#i had this sketched out from one of the doodles i've done for months and finally had the mood to color it

[bingbongsupremacy]

The Letter Pt. 1

Pairing: Ellie Williams x fem! reader

Warnings: She/Her pronouns used, Outing

Summary: Ellie and Y/N are in two very different social groups at school. One day when Y/N's crush is cruelly exposed in front of the whole school, Y/N is brutally shot down. Finally, five years later the two run into each other again.

High School AU

Pt. 1 Pt. 2 Pt. 3

*Not Proof Read* TLOU Masterlist

*****

Ellie. Williams.

Star basketball player and Student Council Vice President, all while being in multiple clubs. There's nothing she can't do.

Ellie's done literally everything. She's played every sport, been in every club, been in multiple art shows. She's one of the coolest people there is. Obviously everyone loves her. Who wouldn't? She's talented and pretty.

" You're staring again. " Dina teases.

" Oh shut up. " I grumble, poking at my suspicious school lunch. I'm not quite sure what it is but I don't think I want to find out.

" Just go ask her out already. What's the worst that can happen? " Jesse asks between mouthfuls of a sandwich. " I mean, I asked out Dina and here we are three months later. "

I roll my eyes. " It's different. I don't even know if she's into girls. "

" Just ask. " Jesse states in a 'duh' tone.

Dina shakes her head. " Jesse stop. Let Y/N take her time. "

I glance back at the long table across the room. Ellie eyes crinkle slightly as she laughs at something one of her friends says. She slaps the guy on the back, her short hair falling into her face.

She's so pretty.

I've heard rumors from my classmates. I've heard about her hooking up with a couple of the cheerleaders after games. She's never had a girlfriend though. At least one she's talked about.

Even if they weren't rumors, would she go for a girl like me? We run in two different circles. She never hangs out from anyone outside of her clique unless it's to help tutor other students.

Even then it's because it looks good on college applications, not because she wants to. She's admitted it when helping me out with science homework.

The bell rings and students begin to scatter. I make my way towards one of the small rooms behind the library where our study sessions our held. I pull out my notebooks and get ready to see Ellie.

I pull out my sketch book, flipping through the pages. One page catches my eye.

The Letter.

I spent all night working on it, figuring out the perfect thing to say. I ended up deciding not to give it to her when I saw her hanging out with some guys from the football team. I chickened out.

Maybe some day.

I turn to the next page, deciding to doodle while I wait.

" Hey! Sorry I'm late. " Ellie drops her bag onto table next to me, starting me. " Had to grab my books. "

" Fuck. " I mutter, blinking.

Ellie smirks at my shock.

" It's fine. " I shut the book, pushing it to the side.

Ellie sits down next to me, pulling her chair next to mine. " Alright, where were we? "

_____Third P.O.V._____

" I'm gonna go to the restroom. Be right back. " Y/N hops up, heading towards the door.

Ellie nods, not bothering to tear her eyes away from the textbook in front of her.

" Hey, Els. " A voice greets.

Ellie glances up to spot one of her friends. " Oh hey, Viv. " Ellie greets.

Vivian glances around the room. " Tutoring another dork? " She asks, picking at Y/N's items.

Ellie frowns slightly. " Well, yeah but I think she's okay, ya know. Like, she's pretty smart. Just not doing so well with AP physics. "

Vivian rolls her eyes. " You're too...nice, Ellie. You're too kind to say what everyone thinks. " Vivian lifts up a small black book. She flips through the pages in, clearly unamused at what's inside. " She's no Davinci. "

Ellie's unsure what to say. Sure, what Vivian's doing is fucked up. She'd hate it if someone looked through her shit, but she worked so hard to make it into the popular group. She spent months trying to fit in. She wasn't going to lose it now on a random girl because she feels a little bad.

Deciding not to feed into Vivian's antics, Ellie remains silent.

" Oh my god. " Vivian's eyes widen as she pauses at a page.

" What? " Ellie asks, curiosity getting the best of her. Whatever Y/N drew can't be that bad, right? Then again, she didn't really know the girl. Maybe she had some fucked up mind or some shit. She seemed normal though. How bad could it really be?

Vivian shakes her head, a giggle slipping through her lips. " This is Y/N's book, right? " She tears out a page from the book before setting the book back where it was before.

Ellie slowly nods. " Yeah...why? "

Vivian smirks. " No reason. You'll find out at the assembly. Speaking of assembly, I've gotta get to the gym. It's gonna start soon. Be there. Make sure Y/N's there too. " Vivian turns to leave. " She's not gonna want to miss this. "

Ellie doesn't respond. She watches as Vivian leaves the room with the paper in hand. What the fuck was on that paper?

Y/N makes it back into the room a few minutes later. " Alright. " She grins. " Let's get the worksheet done. "

Ellie nods, her mind otherwise occupied.

The next ten minutes seem to fly buy quickly. All Ellie can think about is the paper. What was Vivian going to do? What did Y/N have on that paper? Should Ellie bring Y/N to the gym? If she didn't, what would Vivian do?

The bell rings, signaling the end of study hall. Y/N and Ellie gather their things.

" Hey, are you going to the Assembly? " Ellie asks, trying to keep her tone calm.

Y/N shoots her a smile. " Yeah! I am. My friend's in the orchestra."

Ellie nods. " Nice. I'll see you there? "

Y/N's heart begins to quicken. Usually their conversations don't stray further than homework or classes. " Yeah. I'll keep an eye out for you. "

Ellie shoots Y/N a small smile, causing butterflies to erupt in Y/N's stomach.

The two break apart for their next class, both of their minds racing. One mind full of excitement at the thought of possibly running into Ellie at the assembly and the other full of dread at what's to come from the assembly.

------- First P.O.V.-------

I look around the gym, my hands slightly clammy. I eventually spot Dina in the corner, preparing her violin. I quickly send her a small wave before returning to my search.

" No need to search. You're favorite person's arrived. " Jesse jokes, taking a seat next to me.

I roll my eyes. " Ha ha. You're just who I was looking for. "

Jesse's eye brows quirk in surprise. " Really? "

With a laugh I shake my head. " Fuck no. "

" Ouch. " Jesse places a hand over his heart. " Straight to the heart. "

I grin. Finally I spot a familiar auburn haired girl a few rows below. Beside Ellie is the Vivian Logan, the student body President. Aka the school's resident bitch.

Ellie doesn't seem to notice me. She takes a seat next to Vivian, immediately crushing my soul.

I knew it was a long shot she'd sit next to me but a girl can dream, right?

" Finally. It's starting. " Jesse grumbles impatiently.

The orchestra and band play their pieces ending in the school erupting in applause. Finally, the principal makes his way towards the center of the gym.

" Students! Thank you all for joining us today! I'd like to welcome this year's student body who helped put together today's assembly! Give them a hand, will you? " Principal Clark claps while the student body filters down to the middle of the gym. " Now, your president, Vivian, has a few words to say. Take it away, Vivian. "

Principal Clark hands the microphone over to Vivian who accepts it happily.

" Hey guys! First of all, I just wanted to say I'm so excited to be up here today! " She excitedly states.

" So excited! " Jesse mocks.

I gently slap his shoulder. " Be nice. " I chuckle. " She hasn't done anything. "

" Yet. " Jesse mutters. " She always pulls something. How the fuck did she get elected? "

" Because she was voted hottest on the hottest vs nottest list last year. " I remind him. Stupid list. Why the fuck would someone waste their time making something like that?

" Guys...I know last week was the talent show but we have a late entry. A very late entry. " Vivian pulls out a small piece of paper. On the back is a familiar drawing.

A snake.

My heart stops.

No.

No fucking way.

How the hell could she get it?

It has to be a different paper. Right?

Unless...

" This person wrote something so beautiful I just had to share. This is actually to you, Ellie. " Vivian looks over to Ellie who furrows her eyebrows in confusion. " Lucky ducky. "

" Jesse. " I whisper.

" What? " Jesse asks in confusion.

I never told him about the note. I never told anyone. Fuck fuck fuck.

" I wrote that. " I begin to panic. " I fucking wrote that. "

Jesse's eyes widen. " What? Fuck, are you sure? How do you know? It could be anyone's. We haven't even heard it yet. "

" It's mine. Jesse it's fucking mine. "

Everyone's going to know what I fucking wrote.

Vivian clears her throat. " Let's begin. " She smiles brightly. " Dear Ellie, gosh, I'm so nervous writing this to you right now. I just can't keep it in. I feel like I need to tell you. I've thought about telling you for months. Actually for a couple years. I've just been so nervous. " Vivian mocks. With every word she acts it out, her words exaggerated. " I really like you. I don't know if you like me back. I just feel like I need to tell you. Whenever I see you my heart begins to race. I really like you Ellie Williams. And if there's any chance you possibly like me back, please let me know. Sincerely, Y/N. " With that, Vivian points at me.

I feel the stares of everyone around.

Giggles and whispers flood the room. The sound of people mocking me bounces off the walls.

" Fuck, Y/N... " Jesse says, obviously mortified for me.

None of that matters though.

All I can focus on is the horrified expression on Ellie's face. Her eyes stare straight into mine, burning a hole into my body. Her body is tense and unmoving underneath her jeans and open button up.

Vivian's laugh brings me back into reality. " Ellie, what do you have to say to this out burst of love. Do you feel the same? Personally, I think it's cute. She has a little crush. A little cringy but hey, it's flattering. " Vivian shoves the microphone in front of Ellie.

Ellie's cheeks turn a dark shade of red. She blinks. " No! Fuck no. " Ellie shakes her head, taking a step back. " Y/N, this would never fucking happen. " She gestures at the two of us. " No fucking way. No, Y/N. You're not my type. "

My heart shatters. She's not gay. She doesn't like me. Fuck.

Suddenly everything feels worse. The laughter gets louder. The points and stares become more obvious. The room seems to close around me, leaving me trapped in a room full of people making fun of me.

" That's enough! " The principal shouts.

His voice seems far away.

It's too late. The damage has already been done. Everyone knows I like Ellie. Everyone knows I like girls. What the fuck am I going to do?

I feel a strong arm pull me up.

Jesse leads me down the bleacher stairs. He pushes open the doors and ushers me out. The laughter of my classmates slowly dies out as the door shuts. Not completely though. I can still hear bits and pieces.

" Fuck, Y/N. Are you okay? " Jesse asks while rubbing my shoulder to console me.

I shake my head. " My life is over. "

My life might not have actually been over but at that moment it truly did feel like it was.

[crystal-rebellion]

So - as some of you may be painfully aware, I am very, very slow about posting chapters to my stories, sometimes even years on them. But they ARE still active, and I do still have ideas and drafts and... stuff.

And I got to thinking - I do quite a few prompts and little one-off scenes, things that don't have a place in a story, or might be used in one later, etc. That's... sort of the equivalent of a warm-up sketch or a doodle, right? And people share doodles and sketches all the time.

So I think I'll do the same. Start sharing more of my 'warm up sketches' and 'doodles' - or drabbles if you will.

I do have a list of prompts I've already done here, and will probably be adding these to it.

Found this in my google docs from about four years ago, including a screenshot of the Lotura Discord server discussion that started it. (Permission granted from the lovely folks featured here to share on Tumblr)

So I did. Drabble below the cut. 👇👇👇

"My queen!"

Allura glanced up from the book in her lap as the Drulish guardsman saluted in utter reverence. 

"Yes?"

As he rose from his deep bow, Allura closed the heavy tome in her lap worriedly and rose to her feet.  Setting the information aside, she began to approach the intimidating, armored soldier.

"I am pleased to inform you, your husband and children have returned."

Allura felt the wind leave her lungs as relief crashed into her body.  She nearly crumpled on the spot; barely catching the back of the chair with her palm to support her weight.

"Thank the heavens," she murmured, quickly brushing away the tears that budded in the corners of her eyes.

"They will be landing on platform Beta in approximately twenty minutes.  ...We thought we saw them on the radar much earlier but... we didn't want to give you false information until we had their landing clearance in hand.  It is, in fact, them."

"Thank you," she murmured, holding her composure together long enough for the guard to salute and leave her in peace.

She collapsed back into the chair, sobs racking her form as sheer joy radiated from her in a manner she could not properly articulate.  Lotor and their children - elder daughter and younger son - had been on their first Campaign for nearly a month.  She and Lotor had gone in circles on the tradition of conquering planets, and the war couple had finally settled on a medium; the children would indulge in the cultural tradition, but only a modest amount of spoils would be taken - and absolutely no enslavement.  The "conquered" planets would easily be able to recover, but the children could practice their skill in the process and honor half their heritage.

The decision not to join them had been twofold - she wasn't the right person to help teach them the ways, and she feared she might interfere more than help.  Moreover, if both governing royals of the Empire were to disappear, chaos would be left in their wake.  She had reluctantly, dutifully, stayed behind to attend to the ministrations of government.

It had been a lonely endeavor; the first day had left her excited, wondering what he and the children might be up to.  The second day was equally full of curiosity and wonder.  As the days bled to weeks, and the weeks to a month... her ambition and eagerness turned to melancholy and sorrow.  As chaotic as the young ones running about the castle could be, the reprieve from them unpredictable was short-lived.  She missed the confusion, the Drulish activity, the discord and the eventfulness.  While her first night alone had resulted in an uninterrupted spa day, complete with an elegant soak in the bath - it had rapidly deteriorated.  Nights felt cold without her husband, and days felt bleak without her children.

Finally, they were home.  Safe.  Sound.  And home.

Allura brushed away the tears once more and stood upright, smoothing out her gown and adjusting her hair before departing the room.

Swift, intense strides made quick work of the distance between her and Platform Beta.  She entered the deck as the familiar warcraft touched down.  Her hands clasped tightly over her chest when her heart fluttered, the steel door closing behind the vessel.  Wind whipped around her, flaring her gown and hair as everything settled into place.  The familiar hiss of the vessel depressurizing to match the planet's pressure sounded, and the bridge unfurled from the entry.

At the top appeared three familiar figures; Lotor in his finest armor, Alenna in a similarly matching dress, and Mero; the 'softest' of the two.  He wore no armor, preferring the vestments of the diplomats.

"Now.  Which one of you can go hug your mother first?"

Shrieks of laughter caught the queen by surprise, and despite her understanding of the culture she had married into, she found herself flat on her back with her two children clutching her torso desperately, each declaring victory over the other.  A laugh broke from her throat and she enveloped them both in her arms, sitting up right and drawing them close.

"I'm so happy you have returned, my dears," she murmured against them, breathing deeply to block the flood of emotion that threatened to overthrow her.  "How was your first Conquest?"

She blinked as shrieks of chatter bloomed up from both the kids, Alenna the most animated of the two.  Allura only laughed, kissing them both on the temple, much to their disapproval.  At the sound of Lotor's bootsteps, the children peeled off their mother just in time for him to extend his palm down to her.  Gracefully, she took it, eagerly allowing him to pull her into his arms, his lips catching hers with no warning - not that she expected any.

"I missed you so much," he murmured between gasps for air.

Allura was barely aware of the noise of disgust the children had made at the sight of their parents snogging before they ran off as she laced her fingers through his hair, pulling him closer. 

"You have no idea," she replied.

Bonus:

--One Month Earlier--

"Absolutely not."

"Allura.  My sweet,  Surely you must realize how important this is for the children, especially Alenna!  It's a rite of passage for her!  Mero has a few years, but he could benefit from seeing Alenna's Hunt."

Allura shuddered, brushing off Lotor's hands.

"That's so vile, the way you word it.  Hunt.  Spree.  Conquering.  You sound so gleeful about it, as if you enjoy it as a sport."

"...Allura.  We do."

She flashed him a dangerous look, her temper riling.

"Yes, you'll have to forgive me, my sweet," she quite sneered the words back to him, her temper elevated to a level he had not seen since their courtship.  "I was on the other end of that  spree as you call it.  I forbid it.  No child of mine will be plundering another world.  No chance."

Lotor exhaled in frustration, pacing away from his furious wife.

"What about - "

"Never."

"Hear me out," he added gently, his lips curling into a bemused smirk at her fire.  When she said nothing, her gaze blazing dangerously on him, he continued.  "What if they practiced the tradition - and!"  He held up his hands as she began to interject.  "Left everything behind."

Allura blinked, the swell of fury deflating as she considered his words.

"You mean commit to the sport, but take no trophies?"

"Well, perhaps a bit of gold here or a pretty jewel there... but no, nothing like it used to be."

Her eyes narrowed dangerously on him.

"Absolutely zero living spoils."

"Of course, I didn't think you'd like your children bringing back slaves to serve you."

"Lotor-"

Once more, his palms rose in the air defensively, his chin ducking as a smirk quirked at his lips.  He knew he was only seconds away from having something heavy chucked at him.

"No, my love.  No living spoils, and only a token amount of physical ones.  Will that suffice?  It's an important custom to honor for us, even if the purpose for it no longer exists."

She exhaled, plopping down into an armchair.

"I suppose so.  How long?"

"Weeks.  Maybe a month.  The First Campaign is not a long endeavor.  Not usually. "

"You'll go with them? Look after them, keep them safe?"

He stared at her for a moment, his victorious look ebbing at her forlorn expression.

"....You're not coming," he murmured in realization.

Allura looked away, rubbing her arm uneasily.

"I'm not sure I could stomach such destruction, even in play.  I don't think that I could properly... endorse this in a manner that befits your customs," she explained.  "Besides.  Who will run things if we're both gone?  I mean there's Cossack, but I..."

"Oh gods below us, no.  He is a worthy and admirable soldier, but we'd come back to a bloodbath of a civil war because he couldn't figure out how to translate a document properly."

Allura giggled, casting her husband a sad smile as she rose from her chair and approached him.

"I'll miss you.  It will be a long time before you're back."

He palmed her ribcage as she came into his heartspace, her own fingertips touching his chest, her nose inches from his.

"We should make the most of tonight then," he murmured darkly.

"I would very much like that."

[shiori8]

Oh look! It's another redesign!

Here, have this little illustration based on my Ladybug/Chat Noir re-designs, that I've been slaving away at for the past month (we're just gonna ignore the fact that I started plotting out the costumes and sketched the pose a year ago lol). I know, I know. A redesign? Very original. But hey I haven't done it yet, so that makes it different ok😝!

(Gosh, I usually don't post sketches, I feel like this is exposing all my drawing weaknesses lol)

These are some of the first doodles I did. For Marinette I basically looked at some traditional Qui Pao and Hanfu dresses for inspiration and mixed and matched details I liked. I also gave her these little skirt flaps (?? whatever you want to call it) to symbolise the ladybug wings and kept the spots concentrated there. All in all I actually immediately knew what I wanted to do with her costume and pretty much just kept to my first draft, but what really gave me trouble was the hair somehow. I really wanted to incorporate actual antennae (I just think it's cute🤧!!!!) but it got too crowded up there so I had to let them go eventually🥺. In the end I settled for her twin tails pulled up instead of down. To make it look more distinct from her civilian form the idea was also that her hair colour changes to black after the transformation.

Chat Noir on the other hand was so difficult😭😭😭. I honestly like the original design soo much it was hard to think about alternatives. I wanted something that matched better with my new Ladybug, but I don't think I succeeded much. Also I hyperfocused on giving him this little scarf/oversized collar thing in my first doodles because I thought it looked cool and ended up scrapping it because the little bell is just too iconic not to keep lol. As you can tell from the final illustration there is actually not all that much that made it into the final version, except for the sheer sleeves, the shoes, the claw marks and some neon green details. I also ended up giving both of them some gold accents to make them match a bit more. As with Marinette, the idea is that Adrien's hair changes colour a bit after transforming too. So I envision Adrien having more of the smooth platinum blond in his civillian form and a more brown-ish dirty blond as Chat Noir, to go for the whole stray cat look lol.

I might come back to this one day, to re-do their civilian forms too or make these costumes more practical rather than just focusing on aesthetics (But hey if the show does this than I am allowed too😂!)

[feyspeaker]

Hii me again. I'm not sure if I sent the ask I'm talking about on anon, so maybe that's why you didn't see it? It partially got answered with a recent ask you got anyway so no worries. I was just wondering if you use 3d in your process and if so, how? I've seen other illustrators use it to varying degrees and it seems like a really helpful tool to push your work.

Oh that's so weird! No I periodically go through my asks in chunks and I didn't see anything like that. I've had a few people in the past few months send me asks that looked like the second half of something else with no context, so maybe it's Tumblr fuckery. Sorry!!

I recommend learning Blender so you can help sculpt shapes and render lighting onto them in order to get the weirder/more complex shadows right. You can also apply colors onto the things you sculpt in order to see how the colors act in different lighting. It's pretty much an invaluable tool to me as it keeps me from having to problem-solve too much. I did a lot of digging around in my house to build references to photograph but it was just impractical to achieve the things I want to a lot of the time. I still do that, and you would not believe how many goofy photos I have of my husband in the poses you've seen me paint Astarion in lmao...

I do think that it needs to be used in moderation if you are a more beginner artist- I think that using 3D is DANGEROUSLY close to becoming a massive crutch for a newer artist and improper usage or over reliance on it can lead to stiffness or artificial looking colors. You need to be able to train your eye to create compelling compositions by bashing things together, and train your hand to replicate/add/subtract as needed from your references with an organic feel.

I will say this as a total committer of this crime myself in the past, it's VERY easy to tell when an artist relies too much on, for example, Clip Studio Paint posed models as bases for pieces without a good enough grasp on their fundamentals. And I also used to prickle when I saw more advanced artists warn of this, so I do think maybe it just has to run its course sometimes, because I know that using 3D for reference seems like an easy-button.

I've taken a lot of in-person classes for live figure drawing and painting, as well as just totally done drills, basically, on sketching and painting from life before relying too much on static imagery/3D/etc.

I often fret over every piece I do looking too stiff even still.

You have to do a LOT of the boring hard stuff the old fashioned way. And I regularly go back to it over and over when needed.

For example, I recently did a stupid amount of rose petal/flower studies deconstructing and painting ugly little paintings/doodles over and over because I know that I've been horribly weak at painting flowers for years (actively avoiding them). And I've been doing a lot of floral stuff lately due to that.

Whenever I start a new piece in new territory, I know it's going to mean several 3AM nighters where I have two other tabs open on Photoshop where I test out different textures or do a couple of studies. I'm working on a piece of my OC right now that has a lot of gore/medical instruments and I've been working on testing out different methods for shiny metal painting and some anatomical studies. I'll come to a snag in a painting and go "here we go" and work through it one piece at a time.

My Halsin piece, "Secret Spot" in the hot spring, was a massive undertaking with a lot of these moments. The Karlach x Dammon piece took 3 times longer than it should have due to me just having to go back and fix things knowing I could do better after doing some studies.

Ultimately I personally find art tutorials to be quite useless overall once you get to a certain point, unless they are teaching the use of a tool/software because you HAVE to figure out what works for you. And even then I use Blender like a monkey with a keyboard, I suspect, because I've just bruteforced through it, so I could probably use a tuneup from a good teacher on that haha. I hope this helps some, and sorry if I overstepped if I sound preachy.

[outeremissary]

2023 Wrapped!

This is my first ever time doing a year end art summary (using this template)- I always wanted to when I was younger, but never felt I was creating enough work or that it was "serious" enough or good looking enough to be worth compiling. It's been interesting to reflect on a year that included so many creative ups and downs (and life ups and downs in general). If you'll permit me I want to do the little reflection ramble too, even if it's an inadvisable 5 (or now 6) in the morning where I live.

Some of you who followed me on Twitter probably know that I only "learned to color"- or rather found a way that worked for me enough to finish things consistently- in 2022, and rather late in 2022 at that. This is pretty much the first year where work I considered "finished" or "polished" included things that weren't greyscale, and it's absolutely the first year where I had attempted to do something in color almost every single month. When I look at this and see the range of hues it has, I really feel an incredible sense of achievement. I would not have imagined 14 months ago that I could stitch something that looked like this together, and 12 months ago I can't say I'd have felt confident either.

Despite having a huge artistic slump in the back half of the year (along with a sharp downturn in my mental health in general) I was astounded to find that for the first six months I had so much work that I loved and was proud of that it was hard to put this together because I constantly felt like I was leaving favorites out- works that I thought were iconic or were huge milestones or I just really loved. That was unbelievable. And that was only sifting through the "nice" stuff- I didn't even consider a mountain of sketches and doodles that I adored! Even in my busiest months and the months I was recovering from a major medical procedure (I got top surgery!!!) I had something to show, and May being a WIP is less because there was nothing in that month than because Aurien and Vio were the only ones who were fitting in the damn frame (side note: I'd be more thoughtful with template than aesthetic if I ever did this again).

Even in the five months I was convinced I had done absolutely nothing, I found again and again that I had more than I thought for every month (except November, where it turned out everything I thought I'd done was early December. you've been spared DUrgetash). I was creating even when I was convinced that I was never going to be able to draw again. And I was creating enough that I got to be picky filling this thing out and choose Tristian for October just for a laugh when other options were out there, and enough that I had options when I was struggling to fit something I wanted into the template frame.

Side note: Miss Leonelle, you were tragically robbed by the damn frames.

In making this I also saw again and again the connections that I made throughout the year. I have had the incredible fortune to make wonderful friends this year and to build on bonds that I already had- even some where I perhaps didn't deserve the chances I was given. @mountainashfae is all over this summary- in April, May, June, August, and November- and I've often felt I spent as much time on Vio as Balthazar this year, but there were at least seven other baronesses, KCs, and other incredible OCs I had the privilege of drawing this year who I desperately wanted to fit onto this and was not able to for one reason or another. I'm so happy to know so many creative, passionate people and to be allowed so close to the things they hold so dear. To everyone who has shared their creations this year- not just with me, but with anyone on the internet or in real life or quietly in DMs or in a Discord or wherever- you're incredible, and I hope you're proud of what you've done. And if you struggle with that, I hope you can be proud of the way you're growing even now.

If you've stuck with me this far, thank you. Sincerely. I really appreciate that there are people who enjoy looking at my silly little drawings and reading my occasional rambles, even if I'm a little erratic on putting things up and usually a bit distant by choice from fan communities. And if you continue to stick around, I hope that you continue to have a good time.

I don't know what to expect from 2024 when I've got a laundry list of projects from 2023 I haven't finished, but I'm hopeful about what it'll contain. There's a lot I want to do- more full illustrations, working on other media, trying more ambitious projects- but for now it's enough to just think about picking up the things I've left off and continuing to tie up those loose ends.

Here's hoping we all can find something we want in 2024, as terrible and unknowable as the new chapter is.

[antisepticcrayon]

Posting here too! Just so I can give a longer explanation a bit for the few pieces I've been able to scramble for Sean.

Now I'm not the best at drawing people so it's very rare that I get to try to draw fanart for Sean and the community but I'll share the few I've been able to do!

Starting with the spring banner I made for Sean's server! Has to be one of my favorites becos I loved how it turned out and the fact that I somehow won the banner contest. It's always such a funny shock to go onto the server and see my art there. I've never been so proud of an accomplishment like that.

Next up is the Chase brody youtooz plush concept. Now I did this for kicks and giggles (/hj. Please Sean. We need sad dad plushies.) But it was pretty funny that that reference sheet got way more attention than I thought. And at the time of iris being fairly new was also so funny to me. He looks so sad. I need 17 of them.

King of the daisies portrait! My one piece of fanart that got the most recognition from the community! I spent a grueling 5-6 hours on this piece. It was during a time of art block so I wanted to try drawing realism for a month (didn't go exactly a month but I tried!) And this was my second attempt of the month and it came out so well. I absolutely adore it. And the inspiration came from when Sean announced that white daisies were his favorite flowers. So of course to honor the flow3r king, I did that for him. (Also another reason the banner, he's wearing a daisy crown!)

And finally the anti portrait. This one I made at work actually right before I was contacted for winning a meet and greet ticket to face time Sean through moment house. And to calm my nerves for the next couple days, I worked on this piece. (I referenced an art piece done by turquoise magpie I believe for this one!) But also another part of my month realism challenge!

The 2 realistic portraits hold a special place in my heart. Becos even through the horrendous wifi (and my uncontrollable anxiety) and cutting out during my meet and greet, I had the chance to show him them. I just didn't get to hear or see his reactions properly but the fact I showed him at all for him to see was more than enough.

Annnd then these last art pieces (I'm frankly TERRIFIED of showing. Unsure if it counts as fanart buttt)

These first 2 photos are reference pieces for my "JJ" inspired OC/Fursona. He is considered my comfort character who I tend to draw and doodle whenever I'm feeling down or having a bad day. Jameson (and chase) are my favorite egos and I find comfort in them. Not sure why, but I do. I feel like they just came at times I was struggling the most and brought joy to me though. Just Sean in general has done as such.

And the last photo is a book cover I created for a short story I'm writing with my self insert OC and chase Brody (along with the other egos).

The short story takes part of a community I'm in that surrounds giant/smalls/humans folklore and certain cultures surrounding a time of creatures big and small, Aka G/T! Think of any fairy tales like jack and beanstalk or even japenese animes like the secret world of ariety or movies and books like "The borrowers". (Another comfort for me. I find writing helpful as well for bad days and to also center and express myself again)

Anyways one of my favorite human pieces I've ever completed on my own through lots of practice and failed sketches (my good friend zora rendered and shaded it for me! Actual drawing, linework and coloring done by me!)

Anyways, I hope I'm not overstaying my welcome so I'll cut it off here!

I thank you both for doing this revival! I was never able to participate truely with "septicart" but I'm glad I can right now through this :)

Thanks for reading!

- Dj💜

(I apologize if my wording is wacky! ADHD and dyslexia isn't a fun combination when trying to write and explain things ack)

@turquoisemagpie @rogue-of-broken-time

[bellybiologist]

TLDR: Verzi Need Money. Here Link for Helping Fill Money Bar with Money Juice. -Ko-fi -Commission form (Open again! Note the price increase!) -Patreon -Paypal.me

Okay! Verzi need money. So! Here's this.

This shitty meter here is just for a bit of transparency (Graphic design is NOT my passion), cuz people like to know where there money is going. This will fill up as with funds from my patreon (money I got this month is already there!), from commissions, and from any tips/extras given by kind souls in passing, and I need to hit these marks EVERY month for like… a year. (This is after fees and such of course, cuz god forbid we don't pay the middle-men their dues.)

I will update this thing as time passes so ya'll will know where I'm at. Reblogging/Sharing is welcome, encouraged, and greatly appreciated!

A bit of info for each section under the Readmore:

-Rent and Bills: The Most Important thing to Keep Verzi Kickin'! I pay half my apartment's now $1368 rent PLUS the utilities, which range from 100~200 bucks, splitting with my aunt who works 2 jobs to make sure she pays her half. Since my mom passed away from Pancreatic cancer in 2021, this has been rough since it used to be split 3 ways.

-Dental Costs: The face bone doctors want my money after drilling holes and pulling out the insides!! My face actually feels BETTER so i'm not as mad as I COULD be about this, but this needs to be paid for the next 12 months. (And they want MORE money to do a cleaning and I almost laughed. Like, no buddy you ain't getting 750 out of me when I don't even have a refrigerator.(See Below))

-Big Purchase+Credit Card bills: It wont pay off ALL my credit card debt, but it keeps me from falling behind. Since the passing of Michael and Fred (my microwave and refrigerator respectively) I need to make some big purchases so my kitchen functions. Michael has been successfully replaced by Mikaela, and we are still looking for Fred's replacement. Ms. Frida, the chest freezer who is literally older than I am (I am 33!!) and STILL functions is holding down the fort while we look for a refrigerator. We can live without a fridge thanks to her constant service, allowing us to keep frozens. Also, like, literally on the 30th of July, Monty the Monitor must've succumbed to heatstroke so i had to buy one of THOSE too for my computer setup. I will name all my appliances to cope.

-Extra+Taxes: Once we get here, I'm in the clear for the month's expenses! However!! Taxes are due in October. I DO NOT know how much that will be, and since the whole Covid relief thing that lessened business taxes ended last year, I MAY be paying for quite a bit!! Anything past this point will be prepping for Taxes AND forming a buffer for More Happenings (God forbid).

===== Rewards??? Rewards!! =====

I considered a Drive like other kink artists in these circles, but I don't like drives for several reasons and those reasons are why I've never done one in the past. Despite that, I STILL want to do something that at least feels like a reward or incentive for people keeping me Alive™, so I'm going to do some simple doodles/sketches, and possibly try to stream those doodles in my discord!

Every 100 bucks past the "Rent and Bills Paid" section (meaning at 900 dollars and onward), I will do a RANDOM drawing from any requests/suggestions from the pool made by people who threw some cash monies my way!

Suggestions can be sent in through Ko-fi messages, Paypal notes accompanying payments/donations/tips, and a Patreon-only post (they are always giving me money, so patrons have access by default!). Commissioners who send in the form can ALSO suggest something for the pool if they like! (there's a question on the form for it) Now, like all requests, it's ultimately up to my discretion on whether or not I will draw something, but I will still try to keep it random and let it be a roll of the dice (or a RNG app).

There is no minimum requirement either! So people throwing only $1 at me, buying only one Ko-fi, or dropping anything bigger are free to offer a suggestion. But please limit requests/suggestions to one entry per person.

Now, as to what these will and can be:

-It will be a simple lined sketch with one color or flat colors. Depends on how many need doing, how I'm feeling when I draw it and how complicated it is.

-It can be up to 2 characters, but they may be less refined compared to a single character one. They can be the same character in 2 different states, or 2 different characters interacting with each other.

-No private requests please! It will have to be something that can be publicly posted and that you're fine with being perceived by others.

-In terms of kinks/sizes/etc, it will be something that you'd normally see on this blog or for my work! Mileage may vary, but more extreme stuff that I'd normally avoid may be glossed over when I'm constructing the pools.

-Unlike commissions, these will not go through a WIP stage/be modified after the fact! They end up how they end up. If you wanna be nitpicky, please use this opportunity to order a full commission!

-You're allowed to suggest OCs as long as it's yours or its owner has given permission to draw them in the context I am known to put boys in!

[silly-inky]

Hiya! Hello! It's me, ya boi

Updates people Updates!

So I'm making this sort of list of things I am in the process of making or should start working on soon (or things I have yet to post about yet) with little updates about them

Dimentio drawing- this is going alright so far but is a somewhat complicated piece where I will have 2 different end results, one with his mask and one without. I'm on the shaping phase of my lineart which is usually fun for me but I decided to take a small break from it as I was put off by how much time I spent on the sketch (about 30 hours) this does not mean the piece is complicated, just that it took a while to get everything right. I will get back to drawing this soon. This is a digital drawing

You were someone to me a lifetime ago- so for those who don't know I have a fic I'm working on. I released chapter 4 last month and hope to start working on the 5th chapter this month. After the last chapter was posted I started working on the layout of the story as up until this point I was just winging it and going with the flow with not much of a plan, but I know I should have some sort of base to follow in order to keep my writing consistent and have proper flow, because of this I have planned several chapters in advance now, and those who enjoy it will be happy to know that this fic will most likely have more than 30 chapters although I cannot say what number there will be specifically. I want to try and get more chapters out in a short amount of time as I don't want to drag this out but I cannot promise anything

My writing and ideas- so as said in a previous post, I have quite a few ideas that I have had but didn't share in here either because I was too lazy, forgot, or was self conscious. I will probably start to work on a few I already have written out and start to post them, I will also start to post more headcanon posts. Because of all these ideas I have had I actually have some other things that i will be able to share, which lead into..

Mario AU- an AU ( alternate universe) of which I made sort of out of the blue by accident which I have slowly been building on and I even have some doodles to go along with the basic lore of it. What is this AU you ask? Well you'll just have to wait and see, I will say that there is definitely some role swap in which makes things very interesting

Shipping- so for some who may have guessed, I am a multi-shipper, which isn't anything new but I preface this because of me delving into these ships a bit more. For instance me drawing Dimentio has sparked a lot of Dimentio and Dimigi (Dimentio x Luigi) ideas to form and be made, I shipped it before hand but I was and still am focused on booigi. So you may very well see some Dimigi soon as well as your scheduled booigi

Please do keep in mind like I have stated many times before, I struggle with motivation a lot and it can be very difficult for me to get things done, I don't know when any of this will be finished and forcing myself to get it all finished now will only burn me out more. I'm sorry I haven't been posting a lot of content recently as I've been struggling with a few things recently, I'll try and get content out for you as soon as I can and I hope it will make up for it. I was hoping that at least by posting this you will be aware of my plans and what is currently in the works so you guys are up to date

Also I wanted to just say that I appreciate the asks so much, it really means a lot and I love answering them! I do want to add if you are one of the 2 maybe 3 people who submitted an ask a little while ago, I just want to say that I haven't forgotten about them, I wish to draw proper responses for them I just haven't gotten around to it hey, I hope to answer them soon for you though

Have some old pics of my son (ignore how pale I am)

[thew0man]

it took me like 30 seconds to find the firefighter you painted over/traced for that secondo drawing. reference images are one thing but come on—you’re more talented than that! you don’t need to do that. alter the reference enough to make it your own. use a different palette. idk. it’s not a big deal but be please just be careful about your sources when you do that kind of thing in the future.

I was going to delete and ignore this but actually - I've done nothing wrong. My first thought when I read this is - you were clearly going out of your way to look up my references… why? The only thing I can think of is that you were wanting to try and be like “a-ha! You copied!”. Indeed, it seems like a weirdly veiled threat. Btw it took me about 15 seconds to find the reference image I used...

I make absolutely no bones about the fact I copy. I trace. A lot of people do. Even artists who are commissioned by Ghost! Le shock! A lot of the time my doodles are a massive Frankenstein of multiple references that I have traced or copied. This one happened to only be two. I didn't want or have time to make a completely convoluted piece that took me hours to research and sketch out.

Why would I need to be careful about photo sources that I’ve copied? Genuine question. It’s a photo that I’ve based a doodle off. Literally all the faces of the papas I’ve copied from photos… so I feel like that’s a really important statement for someone to clarify. If its a photo of a body or a photo of a waterfall...

I’m not charging for my work and never do, I doodle for me. Recently I directly copied a big artists work - I contacted him about it and he gave me his blessing and seemed genuinely pleased I had used his image as a practice image. Im learning colours, textures, lighting, composition. So much can be gleaned in this way.

Indeed I have recently completed a popular digital drawing course which 1) teaches you to trace and 2) teaches you how to get and use the colour palette from your reference image.

I also say that I’m documenting my digital art journey. I only started in September-ish 2023 so 7 months in. One day I would like to just be able to create images direct from my brain, but I doubt I have the talent to. All I do is practice and for fun. Don't take life so seriously.

[pomrania]

Draw Everything June (henceforth DEJ) is coming up, so here's what you need to know about it.

For the month of June, AdorkaStock will be releasing a new pose reference photo each weekday morning; there's a whole event, it's fun and you should look into it if you draw, or you're thinking about drawing, or heck if you write and you're interested in some non-traditional prompts.

Here's how I do DEJ. When I get online for days when there's a new pose, I make a quick doodle of that, then I post "hey here's what the DEJ pose is for today, does anyone have a queer D&D (or other gaming system) character that would fit this pose?" Then I work on neatening up that sketch from reference, getting increasingly obnoxious (because I'm increasing desperate) about asking for a character. Once someone gives me their character to draw in that pose, I ask them about what their character looks like, and work on drawing THAT character in the given pose. I need to know what Pride flag/s apply to the character, because I colour it in using that colour scheme; so, a lesbian character would be rendered in shades of pink and orange, for example. I need to get a piece done before the next pose comes out, and generally that means I need to get it started and finished on the same day, but if a pose releases on Friday then I can work on it over the weekend.

I can't do this without you. Literally, I can't, my brain won't let me; also I don't have any characters of my own to draw. And there's a REALLY long rant I have inside me about this, but it boils down to "just trust me when I say that a) I can only do this a certain way, b) I want to do this, and c) it's not an imposition if I specifically ask for you to make requests".

I like it when multiple different people go "hey my character would work well for this pose", because then I have the option of choice; and if I don't pick your character for THAT pose, then it's going on a list so that character WILL get draw, even if it ends up being in July.

Below the cut I'm putting some more clarification about what characters I'll draw; this hasn't changed from previous years, but if you find yourself thinking "oh they wouldn't draw MY character", please check this to make sure.

Will draw:

a character I drew for a previous year's DEJ

an NPC from your game (if you're the GM)

your queer D&D character

your queer character from a non-D&D TTRPG

your queer character from a weird indie one-shot you'd played once

multiple characters from the same person

your friend's queer TTRPG character, if you can sufficiently describe the character

a character with or without visual reference, and whether you clearly know what they look like or where you just have vague vibes of their appearance or anything in between

a character you're currently playing

a character you're no longer playing

a character you've already made up, but haven't yet gotten the chance to play

a character who has or hasn't had artwork done of them

a character who doesn't have a specific queer identity (the rainbow flag is very useful)

Won't draw:

a character I've already drawn in DEJ 2024, unless that character experienced a massive redesign

a character from an actual-play stream or podcast, because that counts as fanart and not "drawing your character"; UNLESS you're the person who plays that character

a character who isn't queer

your BG3 character, or your character from any other video game, because that's not a TTRPG no matter what its system is based on

a character who exclusively wears all black that covers most of their body (but I can work with you to come up with another outfit for them)

"oh just use my character for whatever pose you need"

your non-game RP character

[pine-niidles]

2024 August Monthly Updates

It's a very text heavy update this month, I'm... working on getting back into the habit of regular art. My art muscles have grown stiff and it's slow going training them back up. It is going though - I've even been doing some sketching in my physical sketchbook this week.

Doodling fish makes for a good warm-up

Website/Blog

I've been wanting to set up a proper art blog for a while. Social media has always been hard for me to keep up with, I've never really had fun posting art online ever since deviantart stopped being good. Figuring out what, when, how to post & keeping up with constant changes... it's been said a million times so I won't get into it, and at the end of the day even if it's frustrating it's still worth it for the connections I make and the art I get to see because of it. Still, I don't want to rely on social media to be the only place where my art lives (it's a sad thought!). That's why I've been compiling art pdfs, it's why I've been looking into physical print making, it's why I started these monthly updates in the first place.

So if you're reading this on my new blog welcome! (if not - it's here) I'm planning to eventually move to hosting it myself but so the moment I'm relying on wordpress, I apologize for the banners. I'm still deciding how I want to do monthly updates from now on - I'll be posting all of them on the new blog for sure but I'm still undecided if I want to continue to cross post them on tumblr & kofi. I have a poll just for that running right now if you have an opinion (or if you don't - it's a nice motivator just to see that people are actually reading these).

Other than monthly updates I'll be posting process breakdowns on here, and more in depth looks at individual projects at various stages of their process. Maybe doing some features (or even reviews?) of other artists/projects. We'll see how it goes! I won't be cross-posting those, thought I'll probably post links to them when I write them (you can also sign up to the email newsletter for this blog at the bottom of the page - though you'll have to make a wordpress account). I know a lot of people use patreon for this kind of thing but I like the freedom of not having an expectation of consistency (or quality).

Fanzines

I've started taking part in fanzines again, there's a couple in particular I'm very excited for! Not much more to say on that topic as I'm not allowed to announce my participation yet but that's something I've been working on this month.

All in Good Time

I've done very little (read:none) art for my own projects this month, but I have done some writing for a couple I've yet to introduce publicly.

The first is a short (12-16 page) self-contained comic featuring a friend of mine and my ocs. I've written a rough script for it and will be working on character designs and art for it when I have a little more free time :)

They Say There is a Monster in These Woods

The second project I was doing writing for is much longer term - I've been toying around with the idea of doing a solo visual novel for some time now and I finally came up with a story idea for one.

The game starts with you in the woods, injured. You stumble across a clear where a lone manor stands and collapse in front of it. When you come to the Lady of the manor greets you, and invites you to stay as her guest for some time while you recover from your injuries and to attend her birthday celebrations in two weeks. You spend this time in the manor getting to know the inhabitants, maybe finding the sparks of romance with one among them, and maybe even figuring out the source of the mysterious rumors that there is a monster in the woods...

\o/ I hope that intro sounds fun to you! I'm certainly excited about it. This will be more of a long term project - both in the fact that it'll be a lot of work to make and because I have other game projects I want to prioritize first, some collab work and some of my own games that are only a couple steps away from completion (Don't Wake the Sleeping Dragon I've not forgotten about you...)

--

And that's all for August! I'm looking forward to Summer ending and the start of Fall, maybe I can do some plein air watercolors of the leaves changing color when that time comes :)

[chimchiri]

Hiii chim, I'm sorry that you're going through a rough time, and I hope that things get better for you soon ;^;

also this is kind of entirely random but I've been following you for some months now, but it was only JUST NOW when I was clicking on your blog trying to think of a question, that I took proper notice of the sticker shop banner you have on your pinned (despite, seeing it all the time orz) AND SAW THAT YOU HAD SALLY FACE STICKERS ON THERE!! I didn't know that was something you like/liked!! :D But that's really awesome to see to me ahhhh it's one of my favorite games

also also I absolutely ADORE the design you made for Gilda, it goes SO HARD and it just looks so good I have to do a double take whenever I see her because, gosh, what she does to my heart is unfair >A<

I'm not great at coming up with questions, but, you mentioned in I think the last poll for Randy and Imani about the trope of fretting over ruining the friendship you have with someone when you catch feelings for them, so my first question is: who would have worse anxeity over their feelings for the other screwing up their friendship, between the two of them?

second question, of all the art you've done for The Tenderness She Gives (which, is a wonderful name for it honestly, it hits me in the heart so strongly), which has been your favorite? :3c

Ohh my god that's such a sweet message, thank you... <3

Funnily, the shop still isn't open. I wanna finish 2-3 more stickers before opening up again. But yes, I do love Sally Face and will definitely play when the second game comes out. I actually also drew a lot of fanart for it and probably will again once the next game comes out. The general tag list is here if you're curious.

And thank you regarding Gilda <3 as mentioned, I am really surprised she got such a positive feedback. I like her design but didn't anticipate people going nuts over her lmao. I saw way more tags/comments about her compared to other art.

Regarding Randy and Imani and that trope - god I'm such a huuuuuuge sucker for it... I imagine Imani as very curious and experimental in nature so I don't see her being that anxious about it. But then again, I think I love Randy falling for her pretty early on in their teenage years and covering it with jokes and over-the-top and thus not serious flirting. I can see Randy being anxious for years to not advance anything in their friendship because she can tell Imani doesn't have feeling for her. Yet - because I like to think Imani starts to get flustered once Randy is well-known secure in her job as deputy captain. Honestly I could see Imani need a nudge into the right direction from all other women fawning over Randy. As in, she probably only starts to see Randy's romantic potential once she actually starts paying attention outside of their friendly banter. (I imagine her head is always all over the place so she just doesn't see Randy in any intimate/romantic way before). But after that, she definitely also has anxiety over making a move. Not as much as Randy though.

As for the fave pieces.... I actually adooooore the two butches and have been cursing myself for not drawing them more.

For Imani and Randy I really like the teenage doodle I made for the poll here. I just like their younger versions in the sketch <3

[kafus]

What's your drawing process? (program, brushes, layers, ect)

alright i can finally answer this now that i'm on my computer and have my art program open lol

i use krita! i've been using it for 7 years now and the sheer amount of hotkeys i use is so embedded into my brain and muscle memory, i don't think i could use any other art software unless it controls exactly the same at this point (sorry this is the millionth time you guys have seen this doodle i did it's just still what i have open. i never closed out of krita after finishing it LOL)

i think my process is honestly pretty standard for digital art when it comes to most things, i do a sketch (not pictured here but i usually sketch in black and then just lower the opacity of the sketch layer), either clean that up or do lines on top on a different layer, flat color underneath, then use a mix of layer settings on new layers to apply light and shadow if relevant. multiply and overlay my beloved

might be obvious from my brush palette over here, but i am really simplistic when it comes to brushes... i rarely have to venture outside of this group. lately i've been using the slightly rougher brush in the bottom left for lining for the sake of some texture but almost all my art is made with these brushes alone, even my more rendered and detailed stuff. iirc these are all default krita brushes lol (not pictured is when i occasionally swap to the pixel brush for pixel stuff)

sometimes i do experiment though, like this piece i did months ago was done entirely with a translucent pixel brush on a single layer LMAO

funny thing to note as well is even in my rendered stuff with a lot of layers i never name my layers so i'm constantly switching layers on and off to find the right one like a dumbass. i should really start naming my layers fdsjioojsdf. oh and highly recommend double checking work for values by putting a saturation layer set to full grayscale above everything and flipping it on to see the piece without color sometimes... i do that a lot

feel free to ask if you had any other questions about how i actually... draw? the way this question was worded made me go in a more "how i interact with my art program" direction and not how i actually draw if that makes sense but i'm not sure if that was actually your intention

[twinvenus]

2022 SUMMARY OF ART!!!!

JAN/FEB

it was a really slow start this year... in january i didnt actually finish anything, all i have to show for that period is a single flight rising drawing -- i had another one, but it's now Lost Media (sadly) from when i got my new PC.

(more recounting under da cut! i've included a lot of unposted/unfinished sketches down here!)

MARCH

march was a lot of desperate attempts to get back into drawing by sketching out little character designs i never posted, mostly wizards. that wizard right there is my favourite of the bunch. Fantastic energy from this creature.

APRIL

april is when i started getting into working on Gnome Lore that i have on my site, gnomes.neocities.org! gnomes are my special interest so the enthusiasm of learning about gnome mythology/history, and my own ideas for gnomes, actually got me COLOURING PIECES. incredible feeling.

this was the back end of my flight rising fixation, and included a few humanised sketches of my dragons Mirth and Gerana, pictured above. i was also getting really into WoW again at this time, so there were plenty of little wow-inspired sketches. + a bonus Jurgen from sam and max in the bottom left!

MAY

the gnoments (gnome moments) carried on into the month of may as i designed other known mythological creatures. i also rehashed a beloved old DnD gnome OC called April and included her in that lore. love that lil gal.

during this month i got really into working on my neocities page, and so a lot of art i did was assets for that. you can see a majority of my May drawings over there on the lore page. :-)

JUNE

june was a month of OC swag for me. i was totally inspired in the month leading up to ArtFight and put my heart into character design! from this beautiful month i got one of my new favourite pieces, shown there, of my ocs ZAP! APPLE and STEP KID. they're inspired by the band The Avalanches, specifically the album Wildflower. during this month i also created some of my newest and favourite OCs such as RANBOLIN, Beanie Boy, and Professor PJ!

during this i also did some new art for characters like irene, nadia, and D.A. Private Eye. i think a vast majority of this can be found in my "ocs" tag...

JULY

and here it comes.... my traditional Best Month for art. i was popping off HARD this month even though i didn't do as much as last time. i am SO happy with everythign that came out of this year's artfight, deeply. here are some of my favourite pieces from that period:

i was really into one-layer drawings this year. these were all done on two layers MAX, with the binary brush on sai. it really pushed me to be creative with my colours and detailing, and it's become one of my favourite ways to draw.

YOU MAY HAVE NOTICED. that the art for july features a certain Recurring Character. this is because in the month or so prior i had begun rewatching Naruto with my brothers. although the full-force naruto hyperfixation didn't settle in until months later this was the beginning of it. Rotating gaara in my mind always.

AUGUST

hmm... august got quite slow again. i might have been burnt out from going so hard in the other couple months. i have a few odd doodles from that month aside from the birthday gift to @l0gitex you see there, including THESE:

i also started developing a naruto OC when some brainrot started to settle in. their name is kodama, after the tree spirits. i wanted them to be from konoha, you know, to match -- originally i wanted them to have that wood type stuff, but recently i've been thinking that something to do with funghi and mycelium networks might be really interesting, especially due to their connection with trees, and how kodama live inside trees. these were some outfit concepts but i think i'll change their colour palette to match konoha more. more blues and browns i think.

SEPTEMBER

the dawn of my BRIEF SPLATOON ERA! i haven't played since that month LMAOOOOO! anyways, i drew a few splatoon-related pictures in that time.

birth of Blupi. as well as this September is the beautiful month in which i began to learn using Blender. here's a little ref drawing for the gaara model! (why do i keep doing stuff with gaara?????):

i was so proud of how that model came out. i had some other models of OCs like tomato cloun and one of ranbolin i never finished rigging (i hate weight painting so much oh my god-)

OCTOBER

man i wish halloween was like, anything here. during this month i started working again on my gnomes page so there were some more little designs done, visible on the lore page! specifically, the boggart and warren gnome were from October, as well as Awesome Rando.

NOVEMBER

november was kind of an epic month for my OCs, actually! alongside my interest in naruto REALLY starting to fire up again i was redrawing and bringing back older OCs as well as bringing in beloved Clary! here are Ranbolin and Dee as well. <3 let's go girls

beyond this the naruto brainrot had really settled in. so i began drawing my favourite characters: you know who. happy birthday Rock Lee!

DECEMBER

OHHHHHHHH HERE WE GOOOOOOOOO!!!! DEPTHS OF HYPERFIXATION STRIKE!! i know i've posted a lot of art lately, and i'm so excited that i have -- i didn't know if i'd ever get this stoked again since earlier in the summer but i am so INTO IT RN!!!!!

check out this hinata wip:

awesome thing about being fixated is i tend to finish a lot more of my drawings, it really carries my enthusiasm. so i'm hoping to have this picture finished soon! if not, many more will be finished in its place.

man if you read all of this ur a real one, thank you so much. i'm so excited to see what comes in art for 2023!!!!! MY wicked hands will concoct such bountiful imagery. I can feel it

[fowl-leaf]

My 2022 summary of art!

Blank

I haven't really been consistently posting my art anywhere for the past year or two, but I figured I might as well still do a summary of art since I like doing them.

I was reluctant to put any arpg stuff on here since that's generally just doodles, but I ended up having to since I was so busy with 3D modeling some months that I didn't have any other completed pieces from those months to show.

Full images and commentary below the cut! It's long.

JANUARY

Herman reading a book (about making soup)

I like this one bc of the pink color

FEBRUARY

Spring fern, my beloved

This was just going to be a quick doodle, but I ended up adding some rim lighting just cause

MARCH

Gale!

The sketch is from some point in 2021, but I didn't clean it up or color till later on in 2022 so I'm counting this drawing for this year lol

I realized that I haven't finished many drawings of her so I decided to fix that with this one.

APRIL

More Spring fern!

This time, surrounded by fern-like palm trees. Because ferns.

I liked choosing the colors for this one a lot

MAY

Whisper, but she's a merfolk instead of a scalie (Whisper is normally an axolotl)

In peak irony, one of my rare humanoid drawings was the only piece I felt like posting to my FA

I'm pretty sure this is the first time I actually tried doing mermay, so this gets to go on the list too (got 2 drawings in before I got bored and quit)

JUNE

Strudel flash prompt that I drew quickly

I wasn't digging the set of many sequential but connected prompts, which is why I ended up going for a different look.

Which reminds me, I don't think I've logged into toyhouse for a while now so there's probably a bunch of missed connections since I put a bunch of characters UFT. Will fix that later!

JULY

Ah, good ol' artfight month.

I liked how this drawing of several of Nul's forms turned out the best, so this drawing gets the spotlight for this month. (Nul and all variants belong to @kitsicles)

I had a stye in my better eye for a noteworthy part of this month, so I couldn't draw as well as I wanted to and ended up simplifying high effort pieces because of that.

AUGUST

Bobby the alchemist

bottom text

(didn't finish any noteworthy personal art, so arpg art goes here)

SEPTEMBER

GG Marzi on the run

bottom text

(again, no noteworthy personal art finished, so arpg it is)

OCTOBER

Software test of Rebelpaint, and I like it a lot. Exactly what I wanted!

Tbh I liked this a lot more than anything else I finished this month, so it gets to go here. Funny ocean creacher indeed.

NOVEMBER

Vix and Whisper

I was really busy, so my favorite thing was a meme drawover I did with some OCs. 500% cannon to their oc lore.

DECEMBER

I was initially going to put the deer, but remembered that I actually drew it last year and just colored it this year because I forgot about it until I was digging thru my files for mostly complete wips.

So instead, I'm putting this partially complete drawing of Ring I was working on

It's not done, but it's complete enough to count for this year imo.

---

For reading this far, you get to see a very incorrect coloration of blizz

Here's to a [hopefully] better 2023!

[cheswirls]

oh the woes of having multiple hobbies....

i think it being artfight month is making me sink back into the 'i shouldn't want to do anythin but draw until this is done' mood i usually have during the semester which is.. ick, kinda

the other day i had the urge to write (unmedicated too!! that doesn't happen very often anymore!) and i should've jus acted upon that but i ended up guilttripping myself w the whole 'you should do art instead its only 30 days its only once a year' which is already so suffocating. i ended up doing neither actually in part bc i psyched myself out abt making a choice so in the nd i made no choice (typical when unmedicated so this is the okay-ish norm tbh) and think i tired myself out enough to go to sleep. i woke up to an art file on my laptop so i intented to start smth i guess

also i think checking out an ipad from campus during the semester is so much easier to draw on vs the hassle that is drawing on my display tablet these days. i miss my wacom if only bc it was wireless and thin and easy to power on and get going. with this new tablet i have to plug in 3 diff cords and its bulkier nd i gotta scoot my laptop on my desk to still be in reach bc the tablet has no touch function and it takes A LOT of power and effort out of my laptop thats 12 yrs old now. it makes drawing digitally that much more of a chore tbh and is partially the reason i've doodled so much traditionally in the past year and kept all my digital art for uni work only

which another point. is uh. idk i think i'm rambling now but. last year i got super excited for artfight and drafted a bunch of stuff digitally and was sitting at the coffee table in the main room of my apt for the first time in so long and it was going well until i got rly into tetherverse again n started working on the sequel like mad and that stole away a lot of my drawing motivation. i had two handfuls of of artfight attacks sketched and only ever finished a SINGLE one last year which was terribly disappointing. and then i think realizing that at the end of the month absolutely killed my desire to work on the writing project i'd grown so passionate about too. vicious cycle all around rly.

i dont want it to be llike that this year but once again now that artfight is here even tho its a fun thing i've made it a "requirement" in my mind which kills all my passion to work on it. i think the term is... obligation? when something turns from doing it for fun into an obligation i Have to complete then i lose allllllll motivation and desire to do it. it's THEEE reason i'm always telling my dad i could never write books for a living, bc writing is a hobby first nd foremost and although i enjoy it a lot i know as soon as i become tied down to a project and i Have To complete it or face consequences then it will suck all the fun out of it

this is the same way for school and part of the reason uni's been so hard since.... ever, really, and it's jus taken me long to realise it. i get really into an art project at the start and then as deadlines and check-ins and such creep up i become less and less engaged. i have no trouble completing things in one sitting if given the time to do so if i'm 100% invested and engaged. during spring break 2022 i stayed up for almost three nights and two days and did nothing but research and write almost 25k for a fic opener. if i had work or anything else those days i literally cannot recall. the only thing i remember doing is taking a break to walk 15min to go and pay rent and that's when it rly set in how much caffeine i'd had and how long i'd been up writing.

all of that to say that if i'm into something i can waste away working until it's done. i've said this before bit making a wip folder for art Killed™ my art creating process. i used to have one file open and work on it until it was done, and if that took me more than one full day then i'd sleep on it and finish it the very next day. i don't rmember that happening very often. now i leave things unfinished all the time and its terrible. i also have a Lot Less free time to be fair but also. also. i cannot multitask so as soon as i save a wip and move on to the next it fucking bites the dust. i've gotten into the habit of leaving smth unfinished in another window on csp in hopes that i'll jump bck to it but i stopped that after a while bc i jus collect windows like i collect internet browser tabs.

i also think to go along w the time thing.. i have to mentally acknowledge that i have sufficient time to devote to smth. i'm not the type of person that can do smth for 15 min then jump up and do smth else. if i could write 100 words a day for a fic every day then i'd have far, far less wips than i do now. its harder especially to do this for fic bc a lot of what i do is longer work and sometimes i have to sink into it. if i'm writing for a 50k+ fic i haven't touched for even a month then i need time to go over what i have and what my plans are. it's much harder to work on a longer fic after a bit has passed than it is to pick up a shorter one bc it requires less time to dive back into the world. especially if its been like 6mo-1yr, before i even start writing again i gotta reread everything i've written up to that point. that takes more than a day, and i might get tired and move on to smth else before i've even finished rereading which is so exhausting. it's exhausting to work on so many diff things at once.

with art that means i gotta have time to fight w my display tablet and get everything settled. it takes so much work and effort that if i only have a couple hours, i feel like even that's not enough bc i know i'll have to stop before i'm done. if it takes me 90 minutes to get into drawing and i gotta be ready to leave in another 30 then like whats???? the point rly???? that's how i think tho!!!! it sucks !!!!! if i'm up at 8am but ik i have smth to do at 5p then my whole day revolves around that thing happening in 9 hrs. when it hits 12p i theoretically have enough time to do smth but executive dysfunction makes it hard to pick a singular task to prioritize, and when its 3hrs away from w/e i have to do suddenly nothing is worth it anymore. i'm very much a 'sink into it' creative person which means i cannot jus dive in and work on smth. i gotta have music, i gotta have some focus, i gotta be comfortable, i gotta have my mood set to w/e i'm doing, i gotta know what direction i'm going in,a nd i gotta have energy and enthusiasm to do said creative task. all of that aligning w/ inattentive adhd is so hard and makes life so miserable, but this is compounded even moreeeeeee by not being able to work unless i make my mind feel like i have ample time to do so. mainly bc if i get rly into smth then have to stop for an obligation that i'd rather do less (mainly work! rather would do anything but work but alas) than what i'm doing currently then it drains all my energy very rapidly and i get so disappointed. w/e i'm doing after, whether it be work or class or w/e, is with an air of such disdain bc it interrupted the 'special thing i was doing' that it makes life hell in all honesty. i want to put myself thru that the least amount of times possible which is why i never start anything i know i'll have to put down w/o being able to finish. let me rephrase that. being able to finish as i'd like it. working on a super long fic but writing enough for a chapter or running out of steam on my own and finishing a scene and then being dragged away to smth else is fine, bc i've "finished" on my end even if not in full. it's being interrupted in the middle of the process when i'm not ready to quit, basically. that kind of "finished" is what i mean. if i have 2 hrs and it takes me an hr to find references and i'm not exhausted after that then another 20m to sketch smth decent and only with like half an hr or so left am i into what i'm doing then what's the point?? especially when, as established, i can push a drawing into the wip folder and forget abt it if i'm no longer "into it" when i'm back and have time to draw again.

long rambling i'm tired of but basically it's the season of drawing obligations again and i wanna try this year to have fun and do what i want but ALSo not feel guilty abt doing smth that is not drawing for other ppl, which i already do so much of year round anyway (i love it, this is not a complaint). i wanna be able to write and play pkmn and read and do whatever and not feel like i Have to be artfighting every second of the day.