#hope this was helpful anon!

[lynxfrost13]

Master teach me your ways of drawing

Your art is cool do you have any tips for drawing dragon or just drawing ?

Thank you!!! I put together a little thing for you anon!

I’m self taught and what works for me might not be good for everyone, but I tried my best to highlight my process if that makes sense?

I start off with usually one large gesture/motion line because I feel that helps add some life to my poses!

I highly recommend using references of course, even though I freehanded these ones, I used a lizard pic for reference for this one here in order to get a better idea of where legs would go in the front. You can also see some of the sketchy shapes I used in the face and how I kept adding to them to get something more structured.

Something that was also really helpful for me in terms of classic dragon wings, is to consider them like hands and/or bat wings, I just treat the wings like that and it’s great for seeing how they interact with everything else. With the short claw being like the thumb, and the others being freakishly long fingers.

And some general things that I like to do for my dragons, is lots of scales and layering for texture. You can get a lot of diversity in your dragons even by using the same basic shapes if you change the scale patterns, horns, eye placement, etc. At least that’s what I like to do!

My best advice though is to just have fun and get weird with it! There’s really no limit as to what a dragon is, so fuck it, give that beast six nostrils and cooling vents, or whatever you want! I am a firm believer in delighting in the process of creation. It’s good to challenge yourself, but a challenge should be fun too methinks.

And that’s my two cents, thanks again!

[tethered-heartstrings]

Have you ever talked about your writing process?

I probably have but i can share it again!

It's long so I put it under the cut!

I start with an idea and write it down as soon as I can. I'll add details or scenes/imagery I want to see and maybe even quotes or bits of dialogue I want to use. doesn't need to be linear, just need to Get The Idea Out so I don't forget anything.

Often times I will talk to a mutual about an idea. in explaining the idea, the story comes more alive. because in my own head I can see the "in between" pieces so my own notes can be a bit choppy. but having to tell someone else, for them to see the vision, I give more details. such as why I chose a certain line or how something in the beginning connects to something later in the story. even if it doesn't have plot and is a pwp, I can still explain what I see in my head in a very clinical sense. inevitably, whoever I told hypes me up and the excitement adds to my momentum. they can also ask clarifying questions that help me explain a detail better and more fully develop the idea beyond some bullet points bouncing around in my head. I do this to varying degrees; the more plot, the more I tend to elaborate. sometimes them asking a question gives me an idea to add something new I hadn't thought of before.

I also keep a list of my fic ideas on a private and personal discord, categorized by sfw/nsfw. then in each channel (one for each fic), i can add my notes and rambling ideas, images, quotes, etc (including from dms of mutuals I have told) and have them all in one place so I can refer to it alter and am not relying on my memory.

Once I have that, I open up a new document leaving space for a title and tags to be filled in later. rarely does a title come to me immediately. then I write a rough plot summary. it's very much like "this then that then this" without much detail or emotion. very much a river of thought as the story starts to paint itself. this makes sure that I have somewhere to go if I blank out. the store is "written" from start to finish, there is no guess work on what will happen next so I don't get stuck. usually a plot summary is about 10% of the length that the finished fic will be. This one I developed later and has helped me IMMENSELY. because, for example, I once started a fic with a really solid idea but no end goal. I ended up writing 77k and I've basically abandoned it because I have no idea how to finish it, so I am stuck. It would have been a lot less work for me if I had planned it out fully. I tend to not do this for pwps; those kind of write themselves. I get an idea of a particular trope/scene I want to see and write until I get there.

After that, I go line by line and flesh it all out. instead of "will went to bed and had a nightmare", I describe the room, his fear, the nightmare itself, his thoughts about it etc. as the story develops, the original plot summary can change as a new idea can spark. I almost always add a scene or change one dramatically in this stage. The trick to this is I don't stop and go back. I don't let myself edit, I just get the story done. It helps keep momentum and the next scene fresh in my mind. editing slows me down and is my least favorite part and can be discouraging. But if I just go from point A to B to C in one go, then the likelihood it gets finished goes up dramatically.

That is like the first "bulking" of the fic, adding the first several layers of detail. I then go to the top and read through it again, adding even more detail, changing words around if I use one too much, etc. This stage often adds more bulk to the story but not as much as the last stage. sometimes it adds a lot, like priest fic first stage was 18.5k, but with editing it became almost 28k.

Once I feel a fic is actually done and nothing needs to be added, I start to microedit. Nothing more than a sentence gets changed at a time, and my goal is to find tense, spelling, grammar, punctuation errors. more fine toothed comb. I also have my fic and a blank document side by side so I can add tags as I read through it so I don't forget something.

Usually in writing the fic, a title kind of just Happens. sometimes I need to really think about it, and I will often write several down and get opinions. Once I have a title (or deciding between some), complete tags, and a fic, I send it to my beta reader. another set of eyes is SO extremely helpful, and not even just for small errors I missed. some things that made sense to Me need more clarification because my beta reader can't read my mind. and if they are confused, readers likely will be, too. I also can ask if chapter breaks make sense or where they should be.

As I wait for my fic to be returned, or sometimes in procrastination of writing it, I start to find images for a tumblr post. If its a full fic, I like to make a moodboard, and share this with my beta reader too. If it's a pwp, I tend to use just one image. Soooometimes I make/find the images before I even write it lmao. Then I post it, make a tumblr post, and link to my ao3.

I also don't post until my fic is DONE. I am so impatient sometimes but with my first Hannibal fic, I was posting as I was writing and for me, it was really stressful not really knowing when it would end and what would happen next. I am happy and lucky it turned out and became a cohesive fic in the end, but that process was Not Ideal for me.

Not all ideas happen, though. some are more exciting to think of or talk about than to actually make happen. some I know will be long fics/a lot of work/take a lot of time so I hold off on those until I can give them more attention and time. Others take over my entire brain and I cannot rest until it is done.

[fursona-resources]

Can I have more than one furrsona?

Of course, I have like 3 main ones and a bunch of secondaries because I'm indecisive. There's no limit, it's up to you! Whatever would make you happiest

[katabay]

Hi! I love your art and I admire your style so so much I could stare at your art for hours. I was wondering if you have any tip on how to improve one's art style? How did you get at *gestures at your art* THAT

Thanks!

hi!! first, thank you!!!

second, sorry if any of this is confusing, but hopefully something in it will be useful to you!

so I'm first a comics person, and I tend to change my style to better suit whatever I'm trying to convey when I think it's a good idea. some things stay the same though! and that's because of the techniques I use to draw.

if possible, I'd recommend worrying less about style. but also I know that's hard advice to internalize and understand.

learning anatomy for art is about how form follows function, so the form is the result of how that part of the body functions, and from there you begin to build a visual shorthand (aka style) for conveying it.

with art, it's more like style follows technique and foundational skills, and you get those two things with practice and studies, along with a side of, ‘I think this’ll be fun to do!’

my art tends to look the way it does because I like doing gesture and contour drawings for my warm ups, and draw strokes primarily with my forearm, not my wrist, and I like doing master studies of and artists whose works I admire (lyendecker, rockwell, cornwell, the classic filipino comic illustrators, bernini statue studies, the fayum mummy portraits, etc). when I ink, I try to keep my pen/brush on the page for as long as possible, I don't like lifting up my inking tools, and I only add in aesthetic lines after I've done the initial inking. in real life, I enjoy painting using chisel brushes because I like the kind of blocky effect you get from it, and I transfer that over to how I paint digitally: I just don't use a lot of round brushes unless I'm trying to soften something.

I have a pretty wide array of artists I draw on for inspiration on top of mentors and peers who have helped me out along the way, but I'd recommend watching yusuke murata's live streams or this demo that sean gordon murphy did because SGM was a pretty hefty influence on me when I started taking art more seriously and I still use a number of techniques I adopted from him.

[deep-space-lines]

okay but like. I just had the weirdest thought about that ‘don’t look I’m naked’ comic. Which is that that’s essentially the same thing Adam and Eve did after they ate the fruit of knowledge of good&evil. So I feel like the theological implications of that could kneecap Gabe if he doesn’t think V1 is a being with free will.

yeah ok. i dunno man. is this anything

((side note. this isn’t necessarily meant to be in-character or story-accurate or take place at any particular point in time, just a way to explore some Thoughts. i was also imagining more that V1’s words aren't actually spoken, more like Gabriel’s more articulate interpretation of whatever garbled mechanical noise V1 is using to communicate. I think an angel could do that.))

and then they fucked nasty the end

[bidamonalbarn]

PLEASE infodump about drake

okok this is specific to the drake/kendrick drama but i can also do a drake one too - im assuming you know basically nothing. & i barely know this shit so correct me if im wrong. also this will be routinely updated so! check in :D

2011 - Take Care (album) by Drake features Kendrick Lamar on the track Buried Alive Interlude

2012 - Drake has Kendrick open for his Club Paradise Tour. The same year they both feature on A$AP Rocky's song Fuckin Problems (also with 2 Chainz)

2013 - Kendrick called out a few rappers (J. Cole, Pusha T, Big Sean, etc.) including Drake. Drake responds saying he had no response, basically. They do this again the same year (Kendrick says shit, Drake doesnt respond)

2016 (ish) - They continue subtle beef (Kendrick saying Drake has ghost writers, Drake saying Kendrick "sold out")

2023 - First Person Shooter by Drake and J. Cole drops (their first collab since 2013). In the song Drake mentions "the big three" in reference to himself, J. Cole, and Kendrick

2024, Mar. - Like That by Metro Boomin' and Kendrick Lamar drops. In it Kendrick responds to Drake, saying "the big three ... it's just big me", implying that Kendrick is above Drake and J. Cole. Drake attempts to ban Like That from the radio.

2024, Apr. - Push Ups by Drake is released. The song is about how Drake believes Kendrick is being extorted - the track referencing the phrase "drop and give me 50".

2024, Apr. - Taylor Made Freestyle by Drake is released, his second diss track at Kendrick. Here Drake disses Kendrick for "selling out" specifically in reference to Bad Blood by Taylor Swift ft. Kendrick Lamar. Drake also used AI vocals of Snoop Dogg and Tupac - this resulted in him almost being sued by Tupac's Estate. Drake wiped the song from his sites

2024, Apr. - Euphoria by Kendrick Lamar is released. The track is 6 minutes long, cut down from its original 19 minutes. The title is in reference to the TV series Euphoria which Drake is an executive producer of - it's also referencing the sexualisation of underage people, something done by the show and (allegedly) Drake himself. Within the track Kendrick makes fun of Drakes accent, how Drake says the n-word, how Drake dresses... and a fuck load more

2024, May. - 6:16 in LA by Kendrick Lamar releases, less than 72 hours after Euphoria dropped. This track specifically disses Drake for having ghost writers/lots of co-writers. He also implies that Drakes friends are stabbing him in the back and selling his info. This track is co-produced by Jack Antonoff, who co-writes and co-produces for Taylor Swift.

2024, May. - Family Matters by Drake is released. I want to be honest with you, i didn't listen to this until i got this ask. This track implies Kendrick beats his wife. Drake also disses other rappers such as A$AP Rocky, Future, etc.

2024, May. - Drake releases a Buried Alive Interlude Parody on his Instagram

2024, May. - Meet the Grahams by Kendrick Lamar is released. In this track (which is by far my favourite of all the tracks) Kendrick calls Drake a deadbeat dad and accuses Drake of having another secret child (apart from Adonis). Kendrick has a verse dedicated to this supposed child in which he basically parents her - teaching her all the things Drake wont. He also implies Drake struggles with alcohol and gambling

2024, May. - Not Like Us by Kendrick Lamar is released. The fourth diss track from Kendrick. In this track Kendrick alleges that there's pedophiles and trafficking within OVO (an indie record label founded by Drake). Kendrick also says that every rapper who's complimented Drake is lying and now hates him for using Tupac's vocals through AI. This track includes my favourite line "Tryna stike a chord and it's probably A-Minor"

[bulldog-butch]

do you have any tips for eating pussy !!!!

BOY DO I

i feel like i have to put a corporate disclaimer so i don’t get sued, but obviously not everyone likes getting their pussy ate the same way and it’s good to talk to a partner about what they like and dislike. that being said i often get stellar feedback on my pussy eating (i literally changed my girlfriend’s mind about getting their pussy ate 😈)

first off, forget probably everything you’ve seen in porn. if someone could watch you eating pussy and see your tongue then you’re doing it wrong (unless you’re in the first few minutes and warming up or like taking a tiny breather) otherwise if you’re getting down to business then your face should be drowning in the pussy.

second, forget all the kitschy shit you hear. no one is actually getting off to someone spelling out the alphabet on their clit. finding a consistent rhythm is key and it’s usually something incredibly simple. i opt for up and down because i can go longer with that motion and it tends to get a better reaction than side to side (but i do throw a little of that in there). also when i say up and down i don’t mean like a flicking motion. do not flick the clit with your tongue. you’re rubbing it not flicking it, so keep your tongue flat and just rub it up and down (or side to side whatever you’re going with). the other most important thing i can say is SUCK THEIR CLIT. start soft if you don’t know how sensitive their clit is and then ramp it up if you’re getting positive feedback. save this for a little flare, i wouldn’t usually stay sucking it for more than a few seconds.

okay now that i’ve gone over technique, let’s put it all together. start of slow, really show that you’re giving the pussy all your attention and not just doing it because you feel obligated. lick the whole length, stick your tongue in their vagina, suck on the labia, have fun with it! get to know the pussy you’re about to go to town on! then when you’re ready to get down to business start focusing more on the clit and setting a steady rhythm. maybe start getting a little faster but as soon as you hear “right there” or they start pulling your hair DONT ALTER YOUR PACE. i think a common mistake is people hear that and get excited and start going faster but the whole point is you just had the right tempo and now you’ve changed it. also if your jaw starts hurting (as mine often does) but you don’t want to stop, i would suggest try moving your whole head up and down to give your jaw a break.

last but certainly not least, my personal favorite move is to give the g-spot some attention while you’re down there. use a finger or two (or three if you’re feeling spicy) and do the come hither motion while you’re working on their clit, and i can almost guarantee that you’ll have that person seeing the light

[soracities]

Hi, how do you manage to see children as good? I would like to, but I only see them as inconsiderate and terrifing in a way a military robot would be terrifing. Not evil, because they are wired that way and it's just who they are, but everyone would be better off avoiding them. I've been to therapy because I was bullied, but I didn't change my mind. I kinda feel like it's an elephant in the room and I am right. I'd like to hear the good stories as often as possible tho, maybe sth will change

I'm not coming for you, but with all due respect it's not "just who they are".

Children aren't military robots because they aren't lifeless hunks of machinery incapable of thought or feelings; they are human beings (like you were at that age) who are trying to make sense of the world around them (like you did at that age), and who want to be a part of that world and feel welcome in it (like you did at that age). They are not coded to do the same thing over and over with no input from anyone else, they are not machines singly wired for carnage: they watch, learn, adapt, respond and interact with things around them because these are smaller, younger versions of you and me learning what it means to exist on this planet in the first place with barely any filters, impulse control and absolutely no guidance on how to do this except what the environment around them (parents, friends, family, teachers) tell them is and isn't okay.

I don't believe this is a matter of inherent goodness or lack thereof--I don't believe anyone is inherently good or bad: what I believe is that we are all inherently social creatures who desperately want to be part of our communities and involved with other people. Children are no different. They want to learn, they want to help, they want to figure out where they belong in their little social units and they look to you to tell them where that is because they don't know yet. And if they are in an environment where bullying is okay (either because they were treated horribly and no one did anything or they see and hear others being treated horribly and no one did anything or they treated someone else horribly and no one did anything) than that is what they'll accept.

If you follow your logic that everyone is "better off "avoiding children--what then? How do you expect them to learn right from wrong if no one is volunteering to teach them? How do you expect bullying to stop if no one is taking the time to instill it in them that bullying is not okay? How do you expect them to ever learn to be kind and considerate when everyone around them makes it clear they're not wanted? How do you expect them to learn what any kind of care and responsibility looks like if everyone is avoiding them to begin with? How do you expect them to think for themselves and reach their own conclusions if you treat them all like a monolith? Every single adult is an ex-baby, an ex-child, an ex-teenager--how do you expect decent adults to come into this world if you avoid teaching all three of those?

I'm not saying any of this to dismiss what you went through or undermine the horror and the impact of it, and I genuinely am sorry you were put through so much. But the best way I can answer your question is with full honesty: and I think it is going to be difficult for you to find those "good stories" and be open to them if you are already convinced that you are right because of what happened to you, that children are automatically feral terrors and that everyone else is just pretending otherwise or ignoring the reality. I believe what I believe because I've spent years around kids and seen all sides of them. I know they can say horrible things. But I also know they learnt those horrible things from a careless adult, or another child exposed to a careless adult. Children can be terrifying--but they are terrifying to other children. And that terror is coming from a reactive and limited understanding of the world where so much of what happens to you often feels like it's coming from large, hidden, horrible forces you can't wrap your head around (because you can't, because your head is 8 years old). But the fact is adults are also terrifying to children. And which of those are you now?

I can't speculate on what you went through or how you processed it, but I think it's worth considering that you may still be looking at children through the eyes of the child you once were and the horrible experiences you had. Again, I'm not dismissing that pain--it's real and it happened to you, and I can absolutely understand your feelings and conclusions--but that doesn't mean they equate to objective conclusions or generalization about all children, especially since you were a child: would you look at yourself like something similar to a military robot? Would you want to have felt the adults around you thought it better to stay away from you? And what about the people in your life that you care about most? Can you imagine them when they were children, like you were? Would you think the same thing about them?

If you want to change your mind, you need to put yourself in situations where that opportunity arises without expecting that your belief is the default. If you can, ask teachers what their fondest memories are of teaching--what's the funniest thing they've heard, what's the kindest thing they've seen, what's surprised them most about kids? What have they learnt from kids (because you do learn--you learn all the time). Ask people who love children why they love children, or simply see if you can find discussions on forums where people share those stories. As I said, I've heard and seen kids do some awful things--but those are tiny compared to everything I've seen that is the opposite (boys giggling face to face on a hill, a tiny toddler waving at me on a bus, a child naming a slug that crept in through his window, a 9 year old boy trying to teach me morse code after having known me for 2 minutes despite how long it took me to understand). It might also help if you give yourself the opportunity to learn a little about child psychology--if people's experiences aren't enough for you, then maybe getting insights into how children's actual brains and minds work might. If you're curious, there's a documentary series from 2015 or so that follows 4, 5, and 6 years olds as they play and engage with each other here to try and understand what their world looks like.

Sincerely, I don't mean for any of this to sound harsh and I really hope it doesn't--but at the end of the day there isn't a secret, pure anecodte that will magically make you change your mind. Change isn't passive; it's something you decide to do and actively work on and that includes challenging your own beliefs by providing them with new and wider information. I'm not saying you have to become a kindergarten teacher to do this, or start spending all your time around children. But if we are going to survive in this world and forge any kind of lasting connections we have to be able to offer some amount of grace and understanding to each other and the people in our lives--and that goes doubly for the people who have barely even begun learning to be people at all.

[theriverbeyond]

how do we know in the books that john is indigenous? can you say more about how his indigeneity is important to his story?

hello! so there is a word of god post on race (doesn't mention John but mentions that Gideon is "mixed Maori"), BUT I frankly don't think word of god statements are worth any weight without actual in-text support (see: the "dumbledore is gay" situation). SO!

Specific evidence that John Gaius is Maori, as revealed in Nona the Ninth:

When he is listing his education, John mentions having gone to Dilworth School (John 20:8). Dilworth is an all boys boarding school in Auckland and accepts students based on financial need instead of academic or sporting achievements. Demographics appear to be about 70% low income Maori boys, indicating that it is highly likely that John is Maori

John reports that P- said he looked like a "Maori-TV pink panther" (John 15:23) when his eyes turned gold. Maori TV is a TV station that is focused primarily on Maori culture & language revitalization, with presumably all or mostly Maori hosts, and tbh I don't see why P- would say this unless John was himself Maori

John uses a te reo Māori phrase ("kia kaha, kia māia") (John 5:20) when he is saying goodbye to the corpses in the cryo lab before the power is shut off. Though it is possible he said this as a non-Maori kiwi, but in combination with the previous two points of evidence I think this all very strongly points to him being Maori

He also renames his daughter Kiriona Gaia, "Kiriona" being just literally the name "Gideon" in te reo Māori

TLT is not a series that hands you anything on a silver platter but to ME this is all pretty solid proof

Why is this relevant to The Locked Tomb?

In Nona the Ninth, we learn that before he completed apotheosis and ate the solar system, John was basically trying to save the earth from capitalism-caused climate change. Climate justice and the rights of indigenous people over their own land are deeply tied together, in the same way that climate catastrophe and capitalism/ imperialism/ colonialism are linked. disclaimer that this is NOT my area of study and others have definitely said it better; this is just the basic gist as I understand it, but on quick search I found some sources here and here if you want to do some reading.

TLT is not a series that hands you anything on a silver platter, but i don't think it is a stretch to see John as an indigenous man trying to save the earth and getting ignored and shut down at every turn by primarily western colonial powers (PanEuro, the USA) who declare him a terrorist and then as a reader thematically connecting that to the experience of indigenous climate activists IRL

there are absolutely TLT meta posts that have discussed this before me; tumblr search is nonfunctional and I have been looking for an hour and a half and cannot find anything specific even though i KNOW i reblogged multiple posts about this in the first few weeks following NTN's release. sad & I am sorry

I think that by the time the books take place, John is 10k years removed from the cultural context he grew up in, with the Nine Houses having become a genocidal colonial power in their own right (with more parallels to be made between John's forever war for the resources of literal life energy and like, oil wars), but I also think that John Gaius is a fictional character who can represent and symbolize multiple different things in service of telling a story. (not to mention the potential thematic parallels being made to how oppressed people sometimes are pressed into replicating the power dynamics of their oppressors and continuing the cycle--now that is a tumblr post i KNOW i read last year and definitely cannot find right now, once again sad & I am sorry)

How Radical Was John Gaius, Really is a forum thread that was locked by the moderators after 234534645674564 pages of heated debate

[kimdokjas]

wait wait, what’s the change tumblr did to the reblog chains ? 🥲🥲🥲 I’m so lost

okay so basically, let's say you see a post on your dash

before the update, if you clicked on a url, you could do 3 things:

view that specific reblog on the blog you follow (A)

view the previous reblog on the blog A reblogged it from (B)

view the original post on op's blog (C)

however, staff recently implemented an update where clicking on a url no longer takes you to that specific post. now, clicking on a url just takes you to the blog itself.

this means that you now get 5 things:

view ONLY that specific reblog on the blog you follow (A) -> changed location near header. also, you will now ONLY see that post and nothing else

view ONLY the original post on op's blog (C) -> changed location near header. you will only see that post and nothing else. and ONLY if the op hasn't deleted it, otherwise it just shows an error

view the blog of the person you follow (D)

view the blog of the person D reblogged it from (F) -> option B no longer exists

view the blog of the op (E)

you might be thinking: "cool! i get more options so that's good, right?" well, no.

there are SEVERAL things wrong with this and it goes beyond the prev tags issue

1) first of all, it's counterintuitive that A and C changed locations to the area near the header, especially if your userbase was already used to the previous functions. it just seems like horrible UX design to me but let's put that aside for now.

2) as you can see, option B which allowed you to see the previous reblog of a post no longer exists.

now, if you click on the previous url, you will just be taken to their entire blog. you can no longer view the post itself.

someone asked staff about this, and they replied in this post that the change was INTENTIONAL and if you want to view the previous reblog you would have to "go through the notes view".

to borrow what someone else said:

basically, this update just killed the prev tags culture in one fell swoop.

(sure, you can still use it to reply directly to the person you're reblogging from, but it's now literally useless to use "prev tags" for everyone else involved. sure, you can choose to copy tags or peer review them, but again, if people will have to copy them then the less people are likely to use them, and not every prev lends itself to peer-reviewing imo)

now, listen. i know not everyone likes the prev tags culture, but it just seems like such a poorly-thought decision to kill a culture that like... half of your entire userbase uses (see this poll as a quick reference) and that's UNIQUE to your site and sets you apart from other social media.

but it's also not even just prev tags. let's say you want to remove an annoying addition on a post's reblog chain? you can no longer do that.

however, i feel like this is the most important point:

regardless of how you may feel about the prev tags culture, the pure UI aspect of it should remain

what i mean by this is: even if you don't like prev tags, simply 1) being able to access the reblog chain, and 2) clicking on a post and actually have it take you to their BLOG (and not just a page with that one single post) is literally essential navigation.

this update threatens to drive down user engagement (which is already critically low) by making it harder to navigate. which is actually another point:

3) even if you click on A and C now to view those specific posts, it's NOT the same as it used to be.

before, you could view the reblog directly on the blog. so you could just scroll down and see the other posts leading up to it. now, you will be taken to a page where you will ONLY see that post and nothing else.

but also, you can no longer easily navigate other people's blogs.

you know how sometimes you would see like 50 notifications of someone going through an entire tag on your blog? that's going to happen a lot less, i'm afraid.

let's suppose you want to go to op's blog because they're an artist and you want to see more of their art. so you click on C and see that the tag they use for posts with their art is "#my art"

cool! before, you could just click on that tag and immediately view ALL of their art as long as the posts have that tag.

but now, if you click on that tag, it will take you to the ENTIRE tumblr tag with literally all the posts that everyone in the history of time has tagged with that specific tag.

now, to do the same thing that just took 2 clicks before, you would have to: click on C to view the post -> look for the tag you want to navigate -> click E to view their whole blog -> scroll and look for a post that just so happens to have that tag (the search function is literally useless) and hope to god that there's a recent one or you'll have to scroll for ages or simply give up -> if you happen to find it, click on that tag to navigate their posts.

you see how this is counterproductive, right? you see how this can literally drive down engagement with content creators, right?

if you make people's blogs harder to navigate, you will literally drive down the number of likes and reblogs on their posts, which have already been steadily declining for years now.

4) options D and E to view the blogs and not the posts are literally useless because you could already access other people's blogs before. you just had to click on their url to view their blogs starting from that specific post AND you could choose to just refresh it to view their newest posts.

either way, the change just seems completely unnecessary. and again, it's not just about the prev tags culture but about basic UI.

so what can we do about it?

i normally don't advocate for flooding staff with messages but i do feel like this is one of the worst updates staff has ever done (and that's saying something) and something needs to change.

even if they don't retcon the entire update, that's fine, but staff could at least add the option to view the reblog chain as a different feature (maybe even opt-in) for example. there are better ways to go about this than just axing an entire existing feature.

also, this same issue that makes it harder to navigate blogs needs to change. i feel like content creators will be especially affected by this unless this changes because you can no longer easily navigate their tags, so it will inevitably drive down engagement.

so please, contact staff and let them know we want a change.

you can contact support here!

here's a template for a possible message you could send, but feel free to edit it. (under category you can choose "Feedback")

Hi, I would like to politely request a change to the recent update that affects the reblog chain of posts. Regardless of the "prev tags" culture itself, the UI aspect of being able to view the reblog chain of a post is essential for navigation on this website. Even adding it as a separate, opt-in feature would be a huge help. Additionally, clicking on a post and then on one of the tags now takes you to the entire tumblr tag instead of the tag on that blog, which makes it harder to navigate blogs. Both of these issues have the potential to drive down user engagement by actively making it harder to navigate Tumblr, but especially for content creators. I hope you can do something to address these issues as soon as possible. Thanks in advance and have a nice day.

also, if you can and/or want, reblogs are appreciated to help spread the word!

that's pretty much the gist of the issue from what i've seen, but if anyone else has anything to add or a different way we could contact staff to make ourselves heard, please feel free to let me know!

TLDR: it's not just about prev tags, this update affects basic functionality and content creators as well

[usernare]

we all know that giffing can be a pain in the ass sometimes. it is time-consuming, tiring, and annoying. but highly addictive, too. there's no cake recipe for making gifs, but everyone has some tips and shortcuts developed through time and hard work, the same way as our nanas have their special chocolate cake recipe.

that being said, welcome to my crazy attempt to make a comprehensive tutorial. this is how to make gifs for dummies, my name is nare and i'll be your host during this extensive ramble dressed as a tutorial.

my giffing process (and this tutorial) is divided into 5 phases:

downloading the footage;

cropping the scenes;

extracting the frames from said videos;

organizing the frames into the folders;

and making the actual gifs.

at google docs i'll provide every link you might need, and will try to explain everything you need to start making your own gifs. thank you!

[canon-gabriel-quotes]

i just have one simple question for you why gabriel ultrakill? what is the appeal behind this angel

aaauughhhh uhhhhhauuuuuuu uuuuuhaaaaahhhhuuuugff bhhjjhshhh i nnneeedineed

bite it Bited it

uuuuhhhahhhh WHHAHAHHHHH AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH GRAHHHHHHHHH

GRRRRRRAHHHHHHHHHGRRRRGGGRRRRRRR

[introspectivememories]

mister lewis hamilton, sir, how are you gonna go on live television and talk about about how your karting days were the best times of your career and still never say nico's name? not once but multiple times??? oh you mean the karting your did with your childhood best friend nico rosberg? that karting? the karting where you met him? the karting where your families became friends? the karting where you spent months in italy together? the pizza eating contests and torn up hotel rooms? the frosties? the unicycling? that karting???? "i'm over the divorce," says man who is soo not over the divorce.

[hansoeii]

Hello! Hope you're having a great day/night! I absolutely adore your art, you are one of my favourite artists. I love the way you shade and do backrounds. Also everytime I get into a new show I immediately see your art for it??

I was wondering if you had any advice on drawing more realistically (backrounds, anatomy etc) but still keeping a style?

Hey hey!

Thank you so much!

I have a pretty good understanding of facial structures, because before I got into drawing more semi-realisticly, I heavily focused on realistic portraits. Here are some example, these are from around 2019!

(yes, I was really into danmei and kpop back then, haha)

I just always loved drawing/painting faces and it was all I did. But at some point I realized that I wanted to do more than that because just portraits felt super restricting. So it took me around 2-3 years to somewhat find my style. Thought it would be fun to show a little timeline! Advice will follow afterwards :)

2020

I began working on my OCs in 2020 and since I didn't have an exact reference to work off of, I struggled a lot. My art from this year is super wonky.

2021

Still wonky, but the Lokius obsession was the jumpstart into finding my style! My work from this year is all over the place haha, I was experimenting a lot.

2022

This first ofmd piece is pretty much the first drawing where you can see where my style is gonna go, which I think is pretty cool! This is the year I made the biggest progress cos I was drawing SO much. These two pieces are only six months apart. The one on the right was the first time I gave drawing a background a proper go, too! It was a good year.

2023

And this is where I am now! I'm still constantly learning and improving, but I'd say I have a style you can recognize now!

Now here comes some actual advice, haha:

What I highly recommend you to do is to study your favorite artists as much as you can! I have like 5 A4 sketchbooks all from 2020 that I filled with sooooo many studies, where basically all I did was look at artists I like and copy how they draw stuff, to try and figure out how to stylize certain things. Some of my favorite artists are Ami Thompson, Velinxi and TB Choi. But I also liked to just scroll through pinterest and study all the art I came across that I liked! For example, if I saw a really great drawing of a pair of pants I would copy it many times in my sketchbook and try to learn how they stylized the folds. Doing this for a prolongued period of time will naturally improve your own work! It'll be difficult at first, but you gotta push through, it's gonna be worth it!

I also highly recommend studying unique faces to try and avoid the same-face syndrome. Find some cool looking people and try to draw them as simple as you can! Maybe even draw a little timeline where you first draw them as cartoon-y as you can, and keep going until you end up with a more detailed, realistic drawing. Maybe in the middle of it you find a step that feels the most fun to you, so you can try to build on that! It's a great way to figure out what kind of style might be the best for you.

Here are some cool faces I found on pinterest!

I have a pinterest board with many more!

One REALLY important part of learning how to draw all kinds of things is to understand forms and shapes and how to manipulate them. I have so many pages in my sketchbook filled with just shapes that I drew from all kinds of angles without any references.

This is a great video on it:

6 Ways to Draw Anything by Proko

Learning how to do this is so crucial! Young artists often think they first have to learn all kinds of detailed anatomy before doing anything else, but all that's gonna do is make you tired and hate drawing. Shapes are where it's at! Once you understand how shapes work and which ones to use for certain parts of bodies or objects, drawing is gonna get so much easier! Once you understand them, you can get into details such as muscles and bones!

And honestly the most important point is to just absolutely love what you're doing! I wouldn't be doing this if it wasn't for the fact that I get extreme hyperfixations on certain media that turn me into some kind of beast where I can suddenly draw 10 detailed illustrations a week, haha. Just be passionate about what you do, find something you REALLY love and go crazy!

I really hope this was somewhat helpful! My inbox is always open if there's any more questions :)

[sasanka-27]

The oil under Impala mystery 🔍✨

(Inspired by the lady with expert wife tips from tiktok)

[revenantghost]

can you explain why knives needed vash for his plan? is vash's power giving plants life?

So from what I gather, Vash is unique in his ability to both give and take from the higher dimension, which is the place where all plants get their energy from, and that's what humans use them for. (This is also where Conrad says their souls are instead of their bodies (possible bullshit, given the unreliable narrators we have), and also given Vash's conversation with Rem in episode 12 it's possibly connected to the afterlife???) Or, at the very least, Vash is different from most other plants, as they can only take. His power has been compared to something black hole-like, but I won't bore you with quantum physics since we don't know exactly what they mean by that yet, exactly.

In order to access and enter the higher dimension to rip souls free and shove them into the plants' bodies to birth independent plants, Knives needed to use Vash as a gate, as a tool, to open Vash up and let himself in so he could funnel that power out through Vash.

At least, that's just what I've gathered from watching Tristamp... way too many times and reading meta as I go. I'm probably a bit off in this explanation, so anyone feel free to add on anything I missed! I think we're going to get way more in-depth in the following season/s with the plot threads left hanging after episode twelve. Hopefully this makes sense! :'D