#i hate this coloring but i'm posting it anyway bc i've been working on it for several days now even tho it's SO SHORT

[matbaynton]

Mat Baynton in HORRIBLE HISTORIES (2009-2014)

[lowkeyrobin]

I'm sorry for spamming you I'm just really excited--

Reader who also streams and just rants a lot while they play Stardew Valley?

Like mid milking a cow or something they pause the game and rant about how to kiss someone or smth?...

-🌕 anon! <3

AH OMG DONT WORRY ABOUT SPAMMING I LOVE YOU GUYS 🫶🫶🫶 but I absolutely love this LMAO I made this into a preference setup instead of a oneshot bc I didn't know exactly who you wanted and I was having difficulty finding a way to stretch it out that long anyways. idk much about stardew valley so bare with me, I rewatched Tommy's video of him playing w Molly to help me 💀💀

MCYT ; stardew valley rants

includes ; tommyinnit, ranboo, tubbo, freddie badlinu, niki nihachu, foolish gamers & quackity

warnings ; language

masterlist

TOMMYINNIT

you'll just be doing some tasks and be like "you know, I've never kissed anyone before. like, how does that work?"

meanwhile Tommy came over a little bit ago to hang out after stream and he just looks at you like 🤨😨

"youve never kissed anyone?? wait... we haven't kissed before? y/n/n, what?"

you shake your head no, confirming that you guys actually never kissed somehow, your relationship was kinda new in both of your defenses.

"we've only been dating like, 2 months, it's fine"

"ARE YOU TRYING TO BE A KISSING VIRGIN FOREVER????"

literally have your first kiss on stream bro

THE EDITS 🫶🙏 I CANT EVEN

the cutest shit ever

TUBBO

you were playing stardew valley for a little calm/lofi stream before you went out to film with tubbo & tommy for a little challenge video

you got a little quiet after a while and started ranting about drama at school

you had some class time with a bunch of popular girls and you didn't exactly fit in with them and drama was starting to arrise

for a solid hour you were ranting about it

tubbo had your stream on as bg noise as he was on the bus to meet up with you and tommy

when you meet up afterwards his first words to you are "did you actually just rant for an hour about school drama?"

you nod and awkwardly smile cause you didn't know he was watching

"you're interesting to say the least"

"you are too!"

RANBOO

you literally paused the whole game mid-farming to rant about some restaurant you and ranboo went to the past day

chat was exploding with "oooo they went on a date" and you were just like "guys it was good food, 10/10"

they get you to join a call with them and you guys talk about it together and your whole experience and how awesome the food was

not to mention the aesthetic of the restaurant was so well put together

you got back to your stream with a little story for your viewers

BADLINU

you started ranting about a movie/show you're fixated on at the moment

went through all the lore, all the characters, background info, etc

Freddie was watching and using tts to talk to you

he encouraged it dw

like he was holding a convo w you and everything it was the cutest shit ever

the edits.

also people clipped the whole like half hour long thing and posted it to YouTube like "y/u/n and badlinu talk about ___!"

you don't even remember it within a week but HE DOES

just one of those cute relationship moments he loves to think about

QUACKITY

you were playing stardew while he was playing gta and you were on a vc together

so obv it kinda sounded crazy 💀💀

"y/n I'm gonna drive my Honda Accord over there and kill all your cows!"

"I swear to God, quackity, don't even dare"

not really ranting but you were yelling threats at him and shit LMAO

NIHACHU

you guys were playing together 🫶

you were teaching her how to do everything and stuff

you eventually went on a tangent about things you do and don't like about the game

she was agreeing to your solid points and stuff

that turns into a rant about hair color and if she can color your hair for you LMAO

FOOLISH GAMERS

"Dude, how do people do that van life shit? I'd die doing that"

straight up hour and a half rant about how much you hate van life tik tokkers while playing stardew valley

he's in your chat like "Yes 100 percent" and adding onto your points LMAO

you both share a hate for van life mfs

[eldritch-nightmare]

❝ it's not much, but i got you this. ❞

notes: prompt credit. i've never actually fully written anything for cody now that i think about it... i hope i do him nicely!! since it took me literally forever to post this, the other two prompts won't be valentine's base, though i may still use the prompts i chose for them bc. i like them. anyways!! i'm actually actively job hunting right now, which is why i've been so busy lately and haven't had much time to write. but i'll try working on some stuff soon!! for now, i hope you all enjoy this incredibly, very messy and late valentine's day post. thanks for being patient with me guys, it means a lot <3

pairing: x virus x gn!reader

word count: 983.

warnings: established relationship, fluff, cody is awkward as fuck when it comes to romance he's just like me frfr, wrapping paper is his biggest enemy, very mild angst like... a pinch of salt type of angst, cody is a perfectionist but idk if i portrayed that well enough here.

Cody stared at the clumsily wrapped gift placed in front of him, his arms crossed and his brows furrowed as he glared at the gift as if it had scorned him in some way.

And to him, it basically has.

You see, the gift he's been trying to wrap neatly and nicely is something he got for you, his lovely significant other. This is the first Valentine's Day he's spending with you, and while it doesn't have to be perfect, he would at least like to wrap your gift in a way that isn't... ugly.

It's not even that big of a gift. It's just a little bracelet he made in his spare time, so why the hell is it so hard to wrap in the little box he got for it?

He could just ask someone to help him wrap the gift, but that feels... I mean... it feels like that would be cheating? Strangely enough? Like... he made this for you, so he should be the one to wrap it up as well, no matter how annoying and how difficult it was starting to become.

It feels like it'll mean more if he does this himself.

But he's been here for like almost two hours now trying to wrap the box, and it looks so messy and it's covered in tape and honestly, the wrapping paper's color looks uglier and uglier the longer he looks at it and it just doesn't seem good enough for you. It could be so much better.

You deserve so much better. And if he could kill the wrapping paper, he would, truthfully.

Cody silently glares for a moment longer before letting out a sigh in defeat, resting his forehead against the surface of the desk in his workshop and grumbling quietly to himself.

The wrapping paper wins this round, but he'll do better next time.

With a huff, he sits up straight, giving the poorly wrapped box one final glance before grabbing it and standing up. It was time to actually give you the gift. And hope that you don't dump him for his poor wrapping skills. Do people do that? He's not sure. He hopes not. He'd hate for you to dump him.

Oh god, what if you dump him?

"Cody?"

"Fucking hell-" Cody nearly loses grip on the box in his hand when your voice suddenly pops up behind him, startling him so badly that he jumped a bit. He looked strangely similar to a dog that got caught doing something it wasn't meant to be doing.

And judging from the way he had quickly hidden his hands behind his back, awkwardly looking off to the side to avoid eye contact with you, you can't help but wonder if he had maybe done something.

"How long have you been standing there?" He asks, and your brow quirks up slightly at how strangely nervous he sounded. His behavior sort of reminded you of the day he had asked you out.

"Long enough to be concerned about whether or not I need to hide wrapping paper from you in the future." You respond, smiling a bit to yourself when you see Cody relax a bit at the joke you cracked.

"Ha ha. Funny." He blandly responds, though you don't miss the way his lips twitch upwards slightly. You deem your joke a success, even if he behaved otherwise.

"So, you wanna tell me what it is you're hiding behind your back? Or is it another one of your... projects?" You ask, crossing your arms and patiently waiting for his response.

And that made him tense up again.

He doesn't know why he felt so nervous about giving you a gift, poorly wrapped or not. I mean, you're literally dating each other, so he shouldn't get nervous like this, right? But also like, you're the first person he's ever dated and he honestly didn't think it would last this long even if it has only been a few months since he asked you out but still! Still!

He shouldn't be this nervous, honestly.

"Okay, so, like," He cringes slightly at the way his voice cracks a bit as he speaks, "Uhm, you know how it's Valentine's Day, right? I, uh, maybe it's silly but..." He trails off, seemingly debating whether or not he should actually continue before he's suddenly holding out a box in front of you.

It wasn't actually that poorly wrapped. Truthfully, it's way better than anything you could ever do. The wrapping paper was even your favorite color.

You take the box from him, glancing down at it before looking back up at Cody. He simply motioned for you to open the box, so you peel the wrapping paper off and do just that, taking the lid off the box to see the handmade bracelet neatly placed inside.

"It's not much, but I got you this," He awkwardly rubs the back of his neck, "I mean, if you don't like it, I can make you something else! I know it's not the best thing in the world, but-"

"I love you."

He falls silent at your words, his nervous rambling cut off as he stares at you. You look up from the bracelet to stare at him, and your expression was so serious and genuine that it almost felt as if the air had been forced out of his lungs.

"Cody, I love you." You repeat.

"Oh," He stutters a bit, "I love you too." His words are a bit quieter compared to yours. It felt awkward saying those words out loud knowing you could actually hear him.

But the smile that bloomed on your face made him forget about all of that, and you nod, satisfied with his response, "Good. Now, help me make you one so we can match."

And who is he to say no to you and matching bracelets?

[leggyre]

You got any adivce for someone who's considering dropping drawing completely since they don't like what they're making at all?

honestly i've been in the same struggle recently bc it just hasn't been a good year for me. i haven't been drawing a lot bc most of the time i'm either sick or i just.. can't. I've been picking myself up as of late and it's a really difficult grind, but honestly the fact i've been able to actually start this grind is already good for now. I guess that counts as advice; be patient with yourself. Self-esteem doesn't come easy and the little steps are worth so much more than you think.

ok so uh,

-if you just started, don't think about it too much. we all start with the weird scribbles. if you stop now you might never get back to it -if you've been trying to doodle often and always end up hating the result, just take a break. art block is seasoning for burnout and you might just be tired. a lot of times i've felt bad about my art i kinda "gave up" for a while and when i came back to it it was like "wtf this easy what was my issue (it was burnout)". so take a break, play some videogames or hang out with your friends for a week. idk write essays about the media you like? it feels like you're being unproductive but resting IS part of productive because just pushing yourself will just result in nothing being done at the end of the day. -look at your favorite work! im not quite out of my latest artblock yet because its a tough one(it's been teaming up with depression caused by health problems it suuuuucks :/), but when i went long enough without being able to draw I kinda started feeling like I can't do shit and can't call myself an illustrator at all specially bc what i do isnt that big of a deal compared to others(<- comparison also big mistake remember youre the only one who can make YOUR art), going through my folders and seeing the stuff I like the most gave me a LOT of motivation to keep going, even if I was still unable to start drawing right away. not giving up is so important. -so yeah love your art. focus on drawing things you like because it's a gift from you to you, and you should treat it as such. i know it's really hard to be positive about it all the time but it can be really good to go through all your artwork at the end of a day and look at the things you like about it, even if it isn't much. -on that note, find something you really like drawing!!! back in high school i had massive periods of depression that kept me from drawing but i occasionally found sort of a 'life hack' for myself which were things i was always able to work with even during the worst times. one of them was just.. bees. i just doodled random characters as these bees and made og designs too and it was fun. the other one was using colored pencils instead of a regular one bc i just like colors and it made me happy :] it didnt matter that they always had the same overall shape or if i couldnt erase when i messed up, i was just feeling good being able to draw something that i liked. -experiment more!! expand your palettes and download some new brushes. i even change from my newest to my old busted tablet that still sorta works occasionally because using a tool that feels different is.. refreshing somehow? idk -when you need to get yourself back up, do the little steps at your own pace. do a little doodle every day. it's okay if it's always the same thing. the same character. the exact same idea. it's okay if it sucks or if it's unfinished because you struggled. Just give it little pushes. What matters is to try. and it's okay if you can't do it every day. maybe every other day if you need a slower pace. -and remember. engagement doesn't measure your skill. art is subjective anyways!!!!! i spent YEARS doodling and posting only my ocs and getting little to no notes. i think one of my favorite artworks from the time i had ~100 followers had like 0 notes for the longest time. to be honest i don't even know if it has any likes at all nowadays i'd have to look it up bc it's a bit buried

[milkbreadtoast]

Ask and ye shall receive! I am here to ask you to tell us all about your OCs! What kind of world do they live in? What kind of story do you want to tell with them? Their personalities? Your favorite aspects of each of them? What do you associate with them, like, what thing, when you see it, makes you go "ohhhhh! This reminds me of them!" Please tell us!

OMG.... THANK U FOR ASKING AAAH 🥺🥺🥺 so im going to answer this for the 2 OCs i drew and posted most recently... these guys...

FIRST OF ALL want to start off w a disclaimer that I'm going to talk abt them as if it's like. a story or webtoon or webnovel that im going to make but in reality i think theres a slim chance of me making that a reality even tho i rly want to TT but its still fun to think abt/develop them...

This OC story has a main 4 (2 guys and 2 girls); there's a 💙girl, 💚guy (the 2 protagonists) and ❤️girl and 💜guy (on the opposing/"antagonist" side). This story is actually based off a dream I had back in 2018 LMAO but my subconscious just gave me the very basic concept/vibes (like a prompt basically) and i had to flesh it out from there... also only 3/4 showed up in the dream, the 💜guy I had to make from scratch and he went thru the most changes(+all r still being developed)

-what kind of world do they live in?

So in this universe there's a power system/a small percent of the population has powers... I've just been generically calling them "psychic powers/espers" like in mp100 (超能力/초능력, lit: superpowers) bc i dont have a name for them like "nen" or anything... I'm not going to go into detail of how it works yet but I think it does share some similarities w mp100 (like how some r born w it and others can awaken it thru stress)... Anyway, both 💚 and 💜 are very strong psychics(aka have strong power)... I think all 4 of the main charas have some powers, or at least 3/4 (💙 is also a very strong psychic.) Other than that I guess it takes place in modern day Korea..? Except... I may be Korean American but I know very little about actual Korea/have never lived there, so if I was ever to make this story a reality(again prob neverㅠ), I'd have to do a lot of research and/or have a Korean writing partner/consultant...

-their personalities (v basic intro)

💚guy... His name is Hyojun (lastname tbd) and he's the son of a rly rich family (3/4 mcs are from rich familys...def influenced by ouran smhdsj). Even tho he's from rich society, he doesn't really look or act like it (he's handsome, but has a rough/rowdy look), and really detests this environment and most of the people; finds them suffocating, obnoxious, scummy, Fake, etc. He has a rebellious personality, hates rules and values freedom... He's also really good at and enjoys fighting/sparring. He is a powerful psychic and is also physically strong (knows martial arts + how to fight). (yyh yusuke is def one of his influences heh..) The "hyo" in his name means filial piety/duty... basically a name given with the hope that he'd be an obedient and dutiful son...

His color motif is green💚 and his animal motif is snake🐍 (secondary motif: lizards in general). He's one of the 2 protagonists!! (The other is the 💙girl)

I like the idea of one of the protags having an atypical animal motif that's often associated with evil (or being slimy/conniving etc) like a snake... tried to incorporate this subtly into his design too (slit pupils + cute fang(s)... the fangs give him a cat/dogboy look but it's actually bc snake motif😙)

💜🦋: I kind of designed him to be a foil to hyojun and contrast him in many ways... He's one of the main "antagonists" of the story! (in that he's on the side opposing the "protagonists"... not that he's necessarily "evil"...) He's the heir to a very rich & powerful family, and Unlike the rough and rebellious Hyojun, he's refined, elegant, reserved, calm, polite and gentle. His design is made to look very soft in contrast to Hyojun's sharp edges (literally designed him to contrast hyojun in as many ways as possible lmao🫣). He's also a powerful psychic. He and his family are involved in some shady business behind the scenes... He usually seems kind and gentle, but he's hiding a lot of things behind his smile... He and Hyojun may be opposites in terms of personality, but they may have more similarities than they seem. 👀 I'm being vague but KDJSKDN basically know that he's the smiley faker type... like Clotted Cream Cookie... (clotted actually matched so many of the ideas i had for this OC which I think is 1 reason why I got so attached to him when he came out bdkbdn... his lore is diff but his personality/vibes r p similar + both have parental issues/trauma...)

His color motif is purple💜 (+yellow) and his motif is butterfly🦋!! (/moths? +insects in general) I really love this motif for him bc butterflies have an image of being docile, fragile, gentle and pretty... I love the trope of villains/antagonists with aesthetics/motifs that are soft/pretty/unassuming and atypical of villains... Just like w hyojun having a 🐍 motif as a protagonist... But I also love the butterfly motif because besides being pretty, as insects, there's a somewhat creepy/horror element to them too? I think the duality of butterflies suits the duality of his chara perfectly... And I tried to incorporate the motif into his design thru his spotted eyes... They're normally light on dark and look like sparkly eyeshines, but the colors invert when he's using his powers and become dark spots on light, inspired by spotted butterfly eyes (u can google "butterfly eyes"), creating an entirely different vibe + invoking slight trypophobia (but in the latest/final iteration of his design I simplified the spots to just 3 as to not go overboard)

(Btw I actually wanted all the psychic charas eyes to look diff when using their powers as a cool visual indicator... 💜's are prob the coolest atm but Hyojun💚's eyes also change/invert; they go from black w a light green slit pupil to green with a black slit pupil)

-what kind of story do u want to tell w them?

If I had to describe it, it'd be like a mix of a shounen/action genre piece (action scenes, fighting, facing an evil org, superpowers etc) and at the same time play heavily off of/include a lot of elements/tropes of the shoujo/romance genre??? This won't make sense without more context but... there'd be a lot of insp from/playing off of (and subverting) tropes from shoujo romance manga/webtoons... while at the same time blending it with the action genre... The goal is to draw heavily from both and take these tropes and mash and twist them up and create something new and really fun (and hopefully funny... I def want it to be a comedy kdhfj. But also I want it to include well rounded characters with deep and angsty backstories and relationships... def a lot of overcoming trauma...) Even the makeup of the main 4 mirrors the main character tropes of both the action/shounen and romance/shoujo genres... there's 4 main charas, mirroring the main 4 of some of my fav shounens (mainly YYH and HxH), but they're also evenly split in terms of gender, 2 guys and 2 girls, which mirrors the main cast formula of the romance genre (ex: female lead, male lead, sub male lead, sub female lead/rival)... It's definitely going to have a strong theme of friendship/found family/platonic bonds (as is typical of shounen genre) bc I eat that sht up... It wouldn't be classified as a "romance", but that doesn't mean it won't have romance... just not in the direction one might expect... Idk how much I should say but it'd be sooo hetbait dkbfdjd I love the idea so much... (hetbait but actually gay kshdjdh)

Anyway I want to make a story that'd have readers (like the webtoon commenters i see) confused about what genre it is lmaoo... like is this supposed to be action or romance... and also be like who am i supposed to ship... KFJSKJ (i have my own ships but it'd be fun to see who ppl would ship during the course of it... ppl liking diff ship dynamics... fantasizes abt it being a real thing even tho it prob wont happen lmao)

I need to draw updated art of 💙girl and ❤️girl..!! In the meantime here's some older art of 💙girl(2021-2022) that I apparently never posted... my pookie she is everything to me mfbdn Her name is Seol!

And here's some even older art (2018-2019)!! I've had these charas since 2018 (well... 💜 didnt exist back then... conceptualized in 2019) but I only drew/developed them once in a blue moon bc i usually just draw fanart of my hyperfixations🥹... sorry for neglecting u, ocs...

edit: I realized I forgot a very important piece of info... ages MCNDNB Hyojun and Seol are both 20 (at least for now? it could change) and 💜guy(NEED TO NAME HIM SOON FR) is like 1-2 yrs older. hmm... when i first made them they were my age but now theyre younger lmaoo. Maybe I'll age them up or not but they're all over 18 at least

[ambivartence]

sorry in advance if you've already answered a question like this but i just wanted to ask, how do you improve on drawing?? i think especially for things like coloring, shading, and lighting , its been difficult for me to be happy with how it looks because compared to the sketch (that i think already looks nice) the colors just seem sort of flat and muddy and i feel like i dont have a good grip on what colors to put where and how to make it look unflatt if that makes sense! just curious on maybe what kinds of practices and studying you do for this(if any))<33 obv you dont have to answer if you dont want to, and thank you for being one of my inspirations, love youu<33333

hihi!! for simply shading/lighting, i would suggest you only work in black and white until you're totally comfortable with developing values. why? marco bucci explains it really nicely in this video but basically if you have good values u can have absolutely garbage nonsense colors and it will still make sense aka when i did this lol:

i'm guessing you're more interested in colored artwork though since black and white drawings can't be "flat and muddy" bc theyre in grayscale lol. for coloring, this is so tough for me too so i thought about this for a day or so and i came up with 3 tips that might help^^ 1) getting colors directly from photo reference or color reference, 2) manually adding filters/color harmony, and 3) studying color theory

i always work from photo reference so it informs a lot of my coloring/shading/lighting and often when i don't understand what color I'm looking at i directly just eye drop it and realize that what i thought was purple was actually just a gray-red. working from an actual picture helps make sure my colors don't look strange and while i used to think eye-dropping felt like "cheating" when i worked digitally honestly i've learned a lot from it and honestly if i stare at a color long enough i can get it pretty accurately now but i'm just too lazy so eye-dropping just speeds up my workflow (plus i hate digital color pickers anyways they r not built for artists and i wrote an entire paper on it in college once lmao) anyways here's an example of a color study i did by directly eye-dropping from a gif with @quokki's incredible coloring (love u ale <3)

if you're not working from a picture directly, you can still use other pictures or artwork as a "color reference" which I used to do a lot. i like to look at art from other ppl with pretty colors and create a color palette to use in my own drawings. for example, the color palette for this felix painting came from a piece (idr which) by Simón Prades on instagram but this palette is really easy to use since it's linear values it's like working in black and white but comes out looking cooler LOL

Recently for my lee know kiki's delivery service drawing i felt that the colors seemed a little flat n muddy to me because it was in an animated flat coloring style (lol) so I added a filter layer (just a flat apricot color set to overlay at 25% on photoshop) that livened up the whole thing and made it feel more cohesive. It's a pretty subtle difference to other people but made a world of difference to me :) it helped take the muddiness out of the shadows of his face and the glass reflection and took the painting from gloomy rainy day with stale bread to warm sunny day with fresh bread :]

and finally if u are interested in actually studying colors and lighting and shading and stuff these r some of the youtube videos and channels that i think do a great job explaining these very cool concepts:

pre-realism vs post-realism is a cool video about the difference between the mentality of how beginners draw vs how experts draw and kinda blew my mind tbh i think the big color takeaway from this video is that something that kids would color (like green grass) might actually be a totally different color to an artist's eye (dark yellow, red gray, even a super desaturated purple) depending on a realistic lighting situation

nathan fowkes did a 3-part guest talk series on understanding color temperature and relationships: (1) (2) (3) also not coloring but i love his video on value massing

this lecture on what charles bernard calls "the mother color principle" takes the "filtering" tip that i mentioned earlier to a much more developed level (it's an hour long so just skip through it.. u get the gist of what he's saying in a few min but the whole demo is also cool too)

i mentioned him earlier but marco bucci has many 10 min digestable videos about color on his channel that i like :) (also this lighting/value video is great too)

sorry i don't really know exactly how basic or advanced i should cater my advice but i hope this helps some anon^^ lmk if u have questions or if u ever want feedback my inbox and dms r always open

[ourflagmeansgayrights]

got tagged by @batsarebetterthanpeople

1. Are you named after anyone?

no. my parents specifically tried to pick a name that nobody they knew had. which is insane to me bc my name is like one of the most generic girl names in existence but i guess that wasn't the case when i was born

2. When was the last time you cried?

ok i genuinely think it was a few weeks ago when i was at work and i started thinking about stede. and before that it was a few months before that when i was at work and i started thinking about ed.

this is kinda crazy to me bc i used to cry all the fucking time? but also i used to be way more depressed lol so i guess the fact that i can't remember the last time i cried over something in my actual real life is a good thing

3. Do you have kids?

god no. not yet, anyway

4. Do you use sarcasm.

too much, probably. also my voice is kinda monotone so sometimes ppl think im being sarcastic when im not. that's gotten me in trouble before

5. What's the first thing you notice about people?

nothing i dont notice shit about people im terrible at remembering names and faces

6. What's your eye color?

blue

7. Scary movies or happy endings?

happy endings. there are a few scary movies i love but im a huge pussy. and im a basic bitch i want my stories to end happy. obviously a Bad Ending can be rlly good sometimes but overall i'd much rather everything works out in the end :)

8. Any special talents?

alright so this came up yesterday so i'm gonna tell y'all about a special talent that i did not know i have but apparently people think im great at: i have been told im really good at doing voiceovers. this is not something i do often nor is it something i wouldve actually said about myself unprompted, but sometimes for school projects i've had to record myself saying things and i've gotten compliments every time. i personally can't tell if this is true bc hearing recordings of my own voice makes me want to die so im incapable of judging my own voice-over abilities accurately

like Literally Yesterday when i had to record like 30 seconds of something and i literally was like "i'm leaving the room when you play it i hate hearing my own voice" and when i got back everyone was like "that was SO GOOD!!! you sounded professional!!!!" and also a few years ago my friend asked me to try and do an old-timey mid-atlantic accent kinda voice for a school project and when she showed it to her class people were like "who did the voiceover? your friend? is your friend a professional voice actor??"

this is baffling to me bc i think my voice sounds incredibly nasally and annoying but i guess that's just me!

9. Where were you born?

new JOY-zee

10. What are your hobbies?

it's alllllll gay pirates these days. tumblr and fanfiction and posting and reblogging. that's literally the only thing i do if im not at work or at school or hanging out with friends. it's kind of a problem actually i need to cut back

11. Do you have any pets?

two dogs! one is a rescue who is maybe a poodle mix, maybe just a poodle, and i love her so much i've cried about it. the other one is a bichon-poodle mix and i hate her so much i've cried about it.

12. What sports do you play/have played?

ok so my parents put me in a bunch of sports as a kid (t-ball, baseball, soccer, swimming, ballet) but i was not really into it. i didn't hate it, but i would zone out in the middle of games and my parents would be yelling "TURN AROUND THE BALL IS COMING" while i was playing in the dirt by myself.

in middle and high school i did cross country but mostly as a social thing to hang out with friends. i fucking hate running. im not good at sports

13. How tall are you?

5'5.5"

14. Favorite subject in school?

probably English or something idk. i dont like school lol

15. Dream job?

genuinely? stocking shit. housekeeping. anything where i can just listen to an audiobook or a podcast and work quietly and nobody has to talk to me. i wish these jobs paid enough to be comfortable or else i literally would work at some easy entry-level job for my entire life.

the other thing is i wish there was like. a way i could just jump from job to job depending on who needs help. im talking like, "oh we need someone to direct traffic for two hours while we fill in this pothole" and i go. "this fast food joint needs a cashier for a day" or "town hall needs people to scan, file, and sort all these boring legal documents" or "we need people to clean all the public restrooms in the district" or "we need someone to re-paint the parking spots at the park" or "the post office needs help sorting mail for a few hours" or "this warehouse needs some employees next week" or "we need someone doing this repetitive motion on the factory line for a day" like literally. i love manual labor i love straightforward tasks i love doing simple repetitive chores for hours. i seriously fucking wish Universal Basic Needs were provided and i could just be like a "reserve worker" for a low salary where i just pick up random shifts and do all sorts of random jobs whenever they need people to help out. this is literally my dream.

copping out yet again and tagging whoever wants to do it. "jess that's so lame-" you are correct. thank you.

[anxietywriter]

supernatural (not the show, but like creatures) prompts

forbidden love between a vampire and... a mermaid. would also be neat if they're both royalty and expected to marry within their own spheres but instead find each other late at night when they both arrive at the same cove trying to get away from their family. also it could be a little dark in which the mermaid hates humans so they'd have no qualms about the vampire doing the not sexy sucky suck. think it'd be neat to see with the whole daylight, land/water, and not opposing, but definitely separate factions.

okokok so i've been watching the kid's show Chowder again (nostalgiaaaaa) and there's an episode where there's like this majhong club and it's a very competitve game for what's supposed to be a casual meet up. i'm talking catty remarks, premature bragging, gloating, little hors d'oeuvres such as deviled eggs, the slow build up to saying majhong and winning. it's hilariously intense for what's supposed to be a friendly and quiet game. anyways i think elves would play exactly like that. or the fae. or both.

a mute siren that can't work to lure humans and was abandoned by their pod. their coloration being too distinct to be mistaken for a mermaid. they travel alone, hiding from humans, eating whatever they can find in the ocean. sirens have poor eyesight, their song usually helping to make up the difference. so the mute siren struggles, but they can do it, and they become quite good at feeling for movement in the water. little coming of age action as they search for a sea witch to be 'fixed' and get like mama odie'd (the voodoo woman from princess and the frog)

y'know that one post where someone adopted a raccoon thinking it was a weird cat? same concept but with like the chuacabra or a hellhound where a regular human just thinks it's a fucked up stray dog but they love them anyways bc they're so affectionate and looked so sad. angst ensues bc their area has strict dog laws and they have to prove that their dog is nonthreatening OR they begin a mission to abolish the law banning certain breeds

[craftypentacle]

Hello, tumblr.

So we meet again...

I believe this is my seventh tumblr account, most of which were created before the age of 16. Not this one. This is my brand new account with my fairly brand new email.

I've been wanting a way to document my life for myself that's not just me journaling on my google docs. I guess I'm more likely to turn to an app to rant than to pull out my laptop and open my journal google doc.

So yes, I am here for me, but I am hoping that maybe I can make some friends along the way. I had started a tumblr attached to the same email as some of my old ones, but it didn't feel right. Whenever I opened my dashboard, I was bombarded with things that represented my teenage self. I wasn't that person anymore. I am not that person anymore... and yet I am...

I am also hoping that this can be an outlet that I use to try and make sense of the world, spark conversation, or help someone else figure out their place or beliefs. I like to think I'm spiritual because I care about being a good person and I do it in a way that acknowledges that there is more to me than this physical body.

I want to use this as a reflection of myself. I want to look into her and see them stare back.

Although sitting here, I think about all the ways that that could end up not happening. I can see myself perhaps being in the wrong in a situation and not acknowledging it. I don't know for what, because normally when I'm in the wrong I don't realize it until days later and so I don't have many examples of times when I do know I'm in the wrong in the moment.

But if I lie in any blog post, anyone who stumbles across it would not know. This is one way I could hold myself accountable.

Having tangible evidence of my current self, which will later become cringey as all hell.

I don't think I am making any sense any more. I'm a little stoned- probably a lotta stoned- and letting myself just think theoretical thoughts. That can be fun, but if I am not writing out every single thought connection, then I will not be making sense.

And if you've made it this far, I guess you get to read a little bit about me :)

You can call me Taro

I am 21, almost 22.

Sun sign: Virgo

Moon sign: Libra

Rising sign: Leo

I don't think I have a favorite color... that's a lie, it's blue. As soon as I started typing anything else, it was just wrong. And no one would've known but me.

I hate lying. The fact that I'm bringing up lying so much is so questionable - I didn't mention that this is likely a chance to psychoanalyze myself, did I?

I am a proud stoner - I think I smoked weed before I drank. Still was only 20 when I started smoking but still lmao

I am currently a student working on my first year certification for my major, although this is the third college I've been to since graduating high school.

I am spiritual in the sense that I am working on being a good person (1. I just wanna be... yk, bc it's a good thing to be and 2. my major requires strong ethics and morals in the field and I don't want to worry that I am making the wrong decision as far as being equal or equitable - depending on the scenario) and I am doing so by acknowledging that there is more to me than just my physical body.

I have been studying tarot on and off for two years now, although my primary use of it has been for self reflection and growth. Only recently have I started trying to read for friends.

In my free time, I like to walk for an hour at the gym. My favorite form of exercise is pole dancing.

I live with my legal guardian since I was 3, I am working towards government assistance to leave with a place to go.

My favorite game is minecraft. Second favorite is snake.

anyway, yeah...uhhh that's some of me :)

[wooahaes]

I would consider myself small and skinny and even I hate when writers describe readers as small 😭 it makes me so uncomfortable bc I know there are so many people reading who probably don't fit that and it's strange to me that they don't consider that when writing. it's why so try to be super conscious of how I describe reader (which I barely ever describe ANYTHING physical about them, I hate even when people describe putting hair in a ponytail or something) and even try to be conscious of actions that might not be inclusive (such as being lifted, wearing bfs shirt, etc).

I'm really sorry that you are finding so many fics that aren't inclusive :/ with smaus that use ulzzang pictures, i always try to imagine that it's just the aesthetic/pose writer is going for but it still breaks the 4th wall for me bc it sticks out like a sore thumb being like "that's not what i look like/most readers look like"

hi nonny ur cool and very nice i love u

also god... the ponytail thing gets me every time as someone who typically cuts her hair short lmao literally i kinda run my hand through my hair like how... how did i do that... magic.......

i think the thing that gets me is that it's like... really not that hard to write an inclusive reader fic imo? like why is it important for reader to be thin/tiny/petite/small/whatever word you wanna use to designate that they're small? is it really that important that you have to derail from your writing to include something like that? also, who thinks of themself like that? it's also annoying in first person (both fic and published works) when people do the "my blue eyes" shit because no one consciously thinks like that. there's a big difference between a new writer saying "i open my blue eyes and run a hand through my long blonde hair" and maybe using it to set something up. maybe your character has contacts or maybe their eye color mysteriously changed because ~magic~, or maybe they're on the run and dyed their hair and chopped it all off. but in reader fic? where the whole point is projecting onto a blank slate to imagine yourself in these situations? i don't need to tell you what you look like. you already know what you look like.

whats the point? it's fine if you want to write something for yourself and for other people like you. genuinely, it's okay to do that as long as you tag it so people know. i respect smaus with ulzzangs that outright say that the writer used pictures for reader. i'm personally not going to read them, but at least i actually get a warning. even if its easier to just not include the pictures, i respect works that tell me outright whether it'll actually be for me or not. i write chubby!reader fics sometimes where all that's specified is that reader is a bigger person. i don't think i've ever specified how big, but the sentiment is still there. people write fics for people of color and they tag them.

i think it's completely okay to write works for yourself and people like you, but it just kinda feels unfair that if you fit into this "other" category (not thin, not short, not white, etc.) you have to tag it. everyone should tag their stuff. it just makes it easier to navigate and for people to find works that they can potentially see themselves in.

anyway i don't really read smaus that aren't written by my mutuals, tbh. i think there's one i started but then went "oh i'll come back to it" and then failed to do that lmao (i'll get around to it sometime tho!! it actually seemed super cute and i don't think there were any ulzzangs Anywhere, bless).

but if you want inclusive smaus... u should check out my mutual, ursa @thepixelelf !!! she's very funny and cool and also she talks about inclusivity in fics and why its important <3 she's the one who made a lil text convo with the vernon idea i posted about he + reader saying they're expecting when they're literally just getting a cat together hehe <3 but shitty fanfiction + the entirety of been there, done that is very good!! for a completed work... u should check out first to fall (cheol x reader) <3

also you should just check out ursa in general tbh she's one of the best ppl i know and i'm very thankful to have a mutual like her? i think everyone i'm mutuals with is someone i care for a lot and people who i think are extremely kind, but ursa has the biggest heart and i truly appreciate everything she does.

[blankandwhite]

This is the reason I involved police.

I thought about posting the actual private blog I made about it for sake of documentation (and later to show to his enabler-mom who acted like he did no wrong) but then remembered just how badly I got made fun of when I showed a person with no mental-emotional capacity.

It's been going through my mind quite a bit. The part of my mind that falls for dumb sht isn't falling for the facade I know is there. Hard-wrought logic takes over anyways. And the more I put it into words, the more I'm able to move past (whatever).

Fun fact: Scott and Andrew were best-ish friends in school up until Scott got divorced and Andrew pitted his now ex-wife against me then later started hitting her (they both hit). And I know narcissists have a weird fckd up relationship with Facebook.. A stopped communicating with me about our daughter when I said something public to S - but S stayed liking the same music when we broke up (bc he was genuine and didn't make up his personality like A did) therefore I still ask if he's seen new stuff that he'd probably like that I like too.

When I took the phone I found in my car to a phone repair store to "reset" it. It was his same email.

(happened to me**)

I can believe what I want? Innocent people don't get angry or have an attitude like he did and they have a transparency about them if there's no other way for them to say the truth. He would do anything to have me back except tell me the truth bc that's all it would've taken. It was a hidden blessing.

Whenever I would walk near him at work, I felt this heaviness that made me think of blackness around him. Now I know it was guilt.

We all lived together - my sister, her fiance and us at the time.

I knew the day he put it in the car was when we were both cleaning out our cars with the vacuum in the garage and I stepped away to get something. That was a couple of days before I found it.

And I got written up a couple of times because it bled into my work. What was written by them was SO distorted that I asked the PIC what I could do and she said I could write a letter that they can put with the write up. So I did.

(understood** I was going through too much to be too concerned with word usage)

And that's why after 3 years there I walked out. That company doesn't care about its employees at all: I went above her head to her boss when the next thing happened (psychotic manager being nosey trying to fish for info about where I got hired by asking Scott).

And that's where this cyclical thing began where people can't stand me to the point I need to get another job. Since then it has happened 3 times and 1 pharmacy sold and closed with no warning for Sharon or I - it took a minute for me to figure out that the owner, Rish aka Amrishkumar Patel, was a racial misogynist. I've been hated but never for being a white female, which was new. He was nice to Shakista, Sharon (black females), Earl and Jimmy (white males). I later found out how common it is in parts of India for women to be abused and beaten by their husbands, and there are honour killings there too.

Anyways

I'm trying for another profession this time. I want out for good - I'm tired of horrible psychotic hateful envious hostile people. I never planned on writing any kind of review but if I did, it would be against the kind of people that were hired. Really mainly 1 person that was very hostile. The other has mommy issues and didn't know that she told me (bc I can see way past what someone tells me) but then felt betrayed when i stopped talking to her bc I couldn't handle her toxic sht at the time. How blessed I was to have made that decision because I got to see EVERYONE'S true colors. She is just the most insecure. That other one though - y'all know there's something wrong with her. Which really means there's something wrong with you.

[whataphantasia]

misc little ramb about skssshbbq development hell‼️ (about developing the restaurant itself, plus sploo-khi and flipp things)

designing skssshbbq stuff is SO HARD. what do you MEAN i have to worldbuild. this SUCKS (its so fun but so much work.)

im fighting for my LIFE over here man. im so insistent on keeping sploo-khi's color palette plastered all over the restaurant and other related imagery because he's SUPER self absorbed and you know he'd do that and force people to think it looks good 😭 logo design is hard.

im value mapping my concept art rn! colors TO BE ADDED LATER... i have to plan out the colors now cuz if i dont all my skssshbbq art will be inconsistent and ill HATE myself for it LOL (but this also means i havent been able to make rendered pieces for it 💔💔) SOON HOPEFULLY!!

i worry that i draw flipp and sploo-khi too much together but i cant help it... theyre so fun to draw together!! but i feel like it goes against what the whole story is about! flipp does not have equal power to sploo-khi, and sploo-khi doesn't rly care abt flipp!!! so it feels like i'm making the conflict seem much more focused on mad employee vs boss rather than employee stuck and jaded by the system... but then i realize im overthinking this and no one will think that LOL. i love stories guys.

ah and. i've been worried about my depiction of sploo-khi. i've elaborated on it on his toyhouse page for now. eventually i'm gonna replace it with a theme which'll make these thoughts less visible, so i'm placing a screenie here for posterity.

OH AND. here's the end of my twitter ramble about it.

yeah sorry for the long post, but i feel like these are all important to mention. skssshbbq has a ton of complex topics anyway and i worry abt ppl misinterpreting me or me making a misstep somewhere <_< so i'm hesistant to share things abt it... well!! communication is important so tell me if that happens!!!

EDIT: okay i am less worried abt it bc i asked my friends abt this and they brought up some really interesting narrative points + things i didn't even think about. thanks guys!

[allylikethecat]

Hi hi. So I take the term equestrian quite loosely for myself because I live in a town and am not rich I’ve never had the chance to actually have my own horse. But I’ve been riding horses since I was like 4. My cousin owns a stables that is a couple of hours away from me so that was my introduction to riding.

I don’t compete due to the lack of my own horse but I practice English style riding with show and cross country jumping styles. I’ve also dabbled a little in western riding.

Even though none of them are actually mine bc I rode and helped out at one stables for such a long time it definitely felt like some of them were. Especially there’s this one mare Daisy who is a proper little asshole. She will bite and kick and buck and barely even moves for the lesson kids. But I hopped up on her when I was a kid and we just connected. She was like a different horse altogether.

Anyway I am very much so rambling and I had one other thing to say to you which is and the medicine vinyl. Ik you said it reminds you of the colour of US pill bottles and I find that so interesting bc originally it was made to be the colour of h.

Anyway yeah btw also I am LOVING the daily prompts! Hope ur having a nice day :)

-♥️

Hey! Doesn't matter if you own a horse, or how often you ride! If you've taken lessons you're an equestrian in my book! That's so cool that your cousin owns a stable!

But damn you are much braver than me! I do NOT have the nerve to ever go cross country schooling omg I love watching it but the jumps are so solid? I also prefer English style riding (show jumpers unite!) but Pop is a jack of all trades (re: I get an idea and he is forced to go along with it lol) and we've done a little bit of everything - jumping is what we both like best though. He's a little peanut of a QH that I never had any intentions of buying but is the absolute love of my life, and as a QH I'm so lucky he is so versatile and is game to do a little bit of everything, English and Western, as long as he doesn't have to go through any kind of water including puddles 😂

It's always so special when you meet a horse that you just ~vibe~ with and it's like oh you're my guy/gal. Daisy sounds like such a mare lol was she chestnut as well by chance? I know that they say once you become a mares person they will literally do anything for you.

I also used to have a chestnut Oldenburg mare that I did more upper level show jumping with but that ended in absolute flames and I sold her about a year ago (I'm not sure if I hated her more, or she hated me more by the end lol) 💀 I hope I can one day get another upper level horse especially with Pop getting older but currently I am still terrified to get on any horse that isn't him 😂 Also I am so sorry for rambling on about this I get so excited talking about horses 😬

Oooo you're so right! I'm not a vinyl person (I literally only bought the neon orange Medicine vinyl because i have a weird attachment to the song now after the A&E fic and wanted to frame the sleeve and hang it with all my other 1975 stuff) and completely forgot that was a thing... I feel like that makes it even more poetic that it's the color of medicine/pill bottles in the US now? Even though it probably wasn't on purpose? I have decided that I am going to read into the symbolism and pretend it was on purpose even though I fully made it up (Hey DH - you can steal my idea though and pretend it was on purpose if you want though!)

Thank you so much for following along with the daily prompts! It's been such a fun little exercise and I've really enjoyed working on them! I didn't expect anyone to even read them, and was only posting to hold myself accountable so to find out that other people are enjoying them as well is so special and cool!

Thank you so much for reading, your support and sending in these asks! I apologize for writing little rambling novels in response, just like horses man! They're the BEST!

❤️Ally

[v01d3nt1ty]

"Didn’t I tell you

you are a fish do not go to dry land

for I am the deep Sea." - rumi

(from GoOD Mornings with CurlyNikki)

oh to be able to express like rumi!

or to be spoken through. or however it works.

this hit me bc i am deeply connected to the ocean. my *happy memory* go-to is the beach, the pacific ocean, *my* ocean. my fav colors are like soft teals, pastel aquas and blues, deep ceruleans... so yeah i'm a mermaid but not like... not like the commercialized version that everyone buys into. if i die tragically, i want it to be by drowning in the ocean.

wtf was my point.

anyway it brought me into that sharp awareness of being. and it's like peace & love & comfort & oneness & vibing...

idk, it was cool.

i also really love language. i hate it, but i love it. i hate that we need it, it's so clunky and awkward. there are a lot of words to remember & what if you get them wrong or forget them or put them in the wrong order? (hello, autism. 👋) i used to write poetry, realized i sucked at it & stopped.* i've always been deeply interested in foreign language, even tho i do not have the attention span to learn any. (i took one yr of spanish and 3 of french tho, that was fun. tried to take german... studied japanese w a new-at-the-time friend who has been a friend for like 10yrs or more.) (also i really love.... intentionally arranged sound? & i love variety. so i basically just love the way languages *sound* even without the meaning. don't get me started on accents...)

but i think my deep appreciation for language comes from being neurodivergent, being frustrated at being misunderstood all the time. being afraid to speak up too much bc my thoughts didn't align w what i was taught. my instincts going exactly counter to what i was being told all the time. so i probably developed this desire to be able to correctly assemble and arrange the most appropriate words for any given situation. the right & wrong things... so much to remember.. omg so boring, so tedious.. no wonder i hate everything. er.

so. yeah. no one asked for my psychology, but there u go. i never told u to read this, it's ur own damn fault.

*so this is a memory story. there are two, actually.

the first is, when i was in 5th grade, so around 9 or 10, i wrote this poem & it got printed in The School Newspaper (!!! omg such a huge deal!) anyway, i had this memory, & vaguely remembered some of the words. then somewhere in my 20s, i found the paper & read it & i was *amazed.* it was phrased perfectly, didn't even rhyme, was pretty deep esp for a 10 yr old. i *cannot* remember exactly how it went, but if i posted it with no context, u wouldn't think it was by a little kid. idk how i *lost* how to do that. probably by trying to Be Good and follow rules.

the other is when i was in hs, probably a senior, probably 17. so i listened to a lot of 90's alternative & grunge, as one did back then. (98.5 KOME, i still remember 😂 i wonder if any of those tapes are still good?) so i wrote a poem that was probably heavily influenced by the lyrics of the time, smashing pumpkins, REM, nirvana... and i was v proud of it. idek why i thought showing it to my family was a good idea, but i did. & my grandma goes "this [part] doesn't make any sense. what does it mean?" and i'm like "it isn't supposed to mean anything..." anyway it crushed my lil soul and i had to Follow Rules again. bc how can i know how to People if i don't do things the way People do things?

oh wow that's sad. poor young me. *hugs lil me*

why do i share my trauma.

idfk. maybe so one day, even one person will feel less alone.

byeeeee

[truerescreatuconfessions]

Submissions from Schemes

As per your request I am publishing your submissions, Schemes. There's nothing this blog can do about the actions taken against your account. That was a decision made by staff - not me, or any of the users who posted here. Evidence posted on this blog has never before been used to ban anyone, so we can only logically assume that staff acted on other information. If you would like to explain that situation to us I will publish what you have to say.

My priority is Rescreatu. I'm honestly not that interested in anyone's character. I want to see Rescreatu thrive again. I want justice for the users who have been wrongfully banned. I want it to be a fair playing field, where everyone is held to the same rules and staff are accountable for their actions. I want to help staff restore the faith and trust users need to have in the site in order for it to be successful and fun again.

You have an opportunity here to change the narrative entirely. You could become a hero overnight if you chose to share what you know and expose what has been going on. You would most likely be listened to by Patrick, too, and could change Rescreatu for the better. I know for a fact you would find allies on staff as well, who are looking for someone who will step up and confront these issues. It's not too late and I will be your first ally if you choose to do the right thing.

As a side note, Tumblr does not give me access to the emails used for long submissions. I've also never published anything I've received in a DM without permission. I don't send harassing messages, it's not productive. I invited you to DM the blog because I wanted to give you a chance to discuss this before I posted what you wrote (which I genuinely feel will not give the impression to users that you hope it will).

Without further ado, here is what Schemes (as far as I know) has submitted to the blog, hopefully in order. I will not be compiling any other messages submitted like this in short format (it's too much work - please use the long submission form - I'm not censoring you, I'm just asking you to follow guidelines).

----------------------------------------------------------

heyaaaaa to my fans I'll make this perfectly clear, if my tu was taken because of something shady, I would have never publicly spoke about it on the SB and make myself look "bad" where I know everyone clocks my every movement and watches me like a tv show. you know I'm smarter than that atleast I'd hope so! Now that im not staff I can comment on this hate blog but my peace and happiness / mental health is worth more than trying to prove to people who have already decided they dislike me. bye now

PS as per my last post, if I REALLY did something bad EVERYTHING WOULD HAVE BEEN WIPED FROM MY ACCOUNT. just saying. and there's no way i would have been unbanned in 1 day. -schemes/khione. now I'm done I promise. And to those who have been defending me, thank you. I really am grateful

Schemes again, few months ago I wrote to you guys, and explained how my mental health was deteriorating and requested the removal of false and personal information about me etc. not sure if you guys did, but here we go again with this, baseless lies and bullying. I tried to [censored] myself over this blog. Now if I sue for emotional trauma I would be wrong right? Bc I have the means, professionals and the proof to do so. please don't say if it bothered so much to ignore the blog it's never that ez

I gave up the achromatic omni amongst other colored galta to try to make people see that I really was moving with geniune intentions. I now realize that was stupid and I should've kept them because y'all got something to say in a bad manner about me anyway. I should just get it back LOL. Not being staff any longer is such a relief I can now actually say stuff I feel

Unfortunately I don't have a tumblr account. If you don't want to post my truth and continue to make me look bad, and allow people to assassinate my character to control the narrative, just say that. Nor am I going to make a tumblr account just for this. Just keep in mind what I said on anon. - Schemes/Khione

I don't need to talk to my friends. My friends know my truth. But here's another truth, you're pathetic and a bully. Karma is real, so it's fine. You don't have to post what I said. I have a clear head, I just don't see why my posts won't be submitted. Why would I post a long submission, so you can have my email and harass me some more? No thanks. Like I said, if this continues I'll be taking legal action. I've been letting the bullying slide for too long. Take that however you want.

Maybe you need a break from this blog. You feed of the bullying of others and drama and the hate. Does it fuel you? I'll pray for you. obviously this is schemes again. I'm sure you'll post this though. Again, bc u want people to think I'm a horrible person. You pick and choose what to post, it's really sad. I think you're the one who needs to take a break from this blog. It's only going to ruin you.

-----------------------------------------

PS - I will resume posting your submissions this evening or tomorrow when I have time. I wanted to allow some time for everyone to catch up.

[thecrowslullaby]

Art Advice?

I've been wanting to get back into drawing but I've been out of practice for a few years. I used to trace a lot of character bases and while I think I'd be good to start back at that point, I'm worried that others will say I'm "not a real artist" if I'm tracing yet don't have the confidence to draw something completely on my own without a reference.

So sorry for the long ask!

Sorry it took so long to answer, I was a little all over the place this week I say that as if I''m not always all over the place

Also, I really honored you're asking me for art advice aaaaaaaaa, but anyway here we go:

Ok, I know some people might hate me for this but: Tracing is absolutely 100% ok as long as you don't post the drawing claiming it's your original work. If it helps you feel better about it you can always think of the original drawing as your "sketch layer" and you're simply doing lineart. Or try to find the basic shapes and go from there. Using character bases is also 100% fine. Lots of my friends do that and then they just credit the artist (if the artist allowed to use the base with credit. I don't use base too often not bc I think it isn't a good practice but bc my hand is too shaky to properly ink most of the time.) Or you can always ask artist who post sketches if you can lineart them? I know some ppl would be delighted!!!!

References are a blessing, I use them all the time and I don't think I'm any less of an artist for that. The more you draw the more poses you're able to draw from memory but heck, famous painters paid people to sit for them. And anyone who claims you have to draw without a reference is just a bitter peasant who cannot afford a model (I'm joking about that one, but seriously, there is 0 shame in using a reference, be it photo or drawing. For poses/color compositions. Drawing inpiration is 10000% fine, just don't steal artwork folks)-> pinterest is your best friend, trust me.

And my fave art advice: speed. Take a fricking huge stack of paper and give yourself a time limit. Start with a long one if it makes you feel more comfortable. 1 hours for a sketch? Need longer? thats fine? Too long? Great start with 30 minutes. Once the timer's out its time to finish, no buts. And then just shorten the time span. You don't have to draw a fully colored drawing in under 10 minutes, but it's nice to chalange yourself, so you get more comfortable with your lines. There are so many cool sites that set the timer for you and give you a drawing!!!!!!!

If a drawing isn't working out sometimes it's easier to toss it. I know it's hard and I don't always go through with it but it works wonders with the speed method. Marie Kondo the sh*t out of your doodles.

Post your drawings!!!!! Make a secret account if you're worried about them looking bad but put them out to get them out of your system. Or set yourself a challange that you have to post at least once a week, or twice a week. Not a fully made pic with colors and shadings, just something. F*ck, that did wonders for my motivation.

Step by step youtube guides for drawing are a blessing. I used to religiously watch them as a teen.

Also. Drawing style? Change that as often as you want.

And if anyone tell you you're not a real artist bc you use reference/trace to improve understanding of anatomy tell me and i will steal their f*cking kneecaps for you.