#i have a Lot of sonas. thats the 'this is what my body looks like' one

[theokusgallery]

A bunch of sona doodles

[happypot0001]

⚠️The drawing base does not belong to me!! I found the base on Pinterest!! (It’s a bit hard to find the original owner and their proper credentials on Pinterest but just for now know that it wasn’t created by me!!) All characters don’t belong to me either!! They all belong to @just_a_carrot!! As extra precaution I’d like to say that 🥕s design wasn’t really original, it was very HEAVILY inspired by how some other artists draw 🥕!!⚠️

Uhhhhhhhh 🥕….Is this you?

Pffft this was so silly 😆 Lots of love to anyone reading!!

Phew!! Guess what!! Pot fiiiiinally posted!!!! Pffft uhhh idk if anyone noticed my disappearance but I guess I’ll explain anyway???? Uhhhh I mean I don’t really have much to say?? Sometimes I just don’t have the time to reblog or post anything ig HAH! I’ve been making a lot of doodles though!! I doubt I’ll be posting any of them though 😭 After Art Fight I wanted to start getting more into art and such because I really enjoyed making art for people and trying to make them happy!!!! So really I’m trying to spend the small amount of free time I have to fixing parts of my art that I don’t like (MOSTLY anatomy because…you know….I don’t like bodies and bodies don’t like me 😭) I’m glad I finally built up some art and can finally have something to post!! YIPPEEEEEE!!!

I love bases. I haven’t said it online before because I haven’t posted anything about making art based off of bases but there’s just something about them that I LOVE!! I saw this base QUITE a while ago but today was the day that I said I was actually going to draw it. The original plan was actually to just post the base and say “This is totally 🥕” or something like that HAH but in the end I realized…wait…I like bases so that I can draw them….WHY DON’T I JUST DRAW THIS ONE AS WELL????? And thats how the abomination was born hehe 😭

🥕s SONA(???) IS VERY CUTE!!!! I enjoyed drawing it heh!! I’m not used to drawing carrot people??? So I’m glad I got to test something!! Atleast I can also differentiate their sona from other peoples as well!! WHICH IS A GOOD THING!!! Also they may be an artist and a writer, but they also CODE AS WELL?? CODING ALL OF OW??? KFJLKSJDF 🥕 HAS A MANY OF TALENTS AND PROBABLY SUFFER A LOT BECAUSE OF IT 😭 KLDSFLKJDF ALL OF THEIR WORK IS AMAZING GAHHH PLEASE SHOW LOTS OF LOVE TO 🥕 PLEEEEEAASSEE!!! 🙏💖 I was going to color 🥕 in the drawing but for some reason I just thought it didn’t look good and I didn’t want to ruin the drawing anymore so I decided to keep it as it was!! KDSJFLKDJF I HOPE YOU LIKE HOW I DREW THEM!!!!

Hmmmm….welp not much more I can say!! Be aware for more posts I guess? There is still one post from Art Fight that I still have to share GRAH SORRY ⛵️!!!! I’LL BE SURE TO POST IT SOON!!! It has been a TERRIBLE HORRID week and I’m just excited for it to pass 😭 At least I had this to take my mind off of everything so I really do hope you enjoy it heh!!!

Lots of love to you 🥕 and anyone else reading once again!!! 💕💕

[coxinhadoce47-art]

Heya! I love your art and the way your design your characters, I have a question do you have any tips about making a good reference sheet and character design? (I suck with clothes if you have any tip for it I will appreciate). Also what's your inspiration to create characters stories, universes and lores?

Ok first of all, I'm going to mostly just answer the first half because...idk stories and stuff just happen fdsjnsdf. Consuming media and other's peoples art + having a friend or two to bounce ideas is the best i got for that

For reference sheets, it really depends on what you need them for, but theres some general stuff like maybe not adding shadows, maybe having a bust, maybe having some extra drawings to show a bit of the personality. It all depends on what you need it for

If its just for your own reference/commissions/artfight, you dont need to go super in depth

These are some of the ones i did in june for artfight but that are also useful for myself.

So basically, a full body, maybe other outfits or the character in other ages, and whatever detail i find useful to have in there (plus some three other pages of reference for Orian, he has a lot of outfits nfdsjnsdf) But yeah you can also use more than one drawing too, which can be useful for adding different outfits/hairstyles/extra details

Salem's references are some that I have been really proud too. Thorough, to the point and even showing a little personality

One thing I dont really do is color swatches, I did it sometimes but honestly a lot of the time I don't color pick my stuff all the time, but thats a me thing fjdsnjsfd. Also be mindful that the background color can influence the colors

As for character design, both for the character and clothes I think having a good visual library helps. Look at your own wardrobe, people on the street, pinterest, stuff you like. And if its a fan oc, even easier! You have a point of reference already defined! Like my golden guards, I based their designs on some painting in Hollow Mind and also some concept art for the show.

My other tip is work out the design on paper first. Paper really helps me with this stuff. Its faster to churn out ideas and iterate on them. You dont have to have the finalized design on those sketches but it helps give you an idea

These are the sketches I did for my sona before I went to digital to make the first finalized design

But yeah this is the stuff I have, I hope it helps!

Edit: I also got this other sona for...something else and I wanted to show the process too fhdsbhdsf

So it began with a very rough idea, then I expanded it with more exploration sketches, and then the final result! (they still have wings, i just havent decided on which kind yet)

[pigswithwings]

since art has been brought up what is your process and brushes you use?

the gist of it is: i use my phone, my index finger, and the app IbisPaintX to draw! also my brushes are the Digital Pen and the Fade Watercolor (Opaque). my general process is making sketches and focusing on the energy of a piece, then sticking to that

long stuff and more detailed stuff under the cut... i put a bunch of images in there for reference

overall its not very fancy!! mostly i make art when i feel very inspired by something (which is to say, not super often). i usually start with a very rough sketch which helps me figure out how i want the art to feel. so for example this piece

was originally this sketch

basically the purpose of the super messy sketch is to outline ideas and stuff. i say "i think this would be cool, it looks cool in my head. this is what the finished product should emulate" and then i roll with that. also usually i have multiple sketches based on the same idea, but more often than not there will only be one sketch that i want to work with.

i tend to pick colours based on the feeling of the piece! so for me, the idea of plants gets the colour green, the "i have no mouth and i must scream" art gets a lot of red and orange. it's basically colour associations.

although very simple, my backgrounds tend to be developed around either the concept or the sketch. for the plant one above, i tried to use more flowing shapes in the background to emulate leaves, hills, and vines. for my first few "factory pomo" style pieces i wanted to get a sense of contrast, so i designed the background to be almost split into two colours/two parts, etc.

other examples

you're probably noticing how similar my sketches are to my final pieces. it's basically because i treat sketches like lineart. i pick a sketch and enlarge it so that it takes up most of the frame. then, i set it to a low opacity and draw on the layers underneath it. oftentimes i turn the layers on and off to get a sense of how the whole thing looks, and the finished product will not include the original sketch layer. but a work in progress for me usually looks something like this

it's a whole lot of going back and forth! zooming and out, erasing and redrawing and turning off layers and zooming out again. it can be messy sometimes but i stick to it and enjoy it a lot. i am not always faithful to the sketch, either; i usually add whatever i think looks cool. for the piece above i did Not originally intend to have glitching effects on my sona's body. but then i thought it would be cool to add some!! so i did :]

as for Brushes i work in IbisPaintX and i use this bad boy the Digital Pen (set to various thickness depending on whether i want very small and fine lines or just want to cover a Big Area). its basically just pixels so thats how i usually get very crisp lines!! also you can turn it all the way down to just 1 pixel if you want to be really precise. eraser tool and ruler tool are my best friends. also the Fade Watercolor (Opaque) that is right underneath the Digital Pen is what i use to sketch sometimes.

um hope this helps or satisfies your curiousity!! yeah. not a formal tutorial to my art or anything, this is just how i do it. which is in a silly way

[guest0666]

💎🏳‍🌈💔for the hyperfixation biiiiiiiitch !!!!

💎 are there any fun facts or trivia that you would like to share?

OHG OIGHH YES YES YES YE SY ES!!!! Using thi sbtw for classic myth robloxians m sorry </3

So classic roblox wise I think it's really interesting that most of the myth hackers are actually fearmongered into that status!!!!!! Also funny thing about it is that for a bit because of the r15 default face being updated, Jane Doe had looked like -_- because of it NJFDSNJKFDS. John Doe, at this moment, is also grey like 2017 builderman!!!!! give him back his uellow.

🏳‍🌈 do you have any headcanons (lgbt, race, neuro, etc) that are important to you?

leans on wall and grins.

I will say a lot of my hcs in general makes them woke as fuck but i WILL SAY SPECIFICS FOR THE DOES.

i like to think Jane Doe specifically has a really hard time with OCD (rituals mainly in how she walks and stands- does it as a means to "make sure her humanity doesn't fall through") as well as BPD and ... maybe a level of PTSD?????? unsure. Deals with imposter syndrome and a level of "customer service" rage. Trud Jane absolutely has PTSD and also a heightened level of dissociation. also she's my demigirl sapphic <3

John Doe is a transmasc faggatron. I like to think in general terms he also deals with BPD (my beautiful princess disorder <3) but also gender dysphoria and generalized anger issues. Probably also has a bad habit of picking at his skin and biting at his hands. Ends up bleeding bad. TRUD John has also dissociation issues but it's more so when he's killing and ends up having to wash away the blood/corruption. hard to really feel anything if you are not allowed to at all.

also not specific characters but. I like to think in general players (specifically guests and noobs) have no specific gender or even /anything/ relating to how they present themselves. BUT! sometimes they might change body types over time and also add on features to represent that!! aka my trans guests and noobs <3

💔 tell us about one of your LEAST favorite characters and why you dislike them.

Glances. oh Wes and Rurik may kill me but the character Telamon/Shedletsky is not very interesting to me. LIKE IN GENERAL IM HESITANT TO DO ANYTHING BC. THATS BASICALLY SOMEONES SONA. But to me Telamon feels .... idk??????? very flat in some of the renditions ive seen ("the fuckin chicken guy!!!!!" "ok but what else" "... uhm")

[thebigcomed0wn]

8 20 30!

for the artist ask game ^_^

8- old project idea ive lost interest in

i have a lot of projects floating around, but one thats completely dead to me is my old warrior cats fanclans/rewrite i had in my head... and a story i had about post apocalyptic dogs, lol. would redraw those ocs again probably, just not interested in going anywhere with it

20- something everyone finds hard but i enjoy

hm! not really sure, i think my coloring style would probably be aggravating to a lot of people but off the top of my head i cant really think. maybe body hair bc i draw it a lot without really putting thought into it and get comments from people on how it looks

30- what piece of mine do i think is underrated

this is gonna sound silly but i think im satisfied with literally just one comment or emoji react to anything i do, there are some things i draw without sharing and then i delete them (mostly things i get self conscious about like my sona or drawing kisses or experimental things) that i kind of regret never saving anywhere though. actually i like the one time i drew the mammal pod i think thats underrated

[lil-e-sideblog]

woah. what are you doing here

hey. if youre here im cool with it! just uh. keep mention of it off my main. i'm keeping all the content i post on my main separate to what goes here, so don't worry about that i guess

prefacing this with this blog is 18+, but its not explicitly nsfw.

it definitely potentially will be at times but its not going to be EXPLICITLY so, if that makes any sense. not much nudity, but stuff will be Big. if there is nudity i'll obviously tag it as such.

this is just my sideblog for gts/giantess stuff. also with stuff like. hyper sizes and stuff of that nature yknow? theres lots here. itll make sense eventually. i gotta flesh more stuff out, but. yknow

anyways, under the readmore will be more details about my sona for this stuff. the tl;dr is that Cool 9 Foot Transgender Robot Lady who gets bigger. and a lot of it is STILL a work in progress, so stuff is subject to change and updates, as well as just generally fleshing the idea out. we're gettin there!

lotta this is ultra mega super self indulgent so like. dont worry bout it too much. and its still all being fleshed out with friends and the like

anyway!

art is by @/prime-bewbs, her stuff is fantastic so please give her a look!

unit name: LIL-E "Lillie" (she/her)

height: 9'0, variable (we'll get into it!)

she's also a lesbian. cause yknow. women

LIL-E is a robotic body that hosts an AI upload of her creator's mind, effectively acting as a brand new body. essentially, she "pilots" the robot body, but for all intents and purposes, that's just her body now. this was for numerous reasons, mostly just for the desire for a new form. (as for why she's 9 feet - well, why not?). she goes by her old name, "lillie", just for the sake of ease.

her body is made out of a, self described, "compound element fuckery" that allows it to look and feel similar to skin, yet still be quite different. most notably in the ability to rapidly change sizes - but we'll get to that! there's also some light face panel lines/lines in the arms, which can

her eyes are displays, which can change eye colours/pupils and also display various different imagery. (yes, she can run and display doom. and lots of other stuff!) the core "gem" in her chest is also something that can change colour, and is just there for visual flair.

her power source is that of a white hole reactor, effectively allowing for a infinite energy supply. white holes *create* mass, after all. it's stored in her main body area, which also allows her cleavage to be a bit of a hammerspace. thats right. cool sword pulled out of boobs, baby

this reactor helps to allow the material objects of her to grow. which, she grows by absorbing electricity/general energy! (kinda working on this, still. bear with me) by utilizing this energy, she not only grows in height, but also in curves (bust/waist/you have it). the justification she gives is that "the energy has to go somewhere, and they act as safety", but really she just thinks it's hot really cool.

this, in turn, adds to her main "job", which is protecting various people in cities and areas from monsters, big bads, or whathaveyou in general! she effectively just fights to keep people safe from various attacks and disasters, working with whatever's needed. this is also supplemented by the armor dock-ons she has, which she also calls forth when needed. (these, unfortunately, are not designed YET. we'll make a cool combat form yet...) there's a variety of them! it's all cool.

these slot onto the arms/legs/etc. to kind of create an "armored" state. these armors can be modified in how they dock to create different modes - focusing on melee combat, long range modes, or a sword mode. there's funnels mounted on these armor bits as well that can fly off for various uses (such as a shield), as well as hi-nu esque wings to allow for flight

her panel lines glow a soft green when she's in this state, and her hair's bundled up into a ponytail. lastly, she gets a sick pair of shades, and an optional mask "covering" if the fight calls for it. she can use these armors for either casual fights or serious jobs, whatever calls for it. (there's a berserk/hyper mode she can enter too, where the hair flows out freely and the inner frame turns rainbow, but that's rare/not developed JUST yet...)

also, she's got a soundboard. yes, she can play cool music during a fight. fuck yeah

she's easygoing and upbeat, but also enjoys being smug about her size, both in her 9 foot form and even bigger. smushin people (gently, of course, we're not into snuff here), looming over them, the works. she has fun with it, after all!

also she's transgender fuck you.

AGAIN A LOT OF THIS IS A WIP SO LIKE. bear with me i guess! its subject to change/getting a proper "ref" sheet made/whatever. i literally only started making her last week anyway. work it out yknow? we'll get there

thanks 4 reading love u :]

[dog-teeth]

yo bro thank u so much for that cute cow dude drawing. everyone in my life down to my mother has used that 'you'll look like a bull' line to try and talk me out of getting my septum done and even tho i live on my own now i still haven't gotten it done just because i dread ever hearing that again, but it's really nice to see someone put it in a positive light n make it look cute and seem like a Pro not a Con. fuck yeah i wanna look like a majestic floofy bison. thank u dude.

aw! that’s so sweet of u to say! yah i also have heard ppl saying septum piercings look like bulls/cows a lot, but i just cannot fathom why being compared to a cow would ever be a bad thing, they are so cute and strong and i love them so much, like maybe its just my autism but i am absolutely incapable of internalizing social things like that which just dont make sense to me, it’s like when people say my unibrow makes me look like a caveman, i’m like hell yeah cavemen are so awesome can i please tell you about paleolithic art now

keep an eye out bc i’m actually gonna do another cow sona drawing soon bc my friend toby sent me a picture of a highland cow that looks exactly like me & i need to draw it haha (also cuz the last one was a bison & bison don’t get nose rings i just identify more with bison than cows so thats what i went with)

but yeah its your body and if other people have weird associations with your features and accessories that’s their problem it doesn’t have to affect how you see yourself and how you want to look <3

[minecraftphantomsmybeloved]

I am invested. I request more please. Also pictures 👏. 🍒

Looking for my art if i sent it anywhere of phantom queens no luck yet, but HEY this is a small amount of art ive made for my mc sona

They’re a phantom queen hybrid, i just mentioned how if a phantom queen ripped a player apart the code would go into the player? Well thats if it isn’t a mutual agreement of respect that usually happens with a phantom queens, these two, are what happens when a phantom queen and a player agree to the outcome

One modeled after a phantom queen, they thought the other dead for a while because while a good ending it took a while for the red one to respawn ((they’re modeled after the scrapped red phantom idea)) so the red one ((mink)) isn’t important rn they’re just a side note, because ermine (mc sona, purple one) is the mind of the phantom queen now in a player body, is about to go fuck some shit up.

So they’re a wanted criminal by the farland pack for a very very high prize ((because i have horrible creeper luck, enough to comment on, to be written in)) because they blew up a lot of hunter camps, you know the farland creeper pack’s source of permadeath books.

So that isn’t good and they had to get out of the farlands under threat of people they like getting fucked with.

So that enters where I usually join a server with, please note a few things again they were made on a vanilla server so no fancy shit only stuff that can be conveyed through roleplay because spicy idk, but basically people assume normal phantom hybrid, which is rare, not phantom queen hybrid, which is good.

Because they are basically a infinite source of the permadeath enchantment due to unlike a normal mob, their shedding doesn’t dissapear after a while. And they can use their claws to kill you permantly. Fun right :)

They also have the effect of existing and bugs and glitches tending to calm down and disappear ((this originally came from me turning into the main admin of that server because i was the one who could tame aternos when it acted up))

They also cant sleep and spawn phantoms, but the phantoms are more affection bitey to them and outright agro to others

I could talk about them all day, i haven’t gotten into mink glitching things out by existing and the herobrine cult or the universal constant that is yellow the human(?)

[dauntless-dragayn]

we’re just in your head, simple as that, go tonight, remember this? :D

mad ones asks!

we’re just in your head: what is your inner monologue like? do you think more in words or mental images or something else?

mmm definitely words! i think like i most organically write: like i'm casually talking to someone. so much so that when i was a kid i called that audience "my imaginary friend". i also heavily rely on imagery though! my sona/s are a way for me to express myself is ways my body isnt as able to - like a layer over my physical self.

simple as that: how do you enjoy bonding with people?

through shared interests and passion! its not mistake that almost every friend of mine was met through a fandom we have in common - sometimes that fandom being online artists in general. i love striking up a conversation with someone where the focus isnt ~talking to a new person~ but the excitement over finding common ground!

go tonight: what is something that seemed insignificant at the time but ended up changing your life in some way?

sort of a weird answer but when it first occurred to me that i might be trans, it was at such a mundane moment. i was sitting in one of my first college classes not really paying attention when i was looking at a website that sold these fun funky pride colored bowties. i remember liking the nonbinary one a lot but i was like 'well thats not my flag............ wait what if it was' and well. here i am that's also the time period i was taking my bird watching class, and i spent a loooot of time thinking about myself on those hikes. i like to think the birds nudged me on my way to figuring out my gender<3

remember this: describe a memory you never want to forget

back when i was living in CA for a short time, i would take trips out into the forest and fields behind my house. it was.. truly a lovely place, like a paradise, like something out of a story. and when i needed to get away, that was my sanctuary. i spent hours out there in the soft sun, sitting in trees, writing, thinking. i never want to forget the way i breathed easier out there.

[spearxwind]

OOF... i dont even have a theme for the major extinction characters sjlklfdhk. i dont.. i dont have most minor characters planned out even 

I WILL GIVE YOU HOWEVER, a song that’s been inspiring me for certain worldbuilding things (though i cant say much bc idk if itll end up showing in the story at all but you can have it!) 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XciV8HuNQLw  [it’s realm breaker, by mechina]

Oh man, im influenced by a bunch of art and comics but i couldnt pin down specific inspirations for those haha

as for the more broad sense, i also have a bunch of things! significantly, physics and space. it might not look like it but i think a lot about the logistics of things and whatever rules would exist in my universes etc. it does suck sometimes bc it prevents me from doing things just for the hell of it, but i love applying knowledge to things. and space has always been something really close to me, my dad’s an astrophysicist so ive been exposed to all sorts of cool knowledge about it since i was a wee bab 

i also really really love metaphors and symbolism, but rather than take inspiration from things i just use my own personal symbolism x) i put a lot of myself in what i do. which.. i guess could be said for many artists too so its not too special haha

and also as with many other artists, i AM fueled by spite significantly. specifically 1. for the people who once thought or who still think id never be good to do art, or that id never get better at what i do. 2. for people who draw wings wrong (especially professional people? what’s wrong with you. im begging you to look at a bird) 3. for people and companies that make terrible designs with terrible decisions (they fuel me to do better than them) 4. for people who believe that the only way to be good at art and design is to make overly complex and visually charged, detailed designs with many colors/hues (all my ocs are fairly simple and have the most limited colors kffhk) 

im sure there’s a lot more but ive spent a lot of time writing this out already and i cant really think of anything else so i hope this is a good enough answer!! 

god i do NOT have enough knowledge for this but what the fuck was up with the volturi lol. like fuckin, vampire goth club over there did nothing to change over hundreds of years, all of them still stuck in their medieval ways. i remember a plot point that was touched upon was that they had a specific person lure in a bunch of lost tourists through the sewer entrance so that the volturi could drink them and like ?? bro. how is this not investigated at any point, ever. like a shit ton of tourists just disappear ??? all the time?? and no one gives a fuck?? no investigation?? what do they do with the bodies?????

also, they were willing to blast the carlisle family into fucking orbit over Turning A Child (tm) into a vampire, but they had absolutely no qualms about vampire wars/soldiers where a lot of people were irresponsibly turned into neophytes for their strength (like jasper) or people who turned others just for the fuck of it or bc theyd have sickass powers (like benjamin. that was the sole reason for benjamin being turned. bc the dude could feel that benj would have cool powers and he absolutely did... he was a fucking avatar. controller of the elements. and he did absolutely jack shit in the books. im still so mad) 

but yeah anyway the volturi are big hypocrites. got nothing to say about their lifestyle and aesthetic tho bc italians just be like that

his horns and the spikes on his forearms and tail are rly solid and rly pointy so theyre about as dangerous as a solid, pointy big thing can be

the spikes on his neck and back are a lot softer though. theyre flat scales and are probably bendy, but still sturdy. they don’t have edges or anything so you wont be sliced up if you touch them but touching them is probably not too comfortable

alex would probably be a crocodile tbh! it’s one of the things i based his dragon form off of for the latest iteration, and i just think it fits him a lot (also its funny that crocodiles are water creatures but alex has a Big Dislike of water)

also i literally cannot see adri as anything other than a snake sklhfsdk. its what he is!! this is like asking someone’s favorite color but not letting them choose their actual favorite. do you want me to lie? do you want me to say something not true??

Honestly i always loved deer but refused to acknowledge it, especially to myself, and much less thought about having one as a sona bc “prey animals are lame” was rly prevalent in my circles for the longest time. everyone was a dragon or a wolf etc bc they wanted to be cool and so did i but i never vibed with it it took me a rly long time to just accept that i rly liked deer haha and i think what made me decide on it in the end was ‘well i can make a deer more monstery if i wanted to, i have that power’ and so i did  then later i tied the whole ‘wrong deer’ aesthetic to my own personal symbolism of always being picked on by many until i got sick of it and learned to stand up for myself. my sona is something that’s not for people to prey on anymore, and so am i c:

honestly? ive never thought about it. im not too knowledgeable about dnd still so i dont think id be able to do them justice

ive thought about making dnd encounters based off of my ocs thought (like, how their powers would work turn/mechanic wise) but if i ever did i dont think id use them or talk about them :’) 

jkdg gosh thats so sweet thank you sm!! im so happy you enjoy my stuff :’DDDD 

WELL, in no particular order: 

1. several glass bottles 2. bei’s pet golem sierra (they got her back though) 3. a knife or two probably 4. an air conditioning remote 5. do sewer rats count? sewer rats. besides all the other rats i mean 6. homeless man who tried to rob his store at gunpoint 7. the gun  8. drank a bottle of cyanide once 9. a motorcycle (as collateral damage) 10. tbh he will eat any creature he finds while walking around that’s small enough to fit in his mouth and no one can rly stop him

DISGOSTING!!! not even bc of the flavor i rly dont care abt that but bc like... warm pineapple... that’s the real crime 

oh my gosh that’d be an honor tbh!! I’m not sure if i’d be a big help since i might be tied with school stuff at the time, but id definitely love to try!! ty!! 

[transdonaldduck]

do u have any tips or shortcuts for drawing ducks? your duck art is so flawless but ducks are sO hard to draw

Thanks so much for the compliment!!! I appreciate that! I can definitely try to explain how i do it, but ive only done a tutorial like once before so I hope this makes sense!!

I hope you can read any of that aw jeez!! Basically I, personally, start out with the eyes because they help me figure out how to proportion the rest of the face, and by extension the body. The heads usually lean on the squarer/oval side, with rounded edges and all that. as for beaks... well, my only advice is practice practice practice!! I studied the ducktales beaks and the darkwing duck beaks (i tend to lean toward the dwd style because i like how round it looks! but dt 2017 style is faster and easier for me)

for perspective- think of it like folding a piece of paper in half. thats kinda what beaks are like! at least, thats how i see it!

watch some duckverse stuff and pay attention to how they talk and how their beaks move and how they work perspective-wise! Draw lots and lots of beaks, draw great beaks, draw bad beaks, and dont be afraid when it comes out looking wonky. for every good beak i draw, i’ve erased like 3 terrible ones haha. it’s a lot of trial and error and figuring out how far you can stretch/stylize it! But like, have fun ya know??

I forgot my sonas glasses lmao

[tumblunni]

AGH IM SO OVERWHELMED WITH LOVE FOR MY GYARADOS

His name is Allegro and he's a shiny i got on pokemon go abd i just got SO ATTATCHED to him cos of the way evolution works in the app. I feel like this is the first time i ever actually experienced the intended experience of magikarp, yknow? Like its supposed to be weak and take a lot of effort to evolve. But in later games simply levelling it up has become much easier and honestly it wasnt even very hard in the original. Just boring,cos you had to keep it in slot one and keep switching it out. Like its exactly the same as just training other pokemon but with a boring thing added. It feels like this poor magikarp doesnt have a part in its own evolution! But in pokemon go you have to catch 400 magikarps to evolve it and its a way more difficult challenge that takes potentially months of real time and encourages you to go out and explore more places to find them. And you can put the magikarp as your buddy pokemon and have it follow behind you to earn bonus evolution candies, so its really like youre earning it together!!!

So thats why im SO PROUD of allegro and i love him so much!! Also i was doing all this running around for magikarps back when i was in a very low mental health state and working on making progress. So i seehim as a personification of my recovery and a big kind happy friend who helped me through it! Going on more frequent walks each week did help a lot, and having this game as a goal was a great way to distract myself from feeling all anxious and awful and staying inside instead of following the doctors orders. And now im more able to go outside on long journeys without the game's help so i think maybe its time to transfer Allegro to the console games? Cos i can see him in full 3D and ride on his back through the ocean!!! Its a shame the latest game doesnt let you cuddle all of your pokemon though, only pikachu. But i can have him follow me everywhere on happy ocean trips and chat to him and just have a grand old time! And find out what his stats would even be in a regular game, lol. I mean even if i get unlucky in the transfer and he turns out to be the weakest gyarados ever i dont give a fuck cos I LOVE HIM! Oh oh oh and he could follow me around in real life again in a different better way! I got the pokeball plus controller so i can upload him into that and do the pedometer minigame exvept this time this one gives him levels instead of evolution. He's gonna be so damn powerful from my love!!!!

Oh oh oh and i think his personality is cute! I know gyarados's personality is supposed to be 'angry all the time' but i just picture allegro as a super calm and peaceful one. He's maybe not too outwardly affectionate but he loves you a lot, yknow? Like a kind of quiet and solitary cat whose way of showing love is just to hang out in the same room together and roll over on its belly to show its not scared of you. I think theres probably a communication difference like that with gyaradoses, theyre a mon whose way of being happy isnt as similar to humans as stuff like dogs or pikachus.so they get a bad rep of being evil and scary and always grumpy when theyre just trying to show you how they feel and theyre sad you dont understand. Like, maybe they boop each other with headbutts as affection and dont realise humans are so much weaker than them so it takes a while to learn how to boop their new friend softly. But when they just hear RARR RARR I AM PUNISHING YOU FOR BEING NICE theyre like ??? and learn to be scared of showing their affection. And then you call them emotionless for it!! And maybe theyre also like a mix of dogs and lizards? Like they lay around a lot being "lazy and bored" when really its just that they need to regulate body temperature when outside of the water by sleeping more hours a day than a human does. And they get yelled at for wrecking stuff arpund the house cos theyre trying to curl up in a shady spot and their bigness means they knock over the sofa. And they move around a lot during their naps cos they need to find cold/damp spot to go to sleep and then lay down half awake for a little while in a sunbeam to get energized to start the day. So of course theyre gonna be a bit fidgety if they dont have their own room with a specialized bed, and of cpurse theyre gonna sleep even longer if they get so exhausted finding a sleeping spot! And then i think theyre very hyper and playful when theyre awake and thats the real cause of their reputation as angry evilness. They just wanna play and they dont understand a lot of the human world and its all so small and fragile. Theyre not doing it on purpose!! Oh and i think maybe similar to scorpions theyre not actually dangerous because theyre aggressive but because theyre scared? Most venomous animals only sting you when they think theyre in danger of dying,cos they only have a limited amount of venom and wouldnt wanna waste it unless its necessary. But scorpions are easily scared of humans so they think we're murderous fiends if we just stand near them, lol! Its understandable cos i mean all they can see is a massive foot and some towering infinate shadow and feel all the quakes it makes in the sand as it approaches. People are spooky! So i think maybe gyarados are very curious critters and tend to get spooked by the stuff they stumble into, like that vid of emus poking the ball toy and running away screaming when it moves. And also gyaradoses can only investigate stuff by forehead bumps, taste and sniffing by wiggling their lil mustache antennae. All things that tend to look like OMG SCARY THING IS ATTACKING ME from a human perspective. Also theyre very big and evolve from something very small so they dont know their own strength! And everything looks so new and fun!

GYARADOS DEFENDER FOREVER they are just big fishie babies and i lovv they

Anyway anyway for Allegro i was thinking of a headcanon of my pokemon trainer sona going through the same stuff i did IRL? Like, an anxious adult who used to be a trainer as a kid but went through a lot of abusive parent stuff and lost their confidence and also lost all their belongings in the process of running away. So that led to trainer-me being all depressed and living in a small crowded town having a boring life and feeling like id never be good enough to start my trainer career all over again. But i find a sparkly fishie of cuteness in the pond and i keep him as more of a pet than a battler but through the power of his love i start taking him out on walkies and training myself to be worthy of being the trainer he needs, yknow? Like 'i hate myself but i cant stand anyone else hating themself'. Cos magikarp is the weak pokemon and maybe he heard humans all talking about that and he felt he'd never get a human friend because of it. Also maybe magikarps are like koi fish and they dont get their full colours until teenagerish age, so shiny ones are just regular orange for the first few years and he didnt even know he was special. And his specialness shined through as we were training together but i loved him even before i knew he was special, just cos he was such a kind lil guy!! And then he earned his big fancy sparkly evolution and now we fly majestically thru the skies on the power of self confidence~! Also similarly to how i got my baby photos back from finding my sister after all these years, trainer-me eventually got reunited with their childhood pokemon and now has eighty bazillion powerfulnesses again. And they all met allegro and they love thier lil bro and now we're going on a revisiting kanto adventure together and everything is great.

And i just think allegro is very kind and soft and peaceful and curls around everyone in a big hug when he goes to sleep and I LOVE HIM and he flies majestically and he really loves it after dreaming of it for so long. I named him a music word cos i was thinking of 'what would you call Splash if it was actually a powerful move?' Splash = jumping = ballet? So he is a graceful squiggly weird wind kite snake worm dragon koifish and i love him and i cherish him and HE IS THE REASON HE IS SPECIAL NOT THAT HE'S LITERALLY A RARE POKEMON. cos the rare coloured gyarados is a gyarados thats the same colour as a.magikarp! Its such a good symbol for the same thing you were self concious about being what everyone appreciates about you, yknow? I love him and he is peaceful and happy and shy and i bet if you hugged him it would be so weird cos its not like you often get to hug a fish that isnt wet. And i mean he's like a half fish half dragon? So it must be like a.lizard but with very prominant scale texture and a leathery whale blubber body or something. And big pointy elephant tusk teeth and the forehead horn thingie! I wanna cuddle him so much aaaaa

SO IN SUMMARY I LIKE MY BIG GRUMPLEFEESH

[viralhottopics]

YA author Mindy McGinnis returns to the book world with new epic fantasy novel ‘Given to the Sea’

Image: Penguin Young Readers

Sometimes the best way to follow a hit novel is to switch things up and try something completely different.

Or at least that’s the case with YA author Mindy McGinnis and her latest book, epic fantasy novel Given to the Sea.

SEE ALSO: ‘All Our Wrong Todays’ is your next fast-reading, mind-expanding, science fiction romance

The novel follows four intertwined characters Khosa, Vincent, Donil and Witt as each struggles to confront fate and loyalty in the warring kingdom of Stille. At the center of the story is Khosa, a girl destined to sacrifice herself to the sea to save her village. After surviving an attack on her village, Khosa is taken to safety at the royal palace in Stille where she finds herself enmeshed in a love triangle or probably more apt, love square that could alter not only her own fate but the fate of her kingdom.

“I had this idea that writing fantasy would be easy because I get to make up all the rules, no research required. Not true,” explains McGinnis. “In fantasy, nothing is a given, nothing is assumed. I have to do a lot of explaining… and keep that interesting. I’ve written post-apocalyptic, historical, contemporary, and now fantasy. Fantasy is by far the hardest.”

The book comes fresh off the heels of McGinnis’ 2016 contemporary YA novel Female of the Species. The novel followed Alex, a teenage girl who seeks vigilante justice on the sexual abusers in her town. Female of the Species was much acclaimed at the time of its release for its exploration of feminism, sexual violence and justice. (The MashReads Podcast actually recommended it. Twice.)

It’s this juxtaposition contemporary YA to fantasy that may shock McGinnis’ fans picking up her latest book. Yet McGinnis teases that Given to the Sea contains something for all types of readers.

“There’s something for everyone here – romance, gruesome deaths, magic, sword fights, scary animals, and inevitable death.”

Given to the Sea doesn’t come out until April 11. In the meantime, check out a sneak peek of the book’s first two chapters below.

Image: Penguin Young Readers

Chapter 1Khosa

It is in my blood.

It is in my bone.

It is in my brain.

One day my body will betray me, dancing into the sea, my mind a passenger only. The water will close over my head and I will drown, my death bringing a reprieve for those who are not me. This is what Ive been born and bred for. The food passing into my mouth, the clothes covering my body, every breath I drawthese are smaller offerings, each a promise that I will endure, bear my own cursed daughter, and then succumb.

How that will happen I do not know. My mother suffered the touch of another at least once, long enough to fulfill her duties and bring me about. I know it was badly done. I see it in the faces of my Keepers, these people who care for me without caring. I hear the small things in their voices. They worry I will not be pleasing to the sea, that my mother and her chosen mate created something less than perfect. I understand their concern, but cannot share it. Why should I care if the tides rise again, if I am only a corpse riding the waves?

To live aware of your own doom is no easy thing. I spend my days at lessons, my body fulfilling the expected duties, though my mind is elsewhere. The Keepers are worried that I have not prepared well, have not set my face in the appropriate response to their commands. Happy, for instance, is an emotion I cannot be expected to parade, but they tell me it is necessary. Melancholy I excel at.

My mother and grandmother had other lessons, ones to please at table and dancing. Proper chewing, proper speaking, proper walkingonly expected, of course, when we are in control of our limbs. My lessons have taken a different course, my other instructors quietly dismissed once I learned all that was expected.

All except how to contort my stone face appropriately.

The Keepers have tried, their emotions chasing through their faces so quickly I cant keep up, my own trying to mirror what I see. They say to me, Pleased, but look nothing like it themselves, and I am easily confused on this point. So I often retreat, my mind escaping the room where I learn to mimic emotion, returning itself to some well-ordered facts absorbed from a musty book, its scent still lingering on my fingers, a source of comfort.

Their pages follow me through the day, their words imprinted on my mind. I know the history of my land better than the Scribes, better than the royals who rule it. I can recite the names of my predecessors, from the woman who gave birth to me all the way to Medalli, one of the Three Sisters whom the sea gave back after the wave that took nearly all. Seaweed was pulled from their hair, their locks drying as they worked alongside other survivors to rebuild what had washed away, not knowing they would be taken again, the first of the Given.

The sea waited until the sisters had married and had children of their own before it called for them, the price of its leniency the blood of their line. For the children went too, and their children after them, the first twitches of their childhood pulling them toward the water, the final coordinated movements driving them deep into the waves, the dance of death one their kingdom deemed the will of the sea. And so it continues. Their footprints in the sand not returning, my feet now itching to follow. Medallis linemineremains strong, the other two Sisters falling short, the last names in their column females who did not produce heirs, the ink that wrote them now faded with time.

I rub my fingers together, drawing the scent of the book pages from them as my male Keeper says, Sad. Sad I can perform, closing my eyes and picturing my name, Khosa, the ink slightly darker than my mothers name before me, Sona.

Dont close your eyes, he says.

I open them again to see my Keepers, their faces so easily read.

Disappointment.

Chapter 2Vincent

Im sorry you have to wait, my lord.

Not a concern, I answer the guard, but my eyes are on my hands, the clean nails freshly clipped, the smoothness of my palms interrupted by the lines that Madda insists hold my future.

In any kingdom other than Stille, the future of a prince wouldnt need to be read in his hands. It would be clear in his actions, the preparations taken to ensure he sits the throne well, does his duty, leads his country. Somewhere else I would be wed already, the announcement of my own child eagerly anticipated, the girl I keep on the side politely excused, with her pockets lined for her trouble. Instead I sit outside the throne room at the age of seventeen, awaiting my turn to speak to King Gammalmy grandfatherhealthy, hearty, capable. At his side, my father Prince Varrick, already gray and lined, but still sitting in the lower throne.

I shift on the wooden bench, and the trapman next to me slides farther away, the smell of sea salt rising from his clothes. Im sorry, my lord. Do you need more room?

More than enough room, I insist, patting the space between us.

Hes quiet for a moment, and the lady on the bench next to ours fills the hall with the clicking of her wooden knitting needles. One foot rests casually on the ball of coarse wool beneath her feet to keep it from rolling away as she works. Shes assured, content. As a citizen of Stille, she is entitled to speak to the king, and her turn will come. Eventually.

I look back at my empty hands and the lines that Madda the Seer wrinkles her brow at. Her answers to my questions are always vague and muttered.

Am I right to say my lord? the trapman asks. Is that what youre called?

The words it doesnt matter are half formed in my throat, but I choke them back.

The womans needles continue to click. Her hands are gnarled and work-worn, but her color is good, and the hat she is knitting small. For a grandchild. Or great-grandchild. They are lucky to have her. I tell myself these things every day: Stille is fortunate. Stille is healthy. Stille is strong. Years of peace and prosperity mean that the old linger and the middle-aged flourish, while the young inherit only boredom and aimlessness.

Just Vincent, I say, finally answering the trapmans question. No title necessary.

Youre of royal blood, the woman says, not glancing up from her work. It should not be taken lightly.

No… My voice fades away. I have no words to explain succinctly, only memories from my childhood when I was called the baby prince, and then the young prince, and now theres a hesitation, a slight pause before acknowledging my rank. There is no name for the third in line, one whose hands will wither with age long before they hold the scepter.

Ive come to hate the blank space before my given name, the deferential glance of the servants as they search for a title that represents nothing. So I make it easier for them, and for myself.

Just Vincent, I reassert. The old woman makes a disapproving noise in her throat and keeps knitting. The trapman smiles at me, his teeth even, strong, and white in a face lined with wrinkles.

Im Agga. He holds out a bent hand, gnarled from years of pulling in the crab traps, the lengthy ropes rubbing it raw. Even the trapmen dont go into the water, letting the tides carry out the traps. His skin feels of age and the scars of work, years of absorbed salt water pressing back against the softness of my own hands.

How is the sea, Agga? I ask.

He shakes his head. Eating the beach with hunger. Well be needing her thats given to the sea, and soon.

I will pass that along, I say. I dont add that my voice doesnt carry in the great hall, only echoes back into my ears.

Here to do it myself, Agga says, and I wonder if he followed my thought.

I saw when the last one was given, the woman says. She danced beautifully.

They all have, Agga says.

But their faces, they do… twist, the woman adds, her own mimicking the memory, a brief mask of horror that slides off easily as she counts her stitches.

Do they want to go? I ask.

Agga shrugs. Its their own feet taking them. No one in Stille makes them go. Were not the Pietra, feeding sea monsters with the flesh of their aged.

No. The woman shudders, dropping the first stitch since Ive sat here. Were not the Pietra.

Theres laughter in the throne room. It reverberates under the closed doors, my grandfathers hearty one underscored by my fathers, which has never ceased to produce goose bumps on my skin, even in a lifetime of hearing it.

Im sorry you have to wait, my lord, the guard says again.

Not a concern, I repeat, looking back at my hands, where lifelines extend forever, marching right off the palm.

Waiting is what Im good at.

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from YA author Mindy McGinnis returns to the book world with new epic fantasy novel ‘Given to the Sea’