#if you don't see me posting watercolor art in a long while is because of this shit

[tshortik]

My random comic Recs #1

I've been reading more comics lately, so I wanted to share my love for them in the hopes that someone might give this medium a chance!

Note: I am not a fan of superhero comics, because I simply don't like that genre, so don't expect superheroes below. Gonna make these posts every now and then and they will always include 4 recs. 1.) The Many Deaths of Laila Starr

Death got demoted and sent to earth as a mortal! Some boy is going to figure out how to cheat death in the future, and our girl Death really doesn't appreciate that. The entire graphic novel is only 5 issues long, so it's VERY digestible and easy to get through.There is something so light and playful about the art style, and the vibrant colors really sell it.

For people that are completely new to comics as a medium, I imagine that this is actually an A+ book to start with for the reasons I just mentioned. The way paneling and the flow of time is done in here, is a great example as to why comics are so unique as a medium and why they should be looked at as its own art from, separate from movies or books.

2) Mécanique Céleste (Or "Mechanica Calaestium" in the German translation, or "Aster Of Pan" in the English translation)

An absolutely breathtaking French comic. Aster lives in Pan, a post-apocalyptic France where she scavenges for wreckage with her friend Wallis. After their people come under a threat by the Federation of Fortuna, they are given a choice —submit to Fortuna’s rule or beat them in a weird Hunger Games-esque version of Dodge, called “Celestial Mechanics”.

The detailed art pieces in each panel, the careful line work, the lively way the characters move and the stunning watercolors captivated me from the first page. This graphic novel (now 2 volumes) is one of a kind and truly unique!

3) Something Is Killing the Children

Note: Comic contains a lot of gore and violence!

Children are starting to disappear in Archer's Peak. The ones that come back tell impossible stories that no one seems to believe. Only one stranger trusts these tales - a mysterious girl named Erica Slaughter who seems to be able to see these creatures too. And she's here for business.

I loooove Something is Killing the Children. I haven't finished reading the ongoing volumes yet, but I am super fascinated at how well the pacing goes in this story. The rough art style with Erica's freaky large eyes is SO fun, and you start appreciating it even more the longer you read.

4) Mon Ami Pierrot ("Mein Freund Pierrot" in German, "My friend Pierrot" in English)

Another fabulous French comic! Cléa is to marry soon - a young man name of Berthier. Right before the wedding she meets the fascinating magician Pierrot though, who completely changes the course of her life. Entranced by his whimsical nature that makes her feel "free" for the first time in her life, she follows him and leaves her previous life behind. During her stay with Pierrot, questions arise, though. Who is he really? All the while her betrothed sets out to find her again.

The Ghibli influence both art- and storywise is easy to make out, and I personally really enjoyed that. I particularly love the colors and the facial expressions the characters are drawn with. Everything feels very whimsical and playful and I had a good time going through this chonker of a graphic novel!

No spoilers, but I expected toothrottingly-sweet wholesome stuff, and ended up surprised on several occasions. I think the colours and art style really help give those moments wham, because you don't expect it.

[mikodrawnnarratives]

I just remembered a project I worked on for a while in like 2021 (maybe 2020) and it had a LOT of akumatized marinette's

That was the idea behind the whole thing but man I did one by one and found some of the most obscure akumatized marinette au's

Sooooo I'm dragging these drawings up from the ashes and maybe it'll be a nice surprise for some of y'all to see

yall got ✨fanart✨

and possibly reminded of miraculous ladybug HA

usually these were done on different canvas's (that were like 250x250) and then just... copied onto a larger canvas??? Mistakes were made and I was insane

A handful of these akumanette's were actually made by me cause apparently... roughly 18 other marinette's wasn't enough

Click for quality and this is a long post

First of all, shoutouts to my own akuma abominations creations.

First image, the ladybug with the red long hair? yeah the idea was the akuma bug seen in canon in like, s2 (also shown next to her) but updated for the new look in s4. Vry original we'll give it a 6/10

I don't remember too much for the middle one that is slightly dimmer. Though I do remember that was the kind of IDEA behind her. She's also holding a knife cause of course. Why have magical powers to kill people when you can harness the power of K N I F E 7/10

I remember a little more about the jester marinette in the back. She had a whole thing with medieval research, jester research, and she also wanted to stab Lila cause everyone wanted to stab lila at the time. 9/10 cause I had a fun time with her

Then the robinhood poster mari was a robin hood akuma mari. 3/10 not original

NEXT

Slightly canon to downright canon

Ladyblanc was a popular akumanette idea so slightly canon, I didn't base it off of anyone's au

Ladybug and Marinette are there because what's the fun of a crossover if the og doesn't get to panic along with the rest of them????

Last image, not talking about persecuter, we'll get to her in a bit. I just thought it would be funny at the time if I included Chloe and Antibug cause... haha

Antibug is kinda an akumatized lb rip off soooo

OTHER'S AU'S

what you've been waiting for

Thank god I kept track of credit (pats past me on the back)

First of all, at the very front we got @zoe-oneesama 's devil au that made an updated appearance in her scarlet lady au, love to see it

You'll also notice little devil bug on lb's knee in the sketch

Alopeka is to the left of Devil au, by @piearsonist

hi betcha you never would have guessed you got FANARTED HA

This is a post that explains that akumatized marinette, and you'll find more if you go to her page

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAND

Princess justice at the right by @kibouwmlb (also, hello hi, surprise) and honestly it is SUCH a pretty design OMYWORD I love the watercolors

Twiddling her thumbs, minding her business. Remember the release of Descendants 3? Yeah, Queen of Mean baby. And MORE by @shiinaeu hi you are a legend to me

This was so fun to draw at the time and I was experimenting in ways I hadn't before. Peak youtube miraculous ladybug fixation meeting art interest. First one of the characters I did fun fact

@edendaphne betcha you didn't expect fanart of that one scorpion akumanette well THINK AGAIN (also, crazy that this was around when I did your dtiys I just realized, huh)

ANd then slightly more obscure, though the post does have 173 ish notes so, is @skullqueensart 's akumanette right here

Why does akumanette have sunken cheeks here? I have no clue honestly. Take it up with me from 3 years ago and maybe you'll get answers who knows. She's also just... chilling. Looking at nothing. Into the abyss.

Not now chloe's, we are discussing persecutor now.

Love the story idea honestly and the akuma design is so god tier AKUMA that oof @yiprincessart I love it

Oh uh, and chloe will be fine

:)

CAN👏I👏 TALK👏 ABOUT👏 HER

She is the moment, she is beauty, she is grace

@artist-from-outersp-ace I love her. She looks so SO pretty!! At the time I loved your artstyle and I still do!! Too bad at the time I didn't know that Tumblr works by reblogging. I will be amending that.

I also remember being SO frustrated when drawing her that I didn't get a timelapse saved in time to show the drawing process :(

But I did love figuring out folds in the dress and the coloring process! Figuring out how to replicate elements in your art!

srs guys. Look at the RUFFLES

Alright, we are all agreeing to be accomplices and bystanders to Akuma jester marinette's NOT MURDER murder of Lila in the background? Okay good.

@lunian I have fanart for you~

And when I tell you I struggled with her design, I STRUGGLED. I ended up satisfied in the end but the curls bro, we lost the curls

But I do love her concepts and powers and I did back then too

And next to her, Okay, I never fully finished, mostly because I couldn't figure out how to get the hand to work with the tray balance thingie

@ladybub made this Lady Justice design and I WILL BE THERE when the comic updates. Or... if they aren't able to continue the comic that's also fine too <3 Life happens

Still love this au and the unique way for Marinette to get akumatized! Me and my sister bonded over our love over it!

I think this might be the first akumanette that isn't on tumblr to my knowledge. They are on Instagram tho @stivenwithani

Anyway I really liked the concept and the design just, reeked, of akuma that I included her

Okay more that I didn't really finish

We got another Princess/Lady Justice akuma idea at the left. Which I never kept track of the credit DANG IT I WAS DOING SO WELL

I'll update if I find the credit but man the OG did really well with the art.

And I have this akumanette comforting Lacrima from... a very graphic and whump fanfic Longest Night, read the tags

Anyway, Lacrima needs all the love she can get (also, funny enough, is the oldest out of this "gathering" of akumanette's)

It's not finished but hey @p-artsypants I gave angst ridden Lady Lacrima friends and fanart so.... yay...

AND THEN THE LAST ONE

was victim to so much reposting I could never find credit for it- UNTIL NOW

but the artist unfortunately deactivated their blog so that explains why I couldn't find their username all that time ago

It was a cool idea and I always love when creators take inspiration from how similar Marinette's name is to another word for a kind of puppet "Marionette"

But before I forget, I'll end this post on one of my akumanette's that I tried to squeeze in but never got to. But I did make more art for and I remember the story!

I remember having a background planned but I never really got around to it. Basically the story was that marinette got akumatized but managed to take off her earrings in time. I think the reason for her akumatization was connected to figuring out the secrets that Emilie had been hiding with the peacock miraculous (BEFORE we knew that adrien was a sentimonster).

Tikki had to bring the earrings to Chat Noir and he had to find someone that looked ENOUGH like Ladybug that Hawkmoth wouldn't notice as much that Ladybug wasn't actually there. Enter Mireille cause at the time a few people were pointing out how similar she looked to the dupain chengs.

Akumanette's powers had something to do with casting depression? I think? In the form of dragons? Oh, Also she travels by walking on the dragons so thats cool

I don't remember everything but I did have a lot planned for her.

10/10 just because I had a fun time with her

[etinceelle]

[𝙲𝙾𝙼𝙼𝙸𝚂𝚂𝙸𝙾𝙽𝚂]

Tiny post to say that I reopened my commissions ✨💜

All infos are on my Kofi (link below), but I'll explain more how I work in this thread !

𝙷𝙾𝚆 𝙸𝚃 𝚆𝙾𝚁𝙺𝚂

I use Kofi to take commissions, you don't need an account to buy there. It works like this :

1) Go on my commission page and select the slot you're interested in

2) You can contact me before or after taking a slot if you have questions/need infos :)

3) By paying you confirm the commission and the slot is taken. I usually ask for a full payment in once, but don't hesitate to tell me if you need to several payments so I can adapt to your budget.

4) While I work on the commission I give you updates regularly in dms (on Kofi or your socials if you prefer) and I show you the different steps. I ask for your review on them.

I only allow 3 changes on the sketch, every additional change requires an additional fee :)

5) I send you the final file with WeTransfer for digital artworks. I have never done international physical shipping before for watercolors, so thank you for being patient and indulgent on this !

𝚆𝙷𝙰𝚃 𝙸 𝙳𝙾

Everything is listed on the gif on the first post of this thread, but also on my Kofi and on my commission sheet (also on Kofi). I suggest you take a look ♥

NOTE : refer to Kofi for prices (the commission sheet might be incorrect ) ! Prices are in €.

If you're wondering, I can do original stuff and fanart :) RWBY is of course the main fanart I do but I also don't mind other universes (even if I don't know them). And original characters are of course welcome.

𝚆𝙷𝙰𝚃 𝙰𝙱𝙾𝚄𝚃 𝚃𝙷𝙴 𝚁𝙴𝚀𝚄𝙴𝚂𝚃𝚂 ?

I decided to reopen requests on Kofi after closing them for a long time. Except this time it doesn't work with tips anymore, but like a classic commission. The concept and prices are the same but I added some rules :)

Note about the requests : I'll probably reopen them more regularly than every other slot because they're pretty quick to do and it's a small budget. If you want to have a doodle and support me that way that's something that might be interesting ♥

𝙸 𝙳𝙾𝙽'𝚃 𝙺𝙽𝙾𝚆 𝙷𝙾𝚆 𝚃𝙾 𝚄𝚂𝙴 𝙺𝙾𝙵𝙸 :/

That's fine, it's easier for me but if you really don't want to use Kofi we can discuss things via email or dms on socials ! I can refuse a commission depending on how much work I have tho.

𝚆𝙰𝚃𝙴𝚁𝙲𝙾𝙻𝙾𝚁𝚂

I added something new : watercolors ! I used to do only traditional art for years and I thought it could be nice to do that again ♥

These are original watercolors, but with material and shipping the prices are higher than for digital.

𝙰𝙽𝙸𝙼𝙰𝚃𝙸𝙾𝙽𝚂, 𝙲𝙾𝙼𝙸𝙲 & 𝙲𝙷𝙰𝚁𝙰𝙲𝚃𝙴𝚁 𝚂𝙷𝙴𝙴𝚃

These are the 3 stuff I'm not opening for now because it requires a lot of work and I'm mostly looking for not too big commissions at the moment, something not too huge after graduating. Hope you understand !

I think that's all for now, you can contact me if you have questions ♥

Thank you in advance to those who will commission !

Have a cute photo of miss Citrouille 🎃

[qiribov]

I’m sorry people keep comparing your AU to other AUs without giving anything else to go on! Just saying your work seems like someone else’s but then not explaining why or how would just feel like they’re not appreciating your work for its own creativity. :(

Every AU, even ones that come from a common base idea, are unique because they come from different people! In this case, the only AU I know of currently that’s even remotely like yours is still different because they made their NRC boys magical creatures and their medium is drabble fanfiction. Your AU is art based!

And your artwork is SO CUTE????? The art style you have just gives me the vibes of a watercolor painting… if that makes any sense at all??? I know you’re using a paper and pencil but I see your drawings and they just feel watercolor to me.

And I love that so much. They’re so soft and flowy and squishy and I just wanna hug them! 💜

For your AU, may I ask for a written list of what animals the guys are? I’m pretty sure I can figure most of them out by the reference picture you provided and by popular fanon choices, but I’d still like to confirm if that’s okay?

Plus, I can be dumb sometimes. 😅 So, having an official list made by the creator would be helpful! 😊

You said in your post you were upset with people mentioning comparable AUs without even linking them, so the AU I was talking about up there that is writing based is the house pet au by @/twst-drabbles. I hope this ask didn’t stress you out! It’s definitely not my intention!

I literally melted while reading this so sweetly.

I'm a bad yapper, but I'll try.

Riddle Hedgehog. because of the thorns he is wearing a jacket not a regular shirt or t-shirt

Ace Fennec. Just fennec. I don't want to explain it.

Deuce Blue Wolfhound. i like to think he used to be pretty aggressive in this au before too.

Trey Panda. he's just big and soft. but doesn't really like to be stroked too much.

Cater the Red Panda. they are just cute red and love attention not sure what to add

I didn't change Savanaclaw and Octavinelle animals so I'll skip them.

All the Octavinelle members live in a big pool that has an indoor entrance. i think Crowley just gave them the pool because he was too lazy to do the aquarium.

Jamil Rattlesnake. i didn't want to think too much about a particular subspecies of snake ok .;) he sleeps in the terrarium most of the time

Kalim Sea otter. his favorite toy is plastic colored shells. in fact he can steal anything that looks like a shell.

Vil Peacock. In fact, I've been thinking for a very long time about what else Vil could be besides a peacock and I haven't come up with anything. actually I'm not complaining. Sometimes he dives off the perch on Grim because he acts like an ass.

Rook the poodle. He's so abnormally hyperactive and the worst part is he's quiet.

Epel grizzly.

Idia and Ortho still cause arguments in my head they are the only ones I haven't drawn. Idk Idia could be a greyhound????

Malleus the dragon. in my head he just likes gargoyles and ice cream and strides with the sound of SpongeBob.

Lilia the bat. He's so affectionate and likes to brush his fur.

Silver Ferret. I knew he had to be a ferret when I saw all those videos where they are VERY hard to wake up.

Sebek the crocodile. he's so noisy and likes to stomp his feet and tail.

[studioboner]

ur art iz soso cute and pretty!! do you have any tipz for when working with watercolor(or paint in general)?

Sure!

Dont bother buying expensive materials if youre just starting, cheap or intermediate stuff is more than enough to start off and decide if you really like it and want to continue. Plus some mro expensive materials are harder to use if you dont have practice. I would never recommend a natural hair brush for a begginer watercolorist Those videos about essentials skills to have, or most common mistakes made CAN help, dont let them limit how you experiment with watercolors though, there are no rules. Those are usually tips given to make it easier to do a technic the most common way. You're free to try different paths Aim for an in-between level of "too easy, i can do this" and "too hard thats not on my skill yet". You have to find a middle ground to do it because that's what help keep people interested. If you only paint the very easy watercolor tutorials you see, theres a chance you'll grow bored and tired of it as it has become "too easy". Doesnt have to be every time of course, but it helps alot to not grow bored. It'll take a while to get used to watercolors, even if you know of many technics, practicing them and knowing how they will turn out by experience is another story. Don't feel bad if something didnt go the way you expected, you can always try the oppossite next time and see how that goes.

Copy Master's works, this doesnt have to be just dead masters, living ones too! Copying is a genuine good way of studying. As long as you dont claim them to be yours and give them proper credit, it's not plagiarism. It doesn't hurt to ask though, specially if the artist you are going to be copying to learn is not a big name. In my experience though the artists i've asked if i could copy to study tehir work they had been flattered that i'd want to do that. Theres no need to ask for some big name tho just credit lol, like for example doing watercolor studies of studio ghibli's storyboards..... that's a good one btw! their storyboards are pretty and have GOOD colors but still are super simple! Usually just one layer of paint, minimal wet in wet shading or glazing.

Share Your Works, i know specially for begginers this one can be scary to do, but i promise you that the number of fellow begginers who will feel encouraged by you posting is a great number. And experienced artists who are GOOD people would never look down on a begginer. Rather than "man they cant draw lol" it'll be a sentiment of "i remember when my skills were a similar level! i hope this new artists has a fun time with art :D" Sharing your works and getting feedback and building a small community with other artists or even some fans is a massive encouragement ! [it's not everything of course but it's nice to be appreciated] Uh mind you, this step might take a long while. i've been posting art for nearly 10 years and it took me maybe 8 or so years of posting for something of mine to get more than 70 notes or so. [70 notes is already alot tho! wohhoo!

[altraviolet]

Oh man now that I've seen TWO asks this day about Soundwave dying, is that the inevitable conclusion to this fic? Did I miss this big spoiler somewhere or all the clues to it? I don't remember seeing a "Major character death" tag, either.

Or is this people speculating and doing "what if"? ...not that I'd be adverse to it, especially if it made sense to do so!

Also I completely understand about work sapping all creative juices. While I don't write (I've dabbled in the past, but little 3k words or less things for OC's way back in the LJ days), I used to sketch, draw, paint nearly every day for hours before I ended up in a corporate 9-5, full time job. Even doing customer service jobs, I was able to sketch on napkins and scrap receipt paper and sticky notes.. and now I just.. can't. Its unbelievable how mentally draining full time jobs can be. Every now and then I'll get the sketch pad or watercolors out,but it's maybe once or twice a year now.

I've seen writers who do ko-fi for tips or writing commissions for certain stories (I remember a tf author I used to follow did this - where a story was only continued if the chapters were commissioned) - or even patreons, where they set up an early access to the newer chapters, and the cut scenes, additional content - have you thought about those? I think you've got a big enough following where it could be feasible to go part time! And maybe fund a self publishing of an original work sometime down the road!

>is that the inevitable conclusion to this fic? Did I miss this big spoiler somewhere or all the clues to it? I don't remember seeing a "Major character death" tag, either.

The major tag on the fic is "Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings." You haven't missed a big spoiler or clues. The influx of "WHAT IF HE DIES" was puzzling to me, too, but I rolled with it.

I'm curious why people think Soundwave is going to die, when one of the major themes of the fic (at least to me, inside my head) is bringing people back from the dead. Not literally, of course. But... but did they see the whole point of what Rodimus is doing? Trailbreaker, Ambulon, and Mirage? Skywarp? Literally pulling Soundwave from the shadow zone, where life is not worth living?

There's actually a lot more I want to say on this, but I don't want to spoil the story. I have a FAQ planned for when the fic is done and I address death in it, and my approach to writing it vs JRO, and the aforementioned major theme.

I'm guessssssssinnnnnnng people are going the doom route because of the Scavengers, and because Soundwave keeps getting injured and can't be healed, and because... ? I feel like stakes have been high in the past, so maybe that's part of it, too. I won't say anything else for now, though.

This post got long so I'll put the rest under a cut.

>Its unbelievable how mentally draining full time jobs can be.

good god, yeah. low key, I used to be an artist (mostly hobbyist, a few pro jobs). I gave up and went back to writing because it's much easier/comes more naturally to me, and that's all I have energy for. I fuckin' mourned stopping art, to be honest. but you know what, I'd rather have Echo Garden than slog through commissions. I learned I'd rather create my own things than do things other people want me to do. so I guess learning that about myself was ... good. it's absolutely unbelievable how draining a 9-5 job is. I will admit I am jealous of people who have spouses or understanding parents that allow them to do art full time by providing a safety net in the form of housing and health insurance. jealousy is very human, you know :D surely there is a better balance out there for us ;A;

>I remember a tf author I used to follow did this - where a story was only continued if the chapters were commissioned

oooohhhhhhhh you know... I get it. I get people need money. but that doesn't sit right with me. I would not withhold fic like that.

>patreons, where they set up an early access to the newer chapters, and the cut scenes, additional content - have you thought about those?

I've thought about it only in the fanciful sense. To be honest, unless I was getting enough support to quit my job, it's not really going to change my life. Like, how do I say this. I won't have any more additional time in the week to write if I make $50 extra/month through patreon. I'll still be doing my full time job AND I'll have an obligation to write for people. Does that make sense? Unless a patreon offsets the actually draining thing in my life, it's just another thing I have to do.

Although 'early access to chapters' sits way better with me than denying future chapters UNLESS funded. Though paying for fic is a huge gray area and I don't think it's wise to poke that beast...

>I think you've got a big enough following where it could be feasible to go part time!

thank you, I appreciate your kindness here :D I don't think my following is big enough, though. I think the readership is maybe 1400 people? and a bunch of those are minors and most of the adult fandom is fucking broke, lol. (the tf fans with the money tend to be the major toy buying ones, not the fanfic reading ones. Stereotype, but that's my observation)

and part of the problem is my place of employment. I asked, years ago, if I could go part time (so I could practice art) and my boss said no. it's a full time only position ;A; which is why I say, unless patreon can fully support me, it's not really feasible. freelancing incurs a higher tax rate and you don't have any health insurance, so I'd actually have to make more than I am now... and given the number of absolutely fantastic fan artists I see struggling to make it with patreon, I know I can't (since fan artists make more than fan writers)

I hope that my answers don't sound dismissive. Thank you very much for your empathy and kind ideas. I don't think the fandom can support me monetarily in the way I would need, and I think their interest in me will drop as soon as Echo Garden is finished. I base this statement on the fact that TEG has exponentially higher stats than any of my other fics.

The people clearly want only one thing, and it will eventually end xD

If you or anyone else thinks I'm looking at this wrong and there may actually be a way I can write without dying, please let me know. I've thought about this for years and the above is what I've concluded.

Thank you again for the kind ask! <3

[t1meslayer]

Busy with important family events over the next couple of days, and so I thought it would be good to get a day-and-date release for this Debrief on the latest entry in my Sapphic Valley series, "How You Get The Girl." Be sure to read the story before jumping in!

Did you do it? Did you read the story?

Alright, I'm trusting you. Go ahead and hit that 'Keep Reading' button you scamp.

It only seems appropriate to start this Debrief off by addressing the elephant in the room. I haven't posted anything in over a month, and "By Moonlight" came about a month after its predecessor, the conclusion to "Stone-Cold Lovers."

Work, naturally, has been a major factor.

You can see me talk about that almost two weeks ago in this Tumblr post I made about writing in a coffee shop, which came weeks after I actually started writing during a trip to a friend's house.

===

Side note:

Just wanted to take a moment and acknowledge my beautiful Haley and Emily keychains. My friend who's responsible for the affairs of one ghostly farmer named Jizzabelle (Gisabelle to the laymen) got them for me! Only appropriate after I commissioned some art of her and Abigail.

Emily was my first Stardew wife, and Haley currently holds the biggest place in my heart. They make a lovely duo!

And I'll avoid any sister-wife jokes

===

While I've had some other projects like Zine writing to take care of, work and life can't explain the full absence.

The best way I can think to explain things is that:

I had the general writer's block, and

Despite the best intentions and advice of my irl friends and online pals like @alchemicallymoon and @duelbraids, I couldn't force myself to "break" that block by just... Writing something else.

This is entirely the result of my own psychosis. I have a tendency to carefully plot things out and impose a timetable that really doesn't need to exist. When I feel the cause is righteous enough, it's hard to get around that. In this case, I knew I needed to get my poll-winning idea out after dawdling for holidays like Valentine's Day, and then I knew I only wanted to post one more story before jumping on a very special event for my upcoming 30th AO3 post.

Thus, here we are: arbitrarily forcing myself into a spiral of writer's block misery because of a silly promise on Tumblr and my own sense of ordered chaos.

At the very least, this meant it's coming out not long after my AO3 pal InsertACatchyPennameHere also emerged from the woodwork to tell me they're working on something INSPIRED by my four-person friend group farm adaptations.

Much love to them, wherever they may be.

I'll probably start writing more eclectically now that my shoulders are unweighed, but don't expect my next publication to hit until I'm finished working on teasing the big event. All you Pokemon fans better get hype!

And oh how sweet this publication feels. Between my great set of recent ceramics, the figure drawing class I've been attending, and creative writing, I've felt more fulfilled than ever.

You're here to talk about Stardew, though. So let us talk.

This idea began less with any one event as it did a desire to advance the Alexis/Haley relationship, and Haley's characterization in particular. It was always going to end with watercolor painting reference, but 2 Willow Lane was what I really wanted to dig into.

As I see it, a lot of what keeps people invested in Stardew when its comfy vibes becoming routine is the air of mystery in Eric Barone's worldbuilding. Haley and Emily's parents being some world-traveling duo who left their home in the siblings' care for who knows how long (and who knows how many times over their lifetime) really piqued my interest. So much so that the new writing challenge I set for myself in "How You Get The Girl" was crafting a particularly long set of descriptions that emphasize how overwhelming the parents' influence feels — without creating an impenetrable wall of text.

Hopefully I succeeded in that. Let me know!

I tried to include some vaguely real world-adjacent references into that description of the house, as happens with the magical-realism world of Stardew Valley. For example:

The computer sitting next to their bonsai tree is an iMac G3, the kind of old 'futuristic' tech that my dad loves!

A Speedwell refrigerator is based on even more vintage tech, the Mayflower fridge, but named after a different ship ridden by Pilgrims coming to America.

That city that the family visited in an old photograph with a "monument of arching, interlocking steel" is, of course, Paris — with the statue bookends referencing any number of statues in the Louvre.

Haley's FAD magazine could be referencing any number of publications, but Vogue is probably the closest analogue to what I imagine her reading.

Furthermore, I took some notes on describing the home's layout off of my sister's apartment building, and I asked my bestie @trybard for input on what kind of hanging plant should be used in the transitional hallway. Hanging pothos, philodendron, and spider plants were the three options provided, and my response was appropriate:

They know so much about plants.

Go bug them about it.

I drew on other friends' knowledge to help decorate the house. Specifically, I asked one of my witchiest friends what kinds of protective wards someone like Emily would leave around doorways and windows. She had... A lot of reference material.

I picked Hazel given it purportedly "protects against evil; encourages abundance and inspiration." I also picked Amethyst as one of Emily's loved gifts, one that purportedly "absorbs negative energy, promotes harmony."

My witchy friend is the same one who provided the TikTok that I referenced in my advertisement post:

Perhaps the most important thing about 2 Willow Lane was the recurring motif of Barbie's Dream House.

As a surface-level reference, I think the groundwork is clear. Blondie's love of fashion and general queen bee demeanor fits comparisons to Barbie well, and she lives in a big ol' house full of stuff. We all saw Greta Gerwig's Barbie movie last year. It's still in the cultural zeitgeist.

I'm hip with the kids.

Yet, early on I also tried to make it clear that if this is a "dream" house, it's neither Haley's nor Emily's dream. Haley is a Barbie in that stereotypical sense, but also there's much to be mined from the analogy of a sort of powerless doll in an immutable house, constrained by social obligation to her family rather than literal plastic and stickers.

The cold open of Jodi and Sam was meant to stand alone, but in execution I also think drawing Kent's absence into the conversation makes for a more thematically rich comparison to these sisters who appear to have themselves more put together.

My beta reader said this wound up being one of my stronger stories because of how all of that intertwined, which I appreciated given how down on myself I was following the whole writer's block thing.

But also.

Also.

Alexis gets to be horny. She's hitting on lonely MILFs and watching girls shake their asses to the tune of bad reality TV.

We love a buff dommy mommy farm girl in this house.

Haley is probably horny too, she just doesn't realize it yet. For now I think it's fun enough to play into her being coy about building excuses for Alexis to come over, and then getting incensed when Emily barges in on their private time meant to learn more about this farm girl she just can't get out of her head.

===

Fun fact:

Every story in this series is named after a Taylor Swift song, but I know next-to nothing about her discography. All of them are suggestions by my friend whose house I was at when starting this story — the same one who controls Gardenia on the farm.

While I went with "How You Get The Girl," her alternative suggestion was "The Man."

===

All that w|w talk aside, I also want to give Sam the loveable idiot a shoutout. Had to do a fair bit of research into how skateboards are constructed for his failed ollie, and I slipped in a reference to shitty old technology that's exclusively for my beta reader to enjoy.

I also tried doing some agricultural research to figure out how the folks at Kevin Farm could have grown cucumbers so there'd be a jar of legitimate pickles... But that was getting too in the weeds.

Insert laugh track here

Decided to just go with pickled artichoke hearts to save everyone a lot of trouble.

And where does "Kevin Farm" come from, you may be asking yourself. Or the fabulous "Kevin's Special" with its definitely not innuendo tagline.

That story will have to wait for another day, my friends.

[tickldpnk8]

Shipper Tag Game

Thanks for the tags @windsweptinred and @writing-for-life! Sorry it's taken me a bit: this week has been really hectic, but this is a fun one! I suspect that my answers may be a bit of a blend of both of yours.

What ship were you completely obsessed with as a teenager, but now you don't care about anymore?

I still actively ship the same pairings I did as a teenager. Mostly because I tend to like canon pairings, so when I engage with a fandom, it tends to be through that lens.

What ship would you consider your first one?

The earliest ship I remember liking is Clark Kent/Lois Lane from Lois and Clark. But this was pre-computer in my house growing up. The first ship I really got into online fan culture with and fan fiction was Harry/Ginny from HP.

Your first fanfic was about which couple?

So I've never written fanfic: I'm more of a fan art person, although I'm pretty shy about posting it. My earliest fan art was probably something Disney...most likely The Little Mermaid as a kid. My most recent foray back into fan art was for The Unknown and Static Strange, Dreamling fic. Otherwise, I've just had fun painting Morpheus' hair.

Do you remember the first couple you saw fan art of?

Most likely Harry/Ginny: there was this excellent artist, whose name (I think) was Marta, who used to post watercolor sketches on her own site called The Art Dungeon: they were gorgeous and really helped shape how I pictured the characters as I read the books. I'd love to find her artwork again to see what her portfolio is like now if she's still working as an artist.

Have you ever gotten into ship discourse?

Oh man...do you know how non-confrontational I am?? I won't touch it with a 10 ft pole: first whiff of a debate going heated and I nope out of there. I took a peek at the Loki tags when season 2 came out and couldn't close my browser fast enough. Ship and let ship, but don't ask me to comment on it.

Did you use to have any NOTP or have one currently?

I generally avoid anything that a huge power imbalance: (think: underage student with an adult teacher). But other than that, I've come to embrace any ship if the writing is good enough. Almost any trope too.

Who were the last couple in the last fanfic you read?

I'm super excited to see Hounds is updating again, even if I've largely moved on from actively pursuing Dreamling. And I LOVED @writing-for-life's The Light of Stars (Morpheus x OC). I dabbled in a few Loki one-shots recently, too.

Currently, do you have any OTPs?

Man, that's hard...because I'm honestly not reading fanfic for the ships: I'm mostly reading it to satisfy the brain rot. So while I tend to prefer canon-adjacent or gen fics (missing moments, alt POV, etc), it seems that the best way to find those is through searching ship tags. Sandman seems to be the exception: I want all of these characters to pair up with all of the other characters and all bets are off the table. If the writing is solid and the plot is intriguing, I'm in!

Is there any couple that, to this day, that you are extremely mad about not getting into?

Not really: I don't invest so much in the ships I like and hate that I can't Ship and Let Ship. Likewise, if I want to read something, I will. And if it's not for me, I'll just ignore it. I also don't get so invested that if it doesn't become canon I'm upset: I kind of figure all things are possible in Lucienne's library

Is there any ship you used to dislike but now you think they're kind of interesting?

I honestly didn't really like the idea of Dreamling to start: it's not a canon pairing, I wouldn't have put the spin on Hob's character that fandom seems to have latched onto, and I really like that he's the one platonic friendship that Morpheus has able to form. But I find the idea of someone living for that long infinitely intriguing so I dipped into the tags, and some of the most well-known and well-beloved early fics for this pairing really caught my attention and hooked me in. But since then...my interest has waned. As others have pointed out, it's just everywhere and hard to filter. It's also starting to feel a bit OOC as fandom does what they do in shaping a character's portrayal.

I tend to go in spurts where I really like a certain dynamic and then I get bored with the fic selection for a pairing. But generally, I'll always come back to it after enough time. I really want to see more Desire-centric pairings like Desunity as I think they're a really interesting character and it could be interesting to explore them in different relationships given their function.

Do you have any ship that, in the past, would have been considered normal but now you would be cancelled over?

I've been in fandom spaces a long time, but I don't think any of them would be considered problematic today. It's more likely that there are things I used to feel were problematic, but I'm actually okay with now. I've grown a lot as a reader (and a human) over time.

What is your favorite crack ship?

Prob Morpheus and his Helmet (have we named this yet @writing-for-life?? it needs a worthy ship name). I'm also fairly certain that I coined the name Timeslayer for the Loki fandom (or might have simultaneously come up with the name when others did). But I've never seen a ship sink so quickly.

What is the couple you read the most fanfics about?

Lately, it's been Dream x Joanna (ConstantDream) coming off of a big DreamMuse kick that was followed by Dream x Lucienne.

What do most of your ships have in common?

That's hard! I was going to say Hard Candy Shell of a Guy reveals he has a Gooey Nougat Center...but really it just comes down to 1) is the writing good? 2) is the plot intriguing? 3) do the characters feel in-character? If you satisfy those 3 things, I'll likely read it.

What do you absolutely hate in a ship?

Absolutely nothing outright. I'll sometimes go off a ship a little once it reaches that point where fanon locks in too tight around it. But I think that's a very me problem, as I crave variation/new experiences/ideas. I'll still love the ship, I'll just know that's just my time to move onto something new and come back and visit every so often.

^ @windsweptinred couldn't have nailed this better. I crave new: new perspectives, new takes on a character or dynamic, new AU scenarios. So once things get a bit too repetitive across authors, I'll pull back and visit something else.

This was fun! Thanks again for the tags. I've been minimally online this week so am not sure who else has done this: if you follow me and want to participated consider this your chance!

[ragtimeboy]

Why do you make your art ugly on purpose? /nm

I think it's really cool, I just wanna know if there's a reason behind it :0

Long post, tldr at the end

I've been sitting on this ask for awhile while I thought of a way to voice my views on "ugliness" and I have 2 very contradictory paths concerning it. One is that I find objects, features, and animals that are considered ugly or repulsive very cute and endearing, I love leaches, crooked or missing teeth , lazy eyes, maggots, scars, and asymmetry. Cockroaches are my favorite animal. These things are a part of existing, a part of life and of the body and therefore they hold just as much importance as the things that are usually considered beautiful. I want to showcase the beauty i see in the world, in the body, in the people I love regardless of how others might see them. Maybe you can learn to love those things that makes everyone unique even if it isn't glamorous.

Content/trigger warning: irl bodily harm, suicide, murder, irl illness and death

Second is the representational value of the "ugly truth" the denial of fabricated peace or beauty. I do not like my feelings spared, I don't like to be told a mistruth for the sake of closure or comfort. I want to see the world how it is, not a clean sanitized version of it. My most profound moments of human connection are the brief times when people give me the gritty details, sharing their knowledge and experiences that are sickening and morbid. The details of my dad's wife's patient in brain injury with his nose and frontal lobe blown off from a gun under his chin, the motorcycle car crash my neighbor died in at the end of my street hours after it happened, the two kids he left behind, the pool of blood on the sidewalk I walked by everyday. The murder in self defence my ex committed. The time the elderly man I cared for got stabbed for heroin. The most horrible things everyone has seen when I trained to be an EMT, the decapitations, the inconceivable ways a human body can be broken. The details of my friend's suicide, all of them, I wanted to know. In those moments of grief and horror I feel like I am truly seeing the whole picture, truly a part of humanity even in the darkest moments, because someone is sharing the pain with me, because for just a moment we can look at each other and feel the same loss, the same disgust and emptiness, the shared hopelessness that reminds me that hope exists and it's omnipresent.

I don't talk about myself a lot and that's on purpose, I think for the most part my work speaks for itself, anything you need to know is painted out on watercolor paper. My little sister was born with an autoimmune disorder that liquified her body for 10 years, I watched her tiny body fall apart, watched it rot while she lived. (She's ok now, she's a theater kid which is worse). For most of my serious work I put the viewer in my shoes, the relationship between the snuff film star and the audience, neither existing without the other, the relationship of suffering and the witness of suffering, the stripped down bare basics of empathy, of understanding another. The annihilation of comfort, the denial of escapism, the confrontation with the ugly, the sickening, it's a part of my experience and in the same fashion as I want to be told the truth I offer you the same grace. Reality, gritty and vile is part of the deal, to experience joy and fulfillment you have to open yourself up for agony, and maybe agony isn't the worst thing that can happen. Maybe we stare into the dark and see the worst possible past, present and future and we keep going, we keep living despite it. We have to.

Sorry if this is long, I'll try to tag all the potential triggers in this but please dm me if I missed one.

Tldr I think ugly is beautiful because it's unique and I like to know the truth even if it's sad and gross

[anfae]

Okayyy, I wrote a long post in reply to an ask and then tumblr refused to save it, and then the ask disappeared (lucky I took a screencap)

Let's try like this

I'm very glad you noticed it because I spend a lot of time on those little details (also I like whiskers) so thanks!!

I'm the kind of chaotic artist who has no idea what they're doing, and I'm also bad at explaining stuff but I'll try. I don't know if it'll help, especially if you're starting out, because I've been drawing for as long as I remember and doing watercolors for over a decade. It's normal to do bad and messy art at first, I did lots in high school. Something I like with watercolor art in general is that artists have their own way of handling it and that's a huge part of their style. You might not be able to paint like me, but you'll grow your own amazing style.

Sooo basically I have two ways of painting whiskers (note that I always draw them with a pencil first):

dark whiskers on a lighter background. I don't have wips showing it on the wolf, but you can see a before/after. I use a brush with a very thin tip, load it with just a tiny bit of watercolor and paint thin lines. When I mess up a line, I add water to lift the paint and erase it. It'll often leave a slight mark though, especially if the paint had dried.

white whiskers - using masking fluid. I apply the masking fluid with a dip pen before painting, tbh this is a pain in the ass because it dries too quickly and makes clumps, but I can remove it and reapply as many times I need. After painting I remove it and fix any mishap, the whiskers are often still too thick so I add paint on the edges to make them thinner.

I also soften and darken them, for example on the black cat I painted a light grey on the base and tip of each whisker.

white whiskers - without masking fluid (still not white paint though). I think I've done that only for my pocket cat, I 'just' painted around the whiskers with a thin thin brush. This is only doable with a few tiny whiskers on a plain background (also I have good eyes and a steady hand, thank goat)

And here's a video I took while applying the masking fluid on the tiger's whiskers:

[audiovisualrecall]

Here is what i wrote:

I posted these not because I wanted compliments (though I appreciate them! I love that other people like what I make!) but rather to say, look, it's not 'talent', it's practice. I had to train my brain to understand how to draw the way I do now. It didn't appear overnight and it wasn't in me from birth, the only thing I had was a love of creating things and an inability to not create things. A love of art, or making, and a stubbornness to draw things I liked a lot. An obsession with a certain subject that I wanted to draw a lot.

A lot of those things i made were 'bad', were things I don't display and wouldn't normally post. People with absurdly long arms, dragons with wings that make no sense at all, faces with eyes two vastly different sizes, cats with impractical proportions, awkward, stilted action scenes, buildings and cars that barely resemble either. But they got me where I am. And I still struggle with translating my vision to paper, and I still make things and go ehhh nope, I absolutely look at other people's artwork and go 'I want to draw/paint like that!' Or even, 'I hate that I can't make my work look like that'. I just don't really let that stop me from creating something, anything at all, generally speaking. Artist's block happens, of course.

And also, while pretty, finished pieces with full color or shading are nice, enjoyable to look at, or to hang on a wall or to post and say proudly look what I made, enjoy it, tell me what you think!.... that's not the be-all end-all of Art. Appreciating the journey and the rough sketches and the silly doodles is important because all of that is just as much art as the finished, glossy thing.

I don't draw cars much because I'm bad at it and I don't like looking at or making bad art, even though I *know* I can only get better at it with practice, but it feels like a waste of my time *because cars are not a subject I'm interested in* and I only have so much free time to make art in. But that's the key thing, there, what I starred: if I love/am interested in/obsessed with the subject I'm drawing, I will keep trying and keep doodling and sketching and painting it even if what I put out doesn't look right to me, doesn't look like how I want it to, doesn't say what I want it to, isn't 'perfect'.

This is all to say, please never say you cant be an artist, you cant draw, you cant draw like [so and so], you can't draw a straight line (neither can I! Its surprisingly not that important to art!), or tell artists they're so talented, because that's all really just self deprecating and defeatist, please just try. And try again. And keep drawing and look at what you make and look for the things you like about it. And then keep doing it. Try it differently. Try it messy, try it loud, try drawing to music or while listening to audio books, try it with crayons, with charcoal, with children's watercolors, with fancy materials, with basic no.2 pencils. Just create, even if it's 'bad'!

Just... final note: You don't need to take shortcuts to produce fanart of your favorite thing. You really don't want ro try drawing? Consider commissioning an artist, maybe?

Intimidated by the idea of practicing for years when all you want is to have finished pieces you can be proud of? I'm...not sure what to tell you, there. I used to look for artists on deviantart with color-able pern dragon 'bases' that I would then color in and share with credit. You could also do collages or mood boards or see if snyome has any coloring pages or paint by numbers, because those are fun to do and enjoy. But you can make art. I recommend crayons or pastels or markers, tbh. sometimes pencil is...difficult to do some things with. You can stick to one or two colors or go crazy with colors.'

....I kinda ran out of steam at the end there but I'm hoping someone sees it and it helps someone. The real thing the ai discussion has brought to my attention is that SO many people think they absolutely cannot draw, they didn't get some magical gift to be able to have the talent for it, and that means they can't pick up a pencil and draw anyway because it'll be bad, and they don't want to draw badly they want to draw really really good, because they want to be able to post pretty, glossy, finished pieces that match the image in their minds, and they want other people to see it and compliment their artwork and enjoy it. And they don't want to hear that it can take at least 10-15 years to go from 'bad' drawings to 'good', polished work. (Even tho it's not a strict linear progression, anyway).

[emeritiii]

Heck do all the asks

I had two more cups of coffee while working on these and my nervous system is undergoing a transformation

1. Art programs you have but don't use

I bought Clip Studio Paint on sale but still haven't dragged myself over the learning curve. I also have FireAlpaca downloaded and only use that for cropping images.

2. Is it easier to draw someone facing left or right (or forward even)

I find forward the easiest! Left and right are about the same for me, but I also do a lot of canvas-flipping, and about half the time the angle I start drawing is not the angle I end up with.

3. What ideas come from when you were little

Project-wise? I still kick around character designs from when I was a kid. In general, I think the brightest constant is that I do pretty much exclusively character art and not scenery, still life, or real-world living subjects because all my ideas are related to fiction.

4. Fav character/subject that's a bitch to draw

I love monsters and extremely complex character designs, but they're hell on my stamina.

5. Estimate of how much of your art you post online vs. the art you keep for yourself

Right now, I post maybe ten percent of my art? Most of it is just for me or for one other person.

6. Anything that might inspire you subconsciously (i.e. this horse wasn't supposed to look like the Last Unicorn but I see it)

I guarantee there are still remnants of anime influence in my art, since anime and manga were what really cemented my identity as an "artist" (insofar as I can cal myself one, which is probably up for debate). One bit of evidence that comes to mind is my love of like... knockoff chibis? I don't think I can call them chibis, but funky lil guys.

7. A medium of art you don't work in but appreciate

*Watercolor.* My sister works mainly with watercolor and it's something I have never been able to grasp.

8. What's an old project idea that you've lost interest in

At some point I wanted to make a collection of group pictures with the main characters from all of my comfort stories.

9. What are your file name conventions

You need to see the thumbnail if you're going to have any idea what the file contains. I drew a three-part series of doodles and the filenames are "BEE," "too," and "tree." I'm also fond of variations on "HELP" and "ohno."

10. Favorite piece of clothing to draw

Tailcoats or long, flowy dresses

11. Do you listen to anything while drawing? If so, what

Whatever I'm feeling! Music, a podcast, an audiobook, a YouTube video that doesn't require me to look at it, a stream if I'm on a call with ~Geoffrey~ while she's playing a game. I'm not picky but my autistic ass (affectionate) needs the sensory input to focus

12. Easiest part of body to draw

Lukewarm take, I know, but eyes. Or eyebrows if I'm allowed to be a smartass

13. A creator who you admire but whose work isn't your thing

I don't know anything about this person so it's purely from an artistic standpoint, but I respect how wildly recognizable the JJBA art style is (the actual art, the expressions and poses, the character designs, all the things)

14. Any favorite motifs

e y e s and also bones and time-related symbols

15. *Where* do you draw (don't drop your ip address this just means do you doodle at a park or smth)

Almost entirely at home at my desk, but sometimes I doodle during downtime at work

16. Something you are good at but don't really have fun doing

*U h* I don't think I'm good at a wide enough variety of things to have an answer to this

17. Do you eat/drink when drawing? if so, what

I need to have a drink nearby at all times or I will Die. Flavored water, soda, and coffee are the big three, but I also like sweet tea and assorted fruit juices. I don't love eating while drawing for sensory/cleanliness reasons, but sometimes I'll have something crunchy

18. An estimate of how much art supplies you've broken

Not too many! I do tend to mangle colored pencils because I'm too rough when sharpening them, but I don't use a lot of materials that are easy to break and I'm neurotically careful with my tablet because I can't replace it. The closest I've come to breaking that was keeping the cord in a drawer my kitten learned how to open

19. Favorite inanimate objects to draw (food, nature, etc.)

Anything That Glows

20. Something everyone else finds hard to draw but you enjoy

Armor, mechanical parts, and bones. I'm not saying I don't find them difficult, mind you, but I love it

21. Art styles nothing like your own but you like anyways

Slowly grasps Cinder's sleeve. Also Fern's. Also ~Geoffrey's~. If I have to choose someone I don't know personally, crow-caller

22. What physical exercises do you do before drawing, if any

This is a thing I definitely *should* do :)

23. Do you use different layer modes

YEAH I abuse Multiply and Screen

24. Do your references include stock images

Oh naturally. AdorkaStock is my go-to

25. Something your art has been compared to that you were NOT inspired by

Nothing that I can think of? I think that's mostly because the art communities I used to participate in heavily discouraged comparison, so I haven't heard any variant of "Your art reminds me of ____" in at least five years.

26. What's a piece that got a wildly different interpretation from what you intended

I don't have anything specific on hand, but I had a friend in middle school who jumped to sexualizing everything I drew, if that counts. There's not a lot to interpret in my art, though. It's. How do I put "shallow" nicely?

27. Do you warm up before getting to the good stuff? If so, what is it you draw to warm up with

This is another thing I should really do!

28. Any art events you have participated in the past (like zines)

I used to do Art Fight.

29. Media you love, but doesn't inspire you artistically

Most live-action media! I also don't generally feel artistic inspiration from podcasts—the exception would be TTRPG podcasts, but even those don't tend to do it for me unless the characters have canon designs.

30. What piece of yours do you think is underrated

I don't have it anymore, but there was a drawing I did a few months ago of two characters of mine. It came out to about twenty hours of work (which is a lot for me) and no one really seemed to like it, but I attribute that in part to the fact that I drew a lot of it in a stream, which kind of desensitizes people.

[iztopher]

hi. at this point it may be evident what i'm about to say. but for that ask meme: ALL OF THE QUESTIONS

JHFDASK YESSSS okay here we go!!!

1. Art programs you have but don't use: Clip Studio Paint!! I pretty much ONLY use it for the grid and text feature, otherwise I don't like the workflow haha

2. Is it easier to draw someone facing left or right (or forward even): Drawing in profile is the same to me from either direction, but for 3/4 view, I naturally gravitate towards / find it easier to draw people facing left

3. What ideas come from when you were little: Since I've been into Aveyond for so long, and that's what I mostly draw, I have a lot of ideas that pretty much originated as "I wanted to draw this as a kid and didn't have the skill to"!

4. Fav character/subject that's a bitch to draw: Te'ijal and also Galahad. it's the hair.

5. Estimate of how much of your art you post online vs. the art you keep for yourself: Finished art I'd say I share a good 90% of it! Once we get into sketches... hoo boy, maybe 40%?

6. Anything that might inspire you subconsciously (i.e. this horse wasn't supposed to look like the Last Unicorn but I see it): Whatever this is, it's either too specific to the piece or too subconscious for me to think of it

7. A medium of art you don't work in but appreciate: traditional illustration, painting, watercolor...

8. What's an old project idea that you've lost interest in: A heads up that my answer to this is sad but I'm trying to talk about this type of stuff relatively openly, so: spring 2021, I watched Willy's Wonderland for the first time w/ Ishti + Moonie; we kept talking about a Galahad & Mel AU for it. I had two pictures for it planned, and I drew one of them, and... the timing worked out where Moonie never got to see it, and I've lost the motivation to do the second one. But I like the first one and I'm glad I drew it and I take some comfort/peace in the fact that I was working on something I was excited to share with her at the time.

9. What are your file name conventions: I have a folder for all my art, a subfolder for every year, and then a subfolder for every month, which means there isn't that much overlap! so unless I have a funny title idea my file name conventions are generally pretty straightforward: "mella1.sai", "teijalahad.sai", "teijalstudy.sai" etc etc

10. Favorite piece of clothing to draw: Does armor count? If not, gambesons.

11. Do you listen to anything while drawing? If so, what: Yes!!! Pretty much always music, occasionally video essays. Usually I'll pick a song and play it on loop, or if I'm in the mood for more variety I'll pick a playlist or an artist and listen through that. I also really like drawing while on call with people.

12. Easiest part of body to draw: I'm so sorry for my answer. Boobs.

13. A creator who you admire but whose work isn't your thing: I'm not sure I have an answer for this one, actually - there's a lot of artists I like the work of who I wouldn't want to emulate, but that feels different to me?

14. Any favorite motifs: Not really, in theory I really love flowers but I almost never draw them

15. *Where* do you draw (don't drop your ip address this just means do you doodle at a park or smth): I used to draw pretty much everywhere, but post chronic pain it's my desk only because using a tablet hurts wayyy less than a sketchbook!

16. Something you are good at but don't really have fun doing: Landscapes / natural areas from photographs lol

17. Do you eat/drink when drawing? if so, what: Water ALL the time, coffee if it lines up properly

18. An estimate of how much art supplies you've broken: Very few!! Probably less than 10. I mostly draw digitally

19. Favorite inanimate objects to draw (food, nature, etc.): ARMOR AND WEAPONS

20. Something everyone else finds hard to draw but you enjoy: Hands and armor!

21. Art styles nothing like your own but you like anyways: Honestly the art styles unlike mine that I like tend to be ones... I wish I had... I'm really drawn to realistic, somber, softer stuff

22. What physical exercises do you do before drawing, if any: Tendon gliding exercises! Tbh I should start doing more, it might help

23. Do you use different layer modes: VERY rarely, mostly not

24. Do your references include stock images: Yessss

25. Something your art has been compared to that you were NOT inspired by: I KNOW this has happened but I'm totally blanking on it

26. What's a piece that got a wildly different interpretation from what you intended: I'm not sure if this counts but pretty much any time I get a "cute!" response on a te'ijalahad picture I'm like oh no please do not say that,

27. Do you warm up before getting to the good stuff? If so, what is it you draw to warm up with: I tend to warm up by drawing a headshot of the character I'm going to be drawing, but lately I've been trying to shift to warm ups that are more focused on like, the action of drawing and loosening up

28. Any art events you have participated in the past (like zines): I participated in a zine that ended up not happening, and I've done several fandom exchanges!! Mostly the Aveyond Winter Exchange, but also the Oneshot Podcast Network exchange on AO3 (yeah it was AO3 but I did art for it)

29. Media you love, but doesn't inspire you artistically: Infinity Train!!! absolutely adore it, the art style doesn't really inspire me at all & because I got into it in the thick of my hand pain I never got used to drawing it

30. What piece of yours do you think is underrated: None! I mostly draw Aveyond so pretty much all of my art is in the 1-10 response zone so it all feels pretty consistent gdjkgklsdf

[alta-et-astra]

It's been a little over a month since I started my now wildly successful new habit of working on writing projects for a little bit from bed right before I go to sleep. More specifically, if I'm writing, the goal is 500 words. If it's research or editing or something, then it's whatever I feel like. As always, it's not the going that's difficult, it's the getting started.

I've actually learned about my creative process recently thanks to this new habit. I've known for a while that I am heavily influenced by mood and have a short attention span when it comes to creative endeavors. I will work on a writing project one day, a painting the next, a paper mache sculpture for a couple of days after that, and then something completely different. Lately I've gotten a lot better about circling back to some of those and finishing them up, but it takes a long time to finish anything.

And that's kind of the lesson I've learned. Due to my interest in everything, I will always be very slow in finishing things. And maybe that might mean that I can't do small writing exercises or do little sketches because I'm always playing catch up on all these big project ideas that I have. AND THAT'S OK!

I'm making progress on all the things I like! With the new writing habit, in a month I've written two fic chapters, edited two chapters, posted one new chapter, started working on a short story, and started doing research for a novel that I have been contemplating for about a year.

And if I was only interested in the art of writing, that might not count as enough for me in one month, but in that one month I've also finished two paintings and started an epic paper mache sculpture of a dragon for my son. And frankly, that's a lot of cool, creative, beautiful stuff that now exists in the world because I had the will to make it.

I was recently exploring watercolors again (see, one of the aforementioned paintings) and it was a lot more difficult than my memories and all those process reels on Insta would have you believe. And I don't know if it's my materials (I refuse to get actual squirrel hair paint brushes and I guess the synthetic ones aren't as good at holding water????) or my lack of skill, but I can't just drop everything to study watercolors like all these other artists I'm seeing online. I can't create the sheer amount of work I see online from these professional artists in the same amount of time, with the same ease. And to expect myself to do so is insanity!

What makes my art special is that I am so all over the place. The fact that I love painting and sculpture and embroidery and writing (and, and, and....). I may not be a master of one, but by the goddess I'll be at least decent at everything I want to try!

[arty-angel-things]

Hello! I finally made a pinned post!

I'm Angelica/Angie/Angel/Arty! You can call me pretty much anything as long as it's not malicious and I'll be chill.

Mostly she/her pronouns but I do enjoy the occasional they/them, idk bro, it just feels nice.

This is my arts and crafts blog! Everything you see here, unless reblogged from someone else, will be art by me, crafts by me, and photos taken by me!

While I am an adult, this blog will remain primarily PG and PG-13 with some mature themes but always SFW, I promise! Follow/interact with that in mind, please and thank you.

If something I post should be tagged for your own viewing experience, let me know in an ask and I'll try to tag it while also adding the tag to this post but I'm notoriously bad at that so also just feel free to block me, I won't be offended.

Links:

Personal Blog

Current Proudest Work

-Discontinued THSC blog

Tags I use sometimes:

-#my art stuff

-#crafts

-#watercolor

-#doodles

-#bookbinding

Fandoms:

I have a lot and they're not all tagged but some include

-Undertale

-Five Nights At Freaddy's: Security Breach (specifically the daycare attendant, I don't much interact with the rest of the fandom)

-The Henry Stickmin Collection

-Minecraft YouTube/Dream SMP/Hermitcraft

-My Hero Academia/Boku No Hero Academia

DISCLAIMER

If you send me an ask advertising a go-fund-me or ANY kind of fundraising/asking for money, I WILL REPORT YOU.

I automatically assume it's ALL a scam. I understand some of you actually need help, and I'm sorry you're in those positions, but this is TUMBLR. This is my blog. This is where I come to have fun. Any charitable donations I make will be by my own decision, to official groups, and that is NONE of y'all's business.

This is especially infuriating because none of you follow me, and I don't follow you. I'm assuming 100% of you are scammers, and you're profiting off of the suffering of others.

Send an ask for money? Get reported, get blocked. It's as simple as that.

[carito-dorito]

So my watercolours are covered in fungus and stuff now even tho I haven't used them until a week ago... And I guess I'm not going to paint traditionally for a long while and it was the only thing I wanted to do after all the shit I've been dealing these weeks.