#i want to share more original artwork but idk who even wants to see that lol

[raycani]

If you ever try to leave me, I'll find you, Ronnie

My vampire and werewolf oc sketch

[rattlebear25]

Since I am an Adam stan and I really hope he returns in the next seasons (I believe in the Sinner Adam theory) I made a Sinner! Adam design:

+ Some expressions

Design Note:

When i was thinking the design i thought about Heaven and Hell colors contrast. Winner! Sir Pentious got a more lightful palette like white and gold when he went to Heaven so i thought Adam would have a black/red/brown palette also because he died in a rocky place. I added more spikes on him, in Hell he is more aggressive and violent.

His bird wings became dragon or bat wings and he got an evil tail like Lucifer or Charlie in their Full Demon form. He wear goat hooves like boots and his battle robe is ripped apart. The jacket is dark because his robe color was deep blue before dying so the jacket is his robe but darker. Some designs that i saw online fuse Adam's human form features like the hair crest and the goatie with his mask and it becomes his real face. His guitar can become an Axe during the fights against the Sinners, but this time his guitar is stuck in the Axe mode and can't return a guitar.

• How he relates with other characters:

Niffty: Unlike the other members of the Hotel, Adam has a scared and panicked behavior towards Niffty and insults her anytime he sees her and he doesn’t even try to touch her (who saw Episode 8 knows what I am talking about)

Alastor: Anytime Adam sees Alastor becomes furious (not as with Lucifer or Charlie) because of Episode 8. He thinks he is a psychopath because his cannibal behavior, ignoring that himself being a sadistic person too. He hates Alastor tastes in fact of musics, preferring rock songs or metal.

Lute: Lute is the only person in this list which Adam really cares for. The main reason he wants to go back to Heaven it’s her and take back his Exorcist leader title. Him and Lute shared the same interests for rock musics/bands, singing, weapons, battling and eating junk food (unlike Adam, Lute is more balanced at eat fries and hamburgers). From Lute perspective, she tries to accept Adam’s death, but she always bring Adam’s halo (the one she showed to Lilith/Eve at the end on Ep 8) as a memory of him. Lute goal is avenge Adam’s death but when she discovered that he returned as a sinner in Hell, her plans changed to save him and bring him back as her Leader and boyfriend.

I was thinking of making a full artwork of him using his Axe and some short comics idk

I love that i drew Adam with expressions that are really similar to the original one lmao

[rumbleonthemill]

bit of a retrospective.

the HN community was great, I absolutely loved searching for artworks and fics in 2018-2019 I have over 4K artworks saved. I digged up the deepest archives for some good art. I have a ship archive. the HN tag here is over 150 pages...if someone, then I love fanart. I love headcanons, au's.. back then the fandom was crazy accepting, it was such a positive feeling, it felt so good to be here.

--

2020 December was the downfall. this whole fucking ass lie someone made up, all because some immature fucking ass cunts disliked a ship. it lasts to this day and I'm so fucking tired. exhausted. I'm exhausted from the "I ship something else, so I'm dehumanizing you and making up lies to make you look like a serial killer because i can't find the block button" this is now in every fandom and it's disgusting.

the ship? the art? didn't hurt a fly.

haters? they hurt everyone.

there's a post, there's a video about the origins of the hilariously average ship, I'm repeating myself like a parrot and I hate it because normal people UNDERSTAND what's the deal - you cannot change the past and you cannot change a ship's impact on the fandom, even if you make up the biggest lies. ever since then I saw that the haters have much more skeletons in the closet, than I ever did.

I cannot do anything with people who blindly fall for lies about a stranger on the internet, and trust other strangers on the internet. immature and pathetic.

--

2021 - the canon began falling from grace as well. same shit again, a million storylines, to this day the HN community itself doesn't know, which canon event belongs to which storyline.

the cartoon was the final nail. It lured so many…it lured.

it is officially unsafe to search for HN, I left multiple sites because the moderation doesn't give a fuck about literal actual creeps. multiple people aren't enough anymore to report things. and ofc the sjw bitches are nowhere when the community should keep together and remove REAL problems.

and the stalkers. and those who are envious. the two-faced lying bitches. those who literally want to own people. the fake friends, who just want you as trophy on their fucking shelf and want free art. those who accuse you for being narcissistic, while they're the ones with huge issues, and ofc everyone's the victim except the harassed person. oh man, if this was a bingo, everything would be checked. I'm tired.

--

the worst thing is, people begin to turn away from you, because other people ruined you and you're ruined. you can't function like before. things trigger you. you know that xy people leaked-backstabbed-wished your death yet play nice in front of public...list goes on.

if I hate someone - there's a real reason.

I'm past several breakdowns, multiple hospital visits and things I'm not even putting into this post. all because people can't find the block button and they purposely worsen people's mental state. (my health is dogshit tho) because people cannot understand that others escape online from irl problems, to fandoms, to have a little rest. rest.

fandoms are supposed to be your mental safe place. sharing art, ideas, being silly.

--

fandoms are about ✨ being crazy. about having fun✨ if you want to tell people what they're allowed and not allowed to do, go to politics . become a dictator idk.

--

I don't give the slightest fuck anymore if people on the other end of the internet think that I'm a [insert current problem]. it means that they're chronically online and they're into harassment.

all I ever wanted is to share my art and stories. not more.

I don't give a fuck about others and their views. block button. and if I blocked xy - they better stay away.

--

now to close the post on positive tone.

I know circa FIVE people from the old HN community, who I've been seeing ever since 2018 and before. a few newcomers who want to enjoy fandoms because they're fans and they want to have FUN. those who know, what the ships are about. those who just stick around and are chill.

You get my biggest respect. seriously. these people are still consuming fanart. they're consuming fics, they're tired of the endlessly changing canon, they love the og HN. they know how to have fun and know they can easily filter disliked things. haters didn't scare them away somehow. these cca five people...they're the real fans.

and I also appreciate everyone, who leaves 100+ notes in my inbox, liking ship art in secret. thank you.

[illeaadante]

Concept: the Alien Legendarium

We (the people in the Humans are Weird fandom) have touched on humans love of story and storytelling despite medium, but what I don't think we've really gone into is just how much.

And especially stories from other cultures. Every kid I knew growing up went through a(t least) a phase of obsession over different mythologies. I myself have a deep love of all fairytales.

So, maybe Aliens would be surprised at how much we love stories and how many stories we tell and retell, especially to them. What if other alien cultures didn't share their stories? Their histories, sure, that's necessary for politics and stuff, but what if they never thought to be interested in each other's myths or religions.

We all know that would never fly with humans. The first time someone caught a whiff of a culture's founding myth or creation story there would be at least a small, dedicated group of humans ready to ferret out every version they could get their little raccoon hands on.

Even more interesting if an alien culture doesn't seem to have any myths, legends, or urban legends. I honestly can't imagine a society without things like local ghost stories or religious conspiracy theories, so seeing one, or at least one that appears to not have any of those things, would be fascinating.

Of course, my definition of legend is very broad, so, for instance, it would be incredibly funny for an alien to come up against some of the common social myths. (The first alien to take an exam with a bunch of humans and hear "Y'know that if someone dies during an exam, everyone else gets an A. So, who's takin' one for the team?" definitely almost has a heart attack.) And, and! the aliens know that plenty of humans are alien/monster fuckers, but they're absolutely flabbergasted at the idea that the humans want to fuck their monsters??? Like, the ones from their mythologies??? How did you even know what a Xin'krakx is much less what it looks like?

I'm digressing a bit. Think of how strange humans would seem though, if aliens suddenly had to figure out how to deal with converts to their religions? They go out to see a movie and it's a human retelling of their creation myth that most of them barely know, so how did the human know about it?

And then! The aliens start hearing their own stories, songs written about their folk heroes and legendary kings, seeing artwork and religious writings hundreds of light years away from their home. How did it get there? The humans liked it. Your culture's creation myth is now written down in this beautifully illuminated and hand bound leather tome in both a human language and your native language.

Imagine the confusion.

Imagine the culture clash.

Imagine the space sjws who are convinced that making a short film based on a myth from an alien culture is appropriative, despite the people from the culture in question having no problem with it other than being perplexed at why the humans care about heroes that aren't human or otherwise from earth and from their own stories.

And of course, humans being humans, we would do what we do and collect all of these myths in one place. I can imagine that each alien culture would have at least one volume of legends translated into a human language each that are constantly getting new additions when the researchers resurface. The Aarne-Thompson-Uther multilingual folktale database expands rapidly as well as any cryptid compendiums. Children start going through Andromeda-6 and Corscal-14 mythology phases as well as greek or egyptian or japanese or aztec.

And we do what we also do, and we mix up those stories. We retell them and mash them together regardless of cultural origin. We tell them and retell them and many of us dedicate our lives to studying and learning about them and what they can tell us about the perceptions of the early culture and their values and experiences.

Idk, I just think it'd be interesting.

[fierykitten2]

F-Zero racers but I give them a type to specialise in (yep, it’s another crossover post with Pokémon. Also surely I’ve done this already):

Deathborn - Dark. Is that even a question at this point?

Mighty Gazelle - Steel or Electric. That said, I do think he should have an Iron Hands on his team so yeah definitely Electric

Jody - whichever type has the most cat Pokémon. Normal feels right but given the Purrloin line, Incineroar and Meowscarada are all part Dark…

Robert - as tempted as I am to give him something like Grass, Fairy or Normal (he’s my favourite though I’m never giving him Normal), I think he has to be Fire because it means he gets Ninetales and Delphox, literally Golden Foxes. This post exists because I was thinking about Falcon as a Champion and Robert as an Elite Four member so he needs two more Fire-types I can’t think of (because somehow I’ve forgotten than Kalos is one of the only regions that does it like this (I vaguely remember Kanto in LGPE doing this too actually now that I think about it). I don’t like saying Kalos sucks or anything but you do gotta wonder what was going on in the heads of the people at Game Freak when they decided no Kalos Gym Leader has more than 3 Pokémon and no Kalos Elite Four member has more than 4 Pokémon) but for some reason Nickit (who is unevolved and pure Dark) comes to mind. He’s probably got a Flareon actually (possibly shiny because it’s closer to gold)

Baba - I’m tempted to give him an Iron Moth or a Miraidon (Iron Serpent) as a joke about his machine being called the Iron Tiger so probably either Fire, Poison, Electric or Dragon, all of which make some level of sense as Baba’s type speciality. If we wanna go with more tiger-like Pokémon… Incineroar???

Goroh - Steel because it’s where Pawniard, Bisharp and Kingambit are and I don’t want him to share a type speciality with another member of the Original Four. Water also comes to mind because of Samurott (yeah okay I’ll admit it, Samurott’s a samurai) and Greninja. Also Mantine. It’s a mantra ray not a stingray but I don’t think there are any real stingray Pokémon

Pico - Dark no question. Next!

Falcon - Flying. Also Electric because he represents the series and Electric is associated with speed (unless your name happens to be Iron Hands or Raging Bolt). Actually, so is Flying for some reason. Guess he’s undeniably a Flying trainer then!

Octoman - Water. Maybe Fighting for the Clobbopus line

Mr. EAD - idk probably Fairy but his Pokémon probably all have the Stellar Tera type

James - Dragon

Billy - Normal (no this has nothing to do with Rillaboom the Unrivaled, it’s because of Meowth)

Kate - Fairy because as far as I’m aware, that’s the type most associated with singing (maybe other than Normal. And Psychic). Her team probably consists of Primarina (probably with Liquid Voice), Jigglypuff, *looks up the move Sing to see what Pokémon can learn it* Scream Tail, *sees Lapras learns it by level up and remembers Lapras was one of the Pokémon in the Project Voltage artworks* Lapras, Cottonee (apparently it can learn Grass Whistle, which is basically Grass-type Sing) and… *is really tempted to go with Hatterene* Sylveon. I do wanna give her Toxtricity but I already decided her signature type is Fairy and Toxtricity is not part Fairy (she could have one with a Fairy Tera type though)

Zoda - You know for everyone else Mr Zero’s scared of I’m going with Dark. Zoda though I’m not so sure on. Electric and Poison both stand out as types that make sense for those who love to experiment (so he could have a Toxtricity. Cool)

Jack - Electric. His surname literally comes from the same word as Paldea’s Electric Gym city (yep, he’s definitely getting a Toxtricity)

Bio Rex - Dragon. He’s probably got half the Past Paradox Pokémon on his team (everyone saying the Future Paradox Pokémon are less original than the Past Paradox Pokémon okay tell me why all five of the Past Paradox Pokémon with higher base stat totals than the rest of them share the Dragon type while their Violet counterparts don’t share a type (well, the Neo Swords share Psychic but Miraidon wasn’t interested and that’s the only type Valiant didn’t get from its modern-day counterparts). Also the whole Past Paradox counterparts of Pokémon with two Paradox counterparts all being part Fighting while Treads got Ground/Steel, Moth got Fire/Poison and Miraidon got Electric/Dragon meaning none of their types are shared between them. Also until Wake and Fire existed the only Paradox Pokémon not to share either type with another Paradox Pokémon were Bundle and Moth (both of which seem to get featured heavily in merch - they both represented Future Flash alongside Valiant and they’re the two with those cool lights that are coming out in November. Damn I need those lights). And then there’s the animations)

The Skull - Ghost. Or Dark (probably got a Sableye)

Antonio - if Goroh has Steel, Antonio has Fire (or Fighting). If Goroh has Water, Antonio has Grass (or Electric)

Beastman - Fairy (it was the closest thing I could think of to something supereffective against Dragon without being Dragon itself)

Leon - Normal

Super Arrow - Flying

Mrs Arrow - possibly also Flying but probably something cooler like Electric

Gomar and Shioh - whatever type is the most known for having counterparts (I was thinking Electric bc Plusle and Minun but Fairy would make sense for Clefairy and Jigglypuff/Spritzee and Swirlix)

Silver - ???

Michael - I feel like Dark would make sense and he’s definitely got a Honchkrow and a Mabosstiff and possibly also a Theivul and a Liepard

Blood Falcon - Dark. Also Flying

John - Grass or Fairy

Draq - Fairy

Roger - ???

Dr Clash - Electric

Black Shadow - Dark

Don Genie - Normal, same justification as Billy

Digi-Boy - Water or Electric

Dai San Gen - Psychic

Spade - Psychic, apart from the fact he also needs a Meowscarada so probably Dark

Dai Goroh - whatever Goroh uses

Princia - Fairy no question. Actually I’m sure she could also use Psychic or Fire (Delphox?). To be fair, she’s probably more focused on Pokémon from Kalos

Lily - Steel

PJ - whichever is best at carrying others (so Dragon then)

QQQ - I’m not sure it would have a signature type. I think it just goes for turtle Pokémon like Squirtle, Turtwig and Terapagos

Phoenix - Fire. I think his theme suggests Psychic as well (*me suggesting two types and joking about them having the first Pokémon with both types I can think of* yep Delphox again)

Edit: forgot to give Silver and Roger types. I’ve just put question marks bc I still can’t think of anything

[kimikoyukiart]

Hey! Idk if you remember, I'd talked to you about making your aymeric x estinien housing art into ffxiv housing. Ever since then, I have really fallen in love with your art style! I am also a noob artist and opened comms recently, but I haven't gotten any yet haha do you have any advice and tips for me to help gain an audience and commissioners? Thank you and goodluck with your shop!

Hello again! Yes, I remember gosh thank you so much for enjoying my art! Also I'm always super happy to answer art stuff since I'm in love with it, but I will open with a disclaimer specifically for the growing audience bit cause for a long time I've primarily been an OC / original art artist and it wasn't till I became cripplingly obsessed with estimeric that I grew some semblance of a following so I'm a pretty small artist by most standards ;;; With that said, here are my tips and advice which I'll separate into 2 parts

Putting this under a read more cause it's LONG

Commissions (mostly about expectations, best practices, and organisation to make it easy on clients)

Have some kind of commission page (here's mine for example) to make it easy for your clients to be able to reference something and for you to direct new inquiries to. This can be anything from a website/carrd to even just a google doc/tumblr pg. Will there be clients who never read this? Absolutely. BUT it's also great for clients who are shy and/or who like coming prepared

Have a Terms of Service section!! In our current day and age of tech bros and assholes trying to exploit and scam creatives I cannot express enough how just having a TOS will deter these ppl! It shows you're serious and that you know what you're about, making you less of a target!

MOST IMPORTANT! Be kind to yourself!!! Opening commissions is exciting due to the prospect of making money from something you love and it can be very disappointing and demoralising when you don't get any! It's also a very "feast or famine" type of roller coaster, so don't feel bad if you don't get any, even super large artists struggle!

Building a following (from someone who's doesn't actually prioritise this so take it as you will!)

You've probably heard this before but fanart is definitely better at drawing a crowd than original art so I feel obligated to mention it. (I'm a pretty classic case study of this imo lol) And the reason for this is that there's already an established audience out there that loves the content you're making unlike original art where you're starting from ground zero. Does that mean you should give up making original art if you want followers? ABSOLUTELY NOT! And honestly most of my advise will be from the perspective of growing an audience via original art because you can apply the same principles to fanart so here we go!

Consistency is key. Being a constant presence on your existing followers' feed means having consistent chances for them to share/engage with a piece of your artwork, which means more chances for new eyes to see them which means more chances for followers etc etc. But what's the pace? Well that depends on how brutal you're interested in being with yourself unfortunately....if you die hard want to grow as fast as possible then once a day (i've seen some artist do more;;;) but it's something I would NOT recommend for all sorts of risks. (you can mitigate the risk ofc but that's like a whole thing in itself) I'd advice you to figure out a pace that works for you so that you maintain a healthy relationship with your art

Join events/zines/bandwagons. Whether it's things like drawtober, ffxiv art parties, or zines, engaging with community/communal activities (especially those with hashtags/promos) can help you engage with people who might not have found you otherwise. If you're a social person it's a great chance for you to make friends who have similar interests too! Making art related to a piece of media that just came out is also great way of engagement since people are probably looking for it (for example spidersonas or dressing OCs in outfits to watch the barbie movie)

Make it easy to find your art when someone visits your page. It doesn't necessarily have to be a full portfolio, but giving viewers a place to see only your art posts is crucial imo. Tumblr is great since it's tagging system is fantastic making this part easy but places like Twitter for example only have a single media tab; so making a thread for art post or keeping your media tab clean is ideal. (you've no idea have many artists i've chosen not to follow cause their media tab is 1 awesome piece of art then just 500 cursed memes/reaction images lol)

HARDEST BUT MOST IMPORTANT POINT! Make compelling art. I follow artists who post a piece of art maybe once every....I dunno 3 months if even that, but when they do they get thousands of notes, why? Because it is a compelling piece of art. Something that touches the heart or makes you gasp in awe or swoon from it's vision or die laughing. And this is the hardest point because what that looks like is completely unique to you. Basically it is your answer to the question of "Why do I make art?" which artists everywhere all around the world, regardless of genre or industry, are trying to answer themselves. The one thing you MUST REMEMBER while you try to figure this point out is that it must involve Love. That means loving the journey; the grueling failures, steep learning curves, and all, because if even you don't love what you're trying to create other won't either. And that's not to say you have to be happy about a piece of art not turning out right (I still cry from frustration myself all the time) but it does mean be kind to yourself when you fall so you can pick yourself up easier when you stand again

THAT WAS SUPER LONG WOW! With all that said tho those 1st 2 points for growing an audience is what I would recommend focusing on! The internet is all about engagement and you can't have that if there's nothing to engage with! Also because it just bears mentioning that sometimes it is just a skill thing and you just have to get better at drawing BUT that is not to say skillful=complex! Nonono take a look at webtoons like "My Giant Nerd Boyfriend" by fishball or "Sarah's Scribbles" by Sarah Andersen. Or illustrator's like loonpflug or mmeiccaa. It's not complex but it's some FKIN GOOD ART!

Ok I will stop my ranting here GOOD LUCK AND DON'T FORGET TO BE KIND TO YOURSELF!! You are more than how many numbers you make on the internet and I hope that you always remember that 💖

[daisy-dooodles]

About me :D

hi, hello! to start this blog off I think it would be nice to introduce myself a little, so here go a couple of basic questions about me...

What's your name? I go by Daisy in English (cause it's way cuter and easier than my original name in Polish lol and I really like flowers). But let's say my initials are MP, that's why I sign my artwork with it :D

What are your pronouns? She/Her

How old are you? I'm 22 years old, living that early 20s crisis lol

Do you have a degree in art? Nope, I went to uni for Romance Philology, cause I really enjoy languages, literature and different cultures too. But I've always liked art too as a side project!

So why this blog? Well, I don't really know what I want to do in life, so I decided to make this to start taking it more seriously as a possible actual job or just a way of having a place less chaotic than my insta to show the art I'm proud of sort of like a portfolio (and maybe even some behind the scenes I never shared...)

And what would you like to work in? I feel like a creative space would be cool. Maybe like editorial work, maybe designing stuff for books... idk, but I like the idea of being able to work on many different things instead of doing the same for years on end...

Do you do original art or fanart? Both. I have many ideas, sometimes I get obsessed with a show or something and want to try making fanart for it, but I have many original ideas too!

Is it traditional or digital art? Well, I enjoy both immensely. Because I sort of moved to Poland from Spain I don't have many of my supplies, so I'm resorting to digital more. I use the XP-Pen Deco 01 V2 tablet to draw. The program I use is Medibang Paint (and I am thinking of buying Clip Studio in the future when I have more resources at hand, cause I heard it's really good!) Unfortunately, my laptop is not great at colours, so I really like Medibang for letting me upload to the cloud and letting me deal with the colours on my phone :D (none of this is sponsored btw, I'm just sharing my experience)

How would you describe your art style? "I'm just trying" lol. I don't have one, I just try new and different things and supplies and programs as I feel like it. Many times it depends on what feeling I want the piece to have, so that makes me try and learn new techniques and I really enjoy doing that :D

Do you do commissions? Maybe a store? No, I don't. I'm not ready for something like that yet. Maybe down the line uploading stuff to pages like redbubble could be an option, I don't know much about how any of this works, I'll be figuring it out slowly

Can I message you? Please do, for anything! You wanna be mutuals and share with me silly posts or about a fandom we share? Go ahead! Do you need advice or vent to someone? DMs are open :D

What fandoms are you in? Well, I was in Sanders Sides for a long time, but I don't really go there anymore, maybe when we get more content I might just jump back in, though I still follow Thomas and check his content when I can cause I still enjoy it! I do enjoy figure skating and follow a bit on Yuzuru Hanyu, mostly Then we have my most recent fandoms I am kinda obsessed with: MDZS and BTS. Yeah, wild stuff. Have I drawn anything about them? Not yet really, I do have one MDZS sketch I'm working on, and a couple based on BTS songs, so maybe soon I'll share those here cause I feel quite proud of them so far :D I do enjoy many other series and films, but I don't think I'd be able to just list them cause it's so random. You can always ask if you need a friend to whom you get to be weird to, no judgement, we all be like that! I ranted about BTS to my bestie who knows basically nothing about them for almost a year now and they still love me nonetheless hahahah

(...yeah, so let's leave it at that for now, will update when new things pop in my head)

see you around 💜

[thedrarrylibrarian]

I'm so excited to have my friend, @babooshkart join me in the library today! Although I’d seen their art and always enjoyed it before, I really fell in love with her 25 Days of Harry and Draco series, and that’s where our friendship first started (just in case you’re wondering, this piece is my personal favorite from that series). She’s here today to chat about art and to help me announce something new that I’m excited about in the library. You can read our conversation below, I’ll be DL, in bold and Babooshkart will be Boo. I had an amazing time talking with Boo, and I hope you have fun reading our conversation!

DL: Good morning! Thanks for agreeing to come chat with me today!

Boo: I’ve been looking forward to this all week, thank you so much for having me!

DL: Aww! I’ve been looking forward to this too. I’m especially excited to have you on to help me introduce my new feature, Art Mondays, since it’s really thanks to you that I had this idea. I’d been thinking for a while about if the library should try to include more art, but I wasn’t sure how to do that, or if it’d even be something that people were interested in. And then you told me how much it meant to you to be tagged in that post about artists I enjoy, I felt like it was a sign telling me to go ahead with it.

Boo: You’re gonna make me blush! I’m so unbearably excited for this new feature, and really flattered that I could be any sort of catalyst for you to create it. I know a lot of artists (obviously myself included) rely on rec blogs to help us find our next read – and possibly art inspiration – so it means a lot that you’d have an art feature!

DL: I think that artists are such an important part of our fandom community, so I really want them to feel included in our library community as well. I’m always encouraging people to leave kudos and comments on fics, but I want to give a way to show support to artists as well. Reblogs are what helps art to get traction, right?

Boo: For sure! I mean, I personally post some of my art to AO3 (mostly fest-related stuff, and I treasure every kudos and comment that I get there), but Tumblr sees every piece I make, and people reblogging them is the main way to get them really circulating in the fandom.

DL: Reblogging is good, but reposting is different than reblogging. Have you ever had your art reposted without your permission?

Boo: A lot of times, and it’s really frustrating. I’ve actually gone off of making art for Wolfstar, because I had a piece that I made for my friend Mari @onbeinganangel reposted so many times. It’s sad, because I loved that piece so much!! I don’t understand reposts, especially since tumblr and Instagram both have such clear ways of sharing art to personal blogs and accounts without reposting. So I will always be thankful to people who like/reblog/share, as it’s for them that I’m putting all this art out onto the internet!

DL: I feel like for a long time, especially as a fandom newbie, I heard about reposting but I didn’t understand it. Reposting is when someone takes your art (or your fic or something that you made) and posts it on their own account as if they are the person who made it. Even if the reposter gives credit, it’s still hurtful because someone took your work and put it somewhere you can’t control without your permission. 

Boo: Exactly that. Originally I had a much gentler reposting policy, but after having my work put on so many different accounts where the reposter was claiming them as their own artwork I don’t allow any reposts, even with credit. I’ve also had reposts that would be defensive about not crediting me as the artist, or just respond “idk, I found it on Pinterest”. Now I go after reposts like a dog with a bone. It strips the joy out of creation, to have your work stolen. It’s very similar to some people exporting AO3 fics to Wattpad or fanfic.net–once that happens, we (the creators) have no agency over our own work. 

DL: That sucks. So to clarify, reblogging is different than reposting. Reposting is taking that work and posting it under your own account, whereas reblogging is just sharing the artists’ original post.

Boo: Exactly! Reblogging (or sharing the post to your story on Instagram) is actually a super helpful way to get the original artwork out into the community! And a reblog is a useful tool – people who want to see more of that artist’s work can just click right through to their blog, rather than trying to hunt down the credit in some way.

DL: That brings us to the Library’s new feature, Art Mondays! Art Monday is going to be a single reblog of a piece of art that I’ve seen and enjoyed. I don’t feel qualified to give my thoughts on art like I would for a Happy Hour fic, but I still love seeing it and I’m hoping this can create a space for artists in the library and promote fanart a bit more.

Boo: I’m so looking forward to this!!! And I wouldn’t worry about feeling qualified – I’m an artist and I reblog fanart with incoherent screaming in the tags and nothing else. It’s the loveliest feeling to have a fandom community space like the Library putting our work on display, and I can’t even begin to explain how excited I am! (It’s more incoherent screaming, that’s what it is!) Where will you be hunting down your Art Monday features?

DL: Ooh! Like where do I find them? 

Boo: Yeah! Will you be searching through tags, or relying on the dashboard? Stalking old fests?

DL: That’s a great question! First of all, I want to say that the Library’s Donation Policy will apply here, so if you’ve made art or see art you like and want to share it with the Library, please feel free to send me a link to the original post and I’ll consider adding it to Art Mondays (please know I make no guarantee that just because you’ve sent me something that I will feature it). So far, I’ve mostly found art through my dashboard, but I’ve definitely been stalking a bit also. When I see a piece of art that I like, if it’s Drarry it’s been going in the queue for Mondays. However, when I see one piece of art that I like, then usually I follow that artist for more. Something super lovely about fandom is that for the most part, following one artist means that I start finding more artists through them. So I have been scrolling (stalking) through artists’ blogs and using them to find other artists who I enjoy. I don’t search tags very often, but I did get into a “More posts like this” hole the other day and added 4 pieces to the queue that way. I’ve also been branching out a bit and following some artists such as yourself on Instagram, but I’m super lowkey there. I’m just lurking on insta lol. But that’s been a good way of seeing who has new art coming out because it’s usually being teased on stories there.

Boo: Oh my god you’re a lurker??? I have so much love for my instagram lurkers. I had no idea. This is so exciting! And yes, I adore that engaging more in fandom makes it so easy to find other creators with works that I love! I’ve made so many good friends by losing my mind in the reblog tags. I’m so excited to see what you have queued up!!!

DL: That’s something that I really love about Drarry, especially compared to other fandoms that I’ve been in. Of course there’s always going to be someone who wants to be a bummer and tear others down, but for the most part I see so much of our fandom going out of their way to be kind and lift each other up and share each other’s work. I’m thinking specifically of @the-starryknight’s Tuesday TLC Zone  and @phd-mama’s May We Lift Each Other Up series. I think that’s a really healthy aspect of our fandom that’s doing so much for us. When we celebrate someone else’s work, when we reblog or share, it makes it that much easier for other people to find it. And it builds relationships where others do that for us too.

Boo: It really does!! And speaking as someone who has only been involved as a fandom artist for the past year and a half, it can be shocking and exciting to have authors and artists that I’ve been following for years engage with my content. I’m always overwhelmed with love when that happens, and usually struck with an urge to create even more (which is amazing, but also agonizing because I do have a day job that takes up my time). Fandom positivity and respect means even more amazing fics, artwork, podfics, and rec lists because creators want to put that goodness out there! This appreciation goes to fandom blogs that aren’t creators too – I know I speak for a lot of artists when I say that I have some followers that I adore just because they’ve thrown so much love my way.

DL: I totally get you – I’m always so grateful when someone just says “Hey, I like your library.” It’s such a lovely feeling, being appreciated.

Boo: It’s so wonderful!!! Every time it happens, I’m like “I love you, do you want a painting dedicated to you?” Which of course is a little unsustainable, but the urge is there.

DL: A little unsustainable lol. Pesky capitalism. I do have one last question for you before we wrap up. 

Boo: Yes! I’m ready!!

DL: Are you currently reading anything, fic or published, that you’d like to share with us?

Boo: Ooh! I just finished Witness Marks by @gryffindorhearts, which was published for Fang Fest last week! That was a fun one because I was commissioned to do art for it as a surprise gift, but didn't have access to the fic, only bits and pieces that Starry gathered for me as references, so it was cool to read the whole fic and sink into the story. Next on the queue is @softlystarstruck's Fang Fest piece What Husbands Are For, which snagged me with "arranged marriage enemies to lovers". For traditional lit, I'm working my way through Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir (space necromancers!!!) and Under the Whispering Door by TJ Klune (ghost love story!!!!). Highly recommend both of them.

DL: OOOOH! Space necromancers!? Ghost LOVE!? You've got me convinced. Amazing.

Boo: Yeah YOU ARE!

DL: No, YOU! But seriously, thank you again for joining me and chatting. I always have so much fun chatting with you! And I think library patrons will enjoy this too! 

Boo: I’m so excited about this, and really honored that you asked me to be a part of it!

I hope you enjoyed our conversation, and please let’s support our local fandom artists by reblogging and sharing their art. And lastly, please join me this afternoon as I reblog and share the first post I’m featuring for Art Monday!

Lots of Love and Happy Art Monday!

[1ddiscourseoftheday]

Wed 2 June ‘21

Louis sent a message to a fan looking for a hello after a major surgery-- “Get well soon mate. Sending you loads of love x”- and added that he hopes ALL of us are doing alright; I never doubted it Louis! Niall got a little more specific with his really lovely message today- “HAPPY PRIDE MONTH, BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE. It’s your life, LOVE who you want to LOVE,” he tweeted! THANKS GUYS.

Liam though, Liam was all over today! He checked in on his way to play golf, on his way back from playing golf (with videographer Conor!), posted comments on discord, joined a new chat platform (Telegram; 5 minutes into Telegram and chill Liam was like OKAY it looks like we may need some moderators for this app lol YOU THINK?), he did a whole 25 min live, AND checked in even later to say he’d just had a shower and was about to play a new video game! New news of the day-- he is going to host a Veeps show showcasing new artists in July!! NEAT! His post about how his team forgot to turn off notifications on the phone they set it all up on for him on is really funny, YIKES; “this used to be an iphone now it’s just a bell” he joked, with video of the phone frantically chiming nonstop (“the power of you guys still blows my mind to this day”.) Also he said that he was very busy getting ready for June 15. Why, you ask, what is on June 15? UH? IDK?? He has so many things coming up? But that’s the NFT I think, which I KNOW a lot of people are mostly not that excited about but I will say that while I don’t care about the technology, I am excited to see Liam’s artwork he’s working on for it (which hopefully the purchaser will share with us), and Liam is truly so excited about the platform, he’s really trying to talk us into it. More on that in a sec...

But let’s get to the other parts of Liam’s live first. He has that new song coming, about which he said “it’s one that I’ve written the most on so far actually, as a single, I’m excited to say my own stuff for once a little”, love that. He’s still coughing but says he’s tested repeatedly and it isn’t COVID, and that he’s gone vegetarian recently, and he says the chat channels were inspired by seeing people using the veeps chat rooms even after the show ended, not wanting to leave. And he talks about 1D- about the notifs mishap he said “back in the band we used to wait for people we didn’t like to leave their notifications on and then we would like- oh make sure you follow this person on twitter! And then their phone would break for days- if someone did something that annoyed you.” HAHAHA where’s my masterpost of people who annoyed them 1D told us to follow, PLEASE? And also “it’s hard sometimes you’re watching people stories from afar that you used to know so well and that can be difficult… we’ve all felt this at different times me and the boys… it’s almost like missing a very dear friend a lot of the time but everyone’s so busy… I’d love to get us all in a room somewhere sometime” aww. But also he said he talked to Harry recently, “really a lovely call, he has a sixth sense for if I'm struggling or if one of us is in trouble, I spoke to him and it was a really lovely catch up. I have a lot of love for the man, he's really, really great"; well I wish Liam wasn’t stuggling but that’s lovely. And Louis too! "I spoke to Louis, I wanna say yesterday. We speak a lot, there's just a lot of laughing about random crap," he said, plus some Louis memories- “I can just hear his laugh in the back of my mind. We once broke into one of the stadiums in America and got chased by a woman… on one of those cop type things, a mall cop thing, and that was quite crazy. He also left me on my own while I was being arrested nearly by a French policemen that I had to push over… which that still scares me to this day. [laughing] That’s what friends are for! I helped him over the fence to get in somewhere, he left me with the policeman, who didn’t have a clue who I was and tried to arrest me even though I was just trying to go into my hotel.” UMM sorry I can’t hear anything past LIAM PUSHED OVER A COP?? Go ahead, make a list of ‘1D members most likely to fight a cop’ and if Liam isn’t DEAD LAST you’re just wrong and yet HERE WE ARE!! WHAT A DAY.

But alas rather than fighting cops now Liam is partnering with an entrepreneur (which I have had to type so many times in the last two days thanks to Liam that I guess I know how to spell it now they just keep SAYING it SO MUCH). Steve Bartlett said “the secret” is out, he recorded a podcast with Liam yesterday-- I’d call secret a bit strong, we had actually got that mate, but okay; he called Liam an entrepreneur and said “yesterday I recorded one of the most powerful, honest, REAL conversations on my podcast to date” and “if you love Liam you’ll love this.” I can absolutely guarantee you that is not true, I love Liam and already hate everything about this collab, but his wording does make me think we’ll get a bit of Liam’s trademark emotional spillage which I suppose I might appreciate despite this self help CEO guy being there too. Liam does have one thing to say that could sway me in this guy’s favor though- “he has the cutest dog ever” apparently! Anyway I may as well get used to him he’s suddenly everywhere-- Liam also patched him into his live to try yet again to convince us that NFTs are good by awkwardly relating it to “fans of boybands” by saying you know this could eliminate like fake tickets and such… Sure Steve sure but anyway he also says of Liam, “the guy you see on camera is the exact same guy off camera”.

Harry and Olivia were seen together in London (well, a grainy ass video of their backs was seen anyway), walking, with some people who look to be her parents and Harry’s PA (so romantic! Not at all work related!) I was initially skeptical of the claim that it was her parents since this fandom is obsessed with saying everyone is so and so’s parents (we’ll NEVER top the time the fandom was sure Harry was seen having lunch with Eleanor’s father though) but it actually seems like maybe it was. More for Harry to add to his collection, that man truly loves an extended family! I mean the whole thing is sketchy as hell, from the assurance that that’s DEFINITELY actually Olivia in the grainy video, FOR SURE, to the confirmation that that’s her mom with them which came when a blank insta page produced a random old picture of her mom in the same skirt, but like is it them, sure I imagine so, and people making sure we get the story anytime they’re together isn’t exactly new. In other news, Dave Meyers, director of the Adore You music video, says he originally pitched the Eroda story idea (“I have this idea, of you love- liking a fish”) to Katy Perry and the Black Eyed Peas, ASJKJASKL CAN YOU IMAGINE?

[oumakokichi]

About reposted fanart accounts:

Hi guys! I’ve sort of noticed an influx of reposted fanart going around in the last few days and I wanted to make this post as a reminder of the general rules/guidelines for interacting with fanart from other artists. This applies to all artists from any community, not just the DR fandom, but since this fandom is so big, I thought it would be a good idea to write this post here.

That being said, I know a lot of reposters tend to be young and it may be their first time interacting with a fandom in general, so this post is meant to be informative and is not meant to inspire any harassment or bullying of reposters.

Let’s start with the basics.

What is reposting?

Reposting is the act of taking someone else’s art and posting it to your own social media account as if it were your own post, typically without crediting the original artist. However, many artists do not want their work reposted on another account or platform even if proper credit is given, and will deny permission for reposts even if asked directly.

Why is reposting bad?

To put it simply, it’s a form of art theft that prevents the original artist from receiving the traction and attention they might otherwise have gotten. Artists may have spent several hours, weeks, or even months on beautiful pieces of art, only for a reposter to save the picture and reupload it somewhere else in a matter of seconds. These reposts take attention away from the original artist, which can be frustrating for artists who rely on commissions or freelance work to make a living.

Even credited reposts can still harm the original artist, as many of the people who will like or reblog a reposted art piece won’t actually take the time to go like, bookmark, or comment on the original work. Additionally, once a piece is already reposted, it may inspire other reposters to upload it elsewhere, starting a chain of reposts where it becomes increasingly hard to pinpoint the original artist and give credit. This is why many reposts simply have captions like “Credit to the artist! (idk who they are)”. Some reposts may even gain enough traction that they eventually surpass the original post, which can be especially disheartening for the artist who spent so much time and effort on their work.

These many frustrating reasons often add up and cause many artists to become disillusioned with fandoms. In many cases, artists have been known to delete pieces which have been frequently reposted, or even delete their entire accounts out of sheer frustration. This is especially common in eastern fandoms, where the language barrier often means western reposters are even less likely to ask for permission first before reposting an artist’s work elsewhere. That being said, even western artists may delete their accounts or move fandoms altogether to get away from fandoms which have been known for frequent reposts.

Does reposting actually give an artist more exposure?

This doesn’t work for most artists, especially if the art isn’t credited. Some artists may decide to grant permission for reposts if they’re asked for permission directly, but many artists have accounts across multiple social media sites and prefer to upload their own work directly. If you actually want to support an artist or help their work reach a wider audience, it’s almost best to like, reblog, and comment on the original piece. Tumblr is even better for this than most social media sites, since you can leave your comments entirely in the tags if you’re too embarrassed to comment on the piece directly.

I guarantee artists will check your tags, see all the nice things you said about their art, and be very, very happy.

How can I tell if an art piece is reposted?

On Tumblr, most artists tend to have a tag for their own art, whether it’s just “my art” or “art by me” or something similar. Even if they don’t, you can usually tell whether a piece seems like it was drawn by the op by going through their blog and comparing it to similar posts that they’ve made. On other social media sites like twitter or instagram, most people will specifically call their account an art account, and you can usually tell whether they draw just by checking their bios.

Artwork which lacks any personal tags, sources, or seems incongruous with other artwork posted by the same person may be stolen from somewhere else. You can usually check by using Google’s reverse image source feature, or excellent sites like “Saucenao” to see if the piece exists anywhere else, like Pixiv or Deviantart. Saucenao even has an extension for most browsers that lets you just right click an image and immediately search it for a source.

Most artwork that’s been reposted with permission will usually say as much upfront. Art-with-permission accounts often credit the artist first and then say something like “this piece was posted with permission.” Some accounts have faked having permission in the past, but the legitimate ones who actually do ask for permission usually have screenshots of DMs where they talked to the artist. Typically they’ll either link to these screenshots in the caption or on their blog somewhere.

TL;DR Please try not to reblog or share around fanart if it seems like it may have been reposted! Reposts can be incredibly harmful to the careers and success of original artists, and it’s almost always better to interact instead with the original piece. Artists provide so much beautiful, engaging content in fandoms, and it’s a shame to see so many of them packing up or deleting their accounts all because their work was stolen without permission.

I think this is a good discussion to have with people who are newer to fandom who may not be familiar with all the proper “fandom etiquette” rules, so if people want to reblog this post I don’t mind!

[plush-rabbit]

Shigaraki Dating An Artist Headcanons

A/N: I made it more focused on traditional art because that’s what I do so… yeah. There’s hints to digital but idk how that works so!!

Shigaraki always sees you buried deep in a black notebook with a pencil scribbling over and throwing eraser shavings into a trashcan. He isn’t interested in it at first, brushing it off but when Toga starts to clap and praise on well you draw and how you bow your head and shake your head rapidly, his interest is peaked.

He often comes in when you’re drawing Toga. Despite how bubbly she is, if you ask her to do a pose, she’s more than willing to stand still for a while, as long as you let her keep the portrait that is. He tries to take a peak but you brush him off, telling him you’ll show him later but surprisingly Himiko already took the portrait and you’ve already put away your journal and it’s so late. Well, good night Tomura and you place a kiss on his cheek and snuggle close to him.

He’s a bit peeved that you won’t share your artwork but he’ll roll his eyes and push down the bitter feeling rising in him. That is until Twice and Mr. Compress take a peak and suddenly they want to pose and it practically takes away all of the time, you two have together! No, he isn’t jealous; he just doesn’t want to be waiting ten minutes for you to never show up. He’s not jealous, really!

But then you go up to Spinner and you shyly ask if he’ll let you draw him. You just got these new colors and he has such pretty scales and in somewhere you hear a door slam. Okay so he might be a bit jealous that you’ve shown practically everyone your sketchbook and you’ve been drawing them too and you haven’t asked him but whatever. You also haven’t asked Dabi so it’s fine.

But then Dabi pops his head into his room and holds up a rolled piece of paper and pulls it down so your signature is visible and he has the audacity to smirk as him and give him a peace sign as he leaves the door open. Okay so everyone has seen your sketch book, whatever. He’s not gnawing on his lips and looking at the desk where you tuck away your sketch book.

You’re not home. You’re out doing something- Shigaraki thinks he heard you say you had to get new nubs or pens? He isn’t entirely sure, he was only half listening as his mind was somewhere else. You’ve been gone for a while so you probably wouldn’t be back if he were going to take a peak. He gives a glance at the door, checks his messages and then he’s off the bed and on his knees, pulling out your sketchbook and he feels a bit bad but his curiosity wins over.

You’re drawings are detailed, some have color, others don’t. The texture of the paper is a bit thick and it’s until he comes across a watercolor painting does he realize why. You have different styles of everything, some are sketches of the League together, most separate and with different symbols around some. Others are of people he doesn’t know, some anime characters he presumes and maybe a few original characters with the notes doted on the side. You have different styles, different shapes and things all around.

They’re really good. You’re really good. He likes the colors you use. He likes the imagery and wow, you’re really good. He reaches the end quickly, given each work a glance and appreciative hum. But he frowns. Where was he? You drew everyone from the League and even people who weren’t real so where was he? Surely you must have drawn him at one point. But he keeps flipping and looking in the back of pages and there’s not even a doodle of him.

“Tomura, what are you doing?” You hold a plastic bag of art supplies in one hand and a bag of snacks in the other.

“Where am I?” He gets right to the point, rising to his feet and holding the sketchbook carefully in his hand, pushed outwards to you.

Your mouth is pulled into a thin line and you walk past him to drop the bags on the bed. He follows you with his eyes and you grab the sketch book from his hand and put it against your chest. You can’t meet his eyes and your leg is bouncing.

“You’re not in this one,” you mutter.

“Yeah, I know so—”

“You’re in my other one,” you look up at him and quickly avert your gaze. “I- I like drawing you- a lot- so I have on mainly just for you.”

“Really?”

You roll your eyes. “Yes. It’s embarrassing. So—”

“Can I see it?” His eyes are wide and he takes a step closer to you.

“Tomura, it’s embarrassing!”

“We’re dating,” he deadpans, holding his palm out to you. When you look at him shyly, he rolls his eyes. “Please.”

“Admit you were jealous,” you pipe, bouncing on your heels and a slow smile curving onto your features.

“I was not—”

“Then no.” You turn around and begin to rummage through a plastic bag, pulling out the contents and dropping them on the bed.

“Ugh, fine. I was jealous. Now let me see.”

You stand up straight and flash him a grin. You kneel down and pull out a smaller sketch book, holding it out for him. He takes it quickly, going to sit down on the bed and he begins to flipping through it carefully.

As you said, there are drawings of him there. He’s asleep in a few, in others he’s eating, smiling, in a few he’s wearing outfits he doesn’t own and when he looks at you, your head is bowed and you’re clutching the sides of the desk until your knuckles pale. They’re all really good. In a few, you’ve only colored his eyes, other’s you color his hair. He wonders if it holds any symbolic meaning.

“They’re really good.”

“Yeah?” You ask, head still turned away from his. “You mean it?”

“Of course I do. Why didn’t you show these to me before?” His finger runs through the edge of the pages.

You shrug. “It’s a lot of pages of you. ‘Fraid you were gonna get a big ego or something,” you joke lightly, face flushed when you look back at him. “Sorry.”

He nods slowly and closes the sketchbook and hands it back to you. “Well, if you ever need to draw me again,” he scratches the back of his neck, “well, you know.”

You rise and press a kiss against his cheek. “I know.” You lean on his shoulder and run your fingers against the back of his hand. “And I will.”

[marshmallowprotection]

Um... I recently found out that a mysme artist copied other artists' work, just changing the character in it, and I kinda don't know how to feel about it? Like I can't know for sure that all of their work is straight up copied, but while looking for references I found at least 5 drawings that were copied and it's kinda disappointing, because now I don't even know which of their artwork really came from their imagination or was copied lol and I really looked up to them

It's weird bc I know pose theft isn't a real thing but when a piece's entire concept is based around the pose or its uniqueness, it really feels like plagiarism/theft to see the exact same thing but with just another character (or characters)

Sorry it seems random to come up to you about this but I just didn't know how to react, like I didn't want to make it public because the artist is well known and people on the internet can be a bit... intense, I know it will bring more harm than good, but at the same time it just feels wrong to keep it to myself?? Idk, do you think it really is plagiarism? Should I just forget about this and keep it to myself forever? Maybe I'm not properly explaining the situation so if you need to, I can send you screenshots

I guess it really depends on a case-by-case basis. No one situation is going to be the same, so you have to view it through a different lens each time. It's one thing to take strong inspiration from something that you see and make your own interpretation. If it's close enough that you know who it was inspired by? It's kind of important to give credit where credit is due.

It's going to come down to what you're seeing with the art? Ideally, if you see that they aren't crediting somebody for their inspiration, take your concern to the original artist and let them know so they can get into contact with the other artist. That way the original artist whose work was used as a reference/copied can make sure that they take care of this since it's their art that's been used.

You have to credit the artist that you were inspired by if that's the case and talk to them about it to see if they're comfortable with sharing something inspired by their work if it's really similar to what they did or give credit to what gave you the idea for your take on what they did, and if not, you'd keep it to yourself and respect their wishes. There's just a respectful way to share your creations and it's important to credit people if you're taking concepts from their art to apply in your own. Again, case by case basis.

So, my best advice? If you know the original artists, talk to them about your concern and let them know what you're seeing, and they'll be able to make the call for themselves and talk to the other artist about what they're doing. That's about the most that you can do to make sure that it's handled properly. Nobody wants to hurt anyone out here, so, keep it respectful and look between the lines to see what you feel is right.

Referencing isn't wrong when you're studying and working on your style but you have to be honest about it!

[surveys-at-your-service]

Survey #428

“there’s more money in tragedy, more net worth in self-pity  /  so you’re doubling down inside of your screen, hiding behind attention you seek”

Have you ever told someone, besides family, that you love them and meant it? Yeah. I've told friends that platonically, and I've said it to two people and romantically meant it. Are the blankets that are on your bed now made by someone you know in life? No. Have you seen all The Lord of the Rings movies? I haven't even seen one. How many boyfriends/girlfriends have you had in 2014? I had one. Can you walk in heels? I mean I can, but I don't like to. What does your mom say about the pictures on your Myspace? First the '14 question, now this... I don't think Mom ever had a Myspace, but I can answer for Facebook. She's always the person to "heart" react them and say something about how "beautiful" I am or something. ;x; What was the last thing you and your parents argued about? Idr. Do you feel your life is at its best? Fuck no. There better be better times than this. What do you worry about the most? The most? That's hard to say... but probably my career future. Or really just the future in general. Have you ever let someone be your everything? "Everything" still feels like an understatement. He was my source of happiness, a massive part of my own identity, and my promise for a better future. It was so, so unhealthy. Think back to the last person you kissed, how many times have you cried in their arms? Two times, I wanna say? What are some things you do when you’re mad? I get snappy and try to isolate myself to cry it out. How do you feel about your hair right now? I hate itttt. It's getting too long and just boring. I'm hoping I can get up with my hairdresser soon for a trim. What’s an interesting fact about you that not many people know? Uhhhh... I guess that I was a dancer for many years. I feel like I don't really fit the general "aesthetic" of dancers, so people have definitely been surprised to find out I was one. Do you do anything embarrassing when no one is home? No. Just because no one ELSE is there, I'd embarrass my damn self lol. If you had the chance to move to a completely different state/county, would you? Fuck yes I would. Could you ever be friends with someone that broke your heart? It's funny, because that's what the traumatized, overly-attached part of me wants (at the bare minimum), but my common sense knows that's dumb as fuck. I could never healthily be friends with him. Are you scared of fireworks? No, but others are terrified by them, so keep that in mind. Does anyone know every little detail about you? No. You woke up one day and discovered that you were only able to see in black and white… as well as one other colour. What colour would that be and why? I guess red? It sounds morbid for it to be the first thing my mind goes to, but that way, I'd be able to see blood and therefore be able to detect a symptom of danger. What is your favourite soundtrack for a film/video game/television show? (Though feel free to name as many!) Silent Hill 2 and Shadow of the Colossus have fucking LEGENDARY soundtracks. What is your favourite Pokémon? Ninetales! I also really love Espeon and Umbreon, too. And Charmander. And Pikachu. And Skitty. And... well, too many, ha ha. What is something your best friend of the opposite sex does that you can’t stand? He calls me "kid" a lot. Is the last book you read a really well-known book? It's not world-famous or anything, but it seems relatively known by teens/young adults. At least, I follow a lot of artists who make fanart for it. Do you have anything besides just songs downloaded on your iPod? No. When at the beach, do you spend more time on the beach or in the ocean? In the water. I hate the beach itself. Do you have any siblings you absolutely despise? Why do you despise them? No. Have you ever babysat before? Did you enjoy this job? Yes, and no, not at all. Have you ever busted a window before? Why did you bust it? No. Do you still get scared watching old horror movies? You watch them alone? Horror movies pretty much never scare me, never mind old cheesy ones. I don't mind watching them alone. Do knives scare you? Is it from watching scary movies? I'm terrified of big knives, and it has nothing to do with movies. It's a fear that started after Mom stopped me from a suicide attempt where I was going to slit my throat with one. They just radiate danger for me. Have you ever tried to sing opera? Did it work out for you or no? No. What was the last piece of furniture you purchased? I've never bought any furniture, and I don't recall the last thing Mom bought. Have you ever broken up with someone for a reason other than lack of feelings (ex. moving away, etc.)? Yeah; we split because we were essentially two shaky towers leaning against one another. We have to learn to straighten ourselves up independently before that relationship even becomes a "maybe" again. Has anyone ever told you that you are too picky when it comes to the people you date? What about not picky enough? Neither. Was there anything unusual or unique about your birth? Nothing really, besides being born in an icestorm. My birth itself was totally normal, as far as I know. Mom considers it pretty extraordinary though because according to her, I took one look at her and smiled so big. Says a lot about our relationship now. What was the best conversation you’ve had recently? *shrug* What is the next book you are going to read? The book that comes next in the series I'm reading. Who was the last person to do something nice for you? My mom does nice things for me every day, like making dinner, letting me live under her roof... a lot of stuff. Is there any artwork in the room you’re in? Yeah, some of my stuff. Have you ever made out on a couch? Yeah. Someone asks you what you want; what do you say? Happiness. Direction. What was the last thing you complained about? Just being incredibly sore. The gym's kicking my ass, but it needs to, so I'm fine with it. How do you feel when you hear other people complaining? It depends on how frequently and about what. It can become overwhelming sometimes, especially if it's over something truly trivial. Has your name been in someone’s Facebook status lately? No. Do you own any Sims games? Which ones? I have the original animals one, as well as the African animals one (which I surprisingly like less). What was your first job? I was a sales associate at GameStop. Do people praise you for your looks? Yeah, definitely not. Do you like your eyes? No. I wish they were bluer and wider. Tell me what your back pack looks like: My last one was a galaxy texture. What celebrity do you think is hot? HMMMMMMMMMMMM I DON'T KNOW????????????? NEVER SEEN ONE IN MY LIFE O: O: O: Last movie you saw in theatre: The The Lion King remake. Has someone you were dating ever cheated on you? No. What’s the cutest thing someone’s ever done for you? I'd rather not dig through the memories to find what I'd consider the "cutest." What was the last thing you heated up in your microwave? A chicken pesto bowl for lunch. Did you ever watch Phil of the Future? Occasionally, but I was never big on it. Do you have an online game that you play often? I play World of Warcraft pretty much daily. Do you prefer regular or electric toothbrushes? Electric. What was the last thing to piss you off? Truly piss me off, I'm not sure. When and where was the last time you took a picture of yourself? Months ago in my room. I want to take a new one to update my Facebook profile pic, because I think I'm ready to return there. Who was the last person to pay you a compliment or praise? The first day at the gym, Mom told me she was extremely proud of me, and it meant a lot. I truly think I can stick to this, and it's a fucking phenomenal feeling. What’s one thought you have regarding the subject of love? It can be the most beautiful thing in the world, yet simultaneously has the capability to be one of the most painful. Do you think that it’s possible to fall in love at a young age like eleven or twelve? Who am I to say, honestly. I lean towards no because at the age of puberty, you're really all over the place with your hormones and emotions, and I just don't know if it's possible for two pre-teens to have the maturity level to grasp what it truly means to be in love with someone. But again, what do I really know? Everyone is different. Are sex and sexual activities something you enjoy? Yeah sure, if it's something I'm in the mood to engage in and I'm in love with the person. What’s an interesting fact about the state in which you were born? We're the home of Pepsi products. I know, of course I would share a fact about soda, ha ha. What’s one aspect of your life that did not turn out as you expected? Where I am now as far as "adult development" goes. I don't drive. I don't have a job. I still live with my mother. I could go on and on... By this point, I definitely expected something much, much different when I was younger. What was the last event to cause you any sort of heartache? Hm. I don't know. What was the worst phase you’ve ever gone through? *shrug* What excuse did you use most often to skip school? There were times I'd pretend to have a really bad cough. I could fake a nasty cough, man. Are you shy about singing in front of people? Very. Honestly, do you put your elbows on the dinner table? Yes, because why the fuck would that matter. I don't get how something so simple and harmless is "bad manners." Have you ever taken a picture in a public bathroom? No. Yes or no: corsets? I. FUCKING. LOVE. CORSETS. UGH I wish I could pull one off, omfg. In your opinion, is money the root of all evil? All evil? No. There are some horrible crimes people can commit that have nothing to do with money. Do you own a pair of overalls? Ew, no. I hate overalls. What is the best game to play while in the car? Uh, idk. Has a movie ever made you jump in fear? I'm sure at some point. Jumpscares are hard to be unfazed by; it's just a natural reaction to something sudden. Yes or no: pickles? Bro I LOVE pickles. Yes or no: strawberry ice cream? Ugh, no. Do you know what your mom’s favorite movie is? No, actually. Are you a role model to anybody? No fucking way I am. Do you know how much you weighed at birth? Somewhere around six or seven pounds. Look outside the nearest window. What can you see? From where I'm at, I can just see the shed. What are you interested in that most people would be surprised to know? Cutesy, pastel stuff, probably. How many bathrooms are in your house? Two. Do you prefer stripes or polka dots? Polka dots. Are you considered a very sensitive person? Very. Have you ever told someone you never wanted to speak to them again? Yes. What’s the weather like today? Is it nice enough to go outside? It's hot as fuck outside. You will NOT see me outside today. What does your last text message say and who is it from? It's just a thumbs up emoji from the woman who works at my psychiatrist's office. She schedules my phone appointments with him. Do you listen to any podcasts? How do you listen to them? No. Why did you leave your last job? It was WAY too fast-paced with lots of responsibilities that I just couldn't handle. Have you ever eaten at a restaurant and left without paying? No, that's awful. What’s your favorite scent of air freshener? Probably something floral and subtle. Are your hands and feet in good condition or could you do with a mani-pedi? Ugh. I pick my fingernails off badly, so they're a mess rn. I also DISDAIN my feet because they are horribly callused from when I used to walk like crazy. It's so weird how I can exfoliate the area and scrub (... and sometimes tear) them off, but they're pretty much immediately back. When was the last time you played a board game? What did you play? A couple years ago with Girt and Sara, I think. We played Scrabble. How old were you when you first became sexually active? Do you mean like, doing anything sexual? In which case that would be 16. I woulda been 16 or 17 when I actually lost my virginity, though. Do you know anyone who has been through a divorce? A load of people. Does anyone not know somebody? Have you ever done a juice cleanse? No. Do you have to pay for parking in most places in the town/city you live in? No. That's a foreign concept here. It's one of the very alien things I experienced in Chicago; I don't really think I knew it was a thing (save for massive attractions, like Disney Word and stuff) before then. Can you hear lots of traffic from your house? Does it bother you? No. We live in a cul-de-sac, and our road is further into it, away from the main road.

[lethendralis-paints]

Artist Meme

Was tagged to answer this set of interesting questions by @kourvo​

(original post is here: https://kourvo.tumblr.com/post/621355098110640128/artist-meme

Thank you so much for that!

Let’s see....

1) What is the character you've drawn the most (Can be original or fanart)

This precious boy. I can never get enough of him. One of the most compelling characters I have ever come across. Love everything about Fenris and can relate to him on so many levels!

2. What colour do you often use? 

Gray and brown are my faves. And all other colours have the same chance of appearing in my artwork :D

3. Any colour you are bad at using?

I don’t think so...I love them all, even the pinks and yellows people usually find hard to incorporate into a colour palette. Tell me in the comments if I’m wrong :)

4. When drawing people, where do you start? 

Funnily enough - either with the front of the hairline or with the left eyebrow. Don’t ask me, why - I don’t know myself.

5. What is a character only your eraser will love?

Hmmmm...any sort of villainous character. I can’t draw evil people convincingly. I’m a huge softy at heart.

6. Which of your works took the longest time? 

Big scale commission I did for @pikapeppa​, featuring all the Inquisition companions, along with Fenris, Rynne and Carver Hawke. That one took almost 3 weeks, due to its sheer scope and my relative lack of experience in such large works. Pika was extremely patient with me though, for that I am eternally thankful!

7. What techniques do you use when you want to improve in drawing? 

Classical art studies. Varying my technique, themes I choose and software I use. I try to experiment and go outside my comfort zone often.

8. What do you think of the art of the person who gave you this ask meme? 

I adore Lillymon’s technical skill, refined style and limited colours! She is a huge inspiration for me!

9. What art tools/media are you good with? 

DrawPile, Photoshop, graphite pencils and liners. That’s about it :)

10. Art tools/media you are bad at? 

Traditional paints. I have no formal artistic education and my lack of knowledge comes to the forefront whenever I have to paint on a real canvas. It’s so much trial and error, you can’t even imagine....

11. What do you think about your own art? 

Lately it’s one of the last few things that were bringing me joy. I hope I won’t lose the passion for it. Because at this point I’m not sure I’ll be able to find some occupation I will be genuinely interested in and good at it. I don’t know if me gravitating towards moody fantasy art speaks about my fear of facing reality. If so, idk what to do with that. I do hope to develop my skills and being able to support myself financially as an artist.

12. Do you consult references for your drawings? 

Yes. A lot of them. Anatomical atlases, schemes for both academic and manga art, photographs found online and taken on my own, copying colour palettes from classical art - anything goes. I think it’s essential to develop your technical skill.

13. What do you like about your art? 

Lately - consistency, both in terms of produced results and in sticking to the timelines I set to myself. I hope this lasts. I would also like to branch out to other themes and not confine myself to quirky fantasy characters, so I’m working on developing my own story behind the scenes (spoilers) :P

14. What habits do you have while drawing?

Only the bad ones, lol. Hunching forward in front of the screen, forgetting to eat, drink and letting my eyes rest. Tilting my head to the side instead of rotating the canvas....I’m an idiot XD

15. Are you good at drawing faces facing right? 

I think that’s the thing I’m good at!

16. How frequently do you draw? 

For the last 1,5 years - almost every day without fail, for good or ill.

17. What do you do when you have artist's block? 

Change occupation and work myself into a depressed state. I changed work places in the last few years a lot, working as an interior designer, draftsman, textile designer, a cook, a bartender to name a few.

18. What must you have when you draw? 

No commotion around me and a cup of some hot beverage.

19. Do you have a lot of stray lines (messy lineart)? 

In the starting stage of my work process - yes, like you wouldn’t believe! If it’s a personal doodle, I sometimes just leave in as am under layer and draw clean lines on top of that mess. It looks cool in a way.

20. What is drawing to you?

An essential part of what helped me to retain my sanity in the last year and a half. Hopefully a lasting profession that will help me pay bills and survive on my own, if my life falls apart entirely later.

21. Your art goal from now on? 

Broaden the themes I depict, improve my technical skill, work on personal creative project and not only fan arts. And most of all - not giving up on it this time.

22. Artists you've had influence from? 

To name a few: @kallielef​ @kourvo​ @shayafury​ @fairsparrow​ who I met here on Tumblr, and many others who I follow and zealously study their works for clues on how to improve my own work.

23. Artists you like? 

I am following them all either here or on Instagram, I also do my best to share their works on my side blog!

24. Which is easier to draw, humans or animals? 

It was animals earlier. But now that I started to diligently study human anatomy, I would say it evened out! I’m quite confident drawing humans/humanoids now!

25. Show us an old drawing 

My first digital drawing from 2010 when I first bought my tablet!

26. What is the charm-point of your art?

I ummm....I don’t really get the question? Is that like the the strongest suit of me as an artist? Intense expressions maybe? Idk. Let me know in the comments :D

27. What is the first thing you would draw if we're talking about fantasy? 

Broody warriors, he-he

28. Please draw your most beloved character:

Here’s a sneak-peek of me drawing him right now! :D

29. When thinking of characters is it mostly female? male? or androgynous/no sex? 

I usually gravitate towards depicting strong-willed, caring, passionate, brave, honest men and women.

30. What did you draw yesterday? 

Started cleaning up that sketch from the last question, actually!

31. What is the funnest part to draw? 

A circle. Mostly because you’d die laughing seeing my struggle to draw a believable one XD

32. What part of other people's drawings do you notice first? 

colours, mood, eyes, hands.

33. Regarding backgrounds, what is your method of making it easier to draw? 

pick your favourite textured brush, find a good reference for mood and colour scheme, zoom out, squint your eyes and start slapping colours like mad. You’d be amazed at how much you’ll be able to achieve in 30 minutes with this approach. Bare white background is the enemy - destroy it! >:)

34. What colour coordinations do you like? 

Gray or brown as a main colour and then deep, earthy, saturated colours to complement the main one. Pink and orange is the combination I strangely enjoy using lately too.

35. What character did you last draw? Fenris and Eris :)

36. Does your style change easily? 

I don’t think so. More like it’s evolving slowly into something more serious and deliberate.

37. What part of drawing do you pay most attention to? 

Facial expression, body movement, mood and light effects. Not so much the composition and framing, he he.

38. How do you feel about drawing adult art? 

Tbh, I don’t consider straight up porn to be ‘adult’ exactly. To me adult art means aiming towards serious topics, exploring complex emotions and ideas, being honest with your viewer. I did doodle a few more steamy sketches of my OTP just to see if I could, but it was definitely a tongue-in-cheek kind of a artwork that I don’t take seriously.

39. Do you like criticism from others? 

If it’s friendly and in done in private - I welcome it always.

40. How many people do you normally draw per artwork? 

1 or 2. Rarely more. Crowded battle scenes are definitely not my thing :D

This was fun! Tagging forward to @shayafury​ @schoute​ @stella-minerva​ @nug-juggler​ @kallielef​ and anyone else wishing to go through such a long questionnaire!

[midgetmeredith]

PLEASE STOP REPOSTING MY EDITS!

Instagram account @sakurauzumakie (and others in the past: @antinaruuuhinaaa on IG / Haruno Uzumaki on FB, etc.), you have:

Yet again visited my blog with the intent to steal my edits and seemingly decided to ignore my numerous posts previously communicating how devastating and immensely discouraging it is to have my work reposted without permission or credit (even so much as implicitly inferring the edit is yours through captioning ‘to follow you for more’ and adding audio), moreover for such to receive significantly more reception (100+ notes on my original creations < up to 16,000+ views on your reposts which have cropped my watermark and failed to acknowledge me, as well as allow oppositional responses that I have not been able to counter so as to defend myself or my mocked work).

Thus enabled Naru/Hina fans (including those I have specifically blocked due to prior harassment) to see my edits and also repost them to be ridiculed and ripped apart in some blathering shipping feud, having provided them the scope to find my original posts and attack them directly as well. In reposting such outside of its intended space, this has opened up my work to hate and ridicule, to hurtful and derogatory comments; exposing a hobby with a simple and non-monetary purpose to please, to invasive vilification and hostile consumption.

What’s more is that it isn’t just my work that has been reposted – it’s the beautiful artwork of our fandom’s many talented artists, who already don’t receive the praise that they deserve. As I’ve stated before, having your creative content reposted (especially without credit or simply requesting permission/notifying the OP) is crappy and insanely demotivating. I personally put so much time, effort and passion into my GIFs – I have to find the right scenes to convey the emotional purpose of the gifset in the most effective way possible, download the highest quality episodes that I can find, create specific and detailed PSD colourings that accent the work, cut and blend or fade frames together from often entirely different segments of the overall franchise, etc.

We’re a smaller fandom now, so enthusiasm is lower than it was and our work already receives limited acknowledgment. We should be supporting the content creators who still pour their heart and soul into making new material for us to enjoy. If you want to share that work elsewhere, at least ask permission first and please provide proper credit, for goodness sake! I adore NaruSaku, so I wanted to continue to see our fandom thrive and help contribute to that. But I’m making edits in my own free time from my master’s degree, only for the above to happen? It’s defeating. Idk, I can’t justify this anymore, at least not for now. You pay for Photoshop and create the content yourself, reposters.

[kinetic-elaboration]

August 29: Academy Spock

Well, well, well, what’s this? A new HAICG story. I’m gonna call it a story because it’s (somehow???) 1500 words. Don’t know how that happened lol. Will be up on AO3... sometime idk.

This is for @senseofenterprise who asked for Spock and Sevin in San Francisco, Starfleet Academy era.

*

The cafe down the street from Spock's apartment plays recorded Terran music during the day, and hosts live musical performances in the evening. Spock has been to three such concerts: one by himself, one with a group of second-year Cadets, and one, last weekend, with Cadet Lawrence. This last event he is still turning over, carefully considering, in the back of his mind. Cadet Lawrence is a human, blond and blue-eyed, with an easy, lop-sided smile. He's in the Engineering program, and his favorite topics of conversation are the latest developments in transporter technology, and the history of Federation space travel. Spock has seen history books mixed in among his textbooks, when they study together in the library, which they started doing only because they both enjoy the same room on the third floor. They both like to sit beneath the round window that always lets in a peculiar light, green-tinted as it streams through the leaves of the tree outside.

Another reason they study together is because Spock quite enjoys Cadet Lawrence’s company. Once, three days before the evening together at the cafe, Spock dedicated several hours to teaching Cadet Lawrence how to write simple phrases in Vulcan. His hand was so unsteady, Spock had to help him grip his stylus, to trace out the exact curls and circles of his native script. Only when he was done did he realize how closely they were sitting, and the unfamiliar, soft, human expression that had taken the place of Cadet Lawrence’s usual smile.

None of which is worth thinking about now. He has his Astrophysics reading and his weak, Terran tea, and all he needs is to focus his thoughts on his work again. Somehow, he had found himself staring at a row of maps on the wall across from him, depicting the capital cities of the four original Federation planets. His own home city is second from the left. Cadet Lawrence has never left Earth before—"Never even been on a shuttle before I came to San Francisco," he'd said, grinning, glancing over at Spock like he was expecting him to laugh.

From the chair next to him, a small hand reaches out, and taps at the edge of his PADD. "Father! Time to work!"

Spock raises his eyebrows, a show of amusement for his son, who is staring at him with the most serious of expressions. Sevin is balanced on top of an unsteady pile of pillows, in order to be tall enough to reach the tabletop, where he has arranged his own version of work: his toy spaceship and three large plastic blocks, out of which he has created a complicated, but inscrutable game. He's still holding the spaceship in his other hand.

"I appreciate how you keep me focused, small one," Spock answers, and gently moves his hand out of the way. Then he turns back to his reading again, but his boy won't be deterred.

"When will we go to the park?" Sevin asks. Usually, he enjoys the cafe: all of the people, mostly Starfleet Cadets and officers, chattering in different languages all around them; the music; the interesting maps and other artwork on the walls; and especially the light fixtures, which hang like crystals at intervals along the ceiling, and never cease to amaze and delight him. He is also fond of the baristas, who think he is the most adorable little boy in the galaxy. But they've been here a long afternoon, and Spock has promised his son an evening at the playground after he has finished his reading.

"Soon," he answers, which is close enough to the truth.

"When?"

Spock sighs. Then he leans in close, as if he were sharing a secret, and says quietly, "When I finish this chapter."

"Then you'll tell me about it?"

He nods. "Yes. And you will tell me about what you have been doing."

Just as they always do. Sevin doesn't understand anything that Spock shares of his studies, and Spock doesn't understand most of what Sevin describes of his games, but they enjoy each other's interest. That is enough.

He has managed to read another three pages, enough to bring him back into a proper, focused, studious mindset again, when an unexpected noise rises above the general background hum of conversation and twenty-second century acoustic guitar, and rouses him again. This time, it is his name. "Cadet Spock," someone says, from right in front of him and somewhat above, and he looks up, briefly startled to see Captain Pike standing next to his chair. He's holding a to-go cup of coffee, and looks like he stopped abruptly, as if he too were caught by surprise.

"Captain," Spock answers. "Good afternoon. I did not notice you passing by."

"No, I can see you're busy. I almost didn't notice you, either." His eyes flick briefly to Sevin, then back to Spock again. Spock can feel the tips of his ears turning hot. He bluffed his way into an advanced level course taught by Captain Pike during his second semester at the Academy, unwilling to take the chance that it would not be offered again, and by the end of the year had convinced the Captain to supervise an additional independent study course for him. This would allow him to get Command track credit, despite being in the Science division. Hoping to make Captain one day, Spock? Pike had asked, in a tone that Spock did not know how to read: friendly, and fond, but slightly teasing too.

I merely wish to expand my understanding of Starfleet as much as possible, Sir.

All right. Well, you know First Officers come from every division, not just Command—

It had felt like a promise, some potential inside him that not even he could see, suddenly laid bare, and he'd blushed at that suggestion too. He’d felt a certain pride filling his chest, squaring his shoulders.

Yet for all their work together, he'd never once mentioned his son.

"So, who's this little guy?" Pike asks now, gesturing with his coffee cup to Sevin. Pike is smiling yet another variant of human smile now, one Spock recognizes well: the expression adults always direct toward his child, to show that they are trustworthy. Sevin is staring back at him, wide-eyed and silent.

"This is Sevin," Spock answers, and on a whim, picks the boy up and settles him on his lap. "My son."

Perhaps he has already hypothesized as much, but Pike lets only the slightest surprise show. His eyebrows rise briefly, and his mouth opens, but he turns the expression back into a smile smoothly enough. "Sevin," he repeats. "And how old are you, Sevin?"

"He's two and a half," Spock answers, when the boy himself doesn't speak. He's still watching Pike with steady curiosity, but seems to consider himself no more than an observer to the conversation.

"And shy?" Pike asks.

"Sometimes."

"Mmm. Well, I can't say I blame him for that." He turns his gaze back to Spock, nods once, and adds, "Nice running into you both. I'll see you on Friday?"

"As always, Sir."

Before he leaves, Pike waves goodbye to Sevin, a small wave for a small boy. Then, when he sees Sevin reaching out for his hand, he holds it out, a shade of uncertainty now across his expression that Spock cannot dispel quickly enough. He knows what Sevin wants to do. But he has no time to pull him back or to give any sort of warning a human would understand, before Sevin has placed his palm on Captain Pike's palm.

A strange jolt passes across his features, only a second, there and gone and in its wake, a confused frown, the slightest parting of his lips. Pike jerks his hand back again, and Spock pulls Sevin close against his chest. "I apologize," he says quickly. "He—he is still leaning to control his telepathic abilities."

Pike is staring down at his hand, as if expecting some physical aftermath there on his skin. He looks up at Spock's words, and his frown deepens. "Oh," he answers, faint and slightly dazed. "Is that what that was. I have to say, Spock," and his tone lightens again, perhaps with effort, perhaps with that innate ability humans seem to have, to rebound quickly from the surprise of any new discovery. "I have to say, I've never experienced anything quite like that before."

"I assure you, he was not trying to read your thoughts, only to share—"

"It's all right." Pike smiles again. "That's a bright little boy you have there. I hope I see you both around again." He waves once more, and Spock offers a faint goodbye, and then Captain Pike is disappearing again into the crowd.

Only then does Spock let out a breath he did not realize he was holding. "We have discussed this, small one," he says, and hugs Sevin closer again. "We—"

"Don't use telepathy with humans," Sevin finishes. "I'm sorry, Father. I just wanted—"

"I know. I understand." The temptation is great sometimes for him, too: a shortcut to communication with these strange, emotional, confusing aliens, who remain always a mystery, even as some of what they are is part of him and his son, too. "I understand," he says again, and presses a kiss to the top of Sevin's head.