#im putting this in a faq so other people know not to ask about it too

[pien-art]

-FAQ-

Hello! I've gained a whole bunch of followers lately and I've been getting a lot of questions about commissions, what my setup is, what brushes I use, etc, so I thought I'd make a post about it to answer everyone's questions at once !

Putting them under the cut <3

Commissions:

Commission prices are listed in my pinned post. You can send me a private message about your commission idea and we can get to talking :) It is helpful to have enough references handy (character, outfit, descriptions etc)

I am generally a fast drawer but I also have a job and a physical disability so there might be moments I can't work on your commission. But that is never longer than a few days at most.

Payment is upfront, the full amount and via paypal only. I know this might seem a bit scary but unfortunately there are a lot of people who end up not paying for commissions and I want to avoid that.

During the process I will send you frequent updates and will ask for input, to see if it is going in the direction you want. You can ask for changes during the sketching progress but once I've started on line-art and coloring, no big changes will happen. (You can for example ask for a different color for a shirt etc, but not for a different prop or pose or expression)

When it is completed, I will send the drawing to you via email. The drawing will remain mine and it is not to be sold or profited of by the person who commissioned me. If the commission is for something commercial/for selling, that needs to be discussed. I prefer to do drawings only for personal use!

For more questions, my dms/asks are open :)

How long have I been doing digital art:

I've been drawing digitally for about 5 years now i think? But before that I've been drawing and painting traditionally literally since the moment I could pick up a pencil.

Set-up:

It's just me and my ipad and apple pencil laying on my bed. I wouldn't even know where to begin for those whole multi-monitor/screen setups ;-; I draw only with Procreate

Brushes:

I tend to play with different brushes from time to time to get different textures, but generally i use the same few for most of my drawings/styles. My favorite one is the Peppermint Brush, for sketching. I use it in every drawing i make! I always sketch with it, and often do the line-art with it as well! And it makes for a nice textured brush for rendering as well! (i used it for a lot of rendering of the armor in this drawing)

The (procreate) brushes i use a lot are

for medieval style: inking - Ink Bleed (for line-art) artistic - Quoll (for coloring)

for general style: calligraphy - Chalk (coloring/rendering) sketching - Peppermint (line-art/sketching)

for realism: calligraphy - Shale Brush (full rendering) Also using the shale brush for smudging and erasing when drawing realistic

for lineart: smooth pencil from this pack by Heygiudi

How/why do you choose a base color:

I tend to look at a few different things when deciding on a base color/color palette.

the overall color of the reference pic

the color i associate with who or what i am drawing

the feeling/vibe i want to give off with that drawing

color has a BIG impact on the vibe of a drawing, so it is something i keep in mind when im drawing.

Using a color as a base to start, helps a lot with my drawing process. It helps me pick out other colors so they match better. It helps me get light/dark values right. And the chalk brush i use, has gaps between the strokes, so the base color will always come through a little. Having the same color come through in the entire drawing, helps pull all the colors together if that makes sense? I always start with a solid base color when i am painting traditionally as well!

Advice:

PRACTICE!!! just keep drawing and practice. I know this is such generic advice but truly practice is The Way. Learn from other artists but don't compare yourself to them. Everyone's artistic journey is different and there's no "good" or "bad". And most importantly make sure that you have fun when you're making stuff :3

I also learn a lot by studying art I admire and love. Figuring out what it is I like about it. (for example, the line thickness or the shapes or texture etc), and try to incorporate that in my own style in a way that is not directly copying or stealing.

[meruz]

📌

hi tumblr my name is meruz im a bg artist who works in animation. i do comic projects and fanart in my free time. my art tag is #meruzart

portfolio / digital store / print store / misc. links (linktr.ee)

📝 FAQ below!

Can I use your art as ______?

8Tracks and Spotify Playlists: Go ahead! please credit me either meruz.tumblr.com twitter@automeruz or ig@automeruz -  AND SEND ME THE PLAYLIST this is not a requirement really but I would love to listen to it.

Social Media Layouts/Icons/Headers: Good by me! but again PLEASE credit me somewhere VISIBLE on the layout. If it’s a twitter or insta header/icon credit my twitter/insta @automeruz and if its tumblr credit my tumblr @meruz​

Phone BGs, Desktop Wallpapers: definitely ok!! Any personal and non-commercial use of this nature, I’m cool with. If you ask me, I may even send you a hi-res version of the file but you have to promise to not scam me and sell it lol…

Instagram Reposts: A lot of artists would say no but I’m gonna say go ahead as long as you credit and tag me in the post, again my ig is @automeruz - if you don’t, and I find it, I will bug you about it in the comments and possibly even report you. Nothing personal, its just standard procedure.

Twitter/Tumblr Re-posts: Don’t?? Just RT or RB it from me?? whats wrong with you? I will report this.

Other site re-posts: I’ll probably say yes but again please credit and for this one PLEASE ask me first. It’s nothing personal really, I just want to know where my work shows up.

Video edits/fancams/comic dubs: Yes! Absolutely go ahead! Credit would be much appreciated but moreover please send me a link I especially love to see this stuff!!

I also reserve all rights to have you take it down if I do not agree with the usage or context, especially association with politics on the webpage/app/etc. 

What do you use to draw?

I have a surface pro 8 at home and I use a 22in cintiq at work. Occasionally… I do personal art at work LOL. I use Photoshop CC almost exclusively except the occasional phone drawing which I’ll do on HeavyPaint or Autodesk Sketchbook (but mostly Heavypaint). What brushes do you use? For painting I use the same horrible brushes I downloaded from deviantart like 14 years ago and I cobbled them together for download here. And for lines ive been using shiyoon kim’s brushes which you can grab here. 

What do you use for plein air paintings? If it’s digital, almost exclusively Heavypaint. Traditional, I use gouache. A mix of Holbein acryla and normal gouache either windsor newton or m. graham.

What kind of sketchbook do you use? I use moleskine cahier XXL sketchbooks! I’ve been using moleskine cahiers for probably over 10 yrs now? they come in packs of 3 for like 30USD (the price went up recently booo but $10 per book is still not bad) for the largest size. I think a lot of people associate moleskine with intimidatingly fancy covers & paper but the cahiers are rly lightweight and flexible. you can bend the xxl into a roll like a newspaper and the covers are a light cardboard so you can draw all over them. I always have trouble with spiral sketchbooks getting fucked up in my backpack because I really throw my stuff around a lot but the binding on the cahiers can take a beating and have never fallen apart on me.

Do you take commissions?

Yes, occasionally. But it changes depending on my workload - please e-mail me at isellhotdogs@gmail.com for any inquiries!

Do you have a store?

I have a itch.io here for mostly digital goods.

and I have an INPRNT store here which is print on demand so if there’s anything you’d like to see on there that isn’t just ask and I can generally put it up!

[stormyoceans]

The dark season is nice for some, but quite hard for others.

To tackle this, we're launching once again this year's "Secret Helpers" and everyone is invited to join in!

How does it work?

It's very simple!

Choose 5 fan works. It doesn't matter whether they are gifs, video edits, fanarts, metas, analyses or fanfictions. Do you have something that has completely changed, inspired, destroyed or touched you? THAT'S what you need!

And now it goes on

Step 2: Write feedback to the creator of your favorite. No matter how long, how short, no matter what language, no matter if anonymous or under your official account, write what you liked and why. Jump over your shadow and let them know that this work of theirs has given you a good time.

Step 3: Spread "Secret Helpers" anonymously to others. No matter who you come across on tumblr or elsewhere on the internet, whether mutual or random, send them the instructions and let them keep spreading good news.

A lot of things are not going well lately. So we try to let those who give us a little break in the chaos know that we're glad to have them.

FAQ:

I have only seen one fan work that I liked. - No problem, write to the person anyway.

Isn't that weird? - Nope. (We are on the internet. Everything is kinda weird and ey, you don’t have to use your official account to send the feedback)

There. Are. TOO MANY! - 5 is a minimum number. If you have the time, write to as many as you want, everyone will be happy to get some compliments on their work!

The creators I like are all totally unknown - Especially for fanartists who don't get much feedback yet, each of those is worth its weight in gold. The fanfiction is amazing, but only has 2 comments? Become number 3! The fanart has 36 likes, but looks like a fucking work of art? Write that to the creator! Motivation is all babeyyy, regardless of whether it's the fandom favorite or someone completely new.

Have fun and good luck Secret Helpers!

THIS IS SUCH A LOVELY PROJECT!!!!!!!!! it's so important to spread positivity, especially to content creators who often have to deal with a lack of feedback and their works getting stolen, so im glad you gave me the chance to do this by sharing it with me, anon, thank you!!!!!!

i think that to follow the rules of the project i should probably write to the creators in private or by sending them an ask (?), but to try to give them more visibility and help them reach new people who maybe aren't familiar with their works yet, i thought i could talk a little about some of my favorites here (not that i have that many followers but you know. also for the two creators who aren't on tumblr i WILL make sure to leave them a nice comment too), so here we go!!!!!

in no particular order:

the entire vice versa web weaving series by @daymork. i tell you i wish i could have all these edits collected in one of those fancy ass art books with a hard cover that cost almost a hundred bucks just so that i could flip through it at any given moment to contemplate the beauty of said edits and cry myself to sleep holding it to my chest as i think about puentalay. i have no idea how jessi did it but every single quote she used for these is so perfect that no matter how many times i reread them they never fail to reduce me to a sobbing mess of a woman who is in dire need of receiving mental health care provided by professionals in an institutionalized setting. my point is. i love them. i love them a lot.

the quote by ocean vuong last twilight edit by @morkofday. i could literally put any of vish’s vice versa edits here because it’s like they’re all specially crafted to deal as much emotional damage as humanly possible to me personally, but in the end i decided to pick this one because, to this day, it’s still my favorite last twilight edit ever made. there's just something about it that stayed with me since i first saw it a whole year ago (im not even kidding when i say i think about it an average of twelve times per day) and even if it was done based on the mock trailer alone, vish was somehow able to perfectly capture the spirit of the show, not just by using that particular quote (which is incredibly spot on like when day and mork were talking about tenderness in episode 4 i thought of this edit right away and had to go punch through a wall to cope) but also because of the colors and the pictures that she chose.

the the man who can't be moved puentalay gifset by @seatawinans. you think episode 11 of vice versa has already reached the pinnacle of life altering emotional devastation and cathartic experience, and then you see this gifset and suddenly you find yourself decaying into subatomic particles to cope, committing grand scale larceny and arson to deal, and doing daily affirmations like 'this is affecting me a normal amount! :)' in front of the mirror every morning to survive. truly i have no words to properly express just how much the 'thinking maybe you'll come back here to the place that we'd meet/and you'll see me waiting for you on the corner of the street' lines over the glasshouse scenes make me sick in the head, it's the parallelism romanticism soulmatism of it all and somehow cassi managed to make it worse (read: better).

the underneath the stars by the cure morkday fanart by twitter user @bleu1te. i honestly love all of bleuité's puentalay and morkday works so much, there's just something so soft and tender in the way this artist draws them that every time i look at their art it gives me the same feeling of safety and comfort that i so deeply associate with these two pairings. i picked this one in particular because i fell in love with it as soon as i saw it, i love the colors, i love the starry sky behind them, i love their expressions, and most of all i love the hand placement. idk how to explain it, but i think the way they're touching just really conveys how much they adore each other.

the enchanted by taylor swift morkday video by twitter user @jimmyseagatitos. you know when someone punches you in the stomach and it hurts so much that you just start laughing hysterically? this is the closest description i can give to try to explain what this video did to me on a psychological emotional spiritual mental and physical level. and because apparently im a masochist i've been rewatching it only like 92649626 times in the span of three days. i also think it's pretty damn genius to end the edit on the 'i'll spend forever wondering if you knew' line of the song because it leaves everything unspoken just what mork never got to say.

this is obviously very far from being a comprehensive list (especially since my memory is pretty bad and my main interests are currently very limited ;;;;), so for the next couple of weeks i will try to reach out to my favorite creators (in private this time, i promise) and give them some love!!!!! and if anyone sees this, please consider doing it too!!!!!

[arcadekitten]

Arcadekitten, ive Seen a concerning amount of proshippers in your fandom. (IM NOT ONE MYSELF) what is your opinion on proshippers/comshippers (they ship things like kid x adult.) because I keep seeing them say you enjoy them and I know that isn’t true, i can just tell it isn’t true

I want to preface this by saying I think labels like "proship" and "antiship" can be super unhelpful and people should just say exactly what they mean.

THAT being said I have said explicitly on multiple occasions that I don't support minor x adult ships or incest. It is even outlined on my FAQ AND my "Imporant!" story highlight on instagram like so:

Anyone who tells you I support or condone those kinds of ships is putting words in my mouth, and those words taste disgusting! And I find it incredibly disrespectful if someone is straight-up lying about me just to push their own narrative.

I have asked on multiple occasions that people don't do things like minor x adult ships and incest ships with my characters. And while I can't control what other people do, I would hope that you wouldn't do things that cross my boundaries if you respect me and my work. (And that you also wouldn't lie about me??)

Thank you for understanding!

[aicosu]

I hope this isn’t something you get asked a million times, & I couldn’t find anything in the FAQ about asking about fic progress… but… :’) I first want to thank you for putting so much time & care into Lilac & Lush. The piece is so beloved in my circles, and it’s very dear to me as well. You are in no way beholden to complete something that has already brought people such joy, but I & others are dying to know, are there are any plans to possibly update this year?

Again, I apologize if this is something of a touchy subject, or if the topic is the cause of any sort of stress. You’re not just a jaw-droppingly talented cosplayer; you also have an authentic gift for writing, and this is, before all else, an expression of gratitude. Thank you, sincerely. 💟

DOES IT HELP THAT I WANT TO FINISH IT!?!?

I HAVE PLANS TO LIKE ALL MY FICS!!! Sorry I do so much shit Im actively trying to kill my other hobbies

[mint-yooxgi]

Why are you so rude to your asks? Is it bad that people are excited and interested in your writing? I love your stories, but jeeze, if you get that pissed when people ask about the next chapters, etc, im not going to support anymore

You should be happy they are interested in your stuff

So, I got this ask earlier and it’s just been sitting in my inbox, but I think I’m finally ready to answer it. I think I’m a little less appalled now than when I got it, but seriously?

I don’t know how many times I need to state don’t ask for updates for people to get it, but some never do. I’m setting personal boundaries which are clearly being ignored and constantly disrespected by people just because I’m not producing content fast enough for them. That’s not even counting the five seconds it takes to click my FAQ link in my bio to check. Of course I’m going to be standoffish when MY OWN FUCKING BOUNDARIES ARE DISRESPECTED.

I’m tired of repeating myself. It’s annoying, entitled, and literally does not make me want to write faster when I get asks that pertain to updates. I already put so much pressure on myself as a writer to not only update quickly, but just make sure the story flows well, connects to itself, and it doesn’t read like I was forced to write. I’m human, I have a life outside my blog. I don’t spend all day at my computer typing out a story. My blog is for ME and so are my stories. I have good days and I have off days. I’m human, not a fucking content spewing machine.

There’s also a very clear difference between someone asking “when’s the next update?” Or “next update of X when?” And “looking forward to the next chapter!” One is encouraging and supportive, the other is demanding. I don’t know very many people who would be “polite” to someone demanding something of them. Adding a “compliment” to it doesn’t mean anything to me, and is in fact, very backhanded. To me, it says, “yeah, you’re a decent writer but you’re not producing ENOUGH” and “give me more!”

That’s not okay with me. It has NEVER been okay with me.

Also, if that’s how you want to act, then it’s no loss to me if you stop supporting me. People are not entitled to me, my blog, or my writing, and if this is the way you think… I’m sorry, but don’t let the door hit you on the way out.

[ticholasnesla]

Nimona (2023), friends.

First of all thank u to the people who made these great gifs!!! This is presumptuous of me but i truly hope u dont mind me featuring them! This is the first of - hopefully many - years of my Media Gifventure for the Holiday Season of 2023. I will go into more details if i need. So.

🥺

man of the hour. Man of the Year. Gold Star. 🌟

Gif use Disclaimer, I hope me making this post with these gifs isnt overstepping 🙂‍↕️💛 people who upload gifs, which, 9/10 times, they made themselves, are one of the most supportive vertebrae communities of Tumblr. 🫡👏👏 bravo chudovyy splendid чудовий mykola please tell me what i should remove and i will remove.

Above all else, Thank u.

anyways here's3 something i hope is going to be fun. Last chance. Gif heavy, flash warning excessive emojis, stupid shite and a dog.

🐕 . . . 🤎

nimona beat my ass yall. It beat my family's ass yall.

That's a Ss²+Gold ranked film if ever i saw one. Congrats Neæs@tflix - Nimona, and congrats ND Stevenson.

Ss²+Gold means Soupsoup Squared PLUS Gold which MEANS

+4 of thees bad boys!!!!!!!!

Enjoy!

i stop talking about strictly Nimona Heere.

so with that all said and done...i was Thinking... part 2?

disclaimer pls read the 👎 RULES. Trans rights human rights. Protect trans kids. Pronouns for your Hostess this evening are she/he/they. this isnt a nft thing so dont talk to me about that. and im not writing free reviews or reading your book. I just wanna award movies and webtoons and webcomics without putting any real artistic effort in (except when i WANT to put real artistic effort in) and also feature some great indie/non indie stuff In a (hopefully) positive light 🔮 shit i might even do requests. Or sketches. Imagine. 🐙

PROCEED 👎to RULES and engage in critical thought and problem soliving before sending me asks.💢

That being said, keep it PG. All asks are good asks and i will develop an FAQ if need be!

Rules 👎 down dere keep scrolling and reading. Thx. But first

Do u wanna submit something to be considered for a Soup GoldTM? Submit your favourite,

Webcomic

Youtube channel

Trending topic

Webtoon

youtube series

Manga

Anime

Plot twists

Lesser known artists

Indie artists

Podcasts

Heartbreaks /no actual bummers pls.

Memes etc etceteree

that kept you warm this 2023! And for my immediate needs, Happened in 2023. For this thing, i will only accept submissions til new yrs day. Is that peechy?

👎👎Ok finally rules for real. Proceed to pig 🐷 for tldr

Keep it pg🦉

K.I.S.S - keep it simple, Saoirse🦆

Stay in your Lane 🫎🦍🐏🪿

Dont message strangers on the internet if you're under 18.🔴And if you do KEEP your age out of their inbox. 🪺🐣🐊

Adult media is fine but i want to keep it Prime Time 🦐🐚 🪸🪼🐠🚦🐬

66I know i might be typing like a fucking bunyak but i wanna have FUN and talk about FUN STUFF my past 3 years has been ROUGH, BAYBEE. I miss my parents, Tails. I miss them a lot. /not a joke.

💐🦋🕊🐝🦂🦈🐄🐓🦤🦀🦀🦅🪱🥀🦽🏥🏥🏥🏥🏥🏥🫀🌎☀️🌜🪐🌬🌪🌦🌈☔️🔥☃️🎅🏡🎆🪻🌷💐🫀🐦‍⬛🚜👨‍🌾💚🤟💒💊🌋🏞🎡🛝🚛🚚🛻🚲

I am but flesh n blood n bone.

Please keep in mind i will only do what i have the jnj marbles for, but i will dedicate a lot of my downtime to this and i really want to have a good experience so um if u know a friend, or maybe want to tag cool accounts to maybe look over here yoo hoo hi there hello and do u wannaaa 🐕🐕🐕

Click that rebwog pwease 🥺 pppwease. Ding that like button smash that like button Uw0

This only works on Good Will so dont Play with my heart. We want to have fun.

I do have a DO NOT PASS GO list in my head but i wont reveal whats on it til i come across it ya? 🦩

Thank y for reading the rules. Now.

Me vs you the reader

Proceed to pig for tldr🐷

The Soup Golds and other Soups utilize a vector of Grandma's Soup from Lengend of Zelda Wind Waker that i edited with my phone. I do not claim to own this graphic and am just fucking around.

Submissions that dont pass my sneefing test are welcome and valuable! Incoming bee gif:

🐝

love rubbin my dusty little fingers in new Things and readings. So they will be rewarded either with Unseen, Uninterested, or Unwatchable badges, and might be featured as (dis)/honorable mentions! More nuance on that if the need arises. 🦄🔮👀

🐷Asks are open / pending! Feel free to Lurk/ask questions. Dont be rude or ELSE..u get The PIG 🐷🐷

✋️HYYYYYY

🤘🪑YAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!🐖🐖🐖🐖💨💨💨💨💨💨💨💥⚰️🪦🐽🍄

.. and then the Anon is going off. i dont want to have to do that. 🫠

🐗Let's keep it Frosty🐗

🐖💨💨💨💨Inbox closes Boxing Day! Get ur submissions in Today and get some fun ?

Write a letter and leave me a cookie pls. Im not asking for money i just wanna spend some quality time with u as we ____ 2024.

Here is the dog btw and she's a rottweiler mix.. She's sitting on my foots here and has curly furs all a on her butt. She was a foster fail and is living her best cushy life last i heard about her. I wanna see her again. 🖤🤎🧡🖤🤎🧡

The end. Play Sims 4 but try not to spend money on it. EA's starting to offer free packs that u can download for Free. Console and PC as far as i understand.

Love u. Be back soon.

[pommunist]

(Twitchtracker anon back again)

Im not really super interested in finances or statistics as a job lol, im just a nerd who likes to dig through analytics sometimes. Pretty much my whole essay length ask was made by taking twitchtracker numbers and putting them into a spreadsheet (So i didnt have to do averages manually), with some manual counting by hand for things like the number of streams.

(Also something i realized i missed when i reread my ask, the count of minecraft streams actually starts on the first day of qsmp, not the first day of march 2023 like everything else. Not super important but i wanted to make that one thing clear.)

Yeah i definitely agree that quackity's money doesnt necessarily equal qstudios money. However i also don't think a lot of the people who try and use the idea that "Quackity couldnt afford to pay that many employees" think about things like that, they most likely see quackity as the face and sole person behind his company (it is named after him after all), because you don't ever see them saying "Quackity studios cant afford to pay that many employees".

I do think that it's possible that for quite a while quackity's streams and videos were seemingly the only income stream for the company, with qsmp merch sales only really starting to be available and pushed more recently, and as far as i remember i don't think any qsmp events had sponsors or advertisers involved (I could be wrong here though, im not sure as I don't keep up with all the streams). Again im not personally a quackity viewer myself, so im not sure if he had any personal (quackity branded) merch sales outside qsmp before the start (early 2023, i know he had some back during dsmp but that's a while ago now) or during the qsmp. But from what i understand, he seemingly was doing a lot of the funding of the qsmp on his own.

Of course i don't think all his money was being directly funnelled to qstudios/qsmp, he still needs to pay for housing and utilities and food like the rest of us, as well as his travel to conventions/to meet friends (not saying he shouldn't travel, networking is an important part of any job). But i personally do believe he was basically the sole entity funding qstudios otherwise, unless there's some other income source we aren't aware of.

In regards to twitch monetization, the majority of streamers have a 50/50 split with twitch. Some bigger streamers having a 70/30 split, following the changes in late 2022 this split only applied to the first $100k earned, with everything after that going to 50/50, with that cap then being removed january 24th 2024. There's some stuff with the partner plus program that I honestly don't really understand because again, im not a streamer myself. I have no idea what split quackity has, though he is a partner. (Streamer/twitch for all split numbers btw.)

For how the payouts work, Via Twitch Affiliate Program FAQ: "As explained in the Monetized Streamer Agreement, there are certain costs, taxes, and fees that must be accounted for before you receive subscription revenue. Before the 50/50 split between you and Twitch takes place, deductions are made from the full price of a subscription, including taxes, payment processing fees, bank fees, currency conversion fees, etc. After the split takes place, we still account for required tax withholding, which is reflected in the payout you ultimately see on your dashboard. Twitch does not set or control the rates or fees, and they vary from region to region and by each subscriber’s payment method." Presumably this also applies to the partner program and the other splits.

Subs themselves are $5.99 USD, with other (usually lower when converted to USD) prices depending on the region of the subscriber. There's also ad revenue but I have no idea if quackity runs that many ads (or even runs them at all) seeing as his streams are usually 1.5-3 hours long (with the ads incentive program theres a 55/45 split of ad rev for a minimum of 3 minutes of ads per hour of stream, 30/70 otherwise), and again, not a viewer myself (I barely even watch streams live for streamers i do watch). And there's also bits, but those are a whole mess themselves so im not going to get into it.

I don't really know much about business running at all so of course everything is speculation based on the little i do know, and most of my twitch revenue info is directly from their help site, with some of the stuff about changes being from news articles about them.

Yeah that's pretty much it from me for now, glad you enjoyed my nerdy trawl through twitchtracker :)!

Follow up on this post :

[nataliescatorccio]

hii! first of all, i love your creations, they're so beautiful and easy to stare at. second of all, i had a question: im new to giffing (new as in i came back to it after like 10 years) and i see that people tag you (as well as other creators) in their sets...? was wondering how that usually works - would we have to be mutuals for me to tag you, for example? im guessing not, but it feels a bit weird just randomly tagging creators i love? haha sorry if this is a silly question, but you seem lovely so i finally decided to ask :)

hello anon! first of all thank you for your lovely words, they really do mean a lot<3 for the tagging question, tagging users in sets is very common now! tumblr increased the tag limit for how many tags you can put onto your set (it's now 20 for info) and that's created an amazing chance to tag people in your work! and yes, you can absolutely tag creators you love, even if you are not mutuals! obviously this can vary, but most creators i know (myself included) are very happy to be tagged in content and love the opportunity to see more creative content.

the things to be aware of are: some creators may have their own specific rules for tagging - i'd advise to just double check to see if they have an faq or 'about me' before tagging someone for the first time in something, just because some creators have lists of things they won't reblog (though the worst that will happen if you do accidentally tag something in something they don't wish to see is they just won't reblog it). for general 'tumblr etiquette' i would recommend making sure you're following whoever you want to tag - some blogs don't see this as a hard rule to follow, but others do. i'd also check the blog has posted about what you're tagging them in - again, some blogs don't mind, for example i'm happy to be tagged in anything, but others won't reblog things they haven't seen. this may seem a little daunting as i've just thrown a lot of information at you but generally speaking, creators have tags that they advertise in their bio because they love being tagged in things, so you really have nothing to be afraid of! anyway i hope that helps and if you have any further questions please feel free to ask :)

[despairshandvn]

Will You Fall Into Despair?

A string of murders have been occurring at your new university, its up to you and 16 other students with talents, some of which you are already friends with and some of which you just met to to put a end to the killings.

But will you be able to bear the secrets of the others as you get closer to them?

Will you save them from being the next victim?

Or will you fall into despair?

[This VN is still in its writing stages! Minors DNI this VN is 18+!]

FAQ:

-"Who is everybody? What are the names of the characters? What are they're talents?"

Soon......I'm going to make a separate post introducing them all or just probably introduce characters one or a few at a time seeing as this VN has 16 characters! That's alot of characters so I don't think I'll be able to do it all at once but I promise you will meet all my children very soon! But since I'm feeling nice today heres all the names of the characters and their talents!

-"Is this a Danganronpa fan game?"

No, however I did take alot of inspiration from DR. Whenever I first started making these characters a year ago it was originally going to be a DR fan game but now it has evolved into its own story entirely. Now the only thing I took from Danganronpa is the Ultimate part! But even then I have made some differences from the ultimates in DR and the ones in Despairs Hand.

-"Why are there so many characters?"

hehe funny autism and ADHD make the brain go brrrrrr

-"Does this VN have a yandere? If so, who is it?"

Yes! Whenever I introduce characters I will be announcing who the yandere is, and there might even be multiple 👀 but all of it depends on how you treat certain characters on if they have yandere traits or not...

-"Is shipping allowed?"

Yes! Some of the characters are actually already in a relationship with each other! There are even characters that are siblings! But I will say this for the characters that are siblings, shipping them together is not allowed in anyway. They are strictly a sibling relationship and nothing more.

-"Can we ask the characters questions?"

PLEASE DO! I love writing my children and my friend has even helped me by asking questions and I would write stories/responses in response for practice for this blog! So I am begging, please dont feel shy to ask them questions! I love writing them!

-"How old are the characters? How old is _____?"

While I do have ages for all of them I'm going to go ahead and say that all of them are 18 and above!

-"Who is the killer?"

That's for me to know and you to figure out :)

-"Do we/MC live at the university?"

Yes! There are dorms that everybody stays/lives in and I'm currently working on a floor plan to show what the dorms look like. If people want it I'll also show the floor plan of the school itself!

-"Are any of the characters LGBTQ+?"

Yes! Most of them are bisexual/pansexual! Other than them there are 3 lesbians, a demiboy which is also Grayromantic, a Transmasc, and 4 asexuals!

-"Will there be any forth wall breaks?"

Oh dear :)....I have these many characters for a reason....I guess I can let you guys in on SOME secrets but you won't know who it is :)....One character is fully aware they are in a game, one is extremely suicidal and a few might be lying about their talents...

-"Will we see what the characters look like?"

Im working on picrews so I can atleast show they're designs because drawing them would take a while....I'm also a traditional artist so my hands would be screaming in agony-

-"All the characters are human...right?"

Nope! I'm a absoulte sucker for fox boys so Benjamin got the fox boy treatment

-"Will there be any triggers?"

I will be posting all the triggers there might be soon

-"Are there tags for certain characters?"

Yes, I will be putting them in the tags of this post also!

I will put more later but for now this is all I can think about right now

Thank you for reading....

Good luck :)

[kiyye]

how does one get into homestuck???

Short answer??? Just go to http://www.mspaintadventures.com/?s=6 and start reading!!!!!!!!!!!!! You click the link that says “Enter name” to go to the next page and then keep clicking there.

Longer answer. Homestuck is a webcomic. Depending on what you’ve heard/seen around the internet, it often seems like some huge beast of a thing surrounded by years of fan culture, and that’s partially what it is, but at its core homestuck is also just a story. And a GOOD ASS story in my opinion (but thats coming from someone who’s read it 5 times through and thinks about it on the daily so uhhh im maybe not the most objective critic here??? but gOD I LOVE IT). Homestuck is long, but I know plenty of people who archive read it and love it just as much as I do, so I promise you will be able to get through the whole thing. (If you have not heard anything on the internet about it, either negative or positive -- dont worry about it and start reading!!!!!!!!!)

Another thing to remember is like. Homestuck is a story that in some ways you kind of need to take and make yours??? Personally I would advocate for reading every single bit of it and taking in as much as you can, plus reading bonus content like SBAHJ and the paradox space comics, but again thats coming from me, the most obsessive human being on the planet. I know people who didn’t make it through the troll acts, or skipped over the dancestors, and the story is still meaningful to them. So just read what speaks to you and don’t worry about being a bad and evil fan if you dont want to find every single dialogue option in the minigames. Some people can just sit down and read the whole thing, some people have to take it in small chunks. You can probably guess which kind of person you are based on how you usually read things.

So about the first few pages. I remember when I started reading it I was honestly confused because I thought I had missed some kind of background lore that would explain the things that were happening in the first act or so. But let me tell you: No, there is no required reading pre-homestuck (the author has done other webcomics and there are lots of callbacks to those as well as pop-cultural references and shit, but nothing plot important). If you start at page one, which I have linked above, and then keep reading, you may be like “what the fuck is happening right now, what is a sylladex?” You are supposed to be confused! Just persevere my dude.

Lots of people try to summarize it and do a shitty job because its not something you can easily summarize. But here’s me taking a crack at it? Homestuck is a webcomic about four kids who play a (fictional) game which turns out to not actually be just a game. Originally, it was a forum based text adventure, where fans (real people) would submit commands (for example, “Enter name”), and those would then inform the direction of the comic. The first act is largely comprised of quirky events occurring in a generally mundane setting. It’s just set on regular old earth, but for some reason people have video game-esque inventories, and john keeps fake arms in chests and does all kind of whacky shit. It’s charming but not particularly dramatic. From there, more colorful and complicated events unfold, eventually leading to ALIENS and huge epic flash animations and big bad villains. Shenanigans are had along the way.

This is probably a needlessly long post but I love homestuck on a deep, deep, unexplainable level and I very much want it to feel accessible to new readers!!!!! Here are some other helpful links to help you out if you really want to Get Into The Comic (and the fandom):

Before/during reading:

The homestuck wiki, an essential

This is the mspa “new reader” introduction page. It suggests starting off with problem sleuth but I personally dont think thats necessary. I jumped right into homestuck and was fine.

If you want to save this post, here is some post-reading or maybe during-reading material! I think half of these get linked in the comic but they’re some of my favorite homestuck supplements:

Dave’s blog. Know who dave is first, then this whole masterpiece is fair game

Sweet Bro and Hella Jeff. Same comment as above.

If you’re craving that good good homestuck content, paradox space is a bunch of standalone comics made by artists and fans. its dead now i think but it was a cool project that kept me alive for a summer or two

And uh just off the top of my head, here’s some relevant fandom reading dirk reading for when you’ve consumed all that and you’re sad and desperate for more. These are post-reading -- Come back to these after you finish the comic: Theatre of Coolty. Theatre of Coolty (The Movie). Detective Pony. (I’m so sorry that those are all dirk things). As for non dirk things, there’s Hiveswap, which you can find on steam, and loads and loads of fan videos on youtube that you can get lost in for hours.

I HOPE THIS POST IS HELPFUL TO YOU and i would highly, highly encourage you!!!!!! to read homestuck!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! If you’re just looking to start and this is all the information you need, GO FOR IT and pls message me any anecdotes you have because i crave the experience of getting to read it fresh all over again and i Will live vicariously through you. If you have been debating over reading it but you’re not sure if you want to, this is a wonderful post.

Happy reading from a big huge homestuck nerd!!!!!!!! :D :D :D

[meowzfordayz]

hi! i would really love to send an emergency request. my brother has been being horrible to me again-- i dont know how comfortable you are with ranting though so ill just say he said something really horrible about my depression diagnosis and i keep thinking about it. if you can, (and i totally understand if you cant!! i know this character isnt written about often, so he might be difficult to write for. u do so much for so many people so dont feel bad at all if you ignore this or put it off for a while <3 ) i would really appreciate anything platonic relating to rui :,) i dont know if its weird, but i find a lot of rui's emotions with family sort of similar to mine. whenever i think about him, it helps me sort through my own stuff. i dont know if that made sense either, but im trying to say i would love if you can write about the reader being a big sibling reader to rui / comforting him, but idm if you do somwthing else too. thank u sm for reading this too, i again understand if you dont want to write this

have a really great day <3

Heyo darling. 💗 I'm as comfortable as you are: in other words, rant as much or as little as you need (feel free to do so in my DMs, if that feels safer for you?). I hope my interpretation of your request fits your vision/helps you sort through your own stuff — even if just the tiniest bit. ☺️

Author’s Note: my neck hurts. That is all. 😆

we’ll be okay!

Rui x Reader

Word Count: ~1,000

CW: familial, traumatic references

~faqs~

“Rui?” you knock tentatively on his door, your ear pressed against its wooden frame, eyebrows furrowed at the faint sound of muffled sniffling.

“I’m f-fine,” a low snarl responds.

“May I come in?”

“No.”

“Please?” you persist, knowing he usually takes a couple nudges.

You’re met with silence, albeit, not uncomfortably so. This routine is as disappointing as it is familiar — as heart aching as it is heart bonding. Disappointment, not in him, but in the circumstances people fracturing, jabbing, dissolving his weary innocence; familiar in its consistency and relentlessness. Heart aching as you acknowledge your own distance, unable to pry the root from its poisoned soil; heart bonding as you still try to dig just a little deeper, just a little closer, just a little harder, every time the routine resets, replays, continues.

“I said no,” he grunts, even as he unlocks his door, footsteps retreating quickly back to—you assume—his bed, letting you decide whether to enter or flee.

You enter, of course. You always enter.

Regardless of how steadily you brace yourself, you’re never fully prepared for the sight of his sickly, dour form haunched and moping; his patchwork, handwoven quilt draped loosely over his thin shoulders. You understand he wishes he could be anywhere but here, motionless beneath the quiet weight of lingering expectation — of all consuming failure. You also understand he doesn’t know how. Doesn’t know how to grapple with his self proclaimed burden; doesn’t know how to break the surface of his distorted perception of self worth and self respect; doesn’t know how to be anywhere else. He amazes you, truly. Your younger, softer, guarded brother. Your Rui. How incredibly cruel and powerful, mesmerizing and devastating, that he has to feel such controlled anger — such rigid turmoil.

“May I sit?” you shuffle toward his bed.

“Whatever.”

His sole method of invitation, really, so — you sit: wordlessly turning on his bedside lamp, tucking his quilt under his cold toes, making a mental note to bring his dirty dishes to the kitchen when you leave. His gaze follows your movements. Judgemental. Grateful.

“Do you want to talk about it?” you finally murmur.

Typically, his answer is another No, but you ask nonetheless. Just in case he ever says Yes.

“They got mad at me.”

You blink away your shock. He’s rarely so forthcoming.

“I just wanted to help.”

Ah.

“I know I’m frail.”

You know better than to explicitly point out his glistening eyes, opting to hold out your arm—your sleeve—to him instead.

“But I- I want to be strong.”

His voice wavers as he accepts your sympathy, patting at his tears, dampening your shirt.

“How can I be strong when I’m forced to do nothing?” he scowls, “If practice makes perfect, then I want to practice. I want to-” he bites at his tongue, barely restraining a strangled sob, “I want them to see me. Not just who they wish I was, but who I am.”

“I see you, Rui,” you whisper.

Because you know that They do see you isn’t what he needs to hear. Perhaps when he’s more lucid. Calm. Unrattled. But certainly not now. Not when you can sense the freshness of his despair, the relapse of his doubt and deprecation. It’s difficult, being his older sibling, because remaining impartial without alienating him is… a fragile, fickle task. You’re conscious of his pain, his frustration, and are loathe to invalidate or dismiss him. And yet, your parents’ approach resonates with you as well. Rui is frail. Undeniably frail. Especially as you observe his trembling, hawkish stare. So frantic to be tough. So impatient. So bright. How do you encourage his resilience without physically overexerting or endangering him? How do you guide his earnest determination without accidentally extinguishing it?

“I know you do,” he grumbles, “That’s why I’m yours. You listen.”

His trust, his claim, in you warms you. Chills you. Reminds you of your responsibility as the eldest. To protect and nurture the youngest — to inspire and relinquish him. You advocate for him. Suggest allowing him to shadow you as you do your chores; run errands; go out with smaller groups of friends. But your parents are reluctant, afraid, of worst-case-scenario consequences.

“So you’re going to coddle him until he dies miserably and alone and safe?” you’d asked them during a particularly heated conversation.

That night, Rui’d been the one to knock on your door, unaware of why you were muttering—loudly—to yourself. Unaware of how pissed off, how terrified, you were for his future. Crawling into bed beside you, wrapping his fatigued hands around your tensed fingers.

“Don’t worry. We’ll be okay!” he’d declared, splintering your heart further.

You were supposed to reassure him. You were supposed to be the older, wiser, grounded, sibling.

“Thank you Rui,” you’d mumbled sheepishly, kissing his forehead.

“I’m sleeping here,” he’d nodded firmly.

And who were you to deny your younger brother? You’d fallen asleep with his cheek on your chest, forgetting to brush your teeth or change into your pajamas, cherishing the brief reprieve from the incessant reality of Rui’s health.

“Are you hungry? How about we wash your dishes, cook something for dinner, and I’ll sleep here tonight?”

Dim excitement stirs in his expression, his tone almost childish—almost normal, because damn it He is a child—as he smiles hesitantly.

“But what if-”

“I’m sure they won’t mind. We’ll be home after all.”

Rui’s smile stretches to a grin, bitterness shoved aside at the prospect of feeling wanted. Of getting to be strong.

“Love you, [y/n].”

“I love you too, Rui,” you ruffle his hair, chuckling at its tangled strands.

His mouth opens, closes, opens again. You’re patient. Unhurried as you stack his dishes. Fond as you wait for his gentle affection.

“Thank you. You’re the best older sibling.”

“I’m the only older sibling,” you retort playfully.

“Whatever.”

Truthfully, you love when he rolls his eyes at you — when he permits himself to just… be your younger brother. To be young. To be Rui.

[cozymochi]

🩵 FAQ 🩵:

I can’t believe I reached a point where I do have frequently asked questions. That is insane to me.

Q: “Do you take commissions?”

A: Kinda. Depends on the status below.

COMMISSION STATUS: OPEN. Accepting inquiries for all except closed or pending slots, PLEASE READ THE DOC FIRST BEFORE ASKING. INFO HERE

(Please only inquire if a slot is explicitly “open”)

Category 1

Slot 1: [Opening soon…]

Slot 2: [Opening soon…]

Slot 3: [CLOSED]

Category 2

Slot 1: [CLOSED]

> MORE INFO if you’d like to know 💕

Q: “Do you take art/drawing requests?”

A: TECHNICALLY, YES! 😱😱

Though, I prefer to call them “suggestions” since there isn’t a guarantee I’ll get to them; they are free after all. They are more so used to gauge what you guys do want to see from me, since otherwise I’d have no clue. So, don’t be shy about throwing something in my inbox if there is something you want to see!!! Maybe I’ll actually get to it!!! I promise it’s not because I have a busy inbox, I really don’t.

(I probably won’t be drawing your OC. Sorry. Kinda selective. Need some boundaries, y’know. That said: Askbox only. I won’t answer DMs. Too personal.)

Just a note. But, I would REALLY PREFER that people NOT repost my art to other sites or use it for personal reasons without my consent. Or, hell, repost up here even. That’s what reblogs are for.

Literally. Just ask first. Giving “credit” isn’t really enough (folk have done some weeeird things. Credit infers I gave some kind of consent, even if I never knew about it). I promise asking does wonders. Yet no one ever does it. Though I have become numb enough to the fact that this will always be an inevitability.

~~~

yeah there isn’t many questions. WAIT THERE IS ONE MORE!!

Q: “Ermmm will you draw NOT SAFE FOR WORK?! 🥵”

A: NO! Stop asking me for it idc how thirsty you are!! Unless the ones asking start paying my bills every month, nobody is getting that out of me. If I can’t stop people from stealing and reposting my art, I can at least TRY having THIS boundary respected. Also stop trying to find a loophole for this.

ok now im done 💙

MORE LINKS™️

little blue bird place (i barely use it, if at all. Purely doomscrolling there, and only here for mild contacts.)

YouTube Place (SUBSCRIBE FOR sub-par creations.)

Ko-fi (I put it on every post but it’s ignored regularly.)

[ectonurites]

Do you know how old Tim is now? I’m seeing people say he’s 17 but I thought they made him at least 18?

I think at this point I need to like. Make an FAQ page with the most common comic questions I get so I can stop repeating myself on stuff like this. Bc it's not your fault for not knowing, anon, like I 100% understand you asking so don't take my tone here as being frustrated with you, but it's just that these age questions have been asked and discussed to death at this point so im always like 😑 when i get a new one sgfdhgf

But Tim's age has not been specifically confirmed on panel since 2016, when he was still ~16 (if you wanted to use some interpretation the panel that mentioned the age could be interpreted as 'recently 16' rather than 'at that exact moment' 16, but it's debatable).

We literally have no solid idea how old he exactly is right now. According to like... logic, he's absolutely older than 16 right now, but DC also throws logic out the window all the time so. Ya know. I hope it's something we get a solid indication of sometime soon, honestly I feel like Dark Crisis: Young Justice could be a good/likely place for that to happen for him and the rest of the core four.

There's been a few things recently that imply he's more like an adult now (Robins had some implications i discussed the other day, and some of the stuff in House Of Gotham also has implications if you work through the logic btwn Jason, Tim, and the unnamed boy's ages in relation to one another) but it's not enough to like, solidly say 'ah yes he's exactly this age now'

I am once again putting on the post itself that i'm begging this to not start more age debate in my inbox.

just as a few preemptive responses:

'but Tim had a story about going to college' that was the same arc that last said his age. he was supposed to be ~16 for that, it was a special 'genius' grant thing he'd earned.

'but two years passed in YJ 2019' its left unclear if tht was true in-universe or more of a joke about the length of the run irl.

'but infinite frontier happened shouldn't that restore the old age differences?' it should but who knows if it actually did, it 100% didn't for Cass considering her current main writers mentioned seeing her as a teen yet Jason is written as an adult and she used to be older than him, with a discrepancy like that already among batkids we can't assume it automatically fixed things for Tim

[gb-patch]

Ask Answers: August 8th

Well, doing big posts all together worked for a while but lately I’ve been putting it off because it takes a long time to get them done. I think I’m gonna try switching back to answering asks whenever I can fit it in and posting them one at a time instead of waiting until I’ve filled out one of these major collections.

But for now, here’s more ask answers! Thank you for the questions and for all the kind words along with them ^^.

Hello!! I'm here to ask if its possible to get  the game and its dlcs on steam and play it on android?

I’m afraid not. Steam doesn’t have Android builds on their own site and Steam is not cool with keys for other sites being given out for Steam purchases, so you don’t get the Itch version from buying on Steam.

Hello! Sorry to bother you but, I had a question, if we buy the Game on itchio do we get steam keys or would we need to purchase it twice? 

You would have to buy it twice if you want it in both places, I’m sorry. To repeat myself a little, Steam doesn’t like the key trading thing. Itch may support giving keys for another site, but the reverse isn’t doable with Steam and Steam doesn’t even really want you to get a Steam key for buying somewhere else either. So we just don’t mess around with that.

hey, sorry if this is frequently asked, but is step 4 free dlc or paid for? some of your sources are contradicting each other. 

It’s free! There’s a paid wedding DLC, but Step 4 itself is entirely unpaid.

Hello! I just had a quick question, for the Baxter and Derek DLC's will we be able to confess our feelings to them or let them confess to MC? or will it only be one way? (they confess to MC)

Both type of options will be available!

Hey there! I wanted to ask whether or not the Derek DLC is still on track to be released in August since on the steam discussion board it says it will be released mid 2021. I totally understand if it isn't, I'm just really looking forward to it! If you answer then ty! And keep up the amazing work :D 

It’s not, aha. Unfortunately, 2021 wasn’t easier than 2020 as we hoped so things are still slower than planned. It’ll come out late 2021 or early 2022.

Hi! Firstly I just want to say that I LOVE Our Life. I have played a bit of similar games but this one instantly wins for the best one! Everything about it is amazing! I just wanted to ask if Derek would ever lose feelings for MC, like if they make the deal and then MC gets with Cove would he move on? and even if you don't, after "losing contact" would his feeling fade or would he still like MC? 

If you don’t really keep in touch with him and clearly move on with your life, Derek will too and he’ll be over it. But if you are still close as best as you can be, he’ll still think the MC is special. Though, he’ll always support your relationship with someone else if that’s what’ll make you happy.

Hello! Sorry if you've answered this before but: 'How's Lee related to us? Though which momma? And does she share our player-chosen last names? Also, do you know if Noelani took Pam's last name or did it happen the other way round? 

She’s related to Pamela and Pamela’s last name is the one they use, so the MC has the same last name as Lee.

Will we be able to choose which (they or he) we tend to call Qiu by more often, or will it randomly change depending on the moment? 

Qiu knows which pronoun they’re comfortable with at a time and you’ll call them what they’re happy with. And it doesn’t change between lines, it takes multiple scenes or even full Steps for it to switch. So for extended periods Qiu will be totally a guy or fully agender.

Will Step 4 of OL2 have moments?

It’ll be an epilogue like it is in OL1, so it won’t have a bunch of different Moments.

Hello! Just a quick question, is Sunset bird from OL1 based on a real location? If so what's it called? I wanna visit it +_+

ps i love your games so much <3

It isn’t based on one specific town you can go to, but there are a lot of little coastal towns in Cali that have a similar vibe!

Heyaaa ( I hope you're all well ), umm… it might seem kinda stupid to ask but did Patreon members can have a key for the dlc's ( all the steps-released dlc ) even if they became a member this month or later ? (me? saying this cuz it's my case? maybe ;-;), and once again thanks for absolutely all the amazing works on all the games ! u-u 

You wouldn’t get the DLCs for backing there. The Patreon is for extra bonus content/early access, rather than being a storefront to purchase the normal DLCs. Rarely we give them out as a side gift, but it hardly happens and if what you want is the DLCs it’s best to ignore the Patreon and  buy keys for those directly from Itch or Steam. I’m sorry for the confusion.

Hey y'all, love what youre doing w/Terry. Trans rep outside of player customization is so rare and important to see more of so thank you so much. I do have a question and its that does he have a canon sexuality? I know Miranda was said to be straight ace but I dont believe anything was stated for Terry probably because he wasnt revealed to be a guy which changes things. Im also curious if well get answers on how long hes liked Miranda since he may have liked her in step 3 before she liked him 

Terry likes women and Randy likes men! And he did like Miranda back in Step 3.

Will the Wedding Dlc release at the same time as Step 4? 

They’ll come out separately with Step 4 releasing first.

I really love Our Life so much! I've spent over 20hours playing it even though I only got it a week ago! I was wondering if I could make a fangame for Our Life with a different love interest but same plot. Next-door neighbors romance, multiple steps, etc? I'll probably make it on Google Slides though- 

Sure! I hope you have fun with it and I’m glad you love the game.

How does Cove feel about poly relationships? 

He’s got nothing against them for the people they work for, but he’s 100% monogamous and would only be comfortable with a partner who was willing to be monogamous with him.

Idk if this has been answered before but will Step 4 include the option to advance your feelings towards Cove? 

Yep, you’ll be able to determine your feelings and what your relationship is.

In step 4 will there be a chosen to say we live with Cove even as just friends? 

Yeah, you can choose to live with Cove and that can be done when you’re friends.

I just played the game with the MC and Cove being best friends and omg it’s still so damn cute like the wholesomeness of it all is too much for my heart I swear ^.^  Now with that all said I was wondering can we still marry Cove? if we only love him as a friend like let’s say we’ve made deal with him similar to the one we can make with Derek because let’s real no one could compete with what the MC and Cove have even if they aren’t in love. 

It’s great to hear you enjoyed the friendship story! You can live with Cove, but you can’t marry him platonically. Cove has familial affection for the MC if they’re best-est friends. He wouldn’t think to marry someone he loves like family and even grew up with as though they truly were siblings.

Are you still going to be making a DLC for XOBD? :] 

Yes! We’re slowing adding voiced lines and fixing errors.

It makes me laugh that Shiloh's last name is Fields because that's what I put as my last name! So in Our Life when he talked about "Ms. Fields" picking him up I was extremely confused, lol. That dude mimics personalities so much that he stole my surname!

Oh, wow, that’s a very funny coincidence, haha.

hi !! i cant seem to be able to get the scene where mc is able to propose to cove despite being at the 'love' stage and telling him i'd want to get married, are there any other details that im missing out on? the options just dont appear at the end... 

Maybe you missed telling Cove you were in love with him even if you mentioned wanting to get married or you might’ve accidentally said earlier in the game that you don’t want to progress your relationship further with Cove. We haven’t removed them, so you can get the scene again. It’s just kind of easy to miss since there’s multiple requirements. You can read a little guide in the FAQ.

wait what di you need to do to be able to propose to cove? I've been trying but haven't had much luck 

You can check out the FAQ linked above!

does cove only develop a crush on the mc if the mc is also at crush/in love with him? 

Technically, yes. We treat the non-romantic relationship options as truly non-romantic since we don’t want to bait and switch people. But there’s nothing wrong with headcanoning that Cove does have feelings developing for the MC even before the MC has.

Is there a way to make/allow Lee and Baxter to date?

No, they just don’t have enough time together.

We also got a group of asks related to Tamarack in OL2, but I’m afraid the way they talked about people with larger bodies made me not want to post their words, even if the person didn’t say they’re trying to be hurtful. I will separate out the core question and answer it though, so people can know that info.

Does Tamarack lose weight in later Steps?

No, she doesn’t. As for the other questions included, to be honest, I don’t have to explain/defend having romance options of different sizes. I’m sorry if you’re dealing with unhappiness that’s connected to body image, if that’s where the negative emotions are coming from, but even so I can’t meet you on that level and pretend it’s a problem that needs an answer. A girl who simply isn’t thin being a main love interest is just not an unreasonable concept. Also, Tamarack isn’t a lesbian. Yes, she can date a female MC, but that doesn’t undo her actual sexuality, so I’m not sure where that one part at the end was coming from.

I wonder... can we "fight" with Qiu over leader status? 👀

Not really, haha. No matter how cool your MC is, they’re never gonna replace Qiu for the other kids around. So you can either partner up with him, follow him too, or not be a part of all that group politics stuff.

So when I play the game, sometimes I mentally call Cove “Covie/Covey” and that made me wonder, how does Cove feel about being nicknamed? Not like Romeo/Space Cadet/etc. but like pet names relating to his actual name

It’d depend on his age, personality, and your relationship with him! When he’s younger he’d probably be embarrassed, when he was grown he’d probably be more casual or happy about it.

will you be able to date baxter in step 3 while at crush with cove (but not dating him ofc) sorry if this has been asked already. i really love baxters step 4 design btw!! 

Yeah, you can be crushing on Cove and date Baxter if you weren’t already dating Cove. You just can’t be truly in love with Cove and then switch to Baxter.

I just got my friend into our life, and they adore shiloh and derek sooo will there be more of them in the second game? 

I’m afraid not. But you can see plenty more of Shiloh in XOXO Droplets/XOXO Blood Droplets, haha.

I see you haven't gotten any xoxo droplets asks recently but I'm still obsessed with these boys!! I was just wondering if Nate would curse under any circumstance? 

Yeah, Nate does use certain swear words (damn, hell, bastard) on very rare occasions.

Hi there! I have a question about the wedding dlc. Will we be able to plan a honeymoon during the planning stages of it or would it be something that Cove and the mc would rather plan later on? Thank you! Absolutly love the game by the way, definitely one of my favorite games! 

The focus will be on the wedding day itself. The topic of the honeymoon might come up a bit, but there won’t be any choosing of the exact location and such.

Hi! I have two questions and it's completely understandable if you only answer one/neither and I'm sorry if you've already answered either before! First, is there a set year in which OL:B&A takes place (ex: Step 1 being set in 2010 & Step 2 being set in 2016, etc.) or is it simply up to interpretation? Second, have you guys thought about doing a coming-of-age game where the MC has a tough home life or upbringing? (like one of their parents is an addict, a parent being transphobic whilst the player has the option to be trans, or having friends that are influencing them to do drugs, etc.) That's all! Thanks for making beautiful games. <3 

There is a set timeline!

Step 1: 2006 Step 2: 2011 Step 3: 2016 Step 4: 2021 

And we don’t currently plan on making a game like that. The Our Life series exists to be a safer environment for people to play around in and if we did do a brand new series that was harsher edged it’d be something more fantastical and/or plot-driven instead of a different type of modern day slice-of-life growing up story. I’m sorry.

i don’t know if you’ve already answered this, but do you have a guess on when phase 4 will come out? as well as ol2? i’m so excited for both of them, the inclusivity in this game is amazing, you guys should be really proud of it! 

Step 4 will be coming out very soon! OL2 is gonna take until 2023 to be anywhere near completion. But we might episodically release the Steps one at a time as they get done instead of waiting for three to be finished before launch like we did with the first game.

Hello, I was curious if there was an official or unofficial discord server for the game? 

We do have a discord! You can join by clicking this link HERE.

how long do you plan to keep ol's patreon running? 

Hopefully for at least a few more years.

Are you considering ever making merch? 

Yeah, but I don’t know when it’ll happen or what exactly we’ll make, aha. It’s something we want do, just nothing is set.

hi! i just found out about your game a couple of days ago on tiktok (so sorry if you’ve already answered this question) and i was wondering if y’all are ever planning to release it on iOS? 

I have no idea. It’s hard for a small group to get Apple approval and I honestly can’t say if it’ll ever happen or not. Maybe someday, though!

Hi, I love the art style of Our life and I would like to know if the artist has a Twitter? Also, could it be possible to fund more CGs for the game from him/her? So many times, I wish there was one like when the cutscene of the sunshower. 

That’s nice of you to offer. He doesn’t have a Twitter, at least not one that’s public enough to be shared with me. And I’m afraid not. The issue is that the CGs take huge amounts of time rather than there not being a budget for it. He’s gotta make CGs for Step 4, the DLCs, and new character sprites, too. There isn’t space in the schedule for even more. Sorry for that.

Hi, how are you?!

Are you planning on accepting new writers or is it always the same people who write your stories??

Thanks!!

Our Life: Beginnings & Always won’t be getting new writers, but we will be hiring a new team of writers for Our Life: Now & Forever eventually!

perhaps this counts as nsfw and I'm sure it has been answered before but what does Cove prefer, chests/boobs or butts? or perhaps both :3c thank you for this wonderful game (and the patreon bonus moment, it was worth all the waiting and more ♥) 

He’s a “chests of all shapes and sizes” kind of guy, haha.

i was wondering- did any of the writers actually grow up by the beach? as someone who's lived in a beach town all their life it really did feel nostalgic to play through our life 1 

I was born and raised in Cali! Though, not right by the beach. We still had to make trips out, but the setting is based on my own childhood memories of small beach towns we went through.

In Derek’s upcoming DLC, will we be able to reference the pact we made as teens? (love olba and xod/xobd so much btw you’re literally amazing) 

Yep, you will be able to talk about that!

Oh, sorry about the Cole being secretly L ask, then!

If you wanted context: Death Note is about this one guy who finds a notebook that kills anyone who you write the name of in there. The guy eventually develops a God Complex and starts mass killing criminals and stuff. L is the one trying to find out who is killing all these people.

Me and my sister first joked about it because I couldn't remember how to translate a word about the way Cove was sitting, so I just did the pose, and it looked a lot like how L himself sits! Then we just snowballed from there, with more and more nonsense connections.

That’s okay! Thanks for explaining. I’m sorry I didn’t know what you meant.

[meruz]

i was gonna draw tonight but i dropped my tablet pen and the barrel of the pen broke off and flew somewhere underneath (??) my bed (?) and now i cant find it so I’m just gonna answer asks before bed instead. just some art asks and more mentions of infinity train LOL

What program and brushes do you use when making your art?

@ravki hi! part of this is in my FAQ but i’ll say it again anyways LOL: I use photoshop CC and have used photoshop for pretty much....my whole art career. I’ve dabbled in clip and paint tool sai in the past but photoshop is my true wife, we eloped away from her awful father adobe many years ago and are very happy together. 

as for brushes... I should prob put this info in my FAQ too lol,... my default brush set is actually free to download here! Tho I will say I also use steve ahn’s storyboarding brush sometimes and lately i’ve been using shiyoon kim’s brushes A TON. Shiyoon’s cost a couple bucks but they’re super worth it imo

How do you choose colors?

This is kind of a difficult one to describe from scratch but hmm.... I’ll put it this way. Generally when I go into coloring or painting something I already have some colors in mind. Like for a certain piece I know I want a bright green, or a magenta, or a dark blue in certain areas. A lot of the time I know a mood I want. So I’ll start with that core color tone and build around it. I’ll use an example from a recent piece

So you can see here that the first color I accessed was that bright cyan. So I start with that bright cyan and then bring in its “friends” in the form of analogous colors (shown below on the far left)

greens greys etc. THEN I know I want the characters to stand out against all the blue so I start laying down warm contrasting colors for them (middle group). the mat under them is orange, skin tones are warm, ryans flannel is red etc. then to get them to work together I work more cool colors into the shadows and slightly warmer (not too warm because its a cool img overall so in this case, greener LOL) colors into highlights. 

hope that makes sense? for me choosing colors is a lot about story and composition. If you know what you want to say, the mood you want to create, where you want to go, the path to get there becomes a lot clearer imo.

Have you ever considered making an art book?

I have! But I don’t think I currently have enough...original illustrations for one LOL? Not that an art book has to be all original work but if I were putting fanart in an art book...at that point I’d just make a fanzine. I’m making more original work lately though so maybe this year....? Who knows. For now, I do have a sketchbook up on gumroad. Hoping to do one of those next year too.

Any tips for keeping background drawings from getting super stiff, especially since things like interiors have a lot of straight lines?

This is a really interesting ask. Really great question that I don’t think gets asked enough - forgive me if I get a bit art school here but I drew up some examples.

First I think we have to investigate the assumption that straight lines make things stiff. That seems true on an instinctual level and certainly proves to be true very often But I don’t think its actually the straight lines themselves but the sort of arrangements and compositions they tend to dictate. Take this for instance.

pretty big difference, right? there’s a couple things that make a composition feel stiff and one of the most significant is lines that are perpendicular and parallel to the frame. it feels locked in and solid, like bricks. but the moment you shift these angles even a little the composition instantly becomes more dynamic because our innate senses of weight, gravity, and directionality can sense movement.

But it’s not just diagonals let’s take this one step further

when lines meet and terminate together those tangents can flatten and lock space so the best way to solve this is with overlap and complete intersection, forms continuing past or behind each other feel more layered and less like a flat mosaic... again, even in the simplest line drawings. So how do we apply this to a background?

ok I drew this really fast so its potentially not the best example but I think the idea is there. This space isn’t even particularly deep, it’s basically a room, a doorway, and a hallway behind it, and we’re not seeing that much of any of those things LOL. but when you draw an environmental object like a doorway in a way that lines up with the perpendicular and parallel lines of the canvas you’re automatically flattening it and making it look rigid.

and when you create tangents with objects and characters you flatten the space around them and make it difficult to tell what is actually in front or behind or if they’re on the same plane.

GOD I HOPE THIS MAKES SENSE. Anyways. avoid those things and you’ll instantly have less stiff bgs no matter what kind of bg you’re depicting.

I wanna mention however that this isn’t to say a stiff bg with flat space doesn’t have its purposes.

sometimes you want to create parallels and tangents. it can make characters feel closed in, trapped, regimented, part of a routine, etc. it’s also great for making a composition look ornamental (especially combined with symmetry).

directors like wes anderson can even use these compositional elements to make images feel uncanny or harrowing! its very versatile. I think the important thing is to just be aware of when you are making something rigid and when that’s the last thing you want to do. conscious choices.

Can you speak Tagalog?

@lemuelzero101​ I can! BUT NOT VERY WELL LOL ;;; both my parents are from Visayas! but they met and had me in the states lol so I’m pretty American born and raised. We go back to visit family on occasion but not regularly. My tagalog is mostly absorbed from listening to relatives at parties lol and my parents speak bisaya at home so I’m marginally better at that. Sorry to any filipinos out there hoping I’d be better educated, I’m like a little baby...

I do love meeting and talking to other filipinos online though, I grew up in an area that was relatively diverse but the asian population was small and the filipino population basically non-existent. I was like one of maybe 2 filipino kids in my highschool of 2000.

Apart from infinity train what shows are you watching now? Have you seen jujitsu kaisen?

Man this is gonna sound so boring but I haven’t watched a lot of tv lately.  It’s not really part of my daily routine. Let’s see... I was sort of watching Amphibia, Craig of the Creek, and the new Digimon Adventure 2020 but I keep falling off watching those for one reason or another. Also there’s a lot of episodes, it doesn’t feel like something I can just binge and be done with.

The last thing I binged was Succession. I want that show and Euphoria back so bad, when I’m done forcing all my friends to watch Infinity Train im cancelling my HBO subscription until Succession and Euphoria return so they know exactly what I’m on their list for LOL. 

I have not watched jujitsu kaisen but I’ve kept up with some of the sakuga news (I keep up with anime industry news and production info like x5 the amt i keep up with actual anime) for it and their compositing/editing looks dope. I’ve read the manga actually LOL or at least part of the beginning. I wasn’t super keen on the whole finger eating thing. Also to be honest I kinda feel like its the new Bleach and I never particularly cared about Bleach. Characters look nice enough tho. I wholeheartedly support jjk fans.

Thank you! Thank you @keznodzieja​! <3

And thank you anons who don’t watch infinity train LOL...it’s always nice to hear when people enjoy my fanart despite not knowing the source material because it lifts a little bit of the “oh god am I being annoying???” fear off my chest. But also I think you should watch infinity train because it’s really good I have no reservations recommending it.