#if i find some good templates i'll do more one day

[tapioca-puddingg]

Broly, the Legendary Super Saiyan: A Brief Dragon Ball Z Analysis

EDITED 3/12/2023

Yo, it's me again. So I'm still on a break from my Drakengard analyses, which I haven't forgotten about! Those require a lot of research and time, so I'm keeping them on the back burner for now. But instead, I'm here with a pretty unexpected analysis. I've never talked about Dragon Ball Z on my blog before, so this'll be the first time. Today I wanted to talk about Broly from the original Broly: The Legendary Super Saiyan movie. The reboot was a fantastic movie and they did a great job at making him more human. I may very well do another analysis on the new Broly one day.

I wanted to give my take on Broly's character from the original movie, since the movie itself doesn't even attempt to. Let me preface this by saying that this is just my opinion based on the character's backstory and behavior. I'm certain someone will disagree, which is fine. Do let me know your thoughts and let me know if I get something wrong. SPOILERS AHEAD: READ AT YOUR OWN RISK!

The Start of Broly and Paragus

So, let's talk about it. By now, everyone and their mother has already criticized Broly's original backstory, and for good reason! It's literally the worst backstory I've ever seen, so fans are right to dislike it. Lemme explain his backstory briefly: when Broly and Goku were born, Broly had an abnormally high power level of 10,000. King Vegeta felt ashamed that his power level exceeded that of his own son, so he sought to have Broly and Paragus (Broly's father) executed. I don't know why he would try to kill him and not just make use of him later on, but okay. So Paragus and Broly are attacked and left out to die. That also happened to be the same day that Frieza destroyed Planet Vegeta, and Broly managed to get them both to safety. Paragus wants revenge on Vegeta (understandably), but Broly wants revenge on Goku for disturbing him with his crying when they were newborns.

My take on this: All of that makes sense except for Broly's... strange fixation on Goku. This heavily implies that he had a high level of sentience as a newborn; to be able to acknowledge that another newborn is crying near him and remembers this newborn well into adulthood. As humans, we don't gain that level of self-awareness until age 4 or 5. We see this again when he saves himself and Paragus. Although I don't think he knows exactly what's happening, I believe he is aware that they are in danger, and he sorta goes into fight or flight mode. So by that logic, would he not remember that King Vegeta nearly stabbed him to death? He was able to recognize Goku's face and name as an adult, so would he not recognize that Vegeta looks exactly like his father? The more I think about it, the more it doesn't make sense. Anyways though, let's move on.

The Life of Broly and Paragus

It goes without saying that Broly and Paragus' lives have never been easy. Broly has always had this unfathomable amount of power inside of him that he can't control. He's a loose cannon, to put it mildly. And this overwhelms Paragus. Rather than Paragus training him to hone this power, he chooses to use a mind control device as a quick means of "calming" Broly when his temper gets out of line. What lesson does this teach Broly? It teaches him that his anger is unacceptable; that his emotions are wrong. And it also forces Broly to be completely dependent on Paragus, stunting his maturation and effectively making him a man-child. Even though Broly is the same age as Goku (mid to late 30's is my guess), he never leaves his father's side for very long and only speaks when spoken to. This is such an abusive parent-child relationship.

Even when Broly is first introduced, he appears docile and unassuming. When he speaks, his voice is devoid of any emotion, with a lack of emotional facial expressions to boot. He's been forced to suppress his emotions for years because he will be punished for doing so. No doubt that this may have caused some deep-seated resentment. But alas, his strange hatred for Goku made him snap. The device broke and there was nothing to hold back his rage. What happens when a child who has been raised by a controlling parent gains freedom? They lose control. He lost control. It is the first time in his life that he actually has autonomy. The dam had been broken, and all of his pent-up rage and emotions came flooding out, and nobody could stop it. Paragus' lack of trust and fear of his own son brought about the very fate that he had hoped to avoid. It was a disaster waiting to happen, and boy did it.

Aside from completely wrecking the shit of our main heroes, he also finds and kills Paragus as he attempts to flee; he crushes him inside the space pod and hurls it toward the nearest planet. I believe that deep down, Broly developed feelings of hatred and resentment towards Paragus for all the years of abuse he suffered. And when he snaps, it's like "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde." The seemingly harmless Broly is no more, but is instead replaced by a savage, ruthless and cold-hearted killer. Or in other words, evil. It's for the best that he was put down by Goku. Who knows how much more destruction he would've caused had he still been alive? Let's not forget that he decimated an entire galaxy at the very start of the movie.

Now, I sympathize with both Paragus and Broly at times. I understand that they both had incredibly difficult lives. Between being wrongfully mistreated by King Vegeta, left out to die after almost being killed, losing his entire home planet in a matter of minutes, and having to raise a son whose power level is beyond the scale of anything that he's ever dealt with, it makes sense that he would turn out this way. And then here we have Broly, a person that was raised by a toxic, controlling parent who never let him express his emotions or act independently. Their story is one of tragedy. It doesn't justify either of their actions. It's just an explanation. I could talk more about how Saiyans are raised in families devoid of love and affection, but that's another analysis for another time. But hey, that's just my two cents.

Final note: If you've made it this far, thank you so much for reading and giving this the time of day! I do hope that you enjoy my take on things and be sure to leave your comments if you enjoyed. I wanted to pop in real quick and talk about this. I've had some feelings about this for some time and wanted to get em out there. Until next time!

[darkficsyouneveraskedfor]

Dirty Work 7

Warnings: this fic will include dark content such as bullying, familial discord/abuse, and possible untagged elements. My warnings are not exhaustive, enter at your own risk.

This is a dark!fic and explicit. 18+ only. Your media consumption is your own responsibility. Warnings have been given. DO NOT PROCEED if these matters upset you.

Summary: You start a new gig and find one of your clients to be hard to please.

Characters: Loki

Note: This week is killing me.

As per usual, I humbly request your thoughts! Reblogs are always appreciated and welcomed, not only do I see them easier but it lets other people see my work. I will do my best to answer all I can. I’m trying to get better at keeping up so thanks everyone for staying with me.

Your feedback will help in this and future works (and WiPs, I haven’t forgotten those!)

I love you all immensely. Take care. 💖

Sunday sees your second day in your new position. As you send off your letter of resignation to the agency, you can't help the coil that winds tight in your stomach. There's no going back now.

You close out of the several templates you Googled in your efforts. It's the one thing you know how to do. Willa, the friendly librarian who checked out the PC for you, always said, if you can Google, you can figure it out. Still, you feel like there's so much you don't know that you're not sure a search engine can answer.

You close the laptop and take both your phones with you into the hallway. You have to go check out that gazebo and figure out if you need to make a call about it. Oh, and the fridge was beeping when you filled your bottle, you have to call the maintenance number that flashed up too.

That makes you even more anxious. You've never really been the sort for phone calls. You never had anyone to talk to and everything else was easier done in person. Well, you'll have to muddle through. Work isn't supposed to be fun or easy.

As you near the staircase, your flip chimes. You juggle to answer the right phone. The slim touchscreen is set only to buzz, an option not available on the clumsy burner. You answer the call as you stop on the top stair.

The woman on the other end asks for you by name. You confirm your identity as you hear familiar noises in the background. She's a nurse from the downtown hospital.

“I'm calling to confirm your father's discharge tomorrow at noon,” she says over the rustle of paper and clack of keys, “we'll need the bed so if there is any delay, another day would be added to the invoice.”

“I understand, I'll be there, erm… noon. Tomorrow,” you don't have your notebook so you key a reminder into the other phone. “Thank you for letting me know.”

“Of course, miss, we would recommend you arrive earlier. We have some resources and counseling available on what you can expect getting the patient settled at home,” she continues, “nine would be ideal. I'll be able to add a note for the doctor to check in as well.”

“Oh, yes, I can do that,” you squeak, “thank you.”

“Alright then, I have all that logged. You have a good day.”

“You too,” you utter before the line dies.

Phone calls weren't too bad. You think you did okay with that one. Then again, you didn't think! You're supposed to work tomorrow. Mr. Laufeyson said you could take Wednesday off, and tomorrow is only Monday.

You close the flip phone and stare at it. Oh boy. You really don't want to spoil this. Just the mention of the coming invoice underlines your desperation. You need the money. Your dad needs it.

“Are you finished?” Mr. Laufeyson's timbre drawls from down the hall. You glance over as he stands just in the doorway of his study. You gulp.

“Sorry, Mr. Laufeyson. I didn't mean to disturb–”

“Yet you did,” he insists.

“I was only going to check–”

“Not my concern so long as it's done,” he waves you off, “an important call, I assume, to make such a racket.”

“Mr. Laufeyson, um,” you shove the phones away, one in each of your pockets. “I… could I have the day tomorrow? Instead of Wednesday. My father is getting out of the hospital and–”

“The day? What time?” He snips as he approaches with decisive steps.

“Well, I'm supposed to go at nine,” you explain, “I'll come in Wednesday still.”

“You will come in tomorrow, after all that,” he says. “You can work later then.”

“Yes, Mr. Laufeyson, but my father will need help getting settled–”

“Figure it out. You agreed to this schedule–”

“I did but–” you stop yourself as his eyes flare, “I will be here in the afternoon, Mr. Laufeyson.”

“You will be. In the appropriate attire, I expect,” he snarls and spins to strut back to his office, swinging the door shut sharply.

You waver at the hard slam. You didn't mean to anger him. You can't help that your father needs you. You thought Mr. Laufeyson would be more understanding, after all, he's the one who pointed out how much you needed the money.

🧹

Your father shoos you away as you try to help him sit. He lets go of the walker and flops back with a grunt, his oxygen tank clinking against the aid’s metal leg. He coughs and snatches around blindly on the cushion for the remote. You retrieve it from the folding table beside him and put it in his hand.

That agitates him further as he growls and jams down the button to turn on the television. You yawn and back away. You still have a full day left ahead of you, and what feels like one behind you. You spent the night doing some last minute tidying to make sure everything is read for your father.

“Smokes,” he snaps his fingers and hacks.

“Er,” you hesitate. You go to find the half-crushed pack you found with him on the floor. You knew better than to throw it out. You return to him, clutching the package nervously, “Dr. Shearer said–”

“Give it to me,” he demands.

You relent and obey. He’s been doubly miserable than before. You feel like an annoying gnat buzzing around his head as he tries to swat you away.

“I made you meals for the weak. They’re all labeled in the fridge–”

“I’m not a goddamn kid,” he scowls and takes the lighter from the folding table.

“I know, but–”

“But I’m home. You probably hate that,” he sneers, “you’d be happy if I died in that hospital.”

You’re taken aback by the accusation. You gasp and shake your head, “of course not, I’m happy you’re here. That you’re alive–”

“Painfully,” he snorts darkly, “the fuck you keep me here for?”

You take a breath and frown. Your eyes tinge and your cheeks pinch, “because you're my dad… and I love you,” you croak.

He doesn’t reply as he pulls out a cigarette and moves the tube from below his nose. You watch him, waiting. He lights the smoke and sucks on it eagerly. You drop your head and give a shrug.

“I gotta go to work,” you say, “I’ll see you tonight.”

“Don’t be slamming around when you come in,” he dusts ash over the freshly vacuumed carpet, “doctor said I needa sleep.”

“I won’t,” you promise and back away.

As you leave the room, your chest plummets in dread. You think of coming home, of finding him like you did before, laying on the floor, lifeless. You sniff and swipe away the speckling of tears. More than you want him to love you, you want him to love himself. You don’t just want him to want you around, you want him to be around.

🧹

You hurry up to Mr. Laufeyson’s gate with your kit and water bottle jostling. You fumble around until you find the smartphone and bring up the digits to punch into the code box. You buzz through and shuffle inside. You set off on your usual path around the back.

You stop at the rear door and try to untangle the strap of the water bottle from your kit. Your hand lingers on the front of the ballooning shirt. You still haven’t gone to look for clothes so you did your best with what you had. One of your father’s forgotten button-ups and a pair of pants that could pass in an office. It’s ill-fitting and scratch but better than jeans.

You get inside and leave your kit in the closet. Today’s a cleaning day but you have a few things to check off the schedule first. With your water bottle bouncing on your hip, you go upstairs and scurry down to the library.

As you enter, you’re surprised to discover the space less than empty. You apologise aloud and choke on the word, ‘mister’. It isn’t the house’s single resident as you expect, no, this figure could not be more different than Mr. Laufeyson. You recognise them, from the dinner.

The blond man faces you as he stands by the window, the drapes open to add the peculiarity of the situation. Like the man, the space is golden with sunlight. You lean back on your heel as you clutch the door handle.

“Hello,” he grins as he greets you in a playful demeanour. You can’t answer. You don’t know if you should. 

Is it rule one; don’t speak unless permitted; or the other rule, do not disturb my guests. You can’t figure out the riddle so you languish in perplexity.

“Aren’t you a sweet little lamb,” he muses as he steps away from the window, placing his hands on the back of the dimpled leather chair. His large hands. If you thought Mr. Laufeyson was tall, this man is even taller and twice as wide. “I remember you. The sweet maid.”

You blink. Where is Mr. Laufeyson? You can’t speak. You’re too terrified; not just of the strange man but of the one you know by name. Your employer would be unhappy to know you spoke out of turn.

“Have you seen my brother at all?” He prompts disregarding your stagnant silence. “Has he spoken of me? His brother? I'm Thor.”

You look down at your hand on the door handle.

“And what is your name?” He asks.

You don’t answer. You know it’s not right but you have no other choice. You pull the door shut and close the man in. You retreat in a half-sprint and barrel back down the stairs. You trip at the bottom and barely save yourself from stumbling to your knees.

You latch onto the banister post to keep your balance and catch your breath. You hear the door above. Oh no, would he follow you? Another door clicks and you look up to find a shadow on the other side of the frosted glass framed in the front entrance.

Mr. Laufeyson steps inside coolly, unbothered as swings the door shut and tugs on the lapel of his suit jacket. His eyes fall on you and he scuffs on his sole, tilting his head in curiosity. You didn’t realise he hadn’t even been there. You look at the ceiling with wide eyes; so how was the other man inside?

“Well, there you are,” he says matter-of-factly, “this place is sore in need of a dusting–”

Laufeyson is interrupted by a clamour of footsteps above. You let go of the banister and sidle away as his green eyes flick to the top to the staircase. You shy away and listen as the man descends in a series of thunder thumps. You turn to peek down the hall, wanting to hide in your chores.

“Stay,” Laufeyson commands. You turn back to him as he points at your feet. You stop in place and sway. He faces his visitor as he comes to the bottom stair, “brother, what is the meaning of this intrusion?”

“Can I not come see my baby brother?” The other man; the stranger; his brother, called Thor, booms.

“You may, when you warn me of it,” Laufeyson rebuffs.

“Ah, don’t be so grim,” Thor claps his shoulders and is swiftly shrugged off, “this place is always so dark. I hope you don’t mind, I opened a few windows.”

“I do mind,” Laufeyson says, “you do always presume.”

“And you are always offer such a warm welcome,” he tries to tap Laufeyson’s cheek but is batted away. The dark of the brothers backs up with a scoff. “Ah, and there she is. I was only just coming to find the little maid. She rushed off so suddenly–”

“You don’t need to bother with her,” Laufeyson dismissed with a slice of his hand through the air, “maid,” he points at you again, “back to work.”

You lean back on your heel, ready to disappear.

“Ah, don’t be so rude, brother. She is sweet. You get more bees with honey–”

“Do not tell me how to run my house,” Laufeyson growls, an edge in his voice you’ve never heard before. Dangerous and dark.

“Is she not doing you a service? A please would be appropriate–”

“You are not mother. I don’t need you to mind my manners,” Laufeyson girds and nears his brother, unflinching even as he comes up a few inches short of chest to chest, “nor do you need to worry for my staff. She does not take orders from you.”

“And I suppose that’s all she gets from you,” Thor chuckles.

You furrow your brow, stunned by their spat. You’re not quite sure what that last bit meant. You work for Mr. Laufeyson so of course he would tell you what to do. And why are they so volatile? They’re brothers. You don’t have any siblings but you always wanted one. So that you had a friend. So you weren’t alone. 

“Maid, go,” Laufeyson repeats, “now.”

Your eyes widen and you nod. You quickly turn and rush down the hall to the closet. You’re shaking as you try to sort out one phone from the other and find the old list of tasks. You can hardly steady your hands to get a pair of gloves on.

You take your time in the back of the house as you hear the men’s footfalls climb the staircase. You let your nerves settle just a little. You’re alone, for now, and your mission is simple. Clean and stay unseen.

[becdecorbin]

TRAUM process

or how I bring these heckin comics in front of your eyeballs. some folks seem to be under the mistaken impression that I draw comics every day and then upload them, which isn't the case at all! I draw them one chapter at a time and then schedule the uploads.

more detailed breakdown under the cut.

1: thumbnails.

the Comic Book Thumbnail Template by BrianAtkins is one I use, the guidelines on the edges are very helpful.

I make thumbnails one chapter a time, each seems to have gotten longer and longer over time. at times I find pacing issues and add extra pages or don't like the direction the story is taking which is when I scrap the thumbnails I've done. this is basically also the stage where the story evolves since I only have a rough idea of what I want to do as well as ideas I've jotted down, no scripts or anything.

2: comic file.

the comic page template has a lot of helpful features. I don't know if Clip Studio Paint Pro has these features, but EX certainly does, and it's very practical with maintaining a certain workflow, being able to view all the pages in a file and jump between them with ease.

3: work on the pages. lol

I blow up the thumbnails to double as sketches, unless whatever I intend to draw is more complex, in which case I make a separate sketch. next, I add panels.

I add text + draw speech bubbles around the text.

inks.

grey tones to add more definition, background details, shadows, etc.

and when I'm done with all the pages in a chapter (Chapter 3 has 96 pages total, phew), and formatting individual pages for web, I proceed to...

4: upload the pages.

I upload all the pages on ComicFury and then schedule them to upload on specific dates. the updates are automated, but I manually share said updates on social media sites.

5: time for a break.

I take a break from working on comics for a month or two to recover. I know after I finished and uploaded chapter 4 I felt super burned out. but I'm already eager to continue working on more comics! I'll just have to see after this break. after Traum story 1 concludes I'm pretty sure there won't be anymore comics until January, but it's possible I'll eat my words.

so yeah!

Questions nobody asked but I'm answering anyway:

Why two pages a day?

idk. I felt that since the pages have 3+ panels on average, just one page a day would feel a little too dripfeed-y.

Why not release the whole thing at once?

I like maintaining intrigue! plus, I like having something to look forward to as well! I schedule the pages to be at 9:30 in the morning specifically for my sake, originally the pages came out at midnight sharp which didn't do much good for my sleep schedule.

I'm going to be demanding over a comic I can read on the internet for free.

please don't.

also slightly edited version on comicfury.

[insecateur]

do you have any tips on where and/or how to make blinkies? i want to learn how to make them but don't know how. have a good day btw :3

hiiii i will do my best to give tips!! o7

first of all if you want to get a feel for blinkie making without diving in directly i recommend using a site like blinkies.cafe which lets you just add text to premade blinkie templates! i think it's a good way to get an eye for the blinkies "aesthetic" especially regarding the actual blinking part, the borders, all of that. and ofc the size (which for the record is traditionally 150x20px!)

if you want to actually get into Real Custom-Made Blinkies, studying ones you like up close is a great idea because it'll help you see what works and what doesn't. obviously everyone will have different design sensibilities, but that's why it's always good to take inspiration from things that you personally like!

here are things that i like, as an example:

dotted/dashed borders that blink between two colors

shadows

outlines

pixel art

keep in mind that blinking can be upsetting to the eyes for some people! i always try to not overdo it, but at the same time, they are blinkies, so it seems kind of like a waste when they don't blink at all...

traditionally, blinkies include two things: a picture, and text. they don't always! sometimes there's only a picture, and sometimes there's only text. for example, this blinkie i made of lysandre only has his card art and little hearts. this is once again going to depend on your preferences. but for the sake of explaining, let's say you want one or two simple pictures, and some text.

i find pokémon to be a pretty easy thing to make blinkies for, because you have a large panel of pixel art to choose from! for example, i made this blinkie for my blog using one of the mini scyther sprites. a lot of them are animated, too, which is fun. i can't really advise you on what program to use for animated stuff because i use really old ones LMAO but i've always had a good time using ezgif! you can just feed it your frames and use the website to put them together into an animation.

the text imo is the trickiest part. the blinkies you find on blinkies.cafe use pixelated fonts, but i've had a really hard time using them outside of that context. it's hard to get them to look good imo, especially at the small scale that blinkies end up at... so what i've been doing is making my own little pixel art alphabet. it's very fun for me and i don't think it's as difficult as it sounds, so i definitely recommend it because it gives you a lot more flexibility imo. i handdrew the text for all of my PSS blinkies, as well as the aforementioned scyther one, and this trans rights one. i actually have the trans rights and PSS alphabets completed and saved in a file for later use in case i need them, lmao:

you can see what the process is like: i make a rectangle, draw one letter, and then copy the rectangle to draw the other ones at the same size and in the same style. it's very, um, vibe-based, i guess? you just have to figure out what looks good for your Vision. but i find it super fun... so it's easy for me to do, i guess...

if you want to see the scyther blinkies text closer up, here it is at 500% size:

uncapitalized letters are more difficult than capitalized letters imo, but i think i did an ok job! maybe i'll make a full alphabet for that one too at some point, lmao. for the "tumblr" text i just copied the style of the logo (hopefully that comes through...)

i'm not sure what else to say, so feel free to ask more specific questions if you'd like! i think a lot of the other stuff is more general art/graphics advice, like color theory and the likes, which i'm not sure is worth going over LOL. but as a parting note, i'd definitely suggest not going overboard on the color palette. blinkies are pretty small at their default size, and too many colors will make them really hard to look at, let alone understand. in general, keep in mind the final size when working on something like blinkies, and make sure to zoom out periodically to double check you've got something readable!

and don't forget to have fun 👍👍👍

[yakumtsaki]

Welcome, everyone, to Unions In College: Targaryen edition! That's right, all my fears about the distant cousin dating situation are about to come true and as a sign of things to come, I originally started this update last weekend and then got food poisoning in the middle of it. We've finally reached the point where the Unions are making me actually vomit and not metaphorically! Because of the new pic limit, this is part 1 of the update and I'll post part 2 right after.

We have arrived at La Fiesta and everyone looks simply amazing, especially Barth in his cowboy look. As Felina and Meadow (Fedow??) immediately reconnect, we are greeted by some #MajorDormieDrama:

Apparently a love triangle between Purple Hair Glasses, Awesomely Dressed Raver Dude and Former Blue Dog Shirt has formed right under my nose! It's so moving to see how between Gunther, Cyn and Sophito, we have used and discarded all 3 of these people multiple times over each generation❤️

-Screw you, Former Blue Dog Shirt, I gave you my precious dormie heart and this is how you repay me?? -I'm sorry, Purple Hair Glasses, it's just that we know each other so well that things got stale!

Seriously when did you dormie losers even find the time to develop relationships?? Last few gens we've been staying at the dorms for about 20 seconds each run like wtf.

ANYWAY, let me go give the kids makeovers and definitely not deal with something that will make me think my hood is corrupted and cause me to have a mild heart attack!

CLAIRE WTF ARE YOU DOING HERE

-There's some empty rooms so I'm moving in!

WHAT. YOU'RE LIKE 60YO

-Once a dormie always a dormie! Lakshmi is coming too!

WHAT

-Hi Mom! -Hi sweetie, I'm here to relive my youth!

I don't have any pics after this as I was FREAKING TF OUT. After Claire, Laksmhi aka Blue Meatballs aka ANOTHER 60 YO FORMER DORMIE WHOSE KID IS ATTENDING COLLEGE ALSO MOVED IN. I'm pretty sure if the dorm wasn't at capacity Stacy was also gonna move in, WTF.

Mercifully I resolved this shit by going to the main hood and having everyone's elder birthdays, they were only a few days away anyway, and once they turned into elders they fucked off and new dormies moved in. I think it was some unintended consequence of the no dormie regen mod??? No idea but it was SCARY.

Moving on, I was worried whether Fedow's teen romance was gonna translate to college but I legit didn't even have time to give them makeovers, it's straight to Daniel's old room where all the CC is missing!

-Can you please read the undecorated room and fuck off?

Yes yes, let me catch up with the rest of our beloved dormies..

Oh look, a newly-generated dormie is here, ok, we are safe from the crazed geriatrics!

-Hiiii I'm your new age-appropriate dormie friend :)

-As am I!

I'm so happy to see you guys I'm not even gonna comment on the fact you're both Don clones, will this face template ever stop haunting me?? Well whatever, looks like no dormie marriages for us for a while..

-WHAT?!?!

Omg Miss Havisham I didn't see you there in your bridal veil and underwear, of course we'll marry you!

-Really? You mean it??

Let's move on!

Aww, Fedow is back in love! Note that this happened so fast I still have not been able to give them them their makeovers. Alright Meadow, falling back in love so quickly seals it, you're marrying in!

-YAY🌞

Now it's time to gaze upon your LTW panel and see what awaits me and I'm certain it won't shake me to my very core!

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

AHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

MEADOW WHAT THE FUCK

Frankly I don't even feel bad for myself, this is what I deserve for violating the 'no family aspiration spouses' rule I instituted after Wyatt. So to recap, Felina wants 3 top-carreer kids and Meadow wants 6 married off ones!! Fml!!!

-You know, Spice, the more I look at your nose the more I think you should invest in a good, wide-brim hat like your father. -The more I look at Meadow's LTW I think you should invest in some birth control.

VERY TRUE. Ok Felina, please fuck off so I can introduce the cousins.

-You're not gonna introduce ME?!

Ya I think people know both you and Bartholomew all too well if anything!

We begin with Spice, Sugar and Claire's shockingly good-looking-until-you-look-at-him-from-the-side-and-see-the-Don-nose son. I gotta give it to Claire's gene's, they put up a heroic fight.

Neat: 10 Outgoing: 6 Active: 10 Playful: 3 Nice: 5 Aspiration: Knowledge  Secondary Aspiration: Fortune One True Hobby: Science LTW: Become Game Designer Major: Art

Introducing this generation's punching bag aka Reginald and Half-Alien-Prof's son, Britannicus. Here he is being hit in the face by a baseball thrown by Barth.

Neat: 9 Outgoing: 9 Active: 7 Playful: 5 Nice: 3 Aspiration: Fortune Secondary Aspiration: Popularity One True Hobby: Fitness LTW: Become Hall of Famer Major: Poli-sci

Julian and Stacy's daughter, Sunsent, whomst we've already met and I LOVE, I'm obsessed with her face.

Neat: 8 Outgoing: 8 Active: 1 Playful: 5 Nice: 7 Aspiration: Popularity  Secondary Aspiration: Pleasure One True Hobby: Cuisine LTW: Become Icon Major: Drama

Meadow, whose teen outfit I actually sat down and converted to adult because none of the existing conversions of this iconic outfit were accurate enough for me!

Neat: 4 Outgoing: 4 Active: 4 Playful: 7 Nice: 6 Aspiration: Family Secondary Aspiration: Pleasure One True Hobby: Nature LTW: Not gonna type it Major: Art

Last but certainly not least, June and Blue Meatball's daughter, Cyan, who is a super nice FREAK just like her mommy. She also has one of the iconic @lamare-sims custom LTWs, make 10k playing poker, I had a lot of fun giving her a stereotypical poker pro makeover huhu

Neat: 9 Outgoing: 3 Active: 8 Playful: 4 Nice: 10 Aspiration: Pleasure Secondary Aspiration: Fortune One True Hobby: Tinkering (she's a Tinker-Union, awww) LTW: Make 10k Playing Poker Major: Math

Cousins aren't the only thing we brought to college with us, as someone also brought over this FUCKING COLD that's been ravaging the neighborhood this entire generation.

I've been tracing this thing and I'm pretty sure it originated in Claire's household where fucking Wilfred came home from work sick and he passed it to Spice, then Spice came over to visit his bum dad Sugar, passed it to the main house, then Sunset came over from school with Barth, got it from the main house and passed it to the June/Julian/Blue Meatballs/Stacy household who then passed it to Daniel's household. So basically the only unaffected house is Gunther and Melody! That's why never seeing your kids is the right call.

We spend our first night skilling as everyone this generation is a complete moron with no skill points. I had both Barth and Felina choose the psychology major as I feel they will need those skills (for vastly different reasons) given their LTW's and Barth wastes no time putting his new charisma skill point to good use!

-YOU SICKEN ME, DON-FACED FUGGO. NOW GO ON A DATE WITH ME

Bro I can't. This is the first LTW so far where I actually feel like I CAN'T DO IT. How tf am I gonna convince 20 sims to sleep with this freakshow?!?!

-Did someone say chin filler??

NO I DID NOT, GUNNAR, GET OUT OF HERE, I'M NOT THAT DESPERATE

-Wooo mama, he can Roque my Gunnar if you know what I mean!!

ABSOLUTELY NOT. We've made some questionable choices in this legacy but Gunnar Roque is where I draw the line, that chin is not entering our gene pool.

-I'm not saying I'll marry him!

OH PLEASE BARTH BE FOR FUCKING REAL. It's been 5 generations of this bullshit, we all know if I let you date him you'll be rejecting every sim and forcing me to marry you to the ugliest and creepiest option. NOT HAPPENING

-Don't worry, Gunnar, I will fight for us!!! -That's fire bro, let me know, I'm around. Peace. -Oh God, we're a match made in heaven! How can you stand in the way of true love??

What? Sorry I spaced out, I seriously can't believe this comparison between your chins. God.

-JUST BECAUSE I'M FIGHTING FOR GUNNAR DOESN'T MEAN I WON'T ALSO FIGHT YOU, BITCH! SNEAK ATTACK! -SAVE ME, MEADOW!

-Lalala, painting pretty pictures for one of my six nurseries🎵☀️

Meadow, I'm getting a distinct feeling that you might turn out to be my worst nightmare??

Anyway, time to invite over placeholder Jimmy Phoenix so we can start the arduous process of getting into our Greek House, Britannicus is up first-

-AND WE DISCOVER HE MIGHT HAVE SOME GUNTHER BLOOD IN HIM AFTER ALL LOL. THIS WAS LITERALLY HIS FIRST INTERACTION WITH HIM, GO BRIT

Boy, that escalated quickly and I think we have Sophito to thank for it. He dumped Jimmy and then forced him to stick around and watch him bang the entire campus, making him desperate enough to go for Britannicus! Family truly means helping each other out❤️

Jimmy lingered here after Britannicus got in in record time, so I seized the opportunity to have everyone befriend him so we can leave this dump asap and move to our own dump.

-So, Jimmy, I'm a pleasure aspiration and if I were to get into the house I'd be constantly throwing parties and inviting all my family! ALL my family, like my uncle Sophito! -Nice try, Cyan, but you're way too late! 10 minutes too late, to be exact, since that's how long I've been an incredibly serious relationship with Britannicus!!

-BRITANNICUUUUUUUUUUUS... THE STARS SHINE UPON YOUR NAME -Oh my.

JIMMY. REIN IT IN, FAM

-I will not!

-So ya, that time with Sophito doesn't count so I can't wait to have my very first woohoo with my lover, Britannicus! -That's great, can I please join the Greek House now? -Oh is that why I'm here? Sure you can!

Alright flops, pack it up, time to fuck off to the Greek House.

-LOVE HAS MADE YOU SOFT, FAILINA -THAT'S A PROBLEM YOU'LL NEVER HAVE, VIRGIN

See you in part 2!

[fans4wga]

Hi, I'm interested in organizing my fandom. Can you throw me some templates?

Absolutely yes! Some things have changed in recent weeks, so the top advice we can give you is to be flexible and adapt as you can. The needs of the picketers might change, so keep an eye on the news and the official WGA and SAG-AFTRA channels. Twitter is a good place to follow the union members on strike.

Also, don't feel the need to rush: there is plenty of time to build up a good foundation by talking to people in your fandom and testing the waters to see what people are prepared to do. Some fandoms just have more financial capability than others for whatever demographic reasons, or have more pro-union sentiment in the community. While you can't push anyone to do anything they're unwilling to do, you can find out what's possible and encourage interested people to get involved.

The next best advice we can give you is that this will require logistical skills; therefore, if possible, collect a small moderator team of trusted, responsible fandom friends with organization skills so it's not just you going at it alone. 3 people is probably adequate to start with, more if your organization expands.

I do recommend fandom organizers be at least somewhat active on both Twitter and Tumblr. That way, you can size up the big fandom accounts and figure out the best way to get the word out to your fandom on both sites. (If you have a mod team, you could even just have one person be your official Twitter liaison.)

Here are 3 methods to organize your fandom, and this applies to any fandom, so feel free to share this to whatever fandom group you want to get organized. Pick whichever method seems most feasible for your fandom, and go for it!

Method 1: Mod team assigns volunteers to shifts

Pros: very grassroots and non-hierarchical, can lead to the most consistent fandom support across time

Con: hardest to wrangle, and potentially more difficult for the shift-by-shift volunteers especially if individuals are difficult to reach online

Examples: The Star Trek Snack Squad, the OFMD Snackery

Claire Willett @/clairewillett on Twitter started the Star Trek Snack Squad back in the early days of the strike to get Star Trek fans organized. That's still a solid template to use, but will definitely require modifications. Link here (please make a copy to your own Google account/a throwaway if you'll be making it public and want to protect your identity)

How it works:

-You, the moderator, pick a specific picket location (all locations listed here) to target for delivery. (Since Stranger Things is a Netflix show, targeting Netflix makes sense; however, Netflix is already a very popular target location so maybe the other locations could use some love? I'll leave that to your discretion!)

-Moderators put out a call for volunteers. Make graphics, create a hashtag or catchy name, and get it boosted across the fandom as much as possible. Volunteers will then sign up (via an ask or a Google form, up to you—just make sure you keep track of who's volunteered and their Tumblr or Twitter username that must be open to DMs so people can talk to other people in their group.)

-Moderators organize 3-5 volunteers to a shift (morning or afternoon) on a specific date. It is then up to these volunteers to get talking and for one member to place a DoorDash/UberEats snacks/drinks order for delivery to the picket lines by pooling whatever money they can via Venmo or Paypal (the only international option). From $5 to $50, anything helps: it could be a case of Lacroix, it could be a whole meal for picketers. More instructions and ideas in the template.

-The template can be updated with new shifts until you run out of volunteers.

-If this method is a little overwhelming, fear not, there are other options!

Method 2: Single fundraiser on GoFundMe or PayPal Pools

Pros: Single place for money to go, very easy to set up and organize

Cons: Runs out of steam the fastest as a large monetary goal can seem daunting; money all goes to one place so there has to be a lot of transparency from the fundraiser.

Examples: Julie and the Phantoms hot dogs fundraiser, Lord of the Rings second breakfast (from SAG-AFTRA member Chelsea Schwartz's Ko-Fi); Our Flag Means Strike Paypal pool.

This is your basic fundraiser, which means the mods will have to decide how exactly the money will be used and how to have as much transparency as possible. Sometimes you're fundraising for a specific goal (taco truck at Amazon Studios, for instance). Sometimes you're pooling money to give to the Entertainment Community Fund. If you're looking for food truck options and don't know where to start, you can always reach out to people who have done the OFMD pooling here! From what I've seen, a food truck will generally cost around $3000 for a day, so plan accordingly.

[One possible fundraiser I haven't seen but would love to see is fandoms giving support to the Green Envelope Grocery Fund, which gives out $100 to people affected by the strikes specifically for groceries! So that's definitely an option as well.]

Method 3: Fandom auction for donations

If you're in a fandom that has any big-name writers/artists willing to chip in, you could organize an auction for commissions, with the proceeds going to the Entertainment Community Fund, the Green Envelope Grocery Fund or another WGA/SAG-AFTRA-related fund. As with the above, you'd need to be transparent as to where the money is going.

---

A final note: Organizing any kind of action from scratch is hard, but thankfully people have walked this road before. You can always contact us, or the people at any of the above linked groups, with questions or advice.

It may also be helpful to remember that lots of people have done this before successfully. During the 2007-08 writers strike, the Battlestar Galactica and Whedonverse fandoms were instrumental in showing fan support for the WGA strike. (More on that here!)

Best of luck and feel free to shoot us any more organizing questions! Solidarity always.

[choicesmonthlychallenge]

July 24th is National and International Private Investigator day!

About: Since Crimes of Passion II is currently releasing and our MC is a private detective, I thought this could be a great day to celebrate the book and our detectives with @choicesbookclub. However, mysteries are a part of many Choices stories, making our MCs and fave characters private detectives even if unofficially, so this event is now OPEN TO ALL CHOICES BOOKS and characters

How to Participate:

Shadows & Deceptions: A Royal Murder Mystery + Giveaway with @bayleedrawsx

This is a very open to interpretation event as long as your submission has something do with a mystery, being an investigator, solving a crime, and/or something of that nature it's perfect. You probably have better ideas than I do about how to use this event in your stories/worlds! (Some prompts/ideas to think about below)

* Just tag the blog and I'll share your work: @choicesmonthlychallenge.

* If you are creating for COP, you may also share with @choicesbookclub

I proposed a murder mystery crossover story [here]. In my head it was going to be short and more like a puzzle for you to solve—like, here is the setting, here are the characters, this is the crime, here are the suspects, and this is what happened. When I posted about it initially it was about 1,000 words total. It kind of turned into a full fan fic story at about 5,500 words. I still am posting it as part of the event, but I'll be doing it on my personal blog (@storyofmychoices) since the story and this event kind of got away from me. I still hope it's good and you'll enjoy it!

It will still be posted in smaller sections over the 4 days of this event to give people time to read and hypothesis what happened and who is responsible

Some ideas to get you started

As mentioned initially, there is still a GIVEAWAY!!! (since in my head the first person to solve the mystery would "win"!) @bayleedrawsx has agreed to assist with the giveaway but now you don't have to correctly solve the mystery (especially since the ending has a twist now), you just have to enjoy the ride. Any one who comments on or reblogs with a comment with their theories, thoughts, ideas, ect. will be entered in the giveaway. You can get 1 entry for each part of the story you interact with. (Likes and reblogs without comments do not count).

There will be 3 winners: 1 (one) winner will get a 2 character minimalist commission with Baylee and 2 (two) seperate winners will get a 1 character minimalst commission with Baylee.

create a dossier for one of your characters [Template Here]

create a business card, social media edit, advertisement for your detective (whether they are official or it's just a hobby)

create a detective/investigation fic, moodboard, edit, etc.

create a crossover event [some ideas here]

explore the every day mysteries your character might investigate (friend's secret crush/relationship, who ate the last cookie, trying to find the missing items (sock, shoes, pen, keys, glasses, etc), tracking down a secret recipe)

are any of your MCs, OCs, and/or LIs addicted to the Hallmark Movies and Mysteries channel? If so, what's their guilty pleasure?

did mysteries or detective stories play a role in your MCs / OCs lives when they were children (or later)? Did they ever play pretend? Did they have a favorite author?

create a newspaper/magazine edit/article about a mystery in your characters world and how it was solved (maybe it's a real case, or maybe it's a medical case, or something else)

find a detective/investigation/mystery story to use as a basis for @choicesprompts 's Rewrite Challenge

Guidelines

All creative work is accepted (writing, text fics, social media posts, moodboards, edits, art, songs, head canons, etc)

Use the read more/keep reading tool to prevent long posts

Please tag anything that is NSFW and/or triggering appropriately

Minors, please be responsible and DNI with posts labeled 18+/NSFW

You can combine your submission for this event with the Book Club if it is COP related and with any other events happening in the fandom.

have fun

be kind

This event is kind of a hot mess and I apologize! I really don't know what I thought I was doing lol

Got ideas, prompts, suggestions? Please LMK!

All thoughts and additions welcome!

[glitchpirate]

It's 2023 and I'm still using the same template now 7 years in a row! Yippeee!

This year I decided to ramble about each artwork presented so uh. Storytime! Under the cut.

(Also usual reminder that now I have a GW2 side blog so that's where I'll upload GW2 artworks from now on -> @glitchgw2 (except the zine piece because I entered the zine with this blog))

January: I was going through a bit of an artblock, most of the things I drew this month were traced. One of the only things not traced was this Anassy! "Ah, etto... bleh!" I said after tracing the 5th drawing I saw on the internet.

February: a commission! Long overdue, but I finally finished it. Sylvaries are always tough to render. >.< The other things I drew this month were art party doodles and personal stuff.

March: one of the two months where the featured piece is the only thing I "finished" that month. And last minute, too! Made for trans visibility day which was on the very last day of March.

April: due to several things, Tyria Pride 2022's art commission giveaways got delayed to 2023. This was my piece for the person I was assigned to! ^_^ This was fun, I found out some new ways to render sylvari hair...

May: I vividly remember seeing a Diavolo art with this same reference and I was like hey. I could do this too but with Lucien. How haven't I done this before. P.S.: he's actually nothing like Bateman but it's a sick cover anyway lol. Mmm knife...

June: it was a sick (as in like epic) month for me. I reworked Dawn and Incendere (my Ghost OC), welcomed my unhinged self and drew a lot of nsfw. But not good nor holy enough to share. :P But it was a nice practice anyway. I chose one drawing of Dawn because out of everything I drew it looks the most "clean" and finished.

July: I remembered My Life as a Teenage Robot as I do tri-monthly and almost made an AU for Lucien. Almost. So instead I just made whatever this is. This was one of the most fun pieces I've ever did, I finally feel comfortable lining in CSP and just in general this was super shapey and smooth to work on. <3

August: Tyria Pride giveaway commission but this time, in time! I got to work on a lovely charr which I don't do often! My other choices would have been a cropped nsfw commission but I lowkey like this one better.

September: the other month where I didn't draw anything but this. Had a banger idea for Gliaster's future which is them becoming a lich but also being corrupted by malignant powers so they're now even more evil and also driven by vengeance towards the Commander and Aurene. Tried to come up with a design for them, alas this piece. It's... very in progress. But I like said progress so far.

October: the opportunity for an art related full-time job came up which meant I had to up my portfolio and draw some realistic/semi-realistic studies. I was surprised by myself lmao but ngl it was also a big pain in the ass. Art is suffering. <3

November: the continuation of October but now with an original piece! Felt like drawing one of my best friend's GW2 characters. <3 Haven't uploaded this one yet as I might rework the background sometime.

December: and finally, my piece for Commander Of Your Heart GW2 zine! Which wasn't actually restricted to only Commander characters, but any other OCs/player characters too, so of course I chose Gliaster. :D And we can apparently show teasers, so I can include this little bit! But what is Gliaster up to? Find out in February, for free!

*

Aaand that's it. It was actually super fun to look back to the year not only in pictures but some words too. :D If you read this all, I appreciate you, thank you so much. <3

[steelthroat]

For the fandom ask game, if you've time with the portfolio ongoing...

10. What's your favourite piece of fanart for Soundwave?

13. What's a character or ship you haven't written/drawn yet but would like to some day?

22. Give us a headcanon for Megatron/Jazz. (the template specified a single character, so go for either one of them individually if you prefer...)

Heyyy! Yeah just finished drawing for the day because my eyes were begging me for a break.

10;

So... uh it's hard. And i can't choose one

Everything @chamm0y does Soundwave related is like a gift from the gods. Oh, then there was this incredible humanformer/knight(?) Piece by Sarah Stone. My god. Beautiful. There are a couple of artist on Twitter, and I can not for the life of me remember their username aaaaah. If i find them, I'll dm them to you. Ohhh, and a couple of echo garden fanarts were stuck in my mind for ages. I swear. The artists went crazy for that one! Also, the fanarts by @/darlsdraws and @/aldecaver, too.

14:

answered this one but I can do jt again because there are many things I want to write.

For the characters, I want to write Springer, Impactor, and mh also I have a little whimsical idea for Octane >:3

Speaking of ships... uhhhhhh Astrotrain/Blitzwing please they do things to me, they can make each others worse!!!!! They're perfect.

And skywarp/EVERYONE because pookie deserves it :)

Oh and I was also thinking about the elite trine/Optimus. They would bully him to death but in the end everyone has a ✨️good time✨️

And idk I wanna try so many more ships

22:

Okay so:

Jazz: he starts speaking Deutsch to mess with others (especially prowl) sometimes. No one knows why. (Not even I know why, one day it just hit me and I accepted this weird thought. Also I like the thought of him having a weird accent while speaking deutsch)

Megatron: second best dancer other than Soundwave within the Decepticons. I'd like to think Soundwave taught him (i always insert a little sentence that recalls this on my works lol) I think it would be cute if sometimes when they have nothing to do they have their own evenings where they dance and listen to music together as friends :3. Their cute sleepovers where no one is crazy and they just chill out :)

Megatron/Jazz: sometimes they ambush each other. They both like it because they don't know when it's gonna happen, where and what these ambush lead to... either pain or pleasure(or both) [especially if it's still wartime, sweet sweet danger]

[wisteriasakana]

Sprite template: Guildmaker7

Pink Pro Update!

The Yuri Game Jam is over, and it still feels strange to me to have submitted well in advance (Then I remembered that the deadline was pushed back by like a week, so I would have submitted just in time, but details-). Deciding to post a demo rather than the whole game turned out to be a good choice for my peace of mind.

Now, I should make a pretty and tidy (One of the two adjectives might be wrong) update, but first I want to present you a flashback from a few days ago:

---Flashback---

*Soe enters *Soe sees real money *Soe implodes *Soe waits a couple of days to see if it was a misclick - Yes, even the confirmation one *Soe realizes *Soe implodes again *Soe's mass is not enough to generate a gravitational collapse, so there's no black hole but just an amazed fish

Person who decided to offer me a hot chocolate, thank you. I still find it hard to believe, but I thank you very much! °˖✧◝(⁰▿⁰)◜✧˖°

---Flashback End---

So, it was said. Pink Pro. The update, yes.

Changes and additions

Since I have more time and can do things more slowly, I decided to fix a few things that I wasn't sure about.

For example, Sus's house. You can't visit it in the demo, and in a second time I'll show you a "before-after", but trust me when I say that the first version was absolutely plain and uninspiring - It's even more comical when you consider that it's reiterated how rich Sus is and how her house is ridiculously big. Now I am much more satisfied! It's certainly not the most beautiful map I've ever made, but I find it does its honest job much better than the previous one.

Among other differently useful things I decided to add there is the change of NPCs inside the Pink Jewel and the Magnolia Jane after some time.

Given that time is actually passing (I mean, something is likely to happen in the evening, right?), it seemed silly to me for the customers to be walking around the shops for 12 hours.

It doesn't impact the plot at all, but I think it gives the setting a bit more three-dimensionality.

(Yes, I also entertained the idea of changing customers with each finished order, but my imagination for NPC dialogue is very poor, I don't want to suffer).

Characters' expressions

When I made the expressions, I got a bit carried away, so now Chantal has many more than I had planned. However, this means that I didn't do some expressions that I should have done and that I came up with others-

According to my fantastic to-do list, the expressions that are missing are: 4 for Chantal, 2 for Janet (Yes, Janet has more than two expressions!), 1 for Margrit, 3 for Kenicea and Silsdia, 2 for Saster, Byma and Nicopte (Yes, she also has expressions!), 4 for Sus, Zora and Deilela. The last three might have one less, depending on how they look best.

My relationship with doing expressions is: sometimes, I get on and do them all in less than an hour, without any problem. Other times, for reasons unknown, I spend an hour doing one, which also turns out ugly.

In this case, however, it is not a matter of procrastination - I often literally just forget to do them. (๑꒪▿꒪)*

Other ideas

Since I have more time, I was thinking about adding another, simpler CG - Just coloured lineart on a unicolour background.

On the other hand, I decided to scrap a small idea I had planned to do if I had more time / for a possible update: Chantal's sweets designs.

I would like to show off her "eye-catching" style more concretely, but when I tried to draw them, I realized that was definitely not the case (Let's say, like, no one in the world would have realized that the Île flottante was an Île flottante and not an ugly sponge).

The options, then, are three:

One day I'll be able to draw better and I'll put pretty pictures for all the recipes;

One day I'll go begging for people who can draw pretty food;

Imagination is a wonderful gift, imagine these beautiful recipes in your mind ♡♡♡

Cutscenes

As for the cutscenes, however, I am exactly halfway through, at the third order. I therefore have to finish the third order, do the fourth and fifth, the final climax and the epilogue.

To reassure you, as already mentioned, in the midst of all this there are also Important Scenes, and those have all been done.

And that's it for Pink Pro!

Yes, of course, it's because I'm also working on something else - I can't concentrate on the same thing for more than two days in a row if I don't have at least one side project.

I'll talk about that, though, in the next few days - The devlog on Candy Apple has become the devlog on Candy Apple and Red Riding Hood and the Little Bad Wolf, just as the projects on Three Yellow Quartzes will need a separate devlog.

Thanks for listening, and see you next time!

[sarandipitywrites]

Writeblr Interview Tag

@cowboybrunch tagged me for this - thank you! Go read her responses here

Tagging @breath-of-eternity, @darkangel319, @kingragnarok-writes, @ryns-ramblings, @wildswrites, and an open tag for anyone who wants to answer! Copy/pasteable template's under the cut.

Short stories, novels, or poems?

Novels, both to read and write. I just don't tend to seek out short stories or poetry to read, for whatever reason (legitimately don't know why - I enjoy it when I do read it?), and whenever I try to write something a bit shorter, it quickly becomes... not shorter.

What genre do you prefer reading?

I'll read most genres, but it seems like I usually end up reading speculative fiction/sci fi/fantasy.

Are you a planner or a write as I go kind of person?

Planner - I usually want at least a rough outline of a scene before I start writing. I find that breaking the writing up into two steps takes the pressure off of the actual 'writing' part and lets me focus more on prose/characterization/the fun shit because Past Saran already did the hard part :P

What music do you listen to while writing?

Ambient music/sounds that 'fit' what I'm writing, lately with binauaral beats layered under it. Nothing with words. Words going in ears = no words coming out of fingers

Favorite books/movies?

Books? LOTS. No Gods, No Monsters; Frankenstein; The Heart Principle; Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe; On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous; No Longer Human; etc etc etc Movies? Spirited Away.

Any current WIPs?

Spark Signature (high fantasy sci fi heist thriller; most current WIP; I am presently being very annoying about it) The Art of Empty Space (fantasy/paranormal mystery romance; WIP intro is no longer accurate; on hold because it has mutated beyond my control and I am slightly afraid of it) Dead Roots, Dark Water (dystopian fantasy adventure; Jak & Daxter fanfiction; currently on final draft and being updated weekly) Ambition is a Lonely Tower (paranormal mystery thriler; literally have not worked on this since I started posting writeblr stuff so it doesn't have a WIP intro but I am not giving up on this damn it)

Create a character description of yourself: 

Constantly messing with something (hair, face, nails, the springy cat toy in the pocket of every single one of their jackets); gets anxious when they don't have earbuds or earplugs available; sits like a pretzel; forgets everything within 5 minutes if they don't write it down; avoids wearing "real people clothes" where possible; when forced to go outside, wears a t-shirt, baggy jeans, combat boots, and a jacket

Do you like incorporating actual people you know into your writing?

Technically no? I use pieces from actual people I know, for sure, but there's no one character who's 'basically x.' Now it sounds like I'm over here sewing together chimera characters from people I know, oof

Are you kill happy with your characters?

Depends on the story, I guess. Nobody's died (yet) in AES. Murder's kind of a whole Thing in Spark. And DRDW... uh. Let's not talk about that one (sorry, half of my OCs).

Coffee or Tea while writing?

Coffee in the morning, tea in the evening.

Slow or fast writer?

All or nothing! It really depends on: 1. whether or not I have an outline (scene-level outline = words go fast) 2. my headspace (Sludge Brain day = no words. Fuck your outline)

If you were in a fantasy world, what would you be?

I'd get eaten by a demonic chicken or some shit within like five minutes. Assuming I didn't have a horribly quick and embarrassing death, I'd like to be an alchemist or something like that. Give people those Good Plants

Most fav book cliche:

Enemies to lovers/friends, or friends to enemies, or really any big shift in relationship dynamic. Do that well and I love you and your characters forever

Least favorite cliche:

The 'if only they would talk to each other' thing - if one conversation that the characters are fully capable of having (but won't) is the only reason for the conflict, I'm out. Especially if there's no good reason for them to be avoiding the conversation. I'm not sure if this is even a cliche, but it's what I thought of :D

Favorite scene to write?

I love writing 'calm' scenes with tension just under the surface. And any scene that lets me fuck with perception/senses. Love it when a scene isn't straightforward

Reason for writing?

Lots of reasons! It's by far the thing I get the most satisfaction and enjoyment from; I get to write (and therefore read) the stories I want/need to read; free therapy supplement; I have lots of thoughts and ideas and little guys in my head and giving it all somewhere to go helps my brain be a lot quieter (it's still pretty noisy in there though, not gonna lie)

Short stories, novels, or poems?

What genre do you prefer reading?

Are you a planner or a write as I go kind of person?

What music do you listen to while writing?

Favorite books/movies?

Any current WIPs?

Create a character description of yourself: 

Do you like incorporating actual people you know into your writing?

Are you kill happy with your characters?

Coffee or Tea while writing?

Slow or fast writer?

If you were in a fantasy world, what would you be?

Most fav book cliche:

Least favorite cliche:

Favorite scene to write?

Reason for writing?

[real-odark]

hi! i have a question, have you experienced an art block? if so, is there any way you got out of it and just... started drawing? i've been suffering from an art block for i think *checks notes* 6 years now... uhhh... how did you find your style too?

HELLO ANON!! i yap so im gunna put my response under the cut but i hope my ?!! babbling ?!!??! helps

to answer your question yes i most definitely Have experienced art block..... very frequently between months i'll have chunks of time where its literally impossible for me to feel like anything i'm doing is good or even have motivation to draw and its a NIGHTMARE <\33

usually when this happens to me to work out of it i like to start by doodling ideas i have as much as i possibly can (especially little jokes between characters i made/like) and then slowly work my way up from like a bajillion little cartoon simple doodles into a slightly more complicated style and then usually i can work myself back in to doing some bigger pieces !! (even though i dont do thoughs that much even out of art block lmao but u get the idea,,)

and. well HOLY MOLY. i cannot say i have had an art block as long as u before my fine sir Holy bejeezus...,...

but i'd say to help develop your style i know everyone says this but its true, FIND INSPIRATION!!! (this is to help with your style and motivation because inspiration does NUMBERS for me it actually gets juices flowing instead of just forcing my brain to come up with something just cuz its "original", hell yeah draw that meme template if u wanna if it gives u inspiration worms... OK back to style now my bad)

finding other peoples art styles i like and breaking down what i like about them has helped me with making my own art SIGNFICANTLY and i still do very often, so thats why my art style changes a lot very frequently 😭

and dont tell anyone i encourage this but i totally take features i like from artists whose styles give me the brainworms. LIKE OBVIOUSLY IM NOT TRACING but what has helped me so much over the years is trying out different styles, like. a mix and match sort of??? i completely learned how i draw hair from a tiktoker i used to watch like 6/5 years ago,,, and to this day a lot of people still comment on how i draw it so YA!!! i have also developed by trying different anatomy styles (like. stylized Versions) for what makes me most comfortable, and different simplicities of facial features (like detailed eyes or just. Dots. like fr go wild if u like how it looks)

but most of all remember that your art will NEVER have to be a definitive thing!!!!!! even your FAVORITE artists if u look at their art from like. 4 years ago i can guarantee you you can see how their style has developed. basically what im trying to say is dont stress about having "your own" style if you think thats like going to define your art!! YOU DEFINE YOUR ART!!!! so if u feel like changing your art literally entirely at any point. DO IT! if having a style helps you to draw though i totally encourage finding one but it Also does not hurt to try other styles as u progress in art

thank u sm for the ask it is Not every day i get to yap on here (yes it is) ((i do very frequently)) (((sorry for bombarding u with this response LMAO)))

I HOPE THIS HELPED IN SOME WAY AT ALL !!!!*AND IF NOT UHHH.:.,. maybe find someone who isnt a random teenager on this app for real advice HELP

[pine-niidles]

2024 July Monthly Update - Artfight

Another July gone by, another Artfight draws to a close. This month's update post will be primary looking at what I've made for Artfight, but first some personal updates:

I mentioned in my last post I was dealing with wrist pain but it was getting better. It got worse. The last few weeks of July I spent not moving my hands as much as I possibly could because both hands were feeling so bad. Luckily I managed to figure out the cause (I bought myself a wheeled bag to take stain off my back when grocery shopping, turns out wheeled bag + cobblestone streets = wrist destroying vibrations) and once I eliminated it my wrists started actually healing. They're feeling much better now, not fully healed but well on the way :) I'm just glad art wasn't the cause. With any luck this'll be the last monthly update this year with a 'personal circumstances' blurb at the start and I can get fully back to just making and talking about art ✨

Artfight

This year was my 8th year participating, which is kind of wild to think about. My first year was Sun vs Moon, on team moon and I drew 34 total art pieces. I don't think I've ever beat the number but I certainly got close this year having drawn 30 attacks!

I didn't have a specific plan going into artfight this year, I usually don't other than maybe a list of people I'd like to draw for. I treat artfight as a super low pressure way to experiment and draw fun designs. Not every piece comes out exactly how I want it but that's part of the fun and every year at least one artfight drawing makes it's way to my fav art that year. 

At the end of June I'd just made a template for doing these chibi icons and I was having so much fun with them I started off artfight doing a bunch of them for attacks:

I think they turned out super cute but they look a little awkward side by side due to the different dimensions of each one. I've yet to find a good way to display batches of them 😔

The first bigger drawing I did was of a character I found in my bookmarks and I love how it turned out:

It was the perfect piece to break the last shackles of my artblock away and drawing it felt smooth as butter. I didn't really do anything similar the rest of the month but there's several points on how I lined and colored this one that I'm keeping in mind to experiment more with in the future. 

After the first piece I was feeling in a more environmental mood and freehanded these two attacks featuring characters in funky landscapes.

My wrists were still feeling pretty iffy at this point so the lines for both of these were a very loose first pass over a rough sketch but to be honest I don't think anyone would notice unless I pointed it out. 

I really thought I'd do more in this style but 🤷‍♂️ it ended up not happening. Maybe I'll do something with some ocs soon

The last three attacks I got out before my wrists got too bad to draw I did all in the same day

These two characters were exactly my type & I love to draw chibis on some kind of environmental base or prop so I wanted to do something with that this artfight as well. I think they turned out pretty cute!

Another one with a base, this time more like a character standee that I love to give dnd characters. Physical character models moving around on a map is one of my favorite tactile experiences of tabletop games.

The last one I did before I had to take a couple week pause - I wanted to experiment around with linework specifically and while there's a lot I like about this drawing there's several things I had to rush or simplify because of my wrists and overall it didn't end up being the strongest piece. Ah well, that's how it sometimes.

The day after I did these I went grochery shopping again and then my wrists really gave out. I didn't draw anything for artfight from the 12th until the 29th when my hands were finally starting to feel good enough to try and do just a few last drawings before the end.

I started off simple with some blocky chibis with saturated lineart. I'd played with colorful lines in the past but I never ended up liking because having all the lineart be one bright color always felt too much and too distracting. However, earlier this month I saw this gorgeous attack by ebelcities which made my realize the extremely pointless arbitrary restriction I'd been putting on myself: you don't need to have ALL the lineart be a bright saturated color, of course you don't! How trivial! And yet this was a huge breakthrough. I have to thank ebelcities for having such beautiful art 🥰 Seeing her work is always sooo inspiring. 

I still didn't want to push my hands too much so my next attack was done mostly using the lasso tool, with a few textures added on top. This attack received the least attention on social media out of all of them but personally I'm pretty proud of it 🤍

In the last two days my hands were feeling MUCH better and I took advantage of that to try and reach my initial goal I had at the start of the month - 30 attacks to fill up a whole page on my all attacks section with attacks from this year. 

​I had 7 left to do - and I did it!

I wanted to keep them simple both of the sake of my hands (drinking game for this post - take a shot anytime I mentioned my wrists) and to actually finish 7 drawings in 2 days. But I also didn't want to just give people rough sketches, especially since most of these were revenges for some really lovely art I'd gotten. So I came up with the idea of A) a border template and B) using tones!

I've been really into dot tones recently but I've not really been using them as is the traditional method - it was a bit of a challenge doing them in these! Picking tones, getting a range of values, matching textures, getting the size of the dots right... so many decisions to make. I'll have to keep experimenting with them, maybe for some actual comics in the future :)

And that's it for this year's artfight. We'll be hearing the results soon but even before hearing them I think seafoam has probably lost haha, we've been lagging behind all month and I had a feeling this would happen when I saw the team numbers but I still love seafoam regardless <3 I'm looking forward to seeing what the teams will be next year!

[rdng1230]

Fic talk

tagged by @desert--moonchild

How many wips do you have currently? 8 ish? but I haven't worked on any of them since I started Ain't That a Kick in the Head. Most of them are one sentence ideas in a google doc but others are a little more fleshed out. One I would loooooooove to write is one where Buddie runs into the original Buddie aka Gage and Desoto from Emergency!, but I really need to be able to watch old episodes to get their voices down and the show isn't available anywhere except live tv reruns. I also have lots of Tommy + Deluca family shenanigans for the strings of fate series. There's some angstier stuff as well I hope to dive into.

Which one are you finding the hardest to finish? Why do you think that is? lol you can't struggle to finish something you haven't really started can you? tbh I'm putting everything on the back burner till the epilogues done and then we'll see how everything else goes :)

What does it usually look like when inspiration strikes for you? I'm not often far away from my laptop these days so usually I just plop down and type it straight into docs. If I'm out and about I'll jot it down in my notes app, maybe also text it to a friend if the idea was something I'd been whining to them about.

Do you curate playlists for each fic or is your process different? You know it's funny I love a good playlist and I love making them but because I can't really read or write when music is playing besides like instrumental stuff or lofi, I don't make playlists to set the vibe. However, I am meticulous about the music actually in the story, so I will make playlists to keep track of what music is referenced and also to give my readers an opportunity to know what the characters are listening to in those moments. I will agonize over what a character might listen to and under what circumstance. Sal's picks come to me almost immediately, he follows his heart and likes big earnest 80's gated reverb atmospheric kinda stuff. Tommy is more difficult, he's moodier, a lot more mercurial about what he listens to based on what he's feeling, he can be a tough nut to crack. The hardest part is when there's a song that is PERFECT for their situation but I know they wouldn't listen to/know about, see: A Home by the Chicks for Tommy chapter 5.

Do you go balls to the wall and write as you go or are you more organised? It is soooooo situation specific. Sometimes I sit down and just crank out a whole thing right then and there like my Young Royals Fic from a few months ago. I'm still really new to this whole thing tbh, I'm still trying to figure out what works for me. But for the longer stuff I usually know what I want out of each chapter and then when I get closer to it I write out a scene list for how that happens, sometimes what I want requires breaking things up into two chapters. chapter 6 was fun because it actually had entire conversations written before the scene list so I had a page of dialogue and had to backpedal and structure the chapter scenes around that conversation. the epilogue is literally fully written scenes followed by 5 word placeholders for next scenes, and dry templated out set up scenes, and then random lines of dialogue from the final scene, idk man its the Wild West out here. For my strings of fate series I'm keeping things vague on purpose in terms of timelines and certain details to allow for this universe to account for future ideas I may have.

np tags, I'm sure many of you have done these already and if you have just tag me I'd love to read 'em: @racerchix21 @ohlookitsthearkhamknight @cliophilyra and whoever else wants to!

[allisonbeacomic]

Main artist for comic here, just gonna be talking about where I am mentally, where the comic is, where the comic will be going. All of this pertains to the random stop in posting, I know there really isn't enough of an audience for my absence to even be noticed, but as this is something I'm really passionate about I kinda need to do this just to lift some weight off my conscience. If you don't care about that just enjoy the little reference doodle that I'm attaching, I don't mind, I know I can be a bit much when I get to talking.

My mental health has not been doing great, I've mostly been sleeping in for the past month, I've been suffering from major art burnout to the point where I don't even have the will to plug my mouse in to try most of the time. My usual process is just having an idea, sitting down with it, doodling it in Krita's comic template and adjusting until I'm satisfied with the rough vision in front of me, and then finally cleaning it up into what eventually becomes the final post, this takes me about an hour and a half, on really good days I could have a backlog set up for a couple weeks. As of late I'm having trouble getting clear enough ideas to even feel confident sitting down with them.

The comic, as it is now, is literally just the passion of one woman with a mouse and a vision, just little silly doodles in a style simpler than my usual one that are designed to make you smile and then move on with your day. This works, but lately I've been thinking that maybe this isn't the best I can do.

First of all, I'm just collaborative in nature, I like making things with people, bouncing ideas with them, seeing the kinds of things they make, it takes some organization to get here, but once I get it all sorted out I instantly find myself having a better time overall. I've pitched the idea of making this comic a collaboration with @illustraintions @yaboidax, and @mogdoodles (by the way please check them all out, their work is awesome), they all seemed to be on board, so maybe at some point expect to see some contributions from them as well!

Second, I'm considering making the comic have a more coherent story, I don't plan on making this a really deep thing, but just making sure there's a bit more of a continuity from comic to comic instead of them being totally isolated from each-other, I think this will make for a more engaging read overall without compromising its simplistic charm.

Finally, I'm thinking of transitioning the comic to be a bit closer to my usual lineless style (you can see what that'd look like below). It's a lot easier to make adjustments to, I think it just is a lot more dynamic to work with. I'll see how it works in execution.

That's all I have to say for now, thank you for your patience. Hopefully I'll be back on track soon.

[wonryllis]

haiii yeonyeon can you post a tutorial on how to make banners? thank yeww

ofc though i don't exactly make all of mine the same way so I will just give out the basic steps!!

001. ) find the picture you want to use, leaving aside the quality you must first settle on which picture you really want to make the banner with. after that, trace it's source! is it from a photoshoot? is it from album concept photos? is it from some event? is it from a twitter or instagram account? after you find the primary source download it from there that would be hd 99% of the time.

002. ) i use canva so that's what i'll be guiding with. open a blank template of the size you want the banner to be. add the picture and the text. adjust the font, size, color, spacing, and position of it on the picture. usually i use the classic fonts like sans, helvetica and so on. for the size i make it big enough to be readable if it's the main title other than that other text size just depends on what it is. for color i one from the picture itself, spacing is usually zero and position is more often than not: center.

003. ) then i use picsart to add any filter i want, usually i don't but if i do this is the go to. and then download the pic in png form and that's it!!!

004. ) also i want you to know i did not get this good with graphics and editing in a day, what you see today is years worth of practice! so don't be disappointed if you are not as good today, with practice and time you will find your own spark and style!!

if you want a video tutorial you'll have to pick a specific banner of mine so that i can show you how i made it!