#i have thumbnails for (most of) the other drawings in the series

[youraveragecatastrophe]

[Image description : a drawing of characters from the 2019 show Carmen Sandiego, digitally colored in a lineless style. Carmen, in her civilian clothes and with her hair loose, is hugging Player who looks as if he has jumped in her arms. A second picture shows a closeup on Carmen and Player’s faces. /End description]

Does it fuck you up a little bit to think about how Carmen’s probably-biggest source of positive physical touch growing up, Coach Brunt, tried to literally crush her to death and how it probably fucked her up regarding physical touch?

Anyway I’ve decided to draw a little series of happy moments including touch between Carmen and her family :) And who better to start with than her oldest friend, the one who’s always been there for her?

Other parts (to be edited) : Shadowsan

[art]

Creator Spotlight: @mimimar

Hi! I’m Michelle (Mimimar), an illustrator born and raised in Venezuela, currently based in Italy. I enjoy making colorful illustrations that reflect the things I love: fairy tales, fantasy, tenderness and queer (especially sapphic) stories. Occasionally, I also make paper dolls, comics and animatics. I have a lot of interest in book illustration and I’m currently developing my own stories that I hope to share as an author-illustrator someday!

Check out our interview with Michelle below!

Did you originally have a background in art? If not, how did you start?

I always enjoyed drawing when I was a kid, but it only became a hobby that I did almost every day when I was around 11. At first I only used traditional mediums, but I decided to make a serious effort to learn how to draw digitally when I was 15, and once I got the hang of it I never stopped!

I didn’t go to art school so all of my learning was done through studying the tutorials and resources that other artists generously share on the internet and lots of practice / trial and error.

How do you want to evolve as a creator?

I want to do many things but what I want to do the most right now is work on books! I want to make art for other authors’ stories and also my own stories as an author-illustrator. I want to grow as a storyteller and create art and stories that will really resonate with people emotionally. I’m always striving to improve my skills as well.

I also really love dolls, so working on doll box art or as a doll designer is something I would love to do someday. I actually have been designing paper dolls on my Patreon for the past few months, it’s been a fun project that is still ongoing right now!

What is one habit you find yourself doing a lot as an artist?

Probably using a lot of purple! It’s my favorite color so I find myself using it a lot. If I can find a way to sneak a little bit of purple into an illustration or a character design then I will.

Congratulations on finishing your Ivy Comic! Did the outcome turn out like how you expected or were there some unexpected bumps along the way?

Thank you! It’s a project that I worked on very slowly in between other art because I wanted to really take my time with every spread and make each of them a fully detailed illustration. I thumbnailed the full comic before starting but I kept changing the sketch for the final spread until the very end! Overall I’m really proud of the end result. I sprinkled a lot of hidden details in every page that I hope some of the readers will notice. For example: the meanings of the flowers in each page represent what the characters are feeling in that moment, and the colors of their wardrobe become gradually lighter as the story progresses to represent their emotions, as well as the changing of seasons.

We’ve noticed that you have created some amazing cover art for TGCF. Is there another series you would like to do something similar with? 

That was another passion project that took some time to complete. Initially, I didn’t intend for them to be specifically covers, it was just a series of illustrations based on the 5 books/main arcs of TGCF. But since they were well-received and I had people telling me they wish they could use them as covers for their books, I decided to rework them into dust jackets for the english translation of TGCF!

I haven’t thought of any other specific series but I love doing cover art so maybe I’ll do something similar again in the future!

What’s your favorite part of your style? Why?

I’ve heard from other people that there’s a delicate quality to my art, this is something that I like a lot! I like pretty things, fairytales and vibrant colors. I think all of these things probably reflect in the art I make as well.

If there is one thing you want your audience to remember about your work, what would it be?

I hope that they remember how it made them feel. Feelings and colors are the two things I give priority to in my work. Most of the time I like depicting tenderness, softness and emotional intimacy. If that could reach the viewer and stay with them it would make me very happy. 

I make a lot of art with queer (mainly sapphic) themes because they’re the kind of stories I personally like and want to see more of, so whenever people tell me that my art has helped them in their journey to discover and accept themselves, or that they see themselves and their partner in my art, it is always extremely meaningful to me. When art that I made to give myself comfort can provide comfort for others, no matter how small, it reminds me once again that despite any hardships art is genuinely worth pursuing.

Who on Tumblr inspires you and why?

So many artists! To name a few:  I love @sakizo’s amazing eye for fashion and detail,  @paneeps’ gorgeous style and striking colors,  the sweetness of @bevsi’s art,  @vickisigh’s pretty colors and concepts,  @idledee’s warm and heartfelt art,  @littlestpersimmon’s dreamy wonderful art,  and @loish has been an inspiration for as long as I can remember.

Thank you so much for stopping by and sharing, Michelle! Be sure to check out their Tumblr blog over at @mimimar.

[habken]

Izuku and Katsuki Hospital Comic - Thoughts and Process

I wanted to talk about the process and my thoughts while making this comic! Cause it was A Lot of planning and I feel like talking about how I went about it could maybe be helpful for other people who wanna make comics too ?

Also I just like talking and I've had So Many thoughts about it over the last few months, I just need to get them all out lol

everything is under the cut (it's Very Long) ↓↓↓

Initial Thoughts

I started planning the comic in January, around the time the chapter with the second user's plan to transfer ofa to shigaraki came out. I remember feeling so anxious and sad seeing how devastated Deku was to lose the 'gift' that All Might had passed to him :'((

It made me start thinking about what it would be like to not only go from having all this insane power at your fingertips back to nothing, but also how it would feel to lose the vestiges, which had been his advisers, yapping in his ear and keeping him company for months. How it would feel to go from constantly having people looking over your shoulder back to silence.

Then I thought about what that would mean for his and Bakugou's relationship, which has developed so much over the series. How Bakugou would feel about Deku no longer having ofa, how the two of them would wrestle with old feelings now that Deku would be quirkless again. Bakugou having to face the kid he bullied and Deku going back to a state where the world saw him as "useless" with dreams too big for somebody without a quirk.

I feel like sometimes it's not really taken into account how Deku's past affects him in the present, and that goes for in the actual series as well. Considering he's the main character, it's funny that we never really get too much of a peak inside his mind lol, especially not recently, which is most likely intentional, but I digress.

What I really wanted to do for this comic was circle back to Deku's question to All Might at the start of the series, "can I become a hero without a quirk" because while yes, deku can be a hero, he had to get a quirk to do so. So what happens now that he no longer has it? After all of Bakugou and Deku's development, would Bakugou's opinion on deku pursuing his dreams while quirkless change?

I really didn't want that answer to be no. I didn't want to believe that Deku would have to give up and "be realistic" again, it just didn't feel right for that to be the answer after 400 chapters.

So I wanted to make something that would encapsulate those thoughts! And I felt like the best way to fully get that out was through a scene in the aftermath of the battle, the two of them in the hospital with nothing to do but talk about their feelings.

It was important to me that the doubts they both felt about the future were stomped out, and for there to be reassurance that things between them wouldn't snap back to how it was before UA. That Deku could still reach his dreams even if they did become harder to obtain.

I also felt like narratively it would be a good parallel if Bakugou were to lose something tied to his power too, and with his arm being so bad off in canon, I thought it made sense that there was a chance he could lose it forever.

So it's like they're both coming out of the final battle worse off with huge losses, but no matter what, they're going to fight to achieve their dreams, and they're going to do it side by side :')

At its core, it’s very self indulgent lmao, I didn’t think that we’d get something that sappy and gross in canon (😳) so I wanted to make something for myself :')

Planning

So then I made a first draft!

When I’m making bigger comics, thumbnails are super helpful! They help me see the full picture of what it could look like, and let me change things without putting in too much commitment. So most of the drawings are loose, but occasionally I’ll put in a little extra detail into things that I want to make sure are included in the final work.

There’s three main things I consider when thumbnailing for comics; expression, composition, and dialogue. Each of these things have a huge influence on each other, so keeping them all in mind when roughing out your drawings is important!

How it usually works is I play out the scene in my head like a movie and roughly come up with dialogue, then I draw characters and expressions based on that dialogue and the visions I had. Simultaneously I plan out approximately where those drawings will go/how much space they'll take up and finally, I add in the dialogue and move things around as needed so everything fits nice together.

Having the dialogue there in the draft lets me know around how big the speech bubbles are gonna be which is a massive help when figuring out paneling. It lets me plan around the bubbles and make sure nothing is too squished!

General tips:

Something I learnt from storyboarding is that establishing a setting for your scene at the start is really important! Most of my comics will start with a long shot or include one early on for this reason. It’s good for making sure readers aren’t confused on where everything is taking place!

Having a variety of shots is good for keeping your story engaging! This comic has a lot of closeups, but I tried to add variety where I could and used a lot of different angles to keep things entertaining even if there isn't that much going on

Final thoughts on this draft:

At this stage, the ending was really different from the final version I ended up with. It was a lot more focused on Bakugou's losses too and the vibe was kinda "well we're both nerfed now but that's chill we can still be heroes." I axed most of that cause I thought it was dumb and wasn’t really the conclusion I wanted lol

After the rough draft, I started sketching everything out and adding in panels based on the composition from the og thumbnails. I also changed the dialogue as I went, focusing on making it sound more natural and easy to read.

This is where the nuances in movement and expression became a bit more refined and speech bubbles where better planned out.

At this stage, establishing clarity and imagining how readers are going to move their eye along the page is really important. Comics are generally read left to right, but you can’t just assume people are going to automatically read it in the order you want, which is why panels and speech bubble locations are so important.

Tips:

A general rule is that along with going from left to right, speech bubbles should be in descending order. This can be broken a bit, but it’s important to remember that the rule is there in the first place for clarity's sake. So if you do plan on breaking it, make sure it's not at the sacrifice of legibility. The human eye is lazy and will jump to whatever seems most logical, so planning things out in a confusing manner is going to make your comic hard to read!

This is another thing I picked up from storyboarding, but keeping in mind the 180° rule is good for clarity as well! In the simplest of terms, if you have two characters in a scene, it’s good to keep character A on one side and character B on the other, and not switch those sides willy-nilly, otherwise it can get confusing. This isn't as important in comics as it is in film/television, but I still like keeping it in mind.

Final thoughts:

I hated the original ending but I couldn't exactly figure out how I wanted it to go, and I was too busy at that point to dedicate the time I needed towards it, so it stayed as these four panels for while :’)

During the period I stopped working on it, Deku lost his arms which had me panicking lmao, so much of the comic was devoted to his emotions and body language, specifically in his hands. I just went "am I gonna have to redo everything? Do I give him prosthetics?" and I was fully ready to rework the entire thing but Eri came in clutch for Deku (and me) <3

After Deku started getting hurt, I didn't really like the idea of him being discharged and sitting with a still injured Katsuki, and wanted it to be clear that they were both still in the hospital, so I had to axe poor Deku's "hospital gown" shirt for actual hospital garb </3

At some point during april-ish, I finally added in a new beginning and end, which took the comic from four pages to seven. I felt like the new parts added a lot more levity and humour which were needed, and I think it helped make Izuku and Katsuki feel closer than before.

For these pages, I skipped the thumbnail stage and jumped straight into full page stuff, which felt easier because they were kind of just add-ons.

Something I specifically liked were the first two panels in the last page. Fun fact, but a few days after I sketched those out, horikoshi released that art of to two of them smiling together and I went !! That's the vibe I wanted !! Me and Horikoshi are on the same wavelength! That was a good day lmao.

At this point, though, while new parts added a lot more to the story and brought it closer to the vibe I wanted, they also messed with the tone and overall pacing and it ended up feeling really off. Deku was now doing this weird 180 from being super sad and upset to then immediately joking around and goofing off with no acknowledgement of anything Katsuki was saying, which had been fine enough when it was just 4 panels, but very off-putting once I made the comic longer

...So I decided to add even more panels :')

I went back to my original ideas, and part of what I wanted to get across originally was the doubts about Izuku's future from here on out, and the worry that things would go back to how they were before he got ofa. I realized those initial things which had fueled the comic were no longer really part of it, and I wanted to change that.

When I thought up the idea of visuals surrounding their middle school selves, I felt so smart LMAO. I think it ended up being the thing that brought the entire comic together.

Izuku reverting back to that anxious, unconfident state, spiralling into himself, and mumbling out all his insecurities, including his fears about losing Katsuki's friendship (and yet still somehow more worried about Katsuki's feelings than his own). And in turn, Katsuki remembering and seeing Izuku as that kid again, and his own fears of becoming a bully once more.

It better explored what I wanted to originally get across and delved more into their feelings, so that the jokes and levity at the end felt like they were earned, rather than being a rapid shift in tone.

(The only other thing that changed was the some of the panels in the first page. I changed up the speech bubbles and got rid of a panel so it would be less cramped and easier to read.)

At this point, I was still having trouble figuring out how to tie everything in and segway pages 6-7 into the ending organically, so it sat like this for around a month.

Then chapter 423 released and the battle was over and I realized how little time I actually had to get the comic out. I knew that the next chapter could possibly make my entire comic obsolete, so I hauled ass :D

These were the final plans before I cleaned everything up! I changed around some of the panels to make the story flow better, I figured out how to tie everything in, and I finalized the dialogue!

At this point all the panelling was redone because I wanted more space in between them. Before, it felt really cramped and I think adding in more breathing room made it feel slightly less overwhelming for readers.

The biggest changes from the previous draft:

First, obviously, I finished the middle school stuff and figured out how to get from one part to the next. This was the hardest part of the planning, but I ended up deciding that Deku would spiral, Bakugou would kind of bring him out of that, they'd hug and then Bakugou would reassure him. I also included motifs relating to their childhood to be reminiscent of The Apology, and Katsuki's thoughts going back to them sharing the special All Might cards, them at the lake, etc. As if this was another healing moment for each part of them; their current selves, their MS selves, and their childhood selves too

I then changed some of the panels in the first page. I switched the direction of the diagonal line in the first few panels because I thought it made it more clear which way to start reading and made the comic flow better.

In the fourth page, I added a panel after Deku starts crying, because I felt like it worked better with the dialogue, and brought in more of Katsuki's POV into the story

The sixth page doesn't really look different, but there was a lot of resizing going on panel-wise. The bottom panel doesn't take up as much space and the panels up top are a little bigger

The final big change was the eighth page. I added in an extra panel and changed up a lot of expressions/dialogue so there was more of a natural transition between the heartfelt moments and the two goofing off

I then made some final changes and drawover notes before I started a week of cleanup and colouring!

Cleanup/Colouring Stage

Cleaning up my sketches usually just means duplicating the layer, putting the original layer at 5% opacity and.. cleaning it until it looks nice lol. It's the easiest way for me to work because I hate doing lineart.

This is what my sketch vs final usually looks like. The biggest change was adding in bandages into all the drawings lol.

For speech bubbles, I drew them all by hand, created a flat colour layer underneath in white, duplicated that and filled it in with black and shifted it with the transformation tool to make a drop shadow effect.

It took me two days to colour the whole thing :')

Usually when I colour, I work in a pretty painterly way, but I thought flats/cell shading would be a lot faster for this. I was right but it still took Very Long.

The smartest thing I did was put colour swatches of each colour I was using on a separate layer above everything else so I could easily use the eyedropper and get the right colour without having to reference them from another page. It was a big time saver!

I colour all on a single layer so I don't have progress photos to show, but for each drawing, I roughly added in all the colours in the approximate locations they'd be, and once I did that for every single panel, I went back and cleaned them up one by one.

And that's that! After colouring was done, I added my signature, posted it, and took the nap of the century.

Final, Final Thoughts

I worked... Very Hard to get the comic out before leaks night and even if it was just a few hours, I'm so glad I was able to do it cause when I saw the actual chapter I lost my mindddd

I feel like as the comic progressed, Katsuki's feelings took a backseat and if I was to redo it, I'd probably put a bit more emphasis on that than I did in the final version. I feel like his ~inner turmoil~ didn't fully come through the way I wanted it to. I didn't want it to be an immediate acceptance — I wanted the fact that he was struggling with his past to be evident too — but with the focus being so heavily on Izuku, Katsuki's inner thoughts get a bit lost which is too bad </3 Good thing is Horikoshi had the exact opposite idea as me, so it all worked out :D

I'm really proud of how the comic turned out, and I'm so happy to have gotten such a positive response to it! Thank you for reading if you got this far and thank you for reading my silly self-indulgent hospital comic :)

[flightyalrighty]

(sorry if you've gotten this before or if this is not the right kind of question for the blog)

Do you have any advice on HOW to make a comic series? From what I've seen your work is fantastic, well made and written! (Cool concepts, story, and character dynamics etc)

How did you start? How DO you start?? How do you comic lol

I'm glad you enjoy my work! I'll do my best to answer this question!

I could give the ol' "Just jump in! Get started!" But I don't think that's the answer you're looking for, here. Even if it's technically the correct one.

"How do you make a comic series" Is one of those questions where the answer is kinda difficult to summarize in a single ask, because there's a whole lot that goes into it, y'know? I'll give you a brief run-down of my process.

I figure an idea for a story. In the case of Infested, the whole story was written before I even got started on the script. This is an outlier in my usual process and I don't normally do this and definitely don't recommend it.

Figure the plot like how you would figure a regular story's plot; The beats you wanna hit, the way the characters develop, the beginning, the middle, the end. What's the point of the story? What, exactly, are you trying to convey here? Who's the target audience? All that stuff ought to be figured out before even picking up a [MEDIUM OF ARTIST'S CHOICE].

Script the story. If you've seen a movie script, these things look a bit like that. You wanna not skip this step because this is where you determine the visual language of each page. Comic script writing is a whole thing and a half but I do have some random tips regarding it. -> When writing the beginning of a new scene, write down the time of day, the weather, and any important details about your setting (this is most important if you're working in a team). -> Using storyboard/film language when trying to figure out a scene is very helpful. You're not gonna remember exactly how that scene looked in your head when you finally get around to penciling it. Trust me. Write it down. Or thumbnail it! Thumbnails are also very helpful! -> Remember that you have very limited space for dialogue. Write with that in mind.

Figure the paneling on a page. I work at 11x17 and do my panel layouts based on those dimensions. I tend to make more important panels, or panels with PUNCH or SHOCK bigger than the others. Each panel is an individual illustration, but together they make a whole piece. You gotta treat it like that, y'know? Find the focal point on a page, find the most important element of it, and make that your focal point. Don't be afraid to get a lil wacky with panel shapes, either. They don't HAVE to be squares and rectangles. Check out what other cartoonists do! Get inspired! Paneling is an art-form within itself!

Page from "Hanna Is Not A Boy's Name" By Tess Stone

5. Penciling time! Get the perspective figured out, then draw the background, then draw the characters. Do it in that order. Trust me. With a background already set up, characters can be drawn more like they exist within that space, instead of floating in front of it. Also? Be aware that comic artists need to be ready to draw ANYTHING. You may have a great idea that you GOTTA put out into the world, but you have no idea how to draw, say, a car. Or debris. Or jungle foliage. There's no shame in using references, tutorials, or even doing a bit of tracing if something's outside your wheelhouse. Here's a bazillion tutorials from two guys who REALLY know their stuff.

6. Speech Balloons! Yes, really. In fact, you may want to do this and penciling at the same time. I certainly do. It's better to figure this out immediately so it doesn't hurt you later when it comes to getting your balloons to share a space with your art. Here's some great advice on the whole subject from a master of the craft

7. Inks! Line weight variation is key. Closer to the "camera" means thicker lines. If a part of a character is in shadow, that part is gonna get thicker lines, too. Personally, I make my background line art thinner than character line art. It helps the characters pop out!

8. Flats! Or flat colors if you wanna get specific about terminology. It's exactly what it sounds like -- Coloring the characters and backgrounds with the bare bones basic colors. I highly recommend keeping the character flats and bg flats on separate layers if you're working digitally.

9. Rendering! There's no hard and fast rule as to how a cartoonist ought to render their comic -- If they want to do that at all, even. Go with what you believe looks good AND is something you can do quickly. The "quickly" part is important. Heed my warning. Don't be like me.

And then I'd schedule the comic to be uploaded on whatever day suits me -- Thursday (usually) in Infested's case.

Of course, I kinda suck at relaying my process, so the final thing I can do for you is direct you to an extremely helpful book that really breaks it down in a way that may click with you as it did with me.

I hope this was in any way helpful to you!

[anticmiscellaney]

what's your favorite part of writing and drawing newoldrare?

Apart from the fact that I love writing and drawing and have fun doing it and would do it all day every day if I could, it's that I can do exactly whatever the fuck I want with it.

It's likely commercially unpublishable for a range of reasons. All the stories are designed to be printed by specific processes and assembled in ways that will probably not translate to a convenient book, and nothing about traditional publishing sounds like a good deal to me. The comments I've gotten about my other scripts relating to music have been annoying. "Young people don't know who these bands are" - okay I'm not writing YA but no problem, books are a great place to find out about new things. I'm making stories about what I'm interested in and they are an invitation for readers to join me, as I have joined many creators in their interests.

I have a few graphic novel scripts that I'd be happy to draw for traditional publication and maybe one day I'll get the chance, but I also have a full time job because I need health insurance to pay for surgery. I have rent and bills and student loans. There are only so many hours in the day, and if I'm not getting paid to do art, I will only be making art I'm insane about.

NewOldRare is what I'm insane about. The art styles and approaches are varied because I love to try different things for different stories. It'll keep growing; I have a lot of ideas noted down, a lot of scripts of various lengths written, and quite a few thumbnailed. It's small scale. It's specific. It's niche. I hide a lot of things in the backgrounds and they don't necessarily matter to the story, but they matter to me. It's probably pointless, it's just quiet snapshots of the lives of two ordinary people and it's kind of silly, but I care about it. It's partly a response to how alienating I find most queer comics/art, but it's not offering incisive commentary or judgement. It also started as a porn illustration series and I forget most people don't know that because I can't post any of it here.

I held off on posting any of it online for a pretty long time and just sent people PDFs of it because I didn't think anyone else would care - friends are obligated to at least pretend. The fact that some people I don't know like it and see value in it is strange to think about, but also very cool.

I guess that was a long way to say I love doing this work because I enjoy the process, but I also like what it represents about my development as an artist and it has helped me figure out a few things.

[tiggerriot]

Hey, so I’ve been trying to get back into drawing after straying away from it a couple of years. I’m just curious, do you have any advice or tips one drawing? Even just basic skills or tools that you use/think would work?

Love your art by the way, especially the way you draw Ghost’s mask 😆

Please and thank you!! 🙏

I totally get this, I drew almost nothing from 2016 - 2020 and had a hard time getting back into it. My advice:

1. Draw for yourself!

It can be hard to get out of the mindset of ‘what do people want to see/what will get me likes’ but drawing the things you want to see for yourself is a good way to motivate yourself to do it.

2. Try new things!

While I stand by ‘draw for yourself’, don’t only draw the stuff you’re comfortable drawing, draw the stuff you wanna draw but don’t really know how to. Mixing up your subjects, mediums, brushes, etc. can help you develop skills you didn’t realize you were lacking.

3. Study artists you like! (I do this a lot.)

What do you like about their art? How can you incorporate that into your own work? I’m not saying to trace, copy, or steal, but we as artists all get inspiration from each other and that’s good! Try to do some drawings based on the things you studied from those artists.

4. Don’t buy into the ‘you have to draw every day’ hype.

If you really, really, really don’t feel like drawing … don’t. You don’t have to draw every single day. Chances are, you’ll go through spurts where all you want to do is draw and you will go through times where you just don’t want to draw at all. Try to substitute drawing for some other creative thing on the days you don’t want to draw. Forcing it when you really don’t want to will probably do more harm than good. (I like to write, make stuff out of clay, build pinterest boards, create spotify plalists,etc.) When you wanna draw but you're just not motivated, do studies or draw something you know how to draw well.

5. Don’t underestimate the power of the warmup!

Warmup drawings are so important! If you have a really strong idea you really want to get right, start by just warming. Can be thumbnails, figure drawings, cubes, line practice, goldfish, whatever you want!

6. Last, but maybe most important: Don’t be afraid to make bad art!

Make "bad" art! Post your bad art if you want! Don’t be afraid of making art that isn’t perfect, or great, or even good sometimes. Every artist makes “bad” art sometimes - stuff that’s just not up to par, that isn’t representative of their skill level, art that’s not what they ‘wanted’ it to be. And that’s fine. We aren’t here to be the best artists in the world, or to make a perfect piece every time, that’s simply unattainable. We’re here because we like to create.

Good luck! <3

P.S. here are some of my favorite artist resources:

Sinix Designs, particular the Anatomy Quick Tips series

Proko

GES DRAW PARTY (great resource for warmups)

Jackie Droujko

The Character Design References Visual Library

Online Artist Portfolios [x] [x] [x]

[bellaxgiornata]

Falling For the Devil [Part twenty-one: "The Time You Did Tell Him"]

Pairing: Matt Murdock x Fem!Reader

Summary: Matt stops by your apartment as Daredevil, clearly bothered by something that happened to him that night. Eventually you confess your feelings for him and you both share an intimate moment together.

Or

You finally tell Matt you love him. And then you ride him on your couch.

[Series of one-shots about Reader meeting, falling for, and dating Matt Murdock.]

Warnings: 18+ for this series; contains humor, fluff, romance, angst, smut (like...a lot of it later in the series), language, some violence

Word Count: 4.9k

a/n: So this is fluff and a smutty smupdate! Reader is starting to get a bit bolder, which gradually continues as the series progresses! You can find all of the installments for this series currently on tumblr listed here.

Sitting cross-legged on your couch, you cuddled into the plush blue blanket wrapped around the back of you. You were clutching one of the soft couch pillows to your chest with both hands, eyes glued to your television. 

It was Friday night, the week had been long and Matt was out doing his Daredevil thing. And you were not in the mood for the barrage of horror movies that were taking over every channel this month, so you’d settled on finally catching up on Bridgerton. It had been awhile since you’d watched it–truthfully since you’d come back from Foggy and Marci’s wedding. Because really, who needed to live vicariously through a fictional steamy relationship when you had Matthew Murdock as a boyfriend? He was the living embodiment of steamy relationship–especially when it came to charming compliments and mind-blowing sex. Even if he did dress up in what equated to a Halloween costume a few nights a week punching criminals senseless.

Currently you were entranced on the episode in your darkened apartment, having settled in to binge with the lights off. You were absently chewing on your thumbnail, practically holding your breath and waiting for the two characters on screen to actually kill you before the sexual tension did, when three rhythmic knocks came from somewhere near the left of your television. You screamed, throwing the pillow into the air as your heart nearly beat out of your chest.

Eyes wide, you focused your attention to where the sound had come from and found Daredevil outside of your window crouched on your fire escape with a wide smile spread over his face. He looked like he was laughing at how he’d startled you, the beautiful bastard. As if he sensed your eyes on him–and who the hell knew with that man, maybe he did–he raised a gloved hand and exaggeratedly waved at you. Rolling your eyes, you grabbed the remote and paused your show before getting off of the couch and crossing the room towards the window. You opened it and stepped aside, letting him climb through as the cool October air blew into your apartment with him.

“I’m sorry,” Matt said, humor in his tone as he pulled his other leg through the window, “I didn’t mean to scare you. I didn’t realize how focused on that show you were.” He shot you a little smirk, and with most of his face obscured by his helmet it was hard to miss the intent in it. "Though with how invested in it you seemed to be I should have figured."

You closed the window behind him, locking the cold back out as a blush crept over your cheeks at having been caught being mildly turned on from the whole romance of the show. Turning towards him, you took in the sight of his amused expression. “You should make more noise when you show up, Matt,” you informed him, ignoring his other comment, "with how much you sneak up on me in my apartment. You're like a damn ninja and I need you to be more of a bumbling elephant. "

“Bumbling elephant?" he asked, his gloved hands landing on your hips and drawing you into him. "I'm not sure I can quite manage that."

"Of course you can't," you muttered. "You're too far from being a bumbling elephant to begin with." The grin he shot you had your eyes darting away from him for a moment. “So uh, I thought you were going to be out for awhile tonight?” you asked, clearing your throat. 

From your peripheral you gradually saw his grin morph into something gentler as he gazed back at you, the horned helmet still covering half his face. That caught your attention and you eyed him curiously.  

"Yeah, I was planning on it but I just…" he stopped, voice trailing off.

You could see the way his cheeks were twitching, the muscles working as if he was thinking hard about something. Immediately you knew something had happened while he was out and you became a little nervous, wondering what would have him showing up at your apartment like this. 

Hesitantly you stepped closer to him, hands carefully lifting the helmet from his head, his face slowly revealing itself to you. The expression in his eyes was soft as they focused along your neck. You turned, setting his helmet on the corner of your television stand behind you before you returned your attention to him, running your hands through his hair to fix the mussed pieces. A gentle smile slipped onto his mouth, his hands still on your hips lightly rubbing affectionate circles over the fabric of your sweatpants. 

"Something happen tonight?" you asked him carefully.

"Yeah," he answered softly.

Licking your lips, you noticed how he didn’t say more. You chewed the inside of your cheek nervously before you grabbed one of his gloved hands from off your hips and pulled him further into your apartment and towards the couch. "How about I get you a glass of water?" you asked.

"That'd be great," he said, his voice still gentle. “Thank you.”

You eyed him curiously for a moment, unsure what to make of his tone and the warm, fond expression on his face as he tracked your movements to the kitchen.  

"Are you going back out?" you called over to him as you filled a glass.

"No," he answered when the faucet had turned back off. "I uh, I was wondering if I could stay with you tonight?"

Your eyes narrowed, even more curious as you made your way back towards him. Handing him the slightly cool glass of water, you wondered what had happened tonight and what was going through his mind. 

"Of course you can stay, Matty," you assured him. "I'll go grab you a shirt and some pants so you can get comfortable. I'll be right back."

Heading into your bedroom, you began pulling out one of his shirts and a pair of sweatpants from your dresser. You hesitated a moment, a slow smile creeping onto your mouth as you took in the sight of his clothes sitting next to yours. A warm feeling flooded you as you closed the drawer and headed back out towards your living room.

You found Matt half undressed, his Daredevil suit no longer covering his upper body when you returned. Trying not to stare too much you quickly set the clothes on the coffee table before heading over to help. You unbuckled a few straps around his leg, releasing the billy club holster and setting it aside. Matt began sliding out of the rest of the suit, your eyes drawn to his ass as he bent over in his dark boxers.

He huffed out a laugh as he pulled the suit off his last leg. "I can practically feel your eyes on my ass, sweetheart," he teased. 

You immediately glanced away, biting your lip as you grabbed his sweatpants from the coffee table. "I don't know what you're talking about," you mumbled awkwardly. 

He rose back upright, accepting the sweatpants from you with a smile on his face. 

"You…want to talk about whatever clearly happened tonight?" you asked him.

For a moment he stood there, sweatpants in hand as he stared at you for a long while. You felt your heart increase under that fond expression on his face. Slowly he began unfolding the pants.

"There was an older gentlemen whose wife had a heart attack tonight. Outside of their apartment," he told you, his focus on pulling the sweatpants up his legs. His voice was low as he continued, and you listened intently, your own expression softening. "I helped him get an ambulance in time for her. Waited around the hospital for a bit after. She was thankfully alright in the end," he said, tone still oddly quiet. "I checked back in with the man after things had settled down. He uh, he told me about how long they'd been together. All these stories about their lives together. Dates they'd been on," he said, a faint smile on his mouth. "And I'd felt how terrified he was, how afraid he was to lose her tonight and I just–just felt like I had to be there, you know?” You nodded lightly in response before he continued on. “And then after, when she was okay," he said softly, his gaze landing on your left shoulder, "I just…felt like I had to be here."

Your hands fidgeted nervously in front of you at his words, the look on his face doing something to your heart. “Oh,” you breathed out. “I–I’m glad to hear she was alright.”

He crossed the few feet of space between the pair of you, disregarding his shirt on your coffee table. You felt your breath coming in shallower with him standing before you, clad in just sweatpants that were slung low on his hips and that warm, affectionate gaze directed fully on you. If he kept it up you might actually forget how to breathe.

His hands landed on your hips carefully, slowly drawing you into him before one of his hands made its way up to your chin. Fingers gently grasping it, he tilted your face up towards his. You swallowed hard, unable to read the expression in his eyes–despite being sightless, they were far from emotionless. Gradually he leaned closer towards you and your eyes fluttered closed, expecting him to lean in for a kiss until you felt his forehead lightly come to rest against yours.

Eyes opening, you glanced at Matt before you. His own eyes were closed, that unreadable expression still drawn across his face. The hand he still had on your hip tugged you in further against his body before gliding towards your lower back and holding you to him, fingers splayed wide over your over-sized tee-shirt. His other hand came to cup your right cheek, his thumb gently gliding back and forth along your skin.

Your lips parted, your body being filled with a warmth that wasn’t just from your growing arousal. Your hands tentatively made their way to his solid and bare chest, a soft sigh falling from Matt the moment you touched him. Both of your breaths were mingling in the miniscule amount of space still between both of your parted lips. When he shifted his forehead against yours, his nose lightly bumping into your own, the words almost came out.

“Matt, I–”

You stopped yourself, heart rate drastically climbing, the organ itself pounding so hard in your chest you could actually feel your pulse vibrating through your entire body. He tensed against you, you could actually feel his muscles contract as if in anticipation. His eyebrows had even pulled together just a little when you’d stopped yourself, the corner of his mouth tugging downwards almost imperceptibly. 

“Say it,” he whispered. “Please, say it.”

A shiver ran down your spine, goosebumps abruptly rising along your forearms. Did he know what you’d been about to say? But how could he?

Trying to calm your breathing, your eyes focused on his mouth so close to yours. You could feel the heat of his breath blowing over your mouth with each of his exhales. Summoning whatever courage you had, feeling so lightheaded from your shallow breaths that you might faint, you nervously whispered, “I–I love you, Matthew.”

Instantly you saw his lips curl up into a large smile; a happy, contented hum came from his throat. His nose intentionally bumped against yours this time, the hand on your lower back somehow holding you tighter to him.

“Say it again,” he begged, lips so close they were grazing yours as he spoke.

“I love you, Matthew,” you breathed out, repeating the confession.

His mouth gently landed on yours, kissing you only briefly before he broke away. He whispered your name immediately after, the sound drawing a shuddering breath from your mouth. “I love you, too,” he whispered. “And I have been dying to hear you say that for weeks. Ever since that charity event when I figured out why your body would occasionally have a meltdown around me,” he admitted with a light chuckle. “I…wanted to hear you say it first. But you were taking so long I almost lost my resolve and said it so many times before now.”

“You knew?” you asked breathlessly. Your mind was still trying to take a few minutes to mentally wrap around the fact that this man loved you back.

He smiled, nodding his forehead against yours. “I figured there was only one thing that you could be holding back saying–one thing that would make your body react like it had been around me–that you’d be that terrified to just tell me.”

Still feeling lightheaded, especially with how close he still was to you after that big revelation, you asked, “Why were you waiting for me to say it?”

“Because you’re always so timid,” he whispered, thumb continuing to stroke your cheek affectionately again. “I wanted to hear you be the one to say it first. Wanted you to find your voice and tell me how you felt.” He slipped in a quick peck to your lips, grinning after. “I love you,” he whispered.

You couldn’t fight the smile that spread over your own lips, your hands sliding up his chest and wrapping around the back of his neck. “I love you, too,” you murmured, nerves still rolling in your stomach at finally saying it and hearing it in return.

“And now,” he said, the grin growing on his face, the hand he had on your back slowly snaking its way towards your stomach, “I want to show you how much I love you.”

His lips were back on yours, the hand on your cheek holding your mouth firmly to his as he kissed you earnestly. Your mouth reacted immediately, matching the eager pace. You felt his right hand slip down past the waistband of both your sweatpants and your underwear, two warm fingers lightly rubbing along your clit soon after. You hissed in pleasure at the contact, your fingers gripping the hair at the nape of his neck in response, heat flooding your body instantly. 

Matt’s mouth was soon at your neck, placing open mouthed kisses underneath your jaw. The sensation was shooting warm jolts of pleasure all through your body as your head fell back, a moan falling out of your mouth.

“Take your clothes off,” Matt ordered, lips still at your neck.

You began tugging your shirt up, Matt inevitably and unfortunately having to remove his mouth from your neck when you needed to pull the shirt over your head. He took the opportunity to slide his sweatpants and boxers off as you slipped your own sweatpants and underwear down your legs. Hands fumbling with your bra clasp as you stepped out of your clothes, you quickly tried to remove your bra as your eyes focused on Matt's growing erection before you. 

And you found yourself abruptly overcome with the desire to ride him on your couch, your face heating at the thought. 

Just as your bra fell to the floor, Matt's hands were on your body, tugging you into him. Chewing your bottom lip roughly, feeling moderately emboldened by the knowledge that Matt loved you, you tentatively raised a hand to his bare chest. He paused, stopping from leaning into you for what you suspected was another kiss. His brows drew together, a small crease forming between them. Timidly, you gently pushed him back towards your couch and he took one step back. A little thrill shot through you as he did and you pushed him a bit more firmly towards your couch a second time. He stepped backwards, the back of his legs hitting your couch as a coy smile slid across his mouth. He sat, staring expectantly back up at you before him. Ignoring any and all self-conscious thoughts trying to force their way to the forefront of your mind right now, you focused on Matt’s beautiful naked body seated on your couch waiting for you. 

“Maybe I want to show you,” you whispered.

Gradually you placed your right knee on the couch beside his left thigh before drawing your left knee up onto the couch until you were effectively straddling his lap. Your hands lightly landed on his shoulders, your eyes never leaving his face. Somehow the expression on his face, one of excited anticipation, had begun to ease some of the nerves in your body at the position you had found yourself in. 

Because you were determined to ride Matthew Murdock until you made him feel as good as he always made you feel.

While your left hand steadied yourself atop Matt, your right hand snaked its way up his neck and to his chin, gently tilting his face towards yours. He smiled warmly up at you, his hands coming to rest on both of your hips. Exhaling softly, you lowered yourself to his lap until your slickened cunt could grind slowly along the underside of his cock. Matt's fingers dug into the flesh of your hips in response, a faint moan leaving his mouth. Without thought or hesitation, your lips dropped down to his, the sounds of his pleasure now muffled against your mouth as you kissed him. 

Your tongue swiped along his lip, pleased when he eagerly allowed it to slip inside of his mouth. Surprising even yourself, your tongue began lapping into Matt's mouth over and over with a determined focus, relentlessly drawing quiet little moans from his throat into your own mouth. The sound of him exhaling sharper and sharper breaths from his nose as you did was only drawing more dampness between your thighs as your hips picked up their pace, grinding yourself harder along the length of him. Focused on his mouth, you didn’t realize he’d released a hand from your hip, drawing it back and placing a smack against your ass before it returned to roughly gripping your hip.

Slipping your tongue out of his mouth, you gasped out, the sting of his hand leaving a warm sensation in its place. Switching your focus, your right hand tilted his head back along the backrest of the couch, your hips moving almost aggressively along him at this point. But while your hips were moving confidently, your mouth timidly made its way to his throat. Though the moment your lips lightly kissed the warm, sensitive skin of his neck, you audibly heard Matt's breath hitch beside your ear. Spurred on by his reaction, you slowly swiped the tip of your tongue up the side of his neck, a shock of excitement rolling through you when a deep rumble of a growl vibrated underneath your tongue. Your hips ground down harder against him.

"Fuck, sweetheart," he whispered.

You glanced up, watching the expression of pleasure draw itself across his face in the glow of the paused television show–brows pulled together, his eyes clamped shut, his lips parted as soft pants expelled from between them. Smiling a little triumphantly, you lowered back to his neck and more firmly licked the flat of your tongue up along the pulse point of his throat and delighted when his hips roughly bucked up into you as something like a whine flew from him. Curiously, you placed a kiss to that spot on his neck, noticing the way in which his jaw tightened just above you. He whispered your name, the sound of it mixed in with his rough pants had your cunt throbbing along his cock. You sucked the skin into your mouth next, focusing on the spot that was drawing something like a whimper from him.

"I'm going to cum," he rumbled out, voice strained, "with the way you keep grinding on me and kissing my neck. And sweetheart," he said, and you paused, taking in the sight of him looking as if he truly was refraining from letting go beneath you already, "I really want to feel you before I do."

"Sorry," you whispered, straightening up in his lap.

His eyes instantly snapped open, focusing around your chin. "No, don't apologize," he quickly told you. "You like this–letting loose, taking control, feeling comfortable enough to do that with me," he ground out between gritted teeth, clearly trying to rein himself in. "It's incredibly sexy and I'm having a hard time holding back because of it."

“Yeah?” you asked him curiously.

He nodded, his head still laying along the backrest as his eyes were still on your chin. “You have no fucking idea, sweetheart,” he murmured. 

You rose on his lap, lowering your right hand and grabbing his hard, throbbing cock. Carefully you lined him up with your slickened slit and gently lowered–immediately you had to stop, barely fitting much of him inside of you before you hissed at the expected and delicious feel of him stretching you. Matt, on the other hand, had let out a low groan, his eyes clamping shut again as his head rolled back on the couch just from the feel of the briefest bit of his cock slipping inside of you. And that had you gripping his broad shoulders firmly with both of your hands.

After a moment, you slowly sunk lower until he was entirely sheathed inside of your cunt. You were panting yourself now, eyes closed as you adjusted to that fullness he always filled you with. And fuck if you didn’t love the feel of his cock buried inside of you. The feel of it alone had your cunt fluttering around him as you circled your hips briefly, delighting in the little whines he emitted in response. 

Matt’s head rolled further back on the backrest as he inhaled a sharp, shuddering breath. “Shit,” he breathed out. “I love how your beautiful pussy always takes a minute to fit me.” His jaw clenched, his eyes still tightly closed. “I can feel every twitch and it's so good . You feel so fucking good.”

The topic of conversation clenched around him again at the compliment and Matt moaned yet again. Carefully you rose up along his cock, eyes focused on Matt’s face below you, before you slowly eased back down on him. He hummed out a contented noise in response and you repeated the motion, nails digging into his shoulders a little. You took your time for a minute, slowly rising up and eventually slamming harder and harder down onto him until the pair of you were gasping every time you felt him roughly bottoming out inside of you.

Soon your hips had picked up their pace and you were fucking Matt steadily, watching as he was falling apart under you. The sight was like nothing you’d experienced before, especially not with him. It felt empowering watching the infamous Daredevil literally whimpering beneath you as you fucked him. A string of curses flew out of him, brows drawn tight together as his hips occasionally fucked up into you. You felt your orgasm slowly building deep inside of you when one of his hands slid down to grip your ass hard, encouraging your pace.

Your forehead lowered, your hips fiercely bouncing you along Matt’s cock with a vicious pace now. His head instantly rolled back up off the couch, his own forehead coming to rest against yours. You were both breathing heavily, mouths just an inch apart, your exhales mingling in the small space between you. His other hand left your hip, sliding its way up your back before his fingers roughly dug into it, pulling you closer. His mouth was attacking yours a second later, feverishly kissing you in an onslaught of tongue, lips, teeth, and saliva. You felt like you were going to have a sensation overload from all of the stimulation.

“You’re getting close,” he whispered against your mouth, his forehead still against yours.

“Yes,” you breathed out. 

Your hips were still forcefully ramming into Matt repeatedly, not even remotely slowing down. He was right, you were on the edge of your climax, just needing that one little push to send you toppling over.

“So am I, sweetheart,” he grunted out. “You think you can–” he paused, gritting his teeth as his hand on your back pushed your chest further into his, “–think you can cum with me?”

You felt your cunt tightening around him–fuck you were so goddamn close. Nodding vigorously against his forehead, your eyes focused on him beneath you, your right hand released his shoulder to cup his cheek. Immediately his eyes opened, glancing up at you curiously. You leaned in and kissed him, sucking that plump bottom lip into your mouth. He held tight to you where his hands were currently positioned on your body–one on your back and one on your left ass cheek–before he started thrusting up into you furiously from below. You cried out in surprise, feeling your walls tightening instantly around his cock. The beginning of your orgasm started to crest over you at the sensation of him driving himself so fucking hard into you.  

A loud, strangled moan came from Matt’s mouth seconds later as your mouth dropped down, sucking the skin along his neck. You felt his hips beginning to stutter underneath yours shortly after. The sound of him loudly calling out your name as he came inside of you had your lips slipping from his neck. Your head fell back along your shoulders, eyes rolling back into your head behind closed lids as you felt yourself squeezing his cock. He shifted before you, his own mouth attaching itself to your neck as he lapped at you with his tongue.

“ Fuck, Matt ,” you choked out, hips still bouncing along him.

One of Matt’s hands quickly found its way to the front of you, his fingers finding your clit and rubbing just right, drawing your orgasm out longer than you thought was humanly possible.

“That’s it,” Matt encouraged you, mouth moving along your throat as he spoke, your toes curling at his voice. “Cum for me, beautiful.”

You felt like you were barely breathing by the time you reached the end of your orgasm. Sweat-slicked forehead collapsing down onto Matt’s shoulder, you were exhausted and pleasure drunk. His head shifted beside you, planting a gentle kiss to your temple as he continued to expel a few hard breaths himself.

“Was that more satisfying than watching that little romance drama that was getting you worked up?” Matt teased.

A tired smile spread across your mouth that was still pressed into his sweaty shoulder. “Someone jealous of a television show?” you teased back.

“Well it was apparently turning you on,” he joked.

“Mmm,” you hummed against his skin, “nothing like you do.”

He chuckled underneath you, the movement shaking you lightly along the couch. Matt took a moment, raising your hips and letting his cock slip out of you before he readjusted you on his lap. Your head remained comfortably against his shoulder, not bothering to move.

“That was incredibly sexy, by the way,” he told you. “Anytime you want to take charge, sweetheart, you are more than welcome to.”

A flush crept up your cheeks, realizing exactly what you’d just done and wondering how the hell you’d mustered the courage to mount him on your couch and ride him until he was a mess beneath you. 

But you sure as shit enjoyed it.

“Good to know,” you whispered a little shyly into his shoulder.

“Hey,” Matt said, lightly shrugging the shoulder you were resting on until your face turned towards him. His gaze was focused along your right cheekbone, a warm smile on his mouth as looked down at you. “Don’t. Don’t go feeling like you need to hide from me, sweetheart. I can feel you getting nervous on me.” His large palm rubbed a soothing circle along your back as his eyes creased at the corners. “I love you,” he whispered. “Don’t hide from me.”

You couldn’t fight the smile settling onto your face as you looked back up at him from your place along his shoulder. “I love you, too, Matt,” you whispered back.

He leaned forward, planting a kiss to your forehead. When he pulled back, his hand lightly patted your back. “We should probably get cleaned up, though.”

Your face turned, burying itself back into him. You mumbled something into his shoulder but it came out muffled.

“What?” Matt asked.

Turning your head just a bit, you repeated awkwardly, “I literally can’t move my legs. They’re dead after that. Completely fucking mush.”

He fell into a fit of laughs underneath you and you couldn’t resist joining in, lightly swatting his arm.

“Not all of us are goddamn superheros with the bodies to go with it,” you countered. 

His laughter faded out but a large smile remained on his face as he looked back at you. “I love your body exactly as it is, mushy legs included, sweetheart.”

“ Matt !” you hissed, though you couldn’t resist the laugh that fell out of you again.

He began shifting underneath you, helping you off of his lap and onto the couch beside him as he chuckled. “I’ll take care of you, don’t worry,” he assured you with a gentle pat on your thigh. 

He rose from the couch and you watched as the dim light from the television lit his naked body before he headed down the hall towards your bathroom. Your eyes lowered, appreciating just how great his ass looked, especially with nothing covering it.

“I can feel you staring at my ass again,” he called back over his shoulder.

Your eyes widened instantly. “How can you possibly tell?” you asked him in disbelief. 

His answer was a bark of laughter before he disappeared into your bathroom.

[inksandpensblog]

[me, seeing the AvGeometry thumbnail]: they’re finally doing Fibonacci

(also I must say that desk mats are the most appropriate merch for this series ever)

okay there’s no excuse not to make fanart anymore now that we know we can just make a single colored line, we don’t even have to make a whole stickfigure this is taking “golden ratio” literally

oh neat so that’s why φ moved like that in AvMath. I’d thought it seemed like it was moving on a line and I was right, we just couldn’t see the line then

this is when I realized how happy I was and I had to remind myself that I hate doing math

oh the inside of the shape goes golden too. φ can leave the lines and float inside it when it does, which is interesting

I’m curious if Euler told Fibonacci about Orange at all, I can’t tell if φ is messing with Orange for fun or showing him who’s boss or just over-excited and going on a visual info-dump about its interests

what

why is it dubstep

what is this thing supposed to be?! I don’t remember learning about anything like this in math

that spiral was so satisfying though. never would’ve expected it to be accompanied by a fade-out from dubstep

OH THEY’RE SYNCHING NOW. THEY’RE CHOREOGRAPHING TO THE BEAT

I replayed the drawing of the glider several times, the sounds in that sequence just fell into place perfectly

math having a natural enemy is such a strange concept to entertain XD

the way the pentagon fractals when it breaks

Orange crafting again

ooh what do the other colors mean?

CONTINUITY?!

[imagine-a-life-like-this]

Step 8 : Fall In Love Anyway (L.F)

Word Count : 3.1k

Warnings : swearing, food mention, brief mention of alcohol and drinking, brief mention of anxious habits (lip chewing, biting thumbnail), emotional cheating, angst, as per usual this one hurts but there's a happy ending

A/N : And that's a wrap on the 8 Step Guide! It took a bit longer than I wanted but I finished it! I hope you enjoyed all 8 steps! Don't forget to check out my next written series Perfect For You. The prologue is already out! I will also be releasing the masterlist for my smau series soon 🥰

“Have you ever met someone that you would do absolutely anything for?” Felix chuckled at first, ready to deny ever having met such a person, but then he paused and his eyes stopped on his best friend sitting across the room. Jisung was going on about this girl he met, how incredible she was, how he would do anything for her.

            And Felix realized that’s exactly how he felt about Y/n. “But how do you know it’s love and not friendship?” He asked as his mouth ran dry, watching as Y/n’s boyfriend pressed a kiss to her cheek, and she smiled the most beautiful smile he’s ever seen. And his heart clenched, fire burned through his veins.

            Soobin and Y/n have been dating for just over a year now. Felix has been by her side throughout their entire relationship, and not once has he felt like this. Jealousy hasn’t been something he’s felt when it came to her, because she’s his best friend. And Soobin is so good to her. He loves her. “I think if you’re asking me that, you already know the answer.” Jisung chuckled, clapping Felix on the shoulder, pulling him out of his thoughts. “You know, I always thought you knew you were in love with her.”

            “What are you talking about?”

            “Just think about it. I gotta go. Good luck with the lovebirds.”

            He’s known her as long as he can remember, his little piece of Australia that came with him to Korea. Inseparable since they met. His mom has hundreds of pictures and videos of the two of them that she’ll send him sometimes. Remember this? She’ll ask. Of course he does. He’s not sure why, but he remembers all of it.

            All the trips to the beach. All the scraped knees healed with bandages and kisses. Broken bones with casts covered in random drawings. Stories they made up with their figurines. Movie nights cuddled up under the same blanket that would turn into sleep overs, but their parents never minded because they always knew where they were.

            People expected them to drift apart as they got older, but they seemed to get closer. Junior high came and went, and soon they were graduating high school, and moving to Korea together.

            But as Felix went through these memories, he couldn’t figure out why Jisung thought he was in love with her. He had always seen her as a friend, his best friend, his other half. Of course he thought she was pretty, beautiful even, the most beautiful girl he’s ever seen. If he were to name his ideal type, he’d probably want someone like her, but not because he loves her.

            She just understands him in ways no one else does. He knows he can be clingier than other people, and she’s never made him feel too much for that, often clinging right back. She knows what he needs just by looking at his face, knows what he’s thinking by the look in his eyes.

            And his family adores her! Which is so important to him. His sisters both love her so much that the three of them still keep in touch. He’s walked into their place multiple times and has seen her on the couch, video chatting with his sisters like they were hers. It always brings a smile to his face.

            His mom calls her sometimes to check in on her, and if she can’t reach her, she’ll ask him about her. His dad has teased him a lot, asking him when he’s making his move on her. Oh. Oh shit.

Felix looked over to Soobin and Y/n again, seeing her smile falling as Soobin said his goodbyes, looking at his phone. And he was gone just like Jisung, leaving Felix alone with Y/n, and his heart picked up speed. What is he supposed to do now that he knows he’s in love with her?

            “Jisung had to leave too?” He could hear the hurt in her voice. But why? Wasn’t Soobin a good boyfriend? Didn’t he treat her well? Was there something he wasn’t seeing? “Soobin and I were supposed to see a movie today. I already bought the tickets, but something came up at work. Want to come with me?” How could he ever tell her no?

~

            “I don’t know, something seems weird.” Ryujin said, shaking her head as she took a bite of her cake. “When you and Soobin first got together, he dropped everything to be with you. But now it’s the opposite. Instead of being the priority, you’ve become the option.” Y/n was chewing on her lip, afraid of what it could mean. She knows how it looks on the outside, but Soobin wasn’t that type, right?

            “Wasn’t he really close with Giselle before?” Yeji asked. “I remember thinking they were dating and was actually really surprised when you told us you were dating Soobin.”

            “Oh yeah! Everyone was talking about it. Said their two favourite It couples broke up.” Lia chimed in. “I’m still rooting for Y/n and Felix.” Y/n lightly slapped her on the arm.

            “We’re just friends!”

            “That’s what they all say!” Y/n rolled her eyes. Has she thought about Felix in that way before? Of course she has. She’s not blind. He’s handsome and cute wrapped into one. She loves when he wraps her in his arms and she’s close enough to count his freckles while he softly tells her about his day in his soothingly deep voice.

            Of course she’s had dreams where they’re married with a couple kids and a dog, and she’s wrapped up in his arms just like that. And they’re talking softly while their kids sleep peacefully in their rooms, their dog at the foot of their bed. It’s wholesome, it’s domestic. And it’s just a dream with no meaning.

            Felix was the first to congratulate her on her relationship with Soobin. He was the one who introduced them to begin with, playing matchmaker in the background, thinking neither of them knew. He was the one who set up the first date. He gave Soobin all the tips on how to win her over. Even if she was in love with him, he certainly isn’t in love with her.

            So she holds onto the love she gets from Soobin. She knows he’s slipping through her fingers. She knows his heart no longer belongs to her, but as long as he keeps coming back to her, she can pretend that Felix is just her friend. Because even a little bit of love is better than none at all.

~

            “Where are you?” She asks as soon as Soobin picks up her video call. He’s in his car, that much she can tell. But he doesn’t look ready for the dinner they should already been on the way to.

            “You look so pretty baby. Going out tonight?” She was ready to lose her mind, ready to throw her phone, and rip her hair out of her head. Tears threatened to fall from her eyes, but she blinked them back, clenching her jaw as she spoke again, reminding him of their plans.

            “We have dinner with my parents in 20 minutes, Soobin.” His eyes widened as he was reminded of the date, and he stumbled over his words, apologizing a thousand times. “I’ll just call them and cancel. Just go do whatever was clearly more important than me.”

            “Baby no! Nothing is more important than you, okay? Just tell them we’re running behind. I’ll run home and change and pick you up in 15 minutes okay? Don’t cancel baby. I know you were so excited for this. And you look too pretty to let it just go to waste. Just wait for me. I love you.” She nodded and hung up the phone before calling her mom explaining that Soobin was having car troubles so they were running a bit behind.

            “Shouldn’t you be gone?” Felix asked when he walked through the door. “Whoa.” He added when he took in her full appearance. “You look absolutely stunning, Y/n.” Soobin texted to let her know he had arrived, so she stood to leave, but quickly wrapped her arms around Felix, taking him by surprise.

            “Thank you, Lix.” She pressed a lingering kiss to his cheek before leaving. And Felix just stood there with his hand to his cheek, his heart pounding in his chest, and jealousy running through his veins.

~

            “There’s my baby girl!” Her dad stood from the table, taking her into his arms, pressing a kiss to the top of her head. “You look amazing! Doesn’t she look just incredible, Soobin? Gets it from her old man.” Soobin nodded with a smile, taking a quick look at his phone, sending off a text, before sitting down. Y/n tried not to let it bother her because he was here with her.

            “We ordered a bottle of champagne since this is a celebration.” Her mom spoke up. “My baby girl is growing up so fast! Already managing her own team. Next thing you know you’ll be a CEO.”

            The waiter came by with the champagne, pouring everyone a glass, and taking orders, but Soobin was still somewhere else, glancing at his phone. He tried to engage in conversation, but he kept going back to his phone. She really tried not to think much of it, trying to focus on her celebration dinner, but it was hard when out of the corner of her eye, all she could see was her boyfriend occupied with something else.

            “A toast!” Her dad began, raising his glass, catching Soobin’s attention just long enough for him to slide his phone into his pocket and raise his own glass. “To my little girl who grew up way too fast before my very eyes and is now living her dreams. I always knew you could do it, pumpkin.” The four of them lightly clinked glasses before each taking a sip.

~

            “Remember to take care of yourself and don’t work too hard. Just because you got promoted doesn’t mean you need to do everything yourself, okay?”

            “Of course mom. I’ll make sure to eat and drink plenty of water.”

            “And sleep! Sleep is important too.” Y/n giggled, nodding, and agreeing to sleep as well. She made sure her parents got into their car okay before making her way to Soobin’s car, who was already in the driver’s seat, talking to someone on the phone.

            “I’ll be there soon, okay? I just have to drop Y/n off at home. Don’t leave the door unlocked, I have a key. Mmhmm, love you too.” She said nothing as she buckled her seatbelt, staring straight ahead. She didn’t want to believe it was true, but how could it not be? “That was nice. Next time we should pay for them.”

            “Do you even know why they paid for dinner today?” Her arms were crossed over her chest, jaw clenched, brows furrowed, and Soobin put the car back into park, knowing he fucked up. It wasn’t an anniversary, or a birthday. He’s sure he didn’t miss anything, but he wasn’t paying much attention during the dinner, and he knows she noticed.

            “I’m sorry I was distant during dinner baby. But something-“

            “Something came up at work.” He nodded. “You just tell your coworkers you love them then? Tell them not to leave the door unlocked because you have a key?”

            “It’s not what you think, I swear. I wouldn’t do that to you.” He reached out for her but she just shook her head, telling him to drive her home so he could get to whoever is more important than her. “There’s no one more-“ He shut up with the cold glare she shot him and quietly drove her home, the only sound coming from the wind blowing outside.

            She immediately got out of the car when they pulled up to her house, and he followed her, wrapping his hand around her wrist, and she met his eyes.

            “I promise you it’s not what you think.” His voice was soft, barely above a whisper. “It was Giselle. She’s just going through a lot right now and really needs me and I had promised to go over right after work, but I remember you being excited about this dinner, and I wanted to be there for you.”

            “I was excited because I was promoted, Soobin. It was a celebration dinner. And you would have known that if you paid even a sliver of attention to me at all tonight, but your mind has been filled with nothing but Giselle for months now. So just tell me right now, do you love her?” He opened his mouth to deny it, but the words wouldn’t come out. He couldn’t deny having feelings for Giselle, but did he love her? Not the way he loved Y/n, but his hesitation gave her the answer she needed, and she turned away, but he caught her wrist again.

            “Y/n wait!”

            “I got my answer Soobin. And that’s fine. We shouldn’t be together if we both love someone else.” His grip loosened. “You love her, and I love Felix.”

~

            Felix wasn’t sure what he was supposed to do. He knows he wasn’t supposed to hear it, knows it was a private conversation between a couple, an ex couple. But he couldn’t stop thinking about it. Her words ringing through her mind, You love her, and I love Felix. And he can’t help but wonder if she meant it. Or did she just say it so Soobin wouldn’t win?

            Does Felix confess to her? Would it be wrong of him? He paces, chewing on his thumbnail, deep in thought, and Jisung just watches him. “What’s up with him?” Minho asks, taking a seat next to him, handing him his coffee. And Jisung just shrugs.

            “Midlife crisis?”

            “Nah too young.”

            “Existential crisis?” Minho studies Felix’s face for a few minutes before shaking his head again.

            “Seems deeper than that. This is a love crisis.” Jisung smiled to himself, shaking his head before taking a sip of his coffee. “You know something I don’t. Spill.”

            “He’s in love with Y/n.”

            “Huh. Classic.” The two just sat there, watching Felix pace back and forth as he thought through everything that could go wrong if he were to confess. It could ruin their friendship, friendship they’ve had for their entire lives. She could laugh in his face, ask why she would ever return his feelings. She could pity him, feel bad for not returning his feelings, tell him she loves Soobin, that her heart was just broken and that’s why she said what she said. He was never meant to hear it. She could hate him for listening in on her conversation.

            But there’s one outcome that could make it all worth it. One outcome that makes all the bad fade away. The outcome where she meant it. The one where she really does love him. “I’m going to confess.” He says suddenly and then leaves. Minho and Jisung just exchange looks, shrugging their shoulders, and then continue about their day. Weirder things have happened.

~

            “You did the right thing.” Ryujin said matter-of-factly as she ate her cake. The other girls agreed quickly, each chiming in with things they didn’t like about Soobin between bites of their own lunches.

            “I’m still rooting for Y/n and Felix.” Yeah, she is too. “Best friends to lovers? Best trope in my opinion.”

            “And they’re childhood best friends!” Yeji chimed in.

            “Even better!” Lia cried. She grabbed Y/n’s hands, pouting as she looked her in the eyes. “Please date Felix! You two would be so cute!!!” Y/n just chuckled, pulling her hands away, patting Lia’s hands.

            “That’s not just up to me.”

            “Oh please that man is obsessed with you.” Ryujin spoke up as she took the final bite of her cake.

            “Please eat something other than cake.” Yeji said, sliding some of her food over to her. Ryujin immediately slid it back, keeping eye contact with Yeji as she pulled out another slice of cake, immediately taking a bite, still not breaking eye contact. “Though I don’t agree with her eating habits, I do agree that Felix loves you.” Lia was quick to agree, still pleading her with her eyes.

            “You three are relentless. I’m going back to work.”

~

            She didn’t want to think about it, the possibility of Felix returning her feelings. But it was the only thing running through her mind her entire way home. She spent years pushing her feelings aside, pretending they weren’t there, hoping one day they would go away, or he’d confess to her. But her feelings continued to grow, and he introduced her to Soobin.

            It was as if he knew she loved him and it was his way of rejecting her. Introducing her to someone that would treat her right, love her right. For a short time anyway, but there was someone else in his life. Another girl that took his attention and heart away. And the small amount of love she was okay with receiving wasn’t enough anymore.

            She wanted Felix. And she hated that the only person she wanted was him. It hit her all at once. After years pushing anything that felt like love to the side, it hit her all at once. Walking into their shared house seeing a trail of rose petals leading up to a dinner for two, a candle in the middle of the table, Felix standing next to it in a suit, holding a bouquet with a shy smile on his face. “Welcome home.”

            “What’s all this?” So many emotions hit her at once. But the one that stuck out the most was love. And she knew she couldn’t push it aside anymore. It was time to feel it in full force.

            “My confession.” He held out the bouquet for her to take. “Do you accept?” She couldn’t help the smile that made its way to her face as she took the flowers from his hand.

            “Yeah. I accept.”

            “Good because this took way too long to cook. Shall we?” He gestured to the dinner he made set up on the table and she nodded. He pulled out a chair for her, pressing a quick kiss to her cheek before sitting across from her, watching as her cheeks went red, just like his when she kissed his. And it was like a dream come true. Falling in love with his best friend and having her fall in love with him too.

back to masterlist

@beabeanice @lilydaisyyy @notastraykid @frobin4ever @habeyhan @taetertotsv @mylifesupsidedowm @is2cb97 @ren-junwrld @wormi @ghostedgameplays @haikyuuisposts @chai-papa @aestheticsluut @sahazzy @https-skzology @lethallyprotected @why-am-i-sad @neohyxn @alyssajavenss @hamburgers101 @strayluvr @armystay89 @hyujinnie1 @jisuperboard @scarletwitchywitchbitch

[shadowcaststudio]

Where's the Floor

So lately when I do thumbnails for my comics, I play a game called "Where's the Floor". Basically, put a grid down to represent the surface plane.

I picked up this trick from watching animatics from "Rise of The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" from Nickelodeon. This leads me to this helpful trick, it's the grid pattern on the floor to show perspective.

Whether it is the floor or the ceiling, it's an easy way for me to know where the camera is in relation to the surface plane. Therefore, giving me an idea of how to draw the characters in that perspective. Also leads to dynamic shots and amazing high action scenes.

There was one other set of videos on youtube that uses their cameras pretty affectively, and that's a dance troupe from Russia.

You put a grid on the most important surface in that shot and it's basically the same principles!

Even their bird's eye camera, zoom ins made me think of shots taken in dancing scenes from Disney.

If you break down a shot from your favorite animated series, you can guess where the grid is, how it's tilted, and how the character should be in perspective to that.

Having this concept simplified really has helped with layout, perspective, and taking steps into more dynamic action scenes for me.

[audioroleplayconfessions]

https://www.tumblr.com/audioroleplayconfessions/733894052580327424/i-cant-get-into-other-audio-roleplays-because-the

Answering the questions!

Thank you Admin! ♪⁠ ⁠\⁠(⁠^⁠ω⁠^⁠\⁠ ⁠)

I like a heathly combination of fluff and plot though I don't mind either on their own. I prefer cinematic stories with more parts!

Slow burn is definitely a favorite of mine! I like all genres but I do have a preference for fantasy storylines.

I absolutely avoid the fan made y/n-esque audio rp with already existing characters i.e Midoriya, Todoroki, Bakugou, no hate to the ones who like or make those, props to the voice impressions. I find it amazing they could imitate the voices but they just aren't for me though. Original characters are much more my thing.

Otherwise I'm fine with regards to everything else!

So far I only like GBA, Redacted and Sundew. I prefer soft, gentle mid-ranged to deeper voices. I like deep voices but I don't think I'd like a voice as deep as the mariana trench lol. Higher pitched voices also aren't my thing and if it's too whispery then it won't do it for me as well.

I'm pretty picky ain't I? Apologies if this is inconvenient, I have no one to ask for recommendations and I'm particularly new to the community (⁠*⁠´⁠ω⁠｀⁠*⁠)

Warmest regards, much love, numerous thanks and salutations,

T.

Oh, I have some recommendations for you! My opinions are a bit biased here (I have a very strong preference for plot-heavy audios over fluff) but it looks like a lot of my favorites suit your tastes. I dislike fanfiction stuff too, especially MHA stuff and I also prefer gentle voice ranges that aren't too high or too low.

I'll give you a few recommendations.

#1: Escaped Audios! He's the very best VA at making you feel like you are living in a movie. All of his stories are heartfelt and exciting, most have slow-burn romances. Most of his characters have a gentle, mid-range voice that isn't too high or too deep (though he as a couple deeper voiced characters). I like his style of acting because he sounds very sincere and "real" when he talks. My two favorite playlists from him are Matador Gothic (his dramatic vampire slayer adventure) and The New Jersey Rats (a mafia-themed Romantic comedy).

I've followed him since Matador Gothic came out a little over a year ago but he's only recently started to gain hype after being super under-rated for a long time. If you like GBA's style of story telling you'll probably like him too. The only downside you might experience is that his stories usually don't leave a lot of room for fluff, so there are no cuddle audios or sleep aids etc on his channel. That said he's my current favorite, is incredibly creative and original, and he's amazing at supercharging my brain with serotonin.

#2: Obsidian Lantern. He has some of the most immersive sound production of any VA I've ever seen. Some of his earlier stuff is a little weird and clumsy but once he catches his footing he's great. His voice is very gentle and comforting to me, and he'll even speak a little Spanish sometimes.

His Gator Boys series is great and actually ties in with the lore of a few other VA's universes! I also really like his Merfolk series. He also plays around with common tropes while putting his own unique spin on them and I really like that too. He also makes all of his own art, and he not only draws thumbnails but actually makes illustrations of the scenes in his audios which is super cool. Overall really great, I think you'd like him.

#3. ZSaku VA. His playlists start out a little slow but over time his style evolved to be more cinematic. I really like his Vampire series (the Xanthus playlist) and his two interconnected crime series (The Elias and Issac playlists). They're good from the outset and just get better. Lately he's been making higher-stakes stories with more collabs and I love that. He's also collabed with a bunch of the other people I mentioned, which I love to see.

He has a nice balance between fluff and story-telling, and lots of his plots/characters connect to one another. If you like Redacted Audio you'll probably like ZSaku. The only downside is that he takes a long time in between episodes of each series, and works on multiple series at the same time, so if you really get into one playlist you might end up feeling a bit impatient.

#4: YuuriVoice. He's got a rotating cast of characters and he's one of my long-time comfort channels. He has ongoing plots throughout all of his series, but his stuff is mostly character-based. It's worth listening to everything and getting attached to his characters, as their development gets better and more complex over time.

He can do a pretty broad range of voices too, and they all feel unique and fresh. He has done some MHA/fanfic type audios before in the past but over time he transitioned to focusing on his own original characters and I love all of them.

#5: Shining Armor ASMR. I like him more as a comfort/fun/fluff channel. A great channel for listening to little bite sized audios with fun character concepts and lower stakes. I also like his voice and his accent, and it's fun seeing him do different voices within his accent. Definitely more on the fluff side but I think you'd appreciate him!

That's about it! There are more channels I like but based on your tastes I think you would like those channels. Also, honorable mention to Desmond ASMR. I love him but he's been on hiatus for like a year now!

Feel free to leave your own recommendations/cosigns/etc in the comments and reblogs.

Love, Ringmaster.

[pochqmqri]

When I saw this video drop in my recommended, I knew it was going to disappoint me as someone who has done personal nuzlocke runs before, used to be an active member of the forums, and even still is friends with people from there. And I was right. Look under the read more for my gripes.

To start off, he makes a rather big mistake by stating that the original Ruby Hard Mode run ended in a win, when it definitely did not, and was the basis for the Ruby character going to Kanto to start the FireRed Hard Mode run. That one isn’t one I think is too bad compared to the others, but it’s still something you could easily research on your own. 

He’s also a little wrong about ShiroInu being the earliest person to post a nuzlocke comic on the forums, but I can also forgive him for that. In general, he spends only a small portion of the video on the Nuzlocke Forums before branching out to videos, and I feel that was a misstep. For one, he completely glossed over screenshot runs, which were just as important as comics and written logs in the formation of Nuzlocking’s early years. A lot of people at the time couldn’t afford recording set ups for let’s plays, and screenshotting on VBA was as easy as pie, making Nuzlockes accessible to most people especially those that didn’t want to draw.

I also think it’s a bit peculiar that Kynim wasn’t mentioned at all, when he discussed Nuzlocke comics. Myths of Unova is probably the most popular Nuzlocke comic outside of the original, especially so for one with actual effort put into the art and narrative. We can go on all day and week about other popular comics too like Petty Nuzlocke Challenge, It’s A Hard Life, FireRed Kick-Ass Mode, Double Nuzlocke Series, etc. That not much time is dedicated to the narrative aspect of Nuzlocking in favor of the more technical and challenge-oriented ones is such a shame especially since a lot of history was made on the now-defunct Smackjeeves website. Like, in the video, fucking Emerald Kaizo got its own section while the forums, comics, etc. don’t even get that much respect. Towards the end of that video it was basically summarizing specific Nuzlocke runs from popular YouTubers/streamers, rather than an overall look. 

Moving onto recorded Nuzlockes, it’s really baffling that Marriland wasn’t given an explicit shout out. While he wasn’t one of the first to do a recorded Nuzlocke on YouTube (October 27, 2012), he was one of the first people to upload Let’s Play content on YouTube period, and he was also one of the important figures in Nuzlocking since he invented the Wedlocke challenge. Granted, the Wedlocke was mentioned briefly in a list of variants and his videos were shown in a screenshot of Google, but that’s not enough respect I feel.

Also, I think it’s funny that PokemonChallenges is attributed as the founder of the Hardcore Nuzlocke, that is, a Nuzlocke with the added rules of “no item use in battle” and “no overlevelling against important trainers’ strongest Pokemon.” The video claims Jan invented that in 2016 for his streams, when in fact, people have been using those extra rules well before he did. I also want to note that I don’t really blame Wolfey for this misinformation, since he said in the video that the research was primarily done by pChal and some guy named Drew, which, yeah, makes sense with how biased it is. 

No disrespect to Jaiden, even if I don’t find her content entertaining, but I feel she got a lot of undeserved credit in this video too. Like, obviously the thumbnail having her in the “Then” portion is just clickbait, but to go on in the video and say that “the way that [original Nuzlocke comic creator] and Jaiden share their nuzlockes might be what caused Nuzlocking to take off” is plain wrong in the case of the latter. Like, yes, Jaiden’s 87mil+ video definitely brought it out of the general Pokemon fandom, so that people like Alpharad and Ludwig started doing them, but Nuzlocking took off well before she made the video. In fact, Griffin McElroy made a rather popular Nuzlocke video back in 2016 on Polygon’s YouTube channel.

The video also misattributes certain tricks and strategies to that Drew guy’s Renegade Platinum run, saying that it would “define the meta.” Stuff like the repel trick to manipulate encounters, which is not true at all, since the repel trick has been documented on Bulbapedia since 2010, well before that ROM hack.

Overall, I don’t want to gatekeep the Nuzlocke from anyone, but it’s just sad how it has primarily evolved to just adding on challenge after challenge and treating your Pokemon as pawns (i.e. sending them out to die), as well as optimizing the gameplay to reduce the amount of failure such as by hacking in rare candies to save time grinding (when that basically cheeses the periods between important fights and removes the possibility of something bad happening during grinding), and manipulating encounters (esp. in newer games without grass) to your biggest benefit. If you want to play it that way, that’s fine. The storytelling part of Nuzlocking was such a huge boon in how the challenge got popularized, also the concepts of using Pokemon and strategies you’d have never thought to have try before, so it’s disappointing that it gets overlooked especially in a retrospective like this.

[peridyke]

How many comics do you have? and where can I find them?

thank you for asking!!!!

sadly right now i don’t have any finished comics to show off as I only recently got the time to seriously work on my art BUT i do have a variety of projects that i can show off! there’s some stuff i’m actively working on and other stuff that’s more of a back burner thing but let me list out everything i’ve done/have planned on doing

1) angel bites

ok so my current project i’m working on right now is called angel bites and it’s actually going to be a fun lesbian erotica comic about an angel girl and devil girl who are bandmates and who secretly hook up on the side. i’m currently in the process of thumbnailing this one and i’m guessing it’s gonna be around 60 or so pages. once im done i’m gonna have the comic up on patreon/have it for sale digitally on a platform like itch.io BUT the first 20ish pages are sfw so I will post those publicly for free so i can show off my work and characters.

i designed these in universe pin ups that i haven’t posted publicly yet and even though i wanted to wait until i finish the third one in the series that’s a little sillier theyre my most recent and best looking art of the characters

2) sacrificial lamb

sacrificial lamb was my main focus for a bit but i’ve taken a break from it for the time being to work on other projects. it’s a more serious project than anything else i’ve been doing but it’s one i’ve been planning out since 2021 and that i do want to seriously look into getting published when it’s finished. it is a lesbian horror comic about a butch lesbian rabbit whose femme cat girlfriend gets sucked into the darker side of new age spiritualism. here is my WIP of the cover and a finished page

3) claw wrench

this is a lower priority project of mine but one i still want to make exist in some form one of these days. it’s about a teenage cat named milly going to live with their estranged super genius mad scientist half sister named mindy and her robot assistant mr. rogato. it would be a newspaper strip style comic with a few larger plot threads. i might start it up one of these days after i’ve gotten some other comics under my belt and i feel like i have a better mental image of what i want the writing to be like. here’s some designs i did in 2021

4) be mine, valentine

this is a project featuring characters of mine who i’ve had for a few years but only recently decided i wanted to turn into a short story. it’s about a peryton coder named cupid who is unbeknownst to herself a trans girl egg discovering her identity after being hired by a trans girl sex worker unicorn named valentine to help build a website for her work. it’s a short but sweet little love story that i have to plan out better before i seriously work on it but i can see it being something i make in the near-ish future. there will be some nudity and sexual themes but nothing pornographic so i will upload it for free online when it’s done ^_^ sadly i um…don’t have a sfw drawing of valentine yet LOL so you’re just gonna have to deal with a cropped pic

5) thalassophobia

this is probably most relevant to peoples’ interest who follow me and something probably remember. thalassophobia is a really big steven universe fan comic i started writing to give lapis a more complete arc. i had a lot of passion for it back in 2022/23 but steven universe hasn’t been on my mind as much recently so it’s gone on the back burner. still i put a ton of work into it so i’d like to come back and finish writing it one day, although for the actual comic process i might see about getting some help on pages and colors and such since considering the scale i think it’s way too big for me to do solo. here’s a cover and a few test pages i did

I HAVE ONE MORE COMIC TO TALK ABOUT BUT IVE USED UP THE IMAGE LIMIT i’m gonna finish in a reblog so give me a second

[writerblock-sucks]

[ ☕️ ] fan video … faith dancer’s analysis

faith’s masterlist

note | thumbnail made by me

warning(s) / includes | n/a

a/n | posted based on this youtube series, i do not claim to have a dance history or degree (or whatever) so everything here is either a rephrased version of what the youtuber said in other videos or my way of showing a more in-depth detail on how i see faiths’ dancing

taglist | @lovely-sanie @skzfairies @skz-angel @still-astray @felixsbrat @smh-anon @alyszaen @alixnsuperstxr

intro

known for being the nation’s hidden gem, the member is consistently complimented on her dancing abilities 

the second longest training period in stray kids, of 4 years thought to be put in to the next jyp girl group, accommodated quickly to the hardcore and intense chores that only boy groups were know for at the time [clips of her on sixteen and stray kids survival show]

faith is part of vocalracha, but on many occasions has been given the chance to show her extensive dancing capabilities 

stray kids faith [faiths’ scars + case 143 fancam starts play on screen]

tutting

tutting is a style of dance that requires incredible body control, a skill i believe faith has mastered to the point i would put her in the top best body control in 4th maybe even kpop overall

isolations and body locks are also a buy product of faiths’ tutting skills, making for readable, accurate, and clear dance moves

and depending on the music, her body movements and dancing can come off as feminine and dainty or powerful and masculine

her understanding of isolation and body locks makes her appear taller and more masculine, making for cohesive performances with stray kids and any other male idols

fluidity

smooth and seamless execution of dance moves are again thanks to her extensive body control

[faiths’ easy + domino fancams start play on screen]

but also her completion of isolations, and body rolls are a good example

watch how both seungmin and faith execute the body roll in silent cry

[shows both seungmin and faith silent cry fancam side by side]

watch how the seungmin’s body roll stops at his stomach, making the movement look “broken” and choppy

while faith finished her body roll, hit all key points (chest, stomach, pelvis, and tailbone), and her hand glides along her body down to her thigh

putting her understanding of lines and fluidity to work, creating a fluid yet big movement

imploding

imploding is a form of explosive style, meaning the energy one has is compressed and contained inside the body, making a popping effect

imploding dance style means one needs muscles, so it’s not surprising to see this [shows a collage of faiths’ muscles]

however, faith’s imploding skills can be accounted to where she comes from

south africa, which as a rich history in many things, one known being the dance history

faith's most used dance style from south africa culture is pantsula, bhenga, and bujwa

[faiths’ charmer, wolfgang, double knot fancams start playing]

fast footwork, body control, fluidity, etc, and everything that is used in all forms of dance that faith uses in her dances and freestyle is used in these south african dances

outro

to end of where we began, how her home country affects her

not only as a dancer but also as a producer, being raised in a country in riched with extensive musical history

helped lay the groundwork for body control and fluidity, that many would train years for

combined with her physique and quick learning, proves why she should be known as the nation’s hidden gem

[…]

however her dancing is not only skill, her stage presence is eye-catching

even if she isn’t in the center stage still draws viewers' eyes cause of her aura alone

stray kids being noted as concept chameleons, faith is not exempted from the skill, pulling off covers like fancy by twice or bang, bang, bang by big bang

her rapping and singing skills help transition in many songs, meshing well with the other members

shows she is not just ‘the female member of stray kids’ and that stray kids are a well-oiled machine that works together, and each member is an important part that makes the group what it is

© lowercase intended | writerblock-sucks

[marzules]

the strangest thing I've ever seen

oh my cod.

this took so long.

I started this back in October so I would have something nice to look at when I checked in for Nanowrimo... obviously I did not finish it by November lol but it was still fun to do!!!

here's some process photossss:

(I drew a terrifying amount of thumbnail sketches. It was in my head so clearly but it was so difficult to get)

I think this photo makes me look like a very skilled artist. also I think it's pretty. Look at that lighting yes it is wonderful to work in

chaos (I worked so hard on that toilet and that lamp and both of them are covered dude. For the sake of not making this any longer than it already is I won't include more photos but imagine perspective lines everywhere. Every color. Red (Red Rose) Blue(-da-ba-dee) green yellow cyan orange okay I don't think I got that far but it was bad so many layers I kept drawing on the wrong layer it was soo bad

this is the first version of the piece I finished in... December... for an art assignment. I don't know how I forgot to put a soap bottle on the sink when Sophie washes their hands in this scene... like it's the whole main focus....

Also the colors are different because my laptop colors absolutely suck and make everything more blue and desaturated. I asked like 10 different people and it is definitely a problem with my computer so I adjusted the colors in the top image... started doing that at 7:09 pm today thinking it would only take 20 minutes and it is uh. 10:40 pm. sobs

the colors are very accurate to what I am seeing on my screen though I promise you

anyways one more yapping section THE LORE!!! so basically REDSHIFT is a thing I've been working for a couple of years now, started as a book in like journal entry format and now it's flip flopping between a very small animated series or a very small movie I don't know which one. anyways

[i changed the lore. sorry guys. give me a bit]

Anyways back to where this thing even happens it's a dystopian sci-fi story!!! which means. It takes place in a dystopia. And it is sciency. Their planet is really nice you know they've been the most environmentally friendly planet for the past 117 years in a row!! Did you know that they contribute to the largest space arsenal in the universe and they have some of the best technology??? WOw good for. them. okay im tired man I want to be done writing this it's late lol. Also there's Steve I didn't mention Steve because he's kind of irrelevant big happenings wise only character development wise but he's very cool and I think u guys will Love Him he becomes Sophie's friend :))

anyways one more thing about half of the population here are kind of just... voids. Like space voids. Like you look at them and they're just a silhouette of a person and you just see space through them. It's a bit inconvenient at times yeah you can't tell people apart unless they're wearing clothes yeah there are other planets with only humans and only spacey peoples and other planets have other species entirely but they're all pretty much in their own bubble and this one's got flesh humans and space humans. They've got quite a history I think you will find. Very big on science... experimentation innovation whatever... personal improvement. just want to make their world a bit better you know...

okay that is all. goodnight

[lemon-wedges]

Heey just wanted to tell you that I adore your art, especially the way you draw Barok. You humanised him in a way I've never seen an artist do. All your characters, but especially him, look like real, soft, approachable people. I can almost see their chests expanding, I can imagine them laughing and breathing, I can tell how in love your ships are, which is very special and very rare

Your art makes me extremely emotional

(also where did you study, what books did u read, how long did it take you to learn to draw like that??)

AH thank you for the sweet ask! it really made my day to hear this TTuTT

As for your other asks, ill put them undercut with some photos and links to stuff!!

I've been drawing for about ahhhh 16 years( 8 of which are actually like serious school stuff than just a hobby) but tbh its only really been in the last 3 where i feel like ive been making actual progress in improving my stuff. but thats my personal path in art and its always gonna be different for you or anyone else.

anyways 3 years ago i made some changes to my drawing habits and study methods that were like. real specific to where i wanted my art to go (cleaner lines, better foundations, gesture, etc etc). I worked on thing one at a time tho!! it can get overwhelming real quick if youre not careful. So the stuff im gonna give you is geared towards....well, me? both in content im searching for and just the classes that resonate how i like learning

OK BOOKS:

CLEANER LINES. I use to have a habit of making like EXTREMELY sketchy and unconfident lines. This is a landscape book that i literally just copied every single thumbnail. Helped me get into the habit of both using only a few strokes to get an idea across and breaking down complicated subjects into shapes

ANATOMY. Morpho series. Its not a how-to-book tho its just a compilation of an artists break downs. This one is my fav tho. And helped a lot when i was struggling to understand like ALL BODY PARTS

CLOTHING. This is probably my fav clothing book. Very short and published in the 1940s. Its helpful specifically to ME cause its clothing is closer to TGAA outfits(mens) than more modern books LOL

And now CLASSES. I do actually have an art degree from a university and let me tell you. I was left SEVERELY lacking any skills i needed to go into the industry I was interested in 👍 (not cause of the professors but cause the school itself was actively killing its art department :p) So i was kinda just left looking into online stuff on my own (AND COMMUNITY COLLEGE!!!! MY BELOVED AFFORABLE CLASSES )

NEW MASTERS ACADEMY. Its a subscription-have access to all the videos for a month to a year- kind of thing. cheapest is about $40 a month. REALLY REALLY helped my anatomy and foundations. Steve Huston: Good for entire step by step anatomy break downs. Micheal Mattesi & Karl Gnass: Gesture. I've watched a handful of other videos but these instructors were the most helpful to me

DRAWING AMERICA. A lot more pricey. Around $100-$300. but youre basically paying to own the recorded classes and keep them forever. I've only really taken Will Westons classes cause he focuses on BGS and props. But he also has some nice composition stuff thrown in there too.

(I've taken a LOT of online courses and the thing about a majority of them is that they arent really taught by professors or teachers so they tend to be more like a giant Tip video than an actual lesson plan. And if u haven't taken an art class before the difference is HUGE)

and i think thats it? i guess if theres anything else i can give u its this tip:

you mentioned my art is humanizing. Thats a comment ive heard a few times and i guess its odd to say but i dont really know what youre seeing? Like i understand the "ships in love" but cause i did go out of my way to draw sappy love faces 10 bajillion times until i was satisfied. But alive? hmmmmmm like THINK i might know what you may be responding to. Its a combo of the gesture and my effort in trying not to loose the energy of the original sketch when i go to clean it up. And what ive figured out is this. Youre not outlining or tracing your under sketch youre REDRAWING it .

i put the under sketch and clean up next to each other so hopefully this makes sense but like. when i do an under sketch im only really focused on building the figure. When u build a figure youre drawing out bigger shapes and breaking them down into smaller and smaller ones. Lines feel like they have more energy at this stage because the circles and cylinders are fully drawn out, making them have a continuous momentum. So then when it comes to the clean up stage. im not looking to trace the exact lines i drew out (if u notice my final isnt a 1 to 1 copy of the og) im trying to follow the flow of the original lines. thats why youll see lines go thru the figure sometimes, its me trying to keep the energy in that line even if its not suppose to be very long.

idk if this makes any sense at all.....and maybe i should have recorded me actually drawing this out but [shrug emoji] i could do it later if anyone is interesting in wtf is happening here. CAUSE I SWEAR ever since i started cleaning my sketches like this i started to get those comments. but also i could be wrong too.....then i REALLY dont know what im doing ahahahah

Anyways, i hope something in here ends up helping you anon!!! GOOD LUCK ARTING I BELIEVE IN YOU :O