#how do you not understand how genuinely difficult stuff like this is for me. it isn't something i can push through when i have a physical | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

ms-demeanor · 1 year ago

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You posted about adhd and I was hoping to follow up to clarify something. I’ve explained to my partner a million times about how the borderline-hoarding mess of his space is very mentally draining to me, and he understands but we’ve both essentially accepted he won’t clean his mess because he can’t because of his adhd. You’re saying he’s actually being a shit head?

This isn't necessarily an issue of him being a shithead, but it also isn't a sustainable situation. It's not good for you and there's a level of clutter that's probably not good for him either.

Large bastard is a lot more clutter-y than I am. The solution we've come to is trying to keep our messes at least isolated from one another; he can have his messes and I can have mine, but he can have those messes in his spaces, not all over the place. Sometimes those messes migrate, and that's when it's important for him to make the effort to rein them in rather than trying and failing to make a daily effort to keep our entire shared space tidy.

I think when you say "we've both essentially accepted he won't clean his mess" what I'm hearing is resignation; you're not happy about this but you don't know what to do so you've thrown up your hands and he feels helpless and unsure of what to do to improve the situation. This is the kind of "it's fine" that isn't really fine.

I think it would be worthwhile for you to each separately think about the mess and talk about it together. Are there areas that YOU *need* to have not-messy? Both for utility and your mental health? Are there areas where you can tolerate more mess than otherwise? Are there areas that are going to be harder for him to keep the mess out of than others? Are there things he doesn't *know* about cleaning up the mess?

I'm obviously a big "communication communication communication" person so I'm going to recommend a lot of talking about stuff, which is probably going to mean a lot of thinking about and interrogating stuff. I'm going to say "talk to him about why the mess bothers you" which means you also have to really articulate to yourself why the mess bothers you (for instance I'm not actually *bothered* by a messy kitchen, but I know it's going to reflect badly on us - and me specifically b/c of presumed gender roles - if someone pops by and the kitchen is a disaster, AND a messy kitchen is going to be harder to use). Genuinely, sometimes knowing *why* something is a problem might make it easier for someone with ADHD to do something. And it's not that he doesn't care that it upsets you, it's just that "Oh if I don't wash my breakfast dishes Anon won't have clear counterspace to make lunch" might be stickier in his brain (and less hard to look at emotionally) than "this thing I forget to do upsets my partner so I should do it."

For the record, I think that people with ADHD should read up on Demand Avoidance and see if it might explain some of the issues that they have in their day-to-day life; I've seen some really unfortunate situations with friends where trying to do things that their partner needed became the subject of demand avoidance. *I* have experienced negative outcomes of demand avoidance. The solution to that, however, isn't to stop making attempts to do the thing OR to simply try harder to do as they're asked/told (which reinforces the demand), it's to work on setting up a situation where the partners' needs are not interpreted as a demand. This is fuck-off difficult and requires a lot of patience and care and many attempts to succeed and will be different for each person and relationship.

(Also for the record demand avoidance isn't *super* strongly linked to ADHD and it's not a definitive symptom; like Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria, it is something that occurs in some number of people with ADHD and can be a useful lens through which to examine various behaviors; you don't need to have DA or RSD to have ADHD, and having DA or RSD also doesn't invalidate your diagnosis; they're symptoms. For me, DA often feels like "if I don't look at it, it can't get me" - If I ignore all the messages I've got they aren't real and don't have real consequences so I'll just ignore my texts. If I don't look at the vendor email about the order, the problem with the order isn't real and it won't get added to my task list. If I don't look at the requests in my inbox I can't let people down when I don't do them. It's a self-protective coping mechanism but it's *maladaptive* and I can't just ignore the vendor email or all my texts. I need to work on a way of doing the stuff that I'm avoiding in a way that makes it less stressful and doesn't hurt the people relying on me. That takes a lot of effort, personal insight, trial and error, and )

But before I dive into specifics I want to be really really clear about one thing: sometimes people are simply incompatible. Sometimes one person has such a low tolerance for "mess" and the other person has such a high threshold for "mess" that it can't be reconciled. It sucks that this can end up being a thing that people break up over, but it is MUCH better to acknowledge incompatibility as early as possible instead of spending years and years building resentment.

There used to be a great forum called MiL's Anonymous that I spent a lot of time on. It had a lot of people in a lot of difficult situations struggling to get by and hold their relationships together. The question that was used as a litmus test to approach each situation was simple: If you knew today that everything about living with this person would be the same in five years, would you stay?

Because you can't control your partner. You can't control the future. You can only control yourself and your proximity to situations that are harmful to you. If you knew, 100%, that things wouldn't get better in five years, would you be okay with staying in this relationship? If the answer is "no," then that's that. Don't worry about questions of whether or not your boyfriend is a shithead, start the process of ending the relationship because there's a good chance the situation is going to be exactly the same in five years.

If the answer is "yes," and you'd stay in the relationship regardless of whether or not things changed, then it's time to take actions to improve your life within the context of the relationship.

(No judgement on that yes or no, btw. If you would hate living like this for another five years, and you would feel like you'd wasted your time and hadn't done the things you wanted to with your life, get out. Bail. Go. It will be better for you and better for your partner if you split instead of spending half a decade building resentments and and problems that you'll have to spend another half a decade healing from.)

Also, a note: you describe your boyfriend's mess as borderline hoarding - is the issue *mess* or is the issue *clutter*? I have friends who are very tidy, but whose homes are very cluttered. They like things, they have many things, they keep many things around, but their houses are always clean and well-dusted and orderly, just with a tremendous amount of *stuff.* I am addressing all of this as though the issue is mess, not clutter. If your boyfriend's situation is clutter (the space is busy and packed with things but it is functional and clean) and your issue isn't with *mess* (things out of place, things not having a place, things that need to be cleaned up gathering in stacks, falling behind on regular chores like laundry and dishes and taking out the trash) then you definitely need to assess whether or not you are compatible.

For instance here's a room that is messy but not cluttered compared to a room that is cluttered but not messy:

That first room is a *mess* but it would be very easy to clean up in under an hour. The second room is fairly tidy, but would take significant effort to pare down and declutter. BOTH of these can be difficult to live with but the second one is not dangerous or threatening to anyone's health. (The second one is QUITE cluttered and if every room in a house looks like this it can be overwhelming to live with; this is actually harder to deal with in a relationship than the first one in a lot of ways. I don't have a lot of advice for what to do if your partner is a high degree of tidy-but-cluttered because I don't actually think it's a problem or wrong to have thousands of books or bins full of lego or a million kitchen appliances as long as you have the space and can keep it safe and well-maintained; this is a really significant compatibility issue)

Okay, all that out of the way, here's the hard work.

Talk about this shit

Talk to your partner and define "mess." Make sure you are on the same page about what you mean when you're talking about what a messy room looks like versus what a tidy room looks like. Gather reference pictures. DRAW reference pictures.

Explain not just that the mess upsets you, but *why* and *how* it upsets you. In this context don't think of it as your boyfriend's mess, think of it as an unpleasant roommate. Discuss this using "I-statements". "When I have to pick up laundry all over the apartment, I feel like a parent more than a partner." "When there are piles of miniatures all over the table, I feel like I don't have anywhere to do things I'm interested in." "When there are dishes in the sink, I feel frustrated because I have to clean before I can feed myself."

Discuss, frankly and openly, whether he knows how to clean. I'm not trying to make excuses for him here but a lot of people with ADHD have a lot of stress and avoidance around cleaning because they spent a lot of time getting yelled at for not knowing how to clean properly.

Discuss your needs, be firm about what you require but willing to compromise. You *need* some spaces to be clean, and some spaces may be harder for him to keep clean than others. It may be MUCH harder for him to keep a bedroom tidy than it is to keep a kitchen tidy; if you need a clean and empty bedroom with everything put away and he simply cannot do that, that is a compatibility issue. But perhaps you need *your* side of the bedroom to be very orderly and can tolerate a moderate level of mess and clutter on his side. Maybe you're really really bothered by a messy kitchen, but it doesn't bug you if the dining table is covered with projects and papers. Figure out something more workable than "his mess goes everywhere and i live with it because he's incapable of cleaning" because he probably is not incapable of cleaning and you deserve to have places in your home that are comfortable for you.

Reduce friction for cleaning

Sometimes the problem isn't cleaning, the problem is the many many steps before cleaning, or not knowing where something should go when you are done cleaning. One of the absolute best things I've done for myself for cleaning my space is getting a broom holder and mounting the broom to the wall. Sweeping is now essentially thoughtless. I don't have to find the broom or pull it out from a pile of fans or go scrounging around for a dustpan it's right there on the wall, frictionless. So here are some ways to reduce the barriers to cleaning:

Make sure you and your partner both know how to use your cleaning supplies and know where those supplies are. When I switched dishwasher soap I had to re-show Large Bastard where I was storing it and how it was used, because to him what happened was the dishwasher tabs just vanished one day and he didn't know what I was putting in the machine or the process I used. He sometimes puts tools away in places that I can't see (he's more than a foot taller than me) so sometimes I can't get started on a maintenance project until he shows me where he put the battery pack for the drill.

Consider making a how-to chart to or having him make a how-to chart to keep someplace accessible so he can reference it while cleaning. Goblin.Tools Magic ToDo is great for this. Basically a lot of the time people with ADHD have trouble knowing what to do from step to step even if they've done something before, so having a step by step guide can make it easier (I have notebooks full of step-by-step guides for everything from paying for my tuition to removing licenses for my customers to weeding my yard)

Remove obstacles; don't keep cleaning chemicals in the garage in a box that's behind a stack of parts, keep them in the room you'll be cleaning. Don't keep the cleaning supplies that you use to clean the bathroom in the kitchen. Sometimes this means buying two bottles of bleach solution and two scrubbers and two sets of cleaning gloves but having fewer steps (fetch the windex, fetch the paper towels, fetch the gloves) is often the key to getting things done (open under-sink cabinet and grab windex, gloves, and paper towels that are there instead of in the kitchen).

This sort of overlaps with the next category, which is:

Create Dump Zones

One thing that I've found that seems very different between people with ADHD cleaning and neurotypical people cleaning is that neurotypical people are good at getting to a point where the cleaning is "done." They have checked off their tasks and they have finished and it is over. There are *SOME* chores that are like this (taking out the trash is a binary state, the trash has been taken out or it has not) and some chores are perpetual (horrid cursed dishes) but I think with people with ADHD, some chores that are binary for neurotypicals are actually perpetual chores. For instance "clean off the counter" is not a one and done for me. "Clean off the counter" may involve a three day reorganization project. "Clean off the counter" does not mean "wipe down the tile and put dishes away" it means assessing whether or not I need to make vegetable stock and bleaching three tea containers and reconsidering whether or not the sharps container should live somewhere else and going through the mail and figuring out what needs to be responded to and taking out the recycling and on and on and on.

We have had company at the house for the last two weeks, so I asked large bastard to clean off the dining room table, which is largely a project zone for him. Cleaning off the dining room table meant putting away his meds (and since he's a transplant patient that involves a 30 gallon rubbermade tote), throwing away some trash, and totally reorganizing his workshop. It also incidentally involved picking up a table from facebook marketplace and moving my plants, which has now involved moving my former plant rack outside (moving buckets, finding and organizing planters and gardening tools) and taking the former table to the thrift store (not done yet) and cleaning the rug that was under the former table. So "either the table is clean, or it isn't" isn't really true for us.

HOWEVER "hang on we can't eat until the table is clear so let's drive to Pico Rivera to get that console table right now" isn't a workable plan, so you create dumpzones as areas of holding between the start and the finish of the chore.

A dump zone can be a laundry basket. It can be a craft bin. It can be a back room or under your bed. It is a place to put things that you are going to deal with later because if you deal with them now it is going to derail the thing you are actually trying to do, which is set the table for dinner.

Dump zones are vital to cleaning with ADHD and I recommend them for day-to-day cleaning as well. The day-to-day dump zones might be more for you than for your boyfriend. For instance, Large Bastard works with bullets and he sheds bullets all over the house. I used to get stressed when I found bullets when I was cleaning because are these work bullets? Are these recreational bullets? Are they in testing? Do they need to be pulled? Do they go in the workshop or the office or the garage or does he need these today so they have to stay on the counter? And the answer now is "that's not my problem naughty bullets go in the jar." Which is perfectly sensible because he gets to say "mystery yarn goes in the bin" and "art supplies go in the bucket."

I feel helpless when cleaning a lot of the time. I'm frustrated and lost and I don't know where stuff goes and everything I pick up spins off into three projects in my head and every step feels like a wall to scale. Dump zones help me with that when there's pressure or a reason for cleaning beyond day to day home maintenance. People are coming over? The bedroom is a dump zone, I'll deal with that later. I'm just cleaning up because I need to? Okay I can find a permanent home for this new dish soap.

AS A VERY IMPORTANT COROLLARY TO THIS:

Active projects do not go in dump zones while you or your partner are cleaning. This may mean designating a project sanctuary area like a corner of the table or one particular chair in your main room where a project can be placed so as not to be disturbed. (if my current crochet project ends up in the yarn bin, that may mean that I don't pick the project up for another three months, it lives on the windowsill behind the couch because that's where it'll get worked on)

Do not put things away for your partner, put them in the dump zone for your partner. Your partner has to be the one to put their own stuff away in a way that works for them. I tend to find that this naturally puts a limit on the time stuff sits in the dump zone, because eventually you'll go "hey where's my thing?" and will put stuff away. If that doesn't happen, it's still generally better to have stuff in a dump zone than all over the home.

Do not decide you know what things go together from your partner's stuff and try to "put like things together." The neurotypical urge to put like things together is the mindkiller(j/k). You do not know which things are "similar" in your partner's organization schema and attempting to organize things on your own is going to end up with all of the things "organized" being functionally lost forever from your partner's perspective. Large Bastard's mom would do this and it was infuriating, she'd say "oh I put all the electronics stuff in one box" and she would mean soldering irons, transistors, ham radios, HDMI cables, and cellphone chargers. We are *still* going through boxes of stuff that she "tidied up" when he was hospitalized in 2020 and 2021.

To prevent the need for quite so many dump zones over time, you can work on setting up landing zones and "homes" for projects and tools.

Landing Zones

Landing zones are places where things go when you come inside from doing various things. Sometimes your landing zone only needs to be a tray for your wallet and keys, sometimes your landing zone needs to be a place to take off muddy boots and put a trowel and gloves down before you shower.

To make an effective landing zone, consider what behaviors you're trying to minimize and whether the people using it are ACTUALLY going to use it. For instance I was tired of the corner of my hearth getting cluttered with random junk so I hung up some hooks and put a shelf and a basket there and it became a really effective landing zone for my bag and keys and the mail, but it was VERY ineffective for Large Bastard because it's by a door that isn't the primary door he uses to enter the house. As a result I always know where my keys and bag are but he has trouble finding his keys and wallet. He tends to enter the house through our bedroom and has an overloaded valet next to the door and that's usually where his wallet ends up. Mounting a shelf to the wall above the valet and putting a basket and a hook on it will be a better place for his stuff to land. It's not that he's not using the first zone because he doesn't know that it's there, or because he doesn't care about lost time when I'm searching for my car keys after he borrows them, he's not using it because it's not by the door he uses. That's all.

I have a landing space for when I come in for gardening that's different than the one when I come in from grocery shopping. I have a landing space for when I walk into the dining room instead of the kitchen when I get home.

Landing spaces prevent stuff from piling up all over the place because they are a limited functional space that should be used frequently. Mail ONLY goes in the landing zone. If you have mystery mail or if you're not sure it's safe to toss, you put it in the landing zone. You can't let the mail get piled up too high or you won't have a space for your keys. You can't let the change in your wallet tray get too deep or your wallet is going to slide off, etc., but you also don't just put change on the coffee table or your nightstand because the landing zone is right there.

Homes for items are just what they sound like. They're the place the item goes. It lives there. My meds live on my nightstand. You would not believe how poorly I did with taking my meds on my vacation because they weren't on my nightstand. A while back large bastard lost one of his sets of sorted meds and we tore the house up looking for them because he couldn't find them in his nightstand, which is where they live. *I* found them in his nightstand because I emptied out the entire top drawer (he had only looked on the top layer) and found them underneath a radio and a hammock. Even though they were *hidden* they were in their home, so they were findable. I recently needed ink for an art class. Art supplies live in a dresser by my desk. Ink lives in the art bin or the top left drawer. The ink was not in either of these places (it was on a cabinet in the dining room behind a teacup) so it took me weeks to find it.

Sometimes the reason that ADHD spaces are so messy is because objects have been assigned homes in places that are visible and if they get moved they get lost. This is a genuinely difficult problem that requires a lot of effort to solve and can involve a lot of trial and error for creating a tidy living space. For some people, open shelving and visible storage might be a good solution. For some people, assigning a VERY clear home and inculcating that location by habit is the only way to clean up a space. For some people one very cluttered corner to at least isolate the chaos does the trick (for me and large bastard open shelving doesn't work because anything in one place for too long becomes invisible; that means that I rely on assigning things homes and large bastard relies on having contained chaos and a general idea of where to search but what that DOES NOT mean is that he is clean or tidy. His spaces look like an explosion. But he can mostly find his stuff and do what he needs to do and as long as that's limited to specific places in shared spaces I can live with it; the dining room table can be a disaster, the kitchen cannot).

People organize things differently. It often takes a while for neurotypical adults to settle into an organizational style that works for them and ADHD adults may need to settle into a new system every few months for it to continue working. The cleanup and declutter is most likely going to be a permanent project that is always going to demand some level of attention from everyone in a shared space, but "my ADHD means I can't do it" is not really going to fly. Maybe his ADHD means that he can't keep his space tidy, but it doesn't mean you can't move stuff from shared spaces into dump zones or that he can't do stuff around the house.

If he's insisting that his ADHD means that he can't clean it is possible that he's not being a shithead, he just feels helpless and doesn't know where to start and has adopted the belief that he's a useless piece of shit who can't even keep a tidy space like a grownup because he's internalized a lot of shitty attitudes (hello, my internal monologue about keeping a clean house). But it's also possible that he's just being a shithead.

It's something that's worthwhile to investigate with him. If he's unwilling to make an attempt, then he's being a shithead.

It is also not your responsibility to rehabilitate another person. If he wants to clean and it's something he feels bad about and needs some help and support with the way that someone might need help or support for learning to use a mobility aid, that is fine but you don't have to be the one who gives him that support if it's detrimental to your health, and you don't have to be the one to teach him that stuff if it's not something you're capable of. And if he is NOT interested in working on making your shared living space more accessible for you, that is not your suitcase to unpack and you just have to ask yourself the question from the start: would I stay with this person if I knew the situation was never going to change?

IDK, I'm sure a lot of this reads like "anon you must take on the emotional labor of training your partner to be an adult" but it's really meant to be more of a way of assessing yourself and your relationship. If you created landing zones do you think he'd use them? Would he get angry if you assigned a laundry basket as a dump zone for his stuff while you tidy the living room? Is living with him long-term going to be comfortable for you if nothing changes? Do you have enough of a shared definition of "mess" that you're at least in the ballpark for what counts as a clean house?

anyway good luck, and a reminder to folks that I'm compiling a bunch of adhd resources and other information on my personal website, ms-demeanor.com. It's coming along slowly but it will eventually include stuff like ADHD cleaning tips and how to tackle a hoard, so maybe keep your eye on that space.

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canisalbus · 1 month ago

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oh dear. I think I can understand feeling lost in and disconnected from your own body, even if it isn't quite the same as what you're dealing with.

it's a difficult thing to try and get back to yourself, with or without help. I wish I had good advice to offer, but I can only speak from my own experience, so take anything I say with a grain of salt.

take your time. slow down if you're rushing things, don't hurry to be who you were. don't idolize your past self. there isn't really a "snapping out of it", but you can rebuild, and you can find yourself again, changed or not.

if you're living in routine, break it a little bit sometimes. do things you like, or think you might like, when you can. try something new - a show, a drawing technique, a genre of music - and take a moment to really examine how it makes you feel, how it feels to do. spend time in the sun for as long as you can stand it. try to ground yourself. remembering you are alive, that you're a person, is tough. but it's possible.

healing always takes longer than you think it will, and you can't hurry it in any way. try to focus on other things, rather than how much you aren't "yourself", and remember it's okay if you never reach what you think you used to be. you can step back for however long you need to, it won't keep you from stepping forward in the future.

i hope you feel better soon, and sickness stays away.

That's such a thoughtful response, thank you for taking the time to send it! It's genuinely really relieving when someone listens and actually understands the weird, vague issue you're dealing with, you've made me feel significantly less alone and lost.

Part of what has been making me so uneasy lately is how I can't put together the words to adequately explain to anyone else why I feel so deeply out of sorts nowadays, like, what exactly is the problem here. My body is feeling better but it's like I've lost a good handful of braincells in the process and forgot how to be alive. Opening up about dissociation issues is tricky in itself because you start to sound irrational very fast, and most people can't really relate or understand what you're trying to say, even if they wanted to take you seriously.

I really appreciate your sane and sensible advice, the entire fouth paragraph sounds like practical, low-stakes stuff that could help, and I'm going to give it a try.

#answered #anonymous #it's all in my head yes but that's not a great place for a problem to be #I keep my entire personhood there

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yasministration · 5 months ago

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Hii, I’ve read some of your poly!marauders stuff and I’m in love 😭

I was wondering if you could do one with an Irish reader who has a strong Dublin accent ( spoiler alert I’m from there) and the lads just have an awful time understanding her? If not totally ok 😭

a/n: genuinely sorry this is so short but this was all the creative juices could muster and i actually really like it like this on its own... hope it brings you justice!!

Remus blinked once in surprise, reaction more subtle than Sirius’s, with his wide grin, sinking back into the couch as he bit back a laugh. “What?” James tugged you by the waist, pulling you close to him until you fell into his lap, wrapping your arms over his shoulders. James pressed a kiss to your cheek, and he mumbled “Nothing, sweetheart.”

“Yeah, nothing. Except, could you repeat that?” You furrowed your eyebrows at Sirius’s question, watching him chew on his nail nervously, eyebrows raised at you. Remus wrapped an arm around Sirius’s shoulders, looking at you with a guilty smile as he clarified “It’s a little difficult to understand you when you speak so… passionately.” You huffed disappointedly, shoulders slumping slightly. You'd only been complaining about the cold weather, and how you nearly froze to death during care of magical creatures, but it was still frustrating that they'd missed the important rant. “Hey, don’t look like that,” James started, a hand on your jaw gently turning your face towards him. “I’m really into your accent.” You scoffed in amusement, rolling your eyes in an exaggerated manner.

“Yeah yeah, me too!” Announced Sirius, straightening up again, “Especially when you say that one line from Derry Girls!” You and Sirius stared at each other silently for a moment, the hopeful expression on Sirius’s face slowly dropping from his face as he realised you weren’t going to recite it for him.

Sirius crossed him arms, muttering under his breath “Well I’m sorry Claire, I’m just not interested in you, not like that” with the best accent he could muster. The attempt had you cringing, reaching behind James to fish out a pillow which you were quickly tossing at Sirius across the common room.

#rainydayathogwarts #rainydayathogwarts inbox #harry potter #hogwarts #marauders era #the marauders #marauders fluff #marauders x reader #maraders era #poly!marauders x reader #poly!marauders #poly!marauders x you #poly!marauders fluff

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t1track · 8 days ago

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heyyy ☺️ was just wondering if u'd wanna write for OPLA Sanji. I'm thinking something about reader being oblivious about his advances (the classic "oh but he's nice to every woman" stuff) and him desperately trying to make reader understand that he's into her lol. idk if that's a good scenario, but honestly write anything about him, I'll eat it up.

Hey there 🏴‍☠️ My first request, omg! I'm so excited, I saw the notif and RAN to my notes app to begin writing. Thank you so much! Honestly, anything about OPLA Sanji >>>>>>

I aimed for the slow burn side. I hope you enjoy it. 🤍

You could never remember what it was like before Sanji came along. Or before the whole Straw Hat crew. You were always together in every journey, every crazy adventure Luffy would put everyone through. And for some reason, for some extremely weird reason, everything seemed way less scary but full of adrenaline with Sanji.

You just loved seeing Sanji being, well, Sanji. It was always in the details. To expect the unexpected because, honestly, that man has always been full of surprises. You just didn't realize how much of those surprises were aimed exclusively at you when it came to romance in general. You always laughed when Zoro would make jokes, calling everyone aboard "madam" at the end of every sentence, making fun of the way Sanji approached your table when you first met at the Baratie. Or when Nami would roll her eyes, calling him a "simp" after almost breaking his neck to look at other women while everyone was extremely busy trying to complete their tasks.

You just couldn't remember noticing when it all started to get different. Your favorite meals almost always on the table. And for you? Obviously, extra portions. "He just loves cooking, and he's so good at making people happy with food!" You would think when eating and making eye contact with him. He would already be looking at you. Way more than you could ever notice. Because you never did!

He was constantly there, in the corner of your eye. When the Going Merry docked in different ports, everyone loved to go out and explore before or in between tasks. You would find Sanji at every turn or even behind you. Maybe it was a coincidence. Surely it was! You were smelling all the spices the island had to offer. He's a chef. Where else would he be?

When walking down alleys at night, ready to go to your quarters for the night, you would fear something would happen as a bunch of creepy stared at you. Until they didn't anymore, and every time Sanji was there. Yes, sure, the whole Straw Hat crew always shared the same rest location.

It's almost as if you missed all the subtle but not-so-subtle cues to the point where even Usopp started giving you weird looks and being extremely direct when you didn't pick up Sanji's flirty advances.

"What, Usopp?" You asked right after Sanji put your favorite dessert in front of you, his gaze lingering on your face as you took a huge bite.

Usopp leaned in, lowering his voice, though not enough to escape Sanji's sharp ears. "You know, I always asked Sanji to make me this giant grilled fish, and he always came up with excuses about missing ingredients or bad fishing days. But you?" He gestured at your dessert. "You asked him yesterday for one of the most difficult desserts to ever exist, and he's got it ready for you! Do you even know what he went through for that?"

You could barely take your eyes off the dessert. "Maybe it was easier because we had the ingredients?" You said, grabbing a napkin.

Usopp scoffed, throwing his hands up in exasperation. "What do you mean? Didn't he tell you? He spent the whole night after the ingredients so he could have it ready for you!" He shook his head slowly. "You are really clueless, huh?"

You blinked, genuinely surprised. "Oh yeah, right! Sanji is just a really nice friend and a way better chef who's just looking after his mates." Sanji's beaming smile faltered, replaced by a strained tightness around his mouth when the word "friend" left your mouth.

He quickly turned to busy himself with a pot on the stove.

Usopp groaned, throwing his head back dramatically. "Right. 'Friends.' You keep telling yourself that. Just friends." He mumbled loud enough for everyone but you to clearly hear, "I swear, one of these days, I'm going to knock some sense into both of them!"

He left, and your self-doubt started to get the best of you. "He's Sanji. He could have anyone. I'm just a friend!" Your mind was spiraling at this point, and you felt like the dessert was ready to make its way back up instead of settling in your stomach. You stared at Sanji. You needed air. You stood up so fast that you almost fell down, but you didn't have time to even think. You walked so fast to the bow of the ship that when the fall breeze hugged you in, you could feel nothing was ever a coincidence.

Scaring people away? His protective presence during your supposed 'alone time'?Favorite food with extra portions? Picking a fight with a rando just because they looked at you differently? The subtle touches/brushing your hands or arms when you weren't even so close? It clicked. This wasn't just Sanji being Sanji. This was Sanji being Sanji for you.

A strange warmth spread through your chest, mixing with the sudden chill of the sea air. All those moments, dismissed as friendship or his general chivalry, now throbbed with a different kind of meaning. The familiar comfort you'd always felt around him, the adrenaline. None of it seemed like a coincidence anymore. Your cheeks flushed, not from the cold but from a sudden, crushing wave of embarrassment at your own obliviousness.

You wrapped your arms around yourself as you leaned against the edge of the ship, still staring out at the endless expanse of the ocean. "How could I have been so blind?" you whispered, the words barely audible over the wind. Your mind raced through every interaction. He was always there for you.

A shadow fell over you, and the scent of cigarettes and sweet spices wafted gently into the sea air. "Everything alright, darling?" Sanji's voice, usually so booming with compliments, was soft, laced with a genuine concern you'd never truly heard before. He was holding a steaming mug. "You ran off so fast. Figured you might need something warm out here."

He extended the mug, his fingers brushing yours as you took it. His touch, once dismissed as accidental, now sent a jolt straight up your arm, and you pulled your hand back almost instantly, clutching the warm ceramic. You risked a glance at his face. His usual swirling eyebrow was furrowed with a gentle worry directed solely at you. His eyes, though slightly shadowed by the ship's lanterns, were impossibly sincere. Now you realize it. He has always been looking into your soul, and for the first time, you saw him. Not just the dazzling cook, the perverted womanizer, or the (over)protective friend. You saw the careful devotion in his gaze, the quiet concern in his posture, the vulnerability hidden beneath his usual bluster. He wasn't just offering you a warm drink. He was offering you his genuine self.

You swallowed, your throat suddenly dry, the sweet dessert forgotten. A new, unfamiliar warmth grew in your chest, one that felt entirely different from the ease you'd felt before. It was a warmth that brought with it a thrilling, yet terrifying, sense of discovery.

"Thank you, Sanji," you managed to whisper barely. You met his gaze like you meant it for a long moment. His eyes, usually dancing with nonchalant flirtation, held a deep, unwavering intensity directed at you.

His left hand slowly lifted. Your breath caught. His fingers, surprisingly gentle yet firm, cupped the side of your neck, his thumb caressing the sensitive skin just below your ear. The soft brush sent shivers down your spine, and your eyes fluttered closed for a second. The chill sea breeze couldn't contain a single flame of this moment, of this new sensation.

He leaned in slowly, giving you every opportunity to pull away. But you couldn't. You wouldn't. The scent of his cologne, of cigarettes, and something distinctly him enveloped you. His gaze dropped to your lips, and then, soft but undeniably firm, his mouth was on yours.

It wasn't the awkward peck of a nervous boy nor the aggressive claiming of a dominant man. It was a kiss that tasted of sweetness and sea salt, of unspoken yearning and dawning understanding. It was a question, an answer, and a promise all at once. His hand tightened, pulling you just that fraction closer until there was no space left between your bodies, only the dizzying realization that this was real.

And in that moment, a new journey truly began.

#sanji #sanji x reader #one piece #one piece x reader #monkey d luffy #usopp #nami #roronoa zoro #one piece sanji #strawhats #slow burn #fanfic #vinsmoke sanji #straw hat pirates

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a-hazbin-reader · 1 year ago

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Hey did you get my ask/request of Alastor and Wife!reader having an argument and Alastor says something horrible to her leaving him to have to make up for it?

I did, I just have a lot of stuff in my inbox

Alastor X Reader Headcanons

✅️Romantic

❌️Platonic

TW: Alastor being in the DOGHOUSE

Description: ☝️⬆️

Alastor doesn't mind fighting, likes to bicker with and irritate those around him as some strange show of dominance

But his wife is an exception, he hates fighting with his wife and goes to great lengths to avoid it

Despite his efforts, you two do still fight from time to time and he hates it, he tries so hard to reign in that cruel part of him

He doesn't really even remember what started the fight, probably something dangerous he did that upset you

Something like the Adam stunt

And he probably tried to brush it off, his pride not letting him admit that your fears were warranted

You were understandably getting worked up over his dismissal, and he was getting irritated that you wouldn't just drop it

Everyone else in the hotel had scattered and hidden the moment you two started to uncharacteristically raise your voices at each other

Angel had to grab Niffy to stop her from watching the entire argument play out

He just doesn't want to scare you with the idea of losing him, he wants to be your strong, invincible husband

It makes him uncomfortable that you see beyond the powerful overlord demon and instead zero in on the man beneath it all

"Darling, I would understand your fears if I hadn't come back to you in one piece, but I'm here. With you. Perfectly fine."

You could rip your hair out due to frustration, almost in tears, how could he not understand how you felt?

"Alastor! That's not the point! You can't be so reckless! It's not just you that you have to worry about anymore! You have a wife! You have to live and be safe for me!"

He fears a pang of anger over being told what to do, rage and irritation over the unintentional reminder of his failure to win

Which makes his mind wander to his deal, his fucking leash

The words are out of his mouth before he even realizes what he's saying

"If I knew that everything I do had to be approved by you then, I would've rethought this whole marriage ordeal."

Alastor regrets the words as soon as they leave his mouth, his ears folding back at the sight of your hurt expression

Your eyes have tears in them but you're doing your best to hold them in, turning on your heel to leave the room

"Wait-Darling, I didn't-"

"Just...give me some space, Alastor."

He regrets it so much, watching you walk away from him when he should be begging for forgiveness

He hates seeing you so upset but he hates being the reason for it even more

Alastor tries to give you the space you asked for, but it's difficult when all he wants to do is make up with you already

But he also doesn't want to actually talk about what happened

So he breaks fairly easily when he sees you again, coming up behind you and hugging you

Only to be shrugged off when he goes for a small kiss, left with a sinking feeling in his stomach

"I said to give me space, I'm not ready to talk to you yet."

Normally, Alastor loves it when you're cruel and cold, finds it a little hot, but when it's aimed at him? He hates it so fucking much

Literally looks like a kicked puppy when you walk away from him again, Charlie and Vaggie looking at anything but him

"You know what, Charlie? I do see that crack in the wall!"

He tries again later, sitting next to you and trying to wrap an arm around your shoulders while the radio bursts to life with a love song

Only to be rewarded with an ill hidden sniffle and you immediately getting up to walk away from him

"If you're not going to apologize and have a genuine conversation with me then don't even bother."

It's driving Alastor crazy not being able to be with you, to not be able to properly make up with you

But he still doesn't want to admit he messed up or have that uncomfortable conversation with you

So he tries lavish gifts and other romantic gestures that all get rejected or given to Niffty to do whatever she wants with them

"Yay!! I'm going to poison these and give them to the mother bugs!!"

Okay...maybe Angel should have these...

Alastor is starting to understand that he can't just gloss over this one

He understands it a little more later that night when you go to bed without him, and he's left too nervous to follow after you

Several hours into the night, the guilt eats at him and he breaks, sneaking into the bedroom

You're awake, your eyes red rimmed from crying but you manage to give him a glare before turning your back to him

"Darling, I believe I owe you an apology..."

The way your tense body relaxes is all he needs, crawling into bed with you and pulling you to his chest

It's a difficult pill for him to swallow, so it's easier for him to have these conversations with you like this

He doesn't want you to see his weakness even when he's laying it out for you

Luckily, Alastor is good with his words and you're willing to listen now that an apology is on the table

It's a long conversation that leaves you both sleepless and emotional in each other's arms

But things are settled and Alastor is forgiven, happy to be back in your good graces

He tried to be strong and hold himself back, he really did... but being without the warmth of your love was torture for him

It was a rough couple of hours for him

HA WHIPPED

"Angel, shut the fuck up before you get yourself killed!"

He's extra clingy and romantic with you for DAYS afterwards, making everyone else at the hotel practically nauseous

Except for Charlie, of course, she loves it

He's just so relieved that you've forgiven him, still disgusted with himself for even saying what he said

Asks you for yet another kiss that morning before Husk finally walks away, annoyed by Alastor's neediness

You don't mind your husband's clingy antics, enjoying the extra attention he's giving you

You should get mad at him more often

#hazbin hotel x reader #alastor hazbin hotel x reader #alastor hazbin x reader #alastor x reader #hazbin x reader

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c0rpseductor · 2 years ago

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it’s so frustrating like i don’t mind depiction of incest i genuinely think more work out there needs to exist about incest bc it is such a deeply isolating experience and bc so many people feel alone and afraid to speak and cannot imagine having lives going forward and are crushed by all of it. there is so so so so much value in having fictional stories about processing it and real accounts and memoirs and open discussion and all that stuff. it is genuinely beyond important that incestuous abuse no longer be relegated to the darkness of secrecy simply because it makes people uncomfortable bc people living with the hell that is incest trauma deserve better than to be forced into isolation and silence. i will always ALWAYS advocate for these topics being discussed frankly. people go decades thinking it is their fault and that they are alone. it’s horrifying the way people who have lived through this become an afterthought and that needs to end.

so like i said like. it frustrates me, then, that the current discussion (where there is one) feels so weighted toward an exploitative and voyeuristic view and where cultural output about incestuous abuse is often like really offensive and clearly framed as being titillating and/or shock value. people joke freely about it in ways that are incredibly denigrating to survivors, there is still a culture of victim blaming and this idea of mutual deviance or dirtiness that makes it extremely difficult to come forward for fear of being not only blamed but fucking castigated for your own sexual abuse, you risk setting off a nuclear bomb in your already fucked up family, people don’t understand you. all the while there’s this air of fucking flippancy, and if you criticize that you’re a prude or a puritan or whatever the fuck else.

like, i get it. i can’t tell people what to do, what to like, how to process their own trauma. but treating it like a joke is not acceptable under any circumstances and that shit is fucking vile. be fucking respectful, be conscientious, you actually do owe it to the people around you and one day you will undoubtedly face social consequences if you continue to be cruel and thoughtless. it’s not even the writing at this point that makes me angry so much as the culture surrounding it where it’s so deeply fictionalized that incest itself gets turned into some sort of little game for people. i just saw people tagging an excerpt from the incest diary, a real human being’s memoir of abuse, with their ships. frankly if hell is real that’s where that kind of ghoulish behavior ought to send you. it disgusts me that i have to rant and rave and beg on my knees for scraps of human decency for myself and my fellow survivors who cannot or will not open themselves to this kind of Sisyphean debasement.

#and by the way if you do not like that i am angry: fuck you.

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16wolke11 · 4 months ago

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CYNOSURE - Max Verstappen

A/N Pure fluff

CYNOSURE: Being the one in the focus of someone's admiration

WORDS: 1542

__________

Sitting on the couch, sniffling occasionally, wasn't how I wanted my Friday evening to be. Or like I want any day of the week to be. But here I am, sitting wrapped in a blanket while I stare at the wall, trying to push back the negative feelings. Max is in the bathroom, showering after his training, and I try to keep myself from crying until he's back.

I'm not really successful at this, because just when I brush away the tear stains, I hear footsteps approaching the living room. Usually, I would look up, smile at him, and invite him to cuddle, but I can't bring myself to force a smile or even look at him without feeling like I need to cry and bury my head in his chest.

"Hey, what's going on?" Max asks, coming closer. He crouches down in front of me, trying to catch my gaze. "You've seemed quiet all day." He mumbles, his fingers softly brushing over my knee, and I bring myself to look at him. I can see the genuine concern in his eyes, and I hate to worry him.

"It's just work stuff, you know? Nothing I can't handle, but... I don't know. It's like I'm always giving more than I get back from it." I tell him, trying to explain the situation in a way he'll understand. Work has always had its difficult times, but recently it doesn't feel like my effort is being appreciated there.

"That sounds frustrating." Max comments and sighs, before sitting down on the couch beside me and wrapping an arm around my shoulder to pull me into his chest. I don't fight against his touch; I just slump against his body and let him hold me.

"I hate seeing you like this," he mutters, his hand brushing over my back, something he always does—a movement to brush away the bad feelings, as he told me once. Since then, it's oddly comforting.

"I just feel drained, Max, and like no one really gets it." I continue my explanation. When I addressed my concerns to one of the lower bosses, they just brushed it off, telling me I shouldn't whine so much because everyone manages their work, and I should just try to figure out better time management. Unfortunately, they seem to forget that I'm currently covering for a pregnant co-worker, and sometimes both tasks are just too much.

"I do get it. You give so much to everyone around you, but sometimes you need something for yourself." Max pretty much sums up the situation, and as comforting as that should be, it just frustrates me even more.

"I know you're just trying to help, but I think I need some space," I sigh, knowing that Max will understand. Usually, he tends to discuss everything and likes to have a word in it, but when I ask him for space, he usually gives in pretty quickly. As expected, Max hesitates, and I want to reassure him that it's really okay for him to leave for a while and leave me alone with my thoughts. But then he unwraps his arms from my body and stands up.

"Fine, but I'll be back in a little bit. Don't disappear," Max says with a rather mischievous smile on his lips. I sit up straight, almost wanting to stop him from leaving, but Max is already in the hallway, rummaging for his shoes.

"What are you up to?" I ask him, and there's silence for a moment like he's debating with himself whether or not he wants to tell me.

"It's a secret," Max pops his head through the door, the smile still plastered on his lips, and now I can't help but laugh softly.

"Don't get lost," I tell him, feeling lighter, already in a better mood than before, and I get a wave from Max in return before he leaves the apartment.

The silence isn't as comforting as I'd hoped it would be, and I wish I hadn't sent Max away. But now he's on a "secret mission," and I'll have to wait until he's back. At first, I wanted to stay seated on the couch, exactly where he left me, but I got restless. I wander around the apartment, picking up clutter, take out the trash, and clean up the kitchen.

By then, my mind feels at ease, probably taken over by tiredness, and I slump back on the couch. Maybe a little nap would be good to pass the time until Max gets back? I wrap the blanket around me, sigh softly, and close my eyes. Just a little break for my eyes, I tell myself, before drifting into a comforting sleep.

It's the rustling of some keys that wakes me up again. I yawn softly and blink a couple of times until I realize that Max is back. Looking at the door to the living room, I wait for him and offer him a smile when he appears in the doorway.

"Hi," I greet him, stretching my arms out, trying to wake my body up from being cuddled on the couch since he left. Max is carrying a small bag with a subtle beige tone, not giving away what he might've brought back from his little trip.

"Didn't disappear, I see," Max tells me with a soft smile on his lips and comes into the living room.

"Nope, stayed here like I was told to," I say, and he leans down to kiss me. I kiss him back, but he doesn't let me deepen the kiss, only pecking my lips a couple of more times before standing up straight again.

"I thought this might help," Max presents the bag to me and hands it over, then slumps down beside me. Curiously, I look into the bag and spot a small box inside, still without a logo or anything that tells me what he organized in that short time.

"What is it?" I ask him, tilting my head while grabbing the small box from the bag. It's light, and when I shake it, there's a soft rattling sound. By now, I'm pretty sure he got me some jewellery, but it could still be anything from a bracelet to earrings, a necklace, or even a couple of rings.

"Open it up," he insists, and I follow. I carefully open the box, only to reveal some earrings. My eyes widen when I realize these are the ones I've been eyeing for weeks now. I've always placed them back because I decided I had enough earrings at home already, but at the same time, I always looked at them again every time I entered the shop or saw an ad online for them.

"Max... you didn't have to," I whisper and look up to him, only to see his gaze full of admiration.

"I didn't ask for anything," I say, feeling the need to clarify that just because I'm in a bad mood doesn't mean he has to get me something to make up for it—especially not when he isn't even the reason for my not-so-ideal emotions.

"I know, but you had a rough day, and this is something that makes you smile." Max explains, and I lean my head against his shoulder, searching for his touch while my eyes wander back to the earrings. They aren't extravagant, but they still have something that catches my interest.

"How did you know I wanted these?" I ask Max after we sit there in silence for a few moments. I know I love these earrings, but how did Max pick exactly this pair in such a short time? I don't remember if I ever told him I liked them because usually, Max has a habit of just buying me everything I like. This led to some fights at the beginning of our relationship, but by now, we've figured out a good balance—me not telling him everything I like and him simply not buying all of it at first glance.

"I pay attention," he grins, and I realize he often strolls along during my shopping, and even though I wasn't aware of it, he's probably seen me eye these earrings multiple times. Just when I want to say something, Max adds another thing.

"And there might be a food delivery on its way."

"I love you," I sigh and wrap my arms around his torso. On days like this, it feels like this relationship is more of a dream than reality, but Max always tries to remind me that everything he does isn't just an imaginary thing.

"I love you too," Max whispers and presses a soft kiss on the top of my head, his hand roaming over my back like he's brushing away all the bad things with every soft stroke.

"Thank you, Max, you really do make everything better," I tell him, something I should remind him of more often. As bad as a situation might be, Max always finds a way to make it better again.

"Just glad when I can help." He pulls me closer, nuzzles his head against mine, and we stay cuddled like this until the food delivery comes to make the evening even more cozy.

#f1 fic #f1 imagine #f1 x reader #f1 fluff #max verstappen #max verstappen x reader #max verstappen fluff #f1 one shot #f1 fanfic #formula 1 fanfic

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wombywoo · 2 years ago

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Ok! I've finally decided to put together a (somewhat) comprehensive tutorial on my latest art~

Please enjoy this little step-by-step 💁‍♀️

First things first--references!

Now I'm not saying you have to go overboard, but I always find that this is a crucial starting point in any art piece I intend on making. Especially if you're a detail freak like me and want to make it as realistic as possible 🙃

As such, your web browser should look like this at any given point:

Since this is a historical piece, it means hours upon hours of meaningless research just to see what color the socks are, but...again. that isn't, strictly, necessary 😅

Once I've compiled all my lovely ref pics, I usually dump them into a big-ass collage ⬇️

(I will end up not using half of these, alas :'D)

Another reference search for background material, and getting to showcase our models of choice for this occasion~

When picking a reference for an actor or model, the main thing I keep in mind (besides prettiness 🤭) is lighting and orientation. Because I already kinda know what pose I'm gonna go with for this piece, I can look for specific angles that might fit the criteria. I should mention that I am a reference hound, and my current COD actor ref folder looks like this:

Also keep in mind, if you're using a ref that you need to flip, make sure you adjust accordingly. This especially applies to clothing, as certain things like pants zippers and belt buckles can be quite specific ☝️

Now that we've spent countless hours googling, it's time to start with a rough sketch:

It doesn't have to be pretty, folks, just a basic guideline of where you want the figures to be.

The next step is to define it more, and I know this looks like that 'how to draw an owl' meme, but I promise--getting from the loose sketch above to below is not that difficult.

Things to keep in mind are--don't go too in-depth with the details, because things are still subject to change at this point. In terms of making a suitable anatomically-correct sketch, I would suggest lots of studying. This doesn't even have to be things like figure drawing, I genuinely look at people around me for inspiration all the time. Familiarize yourself with the human form, and things like weight, proportions, posing will seem a little more feasible.

It's also important at this stage to consider your composition. Remember to flip the canvas frequently to make sure you're not leaning to one side too often. I'm sure something can be said for the spiral fibonacci stuff, which I don't really try to do on purpose, but I think keeping things like symmetry and balance in mind is a good start ✌️

Next step is just blocking in the figures. Standard. No fuss 👍

Now onto the background!

It's frankly hilarious how many people thought I was *hand-drawing* these maps and stuff 😂😂 I cannot even begin to comprehend how insanely difficult that would be. So yeah, we're just taking the lazy copy and paste way out 🤙

I almost always prepare my backgrounds first, and this is mostly to get a general color scheme off the bat. For collage work, it's really just a matter of trial and error, sticking this here, slapping this there, etc. I like to futz around with different overlay options until I've found a nice arrangement. Advice for this is just--go nuts 🤷‍♀️

Next, I add a few color adjustments. I tend to make at least 2 colors pop in an art piece, and low and behold, they usually tend to be red and blue ❤️💙There's something about warm/cool vibes, idk man..

Now we move on to coloring the figures. This is just a basic block and fill, not really defining any of the details yet.

Next, we add some cursory values. Sloppy airbrush works fine, it'll look better soon I promise 🙏

And now--rendering!

I know a lot of beginner artists are intimidated by rendering, and I can totally understand why. It's just one of those things you have to commit to 💪

I've decided to show a brief process of rendering our dear Johnny's face here:

Starting off, I usually rely on the trusty airbrush just to get some color values going. Note--I've kept my sketch layer on top, but feel free to turn it on and off as you work, so as to not be too bound to the sketch. For now, it's just a guideline.

This next stage may look like a huge jump, but it's really just adding more to the foundation. I try to think of it like putting on make-up in a way~ Adding contours, accentuating highlights. This is also where I start adding in more saturation, especially around areas such as ears, nose and lips. Still a bit fuzzy at this point, but that's why we keep adding to it 💪

A boy has appeared! See--now I've removed most of the line layer, and it holds up on its own. I'll admit that in order to achieve this realistic style, you'll need lots and lots of practice and skill, which shouldn't be discouraging! Just motivate yourself with the prospect of getting to look at pretty men for countless hours 🙆‍♀️

I'll probably do a more in-depth explanation about rendering at some point, but let's keep this rolling~

Moving forward is just a process of adding to the figures bit by bit. I do lean towards filling in each section from top to bottom, but you can feel free to pop around to certain parts that appeal to you more. I almost always do the faces first though, because if they end up sucking, I feel less guilty about scrapping it 😂 But no--I think he's pretty enough to proceed 😚

They're coming together now 🙆‍♀️ Another helpful tip--make sure you reuse color. By that, I mean--try to incorporate various colors throughout your piece, using the eyedropper tool to keep a consistent palette. I try to put in bits of red and blue where I can

Here they are fully rendered! Notice I've made a few subtle changes from the sketch, like adjusting the belt buckles because I made a mistake 😬 Hence why you shouldn't put too much stock in your initial sketch~

The next step is more of a stylistic choice, but I usually go over everything with an outline, typically in a bright color like green. Occasionally, I can just use my initial line layer, but for this, I've made a brand new, cleaner line 👍

And the final step is adjusting the color and adding some text:

Tada!! It's done!

All in all, this took me the better part of a week, but I have a lot of free time, so yeah ✌️

I hope you appreciated that little walkthrough~ I know people have been asking me how I do my art, but the truth is--I usually have no clue how to explain myself 😅 So have this half-assed tutorial~

As a bonus, here is a cute (cursed) image of Johnny without his mustache:

A baby, a literal infant child !!! who put this wee bairn on the front lines ??! 😭

Anyway! peace out ✌️

#tutorial #my art #art tutorial #since people have been asking #I remembered to save my process from this latest work~#enjoy 🙆‍♀️

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anyacad0 · 6 months ago

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I am a huge high cloud quintet enjoyer so it may surprise you to learn that I absolutely hate the quest “Clouds Leave No Trace”.

let me explain. I will admit that a lot of it stems from my issues with Jingliu as a character. I appreciate that she’s meant to be cold and detached, but what bothers me is that although she says considers herself to be a sinner alongside Yingxing and Dan Feng, she constantly acts like she’s better than them, criticising them, acting as if their choice was an easy one while hers wasn’t. Her humility feels incredibly insincere, and she becomes very difficult to empathise with as a result.

then there’s the quest itself. I split it into three parts.

one: redundant infodumping

For the first part of the quest, Jingliu, Dan Heng and Yanqing travel to different parts of the Luofu so Jingliu can bid farewell to her past home. It’s basically a plot device for her to drop some lore about Yingxing and Baiheng, which is fine on its own, but the problem is, none of the information she gives is new. All of it was stuff we could already figure out from character stories and other in-game text.

the second issue with this part of the quest is Dan Heng’s presence, or rather, lack of it. Considering he’s the main character tying the quintet subplot into the main story, you’d think he’d be important to the quest focussed on them. But he’s just… there. He says and does pretty much nothing. You could cut him from the whole quest and it wouldn’t be any different.

In fact, Dan Heng also suffers greatly from the timing of the quest. If we look at the voice lines for IL, it’s obvious that he’s a snapshot of Dan Heng shortly after this quest, since he knows Blade is the one who made Cloudpiercer. Ichor Of Two Dragons also seems to take place at the end of this quest. This is an issue because both release in version 1.3, making the quest which takes place in version 1.4 feel like a regression in his character development when actually the story was for some reason out of order.

part 2: Dan Feng gets mischaracterised to hell and back

This is the worst part of the quest by far. Jingliu does her self-righteous monologue and nails the coffin shut by giving the most biased description possible of the Sedition.

she first says that Dan Feng was trying to revive Baiheng. Dan Heng’s and Jingliu’s character stories reveal that this is probably not the case, and that his actual goal was to create another high elder,

she also says that the reason Dan Feng did what he did was selfishness and an inability to accept Baiheng’s death. She fails to mention the fact that the Xianzhou treated him like a convenient weapon instead of an actual person, that he hated how many innocent people died in the war between Aeons, that his people were going extinct because of said war, that he hated how he gave the Xianzhou the power to cause so much death, that he had probably attempted less dramatic rebellions in his past lives to no avail, that the high elder succession was incredibly screwed up and he didn’t want to have to pass that burden on to his next incarnation (granted that lasts part’s only implicit). Not to mention that she didn’t actually bear witness to any of the events she described, only the aftermath.

part 3: Blade monologue

This is the only redeeming quality of the entire quest

he acknowledges that Dan Feng and Yingxing weren’t simply upset with Baiheng’s death, but with the unfairness of everything in general

he expresses genuine regret

and the way he looks up to Jingliu after she tortured him is the only time where that story genuinely presents her as someone who’s done terrible things, showing how she managed to break Blade so badly that he feels thankful for it

in conclusion, do not play this quest if you want to actually understand Dan Feng as a character

#hsr #honkai star rail #hsr dan heng #hsr lore #dan feng #high cloud quintet #hsr blade #yingxing

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kurokawaia · 10 months ago

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❛ TOO POLITE ❜

Shinazugawa Sanemi X Fem!Reader

WC; 1.1k+ | !MDNI! | TW/CW; no triggers apart from sanemi being a lil mean >.<, reader is very polite and timid, she doesn't really understand the whole concept yk, she's like innocent.

⋆·˚ ༘ *𝑅𝐸𝒬𝒰𝐸𝒮𝒯 :: (filled request) Could you please do sanemi with s/o where he tries to degrade her and stuff but shes SO polite and just says Like 'sorry' and 'thank you' and obeys every command without question with like EXTREME politeness that its just too difficult to degrade, and its so cute😭 Im curious to see how he'd react. - ANON

m.list | demon slayer m.list

Sanemi had forever been known for his whiplash tongue and his rough character, he had no time for dribble, no use for sissies, and most definitely did not have the time for anything that even smacked of being very soft and very cutesy, very demure, LMA- sorry in the remotest way.

And that was the major reason it dumbfounded him, completely and absolutely, to have ended up with you-a person so soft, so sweet, and endlessly, impeccably polite that he often wanted to bash his head against a wall. Almost.

It had been a very long day, and all he wanted right now was to come home, maybe blow off some steam, and just bag all the tension built up. You were there waiting as he walked through the door with that same soft smile that chipped away at his gruff exterior.

"Welcome home, Sanemi," you smiled, your voice like honey. "How was your day?"

He grunted in response, not in the mood to answer that question with anything more than a noncommittal noise, and tossed his sword on the table with a clatter. He ran a hand through his unruly hair, trying to ignore how your mere presence seemed to make the knots in his shoulders loosen just a bit.

You reached for his haori, folding it carefully and setting it aside. "Dinner will be ready soon. Would you like to wash up first?"

You always were so goddamn considerate, always trying to think ahead, trying to make sure everything was just right for him. It was. maddening in a way. How the hell was it so easy to be nice, so completely put off by his roughness?

"No," he snapped, sitting heavily at the table. "Just hurry up with the damn food."

"Of course, my love. I'll bring it right away."

You didn't bat an eye at the sharpness of his tone and moved with that calm grace that always seemed to unsettle him. You readied the food, all the while Sanemi watching you sideways for something-anything-to continue acting that way.

Another command was barked out, this one more biting. "But don't scorch it. I'm not in the mood for your usual bland crap.".

"Yes, dear. I will get it soon-the way you like it," you replied quickly in your always-soft respectful tone. You didn't even pause with the job on hand and that soft smile, until you got it to the table, just about perfectly prepared.

Sanemi frowned, attempting to find fault with it, but of course, there was nothing to be found. The food was great- exactly how he liked it. Still, he would never admit that, muttering something incomprehensible under his breath as he started to eat, hoping you didn't pay attention to the slight softening of his features.

You sat down opposite him, your hands neatly folded in your lap, and watched him eat with that gentle expression that drove him crazy, for reasons he could not quite fathom. It wasn't long before his irritation began to bubble up again, this time more at himself than you.

Why couldn't he just stay angry? Why did you have to be so… so…

"Why do you put up with this?" he finally snapped, his head jerking up from his meal, to meet your calm gaze. "Why don't you ever get pissed off? Why don't you ever talk back or tell me to shut up?"

You turned your head slightly, as if genuinely considering his questions, and then you smiled. A soft, warm smile that made something in his chest twist.

"Because I love you, Sanemi. I know you're just trying to cope with everything in your own way. If being rough with me helps you, then that's okay. I just want to make things easier for you."

Sanemi blinked, taken aback by your response. How could you say that with such sincerity? How could you look at him with so much affection after everything he'd said and done?

He opened his mouth for the argument, to say something sharp and biting back, but the words just wouldn't come. Instead, he felt the anger drain out of him, replaced instead by a confusion he couldn't quite shake.

"Easier for me?" he repeated, all but disbelieving. "How the hell is letting me treat you like crap easier on me?

"Because it gets it out," you said, like it was the most painfully obvious thing in the world. "I know you're not really mad at me. You're just frustrated sometimes, and that's okay. If it means that you need to get a little rough around the edges, then I'm cool with that. I know you don't mean it."

Sanemi stared at you, utterly dumbfounded. You seemed to take the wind out of his sails and left him floating, directionless because he did not know what would or should happen next. He was used to people fighting back, to fights and resistance, and you… well, you didn't push back. You don't fight. You just… accept him. And somehow, that was more disarming than any argument could have been.

He sat there, just staring at you for a moment, his brain racing to catch hold of what feeling was moving around inside him. It was annoying and confusing and-strangely comforting all at once.

He'd wanted to say something, to tell you that you didn't have to put up with his bullshit, you could be angry, you should be angry-but the words just wouldn't come. And that was it.

Finally, he exhaled loudly and rubbed his face in his hands. "You're too damn good for me," he grumbled, smiling more for himself than for you.

It was enough for him to see you smile again. "I'm all right, Sanemi. Do what you need to do-I'm here for you. Anything.

"Damn it," he muttered, the tension in his shoulders melting completely.

He couldn't stay angry, not when you looked at him like that. Not when you made it so damn hard to be mad. He stood up, walking around the table to pull you into a rough but heartfelt embrace. "You're too damn cute for your own good, you know that?

You giggled softly, leaning your head against his chest. "Thank you, Love."

"Don't thank me," he growled, though, by now, there was little true anger left in his tone. He tugged you closer, burying his face in your hair. "You're too courteous. It's annoying."

"I'm sorry," you said, but your voice was light, nearly playful.

His eyes rolled but a smile played at the corner of his lips. "Dammit, woman. Impossible.

Do not copy, steal, modify, etc. Relogs and like are appreciated.

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HONEY A/NOTE :: ill be making multiple parts to this btw !! i find the troupe of grumpy/easily mad x sunshine oblivious reader, so expect more of these!! if any of you have any specific ideas that would be lovely if you could let me know :D

#shinazugawa sanemi x reader #sanemi x reader #sanemi x fem!reader #sanemi x you #demon slayer x you #demon slayer x reader #x fem reader

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doveywovy · 3 months ago

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for the reverse trope writing promts!!!

Instead of fake dating, everyone is convinced that you aren’t actually dating PLEASE

oh man, i think it works best as a crack au, like-

it starts when they're kids. that first time at the riverbank, when their brothers become enemies. They both have a sort of thought, staring eachother down. Something like, he's pretty. Then they clash blades, albeit briefly, and they think, he's strong.

So they go home. and Izuna, like the good kid he is, asks Tajima about it. If Madara still tried to kill that ugly senju guy, it wouldn't matter how he felt about him right? None of the other stuff mattered, as long as he always tried to kill him when a battle was called?

Tajima assumes this is izuna trying to be lenient to his older brother. It's obvious how devestated madara was over the loss of his friendship, clearly Izuna is just trying to wrap his head around the situation. So he agrees without argument or specification- yes, Izuna, so long as madara uses his full abilities to try and kill hashirama in battle, it's okay that he's got a lot of feelings about the boy.

Cool! Izuna says, and walks away, about to make an astounding number of decisions based off that response.

Tobirama, meanwhile, is having no such talks with butsuma or hashirama. Butsuma is mad that he didn't manage to kill izuna, and hashirama is mad that he tattled, so tobirama is not talking to anyone. he's spending a lot of his time on the outskirts of their territory to specifically avoid any talking, actually.

Which is why izuna is able to find him, and in the midst of their battle, lay out his arguement. Something akin to "Stop trying to kill me right now, save that for the official battles". Izuna's belief that his dad is fine with him dating Tobirama as long as they try to kill eachother during battle is nonsensical to Tobirama, but so are the Uchiha as a whole. and Izuna is pretty, and strong, and not even mad at him!

so they start dating. And they don't hide it.

Especially not Izuna. he's gotten permission, after all. So he runs around telling all the uchiha about his dates, and complimenting tobirama, and nobody thinks anything of it. Izuna apparently has lots of boyfriends out-clan; that's practical, no chance of pregnancy there! Izuna likes to make a lot of sarcastic comments about his lifelong rival's attractiveness and intelligence- insults the man certainly deserves. The idea he could be serious, or that those dates he's talking about are with Tobirama, never crosses anyone's mind.

Tobirama keeps his romance talk to conversations with Hashirama. Mostly it's him saying things like "you act like trying to kill madara is so difficult, as if i don't try and kill my beloved boyfriend every battle. get it together, loser." Hashirama, understandably, does not take it seriously. He assumes it's some bizarre argument tactic, not Tobirama's genuine situation.

Tobirama does succeed in stabbing Izuna to near-death like in canon; Hashirama, luckily, is able to save him; this nearly successful murder does nothing to dampen their relationship.

It takes them a little while to adjust to their new normal, with no murder attempts and only dating happening. eventually they start to talk about marriage. Everyone assumes they mean to other people. arranged marriages, perhaps, for the sake of their clans? Their big brothers hope they know they would never force them into something like that. matrimony can wait until they have a person they love and want to spend the rest of their lives with.

their claims that they already do go ignored. People start trying to date them- the marriage talks meant they're open to that, right? Wrong. They get treated as the unintentional attempt at mistressing/cuckolding they are, with a door slammed in their face.

eventually tobirama and izuna give up on anybody accepting their relationship (They sent out invitations to their wedding, which were treated as a ridiculous prank). they get married quietly and spend the rest of their lives living together, which everyone around them mourns as tragic lifelong bachelorhood. they must've been so marred by war that they never found place for romantic love in their hearts, how sad :( their shared grave goes unquestioned. tobirama was all about good finances for the village, it was probably a matter of practicality.

#sakura ships them when reading her konoha history textbook and everybody thinks shes crazy for it #tobiizu

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scum-man-of-pesto · 1 month ago

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Something that makes me nutty every time radblr has this het-partnering discourse (or really discourse surrounding how to treat het-partnered women) is that among some of the misogynistic comments made are ones about these women being "addicted" to males and like, no follow through on that thought.

Also, to jump topics for a second before coming back,

Throughout my radical feminist journey, I struggled a lot both with what the most 'feminist' choices to make in my personal life were, and also what I should expect/encourage in other women. I noted back then at some point that I saw many women who did things like wearing face-fulls of makeup actually doing more materially for women than others who just put on this weird costume of what they think radical feminism is, or just sticking to a list of behaviors that they think they are supposed to. Observing these sorts of things in real-life led me into researching the history of radical feminism in the second wave, and of note many activists retrospectively say the biggest thing of note that they think caused the movement to start to fall apart was when feminists broke into these strict subgroups (y'know ecofeminist, lesbian feminist, separatist, vegetarian feminists, etc etc) and stopped working together because they thought their way was the only way towards liberation, and saw any other way as a threat. The women who worked together in years previous and actually got us major reforms started focusing their energy on intercommunity issues instead of actually targeting the system they all were seeking to destroy, and now here we are with history we have to go out of our way to hunt for, Roe overturned, and our other rights on the line.

Anyway, these disjointed topics are both of massive relevance in this discussion. Firstly, I personally look at most patriarchal behaviors that women partake in similarly to how I look at things like addiction. Yes, if you're actually into feminism, you know that something like dating a man isn't wise, just like someone knows drinking alcohol isn't wise. Many are convinced that they are one of the ones that won't have to deal with the really bad stuff that comes with addiction, because it's so normalized and glamorized all around them. Alcohol is a net negative. It hurts far, far more than it helps anything. And yet, people still do it. Some drinkers don't start by choice, some have extenuating circumstances creating that reality for them, but it's never as simple as "just don't drink you fucking moron" for many. I think if you spend your whole life socialized to worship males, to crave a relationship with them, having it instilled into you that your ultimate goal in life is that relationship, it being so thoroughly normalized and even encouraged by those around you, sometimes needing some of the benefits, or being placed there by no choice of your own, etc, yeah, plenty of women who are very feminist minded are still going to end up with men. Most addicts are also well-educated on the dangers, but they still end up addicts anyway. This understanding can be applied to any patriarchal behavior imo. We need to discourage these behaviors and educate thoroughly, yes, but shaming and saying nasty and/or misogynistic things to someone trying to get by is genuinely never helpful.

Furthermore, even if you struggle to recognize how difficult it is for many women to leave relationships/stop all beauty rituals/whatever, there's still no good reason for lashing out or building more barriers. It does nothing to further the feminist cause, *especially* while using such vile and misogynistic language to do so. It has never helped us in the past to split up over differences like this, and we need solidarity among women more now than we have at any other point in my lifetime.

TLDR; there's a lot of nuance to these topics, and lashing out at women for making choices you see as harmful is at best unhelpful and at worst actively damaging, especially when the means of lashing out are incredibly sexist

#radical feminst #radblr #radical feminist #radical feminism

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signanothername · 11 months ago

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hhhhhhh i love your art so much man it's just so rrrrrrrrg words can even describe it 💥💥💥

butt like like genuinely how do you figure out poses and shit that fit who you draw so well likeee

idk me personally i just struggle with that stuff, yk always stuck with the -looking front on with hands in pockets- or the dreaded -peace sign with hand in pocket- fjdjdj

sorry for the yap sesh butttt any advice would be like so cool

also the way you portray killer and nm is like godly just 💥💥💥💥💥💥💥

HDHDHHDHD THANK YOU <333333

And oooh that’s a very valid struggle, cause the thing is, I used to struggle a lot with posing characters in a way that actually satisfied me, going for the stiff front look a lot dhdhhdhdh

But the thing is with art, is that it isn’t just lines on a page y’know? At least, I stopped treating my art as such, every time i draw an artwork i want the artwork to tell who sees it something, I treat every artwork as a story in of itself

Ok imma generally give you what I learned from my art journey so far, i’m gonna start with a more general advice and then get to how I choose poses for certain characters, and imma try to explain the best I can but I can be really bad with wording things so bear with me

Art can be difficult cause different art concepts are interconnected with each other, so sometimes you need to think of so many things just to be able to do something as simple as posing a character

Before we start tho, here are 2 tips:

-everything you know about anatomy? Throw it out the window, no i’m not joking I’m being completely serious

The reason many artists suffer with making dynamic poses is cause they think too much about anatomy, they think the anatomy should look correct and perfect, and no, anatomy is the biggest reason the pose you draw is going to be stiff, you need to forget “correct” anatomy if you want your poses to feel alive and dynamic

- practice gesture/figure art, IM ON MY KNEES I BEG YOU, cause it teaches you to let go of perfect anatomy and actually learn how to draw figures in motion (which is extremely important for fluid and dynamic poses!)

———

With that in mind, here are a few things i keep in mind when posing a character:

1- line of action

You hear these three damn words a lot yet no matter how much you research them you can never find a good explanation for what they mean (me after i researched this bullshit so much shbdhdhhs)

But simply put, think of the action line as the spine in a human, the more you bend it outta shape the more dynamic the pose is going to be

And it’s genuinely so important cause it can make a very simple pose such as a character standing doing nothing much more dynamic when you put line of action in mind

Even a very slight bend in the line can make the pose more natural/dynamic, because an action line dictates the movement of a character

So if you want to avoid a stiff pose? Avoid a straight action line (you gotta make that action line Queer af💅✨✨✨✨)

But here’s a mind fuckery, the tricky thing with action lines is that it’s better if you keep them in mind but not consciously think of them if that makes sense

You gotta understand them and implement them and practice them, but when you draw a character posing a certain way, thinking too much of the action line can actually make it difficult to maintain and in turn, makes your art stiff af too

Like you got to internalize this concept and to keep it in your subconscious rather than actually consciously think about it when you draw your artworks

Ok Anó, how the fuck do i do that? Start with practicing them consciously by actually drawing the action line and then the pose in art studies, and then level yourself up by practicing them by drawing characters posing a certain way WITHOUT putting an action line first, i’m sorry to say there’s no way around it, there are no short cuts

Here’s a helpful visual guide/summary of what i mean by the paragraph above cause words suck

(but sooner or later, what you learned gets burned into your muscle memory, and your hand would start doing all the work without you consciously thinking about it, then congrats!! Action lines are now part of your subconscious)

Ok but does that mean straight lines are bad/should never be used?? NO

I can never emphasize how important straight lines can be

One thing that’s beautiful in art is that there’s no such thing as “bad” or “wrong”, art is subjective, and something that’s perceived as “wrong” by one artist, can be right/ something implemented in another artist’s artstyle that makes it unique

In fact, straight action lines can be great to use depending on what you wish people to take/understand from your art (a simple example: a turn around reference sheet for a character tends to use straight lines, cause in a reference sheet you focus on clarity, and drawing with queer lines can cause that clarity to be thrown out the window)

But I especially love to use straight Action lines with Killer, I sometimes make him stiff as a fucking rock and it’s completely intentional on my part, cause i love to use stiff poses to enhance the uncomfortable/unnatural atmosphere Killer gives, or to further emphasize an already uncomfortable situation

So to summarize, if you wish your poses be more natural/dynamic and to avoid stiff poses, use queer Action lines, but straight lines are also great to use depending on what you want people to understand from your art

———

2- perspective (camera angle)

Variety is key!

What is the perspective you want to focus on? I know this seems like it doesn’t have anything to do with posing a character, but it does, (remember, art concepts are interconnected!) cause the perspective you decide to draw from can also influence the pose you decide to draw or vice versa, and help you make the pose more dynamic

Hell sometimes, perspective can do the poses justice even if they’re literally the most boring stiff poses you’ve ever drawn chchchhcch

Like are you going to draw the character from an upper perspective? Lower? Fish-eye? Third person? First person?

Is the perspective tilted? Is it normal?

What is the perspective you want and why did you choose it? What are you trying to tell the people who see your art?

Here are a few tips when it comes to perspective:

-More dynamic perspectives (upper/lower) are good for artworks that have tension in them, or have some sort of stakes going on (fights, horror, uncomfortable situations)

That of course doesn’t mean they can’t be used to simply make your artwork look cool :D

-choosing how many vanishing points there are (one,two or three points perspective) can also make your art tell a different story depending on the situation you’ve chosen them for

-and most importantly, when you draw a pose, foreshortening is going to happen to the body depending on the perspective!!

But my point is, I make sure i draw in variety, sometimes I draw the character from upper, lower, tilted or even a mix of all of them, all to enhance my poses to look more dynamic/natural

Ok Anó, got it, but what if I don’t care to include a crazy perspective and i want to draw in a normal perspective? Then how do i make my poses more dynamic?

That brings me to my next 2 points

———

3- camera shots

Same as perspective, there has to be variety!

Your art doesn’t always have to be full body, try to draw different shots, draw a headshot, draw closeup shots draw half bodies

If you go for different shots then you’ll be forced to think of different poses to fit such shots :D

———

4-bodies are like little toys, break them

One thing you can do to bring more variety to your poses is to have different body parts facing different directions, not all limbs have to face the same direction >:)

Generally the characters don’t have to face front! Try to mix it up and draw from the side or back

———

5-emotional weight and a story to tell

And this is where i’ll bring my point about treating my art as a story back

A really good way to actually put variety in your poses is to treat any sort of artwork/sketch you make as a story you’re trying to tell

Before you draw a character posing a certain way ask yourself, why is this character posing this way? What are/were they doing before that pose? Are they alone or are they reacting to something/someone?

Is there a point to them posing this way? (It’s ok if there’s no actual point to it! But the poses still would need to tell a story regardless)

Cause if you’re posing them reacting to another character (off screen for example), you pose them in a way that makes sense for their emotions of the other character right? (So if the character has negative feelings towards the other one then it makes more sense to draw them in a defensive stance or a fight or flight pose)

If you’re drawing them all alone then what are they doing alone, are they doing something important or is it their off time? If it’s their off time what are they doing for their off time? Do they like to spend it reading a book for example? What are they reading? Is it a horror novel that makes them scared? If yes then how do they deal with fear? Do they throw the book across the room or do they hide under a blanket?

Cause a pose also holds emotional weight, it shows you what emotions the character is exhibiting, it’s not just the expression of the character that tells you about their emotions, it’s their body language, and body language can be translated through poses

Let’s say they’re doing a peace sign pose for example, why are they doing it? Are they taking a picture with someone they love or are they doing it to annoy someone? Hell maybe they’re being forced to do it, and so they do it half heartedly maybe?

Get what I’m trying to say?

———

And now with all of the above in mind, time to get to the most important thing and the main point of this post

How do I choose poses for certain characters?

6- personality

who am I sketching? Cause each character is unique and each character is gonna act a certain way other characters won’t, and depending on the situation, the poses change too

Understand the character and how they act, try to analyze them and take in their quirks and behaviors, and before you draw a pose for them actually ask yourself, would this character EVER do this pose?

Like you say you fall in the peace sign trap right? Now think about a peace sign pose, but with Nightmare… it doesn’t make sense right? Cause the pose is an absolute striking contrast to Nightmare’s personality, like Nightmare would never do a peace sign till the day he dies, hell i’m sure if he’s forced to choose between death and doing a peace sign he’d choose death (it’s a lot more mercifull than the humiliation he’d feel making a peace sign hcchchch)

See what I’m getting at?

For example, I draw Nightmare with his hands behind his back a lot, but you won’t see me do the same with other characters often, not cause other characters would never put their hands behind their backs, but because it’s a quirk in Nightmare’s character, Nightmare TENDS to do that a lot, he acts so formal and royal like, and so i draw him do it a lot

But here’s the thing, if i draw other characters having their hands behind their backs like i do with Nightmare, i do it in a way that makes sense for them! An example is how i draw Nightmare and Dream with their hands behind their backs :D

But I also keep in mind Nightmare’s character, so whenever I pose him a certain way, I ask myself “would Nightmare actually stand/sit/lie down like that?” If the answer is yes, then I continue, if not then i change it to fit Nightmare

To further explain, I tend to think Nightmare is defensive in nature, so you’d see that I also pose him in a way that reflects that, with his hands crossed in front of his chest for example or generally his hands close to his body, sometimes hunched in on himself, I also think Nightmare is egotistical and self centric, but most importantly, he sees himself as an elegant King, and so I draw him crossing his legs or generally have him sit in such a formal manner or a hand on hip kinda pose etc

So when you draw a pose ask yourself if it fits the personality, mindset, and pattern of behavior for said character!

———

With all that being said, while it’s amazing to be able to do a variety of poses, I think it’s also important to keep in mind that art is supposed to be fun, take your time trying to learn, don’t overwork or frustrate yourself with learning new things, and it’s completely fine to not do poses that have meaning sometimes (do that peace sign to your heart’s content <333) it took me 10 whole years to get where i am today, and compared to many other artists my own progress is extremely slow, and it used to bother me cause I treated art like there was some sort of deadline above my head and that I should learn things in a timely manner (which is absolute bullshit), my point is, take your time with learning poses, even if it takes you years, the important thing is that you will get there eventually <33333

———

Finally, here is one art resource for poses that i think is really good/useful

Keep on creating and hope my endless ramble helps a lil chchchchchch <33333

youtube

#it’s almost 8 am good night chhcchhcchvh #anothers ask #anothers ramble #ano saves asks

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