#honestly this just started as me practicing drawing faster

[profffessionally-trained-ducky]

reblog if you like Geminitay 😎👍

close ups under the cut <3

[alchemiclee]

I hate when people who have never put any effort into drawing or art tell me i'm gifted/talented at it. they often say things like "I wish I could draw/I can't even draw a straight line/I always wanted to but was never good at it"

nearly 30 years of practice and hard work with nothing to show for it is not being gifted or talented! i've always felt this way no matter what age I was

I especially think this when I see artists younger than me who have more success. they're more likely "talented" or i'd be as good and successful as them, right? be better at art than I am now with less practice and work? if I was so "talented" i'd be way better at art by now and have some kind of success, right? be able to quickly and effortlessly produce beautiful work?

I feel like art is an absolute struggle every time I do it. it doesn't come "naturally" or effortlessly. it takes me forever to finish even a simple sketch. I struggle the entire time. it's so hard. someone "talented" probably wouldn't feel this way and say art is easy. the difference between me and being "talented" is I work hard and still struggle.

[bokutos-biddys]

-I’ve Got A Race To Win-

Xaiver Thorpe X Reader

Part Two

Make out session. And you can very easily tell how down bad I am for this man with how many times I have the reader ‘let out a shaky breath’ Nothing specified about the reader except the fact that you’re shorter than Xavier (which shouldn’t be hard considering he’s 6’2) and that you’re a fast runner. Also I hate that this is what gets me out of my writing funk but oh well

Please tell me if there are any spelling mistakes.

This is about Xaiver and NOT Percy Hynes-White

____ ____

You were going to win. You had to. Everything was in place for you to win. All you had to do was get the flag, run back to the canoe, and win. And even with Xavier being your best friend you were not going to let him beat you.

So why despite all your determination was Xavier standing in the forest with both your flags above his head where you couldn’t reach.

“Looking for something?” He asks, a smug smirk on his face.

“This is a stupid game Xavier. Just drop my flag and run back with yours.” You say walking up to him, hands on your hips.

“I could, but as I hate to admit, you’re faster than me and would make it back to your canoe before I could get halfway.” He replies, moving to put both flags in one hand, dropping the other to his side.

“So we’re at an impasse, what do you suppose we do? Play rock paper scissors?” You quip back impatiently, crossing your arms.

“Hmm, I might have a better idea.” He says, leaning down so your faces are mere inches apart. Which has more of an effect on you than you would like to admit.

You let out a shaky breath before replying “Oh yeah, what’s that?” You ask, leaning in closer to him, hoping to psych him out.

He stares at you, no, your lips, are you imagining that? You can’t really tell considering how nervous you are. Xaiver has never given you any hints, least not any you picked up. Was he giving you hints? You try to think back throughout your friendship for anything that might show the potential of him having romantic feelings for you. None, you presume, but whatever games he’s playing with you now is a very large hint and your honestly pretty confused about it and wow your costume was getting hot.

You bite your lip and he very noticeably notices. This, you realize, might be your chance. With the both of you starting to lean in you can’t help but think about the two flags in his hands.

It’s obvious what he’s trying to do, distract you, then run off with his flag, hoping to throw you off enough that he makes it to the shore first. Well, two can play at that game.

But as soon as his lips are on yours you realize two might not be able to play at that game. Your hands are in his hair in an instant, has it always been this soft? You really don’t know. All you can focus on is him.

You’re practically done for when he grabs your waist with his free hand. He nips at your bottom lip and you let out probably the hundredth shaky breath in the span of five minutes. But who could blame you when he drops the flags and moves his hand to tangle in your hair like that.

You're both pulling, pushing, biting, honestly whatever that could bring the both of you closer. He almost makes you whimper with how he’s placing short kissing on your jaw then drawing longer one from your lips. You’re positively entangled with one another.

He groans when you tug on his hair to pull him away, moving to nip at his neck. But before he can get a strong grip on you you push him to the ground, dashing to grab your flag.

He looks completely undone, with a hickey forming on his neck and an exasperated look on his face, it’s honestly one of the hottest things you’ve seen and it takes everything in you to not pounce on him and continue your impromptu make-out session.

“Sorry to cut this short, but I have a race to win.” You say, and admittedly your voice quivers a little bit that’s besides the point.

You only hear his squawks of indignation as you're running away, trying to wipe at the remnants of his makeup on your own face.

Thankfully the others don’t mention your flustered state, only asking what took you so long.

You win, of course, you knew you would, but something about the look on Xavier’s face as he watches you receive the trophy tells you, you’ll probably be paying for your little stunt later.

[batterygarden]

If you do sub denji stuff could you ever done one about him and reader doing some semi public stuff?

study session

Cw: MDNI! Denji x F!Reader, established relationship, she wears a skirt, semi public sex, unprotected sex w the creampie 💘, slight subby Denji, college age/college setting! Wk: about 2k

thanks so so kindly to the lovely @akicore for beta read!!!

m.list

On Friday nights, the last place you’d choose to be is the library, trying to wrap your head around calculus concepts. And yet here you sit, the clock just reaching 8pm and with enough work remaining to bury you here the whole weekend. You’re proud of how much progress you’re making though, with the help of a new lo-fi beats playlist you found on spotify to keep you focused. Your boyfriend, believe it or not, is also quite focused beside you. Only instead of the research project he came here to work on, Denji’s attention is fixed on the little scraggly flowers he’s been doodling on his notebook margins for the past five minutes.

Suddenly your music cuts off anticlimactically, and the song that was playing is replaced by the dull buzzing of the library lights above you, and the soft hum of a few other people talking and moving about the big room. You sigh—your headphones must have died.

You shift your eyes off of your laptop screen for the first time in too long, feeling them burn slightly from the uninterrupted staring and peek at Denji, finding him absorbed in a drawing he’s making.

“How’s your progress?”

Denji jumps, this is the first time either of you have said anything in almost an hour.

“God. You scared me. Uhh,” he looks down at his brainstorming, “honestly, i’m pretty checked out for the day! Researching stuff sucks. This essay’ll just have to write itself some other time.”

“Essays don’t tend to do that. But i’m sorry—I didn’t even notice you were done here, you must have been so bored!”

“Nah don’t worry about it, I only gave up just recently. Wasn’t bored.”

“Want me to look over what you have? I could try and give some tips.”

Next thing Denji knew, you were sliding up next to him on his bench, sitting unnecessarily close to look at his laptop and notes.

Not that I’m complaining though, Denji thinks as he scoots closer against your plush thighs. The neckline of his tee shirt you were borrowing droops lower on you than it does on him, and somehow when you lean close to talk it opens to a perfect view of your braless chest. He can’t focus on a word you’re saying.

“Denji? Denji!”

He slow blinks back up to your eyes. When you raise your eyebrows he shakes his head to clear it.

“What was that?”

You huff and then, to Denji’s utter astonishment, grab his hand and shove it under the waistband of your skirt, sliding it over your panties. The fabric is sticky and soaked.

“Woah.” His cock twitches in his pants. He looks around quickly at the near-empty library, you both are sitting in a corner and no one seems to be paying attention to you. He automatically starts rubbing you slow through your underwear.

“Didn’t expect you t’be this wet right now.”

You lean your head on his shoulder, wrapping your arm around his.

“You didn’t even-hhh-hear me. Said I was ready to leave,” you inhale shakily, “but now I'm not so sure.”

Denji gives you stupid eyes.

“Ya want me to keep touchin’ you out here?”

You turn your head to bite his shoulder, keeping yourself from moaning when his finger starts circling your clit a bit faster.

“No.”

“No?” Denji’s hand freezes. Then you point a shaky finger at the study room nearby. Denji purses his lips and raises his eyebrows, you can practically hear the silent for real? he’s asking. When you nod in response, you’re both quickly shuffling papers, closing laptops and throwing your things into backpacks.

Denji throws them both over his shoulders and takes your hand, biting his cheek to keep from smiling too much while you grab a few straggling pencils.

When the door to the study room closes you immediately pounce on him—knocking his legs against the table while he tries to carefully set down the backpacks. You’re impatient though, barely letting the straps leave his shoulders before you’re pushing him down, accidentally forcing him to fall back against the hard surface. “Ow!”

There’s a wide-eyed pause while you both listen to see if a librarian’s coming to yell at you for the noise. When there’s only silence, you crawl on top of him, interrupting whatever remark he was about to make with a rushed kiss. He leans onto an elbow to meet you easier, pulling your hips down so you’re straddling his hard cock. And instantly you’re rocking, grinding desperately against him while your skirt rides up and he whines into your mouth.

“Need you so bad,” Denji groans against your lips while he sits up fully—unable to stop his hips from bucking upwards or his needy hands from squeezing and kneading their way to your sides.

“Yeah?” You start grinding more slow and deep, moving careful so the table legs don’t move.

He nods against you, fast and eager, and the next buck of his hips makes the wood beneath you creak.

You put a finger to your lips and pause your movements—a reminder to stay quiet.

Then you’re pulling apart to undo his pants, trying to slow your heavy breathing while he does the same. He’s still a bit twitchy while you work on his belt buckle, accidentally moving his hips towards your touch then blushing when you smile at him.

You successfully unzip them though, and then you have to crawl off the table to help him pull the pants down, fumbling with the denim to come loose. Everything’s hurried, you’re both suddenly so desperate for more that going slow isn’t an option.

So when his pants are finally pulled down, then his boxers too, you’re immediate when you push him back to sit on the table.

You could pause—you might have if you were in one of your rooms. You could worship his thick cock and tell him how pretty it is, you could touch it nice and slow at first and then lick his precum, you could make him go crazy. But you’re in the library and you’re desperate to feel him inside you already; you don’t even know when it closes.

So your panties are ripped off before he can situate himself, then you’re lifting your knees onto the table around him and straddling his hips. Denji’s hands are frozen, he’s so turned on he can barely think let alone move, and he can’t wrap his head around the fact that you’re about to fuck him in the library. He thinks he must be dreaming—he’s certain of it when you spit in your palm and start stroking his dick, getting him ready for your pussy.

“Denji,” you whisper, breaking him out of his trance.

“Hm?” His hands find your thighs.

“S’this… okay?”

“Yeah. Yes.” He nods while he talks, making eye contact with your lips. So you line him up with your entrance, sighing when you feel his tip start to slide in. You’re wet—enough that the initial stretch barely hurts—Denji’s size usually always takes some adjusting to. Then you’re both shakily inhaling as you slowly slide yourself down, and Denji whimpers when you bottom out.

“Y’okay?” You ask, wrapping your arms around his back to pull him close. Denji wraps his arms around you too, dropping his head over your shoulder and breathing in your comforting scent.

“Soo okay.”

You sit still for a moment, heart melting in Denji’s big embrace. You’re so warm now, despite the heavy air conditioning; you love holding him like this—snugly connected in every way. But when you shift a little you’re reminded how stiff his cock is inside you, and how sweet every movement feels. So you roll your hips. Gently at first, but gradually picking up speed. It feels so right, he feels so right. Soon your hands are tangled in his hair while Denji’s lips find your neck, kissing then licking then sucking, likely leaving bruises. You have to bite your lip to keep quiet—your senses overwhelmed.

And so are Denji’s. For him, everything is you, you’re in his lap, in his arms, around his cock, on his tongue. It’s the kind of feeling that makes him wonder how he was functioning without it. When you pull him into a messy kiss, never ceasing the steady movement of your hips, he can’t stop himself from moaning, slurring how soft you feel against your lips.

“Shhh, Denji. I know it feels good but I need you to be quiet.”

You’re panting and holding back moans yourself, trying to maintain enough restraint for the both of you. It’s so easy to forget where you are when he’s hitting all the right places inside of you, sighing sweet words against your skin. It’s easy to get lost in the feeling of his hand sneaking under your shirt, palming your breasts, and then tugging one of your nipples. It’s easy to start slamming down hard the way you know makes Denji Dizzy, forgetting that you’re perched on an old table instead of his bed.

A particularly loud creak of the wood makes you freeze your actions, face heating up. You look at the door again, but then Denji’s lifting your shirt more, stealing your attention when he leans down to drag his lips across your chest.

“Ngh. Denji,” you whine, holding him close and arching your back when he captures a nipple in his mouth. His big hands find your hips again, pulling you up and down, helping you resume your movements.

He has to work to keep his voice quiet when he says “Please don’t stop. Want you to keep goin’.”

What Denji doesn’t realize is that you couldn’t stop even if you wanted to. At this point your body is moving without your command, chasing a high that only he can bring. So you pull him up into a new kiss, your lips frenzied against his while his cock hits you perfectly over and over.

Each stroke is more intense with Denji helping you, making him struggle to kiss you back. You can tell he’s getting close the more his lips falter, his jagged breaths filling your ears. So you use his shoulders for leverage, pushing yourself up and down more quickly with their support. At this point you don’t care if the whole library can hear squeaking from the study room, all that matters is that both of you can get each other off soon.

“M’gonna cum.” Denji’s struggling not to groan when he talks.

“Good boy. You’re doin’ so good for me,” you say, gripping his neck and rubbing your thumb over his cheek. You want to burn this image of him in your brain forever—his messy golden hair and lidded eyes, his glossy parted lips. You actually like how the fluorescent study room lights capture him, how you can clearly see all the cute details of his face.

But you like how he looks when he’s cumming best of all, throwing his head back while his eyes scrunch up—the bridge of his nose wrinkling. So you force yourself to keep your eyes open when you reach your high too, riding it out while his hot seed makes a mess under your skirt, watching Denji spasm below you. You barely notice his grip on your sides has become bruising, only feeling the waves of orgasm wash over you, electrifying you in the way that would have rendered you silent even if you were in the privacy of your own room.

Denji has to lean forward again and bury his face in the crook of your neck, pressing his mouth to your skin to keep his noises at bay as his cum is pushed back into you over and over. It’s too much, he’s so sensitive, but he’s not confident he could tell you that without losing control over his voice completely.

When you finally slow your movements around him, and your cunt stops clamping down so tightly, Denji is able to lift his head from your shoulder and meet your eyes. He doesn’t expect to find lust still swimming within them. But then-

“I’m so glad our schedules finally lined up to get this project over with.”

“Me too. Should we find a room?”

You hear other students outside the door, their voices getting closer.

thanks so much for request anon! I also got one for fucking him in a study room so i combined prompts <3

[foldingfittedsheets]

rando looking for art advice if that's okay :p

I've always wanted to be able to draw cool things for myself, in the same way some of my friends can(they're REALLY good). and I know in order to do that I just gotta draw a lot, practice makes perfect, I'm gonna suck for a while but drawing more means I'll improve. yeah, yeah, I know all that.

but I'm finding it hard to get it started, to get motivated enough to draw. cuz sometimes I'll be like "I wanna draw", and then I draw and it sucks and I'm like "I don't wanna draw :("

do you have any tips for a beginner? not technical art tips, just like how do I get started or get motivated to start. are there tutorials you can recommend(I'm good at following instructions)? or things I can draw that are easy if you're starting out? or just whatever advice.

thanks :p

So, as far as motivation I think I might just be a lil freak, but I draw because I actively like to draw. Even when I wasn't very good, I felt compelled to put pen to paper just for the act of creation so my first piece of advice (besides practice) is just: Make art because you want to and try to divorce whether it's good or not from your enjoyment in that act.

My second piece of advice is that the first year of art school is three critical tools that are really boring but really helpful. The first one is perspective. If you can nail perspective, just dumb lines leading back in space, it does so much heavy lifting for you.

The second tool is sight measuring. Have you ever seen artists doing that stupid thing with their pencil or paintbrush while closing one eye? It's literally so helpful. If you are drawing say a tree, and you drop an imaginary vertical line from a branch you can figure our if your drawing of that tree is awry. When you get good at sight measuring it becomes second nature to do those checks, even in digital art, but it's easy to forget. When I'm doing my little 20 minute speed paints I'm constantly sight measuring to keep stuff in proportion.

The last piece is that practicing drawing from life will improve your drawing so much faster than anything else. Doodling your favorite pokemon or anime character over and over won't be as helpful as boring ass still lifes. Seeing how light reacts, observing the objects form, and practicing sight measuring will all help you improve as an artist.

As tax, I'm going to share a couple examples of schoolwork. This was my first class in perspective. This is how much I improved in a three month period, my first middle and last assignment.

These are from my form class, no lines allowed we needed to use value to describe the form. We did charcoal and gouache so here's me trying to show my progression in that class.

These are just freshman work, from my very first semester. Honestly I have a whole folder of all my assignments so I can scroll through and actively see myself improving, and I highly recommend that too, because it's wildly motivational to see how far you've come!

[slasher-male-wife]

Slashers with an S/O who has a big dog

I am an avid lover of big dogs. I am allergic to some unfortunatly but I do have two big guys of my own. I really want a big dog when I live on my own too. Like a newfoundland if I have the space or at least one I’m not allergic to. Anyway I’ve been playing with this idea for awhile and I think it’s time I write it. I will make another version of this where their s/o has a cat. I hope you enjoy. For convince Saint Bernard, also maybe because my dogs are a Saint Bernard mix.

Includes: The Sawyer brothers, poly Billy Loomis and Stu Macher, and the Sinclair brothers because I can’t get over how much I love them 

Warnings: It’s implied the dog eats human meat in the Sawyer brothers section 

The Sawyer brothers 

You’d first find a big dog eating scraps of meat out by the gas station. It doesn’t have a collar so you assume it must be a stray. It was really friendly and you practically begged Drayton to let you keep it. He refused until you wore him down. 

“You’ll be the one paying for everything if you keep that damn mutt.” 

After going into town and getting everything you needed you brought it home to the other brothers and Bubba was pretty scared at first. He’s never really been around dogs let alone ones as big as that one. Chop Top and Nubbins will love it so much as soon as it gets in the house. 

Because the Sawyer house is full of men and because you wanted to, you decided the dog is a girl. Chop Top and Nubbins weren’t too happy about that but you were the one with the over 100 pound dog. You named her Macy after the Sawyers grandma. 

Because you didn’t have access to dog food you fed it whatever meat you could get. Unfortunatly they never labeled their meat so she might have eaten some human food if you know what I mean. 

As time went on Bubba would really grow to love her. Cuddling with her when you weren’t avalible to cuddle with him. 

You’d teach her trick and the twins would try to teach her some too but it wouldn’t really work out. 

Poly Billy Loomis and Stu Macher

I feel like Stu is more of a dog person in my opinion, don’t dox me over that. 

Stu would love them with open arms but Billy would take some time to warm up to them. 

Stu would tease Billy about being scared of them and Billy would just roll his eyes and hit the back of his head. 

Get ready for a lot of references to Cujio. They mean it with love because they know your dog is a sweetheart but it won’t stop their horror obsessed minds. 

They’ll ask to take them out for a walk or a car ride but when you ask why the answers are vauge because they’re just gonna try to scare Randy with them. 

Stu will love to cuddle with you and your dog but Billy will complain about how much space it takes up in bed. 

But after awhile he’ll start to crack and be more lovey with your dog. 

They love going on walks with the two of you and honestly might try to see if they can run faster than it. 

Over all they love your dog and kinda see it as their child in a way. 

The Sinclair Brothers

You’d find your new dog when you’re out with Lester. Bo will insist you just leave it be when you bring it to town but Lester knows how Bo feels about Jonesy now so he doesn’t worry. 

Jonesy is so excited to have another friend and Vincent doesn’t really mind much. 

You and Lester will be the ones taking care of it for the most part at first. You’ll decide Jonesy needs a girlfriend and name it something appropriate. You were gonna suggest Trudy but quickly ruled that out because well, she never treated her kids the best. You settle on Jane and she quickly becomes part of the family. 

Vincent begins spending time with her just for a new subject to draw but it quickly transforms into a beautiful bond. 

Bo’s gonna act like Jane bothers him and just ignore her but that act fades away when you find him asleep on the couch with Jane in his lap. 

She’ll pick up on tricks quickly and will enjoy going in the car with Lester and you when she can. 

I feel like they don’t really give Jonesy dog food, they just feed her whatever meat they have on hand so that’s probably whats gonna happen with Jane. 

The four of you will watch Jonesy and Jane play for hours together. You won’t have to worry about them not getting enough exercise then. 

[charmedreincarnation]

Hi Maya!! I hope you're doing wonderfully! I just wanted to tell you something fun about my self-concept changing with a "big" manifestation, and to share for anyone else who needs reminders that it IS possible to change your inner beliefs and feelings with persistence! This isn't a "success" story in the sense that you'll see I have a huge manifestation at the end of it, but it is a MASSIVE success story to me in my mindset shift and ability to manifest anything in my life!!

I've been manifesting entering the void so I can win a very specific amount of money, by winning a $64 million dollar jackpot that hadn't been won for awhile. I had been working on this manifestation for about a week, doing the conscious inner-man fulfillment. (I know I can manifest it without the void, but the void was so fun to affirm for so I stuck with that).

When I first started manifesting this, I had bought a ticket, listened to a bunch of Doja Cat to feel like a fuckin' badass lol, and was just vibin' and absolutely feeling myself, knowing I was the coolest person on planet earth and knowing I was about to bring in some insane wealth that would change me and my loved ones lives. But as I got closer to the lottery draw that evening, my heart was absolutely pounding - I kept refreshing the page to see my numbers which I "knew" would show up, but it kept saying "TBA." it was an hour of me checking back on the numbers over and over again to see if it was announced, and even though I had zero proof that I hadn't one, the waiting for my lottery numbers to show up was driving me crazy and eventually filled me with doubt and sadness. I didn't even have disappointing proof that my numbers weren't drawn, but the waiting for it completely sucked the joy out of the manifestation for me and I was devastating myself the whole time! And, of course, it didn't manifest lol. Today is a week since I bought the last lottery ticketand I have been practicing visualizing myself waking up and seeing an email telling me that they're excited for me to come in for my scheduled appointment to collect my prize. I was feeling good all day long, and just an hour ago found myself doing the dishes when I remembered I had ten minutes to enter the lottery for the week before it was drawn. I went to my room and loaded up the website, and found out that someone had one the super duper grand prize of $64,000,000 the week I had entered, so the prize draw was back to $10,000,000. When I saw that information pop up, the funniest thought popped into my head - "Oh, that's weird, I literally already won the grand prize, so someone else couldn't have? Weird!" I was so certain that I would be winning that money (and still am) that seeing something that would have destroyed me a week early didn't give me any negative feelings at ALL! I felt so confidently I this assumption that I literally didn't even buy a lottery ticket after, I just affirmed to myself, "I am so thrilled I won the $64,000,000 jackpot!" and filled my heart and soul right back up.

Anyway, this is a long assed story, but I think this is proof that persistence in your thoughts is key, and that persistence WILL change your state to a positive one and that you WILL reach "the sabbath" of relaxing into the truth of your fulfillment. I used to think that just telling myself I had it and visualizing my success over and over again wouldn't really change my beliefs and repetitive I-can't-have-or-win-it thoughts until it showed up in my 3D, but this is proof that your thoughts can change in such a short period if you just persist and give yourself the joy and fulfillment as your inner man. I'm sure many people could do it even faster than me with the right mindset, but this was such a huge success for me - honestly an even bigger success story than actually winning it, which I will! It's reaffirmed to me the joy of manifesting just for the sake of happiness and spiritual contentment and not just material goodness. ANYWAYYYYY, thanks for listening, I am so grateful for your blog and can't wait to come back into your inbox with my success story of become a multifuckin'millionaire!! 🥳

“Imagination is the force that brings about fulfillment.” I’m so proud of you my multi millionaire baddie 💗💗

Secondly, periodt. bad rich bitches listen to doja cat 😻

[soulofapatrick]

Not The Father - Jesse x reader

Summary: Jesse and Y/N stumble upon a bloater while on patrol and adrenaline has a funny way of affecting people

Words: 2.3k

Warnings: injury; some gore

Y/N’s POV

“Is it true?” Jesse asks as we dismount, leading the horses into the old shopping mall garage area where we know they’ll be safe and we can make a quick exit if needs be. I knew this question was coming from the moment I was put on patrol with him. The way those dark eyes kept glancing at me the whole way here, his mouth opening and closing as if struggling to decide whether to ask or not. 

“Yeah.” I sigh, waiting to see the broken look on his face or for him to start crying as Jesse is very in touch with his emotions which I honestly find quite hot. He’s a ‘men can cry’ kind of guy and I really admire that as that’s really hard to find in this post apocalyptic shit show of life. Instead Jesse just lets out a sound and he looks conflict which is not the emotion I’d expect, “Care to explain?”

“Not really,” He shakes his head and we leave it at that, having no choice to when we head through to the top floor of the mall, wanting to clear it floor by floor going down. We hear that familiar clicking sound. My blood runs cold every time I hear them: clickers. That sound echoes in my dreams and before I can do anything Jesse is grabbing me, pulling me against him with a hand over my mouth and I understand why when I feel it’s foul breath practically ghosting over my neck. I stop breathing, waiting for it to stumble it’s way past before reaching around Jesse and pulling his gun from the waistband of his jeans, looking up at him for confirmation he agrees. He nods softly and I’m firing two shots into the bastards head, the clicker dying with one final withered sigh as if happy. 

“This place was empty last week,” I hiss, handing him his gun back so I can grab my own, both of us keeping low and trying to avoid anything that could make noise. If there’s clickers there’s bound to be a few runners too, it’s like the infected run in packs. 

There. There’s a sound neither of us want to ever hear: the lumbering and groaning of one of the scariest types of infected. Jesse’s looking at me, cognac eyes wide and we’re both checking our ammo knowing we don’t have enough but we can’t just leave it hear for the next patrol to come along and if we turn our radios on we’d be a walking target. We’re stuck. 

Bloaters are the worst and the rarest type of infected sp to just seems we’re just that unlucky. They’re stupidly strong and so disgusting to look at, they give me try phobia with the way the fungus has grown into patches that can be thrown like pouches of sulphur. They smell fucking awful but they’re slow and uncoordinated which makes life so much easier. I’ve only ever encountered one before and I used the buildings like ten foot tall windows to kill it, making it fall to it’s death while on fire. 

“Wait,” I shift closer to him so I don’t have to speak as loud, “There’s an elevator shaft, if we can draw it to the elevator I’m sure an eleven floor fall would kill it.” 

“And how do you suppose we do that?” He raises an eyebrow in my direction but these a hint of approval in his eyes, both of us knowing it’s the best chance we’ve got. 

“I’ll be bait,” I shrug and something flits across his face too fast for me to pick up on the exact emotion. He opens his mouth but I’m cutting him off, “I’m smaller, I can dodge faster, I’ve faced a bloater before and I may have brought a molotov.” 

“You did what?!” He narrows his eyes as molotovs got banned as weapons after some dumbass set himself on fire instead. They’re fucking amazing weapons if you know how to use them like throwing them at clickers instead of dropping it on yourself in panic. Damn stupid kid ruining other peoples’ fun. 

There’s no time for Jesse to reprimand me as one of the patrol leaders because the groaning is getting closer so Jesse just nods and we creep towards the doors. He lets me light the molotov first and then we’re pushing the doors open with a deafening creak. It has the creature lumbering towards us and yelling in it’s gurgled tone and I throw the molotov as hard as I can, catching it square in it’s chest. We have to shield our eyes when it goes up in flames with a earsplitting shriek and then it’s like all hell breaks loose. 

The bloater is barrelling towards us so run to its left, firing a shot at it to lure it after me while Jesse sets about putting any other infected out their misery. It works because I hear it behind me, a yell from Jesse to go right has me ducking and rolling as a mykotoxin pouch gets thrown in the direction I was previously going. The elevator shaft is right there, the other side of the room and I can smell the charred skin as the bloater gets closer. It’s like all my adrenaline kicks in at once and I barely realise what I’m doing this whole time, my mind fading in and out of consciousness as I feel a searing pain on my left side and then the elevator shaft is right there, I’m being yanked to the side so hard I’ll probably have whiplash and there’s a low wailing before a disgusting splat that will probably haunt my dreams now instead of the clickers. Hey, maybe both will make appearances, lucky me. 

“That,” Jesse’s panting next to my ear my whole body becoming aware I’m sat between his legs, my back against his chest albeit my pack in the way, and his lips are next to my ear, “That was the dumbest fucking idea you’ve ever had.” 

“Worked didn’t it?” I point out, climbing to my shaky feet and offering a hand out to Jesse and he takes it, letting me pull him up. He’s so close to me, hands holding my face and his lips on mine. I let out a surprised squeak causing him to jump away, hand rubbing the back of his neck as he looks guilty. 

“I-I’m sorry…. I shouldn’t-shouldn’t have…”

“Shut up.” 

“What?” 

“Shut up.” I close the gap this time, hands shaking as I reach up, hand cupping his cheek and feeling the barely noticeable stubble under my palm, watching the way he leans into it and his eye flutter shut. I move my hand to the back of his neck and pull gently, he gets the hint and meets me halfway stopping when out noses bump clumsily. His eyes are so dark they’re almost black in the dim light coming though the windows as he chuckles lightly at how awkward we’re being but it’s perfect, to be cliche. 

The initial brush of his lips against mine has my eyes slipping shut and my heart almost pounding out my chest as his hands grip my hips and pull me flush against him, the gentleness replaces with the hunger of a starved man. It draws a small mewl from my lips as I respond with the same hunger and intensity, having wanted this for forever. I don’t want the kiss to stop but people need oxygen so our lips part as we catch our breath. It takes everything in me not to kiss him again when he goes in for another kiss, a small frown forming when I hold him away, “We have to talk about it.” 

“I know,” He mumbles back, “How about away from the smell of burnt flesh?” 

I agree and we make our way back down to the horses, doing a quick sweep of each floor and killing any stragglers before we make it down to the horses almost too quickly. The conversation hanging in the air around us as we sit on the sofa some patroller put in the garage area one time. We both go to speak at the same time, drawing an awkward laugh from each other before he nods silently for me to go first. 

“Did you know it wasn’t yours?” 

“No, did you?” 

“Yeah.” 

------

The incessant knocking on my door had me climbing out of bed with a groan as they hadn’t given up in the knocking for the last two minutes and it sounded like they wouldn’t stop till I open the door. It’s Dina. Of course it’s Dina and she’s pushing her way into my house without a word from me, waiting for me to shut the door behind her and turn to face her before she speaks. 

“I’m pregnant.” 

“Congrats. I’m not the father.” 

“Y/N!” She hisses angrily, the corners of her lips turning up despite herself, “It’s not Jesse’s.” 

That has me interested. Dina cheated on my long time crush and her on and off boyfriend?! No fucking way, Dina’s not the type to cheat and she would have come straight to me if it had been nonconsensual. Despite being the grump of our friend group everyone feels like they can come to me with all their problems which means people are always coming in and out of my home whenever they like. They do knock but the exceptions to knocking are Jesse, Ellie and Dina. 

“Wait, why did you knock?” 

“Really?! That’s what you focus on?” She smacks my shoulder before sitting on my couch, face in her hands and her shoulders begin to shake. She’s nineteen and pregnant with some poor sods kid yet here I am just standing and staring at her because all my brain can think is Jesse and Dina are done for good now. I have to shake my head because that’s not what I should be thinking about when she’s crying on my couch so I do the right thing and sit next to her, pulling her into my arms. 

The thing with Dina is you don’t pry into her problems, you have to let her come to you first. So I just sit there, twirling her waves of charcoal black hair through my fingers as she cries herself calm. It takes a while but I don’t mind waiting, deciding I might as well get comfortable so I’m shifting so we’re laying on the sofa instead. 

“It’s Liam’s.”

--------

“Does this mean you and Dina are done for good?” 

“Yeah,” He breathes and it almost sounds like a breath of relief, “She told me that she was in love with Ellie.” 

“Oh.” 

The silence is awkward as the only sound is the horses snorting and chuffing as they stamp their feet, probably getting bored of being stuck here for so long. It’s usually a quick sweep of the mall then we’re back on the patrol routes back to Jackson but the bloater costed us like an extra half an hour. It felt like it was minutes but it really was half an hour. 

“Y/N,” Jesse is suddenly so close and we’re just staring at each other, searching for something before we’re surging together like the way waves and the sand meet in a sweet desperation. His hands are all over me and I feel like I’m on cloud nine when he lays me back, lips trailing down my neck and those long fingers I’ve dreamt about unbuttoning my shirt until he’s not and my name is falling from his lips with a pained tinge, “Y/N.” 

I follow his gaze down to side to see a deep gash as if I got sliced at. Oh. I must have caught myself. I barely even felt it with the adrenaline from killing the bloater and then kissing Jesse but now it’s in my vision all that buried pain comes flooding in and I’m gripping his arm, hissing a pained “fuck”. 

“I need to stitch that!” Jesse is jumping off the sofa and I hear him rummaging through his pack as I have to squeeze my eyes shut and dig my nails into the fabric of the sofa trying to calm my breathing, “Take a deep breath sweetheart, this is going to hurt.” 

He’s fucking right it hurts, I think I black out from the feeling of my skin being pierced and pulled over and over again and I can hear Jesse murmuring reassuringly but fuck it hurts. I’m crying even if I don’t want to and Jesse’s bandaging it up the best he can before he’s hovering over me. He forces two pills into my mouth and makes me drink water to swallow them down before he’s pressing another kiss to my lips. If he’s trying to distract me it definitely works and that’s what we do while the painkillers do their job: Jesse kisses me breathless and every kiss is full of love and unspoken promises and it has me melting. 

“We should stay here for tonight,” I break away, his eyes darkening causing me to laugh, “That… that we can do when I don’t have stitches in my side,” I tease, loving the way he ducks his head and goes a scarlet colour, burying his face in the crook of my neck and biting playfully. 

“Alright,” He agrees, rearranging us so we’re settled comfortably on the couch and my stitches won’t get pulled or anything overnight, “We’ll head out at first light, don’t want a search party.” 

“Maybe my stitches will be healed enough in the morning,” I wiggle my eyebrows suggestively, drawing him down into a sleepy and lazy kiss before he can make a retort. 

“Go to sleep.” 

“Okay.” 

[excessive-moisture]

I didnt see if you have a main or non-rainworld blog so I hope its okay to ask here! watching your process video and the arti vs scav chief video was inspiring to me and I want to get into making animations in fire alpaca too. How did you start out? and what can you suggest to practice? honestly, just interested in anything you have to say on the topic learning to animate. insights, tips, resources,etc.

I am not the best person to ask because my learning process was that i just literally started to animate one day -

The best tip I can give is to learn to REALLY observe movement. We don't usually intuitively notice all the intricacies of how things move, how the physics play into that, etc... I don't imagine knowing these things would normally be useful, either. But once you look at movement and pay attention in your everyday life, you start to see how running looks different based on terrain, how eyes lock to their target very rapidly, how we cannot perceive the individual "frames" when the movement is very fast, and so on. And once you have seen these things and they're in your head, you need to experiment to figure out how you could translate them into frames. Looking at references while you're animating is really good for this, too.

I know that sounds a little abstract, so here's some more concrete tips:

learn how the program works, and what tools you have at your disposal! It took me an embarrassing amount of time to figure out about the "protect alpha" and "clipping" options in firealpaca, and those two are literally life-changing

if you're not quite sure how to draw a particular motion, it's probably good to sketch the entire thing in advance. it's faster to adjust a sketch than it is to adjust an already finished animation. if you have a clear idea of how the motion should look in your head, then you could consider figuring it out as you go instead of sketching every frame.

i also made this video 2 years ago, which does include some concrete tips but it's also more than a little unhinged so I don't know how much help it'll be :D there are other tutorials out there about how the program works.

[trollbreak]

(Tw for violence, death (even if it’s temporary), and gore)

[Solare is fuming. She can feel her fury under her skin, like it’s crawling through her blood and burrowing in everywhere it can, and she’s shaking.

She needs to do something. She feels desperate for… something. She needs so badly to do something. She hasn’t got any idea what it is.

She’s as surprised as anyone else when she finds herself back at the lab, feet having evidently found a familiar path to follow as she stewed. She can make this work.

-

-

Mev can feel the stress in her neck and knee start to let up as the doors of the lab open before her, and while she’s used to coming across other trolls in the lobby, she hasn’t expected anyone this late. The sun is nearly up… not that Solare has ever seemed to care.

She and Dari are arguing in hushed tones, the discomfort of the latter plain in her face, her stance.

Mevrea ignores the protective urge that swells between her shoulder blades as it spurs her to the pair.

“Dude, I’m not fucking around- I’m game for a good friendly spar, but there’s no point in even trying with you. At least Mev gives me a chance, tells me what I did wrong. Go find someone else to hack open.”

Mev can’t see Solare’s reaction as Dari turns to leave, but she can hear the low growl. Can almost feel it, as she draws close. Can see the lines of her muscles flexing in her arms, for a moment. She may not have worked with the drinker often, but she knows well enough the signs before the woman pounces. And in the instant that it registers, Solare strikes.

Her axe almost seems to leap into her hand with how practiced the motion is, and Mev doesn’t have time enough to step in before Dari’s pulled off balance by the arm, stumbling back into Solare, and she swears she sees fangs before she even gets to her own mace. Dari makes a strangled, startled noise, and Solare is turning to face Mev, the blade of her axe resting close enough under the woman’s jaw to trim peach fuzz as she glares from where she’s burrowed into Dari’s throat. She almost looks excited, as Dari’s blood stains her lips, drawing from its usual golden orange to a nearly royal fuschia.

“Let her up, Sol.”

Mev has no clue what she looks like as she adjust her grip on the mace, but she can the crease beside her nose as she bares her teeth.

When Solare lifts her head, she’s grinning.

There’s a second of stillness, then. Two murderers sizing each other up. And, for just that second, Mev wonders distantly if she’s going to make it out of this.

Then Dari is thrown into her and as she’s pushing her off, Solare buried her axe in Dari’s ribs, and Mev can feel ribs split just as much as she can hear it. But of course, that’s not where it ends.

She lets her fall to the floor- Mev can apologize for that later- and throws her arms up to block the second axe that’s being swung for her this time. It embeds itself in one arm, and she thanks whatever higher powers there may be as Solare tries to wrench it free, and instead, it sticks. She makes another mental note to apologize to Sweets later as she swings for the drinker’s knee once, twice before axe comes loose and they’re falling away from each other. Mev can feel her left arm malfunctioning already, but honestly, that’s hardly a surprise. All she plans to use it for now is as something of a shield.

Solare is favoring one leg as she catches herself, and Mev can’t help but feel a touch of pride.

Pride that is entirely forgotten as she’s crowded into much faster than she expected, and Solare is swinging wildly enough that all she can do is back out of reach as best she can until she manages to knock the axe off its path, metal crying against metal, and she kicks for the same leg-

And she receives a fist in the throat before it can connect.

-

Sweets would have written off the argument as nothing, initially. Dari and Sol argue any time they’re in a room together, any more, and it always turns out fine.

Until I doesn’t.

She’s chatting with Doc, when the fight erupts. He’s not seen either of them fight before, and he’d be lying if he said that she had hoped for that to change. But here they are.

By the time Sweets’s attention is back on the lobby, Dari is bleeding on the floor, and Solare is lunging over her, and… it’s not even seconds before, in a movement that looks far too practiced, Solare is hacking off one of Mev’s arms.

Sweets isn’t breathing. And she can’t look away. And if he could wince as the drinker wails on his best friend, he would. But, for better and for worse, the restraints hold sturdy. Probably a good thing that the both of them don’t get hurt too badly, honestly.

Mev hits the ground, and Solare swings the back of the axe into her head, and Sweets isn’t sure if that’s the sound of her horn cracking or not, and then his view is obscured as Solare steps over her.

Something about that shakes Sweets enough to be able to react, and he cuts on the intercom for Doc’s office, and she can hear how much her voice shakes.

“Um… Doc… Doc it’s real bad- Mev’s hurt. Mev’s hurt, and Dari, I don’t think she’s breathing, and-“

Sweets is too aware of the moment when the motion in the lobby stops. And he hears Solare’s voice.

“Sweets, dear, you’re going to want to let me out.”

He wasn’t paying attention. Solare is stood before the doors, facing away from the cameras, and she’s got her axes back on her hips, hands folded behind her back.

Sweets opens the doors, and locks them as soon as they close behind her.

-

Dari isn’t sure how long it takes for her to come back, this time, but she can hear Solare talking, somewhere to her left. And when she’s able to make sense of things, she can see Mev… and quite a lot of blood. Gods, that’s… more blood than should be on the floor. And wall. And…

Dari pushes herself to her feet far too fast in her haste to get across the room, and she sees colors nearly until she trips over Mev’s own feet.

When her vision returns, she sees into the woman so much more than she ever wanted to. Bits of organ and ribs are exposed, and she can see hints of her own blood mixed in with all the other mixing hues that Mev is bleeding, and all she can think is that she needs to help. She’d bleed herself a dozen times over, if it meant Mev would survive… this mess.

And it seems that she’s not the only one with the idea, as Doc falls to her knees at her side, blade in hand.

The press of it into her wrist stings, and between that and the dizziness that comes after dying again, she lets the doctor guide her arm.

It takes a few moments before Mev seems to realize what’s going on, and… she looks horrified. She’s trying to push herself back against the wall, eyes wide with panic, and if Dari wasn’t so sure that she were about to die, she’d give in in a heartbeat, but… she has no choice. Even if her arm wasn’t being held in an iron grip, she would have no choice.

And when Mev tries to push them away with her remaining arm, it’s so much weaker than she expects, and… her heart breaks, when she sees the tears falling down the woman’s cheeks.]

[likegemstone]

So I'm someone who has, historically, profoundly struggled to find motivation to do things I'm not good at. I think it's a somewhat universal experience to not want to do something you know you're going to suck at, but for most people it seems to manifest as just general disinterest in the thing. They still can and will do it if they need to, they just won't be especially interested in it. Some weirdos even take it as a challenge and they like engaging with something they're bad at because they want to get better at it.

Me? In the past, if I was bad at something, everything in my body and mind screamed at me to never attempt it again. My anxiety spiked, my brain suddenly became WAY more interested in literally ANYTHING else (hello procrastination), I'd get in these obsessive thought spirals where all I could think was about how bad I was at the thing, etc.

It has been extremely limiting. I've been slowly shutting myself off from more and more aspects of my life for years. I've isolated myself because I'm bad at being social, I stopped writing almost entirely for ~5 years despite it being my main passion, I quit art for even longer, I started and stopped at least a dozen ideas for small businesses, I deleted all my social medias (honestly at the time that was probably for the best tho), and I pretty much lost all interest in doing anything at all because I think the more I gave in to the whole "if I'm bad at something I need to stop doing it" thing, the bigger the feeling got. The more true it felt, the more grip it had on my life.

Recently, I decided I really want to focus on improving my art--getting better, and specifically getting faster at it. So many artists say that one of the best ways to get faster is to be more purposeful and confident in every mark you make--basically, stop fiddling, erasing/undoing, second guessing your decisions, making a dozen marks and erasing them until you finally get the one you want, etc. And they all say a great way to practice that is to draw in pen/something permanent.

But see, I struggle so much with traditional art in general, much less permanent media. Because I'm bad at it. The reason I've been able to keep drawing for 2 years straight now is that I finally got an ipad and an apple pencil. I've got undo, transform, liquify, duplicate, layers, zooming in, etc.

And yet, I want to get faster. I don't want to have to rely on those tools. I want to be making every mark with intention. I want to know what I'm doing and believe in it. So I have been practicing figure drawing in my sketchbook again instead of on my ipad. And it feels so awkward. I'm so uncertain, I feel like I'm drawing with my left hand, and I'm bad at it. I get super impatient and my mind gets scrambley after just one or two figures and I have to take a break.

But I keep coming back to it--like, I'm not losing interest. I think about it when I'm doing something else and then I have to sit down and watch a youtube video on figure drawing or line confidence or whatever and try again. I'll be watching Criminal Minds or something and then suddenly my brain is saying "no, try to draw again, we need to get better."

And that is. WILD. And exciting. And emotional, because I've been a quitter for so so long and I don't want to be anymore.

[sswissy]

𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒈𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒚𝒐𝒖 | 𝗌𝗐𝗂𝗌𝗌 𝗀𝗁𝗈𝗎𝗅

𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒓𝒖𝒕𝒉 | 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒇𝒊𝒇𝒕𝒆𝒆𝒏

Bellamira wasn't used to someone being so concerned for her wellbeing except Rain or Cardi. But they usually didn't baby her as much as Swiss was doing at the moment. He had gently placed her at the edge of the bed like a porcelain doll before rushing to the bathroom to find bandaids. Frankly, the puncture wounds weren't even that bad. They were super minor with some blood pooled over and it'd most likely bruise but Bellamira wasn't even that concerned. You kind of had to get used to that type of thing when around ghouls. It wasn't exactly in their nature to be sweet or kind so these things happened; accidents just occur no big deal. However to Swiss it was nearly a catastrophe no matter how many times she tried calming him down. 

"All I have are these stupid cartoon ones Dew picked out, is that okay sweetheart?" Swiss shouted from the bathroom making Mira jump in surprise. Honestly Dew choosing some ridiculously printed bandaids didn't shock her one bit.

"It's okay but I really don't think it's that bad." Mira shrugged while toying with a fray strand on her dress. Swiss made a tsk noise while coming back into the room as well as making sure the door was locked thanks to the last fiasco. His attention focusing on Bellamira who was innocently sitting at the end of his bed and he could've melted right there. There was just something so pure and delightful about having her stay in his room waiting for him. Swiss pushed his thoughts to the back of his mind and knelt in front of her before gently grabbing her arm. 

"It's going to bruise princess." Swiss sighed unwrapping one of the bandaids and covered the mark on her skin. Bellamira knew Rain hadn't meant to actually hurt her, he never had during their entire friendship. His reaction however to Swiss was highly confusing considering he had pushed the two of them together since the start. 

"You're being so worried for nothing." Mira laughed as Swiss placed a kiss on the bandaid and proceeding to rest his hands on her thighs. Her focus dropping to her lap before looking back at his eyes as best as she could through his googles. 

"Do you not like that I take care of you, princess?" Swiss teased while drawing circles on her bare skin, slowly inching just underneath the end of the dress. Bellamira felt her heart starting to beat faster and the warmth on her cheeks growing hotter. 

"N-no I do, a lot." Mira nervously glanced around the room trying to not pay attention to the feeling of his fingertips dancing along her bare skin. Swiss could feel the heat building back up in his body while making his thoughts begin to race. Frankly, he really wanted to just pounce on her right now but knew that would've scared Bellamira to death. She wasn't used to his heats at all and even some of the other sisters didn't even want to deal with him. Not that he had planned to spend this heat with one of them considering Mira was practically all he thought about. Bellamira took a deep breath once feeling Swiss' motions stop and glanced back at him. 

"Did I say something wrong? I'm s-sorry, I can leave?" Bellamira cursed herself for ruining it completely already thanks to her nerves. Swiss blinked a few times trying to process what his little mate was implying and shook his head frantically. His hands gently holding the sides of her face and kissing the tip of her nose. 

"I never want you to leave me, sweetheart. Its just-" Swiss wasn't exactly sure how to go about this conversation. Every other time, his heats were dealt with by other clergy members or ghouls which meant no awkward conversations. Granted Bellamira was knowledgeable about their kind but it didn't mean she'd be comfortable with it yet. 

"You can tell me, I'm not going to run away anymore." Bellamira rested a hand against his and smiled. Running away from Swiss was basically impossible now and just the thought of it made her nauseous. It was almost like a string was tied to them and being to far away caused tension, pulling them back to each other like magnets. Swiss could tell Mira was being completely genuine with him that it almost made him purr and cuddle up to his mate. Her kind sweet nature making the warmth of his heat fizzle out a bit. But that wouldn't last long during the next few days as much as he wanted it to. 

"I don't want to scare you but I think my heat is starting. I have no intentions of seeking out another sister which means-" Swiss trailed off trying to think of how to mention it. Rain would kill him for possibly taking Mira's innocence during heat but it was bound to happen eventually. Unless it was something that she didn't want yet then he'd wait it out, painful as it might be but Swiss would've done anything for her. "I'd like to spend my heat with you, princess." Swiss watched the blush dust back over her cheeks and the warmth against his palms. 

Bellamira could've sworn her brain completely short circuited for a moment there. She had researched this information before considering Rain had once disappeared for a week straight without an explanation at the beginning of their friendship. This didn't come as a surprise that Swiss was in heat now with the way he was acting but it had been the fact he asked to spend it with her. Not that she didn't want to but the thought of it was making her head spin. Mira took a deep breath and tried to calm down her racing heart before nodding slowly. 

"I uh don't mind spending it with you. Just can you be gentle with me in the beginning?" Mira knew how feral that ghouls could get in the start of a heat. Rain had even tried to explain to her more details after feeling so concerned for him. Ghouls didn't usually settle in their heats until a few days into it and even then, they could go back to being completely feral until it ended. 

Swiss was completely taken off guard with Bellamira agreeing but also incredibly excited by the prospect. The rushing feeling of wanting to pounce on his mate growing stronger again but wanted to take small steps with this. Mira could possibly try backing out once his feral senses actually kicked in and Swiss would've felt horrible about it afterwards. 

"I would promise you the world if I could, princess." Swiss stood to join Bellamira at the end of the bed to be closer to her. His arm wrapping around her as he rested his head into her shoulder and purred. Bellamira scooted closer to him before Swiss moved her legs onto his lap so he could nuzzle completely into her causing a giggle to fall from her lips. It reminded her of a needy cat needing cuddles from their owner. His tail flickering excitedly behind him as Mira cuddled into him as well. 

"What will this mean for us? Are we just uh f-friends or?" Mira's cursed herself for possibility ruining the moment again but the curiosity outweighed the negative. She also wasn't sure if she could handle just being friends with Swiss after his heat ended. Knowing was better than just constantly assuming something else was happening. 

"I thought I had made it obvious, sweetheart." Swiss chuckled. He kissed the spot for his mark before pulling away to see the clueless look on his mate's face. "You're my mate, princess." Swiss felt the relief fall off his shoulders at his confession even if it seemed painfully obvious. It hadn't dawned on him fully until recently with spending so much time with her. He wasn't sure how he had dealt without her by his side during that time after the party. 

"M-me? Are you sure?" Bellamira could barely form words at this point. Her brain was completely scattered as Swiss was laughing softly at her while rubbing soothing circles on her back. He knew this might've been a lot to take in for her especially when so unexpected. Frankly, he would've preferred to tell her in a much sweeter way but his heat was leaving his head in a fog. 

"Bellamira, my love of course I'm sure. Once we do mate, you'll feel it just as I do." Swiss watched Mira closely in case her anxiety skyrocketed in that moment. But as far as he could tell, it seemed like she was simply processing the information with widened eyes. His focus falling on her lips fallen open in surprise and it took him a moment to gather himself from the filthy thoughts racing through his mind. 

"I uh am very surprised is all." Bellamira was honestly in shock. Rain had once explained mating and most details about how mates worked. Ghouls tended to mate with another of their kind whereas humans were rather rare to be bound to. Simply because there life was more fragile and fleeting but there were circumstances where it happened. "But I am uh h-happy about it." Bellamira felt slightly giddy about it if she was being honest. Just the hopeful thoughts she had of having Swiss being with her had been enough for a while. But now it was truly happening and blessed by the Dark Lord to happen. 

"I can't wait to mate with you, princess. You're going to look so pretty with my mark, won't you?" Swiss purred. Bellamira blushed as he kissed down the length of her neck and nipped at the same spot as before. Her heart racing as he proceeding to kitten link the spot and then suck down on it. She was grateful he was already holding her tightly against him as she melted on the spot and gasped as he continued to suck harder. 

"But you're going to be so much prettier cumming on my cock later." Swiss whispered into her ear as Bellamira practically short circuited. He detached himself from her reluctantly to gently pull her further up on the bed with him. Mira took a deep breath to calm herself before taking Swiss' hand and tried not to fan herself with how warm the room was already getting due to his heat. Was she nervous? Extremely but this was Swiss and knew he would take good care of her. But what really thrilled her was that he was hers and she'd let nobody take him away from her now. 

taglist:

@mellie-teh-goblin-queen

@chiggennuggie

@simply-alone-and-sublime

@synestheticbisexual

@sucharide

@babydonkeyfromshrek

@sodomiserswife

@beelze-bob

@yourbeautynevereverscaredme

@bitchimightbe

[ayayapap]

Pooks.. IM BEGGING😭🙏🏽 art tips?? Like are they any practices you did to get so good?? I'm jealous of ur art style and I wanna eat it

(TLDR)

Well I AM in art school 😏😏 so I’m being forced to draw all the time. But the practices ive been learning in school have also been applied to my personal art like

- Using LOTS of references (even works from other artist that you like) but try to have a proportional reference right next to your drawings, whether it be a side view on the ipad or a print-out of a picture. The phone CAN work but try to go bigger.

- Basic shapes and lines first - I used to start drawings off with figures or more detailed things which would distract me from the overall piece, some things would stay more developed than others or would end up looking off. Its good to start with the foundation of how things are shaped. The more you look around you the more you’re able to break things down and incorporate that into your art, it kind of feels like a superpower but it’s just the beautiful patterns in life.

- Get looser with your art - practicing gesture drawing can help with this. You can look up insane poses online, and start off drawing a figure with simple lines and build from there

- draw a lot - easier said than done, but don’t stop drawing. Take a pocket sketchbook wherever you go, even if you won’t use it all every time. When you draw something, draw it more than once. If you don’t like your drawing, start over or draw something easier. Just draw whenever you get the chance.

- have inspiration. It helps you find your style much faster honestly.

This is like my basic general advice for art, anything delving deeper I would advise to look up professional artists that are more experienced in that area :3

[gzeidraws]

you create so much art so quickly how are you so fast

Alright gonna answer this honestly instead of just 'uhh i guess xD' lol

1. Work Ethic

(not sure if Ethic is the correct word) I think I have a short attention span, and also work better/faster in shorter bursts when I feel that itch to draw a lot. I try to work with this by setting a limit of the number of slots I think I can handle during this 'hardworking' phase and just going all out.

Also trying to be as disciplined as possible by working only on comms when I open them. This means during this whole time whenever I'm free, I only work on the comms. I only game once I head to bed. I don't have much social interaction or outings during this time.

I emphasize that not EVERYONE must work this way and it will not be healthy if you do this for the long term. I myself have overextended and burnt out (when I disappeared for that 1 year+ 😬)

In fact, many work better by taking short breaks or working on personal stuff in between, and still get things done. For me, I've always preferred to suffer through getting all the work done first and enjoying my break after lol. Just make sure your clients know your working style beforehand in your terms, let them know you might need breaks or just give them a rough schedule.

2. Art Style

Over the years my style has changed quite a bit. When I first started out I would do very detailed, painterly rendering with minimal lineart, or cleaning/redrawing the lineart.

Now I've settled on what I call a 'sketch-loose' style. It works with my working style above. it emulates a little pencil/traditional feeling which I like (so instead of drawing new lineart, I clean up the existing sketch to retain that roughness) , I get to be more loose with my brush strokes (for my impatience), and I think the overall end result still looks fine!

So yea consider having an art style specifically for comms if you want complete as many as possible. It can also be simply offering more options like 'sketch only' or 'flat colors only'.

And of course the more you practice/draw with the same style, the quicker you'll get at it! And the result will only keep improving over time.

Thank you for reading, hope this helps anyone!

[stinkybrowndogs]

how did you develop your art style? it's really cute! and i am struggling to figure out how to develop my own style

Ahh thank you! I very much feel like I’m still developing my art style if I’m being honest 😅

Unfortunately the answer is what everyone else says:

-drawing regularly (I’ve been drawing almost daily for 3 ish years, and I improved much faster in that time than I had over the past 5 ish years where I was not regularly drawing)

- REFERENCE even if u don’t think u need it. Just having a picture of the Thing in the corner of your vision will improve your drawing. My art is always, without fail, better if I have a reference.

-drawing exercises: figure drawing, life drawing, 30 second sketches, 1 minute sketches ect. It looks SO UGLY at first but the more you do the stronger your shape language will become.

basically all the stuff they force you to do in art school (that’s what u pay all that money for… some old guy to shame u when u don’t do ur life drawings). Change how you approach your sketches, try different mediums/brushes ect. Recently ive been sketching in silhouettes rather than lines, which has rewired my brain, and my shape language has gotten so much better. DONT BE AFRAID TO MAKE UGLY ART in fact everyone should make as much ugly art as possible. For each good drawing u gotta do 10 uglies. Try to learn a new technical skill once in a while, like color theory or using line weights or procreate/photoshop skills…. U don’t need to know everything all at once but as u learn and add those skills to ur art u will see it improve (sounds crazy I know). Hit up TikTok or YouTube for art tutorials…. If you don’t know how to draw something, look up how! (Insane that it took me like 10 years of art to start watching art tutorials. Unrelated, I can now draw trees and foliage with ease)

Remember, if you feel stuck or blocked, go back to your technical skills. Draw an apple. Sketch some people. Render a 3d sphere. Practice shadows and perspective.

Personally I’ve been trying to exaggerate my shapes and simplifying my designs. I’ve been using the Oberon brush for blocking colors and the dry ink brush for linework.

And, honestly, don’t feel like you need to tie yourself down to one “style”, you may find that pushing and experimenting with anything you find fun or interesting might be where u find it, u know?

[emmettworld]

So, a good thing that’s happening to me lately is that despite the insecurities and the bad excuses and the lack of confidence I’ve decided to start trying my hand at drawing for the first time. Mostly I’ve been designing and putting down clothes but I’ve also been drawing a few ocs. It’s a good practice in letting things be imperfect, in valuing the time I spend honing new skills and honestly taking the time to appreciate the work that goes into art form I’ve barely touched before! Here are a few I’ve made so far. I’m getting better. I can’t wait to see what changes in a year or two. I really want to learn how to shade and drape.

first off, i'm proud of you for starting, especially knowing how hard it can be when you're just starting out and your art may not fit what's in your head. but looking at these, you've got a GREAT start so far, and i'm also excited to see where your art journey will take you. i think you'll make a lot of progress faster than you might expect :)