#i love muted colour palettes <3

[malwarechips]

god tamer !!!

[sylenth-l]

Hi hello, I love your art so much LIKE MY BROTHER. IT'S SO YUMMY, THE SHADOWS THE EXPRESSIONS, I love how you draw Timur , Felwinter and Osiris together 🙏 little bird with his two funky adoptive parents. I stare at your art like , I'm always ready and hyped to give traditional art another try ✨

If I was to go back, any tips for which watercolours to pick? I so far got only aniline colours.

Aah, thank you so much!! 😳💙

Hmmm, the thing is, I use fountain pen inks almost always for painting. I don't use watercolour much, so I can't really suggest anything in particular… I have a selection of colours from different brands, of course, I know quite a lot about pigments, and I like using watercolour from time to time to add some special effects to my works. For sketching outdoors it's also the easiest to use among all other paints, probably. But painting a whole artwork with it……… I try doing it sometimes, but every single time I end up thinking "God, I wish I used inks instead, I hate this so much, why is it so BLEURGH". I guess watercolour just isn't my medium 😂 

I can share my thinking process when building up a palette though, I use it with all mixable mediums I use, be it inks, watercolour, gouache, etc. I found it to be the most effective (and money-saving, lol) approach for me.

So what I want for my main mixing palette is to have 3 sets of primary trios. All colours also must be as smooth as possible, with no surprises or unwanted colour separation. For watercolour - not granulating ones.

(my camera tends to make all colours brighter and also fails to see the subtle difference between some shades, but you can still get the idea)

The first trio is extremely vivid, consisting of bright cool colours - lemon yellow, cyan, magenta-leaning pink. It gives you access to all the bright, open colours.

Second is the classic they teach in all art schools (probably, from what I've heard, I never went into one alkjdshfk) - sunshine yellow, bright warm red and ultramarine blue. This gives you a huge selection of warmer, natural colours, like all shades of golds, eggplant purples, olive greens, etc. It also allows some nice selection of wood browns.

Third is my personal favorite, the muted trio. You kinda can get similar colours from the previous trio, but I prefer having these separately, because of how often I use them all. It consists of golden ochre-leaning yellow, dark bloody red and dark indanthrone blue. It gives you the most beautiful browns, beiges, blacks and other rich, deep colours.

On top of that I also like to have at least one decent black (in my case it's Quink Black ink, I cannot live without it).  And these 10 would be my essentials. Other colours I add to my mixing palette are basically shortcuts to the shades I find myself mixing the most - like a few browns and violets. There are also a few inks that I need for some very specific purposes - like, I have a very vivid cold magenta ink to mix a certain bright cold shade of the Void, and also a fluorescent orange for adding shiny Exo LED lights. And etc.

(Actually I'm currently in the process of re-organizing my main palette and also considering making a few small sets for painting some characters specifically)

I also have a separate selection of chromatographic inks, which can probably be compared to granulating watercolours… But not quite. A few examples:

Here I don't have any special notes or advices, just get the ink you like and enjoy it. Some of these I use so often that I always keep them in my main palette, and others I only get out for some special occasion. These are also mixable btw - I constantly add other ink in Quink Black to get different shades of it.

However, I must say that not all of the ~special effects~ inks are polite and well-behaved, some will agree to work only on some specific paper after a significant amount of coaxing, and others will straight out say "fuck you" at the most crucial moment, even if they worked perfectly just a moment ago.

Btw, when working with inks, I really recommend to put it into smaller bottles with a dropper, so you don't have to open the big bottle each time. It's both easier to use for you and much safer for inks! 

ANYWAY, I hope this post was of some use for you 🌈

[crispymarvellousdinosaurs]

I gottta get this off my chest.

The Percy Jackson show was... fine? It wasn't great and on a good day, I guess I could call it good but I think it missed the mark with some things.

1. Book accuracy. This may seem dumb given that Riordan was involved in the show but the show came about because everyone loved the books, so why deviate from the books? If it ain't broke....

2. The colour grading. Why the FUCK was this show so muted, grey and washed out visually? This is a children/YA adventure series, WHERE are the vibrant colours? Percy, and by extension the audience, is entering a new and crazy world, he is filled with awe equally as he is filled with fear but it's magical, it's mythical, it's fantastical. The colour palette should reflect this! This is not HBO, there is no need to be a try hard and turn your fun and adventurous book series into a semi serious adult fantasy drama, it ain't that Rick. You could do that with HOO but not PJO.

3. Too much Annabeth. Book/Season 2 is kickstarted with a missing Grover. Grover and Percy's friendship needed to be sold 158% this season so season 2 has some weight to it. Instead it was the percy annabeth show. Annabeth is a main character throughout the rest of the series, Grover less so. Annabeth should take up more screentime as the show goes on to show her deepening importance to Percy. She should've been the thirdwheel to Percy and Grover

4. Granted, I've not read the books in a while but it wouldn't have hurt them to lift more lines from the book. It's literally the best part of adaptations.

[bbqgrape]

All my Pressure ocs / scrapped designs!

Number 1: Dune D.

He was my first oc, though I don't draw him as much anymore :(((

Number 2: Dylan (First design)

This was my second oc, and which I never really liked sadly, and his design was scrapped + the palette I used as reference.

Number 3: Dylan Dallimore (Getting closer to the final design...)

Scrapped the shirt because I decided to make this original character plenty of angst! Though in canon, he'd wear this shirt XD + Sketch

Number 4: Dylan Dallimore (Pre-final design)

This is his pre-final design (Before I decided to make his design more fun than anatomy based, I really love chubby cheeks!), and I decided to use more diverse brushes that I found on Pinterest!

Number 5: Dylan Dallimore (Final Design)

So, let's get it with the *Lore*...*rubs hands*

Anyways, let's start with appearance!

Species: Fish. DNA mixed with Betta fish, Ribbon eel (Since Dylan has both Female and Male DNA, and ribbon eels change colour according to what gender they become as they're older, I mixed both blue and yellow by using a brush, thus getting his skin tone), Viper fish, Blobfish, Atlantic pygmy octopus, Sea bunny, female Blue Whale (Ex-human/ lab experiment) (Might change once I get everything figured out!)

Some lil' quirks of his:

• This big ol' water balloon has soft bones and squishy skin (Blob fish DNA), thus making it harder to actually damage him by hits, and in some cases, bullets!

• Because of his Female (Female whales are smaller, and if he had Male whale DNA, he'd be **MASSIVE**) whale DNA, Dylan has gained quite a few pounds because of it (Teddy bear incarnate RAHHH)

• Dylan is both colourblind (Because of his octopus and whale DNA) and partially mute (Those damn experiments ruined his vocal cords), and only let's out random noises as expression of what he wants

• Was a HUUUGE emo kid when he was younger, and still kinda is, but now leans more on "Scene" (He would have loved Odetari or 6arelyhuman lol)

• Was (and still is) great friends with Sebastian since childhood, mostly because they both had similar interests, etc.!

I will write his backstory once I have done his ref sheet!

[ndostairlyrium]

I was tagged by @greypetrel and I'm very happy about it because I'm a palette hoarder lol

what’s the colour palette of your name?

So I did name - url of this blog - url for everything else and I LOVE THEM ALL hahahah colours I wear, colors I use <3

And of course I have a muted blueish purple on the one connected with my name lol why the hell not :'D I was tagged by indigo woman after all

I'm tagging @underneathestars @bruxbea @daggerbean & @sparatus ✨ no pressure

[greypetrel]

"Shoes are an evil way to oppress people and I won't wear them." cit.

Finally finished with her clothes concepts! (the first plan was doing 6 of them... Oops, I guess)

Aisling's wardrobe/story through clothes. Guess her favourite colour. Some notes under the cut!

Alyra | Raina| Aisling | Radha )

She loves colours. She has a palette she loves best (teal - purple - yellow) and would stick to it. In Haven she just borrowed the plainest, more muted clothes she could find to blend in better with the rest and not stick out so much. Stopped braiding her hair back to hide her tattoos and look less like a fish out of water and take some attention away from herself. She had to be convinced to go back to leg wraps (it's an extra pair of Solas she adapted to her size).

The teal doublet in her Casual Skyhold attire was the one thing she really asked for when Josephine and Leliana cornered her down to choose a wardrobe that was tailored on her. She doesn't really care all that much for clothes, she just... Hinted at Josie her colour palette, the fact that she doesn't like restrictive skirts and hates shoes, and a couple of infos on how the Lavellans dress up to compliment her wardrobe and bring something of home with her.

"And then, everything changed when the Inquisition Nation attacked". I realise afterwards, I would say I'm sorry if I actually were, but I'm not.

Halamshiral: I did two variations, number 1 is more inspired by Orlesian fashion, the silhouette is Orlesian but with a Dalish twist. I like the colours and how it brings to her formal outfit, but meh. Number 2 is the one I got with and what she actually wore. She couldn't be turned down from wearing a more disctinctly Dalish style dress to that ball, she just conceded in wearing shoes underneath (no socks, she slipped off her shoes to explore the palace and silk stockings would just be pointlessly ruined). Number 3 is the more historically accurate version, fully 1643 fashion I drew for the Three Musketeers inspired series. I kept it because I'm affectionate to it.

Wedding: She pulled it out in Lavellan style in maybe half an hour, braided some elfroot for her crown and picked some forget-me-nots from a flower bed. No she's not feeling very well, the Anchor is flaring and she lost weight.

Post-Trespasser in the Fereldan countryside, embracing local hairstyles. New foot thingies Dagna designed to be easier to pull on and off by herself with just one hand. She begrudgingly admitted that skirts are not that impractical. Lots of heavy sweaters because IT COLD. I wanted to paint some tartan so here you go, there's no really any more reason to it.

[colour-me-oceanred]

Hey, how's it going? I'm currently doing a thing where I find characters and extract their automatic colour palettes (bright, colorful, muted, deep and dark) using adobe color and then if you see this you can vote on one! That's about it, hope you enjoy.

(And please reblog with what you chose and why I love reading those)

Today's character is Grunkle Stan!

Here is their picture:

1. Colourful

2. Bright

3. Muted

4. Deep

5. Dark

[simonsquest]

What is your favorite CV game starring Simon? :P

With regard to gameplay, I have to give it to Castlevania 1. But a close second is Lords of Shadow: Mirror of Fate. The game felt very accessible to play, maintaining the linear Classicvania style (which is my preference) with a little bit of Metroidvania, but not so much that it felt like a huge undertaking. It's my favourite of the LoS trilogy for gameplay alone. And it technically stars Simon! :P For favourite plot, ambience, and OST - Castlevania 2, of course. :) (But I'm terrible at actually playing the game, lol.) I like both Castlevania Chronicles and Super Castlevania IV but the colour palette can sometimes feel a bit muted and muddy in both, so they lack the strong aesthetic pull (dark but with high contrast, bright colours, etc) that I would give to other Classicvania games like Castlevania 3, Rondo, Bloodlines and The Adventure: ReBirth. There were also some areas that I really struggled with in both games. I haven't given Vampire Killer a fair chance. It's a title I need to revisit. I love Haunted Castle for its shorter game length but its difficulty is brutal. But you really can't beat the aesthetics of the first stage where it fades from day to night through the cemetery while Cross Your Heart plays. :) It's so good!

[angelfleurry]

Nagito & Angie with an alt!GN!reader:

Written in the assumption that a relationship has already been established! <3

Also, GN reader!! Makeup is mentioned, but in my opinion makeup is for everyone, so I still count it as GN!!

I’ve used the umbrella term of alt so you have more freedom with whatever style you’d prefer. I haven’t written about any music tastes, I just ended up going with a more physical sense but I can do music tastes if anyone wants!!

~

♡ Nagito Komaeda: ♡

♡ There’s something so strangely beautiful about the way you present yourself.

♡ He’s absolutely enamoured by it.

♡ He just gazes at you for a while, observing.

♡ Whether it’s the maniacal burst of colours, or the hushing allure of the muted and neutral colours, it catches his eye everytime.

♡ He finds it so amazing that one can express themselves in such a way.

♡ He adores it, he adores it all!

♡ He loves to just sit down next to you and watch you do your makeup, or put in your piercings.

♡ He’s like a curious cat. He just sits there cross-legged and observes.

♡ He can help you if you want, in fact he’d be honoured. He just doesn’t ask because he believes he’d mess up the flow.

♡ “Is my eyeliner even, Nagito?” “Honey, can you pass me my rings?”

♡ Say the word, he’ll do it.

♡ You find it sweet how he gets so worked up over the way you dress, but to him it’s so beautiful!!

♡ It’s so admirable, so wonderful, he loves it!

♡ Nagito’s very dramatic in that respect, but you know it’s because he adores you, and you adore him.

♡ You love chatting to him as you get ready, and he loves listening.

♡ You’ve definitely done his makeup for him at some point, and it makes his heart race all over again.

♡ The fact you put so much love into embracing yourself, plus the fact you want to give that same energy to him? Him, of all people?!

♡ Oh, gosh he loves you…

♡ Gets all giggly when you show him the finished result of his makeup.

♡ You love taking pictures with him, like…adore it!

♡ Even if you’re self-conscious about taking selfies, for some reason it melts when you’re with him. ESPECIALLY if you’ve done his makeup.

♡ To even just be acknowledged is enough for Nagito, but for you to want to have physical copies of memories with him…?

♡ How very lucky is he…?~

♡ Angie Yonaga: ♡

♡ She finds it wonderful!

♡ Angie’s an artist, so she’s all for expression. That’s why, when she sees the way you present yourself to the world, she’s OBSESSED.

♡ If you wear makeup, she always takes a moment to observe it.

♡ She analyses all of it and always seems enamoured by it.

♡ “Y/N, you are like a living paint palette! I see such dedication in your art, it is divine!”

♡ If you wear more colourful, eccentric pieces; Angie LOVES suggesting what outfits you could wear. She bases it all on colour coordination and how it reflects you as a person.

♡ If you’re more for darker garments, Angie tends to refer to you as her “living sketch”. She adores how you present yourself.

♡You swear stars form in her eyes when she sees your style shine.

♡ “Please, let Angie paint you!”

♡ If you dye your hair, Angie would LOVE to do it for you.

♡ She’s so gentle and considerate with the way she coats the product into your hair.

♡ She watches for any strand she’s missed, even if it’s the slightest little bit.

♡ It’s like painting to her, just better because she’s helping in the process of bringing forth the art of her S/O!

♡ She hums as she goes, breaking it to talk about her day.

♡ Oh, she does enjoy rambling!

♡ Absolutely adores your aesthetic; it makes her super giggly.

[eatbabies0]

first i loveeeee all the style art u make so so much they r so soft ;-; second i love the almost muted color palettes you often choose! do you have any reason why you choose to work in muted colors often or is it just artistic pref?

i'm glad u like em!! ^_^ i don't really have any reason on using muted colours other than that they look nice lol i try to go with colours that fit with the mood with whatever im drawing y'know? and they just so happen 2 be muted colours majority of the time :3

[youngerfrankenstein]

frare hiii! can i get 3, 27, and 28 for the video game ask? :D

Hi Hi Shyd!!!

3. 1-3 games you’ve played in the past 12 months that you really enjoyed

*Desperately tries to remember what I’ve played in the last year.*

Well, while I still haven’t finished it because my laptop SUCKS (can’t believe I bought it *grumbles*) I did really love what I played of Psychonauts 2. Backed it way back in the day due to loving the first one and just never got around to playing it. Really glad I did! Even if I will probably have to restart on PS4 to finish it :/

I mostly did really enjoy my time with BOTW! Partly due to the game and partly due to being finally able to play something a friend had been raving about for years! But I will say that I was more than ready for it to be over by the end. Still! Most of the experience was enjoyable, even for someone who doesn’t much care for open world games.

I have been trying on and off to FINALLY get back and finish Dragon Age Origins. The first attempt was cut off by computer failure and the second I SWEAR I’ve just put it down for a little while.

…Wish I could give better answers on this one but time is an illusion and my memory sucks.

27. A game you love the atmosphere of

Oh good! Another reason to talk about the Professor Layton games! Because really half the success with that series is due to the atmosphere. It manages to be both weird and comforting. Creepy and homey. The often muted colour palette, silly character designs and bizarre plots come together with an accordion in the background to create a weird yet wonderful world. I love it.

28. Pick a series you like. What was the first game you played for it? Was it a good starting point? Would it still be a good starting point now?

Uh, when I try out a new series I usually just start at the first. I guess I’ll go with Fire Emblem here? Started with FE7 (which… is the first released in North America) Was a pretty good starting point I think, the GBA games helped solidify a bunch of the Fire Emblem staples. I would say it’s still a good starting point with an asterisk. Good if you’re playing on Switch or an emulator, not so much an original cartridge. Partly for having to track one down and partly for being pretty clunky with some weird unexplained stuff. I would probably recommend Sacred Stones (easier, fewer hidden maps, grinding opportunities, though the tracking down a cartridge would still suck if you wanted to play it that way) or Awakening (a lot of modern conveniences, even if I think it’s one of the weaker games it’s still a really good jumping on point) as a starting point before I recommended FE7.

[slayernina]

Some notes:

Daniel Bonjour should have appeared more times shirtless.

Boyfriend killed #3

Patch? Seriously? A hockey player that is the next dead boyfriend? I love lame puns.

Levo's style is Major mixed with Drake but with a muted greenish colour palette.

Green is not just the colour of envy, it is associated also with wild nature and military. It fits his rebel status. Season 4 was green's season, like referencing Levon and guerrilla. It was the season of the green militaryesque jackets and the jaded jeans, in huge contrast between the greys and blues of Fillmore Graves, and the reddish and blacks of Blaine's realm.

Definitely, iZombie follows the Power Rangers colours school.

Daniel Bonjour's ass because reasons.

His progressive investement in Zombie High LOL

His necknacle is consistent through all the season.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

iZombie fashion masterpost here

My other metas here

La maldición de las cuatro brujas here

Una novela romántica de esas con un macizorro sin camiseta en la portada here

Un romanzo rosa di quelli con un fusto a petto nudo in copertina here

Buy me a ko-fi!

[adobe-outdesign]

If it's not getting tiresome would you mind reviewing the mynci? They've been my favorite since childhood

The Mynci is our only primate Neopet (not counting TNT staff, the freaks) and it's... alright. Honestly, I'm kind of amazed we only got a singular monkey Neopet for this category, considering how diverse primates are all-around—you have baboons, gorillas, monkeys, lemurs, etc. It's not a bad thing, but it's head-scratching compared to the number of dragons and birds we have.

As our only primate Neopet, the Mynci is about as literal as you could get with a monkey—long tail, big ears, snub nose (their most distinctive feature tbh) and what seems to be exposed flesh over their ears, face and stomach, down to even having a belly button. I feel like they're kind of like Lupes, being real animals, but they don't have as incredible as a selection of colours to support them like Lupes do.

I guess my main problem with them is that there's no fur indicated on their bodies, just two hairs on their heads, which always gave them this weird feeling of being bald. I feel like just a few small tufts of fur in the right spots would've helped avoid this. Their body shape is also pretty standard. Out of the designs that were voted on, I kind of gravitate towards Mynci #2 here, which both has more fur and a more interesting body shape, as well as a more obvious personality to it. (Though I will admit that #3 is the most Neopet-ish of them all.)

Mynci were basically left untouched by customization aside from gaining a fist, so that's a plus.

Favorite Colours:

Stealthy: Stealthy pets sometimes end up looking incredibly busy, with too many details and colors, but the stealthy Mynci gets it just right. I like the subtle dark green and gold palette used to accent the stealthy colour's natural navy and bright blue eyes, and little details like the stitch marks. I also love how the symbols on its headband and belt are clearly in the shape of a Mynci's nose. The only minor thing that bugs me is that those two hairs on top shouldn't be visible.

Royal: I have no idea why these are Shenkuu-based and I do not care (I guess it's because China has a fair amount of monkey species IRL?). Either way, these designs are super pretty, and work well eith the Mynci's design. Both the royalboy and royalgirl feel on par with each other, with both sporting long flowing robes (hanfu) and luck charms—the main difference being the color palettes and the royalboy having a beard and hat while the female has a headdress.

For the record, both versions are fine with the UCs obviously being better, though there are some weird things we lost in the conversion—like, what happened to the RB's beard and tail cuffs, and why did its eye color change? What happened to the RG's ring? Why did the grey in the RB's eyebrows get lighter? But regardless, these are still solid.

Toy: Come on, it's a symbol monkey! You can't not like it. The purple base is pleasant as well and goes well with the red and peach accents, and it looks nice and plastic-y. Bonus points for hiding the fist. (The eyes should've been purple or red though.)

Bonus: If you want something more ape-like and don't vibe with the Mynci's overall design, give the mutant version a spin. I really like the gorilla-like stance and anatomy, the more muted colors with bright red accents, and little details like the devil-shaped tail and extra fur. My only nitpick is that having both ears and horns feels weird—should be one or the other.

[florxdexcerezos]

"i only have eyes for you." / for the one and only <3

@erstwhles

Five three times Jay was caught staring at Nikki

(1) Nikki had been hyperfocused on painting her latest masterpiece for hours. The colours on her palette had taken over her senses, blocking out the surrounding noise as she created something beautiful. Her brush swiped back and forth furiously, blending the colours on the canvas. It wasn't until she finally took a step back that she finally noticed Jay was stood behind her, watching her at work with a smile on his face.

"How long have you been there?" She asked with a shy blush.

"Not too long. Do you mind if I stay?" He was content in his own space, observing his love create. Even if she was miles in her own world.

"Would you like to be my muse?" Now how could he turn down an offer like that?

(2) A little birdie had let slip that Nikki enjoyed musicals. It was one of her guiltiest pleasures, and she had been hesitant to admit it before it was out in the open. Meeka didn’t care, not about this battle, Jay had to know. 

So there they were. Sat in the audience of a showing of Chicago, Nikki’s favourite. Nikki hadn’t been able to keep still, bouncing on the balls of her feet in her excitement. It had been strange for Jay to see - usually her emotions were much more muted, and reserved - private even. But this experience seemed to unlock something within her, and it brought a warm smile to Jay’s face. That he was able to see this side of her, to find a piece of her secret joy. 

He couldn’t tell whether it was the light of the theatre or excitement in her hazel eyes as she took everything in. She looked back at him, her happiness barely contained behind her beautiful smile. “Thank you for bringing me here.” Comes a grateful, and loving whisper, too carefree and excited to even think of being bashful.

(3) Jay watched Nikki and his mother talk from afar with a warm smile on his face. Right in his purview was his love at relative ease, discussing something that she loved and cared for so deeply. It was rare that she allowed herself to speak freely with anyone outside of him and her immediate family. Kat was speaking to Booker about baseball and Meeka was looking at him; noticing. Ever the perceptive. They shared a knowing smile, comfort found in each other's admiration and love for Nikki. Deep from the soul, and borne from

Extra - One time he wasn’t

Gold shone through the windows one early morning. As was the way, Jay rose with the dawn, while his love, Nikki often slept until what she called a more reasonable time. In fact Nikki lay next to him, passed out with a book in her hands.

After taking a couple of moments to bask in the sunlight, Jay would carefully pry the book from her hands, setting her handmade bookmark back snugly between the pages. Once it was placed back onto the nightstand, he brushed her hair away from her eyes and tucked it behind her ear. With a smile, he would observe her, taking in her peaceful features. How well she slept by his side, how pretty she looked as she smiled in her sleep. His chest tightened, thinking that she would dream of them and their future.

Fearful for a moment she would sense his presence, he did not stay to gaze in awe upon her for too long. There was coffee to make in a cup that she painted for him specifically.

[genshinboys]

Ahhhhh I’m so excited 🤭

1. Mute/pastel colors please! Like coffee brown, I’m not a big and bright girl so anything bright is usually out of questions, like certain kinds of yellows, types of pink, bright reds etc.

2. Usually no patterns, but I’m not against them! If you think they’ll look good be my guest!

3. I do prefer wearing pants/skirts, I also LOVE wearing overcoats, they’re my fav

4. I’m not a big fan of dangling earrings or flashy jewelry in general, I also tend to avoid all hats unless it’s like a baker boy/ivy cap or a wide brim boater, lol

5. I’m sort of in the preppy/business causal area. I like looking my best all the time, you never know who you’ll meet.

6. Zhongli!

7. Hm…I think a shopping date, something about going to the market with Zhongli during a snowy day in Liyue seems so romantic 🤭

-👻

Ok, so I need you to be more specific about colours cutie

Could you go here

https://coolors.co/031a6b-033860-087ca7-004385-05b2dc

And generate the palette of colours you like/want in your design?

You can also generate a palette of colours you absolutely despise 🌸💖

It will help heaps 💞😫

Hugsies 💞💞

[heniareth]

OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH my brilliant friend you know what? First the notification that you liked the ask game came up and the jittering began BUT NOW YOU HAVE REBLOGGED!!!! PREPARE. TO BE. ASKED.!!!!! Ok now I'll ask a lot, because I'm curious about a lot, and you just pick whatever you want to answer yeah? Yeah! <3 <3 I'll put this under the cut as it's ended up quite long (you said you were on the road tmrw and I didn't know if you'd be on mobile to answer, so I wrote the prompts here so you didn't have to get out of this to go back to the list-- god help me if it turns out there's an easy way to do it and I don't know it :P) Hope you're having a grand time!!!!

NOW!!!!!! For Astala my beloved, as she is always on my mind, let me put forth requests FOR: 1 (what is their colour palette), 2 (what does their handwriting look like), 10 (what piece of moody poetry or novel quote best encompasses your character), and 22 (what is some advice or guidance they received that had a big impact on their lives or outlook? was it a positive or a negative impact)

For Ilanlas my bitey beloved, who spins in my head like he's been glued to a chair-o-plane seat, I'd like to enquire about 4 (if your OC likes art, talk about what they would like best), 8 (if your OC were to live in an alternate time period, which one would suit them best), 12 (what is their character theme song and why? if it has lyrics, pick which ones best suit them), and 24 (is mental, physical, or emotional wellbeing most important to them)

And for Marelas my brand spanking new beloved, who is shiny and taking shape so gorgeously in my head, may I ask 3 (what architectural or design aesthetic would suit them best), 9 (if your OC were to imagine their idyllic life, realistically or otherwise, what would it be like), 23 (what sort of rules, routines, and rituals do they set for themselves), and 26 (if they were to lose the person closest to them, how would they mourn them and how would they handle their grief)

Plant, lovely friend!!! I am so excited for this!!! I did end up having to drive the other day (this is why the asks are trickling out of my askbox rather than being answered all at once), but here we are!!! And such asks!!! Let's talk about the beloveds! A cut is required because this never is short (please take as long as you like with this because it’s. Really Long.)

I appreciate you putting the whole questions into the ask so much!!! It makes life easier (and asks long, but no long asks ever intimidated us, did they? XD)

Astala

1 (what is their colour palette)

Oh boy. Astala loves her colors. She usually goes for muted colors. You know, kinda something like a fall palette. Here are some examples:

When she’s at court as arlessa or as the Hero of Ferelden, however, she very deliberately wears brighter and more saturated (and thus more expensive) colors, and if there’s jewelry involved she’ll go for gold. She’s definitely flaunting her status here in front of all the shem. At the Landsmeet, she’s well known for her red dress; a callback to her first encounter with the most esteemed nobility of Ferelden (aka. Vaughan). If she’s somewhere in her capacity as Hero of Ferelden she’s restricted to blues and silvers, sadly, but she makes it work (and work very well indeed, as Zevran would add). Below are the same colors as above with higher brightness and saturation to give you an idea of what that might look like:

2 (what does their handwriting look like)

Astala, dearest Astala, started her career of doing paperwork while having a fancy title with nothing to prepare her for hours spent writing (she does know how to write, thank you very much). In the beginning, her handwriting suffers from it. She grips the pen with way to much strength and either ends up with a hole in the paper or a cramp in her hand (or both). But practice makes perfect, and after a bit of practice, her handwriting is even and orderly as can be. She tends to make her lowercase letters pretty tall and overall her writing leans to the right. If she's sending informal letters (like the one to Sten) she likes underlining the important words to accurately convey the meaning and intonation of her sentences. She's also one to use several instances of P.S. to tell the whole of what she wants to tell. Her letters are mostly always nice and structured; she's better at accounting than writing, and tables are amazing, so she makes liberal use of bullet points and the like to speed up and organize the flow of information.

10 (what piece of moody poetry or novel quote best encompasses your character)

We've got a couple different ones here, so I stitched them together!

"It is never too late to be what you might have been." —George Eliot

This quote spoke to me because Astala was supposed to be a troublemaker like her mother and live a quiet, unassuming life like her father, was supposed to get married and start a family and is now a Grey Warden.

"Nobody protects us. So we protect us." —Miriam in Dragon Age: Absolution

This one is pretty obvious. Astala is big on protecting and wholeheartedly believes in her community and the need to stick together.

"All you need is love. But a little chocolate now and then doesn't hurt." —Charles M. Schulz

This one just made me laugh XD XD Astala loves to enjoy things (regardless of whether they are luxuries or not), but she does yearn for close connections. And when she can't have them, having access to nice things is definitely a way she copes with a potential lack of close relationships

"But of course, your Excellence. A true commander takes responsability for the life and death of the men he sends into battle; it's only right and proper that he should be held accountable for them. At the first stolen chicken you may have my head." —Rankstrail in The Last Orc by Silvana de Mari (a bit of context: Rankstrail is sassing the local governor's military people bc they wanted to torture one of his soldiers over a stolen chicken. And the chicken wasn't even a fat one to begin with!)

This book series is a YA fantasy series that I stopped reading after some installments because the characters I loved the most kept dying or falling into depression with no visible way out, but it handles poverty, government incompetence and injustice beautifully. Incidentally, the government in question has a very futuristic style of architecture, and given the Italian name of the author I wonder if there are some intended parallels to a fascist government. Back to the book, Rankstrail is definitely one of my favorite characters and the whole series was very formative when I read it as a teen. I wanted to include a quote and this one stuck out to me because Astala has to navigate some authorities trying to pull one on her while sneering down on her as well. I think she and Rankstrail would find common ground in that (and in the book series the whole thing is amazing bc Rankstrail dances circles around these people but they always maintain the upper hand in the end because they have the power and the resources and he doesn't!)

22 (what is some advice or guidance they received that had a big impact on their lives or outlook? was it a positive or a negative impact?)

I've talked about how Astala has been impacted by her mother, for good and bad. Her father mostly taught her by word and by example how to look for work and keep it, as well as how to care for her family. I really should talk more about Cyrion, because obviously he had the bigger impact on her here, but I want to talk about Valendrian.

When Cyrion was still recovering emotionally from losing Adaia and physically from having spent a winter sick (half of it working), Valendrian often took the Tabris kids with him when he made his rounds around the Alienage. Other children in sinilar situations had other adult family members (aunts, uncles, grandparents, adult cousins) who could do the same; not the Tabrises, so the hahren had to step in. Working with Valendrian gave them something to do, connected them more with their people and allowed them to feel useful and capable in a situation that was very much beyond their control. He sent them to run errands for families who couldn't, to deliver medicine or food, to watch over kids, to help clean a house or a street or warehouse, or took them with him to visit people who were sick (and not contagious), alone or grieving. He also often took the scenic route to his destinations and tried to send two of them ahead or something to get time with the third one alone. With Astala he talked about her mother, about her father, about the weather, her future, Soris, Shianni, and, when she was fourteen and still helping him out, her crush on Alarith (that moment in the first chapter of her story when she offers Valendrian her help with Vaughan and Valendrian tells her to step back? That's a callback to those days, when she and her cousins used to help him all the time).

Basically, Valendrian tried to lend these three kids what support he could give them. He's Astala's reference for what leading a community looks like, and what a community is, how it works, and so forth. This comes in very handy during the Blight, but especially later, as arlessa. She is some steps further removed from her people than Valendrian was at that point, but the basic procedures stay the same.

Ilanlas

4 (if your OC likes art, talk about what they would like best)

Ilanlas is very much about statues and abstract art. I think he’d love the black and white paintings of Franz Kline. It's the kind of art where he feels like he can step into it; the feelingnis comparable to when he sees a grove of trees or a structure of rocks or a bend of the road in the distance and wants to go and check it out. These paintings form a kind of space for him where he can retreat into. It's very nice and calming.

He'd also love sculptures made out of driftwood, particularly those where the wood has been left to stay in its original shape. In his opinion, taking the raw material as it is and working with its shape instead of bending said shape to one's will is much more imaginative, creative, respectful.

And then, while snooping through the internet, I found this piece, Burning from Within by Christopher David White. It's ceramic, not wood, which is a feat in and of itself, but what Ilanlas would find amazing is the way the copper leaf on the inside really makes it look like it's wood being consumed by embers. He'd see it from the back and get all excited about it jntil he'd realize that the thibg is not a piece of a hollowed-out tree but. Y'know. The naked torso af a woman. That'd bother him a lot; the ubiquity of naked women in art in general would. Why does everything have to be about having the hots for random women? Wtf??? (He's very unimpressed by the countless Andraste statues everywhere as well. At least they're clothed.)

8 (if your OC were to live in an alternate time period, which one would suit them best)

I answered this one here! It’s kinda hard to find a time period that’d suit him. He’s so integrated in Thedas. But, now that I think of it, he would’ve had a blast in the 80s. He’d have his own painted van and everything. He and Tamlen would just take off and make a long, long roadtrip to wherever the road will take them. They'd set up camp in the middle of nowhere, stop in the desert and spend the whole night looking up at the stars, park the van in the curb of a steep mountain road to climb those extremely climbable rocks, watch the sunrise next to a gigantic waterfall that douses them from head to toe in fine spray water. Merrill comes along sometimes and has them stopping at tourist attractions, museums and canyons. Can you imagine Ilanlas with sunglasses and a bandana holding his long hair back? He’d have so much fun XD XD XD XD

That said, big aside: since the Dalish have ties to Native Americans, Roma and jewish people, all of the above might not've been possible. I don't have a lot of knowledge on the situation of these people in the 80s, in the USA and otherwise, but what little I know makes me think that Ilanlas would've been more preoccupied with travel restrictions, bad faith from the authorities and just the general population, poverty and all of its lovely companions. For his sake, I'd like that not to be so. On the other hand, erasing the past of other people is not good. I hope he does get to see at least one sunrise next to that waterfall tho

12 (what is their character theme song and why? if it has lyrics, pick which ones best suit them)

I have. Several songs I relate to this man, but here’s one. Sound the Bugle from the movie Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron.

If you lose yourself

Your courage soon will follow

So be strong tonight

Remember who you are

I don't have a lot of smart things to say here, except that he's really going through it. Where Astala is doing her damnest to eke out a place for herself, no matter how small, where she can live her life as close as possible to what it used to be, Ilanlas has thrown himself wholesale into the Grey Wardens. The only thing he keeps for himself is the right to take vengeance for Tamlen, and since that means killing darkspawn, it's not really something that detracts from his role in the order (while Astala very much does try to put as much distance between herself and the order as she can). Losing Tamlen was like losing a huge chunk of himself for Ilanlas. When he finds Tamlen again, these verses will be significant.

24 (is mental, physical, or emotional wellbeing most important to them)

I think his emotional wellbeing is the most important to him because it's the most fragile. He has a very decent pain tolerance and doesn't mind getting sweaty or having his legs full of mud after trekking through the countryside for hours. He's also good at problem-solving and decision-making generally comes easy to him (even if they're not always the best decisions).

It's the emotions that get him; some things hurt him deeply and he doesn't know what to do with that. In other instances it's just him losing his cool or being brusque and not thinking much of it, only to then turn around and find that the other person is offended and blames him. There are many people that feel things more deeply than him, and he finds it hard to understand that because to him it's no big deal. It's a bit of a vicious circle, tbh. He seriously and unwillingly hurts somebody and then gets hurt back bc the other person reacts negatively for no reason, seemingly. Or even lashes out. Long story short, it's the emotional wellbeing that bugs him the most and that is thus most important to him.

Marelas

3 (what architectural or design aesthetic would suit them best)

I think Marelas would enjoy the Arts and Crafts Movement. It's beautiful (could do with a bit warmer and more vibrant colors though), practical and it puts great emphasis on the craft of the artisan. This man enjoys having beautifully made things around him, and that's one if the tenets of the Arts and Crafts Movement. You bet he had a say in Skyhold's furnishing, much to Vivienne's chagrin. Too Dalish for her taste.

He'd also have a field day in the Library at the National Palace of Mafra, Portugal. Baroque isn't his favorite (it's very Orlesian), but this building in particular is grand, but not gaudy, well illuminated, probably very cool in summer, and has tons of space in case he wants to strew his papers around to arrange them on the floor and look at them from a certain distance to get a look at the big picture of things. He likes mind maps. Also, the building apparently houses bats!! How cool is that?

9 (if your OC were to imagine their idyllic life, realistically or otherwise, what would it be like)

Here are some of the things Marelas would love to have in his life if you’d asked him right before the plot in Trespasser kicks off:

Study lore!! So much lore!! All the history and the magic, medicine, cultures, all of it!!

Peace for clan Lavellan.

A long life for Keeper Deshanna.

Many people around him he can trust and rely on.

Frequently meet the members of the Inquisition, see what work they have been doing, maybe even continue working with them to enrich the lives of the people of Thedas (and enrich is the keyword here. He’s no fighter when he can help it. He’d rather pursue social or cultural goals).

Be able to often visit Dorian, very often (the separation hit him hard, harder than he wants to admit. He thinks it commendable and a good thing that Dorian wants to better his homeland, but at the moment when Dorian told him he was leaving, Marelas did feel a bit abandoned in favor of more exciting pursuits. He and Dorian did have the chance to talk it through, however, and have settled on an arrangement that, so far, is satisfying to both. Still, he misses Dorian).

Not have any world-ending threats hanging above his head.

Foster more community between the city elves and the Dalish clans (I think somebody from his family came from the city, probably an uncle who married into his mother’s side of the family).

23 (what sort of rules, routines, and rituals do they set for themselves)

Back at his clan, his routine looked something like this:

Wake up, have a handful of something, pray alone.

Do some stretching, have some real breakfast, revise what has to be done that day with Keeper Deshanna and the clan’s Second, and start. He sometimes works alone, sometimes they all work together or in pairs. They have a well-honed system.

Part of his routine is taking a round of the premises (wherever he is) and see how everybody is doing. He tends to do that around mealtime, after getting some work in.

If somebody wants to converse with him, he will tend to schedule it in the afternoon, preferrably right after having eaten lunch and taken a bit of quiet time to himself, or when the sun is already lowering towards the horizon. He finds these are hours best spent quietly, and that they lend themselves more to thinking than to doing.

He will also pray alone in the evening, right after dinner if he can manage. He will go over the day, write up things that have to be done next (either the following day or at some point in the future), offer up the good and the bad, and enjoy the quiet as the sun sets and the stars start to shine.

Prayer is very important to him, and throughout the day there would be more opportunities, mostly with Keeper Deshanna and clan Lavellan’s Second. He tries his best to keep this routine after the explosion at the Conclave, although Keeper Deshanna and clan Lavellan’s Second are replaced by Cullen, Josephine and Leliana. He does miss the more relaxed rhythm of the life in his clan, but he makes do well. It is strange to him to be at the head of a group instead of the leader’s right hand. He takes responsability quite seriously and the biggest break in his routine is him doing paperwork until way later than he intended. Sometimes, it’s almost a relief when he can leave Skyhold to go roam around Thedas.

Another big interruption to his routine can be any sort of magical or historical study that catches his interest. He’s an academic at heart. In the Jaws of Hakkon DLC, he was happy as a clam at first, searching for Inquisitor Ameridan, and even in the Descent DLC he would rather have spent time studying the runes on the wall than investigating the earthquakes. The Emerald Graves were a treasure trove (albeit a bitter one). If there’s a piece of work that captures his interest, he will get his duties done, sure. But later you’ll find him writing deep into the night. Sometimes his room looks like a tornado came through and scattered complex diagrams and drawings throughout. This turns a bit unhealthy after he drinks of the Well of Sorrows. He now has direct access to knowledge from Arlathan, and he considers it one of his duties to record EVERYTHING the well tells him. He ends up with incoherent scribbles more often than not, but at other points he wrote down a poem, sketched a view from the temple of Sylaise, found a recipe to help with some kind of cough, found hints of an old technique to enrich iron, and so forth. It’s fascinating, but dangerous. More than once, somebody else had to take the pen out of his hand and send him to bed, or otherwise bring him back to reality.

26 (if they were to lose the person closest to them, how would they mourn them and how would they handle their grief)

Ooooh, this is a heavy one. Let's do it >:)

Okay, first of all, Marelas would nowadays have been diagnosed with some form of anxiety disorder (or maybe even PTSD, since the symptoms manifested after an accident in which he nearly drowned). As part of dealing with persistent worries, intense fears of danger and death, and with a generalized feeling of helplessness and loss of control, Keeper Deshanna encouraged him to seek special connection with Falon'Din. The reasoning was that if he died, Falon'Din would be there; he wouldn't be alone. Take away some of the fear that death inspired, and everything would be much easier to deal with; that was Deshanna's reasoning. After all of that and all the events in Inquisition, Marelas likes to think of himself as someone who is familiar with grief and who knows that a loss such as this one will take time to heal. He will do his best to be patient and lean on other loved ones for support, to give himself time, to cherish the memories while stepping out of himself to create new ones. And he does good! He tries his best! He is able to step away from the moment, take a deep breath and brace himself for the things that are to come and he is able to stay moderately aware of his own wellbeing during the period of intense turmoil that follows the death of a loved one.

The reality, however, is that he's a very sensitive man who feels things deeply and for a very long time. He might be patient, experienced and good at taking his own feelings at face value, but his emotions are stubborn buggers. He'll most likely spend a couple of days numb, think that it's going better than he anticipated, until reality catches up to him and everything comes crashing down. After that, he will cry, a lot, but try to keep some of it to himself. He does occupy a position of responsibility after all, and he has to keep doing his work.

In fact, although he knows that giving himself time to actively grieve is important, he definitely puts his role as First (or the Keeper if it's Keeper Deshanna who died), well... first. If Keeper Deshanna died, he would even officiate the funeral. Embodying the figure of the First/Keeper removes him from his pain by focusing on other people's pain, although that's not the only reason why he blends into his role in the clan. He does genuinely want to help. It is, however, part of the reason why he spends some days functioning well while emotionally numb. He's not entirely conscious that he does this, and there's no easy answer here because he does have a responsability for the well-being of the clan. He does best when he has somebody that will step past the whole "he is responsible for everybody" thing and makes him contemplate how he is doing as a person. Hold a mirror in front of him, so to say. So yeah, that's him if somebody close to him from his clan dies.

If Dorian died... well, that's a whole other thing. He doesn't have any official role to disappear behind here, although he definitely would find something to try and occupy himself with. He'd definitely be at the funeral, and he'd definitely ask if he could help with anything. But he's out of his depth in Tevinter, and he's Dorian's partner from down south. Despite his best efforts, he'll have everybody's attention and he'll be at an utter loss on what to do.

So he'd do his best to hold his tears in and cry when he's alone. He'd try to meet Dorian's friends and family and establish at least a bit of a positive relationship with them. And in the process, he'd probably have at least one moment where he'd crack under the pressure and either run away or cry somewhere totally inappropriate and end up mortified and with all the pain spilling out.

All of this, of course, if Dorian or Keeper Deshanna didn't get assassinated. In that case his new mission would be hunting those bastards down, and that's what he'd stand behind until the emotions one day suddenly catch up to him. And he’d go for it with a lot of zeal. He isn’t an easy one to anger, but when he is angry, it holds for a long time.

After having digested the heap of emotions, he does his best to celebrate the person he's lost. He's quite meticulous about marking death-days, and consciously makes space on those days to remember and honor the deceased. He might put up an altar with things that remind him of them and spend a good chunk of the day reminiscing and talking to them (without receiving an answer of course. He might be a mage, but communion with the dead is rare). And he would honor them by trying to help along whatever efforts they pursued in life, if the chance presents itself. Falon'Din is still a god he holds in high regard, even if after Trespasser the elven gods as a whole are unstable ground to him, and honoring the dead is very important to him.

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And that’s a wrap on these three! I hope the wait was worth it, and if you’ve read the whole thing, kudos to you! This was a very nice brain exercise XD XD XD It was really cool to get to know Ilanlas’s taste in art, tbh. I had a vague idea, but now I really want to sit down with him and talk about modern art. There’s a lot to go into there (starting with what the devil IS art??) and it’d be so interesting to hear what he likes and doesn’t like. Thank you so so so much for these wonderful questions!!!! I hope you are having an absolutely splendid few days!