide to drawing

Hi!! My name is Harry and I've been drawing consistently for about 5-6 years. And uh- I wanna show a basic overveiw of my process!!! then here ya go https://www.tumblr.com/bloomburnweepwilt/758926600395980800/oh-look-its-ameliedoree-her-videos-slap-go?source=share

Also go watch Amelie Doree- thats who this drawing is a fanart of.

1- Getting your rough down

The first and most foundational step is getting a basic layout of your drawing, before you do anything you have to make sure you get a good idea of what exactly you're drawing. This is one of the few parts of drawing that you don't just have to ram yourself into the wall with practice to get good at. You just have to play around and have a fun time and look at the art you like to see what compositions they use.

My roughs are relatively clean because I have a lot of experience with this art style I use and I don't need a lot of guidelines. If I was doing furry art, realism, a western comic book style, or even something more simple like a gravity falls or owl house inspired style I would need a lot more guidelines because I'm not used to the parameters of the style. Though if you're just starting out then no matter what you do you're gonna hafta build up a lot no matter what style you go for.

2- Sketching/Lineart

For me my process has evolved to where I carve out my lineart from the sketch directly. But this is where you have to just put in the hard work and time into building your skill. I don't have any particular advice on this end besides follow your bliss, do gesture drawings, and make sure you have measurable goals.

If you want to take inspiration from my artistic inclinations specifically, then keep your lines loose, try to have decently realistic proportions but don't stick too hard to them. Especially if you're drawing a fictional stylized character and not a character or person with a real flesh face where you have more room for conveying likeness. Also sketchy loose lines are pretty much always look better, it allows your art to look more lively!

3- Get background colors down

Nothing much to say here, you just need to do this so you get an idea of what the rest of the colors will feel like. It doesn't have to stay the same color but getting the vibe down is important.

*also normally I wouldn't use bright white for a masking color, but because I want the art to be very bright and colorful so I decided to go with white.

4- Flats

Another thing you kinda just have to learn and get used to. If you feel like your colors are just a bit too disonant, use your programs hue slider and move it just slightly left or right. Its a really good way to get everything feel cohesive while also not loosing the core pallete.

6- Linessssssss~~~~~~

For me this is where all of the life of my art comes from, its where i get to be super loose and impressionistic with my stuff and I get to color up the thing. A lot I'll go with "unexpected colors" in places because those unexpected colors can add a lot of texture and life to your art but this is meant to be pastely and fun so i decided to go wit more conventional colors.

7- Add coloring layers on top for final adjustments

these don't have to be super obvious and noticeable, but often the right mix of overlay and multiply layers can make a piece look better.

And thats basically the whole process. Add and remove what you want, I just wanted to share since Baby artists sometimes don't have a realistic idea of how art gets made and having a step by step can be useful.

[lovelecturezine]

Artist and Merch Artist Submission Guidelines:

We’d like to see YOUR style, so if there’s one piece that fits your style/brand/etc, we would like to see it. 

There are three different types of art we are looking for: small doodles to be included with stories and for merch, full page illustrations, and comics.

You should try to show off art that fits the styles you are hoping to draw for.

What we are looking at for the different styles:

Small doodles: color, compactness, use of space

Comic: pacing, composition, placement of words, how well an idea or actions are displayed 

Full page: color usage, composition, use of space, background

NOTE! If your work is black and white or doesn’t contain color we will be looking at linework and/or shading instead. 

Please have one work be Drarry at least, or include works with Harry and Draco, so we can see how you draw them.

Works do not all have to be fandom related. Pick things you are proud of and that will show off what you can bring to the zine!

You do not need to know how to do the formatting for any of this beforehand. The mod team will instruct and guide you on the formatting process.

Cosplayers are allowed! We will be looking at the quality of cosplay and the composition of the photos and posing. The outfits for the submission are not required to be professor related, though the zine submission will need to be. 

NSFW submissions for the digital version should not contain any major trigger warnings including non-con, underage, or anything generally considered dead dove. A useful guideline is: keep NSFW content safe, sane, and consensual. If you have any questions about NSFW content or ideas, please reach out to the mods for clarification.

AI art will NOT be allowed. 

NSFW guidelines: Please keep explicit works safe, sane, and consensual.

APPLY HERE

Zine Artist FAQ:

How many pieces can I submit?

Please submit at least three. The form will allow you to submit up to 10 since we provide options for links or files, but the minimum is three.

What if I have an idea that isn’t art or fic?

We would love to see it! We are open to all types of creative media. Crochet, knitting, collage, cosplay, sculpture, poetry, the sky is the limit! If the applications don’t fit your needs to submission, please reach out to us so we can accommodate!

Will I be allowed to make changes to my application after I submit it?

Unfortunately, No. If you wish to change anything, you are allowed to submit again, but changing them won’t be allowed due to the fact the mods might see different versions of the app depending on when we see them. Therefore, please submit a new application, and we will be using the most recent version for judging. If you need to see something from an application you already submitted, just contact us, and we can help you out!

Can I sign up with my friend as a writer/artist pair?

You would need to submit separate applications. If you were to both be accepted into the project, you would be allowed to collaborate together.

[original--character]

i will draw your ocs for free

yeah, you read that right! that's what i do on this blog: draw people's ocs. just send me an ask with your oc and ill draw them!

well, actually, it's a bit more complicated than that... read below to get the full details!

about / information

you've probably already gotten the gist of what this blog is about, but here's some specifics for you.

information:

on this blog, i draw people's ocs that they send to me through the ask box, with the aim of giving oc artists the dopamine rush of receiving art of their beloved children!

i post all drawings i make on here and tag the creator of the oc

all drawings will be fully rendered unless specified (please tell me if you want the drawing to be flatcolor / sketched!)

everyone who submits an ask will have their oc drawn as long as the request abides by the rules below!!

types of drawings i offer:

icon / headshot

portrait / bust

halfbody

thigh-up

fullbody

chibi fullbody

sketch page

if you do not specify which type you would like, i will draw whichever i feel like! also, if you would like a sketch page, please specify how many drawings you would like on it! (upper limit for regular style character drawings is 4, upper limit for chibis is 3)

you may use any of the art i make of your ocs (with credit):

as an icon / header on any social media

as a reference of your character

for any personal use reasons (phone wallpaper, print it out and hang it in your room, post on social media, etc)

you may not use any of the art i make for commercial purposes!!

i will not show any examples as i am using this account as a way to experiment with my style and technique, and many of the drawings will most likely not look exactly like anything i show as an example. so you'll just have to trust me! (once i start posting art to this account you can use those as examples!)

rules for submission

obviously with offers like these come some ground rules, so let's go over them now!

to be eligible to submit a character, you must:

follow this blog!

reblog this post!

in your submission, you must include:

a fully colored reference of your character

the name of your oc and their pronouns

some things you can also do, but don't have to:

include how far down you'd like your character to be drawn (headshot, halfbody, fullbody, etc)

include a pose or expression you'd like your oc to have

submit multiple characters at a time (please specify if you'd like them to be drawn together or not; if so, include their relationship, height difference, and how you'd like them to be interacting)

ask for multiple drawings of the same character (they will be drawn and posted together)

include a background description if you want one

other guidelines and things to abide by:

i only draw humans/humanoids and flat-faced furries/anthros

i can draw all genders, body types, and skin colors

i can draw complex designs and backgrounds

im iffy on vehicles and complex machinery

i will not draw nsfw or discriminatory art

i will draw at most 5 characters in one image

there's no limit to the amount of submissions you can send / drawings you can request at a time

i will not draw canon characters / characters from media, this is specifically an oc art account for a reason! the point is to make oc artists happy by drawing their babies :) this does not apply to creatives who are making a piece of media with their characters (ex. webtoon/comic artists) feel free to submit!

the one behind the screen

about the moderator of this blog!

hello! i'm the perpetrator of this ordeal, and the one making all of the art. my name isn't very important, so you can just call me origin or ori if you'd like! i use he/they pronouns, please respect that. im a queer minor who likes to design characters and draw! i'm an avid oc haver and artist myself, and i know how great it feels to have your character drawn by someone else. so i started this blog to spread around some of that joy to other oc artists on tumblr! i hope you all enjoy the art that i make!

final notes

wow, you made it to the end of this post! thanks for sticking around and reading everything, i know that was a lot. here's some final notes:

even if you don't submit a character to be drawn, i encourage you to reblog this post anyway. i want this blog to reach as many oc artists as possible so i can draw lots and lots of characters!

please be patient with me. i will try to get all requests done quickly, but there is a possibility for your request to take many months to complete. please be mindful that i have a personal life and duties to attend to that may prevent me from drawing your character in a timely manner. thank you!

since these are free requests, i will not be accepting revisions. the final art will remain unchanged after it is posted.

anyone displaying excessively rude or inappropriate behavior will not have their request completed and will be blocked.

and that's all folks! thanks for reading, drink some water, and give me some characters to draw!!

[de-fanzine-cpr-pale]

super interested in this! will there be guidelines released or anything? just curious about what can and can't be submitted!!

Guidelines will be simple! There's a few guidelines for What and How Much to submit, but no hard rules on quality, etc. I know we all come from different skill levels, and this is a showcase of what we all can do, not who's the "best" defined by my idea of what is best.

Participants will be asked for ONE PIECE of art. It can be one type of medium or a mix of mediums.

Art, comics, and writing are all allowed. Other mediums will be allowed on a case by case basis.

NSFW is NOT ALLOWED since we have minors participating!

Art that has anything above PG-13 must be tagged appropriately. More on this will be explained when submissions are opened.

More in-depth guidelines as follows:

Artists are asked for 1 piece of art that features a clean sketch, clean lineart, or no lineart that is fully colored or toned (includes grayscale / monotone).

For comics, artists will be allowed five (5) pages maximum! This is just for space, since I'm hoping we will have a lot of participants. (If any of ya'll would prefer this limit to be more or less, let me know since I'm not familiar with comics.)

Writers are asked for one (1) piece of writing no longer than five thousand words (5k). The writing can be prose, a poem, a script, etc. It must be in English, as I have to make sure the content is not breaking any rules. It preferably should be polished! (basically: if you're not good at grammar, that's okay; i would simply suggest you look over the piece / edit it / polish it before submitting!).

Other mediums will be allowed on a case-by-case basis!

Collaborations (collabs) are allowed as well, but you will have to talk to me about who will be in it (a simple DM here will do, then i can start an e-mail chain or a discord groupchat of the participants, whichever works best for you). Then I'll ask for confirmation from everyone who's participating in the collab, and I'll mark it on my spreadsheet of participants and group everyone participating in the collab. How the art will be posted and labeled in the zine will be handled after submissions come through.

Mix of the Above Mediums:

Must be run by me for approval, as I may need to adjust guidelines. If you want to mix mediums, they MUST BE related to each other (so you can't submit a writing piece with an art piece if they don't relate to each other, as that would count as two pieces instead of one).

This is what I have so far; things may be adjusted!

[mewmewkitten101]

32 Day Art Fight Challenge

I've had this idea floating in my head for awhile and while it's definitely too late to use this now it'll be handy for next year! Feel free to play with these prompts if you want, you don't have to follow them 100%!

This is a prompt list for artfighters that would like to challenge themselves. This was also inspired by Pencilcat's 30 day art challenge so check that out as well!

Let's start off easy! Draw a character(s) that would be in your comfort zone (Do you like drawing demons? Draw demons! Do you like to draw complicated characters? Draw complicated characters! That kinda thing.)

Go on Pinterest or wherever you have poses stored away, pick a reference and use that to pose a character(s) (or more!)

Draw character(s) in action. Fight scene, moving, whatever, just do it!

Try to draw parts of anatomy you struggle with using other people's characters!

Draw a ship or a few.

Go to your characters page. Pick a character, then choose one of the tags. Using that tag look for a character(s) to draw. Bonus points if you choose the first one(s) you see.

Draw a character(s) interacting with objects

Use the search for a random character. Choose one or a few characters you see. Bonus points if you choose the first one(s) you see.

Put a character(s) on a landscape. Bonus points for shading and lighting

Draw a character(s) in one point perspective. Try to make it detailed!

Draw a character(s) in two point perspective.

Draw a character(s) in three point perspective.

Go outside or by a window. Take a picture. Draw a character(s) in there. Bonus points for redrawing the photo yourself.

Draw characters in a worms or birds eye view background.

Draw some action scenes with backgrounds and all that!

Draw a short comic with a few characters! If you don't want to go crazy on writing anything, look for some memes like the who broke it scene from parks and rec and change it to fit your characters!

If you draw mostly human/humanoid characters, challenge yourself to draw an animal or furry! If you draw mostly furries/animals, challenge yourself to draw human(s)/humanoid(s). If you are proficient at both, challenge yourself to draw a species you've never drawn before, like a fairy or deer! Tags are your friend for this.

Draw a character(s) interacting with a car.

Draw what you hate most (not counting body parts)

Pick an object in your house. Use that to look through tags. See if you find anything that catches your eye. You may need to look a few times.

Draw something in monochromatic blacks, whites, and greys.

Draw something with hatching, crosshatching or pointillism.

Pick a color pallete and draw a character(s). Make sure the creators of the characters are alright with the colors being changed! If they aren't, use this pallete in the background.

Draw a character(s) lineless. If you draw without lines as a default, try doing lines!

Draw in a new style. It can be someone else's or it can be of another artist or something from another media.

Draw a character(s) in other emotions.

Draw a character in a different outfit.

Try to find characters from your favorite pieces of media. If you find any, draw them! If not, keep trying with other pieces of media until you get something.

Look for a "design me a character". Design a character for someone following whatever guidelines they have.

If you draw in a more cartoony style, try drawing a character(s) in a more realistic style! If you draw in a more realistic style, try drawing in a more cartoony style! If you can do both do both!

Redraw an old piece from a year ago, same characters and all.

Almost done! Draw a character in a shitty doodle.

[askadvancewars]

2014 - AW Zine

It could be I’m getting sick and I may regret this when I wake up but I can’t stop thinking about it

Though maybe people will be tired after the secret santa and valetine stuff 

(yeah it won’t be a fanbook just by me who’d want that

I’m hoping for a for-fans-by-fans submission pdf fanbook  kinda deal)

Nothing really came out of this, unsurprisingly.

I think I just really wanted to an Advance Wars fanbook but the best I could do was make one of myself.

Here’s a post I wrote back then which is the context of some pics I repost

While I still try to work out how to put together a pdf thing, just been thinking about guidelines

I really want this to come as accessible and not intimidating to submit because people submitting is great and people showing their love is super series through art

but I’d also like it to look nice, like quality-wise, as in you open it up and the quality of the art doesn’t like junk, as it happened when I tried

Also, I don’t want anybody to feel their art isn’t ‘good enough’ because the plan is to make expression of love for the series 

I’ve been tossing ideas, like should there be a theme or not? In general, I’d like to be the general theme of ‘What AW means/meant to you’/'What you love the most about the series’.

If there is a particular theme, I’d still want it to be open-ended enough for the artist’s interpretation

I would want to it be mostly new art made for the book but also open to old art they might want to showcase?

Right now the ideas I like best are 

COLORS

-depending how many people sign up, they get assigned a color and draw around that (maybe there would be four people and the colors split up, one might get black and yellow so they’d make a black page and a yellow page, the other might be get orange and blue)

DRAW ALL THE COS

-depending again how many people sign up, they get a random draw of COs to draw so everyone will draw everyone else, could be as simple as just drawing heads or stick figures or as elaborate as making a whole comic

Ah, but the Days of Ruin COs are always welcome which is why I always make it a point to include them in the guidelines.

Nobody seems to request, haha. (I probably will if this ever comes to pass, them and Super Famicom Wars peeps)

Other ideas are Seasons (particular Summer) and Food

But then I circle back to idea that these might be needlessly complicated and might work against me when crunch time comes around because the keywords are 'Advance Wars’ and 'for fun’

not that kind of fun

Even with willing participants, a thriving fandom, and no reward or gain other than a showing of love for a series, a fanbook would need a lot of work.

I did making my own fanbook so maybe “nothing” isn’t exactly the right word for it. But as someone who did not know what I was doing with anything…doing it all by myself? It obviously wasn’t very good.

I ended up putting everything on my askadvancewars a couple of years back.

The theme I went with was: draw every Advance Wars Classic COs once/sorted by faction+ Infantry guys

I called it Jake Wars because of course I did

I still really like that the divider I chose was having each nation’s soldier playing a game system where a Wars game appeared (Orange Star playing on a GBA SP, Blue Moon on the DS, etc) before introducing their group…except for Black Hole’s. Yeah, I ran pretty much of steam out that one.

I still really like this one of them playing on the GameCube. Ironically, the only Wars game on the platform wasn’t made by Intelligent Systems and the one I don’t know, haven’t played and don’t talk about ever.

[the-lone-witch-and-secret-room]

I’m looking for artists willing to collab with me for Locked Out

Okay, so... hi!

Some of you may know me as EleenaDume on Ao3, and I’m the author of the Owl House fanfiction Locked Out—for anyone that may not be following me here and would like proof I am who I claim to be, please check out the end notes of the story, you’ll see that this account is linked under “owl house tumblr”.

Lately, I’ve been contemplating including more art in the story and am now officially announcing that I’m looking for artists that like the story and would be willing to collab!

What do artists get out of this? A shoutout on social media when I post a chapter they’ve worked on, as well as a permanent hyperlink to a social media account of their choice in the end notes of the story. There will also be a link to their account directly below the piece(s) they’ve worked on, as well as a chapter featuring all credits at the end of the fic.

Please just note that I cannot link back to anyone’s Ko-Fi/PayPal etc. in the fic itself, as this is forbidden via Ao3 guidelines.

Artists retain all ownership rights over their art—should you, ever, at any point, want your art removed from the story, it will be. Just let me know. You won’t even be required to give me a reason.

You’re working with me on a voluntary basis. You may drop out at any point. You may also reject a scene based on personal preferences and will get a different one in that case. You will only work on a chapter of you have the time. If you’d like to work on one chapter and don’t have time for the next three, but would like to stick around for another one in the future, that’s fine. You’re free to stick around for however long or short you want. If you only want to stick around for one chapter, but eventually decide you’d like to do another one, feel free to fill out the form again.

I’d like to keep it one scene per artist per chapter, so you won’t be working on multiple art scenes for a whole chapter, but rather on art for one specific scene.

What kind of art is preferred? Your art can be digital or traditional, and whether it’s one panel or a comic, full-color or black and white or anything in-between is fully up to you.

You will be given a scene of a future chapter ahead of time. Unless it’s the sneak peek scene, this scene may not be discussed with anyone until the chapter itself is posted. Posting the scene beforehand, may it be in a server, a group chat or on social media, will get you removed from the project permanently.

You may post a cropped sneak peek of your piece on your social media before the chapter itself is posted, just please check with me first. The full piece can be posted once the chapter is uploaded to Ao3.

Whether or not I may repost the art on my social media accounts is up to you—if I do, you will of course be credited. Otherwise, I will just share your post.

If you’re okay with your art being added after a chapter is already posted, you won’t have any time limit.

Otherwise, I will give you your scene as early as possible and will wait for a limited amount of time before posting the chapter.

If you cannot complete a piece for a chapter in the time we agreed on for whatever reason, that’s okay! Please just let me know and we’ll figure something out.

Since there is a limit to how much art I will include in chapters as I don’t want to disrupt the reading flow too much, and since not every plot is covered in every chapter and you can choose the plot you would like to work on, please be aware that you won’t be working on art for every single chapter. You may be given a scene that’s more than one chapter into the future if your art requires a lot of time—provided you want that, since there would, of course, be spoilers.

You will get little to no input when it comes to how I write the story. Small tweaks may be suggested, but I have the whole story planned out already and will not be changing it up a lot.

If you’re interested in collaborating, please let me know by filling out this little questionnaire I made!

Before this scares anyone out of collaborating, please rest assured that this is NOT an application form. Everyone that wants to collaborate will be accepted. The questionnaire just exists for the sake of planning because I want anyone that agrees to collab with me to have the best possible experience and to be able to work on the things they actually want to work on.

If you have any questions, feel free to DM me!

You don’t have to reply immediately, take your time to contemplate, the questionnaire will probably remain open for replies for the foreseeable future, and if it closes temporarily it will eventually be reopened.

Reblogs would be extremely appreciated! Thank you!

[keenmarvellover]

POSTS FOR YOU - 1

Some links to posts with valuable content you want in one place.(BASICALLY EVERYTHING IS THERE)

Suggestions and Recommendations are appreciated and accepted.

Last Updated : 16/10/2020

NOTE: Some of these post are written in a crude and unruly fashion. But they contain valuable tips, guidance and information. If you can't/don't want to read such posts, then don't read.

Mental Health

Do you need a Hug?

Maybe you’re having a stressful day. Maybe you just need a deep breath. Maybe you just didn’t realize how stressed you are. You can get your comfort here.

Some stuff to help you sleep

This is definitely not a google drive full of the sleep stuff from the Headspace app, including sleepcasts, music, and wind down meditation, that normally costs 17.99 a month, no siree and you definitely shouldnt share this with people

Anti-Anxiety Tools

Some tools to help you before, during or after an anxiety attack

100 Reasons NOT To Kill Yourself

READ IT. SHARE IT. REBLOG IT. Save a Life.

HOBBIES MASTERPOST!!!!!!!!

A really excellent way to reduce anxiety is to pick up a new hobby. Find something you’re interested in, learn it, then use it as a healthy and productive way to cope.

Health

Some very Important Lists for Rating PAIN, FATIQUE AND MENTAL HEALTH

It is MUST share

PSA Rregarding Hospital bills

Also how to pay hospital bills when you are broke.

How to differentiate between COVID-19, FLU AND COMMON COLD

Anyway, as we enter cold & flu season in the YEAR of corona, this will come in very handy.

Treatment for HIV

VERY IMPORTANT. Please Read and Share.

What does the Color of your Period mean?

A must read for individuals who get periods.

How to differentiate between Period Cramps and Appendicitis

A MUST READ

From a Person who is Hard of Hearing

Types and levels of deafness

General Tips for Vagina Health

Some stuff they don't teach in sex-ed.

Undo the damage of Sitting

Are you always sitting down? Then these are some exercise you should probably try out for better health.

Guide to Proper Bra Fitting

Guide to Proper Bra Fit and Measuring. Please Read and Share.

Washable, Reusable Menstrual Pads

(Part II)

Reusable menstrual hygiene product, and are an alternative to disposable sanitary napkins or to menstrual cups.

Artists

Art Masterpost

How to draw *insert whatever you want, its there in the list*?

Book Binding

Some video links to different types of DIY Bookbinding

For Artists who Need Photoshop

If youre an artist who cant afford photoshop, definitely DO NOT go to this google drive to pirate the program, that would be so bad!!!

Do’s and Don'ts of Designing for Accessibility

Please consider this when designing for ANYTHING. For BUSINESSES and ARTISTS.

Writers

Color Synonyms

For both ARTISTS and WRITERS

How to make a Masterlist

Simple but efficient instructions to make a masterlist

ULTIMATE NOVEL WRITING RESOURCE MASTERLIST

This is an ultimate masterlist of many resources that could be helpful for writers.

List of AUs and Ship Tropes

For when you run out of ideas.

AUs

Ship Tropes

Legal sites to get some much needed Info

If there was only a way to find out all of this rather edgy information without getting yourself in trouble…

Resources for Describing Characters

For writing about physical appearances, character traits, talents,and skills and other related stuff of your characters, here is a comprehensive list.

Resources for Describing Emotions

Having trouble writing jealousy, happiness, motivation. Here you go!!

Some Resources for your Writing

Body Language

Reverse Dictionary

Character Traits

Things to Keep in mind when naming Characters

Valuable advice. Trust me

Words to Use when Writing Smut/Romance

This is for smut/romance writers. Kinda like a thesaurus.

Tips to write Pain

How are you supposed to write about pain you’ve never experienced before?

References for Greek Mythology Characters

Link to an extensive site every single detail of Greek Mythology from Gods to Family Trees.

Tips to write Blind Characters

Some tips that might be invaluable when writing character that are near-blind or blind

Things to Remember when writing a Highly Emotional Scene

Just small things that could make a great difference

How to write with Multiple POVs

Tips on how to write multiple POVs with diverse characters

Synonyms and Antonyms

The person who made this list is a blessing to writers. Just saying.

Good Qualities for Female Characters

Females don't always need to be protected and be weak. Make them more realistic.

Words to Use instead of ‘Said’

Every single situation is listed. Check it out.

Limits of the Human Body

All extremities listed

Readers

Legal Sites to Download Literature

From children’s books to rare books, from philosophy and religion to nonfiction. I guess you can find anything here.

The Rights of the Reader

And some (lots of) bashing of Helicopter Parents.(You want to read only the rights. Here it is)

Wet Book Rescue : Steps to save a Wet Book

Valuable information if some of your prized books were affected by recent flooding. The video even shows you what to do if you can’t dry the book out right away.

Cheatsheet to Navigate AO3

Makes your time on AO3 a little more easier and interesting

How to trick Writers into giving you More Fanfic to read

Works for Comics and Art as well.

Get a Book Suggestion

This book website gives you the first page of a random book without the title or author so that you can read it with no preconceptions

Books written by POC Writers

Only POC authors included in the list.

Students

Basic ASL (American Sign Language) Movements

ASL Hand Movements for beginners.

Tips for studying with ADHD/a>

Made by a person with ADHD themself.

Resources to Learn New Languages

Ten fairly useful general language resources

How to properly take notes

It helps. It really helps.

FREE ONLINE LANGUAGE COURSES

Here is a masterpost of MOOCs (massive open online courses) that are available, archived, or starting soon. I think they will help those that like to learn with a teacher or with videos.

A Thread of Tips

A thread of tips to help High School and College students academically

LEARN THINGS FOR FREE

FREE ONLINE COURSES (here are listed websites that provide huge variety of courses)

Google like a BOSS

Some life hacks which make student's lives easier.

625 words to know in your Target Language

If your learning a new language, these words will help you build a strong foundation.(Some tips and sites are include too)

Miscellaneous/Life Hacks

How to add music to your Blog

How to add your very own, custom homemade playlist to your blog?

How to Walk with Purpose?

Some tips on how to hold yourself in public and why.

Cheatsheet for Laundry Rooms

Saves a lot of money in the Laundry Room

How to Gird up your Loins?

A lesson in how to gird your loins.

How to Disappear Online

Please read and spread for the sake of abuse victims or stalker victims.

What to do during a Nuclear Attack

I hope you never have to use it but here are some guidelines to follow in the event of a nuclear attack

How to pull an All-Nighter.

A to-do list

Write a Thank You letter after your Interview

It leaves a good impression on your interviewer and increase your chances of passing the interview.

Laundry Tags: Meanings

A life hack that you’ll definitely need at some point.

Where to find free Movies and Series Online

Lots of sites. Lots and Lots of sites. I am not Kidding. Now go and chill without netflix. (Part II)

How to get a Refund?

Get your stuff or a refund.

HOW TO DO EVERYTHING FROM SCRATCH

This starts at the most absolute basics of gardening and planting, provides definitions, and hopefully is easily understandable. This is a MUST-READ. (Farming)

Discuss your wages

It’s your right to share your salary, not doing so could be holding you back.

Youtube Tutorials for Basically EVERYTHING

This is a big, giant list of Youtube tutorials that will teach you all the basic life skills you need to know in order to be a functional adult.

Safety

Emergency Evacuation - Items to Gather

A text list of suggested items to acquire in the event of an emergency.

If someone you know is in an abusive relationship

AN ABBREVIATED GUIDE TO ‘Holy shit!!! My friend is in an abusive relationship what do I do’ and what not to do.

Defense Tips for Women

Defense and Safety tips a woman MUST know. (Part II)

An app that informs your Emergency contacts if you are inactive in a set period of time.(Could prevent rape attempts if used correctly)

If a Man gets Physical

How to check if a mirror is one way or two-way

If you are trapped in a smoke-filled apartment: What to Do

How to get out of Hand-binds

How to get out of the bunker of a Car

How to track Anonymous asks.

How to pick a Lock

Traits and Warning signs of an Abuser

What to do if a bigot pulls your Hijab (from behind)

What to do if someone pulls of a Muslim Woman's Hijab? (To do List for both Men and Women)

[starspangledbigbang]

Welcome to the 2021 Star Spangled Big Bang!

The Star Spangled Big Bang is a chance for writers and artists to collaborate and create stories paired with artwork, all of which will focus on the members of Team Cap from the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Authors sign up to write stories that are 10k words or longer. Artists then claim stories and create art inspired by them. Creations may be canon, canon divergent, or AU. They must be centered around at least one character from the MCU’s Team Cap/Cap Quartet. All pairings as well as gen fic are welcome.

Friday 5 March - Author & Artist sign-ups open

Friday 2 April - Author sign-ups close

Friday 21 May - Author Check-in

Friday 4 June - Artist sign-ups close, Author summaries due (5k of fic complete)

Sunday 6 June - Author summaries available for preview

Friday 11 June - Claims open, Partnerships announced

Friday 2 July - Author & Artist Check-in #1

Friday 9 July Sat 17 July - Beta Claims

Friday 6 August - Author & Artist Check-in #2, Posting Date Claims

September - Posting period

Content Guidelines

Every creation must be centered around one or more characters from the MCU’s Team Cap or the Cap Quartet. This includes Steve Rogers, Sam Wilson, Natasha Romanov, Bucky Barnes, Clint Barton, Scott Lang, Wanda Maximoff, and Sharon Carter.

Any and all ratings are welcome, as well any setting, be it canon, canon divergent, or AU. Authors will be able to outline their preferences on rating, do-not-wants, and collaboration interest level if desired so that artists may take that into consideration when choosing what stories they’d like to collab with. 

Please be mindful of portraying marginalized communities respectfully. This page from Writing With Color has a list of blogs and resources that discuss diversity in writing. Any creations that sympathetically portray hate groups or actively promote racism, transphobia, homophobia, etc. will not be accepted.

All fics must be edited, beta read, and legible. All content must be thoroughly and appropriately tagged.

Code of Conduct 

Please be respectful of your fellow participants, including your mods. This event is designed to be inclusive regarding characters, ships, kinks, etc. and therefore we will not allow kinkshaming or ship/character bashing within event spaces. We are a diverse community and will not tolerate any racism, transphobia, homophobia, harassment, or general inappropriate behavior towards the mods or your fellow participants.

We want to ensure that all participants have a comfortable experience within the event. If your content or conduct does not align with the guidelines and the spirit of the bang, we will do everything possible to foster conversation and resolve the issue on a case-by-case basis. However, the final decision on how to proceed will ultimately be up to the mods. Please remember that the mods are fans just like you, doing this for fun in their spare time to share more Team Cap love.

What sort of content am I committing to if I sign up?

Authors will be required to create one original, cohesive story with a minimum of 10k words (no maximum). Artists will claim one or more stories (depending on the number of sign ups we receive, as well as artist interest) and create one piece inspired by that story. Each collab team will be required to create a banner for the master post as well.

What sort of artwork is acceptable?

All art must be visual, original art. By original art, we mean that the final product must be an original product of the artist. Using photos for reference is fine, and you can use whatever traditional or digital medium you require, so long as the art starts and finishes as your own product. Photo manips are allowed as long as they have been significantly edited, via Photoshop or other programs, to clearly resemble original art. Hit up the mods if you need clarity on an idea.

What ships are allowed?

Any prominent ships featured must include one or more characters from the MCU’s Team Cap or the Cap Quartet (Steve Rogers, Sam Wilson, Natasha Romanov, Bucky Barnes, Clint Barton, Scott Lang, Wanda Maximoff, and Sharon Carter.) They may be paired with any other characters, but the Team Cap character(s) should be the main focus of the story. Other than that note, we welcome any and all ships for the main pairings, including polyamorous ships, queerplatonic ships, and genfic. All side pairings are welcome as well.

What canons & universes are allowed?

Any canon or universe is allowed as long as it features one of the specified Team Cap characters. This includes any movies, comic runs, cartoons, etc. as well as non-canon AUs. So, if you wanted to write Planet Hulk Steve or Avengers Assemble Natasha or mermaid Sam, that’s perfectly acceptable!

Are there any age restrictions for participation?

Sorry, but yes. You’ve got to be 18 or over to participate.

Can I use a work that I’ve published previously, or that’s been sitting in my drafts for 3 years?

For this fest, we need all original content, none of which has been published previously. That being said, authors, if you’ve got an outline or a draft that’s been hanging around your WIP folder for too long, now’s the perfect time to dust it off and finish it! Since the art is meant to be inspired by the story, artists must start their work from scratch.

What if a friend and I want to work together?

Writing teams are welcome, but since claims will be anonymous, no author/artist team sign ups will be allowed.

How will claiming work?

Authors will create slides with information on their stories. Claims will take place at the halfway mark, and authors must have a minimum of 5k words written to be considered for claims.

The mods will compile the author submissions anonymously to share with the artists prior to claims. Once claims open, artists will submit their choices via Google forms.

Where are the submissions going to be hosted?

All submissions will be posted on AO3. We will also promote all creations on Tumblr and Twitter.

What if I can’t finish on time, will I get an extension?

We’ll have plenty of check-ins to make sure that you will indeed finish on time! If you’ve got any concerns, the mods will work with you to find a solution on a case-by-case basis. We will also enlist the help of artist pinch hitters if necessary. If you drop before claims, there will be no penalty; however if you ghost us after claims and leave your partner hanging, we’ll take that into account for participation in future events depending on the circumstances.

Can I post work-in-progress snippets on my personal blog?

Prior to claims, all snippets and sneak peeks must be shared anonymously on the starspangledbigbang account; the mods will assist in this process. Once claims are done, you will be able to announce your team and share snippets on your personal blog, as you create. Please keep snippets to 500 words or less, and roughly ⅓ or the artwork or less.

Can the fic &/or art also count towards a bingo fill?

Yes, we will allow cross-posting within bingo-style events, as long as your partner is comfortable. If your partner would prefer to keep your creation to this event only, then we would ask you to respect their wishes. We also ask that all cross-posting be done in good faith and within the spirit of our content and conduct guidelines.

I can’t sign up, but I still want to participate, what can I do?

No worries, there are lots of ways for you to help support the Big Bang! Follow us on Twitter and Tumblr; reblog, comment, and share our posts to spread the word. We’ll also be asking for help with beta reading, pinch hitting, and other cool ways for you to get involved!

Where can I find event info?

Info on the SSBB will be posted on Tumblr (@starspangledbigbang) and Twitter (@starspangledbb), with a collection on AO3. We will also have a Discord for participants.

Who are the mods?

Your friendly SSBB mods are bangyababy, Call_Me_Kayyyyy, HeyBoy, nachodiablo, and velociraptorerin.

I’ve got more questions, help!

No problem, we’re happy to hear from you! Ping us on one of the social media sites above, or email starspangledmods at gmail dot com.

(updated 07/09/2021)

[the-oc-workshop]

Hey everyone! The OC Factory has downsized to the OC Workshop. But on the upside, this allows us to start commissions! Shop owner Abby (me) is finally old enough to use PayPal, so I can use my art to help others!

  I specialize in OCs, obviously, as I have a great talent in being able to accurately mimic almost any piece of media’s art style. But I’m open to draw most anything! - for the right price, of course, we need money to keep the workshop running. Check the read more for all information, including prices and guidelines.    

If you’re unsure about anything, just hit me up and we’ll chat! I’ll clear up anything you’re unsure of, and hopefully you'll be asking because you’d like to buy a commission and we can discuss that too~.

I look forward to hearing from you!

$10 for an icon

Bust:

- sketch/lined - $5

- flat color - $10

- detailed color - $15

- $5 for every added character

Waist up:

- sketch/lined - $10

- flat color - $15

- detailed color - $20

- $10 for every character added

Thighs:

- sketch/lined - $15

- flat color - $20

- detailed color - $25

- $15 for every character added

Full body:

- sketched/lined - $20

- flat color - $25

- detailed color - $30

- $15 for every character added

Adding a simple background is an extra $2! A detailed background is $10!

I can draw little comics too.

Prices could vary depending on the exact nature of the piece or your situation (though I won’t lower the price very much for that I’ll admit).

Have a reference of your character(s) ready, preferably with color.

If you would like more than just a character drawing, discuss it with me and we can figure out an exact price.

Things I won’t draw:

- NSFW

- Fetishes (you’d think this would be under nsfw, but a drawing can cater to a fetish without being explicit about it. But trust me, I’ll know what you’re asking)

- Anything offensive

-Complicated mechs/robots (send me a reference to ask but little details stress me out)

-Gore

Things I MIGHT draw:

- Light gore (some blood and maybe floating limbs are fine)

- Suggestive art

- Angst (preferably nothing too intense please!)

- Things like genderbends and white characters with different races, or cis characters as trans, etc. Usually these requests are fine, but it can depend on the nature of the request, so please ask! (As a trans guy myself I will be especially strict with my “no fetish rule” in regards to trans characters.)

- Fanart for a fic (once again not likely that I'd refuse, but some subject matter squicks me out so I retain the right to say no!)

Things I will ~Absolutely~ draw!

- As said above, OCs! Any and all are welcome, as long they and your request for them fits the guidelines listed in what I won’t draw. Don’t worry about if they’re too “silly” or a “Mary Sue” or anything like that, there’s no judgement here. I’ll take your wonderful character and I’ll make them look great!

- Furries! I’d love to draw some furries. Scalies and others are welcome too.

I will require half of the payment up front and will accept the rest once I finish your commission.

Also, you must credit me whenever you use or post my art anywhere (and I do mean more than “credit to the artist”).

(Please note that when you ask for a commission, I retain the right to refuse you for any sensible reason, such as I am uncomfortable with the subject of the drawing or your attitude. In fact, not even sensible, I retain the right to refuse you for any reason that isn’t just because I want to be mean or a bigot, like if you want me to draw something for a ship that I don’t ship myself.

The time it can take me to finish a work will vary depending on what you ask for and my current situation, but we can discuss that.)

[fabrowrites]

The Ninja Create Fursonas

Despite the title, no furries were harmed in the making of this fic

----------

When the announcement first comes through, Jay's thrilled. He can't believe it's real. It's like something out of a dream. When the day finally comes and they're on their way to the studio, he sits in the back seat and practically vibrates in place for the entire trip.

A hand settles on his thigh. "Settle down, Jay!" Cole says, laughing. "You're charging up enough energy to give us all static shocks for a week. Is your brain exploding? You're so jittery today."

"Of course I'm jittery," Jay snaps. "How are you not? This is like, the greatest thing that's ever happened to me."

This thing being- wanting to ride their latest wave of popularity after defeating the Preeminent (and Nadakhan, but apparently he didn't count- yes, Jay was salty), a toy-making company had approached the group and asked if perhaps they'd be interested in a line of stuffed toy creatures made after them? As if they'd say no. And if that wasn't enough, they also wanted the ninja to be the ones to design them.

Jay just might pass out in the back of this van.

They'd been escorted into a cozy-looking room with long tables and chairs and given giant pads of paper and black markers. The head artist gave them a rundown of guidelines- nothing scandalous, certainly; they should try to make each character cute, relatable, and most of all marketable- and oh, wouldn't it be neat if they each had something to do with their element?

Jay had agreed readily. He sized up the sketch pad in front of him and cracked his knuckles. Okay, brain. Let's do this.

Except that was forty-five minutes ago and Jay's no closer to an idea than when he began. He bangs his head against the table with a long, drawn-out groan. His sketch pad drops uselessly from his hands.

"It's no use," he whines. "I don't have a creative bone in my body. I'm gonna have to pack my bags and move to the south and become a repressed goat farmer."

Kai mumbles something that sounds suspiciously like "not a creative bone in my body my butt." But when Jay looks over at him, the fire ninja's attention is fixed firmly to his own board.

Blearily, Jay raises his head. Everything he's drawn looks like trash. There's a weird leopard creature scribbled out in the corner. Next to it is a lizard that looks like a cross between Rango and that purple thing from Monsters Inc except with none of their good qualities and all of their bad. A sad bird-thing sits in the center. It looks disappointed in him despite its lack of face. Maybe the blankness enhances it.

He drops his marker on the table and leans back with a long groan.

"It can't be all that bad," Nya says. She's bent over beside him, bottom lip caught between her teeth as she fills something in. Jay sighs without moving.

"I couldn't think of anything to draw so I started drawing Kai as a porcupine."

Nya whistles lowly. "That is bad," she says. Both of them ignore Kai's outraged shout of: "Hey! My face is the best inspiration you'll ever get!" She sets down her own pad, closing the cover. "Maybe if we show you what we've done, it'll inspire you."

"Or it'll just make me feel worse about myself," Jay grumbles, but he sits up in his seat properly. "Okay. Let's try that. Do you have anything?"

Nya shrugs the way she does when she's proud of something she did but doesn't want to call attention to it. "There was something I was working on." She flips open her sketchbook. Jay scoots his chair closer to hers. His eyes widen.

"Woah, Nya! That's actually really cool!"

"Actually?" Nya asks, raising her eyebrow, but she laughs when Jay pouts at her. "Oh, fine. Thanks. It's not much yet, but-"

The character on her paper is a seal, small and round, with dark eyes and a happy puppy face. At the edges of the sheet are more drawings- one has the seal in a wetsuit; another puts it in diver fins and a snorkel.

"I wanted to experiment around," Nya says. "I think I like the wetsuit one the best."

"That one's cute," Jay agrees.

From Nya's right side comes a groan. "Will you two keep it down?" Kai complains. "Some of us are trying to work here."

"Some of us are trying to work here too, but we can't," Jay sends back. Not one of his best comebacks, but it's to Kai. "I've got brain blockage and Nya's helping me out."

Kai glances over and sees what they're doing. He perks up. "Oh, are we sharing?" He sits up straighter and drums his fingers on the table. "Hey, guys! We're sharing!"

"Oh, good!" says Cole. "I wanted your feedback on something."

"Me too," says Zane.

Jay narrows his eyes at both of them. "This right now?" he says. "This is about me. Not you."

Cole waves his hand. "Of course, of course."

The way he says it has Jay hhmphing, but they both turn their focus to Kai as the fire ninja loudly demands their attention.

Kai has created what appears to be a horse, except that it has a few too many legs, a creepy tongue drooling out of its face, and horns. So it's actually not like a horse at all. Somehow it's both angular and blobby at the same time. Ah, the dualities of Art.

"I thought we were supposed to be making these marketable," Zane says with a tilt of his head.

"This is marketable!" Kai protests. "Kids are like, bonkers for dragons."

Ah, so that's what the blob is, Jay thinks. "Bonkers?" he snickers aloud. "What are you, seventy? Did you try cuckoo too? What about nutty?"

"Bananas," Lloyd pipes up. "Gaga. Buggy."

"Okay, okay, we get it," Kai grumbles. "You like to talk."

"That wasn't my point at all," Jay says, but he concedes it. He does like to talk, after all.

"Why does it have six legs?" asks Nya.

"Those are its wings," Kai sniffs.

Nya bursts out laughing, slapping her hand on her knee, eyes closed into crescents. "Hey!" Kai shouts, shoving her from her chair. "You know that drawing's not my real talent."

"Oh, we know," Cole says under his breath.

"Huh?"

"Nothing!" Cole grins. "I'll go next." He flicks back a page or two. "So I originally wanted to do a bear, because bears are cool and they're the deadliest animal on the planet."

"I'm pretty sure you meant to say 'shark'," Nya says.

"I'm pretty sure I said what I meant to say," Cole snips back. He returns his attention to his drawing board. "But bears are too overdone in this day and age."

Jay can't even make fun of him for saying 'this day and age' like some grandma because he's too busy currently gaping at the art on Cole's board.

The character on Cole's paper is definitely not a bear.

"Bears are overdone," Cole says. "So I thought, why not make a narwhal?"

"How on earth," Jay asks faintly, "did you make the jump from bear to narwhal?"

Cole shrugs. "It made sense at the time."

"What's a narwhal?" Lloyd asks. His marker is flying a mile a minute across his sketch pad and his eyes never leave the page.

"It's a unicorn fish," Jay says, turning a disbelieving eye back to the earth ninja. Cole just grins. "A unicorn fish that no one cares about. What happened to giving me inspiration?" he demands. "You've just killed any ideas I might have had!"

Cole pouts.

"I, for one, think it's adorable!" Nya's come up behind Cole now and is peering at his sketch pad. Hearing her words, Cole brightens. "Does it have a name?"

"I was thinking Gnarly."

Nya nods sagely. "That's uber-rad, bro."

Bring Me to Life is playing on a psychedelic loop inside Jay's head. Wake me up inside, wails the lead vocalist, but Jay can't wake up (save me).

"Am I the only one taking this seriously?" he whines. "Guys. This is like, our legacy."

"I'm pretty sure our legacy is saving the city," Kai drawls, "not whatever these characters will be."

"Our legacy," Jay emphasizes. "Don't you realize how cool this is? How many people get to say they have their own cartoon character?"

Cole shrugs. "Exactly. That's why I'm having fun with it. Hey, do you think that Gnarly would look good with a monocle?"

"I'm taking it seriously," Lloyd says. "Look at mine."

"Gnarly would look absolutely dapper in a monocle, how could you even ask that."

"How big is he?" asks Zane. "That would have to be one big piece of glass."

"Hey, guys."

"Ooh, you should give him a mohawk."

"A mohawk? He's a fish! Fish don't have hair!"

"I'm pretty sure it's a mammal, actually."

An explosion rockets the left side of the room. Jay startles so badly he almost falls out of his chair. His eyes dart around for the threat, only to lock eyes with a smirking Lloyd. A smirking Lloyd who still has his fist raised, faint wisps of smoke rising from his fingers.

Jay lets out an inhuman shriek. It's a wonder that no one's come in to check on them, honestly. "Lloyd!"

"What?" Lloyd grins. "You weren't paying attention to me."

"We've raised a brat," Cole says. "An absolute menace."

Lloyd's grin intensifies. "As I was saying…"

He spins his board around with all the pomp and circumstance of a ten-year-old who learned how to act through daytime television. Somehow, despite them only having been given black sharpie markers to draw with, Lloyd has colored his character in with crayon. It's a shockingly detailed goat-creature. Its fur has been colored a mint green, and it's wearing a golden sweater with dragons crossing the sides.

It looks like it was ripped from the pages of an actual comic book.

"Woah!" Kai says, launching himself across the table and sending no less than three markers flying as he goes in for a closer look. "That's awesome, Lloyd!" He beams at the younger ninja. "What is it?"

Nya scoffs. "Obviously it's an alpaca, you dolt."

"It's a yak," Cole says.

Jay makes a disagreeing noise. "No, I'm pretty sure it's a goat."

"Guys," Lloyd says, looking extremely disappointed in all of them, "it's a llama."

They sit in silence for a moment.

"Ooh," Jay says. "Alright. That makes a bit more sense."

"Is it my turn?" Zane asks. Unlike some other members whose names shall not be mentioned, he waits until their attention is on him before starting. "I put a lot of thought into this character."

He turns around his paper. Jay chokes on his water. Tears stream from his eyes and he's coughing, but when he wipes them away the picture stays the same.

In the middle of the page, in the glorious high definition only a nindroid could hope to achieve, is a shark that looks like it came right out of some Super Bowl halftime slot. Its eyes are vacant. Its mouth is open in an agonized scream. It's standing in a starfish pose, legs in lieu of a tail.

"My character is a shark," Zane says, as if it needed any explanation.

Everyone stops and looks at him. Zane's the picture of earnestness, eyes wide and unguarded. At this exact moment, he looks like a five-year-old presenting some horrific drawing to its mother. As the silence stretches on, his face falls. "Is it not on target enough? I know we were supposed to be making something related to our element, but there are not that many snow creatures."

The group glances at each other, expressions veering towards the panicked side. By some unspoken agreement, they all reach the same conclusion.

"Oh, no!" says Nya. "We were all just surprised by how good you draw."

"It's a great shark, Zane," Cole says, tone a bit forced. The expression in his eyes doesn't match the grin on his face.

"Yeah," Jay says lamely. "I like how- how blue it is."

Zane beams.

"It looks like you're well on your way!" says a new voice. It's the head artist, coming back into the room. She looks around approvingly at the studio of chaos. "Well done. I knew I heard the sounds of productivity in here."

Apparently productivity sounds like random explosions and screaming now. That's- honestly not that far off the mark, considering that Jay's a literal ninja for his job.

"The next step, if you haven't already," says the artist, "will be coming up with names." Cole high-fives Nya. "I'll be back in a bit to check on you again!"

The room descends into voices once again as she leaves.

"I need a cool name for my dragon," Kai says immediately. "There's got to be a way to combine my name with it, right?"

"Kragon," Cole suggests. "Drakai."

Kai wrinkles his nose. "Kragon? Like that weirdo from the LEGO line?"

"No, you're thinking of Cragger," Lloyd says. "Kragon is that magical crystal thing Jedi use."

Jay rolls his eyes. "No, that's a kyber. Didn't I raise you better than this? Kragon is that website that people sell stuff on."

"No, that's Craigslist."

"Whatever it is," Kai interrupts, "I don't like it. So you nerds can all drop it now."

"I think I'll call mine Neela," Nya says.

Cole glances at her sketchpad and makes a noise of approval. "Neela and Gnarly," he says. "Hey! Ours could be best friends!"

"You're already coming up with backstory?" Jay protests. "I haven't even started my character!"

"Well stop whining and just make one!" Cole says, exasperated.

Jay pouts. At the other end of the table, Lloyd's cackling up a storm as he writes name after name down the side of his paper. Jay leans over to see: his favorites seem to be Llod, Llyod, and Floyd judging on the circles he's made around them.

Jay sighs and leans back in his seat. Nya's abandoned her spot beside him to go brainstorm with Cole, and Kai's still tossing ideas out to the group even though no one's listening to him.

"Ooh, what about Kaitron?"

"That just sounds like a robot," Jay complains. Inspiration cuts through the cloud of his mind like a knife. "That's it!"

The entire room stops and stares at him. Seeing that he's just stood abruptly and slammed his sketch pad against the table, Jay can't blame them. "Kai," he says, "you're a genius." As quickly as he stood he's seated again, turning over a new page and beginning to sketch.

"I'm a what?" Kai asks, somewhere in the background.

Jay outlines a triangular shape. Then a body with one big wheel instead of legs. He fills up his page with sketches, mind vomiting up ideas faster than he can put them on paper. Yes. Yes! This was exactly what he wanted!

"Everyone!" he says- practically demands their attention. He rips the top sheet off his sketchpad with a flourish. "Meet NJ, your friendly little shapeshifting robot friend! The double emphasis on friendliness means that it's full of love."

"Shapeshifting?" Lloyd asks. "Woah, that's neat!"

Jay nods, grinning. "He can turn into anything, as long as it's non-organic." He points out some sketches of NJ as a toaster, as a spy drone, as an umbrella.

"That's- actually a cool idea, Jay," Cole says. "I like it!"

"Hey!" Jay protests. "Are you telling me that all my other ideas aren't cool?"

Cole grins. "You said it first," he points out.

"Kriff!" shouts Kai. For a second Jay thinks the fire ninja is swearing, but it turns out he's talking to his dragon. "Perfect name. Done."

The head artist chooses this moment to re-enter the room. She beams when she sees all their sketchpads laid out. "Looking good, everyone! Do you all have designs now?" They nod. "Great. Well, our next step will be for each of you working with our on-location artists to better flesh out your concepts. Oh, and then backstories!" She grins. "I'll go call them in."

She leaves. Kai stares at his paper. "I hope my artist likes challenges," he finally says.

[kittylovezine]

What is this zine about?

Kitty Love Zine is a Miraculous Ladybug & Chat Noir Fanzine dedicated to the relationship between Marinette Dupain-Cheng and Chat Noir. Canon or Fanon wise. We focus on the easy companionship, friendship, trust and love between them. Our intention is to expand happiness and positive vibes.

Is the Zine for charity or for profit?

For charity! The charity for this volume is Rainforest Trust. They work to preserve and revitalize rainforest biomes through out the world. This helps so many different animals, including us! 

Our first edition supports Five Acres Animal Shelter for Shadow’s Fund, an animal in special needs program! Please visit the Shelter website HERE!

Who can participate?

Every artist, writer, beta reader or moderator can apply to work with us!

Where can I apply?

Applications will open January 10th 2020.

What should I add on my portfolio?

For artist any link containing just your art will do. We’ll be looking at your finished work and it’s better if you have full colored illustrations with background.

Still confused? Tumblr links with your art tag, Instagram, a folder with your best work on Google Docs, Artstation or personal site works.

For writers your AO3 or FF.net links will suffice. Tumblr links with your fic tag also works. We’ll look at your narrative skills, one shots and short chapters are appreciated here since we are working with just that. The same runs for Beta Readers.

You don’t need ML work but it certainly helps. You may win a few points!

What’s the schedule?

Here you go.

When will Pre-Orders open?

We are aiming for May 1st - May 29th 2020.

It’s the Sin Ship, Can I do smut?

No, it’s SFW. Thank you very much! Call it the Slow Burn Ship for now.

Is the Zine going to be Physical or Digital?

We are doing a physical and PDF zine

Length of the artwork?

Artist will be able to choose between single page, spread and comic on a form we’ll send when Artist Collaborators are accepted.

Merch Bundle?

YES WE’LL HAVE A MERCH BUNDLE! ♥

I mean *Clears voice* We’ll be selling a bundle aside from the Zine. The artists for the merch will be selected from the applications.

Cats and Kittens?

We call all Moderators Cats and Collaborators Kittens here! Apply and be part of the family!

Artist Guidelines?

5.5x8.5 inches 300dpi, vertical.

Writers Guidelines?

1000-1500 words.

Do you have any other questions? Let us know!