#is this TOO silly... i really wanted to draw something for this and was originally just going to draw my sona but then i thought...

[caer-gai]

Alright it's that time of year again...

Arthuriana August

An art, writing, playlist making, gif-ing, edit creating and anything else challenge based on Arthuriana!

The challenge officially runs from August 1st to the 31st, put things in the tag #arthuriana august and/or @caer-gai and I'll reblog it! Now, for what you're really here for: the prompts!

OC Week (1-5) : This week we celebrate the time honored tradition of adding your own little guy to the legend! Create something to do with your Arthurian OC, or a character original to another work (ie Brian from The Adventures of Sir Lancelot)

Child's Play (6-10): Kids! They're cute, they're lovable, and in Arthuriana they're often traumatized! Create something about your favorite arthuriana character as a child and/or your favorite "next generation" Arthuriana character!(i.e Gingulain, Kelemon)

Variety Pack (11-15): Look I get it, swords are cool as fuck, and if you're like me they might be the safest bet for a weapon you can draw. But there are soooo many cool weapons out there, so this week I challenge you to create something that contains at least one weapon that is not a sword. (Bonus points for each additional weapon /j)

Ye Olde Arthurian Tale (16-20): Time to go back to the classics! Create something directly inspired by a medieval Arthuriana piece! (I'll count anything before 1600 here yes I know that's not all the medieval period don't come for me)

Arthuriana.com (21-25): It's the far flung future year 2025, and we are still obsessed with our silly little knight stories! Create something inspired by a retelling (1600-present, for the purposes of this) OR create something for a modern/reincarnation/futuristic AU.

I Can't Believe It's Not Arthuriana! (26-31): This week we dive into the wonderful world of arthuriana adjacent stories, anything from contemporary (Biscarvet, The Song of Roland) to modern (Knights Tale(2001)) and even parody and satire (Don Quixote, Monte Python and the Holy Grail).

Rules:

You can create anything you want! (Please no AI)

NSFW and gore are allowed, just tag appropriately! I will use discretion while reblogging

I will be checking the tag and reblogging between August 1st and August 31st 2025! Feel free to post before or after that time frame if you need to, but I might not see it if you don't tag me

MOST IMPORTANT RULE OF THE WHOLE CHALLANGE: have fun! Don't push yourself too hard this is a silly and fun thing! Take the time you need, just tag me when you're done. I run these because I like seeing what you make

As always send me asks/notes/DMs/page boys with any and all questions! I'm happy to help=)

See y'all in August!!!

[nicelikemice]

description from Newgrounds post:

just a silly little sketchbook drawing :)

I drew this not too long after getting a new flatbed scanner so I used this to experiment with the scanner software settings and reteaching myself how to transparent-ify things in GIMP.

Aside from erasing some stray farticles, very minimal digital clean-up was done.

I love John and Dave's friendship so I wanted to depict them as they appear in Act 1.

John is skanking with his whole heart and Dave is doing something that is almost skanking but not really because it's ironic or something (he doesn't know how to skank).

Original song by Reel Big Fish listen 2 it here

[x-adoringvoid-x]

Apparently that's called the 'irresistible force paradox'

[starflungwaddledee]

waddle dee candybubble mystery team deployed!! you can expect them at your place in 2-3 business hours!

If you see any bubbles with candy in them floating by, take them! It’s a Halloween treat from me to you! :D

And if you found one, lemme know!! It’d be nice to know where my bubbles ended up :3

[choochooboss]

Submas Sketchdump Vol. 4 July 2022 Part 2!!

I knew that particular month beat my all time record for productivity multifold but I had forgotten SO MANY PIECES from the original collection!! I think I finally got them all?? More stuff under the cut!!

BREAKMAS!! WIP of the first piece I posted of them, here's the link to the final version! I tried coloring this first but the black & white had ultimately more impact so I went with that!

TRAINS!! I like this base color version too! Link to the final version!

The top sketch is a direct reference to Cluedo! A spinoff game, "Missingo", starring certain familiar characters trying to figure out what happened to Ingo/trying to prove their innocence in the case! Also WIP sketches for these two Breakmas comic pages!

As you may know I adore butlermas! For the classy and stylish look which appeals to me in general, and coincidentally I had played PLA & got hit by submas train only one week before butler Ingo's banner rolled out! The pure bliss of finally meeting both twins in a game I felt was incomparable!! This moment in the Curious Tea Party event was really entertaining to me! We got to see submas get serious and stand up against this selfish collector thief! Two towering train twinks with commanding voices looming over the unfortunate guy was enough to make him change his mind ahah! They truly are the protectors

1-hour submas challenge prompt "Descend"! This is the actual one hour result before I continued rendering this!

Mmmmm not my first attempt at drawing them hug and definitely not my best OR last. I want to make that moment something very special when I finally go all out on it!!

Comic cover vibing~

The scrapped last page for this silly comic! Sorry the dialogue is all over the place on the first piece, might be hard to read! I wasn't happy with how I presented Elesa, I wasn't familiar enough with her character back then so I thought of her carrying a toy taser to threat her friend even as a joke was too much and I couldn't come up with anything else for it. This held me back from posting the other three pages for another 5 months! In the last panel

I prefer to not mess up the twins too much but my brain is still very curious and conjures some peculiar stuff like this sometimes.. I think I may have broken his arms there looking at the anatomy, ooops! I hope you don't mind the photo quality or the two weird guys in the corner, they escaped containment!

Idea of warden Ingo, being projected to modern era by his Alakazam, walking through crowd on a train platform & Emmet standing inside a passing train. Their eyes meet for just a few seconds...

Pokemas Ingo practise!

Another WIP of a piece I posted! I started this piece like this but then later I decided to flip the whole thing.

YET another WIP of something I already posted! No idea why I went and mixed up his suits but I like this sketch! They rarely end up looking this clean haha

Sketch version of the self-defense practise piece! I love getting creative with action stuff! I barely ever think of how difficult they are to draw, I just get so excited and fixated on visualising the scenes in my mind I just keep at it, pull out refs and pose in front of mirrors until it looks good to me! I want to draw more action scenes but besides being challenging to draw my brain comes up with more silly and cute ideas than cool ones unfortunately ahah

One more WIP, here's the link to the final results!! I really like how genuine their expressions look here even if the faces are a little off. I recall spending a long time figuring out this perspective. I thought it would be fun to you to see how all these pieces started and... looking at the sketch above and the stuff before that, you can compare some range of my style!

RANDOM SUBMAS MISSILES GO

OHHH looks like some nasty passengers got the best of them!! If I recall correctly there was no fight because they managed to paralyse the two before they could act. Fully awake yet completely helpless... how convenient unfortunate. Thank you so much for checking these out!! Not every sketch is that exciting but I'm always happy to hear your thoughts on these!

Previous posts: Sketch dump Vol. 1: April-June 2022 Sketch dump Vol. 2: July 2022 Sketch dump Vol. 3: August 2022

[kangel92]

Inkstar art bump⭐️🖊️

Basically, lots of sketches that I didn’t think deserved a post of their own so they are all compiled here nyehehe

Also!! I’m happy to announce that this is the last post of the bi-weekly per month posting marketing homework lol<3 Thank you all for baring with me, I really appreciate it! Now that college is almost over we’ll return to the usual parental au posting💪💪💪

First of all, this stupid thing I did in between homework bc that tiktok edit is very amecore lmao I’m obsessed with it, it’s amazing

This were the very first jame drawings ever…. Brain was cooking at that time… Ame’s lesbian awakening…….

And J’s lesbian awakening too

Halloween🎃 dump with them trying on a lot of different costumes

Sea Angel + Jellyfish (Mama Cyn and Golden are here too!!!)

P-chan + kAngel and snow miku ???

Obake + Tenshi from Pepoyo.........

This one clearly wasn't made for Halloween but gonna add it here since is cosplaying... so it's practically a costume....

pd.... monitoring is soo them........... also new darling if u even care but not gonna explain it further

Content Warning

Preggy drone art oooops

Also fanchildren yay !!!!!!!

The original planned child™ was Aqua, but the girl named Miqu came out as a joke LOL yk this jatsune jiku joke... we were thinking that if a girl had J's hair but Ame's hair colour...........

Aqua is best friends with Nuzi's child <3

While Miqu gets along (kinda??) with Vizzy's child :D

The sillies....

The sillies but human !!!!!

The last two sketches, I think. Hope not to be forgetting anything

Made this one after sketching a comm that included J with her canon hair length XD it felt so weeeirddd

This twitter trend>>>>>>

Sadly it doesn't work anymore since I changed pfp:(

That's all, I think!

Didn't include comms, gifts nor art trades because didn't want it to be messier that it already is >< but maybe one day I'll show them off here too.......

Once again, thank you for all your patience and kindness :") I'm really glad that even if u started following because of Parental Control AU, a lot of you seemed to enjoy jame/inkstar !!!!

This past weeks have been horrifyingly busy, so in my spare time I used to sketch them a lot to relieve stress and cope :p Parental Control requires more time and effort- careful planning, so that's why I didn't want to push creating something that may be very low quality ><

Thank you for sticking around!! Hopefully in some more days we'll go back to Cyn and Golden + some cute fanart + ocasional inkstar too<33333

[mayordea]

Happy birthday to the number one princess in the world!! 💖

~from her biggest fans :)

ramble of my scattered thoughts on the piece under cut as usual cuz i love talking 😋

This has been an idea I've been cookin for a while, and it was so cluttered and unlike any other ensemble piece I've made... and I decided I oughta do it anyway. I love Miku, I love Vocaloid, and I wanted to do something really ambitious and crazy for her anniversary. Crazy that she's turning her "canon" age this year TwT

I had the idea floating around since like, May...? And then finally started acting on it around June 18. I'm terrible with deadlines, obvious with how I can never make a silly birthday post in time, so I started wayyyy ahead to make sure I have some room to be lazy lol, especially with an idea as ambitious as this.

This was finished on July 12! So I had to sit on this for an annoying amount of time. Very difficult for someone like me who just wants to talk about everything I'm working on to the masses. But at the very least, that gave me the time to work on the draft for this post.

~~~

Here's some ~behind the scenes~ scribbles leading up to the finished piece!

Left is the chicken scratch plan i made in my handy dandy notebook (whenever things are getting real and ambitious, i always made a rough ROUGH plan in there. Usually I'd do a rough pass of the full thing, but this was too complicated for me to do traditionally. I majorly benefited from digital tools to make this possible). CyberDiva and CyberSongman were considered, but I ended up cutting them cuz I just didn't feel like drawing them sorry-- (just pretend they're off to the side. They gave Ruby and Clara the pizza lol). Right is the "final" completed sketch (before I decided to include Chika mid-way through coloring and VY1 and VY2 near the finish line). I started by drawing the main "groups" separated on a different canvas so I can plop them into the main canvas for easy rearranging and transforming. However I got lazy and ended up drawing everyone in the bottom right corner directly on the canvas since I liked seeing the big picture of everyone's positions. Y'know.

Almost excluded Chika! But I like her design so much that I just felt like including her last-minute. You win this time, Chika fans. VY1 and VY2 were very close to being cut! I added them when I began doing the banner and thought "eh why not". I figured their non-human designs would be pretty easy to include pushed back in the bg. Ik VY1 is more commonly associated with the fan design, but I referenced the hairpin cuz it was simpler and the fan looked very annoying to draw 😭

Sorry to the fans of many Vocaloids I had to cut because this composition was insane enough as is. I promise I wanted to include fellas like CUL, LUMi and Sachiko 😭 I will admit I was a little biased on who I wanted to include over others. Like, I don't normally care for Bruno and Clara, but I wanted to get some more international 'loids in the mix. Also wanted to stick in the realm of official designs and not fan-designs since, as much as I can appreciate those, are just a whole "wait who is that guy supposed to be" situation I didn't wanna deal with. I also did wanna include even more character references through the balloons, but they ended up being kind of ugly and overcomplicated the BG :,) (Oh, and while this was originally planned to be a Vocaloid-only piece, I did end up including Teto, Neru, and Haku 'cuz those are Miku's besties dude!!! They may not be Officially in the club but they're her girls and it would be criminal to not invite them to her birthday).

Anyway, this project marks the first time I've drawn a lot of Vocaloids. Lily, Piko, Rana, Yuki, Yukari, Miki, Maika, and many more lol. All of 'em I've heard or seen in passing, but now I actually drew them, and some have really cool and fun designs!! I got into a habit of drawing Merli after this since I just love her design for example. And I'll probably be drawing more lol!!

Oh and the last thing I'll add for now!! The cake is indeed made up of various song references!! I wanted to reference the "big four" producers, just absolute icons in Vocaloid history. The pink/black checkerboard is "World is Mine" (Ryo), the crescents on the side is "Rolling Girl" (Wowaka), the smiley faces is "Matryoshka" (Hachi), and the three hearts on the side is "The Vampire" (DECO*27, which is sort of a symbol of his whole Mannequin album tbh). I know "The Vampire" is a bit modern but I couldn't think of anything else off the top of my head. I'm a fake DECO fan I know 😔 "Matryoshka" was originally going to be referenced in the colors of the candles but believe me it looked like shit so I just went for something else last minute 😭

That's all I have to say!!! Hope you didn't mind the text wall if you made it here. I hope you like it as much as I do!!!! Happy freakin' birthday Miku!!!!

I have to deal with tagging all these characters now for my page,,, in the drafts my tags got cut off after a certain point so I think I'm massively breaching the tag limit 😭 um... I'll figure that out later...

not losing sleep that i can't tag everyone, even for page organization purposes because some characters have pretty generic names and some are a little hard to see in full yknow. If you're one of those people who tag every character in the art piece you reblog... I am very sorry.

[imagining-in-the-margins]

CM Wrong Recipient Writing Challenge 🎁

The following are prompts including a Wrong/Mistaken Recipient! Reader or OC, Gen/Platonic, AND Character/Character fics are allowed!

This event is over (Masterlist of Fics here), but you are welcome to use any of these prompts. If you would like to be added to the existing Masterlist of entries, please check out the Rules below!

SFW Prompts 🙈

The BAU arrests the wrong person

The flower delivery guy really messes things up

Character grabs the wrong person to kiss at NYE

Character leaves a voicemail for the wrong person

Character grabs the wrong person’s hand in public

Character receives an awkward text from an unknown number (or one they haven’t spoken to in a long time)

Character throws a snowball at their friend… but misses (and hits their crush/an attractive stranger instead)

Talking to different people on multiple phone lines can get really confusing

Somehow Character got on someone's super silly Christmas Card mailing list

There’s a mixup of notebooks and Character finds writings/drawings... of them

Character receives a package they weren't expecting and finds an even more unexpected item inside

The team recounts all the times Penelope said something inappropriate to the wrong person on the phone

Character has been sending messages to their loved one after they passed (they never expected a response)

Character pulls a prank against a fun-loving coworker, but their significantly less playful coworker triggers it

Character leaves an anonymous letter confessing their love, but the recipient insists it can’t be for them

Character enlists Penelope’s help in hacking into someone’s device to delete an unintended message

Anything else you can think of!

Keep Reading for more Prompts and the Challenge Rules!

Dialogue Prompts 🙉

“Oh, God. Wrong house.”

“New phone, who’s this?”

“So… who is (intended recipient name)?”

“Baby, I can be whoever you want me to be.”

“Any chance we can pretend you didn’t see that?”

“No matter what you do, do NOT open that.” “Too late.”

“I’m not complaining, but I don’t think that was for me.”

“What’s the point of the unsend button if it tells them that I unsent something?!”

“This is definitely the wrong number but, seriously, did you think that line would work?”

“I actually can come to the phone right now with a very special message that your mother is a—!”

NSFW Prompts 🙊

Character is a stripper at the wrong party

Character receives scandalous selfies from a coworker

Characters buy books together but take the wrong ones home (at least one of them is erotica)

Character wanted to gift a friend a sex toy as a joke and they used the same wrapping paper for their crush’s gift

Character sends their friend a detailed review of their recent sexual encounter… and accidentally sends it to the person they’re reviewing

There’s confusion and two BAU members end up with the same hotel room (Character walks in to find their coworker completely nude)

Character is waiting for an unsub in a confessional booth (the unsub doesn't show, but someone else confesses unholy thoughts)

Rules

Your fic can be a Reader insert, an Original Character, a character/character ship, a platonic ship, or a Gen fic. It can feature any Criminal Minds character. AUs and crossovers are more than welcome.

Tag me in the fic, or send the link to me in a Direct Message. It can be already written, or you can write it for the challenge - I collect both! You can also tag “#mentioningmargins”

The fic can be any genre, but ONLY send me smut if your bio states you are 18+. I DO NOT WANT smut written by minors. Ever. At all. I will check. Platonic ships and pure, fluffy fics are 100% allowed. Please also include some indication of rating if it is NSFW.

Please include Content Warnings and a one-sentence Summary of the fic in your post. For xReader fics, PLEASE specify if your reader is Female, Male, or Gender Neutral.

Have fun!

Happy Writing!

[plutoenjoyer]

soft junhan thoughts 💭

· this guy loves loves loves getting his hair played with

· it's like, the perfect amount of physical touch for him

· because he doesn't normally like it, you find ways to be affectionate with him in ways he's okay and comfortable with, and just twirling your fingers in his hair, or braiding it, or gently scratching the nape of his neck with a massage is sooo calming and not too much

· and you get to watch him just melt in your hands out of relaxation 🥹😵‍💫

· ART PROJECTS

· there's always doodling around you two

· he's leaving a note for you on your night stand? there's a cute little happy face drawn next to it. you're killing time waiting for your coffee at a café? he's doodling a little flower for you on a napkin.

· and you leave him doodles back of course. sometimes you'll draw something that accompanies his original drawing, and these are his favorite because you made it together, even if it's just a silly looking cat playing in a field of silly looking, badly scribbled flowers.

· it's one of his favorite ways to communicate with you because it's like your own little language. none of the other members, not even your family, can hear the love in these doodles between you two (and you two only)

· he likes having special secrets and inside jokes with you for sure

· and sometimes when you're both hanging out, you'll draw together. one of the funnier moments is when you decide to draw portraits of one another, and the results... varied, but it was still fun

· nail polish. oh you know exactly what I'm gonna say

· you guys paint each other's nails, usually you're touching up his usual black polish but sometimes he lets you get creative :)

· on the other hand, you love watching his artist brain work and how he uses colors on your nails to create the perfect vibe. sometimes you end up with vibrant polish on every nail, and sometimes you get a very simple and muted color palette. either way you're happy with them because he did it for you :]

· i think junhan values not only creativity in a person, but also values the willingness to discuss things. he likes that you genuinely try to take interest and understand what he's explaining to you, because he's someone who thinks deeply on things and shares that curiosity with the people he loves because he wants to engage with them.

· you really enjoy when he gets passionate and explains things to you because 1) it's cute and 2) he genuinely has lots of interesting takes on things (looks at his bubble messages)

· he appreciates that you even challenge his thinking sometimes because his introvert mind is always in his own head, and having someone to yank him out of his own bias is super refreshing!!!

· he shows affection with acts of service so much (since physical touch and words of affirmation are not usually his thing). he cooks for you and will do the dishes AND take out the trash so you don't have to do a thing

· i also think that he's suchhh a secret admirer, like compared to ode who likes to make his love known, junhan is stealing glances at your cute face when you're focused and when you confront him about it he's like

· "yes i was🙂"

· "ooookay...and can i ask why?"

· "oh, i just thought you looked pretty?"

· and you snicker because that's usually something you would just tell your gf, but you don't care. you tell him "you're handsome!" and you can't stop yourself from giving him a little peck on the cheek, to which he starts cutely giggling back

· you and junhan are so very tender and patient with one another, listening and valuing one another's time, truly the perfect pair!!!

· he has a 4 cut photo of you two tacked above his desk, sometimes when he's writing lyrics he looks up for inspiration :)

· just admires and respects you so much🥺💖

[sillystarr565]

what do you think little smilk’s age range is? he sounds really small from what you’ve said

I don’t think there’s like a specific age he regresses too personally,, esp after like one bajillion years of living an being immortal and all that it’s hard to narrow it down to som numbers (totally not projecting my own inability to know what range I go byy… not at all,,,) but!!! I made a little diagram thingy that hopefully shows my thoguhts (clic for better quality!!)

so sos so again I don’t feel like there’s like, just one specific range he reverts to, I’d imagine constantly getting older (with no end in sight it seems) he’ll be bound to slip into many various states n phases generally but there are three stages I thinks about real often (yap incoming,, under the cut to save some space :3)

I feel like he’d (on rare occasion) indulge himself in his old scriptures n notes an stuff during his time as the fount of knowledge, allowing himself to remember who he was and in a way embracing that initial truth he pushed himself away from in a more gentle way, reminiscing on more nicer memories and so on instead of playing the fool all the time..,, by doing that he’d kinda go in this half kinda regression? Like a mix between his playful jester-sona and Fount of Knowledge if that makes sense,, like getting excited again by his old works n kind of sparking that original passion he had for learning and sharing information n stuff, and wanting to ramble to his minions about it while keeping up that playfulness he’s grown to personify as a jester!

I mentioned this on the first little smc post I made ever in the tags that I dont know if he would know about his own regression or not, but his default or most common behaviour for me is like,, the low energy, unusually calm kind of one ya knoww? When he’s out of it he wouldn’t really be able to keep up that quirky silly energetic funny guy act I think!! He’s small and he can’t process that!! he’s just got a lot (or maybe nothing at all even) on his mind,, Like usually you’d just think at first glance someone who was like this was just tired or something n brush it off,, but it’s really odd when that person is shadow milk cookie?!!! anyway he’s lowww energy little guy,, he’d like to do his arts n crafts n stuff, though his artwork may be a bit sloppier than his usual standards,, but he’s small!! He don’t care he just want to draw fr! don’t really wanna talk lots,, short answers and huffs,,, and and I think he’d like reading too!! Reading is good he likes doing that n will read up on folklore n children’s literature especially.. fairytales…… rrhahahgg!!

And little!!! Little guy with the short hair on the right side umm,,m is kind a a self indulgent thing for myself I’ll be honest,, I jus really like drawin little very teeny tinys but!! I would like to imagine smc shapeshifting physically smaller when small after he realizing/understanding when this happens, and accepting that part of himself after a little while of denial and shame with Pv being there to help him along of course (don’t ever be ashamed! Of! Regresssing!!! Btw!! You’re healing and coping and that is wonderful!!!)

I think he’d start off doing it as like,, jus a way to get Pv’s attention lots more easily maybe if he’s in a more playful mood or something but Idk maybe he’d potentially just. Start doing it subconsciously if he does it enough times to get used to it

Anyway!!! That’s the end of my yap thank you for reading an if you didn’t that’s :p sorry if anything was confusing I have a bit of trouble explaining things

[xxsinisterbunniexx]

☠︎︎ Jeff the Killer ☠︎︎

General characterization and headcanons

My personal thoughts and feelings about Jeff as a character and how I write him :3

Originally, I was going to lump together all my character thoughts and general headcanons but then I realized that’s silly bc the post would be SO long and also it would take me forever to finish so instead I’ll just be posting each character as I finish theirs :3

Jeff is your fav sarcastic asshole. He’s cocky and his personality can be a bit abrasive at times. Pretty much all the time. He thinks he’s a lot cooler than he is and sometimes he can be quite insufferable.

He’s aloof and nonchalant before you know him very well. Leans against the wall in the shadows headass. This can make it kind of hard to get close to him. He is friends with the other creeps, closest with Ben because they’ve known each other the longest. It takes him a while to warm up to new people and he doesn’t let people in easily.

His ego is overinflated but it’s fragile. He uses egoism to cover up his insecurities. He’s vicious, but not because he is hateful to the core he just has heavy trauma. He’s quick to snap at people and put walls up to protect himself and he’ll run from his feelings if they make him uncomfortable.

Generally, I think Jeff has more depth than just being a “psycho killer”, but I do think killing is a major outlet for him. I do want to clarify that he doesn’t just kill because he has trauma. Consistent with his original story, Jeff has had “urges” since before the bullying ever began. There isn’t a true explanation as to why he does what he does.

Random headcanons

☠︎︎Jeff is like 5’9 AT MOST (and really I think like 5’8 but I draw the line at 5’9) he’s on the slimmer side but sleeper build

☠︎︎ ︎would listen to music on a shitty mp3 player with skull candy headphones

☠︎︎ would be kinda elitist about the type of music he listens to

☠︎︎ but it would all be emo shit

☠︎︎ lowkey I think his favorite band would be like Escape the Fate or Get Scared

☠︎︎ has to redye his hair black all the time, like you’d catch him doing his roots

☠︎︎ he does shower but he uses one of those awful 8 in 1 body washes for men

☠︎︎he has a favorite knife but he’ll use anything he can get his hands on if he needs to

☠︎︎ he would defo have quite a few tattoos and probably some piercings too

☠︎︎ likely a combination of ear piercings and maybe a lip ring or something

I will likely add to this as I think of more stuff :P

[firefly--bright]

forwards, beckon, rebound.

jean kirstein x fem!reader, modern a.u.

summary ; falling in love with jean kirstein was too easy. realizing and living with it, however, was more difficult than ripping your own heart out of your chest - veins and all. warnings ; unrequited? love, mentions of alcohol at the end, a little angsty. a/n ; im not doing well LMFAO its okay guys...its okay.... i have another thing im going to post tn before going on an undecidedly long hiatus so!! i hope you guys enjoy this <3that being said i think college will be the death of me also mini thank you to @\samepictureofjeankirsteveryday on instagram!! i wasnt going to post this fic originally but she lowkey made me want this baby to see the light of day :3 taglist ; @holding-infinity-and-a-book , @mrsnobodynobody , @hopeless-anti-romantic-again , @jeanscremebrulee , @berrijam , @happxme , @cherrypieyourface , @imgayandshesanime , @moonmalice , @kivernova , @potaho3frog , @xakilicious , @katestrophes , @gojo-ana , @ppushable, @candleohappiness , @zombiefiedskeivy , @1ovede1uxe

masterlist is in pinned post! ✿ enter my taglist! ✿ requests for headcanons are open! ✿

middle tile art creds ; @ppushable beloved

Falling in love with jean kirstein wasn't too much of a task.

Realising you were in love with jean kirstein, however, proved to be a big one. 

You dont realise it at first. Of course not, that would be too easy and stupid. You couldn't give yourself the permission to do that - to intrude on someone else's life so easily without guilt; because liking someone, romantically or platonically, has always been a selfish act, one that you were hesitant to commit. It felt like a crime, really. The first time he sat next to you on the couch despite there being more than enough room on the other side of it, cushions perfectly clean and waiting, he sat next to you. 

Nothing came out of it. He sat next to you the whole night - the first night you two got close and talked about your stupid lives even after everyone had called it a night, with two glasses empty of any beverage, already long gone under inattentive care, because you’d rather look at him. His hand was in the air, actions drawing themselves in the space around him, claiming the place to be his without hesitation. He’d say something, you’d make a bad joke, he’d stifle a laugh and lie through his teeth about it not being funny. You’d say something unimportant, his elbow would be on the back cushions of the couch, supporting his head, hand tangling through his hair - not that you were staring at it when your eyes pleaded for something else to focus on. He’d lick his lips absentmindedly, nodding to your story. He’d make a silly, offhanded comment that you’d milk out into another joke, and he’d stutter his responses. The night went on, drowsily, and you decided to reluctantly surrendered to sleep as his eyes slipped closed to your voice, head directly on the back cushions. As if he had forgotten the conversation that occurred two minutes ago - “And.. i mean, yeah, i get it, but- are you.. Are you falling asleep?”

“No, no. of course not. Just… resting my head. Go on.” 

“Your voice just got deeper, man, stop lying-”

“No! Im.. im serious. Im listening. Keep going.”

“Right,”

“Come on, i wanna hear you.”

“... oh. Right, so then…uh.”

“Mhm.”

“Uhm…right so, i got, what she was saying, but then again, why would she need to-”

And the conversation followed with just you speaking, a little hushed, pretending not to notice how his breathing evened itself out completely, his finger twitching every so often. Pretending not to notice, really, because that's all you'd been doing all this while. 

That was your first offense, you suppose. Pretending the love wasn't there. Pretending he isn't this easy to love, this easy to find your way back to. His presence was the one thing you looked forward to with each large group hangout until it was just the two of you - he’d asked you to accompany him going grocery shopping. “Connie wants some stupid fucking water gun.” 

You had laughed, unserious at first. But his voice did’nt waver through the phone, making you wonder out loud, “wait, for what?”

He sighed. You could almost feel his breath through the speaker. “April fools is coming up. Your guess is as good as mine,” he said, “anyway, i’ll come pick you up in ten?” he questions, as if you’d ever refuse. You could. You really could. But part of you wanted to know why connie would need the gun and what exactly he’d do with it just so you could be prepared incase of oncoming attacks. But the other part - the bigger, more selfish, more hesitant one - wanted to spend time with him because the aspect of just going grocery shopping sounded appealing. 

Appealing, as if it was something more. 

Maybe it was. Jean had a way of making every task of yours feel special. His eyes were always on your movements, something you appreciated, his blatant observation an endearing trait after you’d been gone unnoticed for long enough for you to feel non-existent entirely.

You dressed appropriately. Made sure your hair was good enough. Swiped a finger over your eyebrows to shape them before heading out. He was waiting under your apartment, back resting against the shining metal of his car, thumb hovering over his phone as he waited. Your shoes clicked - did they squeak or did they click? The dirt seemed interesting. - and he looked up at you before smiling. “Where do you think the best place to shop for a watergun could be?” an important question. You hummed in faux thought, mind only filled with his cologne, and the fact that his feet were only a couple inches from yours, “i dont know. Did connie not say where? Considering he’s such an expert?” you said, and he snorted. “Right. He just gave me a very specific model to look for. And the money for it, surprisingly.”

You made a joke about stealing the money and buying something “pretty for himself” which was met by slightly reddening cheeks and a scoff. “I look pretty in anything. I mean-” he stuttered over his own words, stumbling over consonants until he landed on, “i- we should..uhm, go. Before it gets too late.” you wanted to ask what you could possibly be late for, but he opened your door for you before you could say anything, and sped-walked to his side of the car. It was the two of you, the silence of his car, waiting to be broken. 

He asked you to play a song. You played careless whisper. He laughed. A full-bellied, deep hearted chuckle that you were sure you’d keep hearing over the course of the next few months if not your lifetime.

When april finally did come, with a summery breeze to accompany it, connie’s prank set itself ablaze. The “prank” being that he and eren would go around - “no, the point is that no one can see it coming!” - college campus, spraying their elaborate victims with a not-so-discreet snicker, not realizing that the cold water was a treat rather than a trick. “If that’s the point then youre fucking failing because your shiny bald head and his fucking stench is enough to let everyone know youre coming from miles away,” jean had said, hands folded over his chest. Armin stifled a laugh while you snickered in broad daylight, unashamed. 

Maybe that was your second offense - finding him fucking funny. It wasnt even your fault, in all honesty, it should be his for being witty and quick on his feet to make a remark that he knew would make you break. And you knew he was out to get you because sometimes he’d lean in close to your ear and whisper the joke against the loudness of the rest of the world - in a language and words only you could hear and understand and almost wait for his prize. Youre not sure if your laugh was his prize or the pride that came with the idea of being funny was, but you presented it to him without hesitation either way. 

How you couldn't realise you were in love with him in those moments always made you question your own instincts. 

It felt like a crime. Little offenses that would add up to one big debt towards the big national system that was out to get you - letting your yearning run rampant and unchecked while you sat on the floor, wondering, questioning, untrusting of your own feelings. What else could you do, really? When your love had been dormant for so long without any interaction, was it really your fault that it did not know when to wake up and tell you that it was real? Your crimes didn't matter. The number of them, their destruction. It wouldn't have mattered if the love would’ve just told you what it was instead of concealing itself under layers of disregard and faux indifference. 

And the worst part is that it didn't even escalate. His actions remained the same and so did your unnerving, unnatural feelings, laying bare-boned in front of you. He’d call you late at night, usually on tuesdays or fridays, and ask you, surprised, what you were doing up this late. You were always up this late, you'd say, even if it was him who called. Youd turn the question to him and he’d tell you about how he couldnt sleep because he was playing a game with your friends. 

“Why are you whispering” he had asked, ever keen about your every action. 

“Sasha’s asleep on my lap,” you said, your hand in between her brown hair, conditioned and soft between your fingers. 

“That doesnt answer my question.” he said. You could hear his blatant smirk through the phone.

“I dont want her to wake up,” you said, a smile of your own creeping on your face, slowly, carefully. It was meant to be there, though, however much you didnt want it to be, like moths to a beautiful flame. 

He hummed. Fluttering of patterned wings flying towards a bright orb. “What else?” god, its like he wanted you to peel apart and let him observe the shredded, unmoving pieces. Maybe he really did.

“We watched the perks of being a wallflower,” “oh?” “yeah, sash said she wanted me to see it-” “you’ve never seen that movie before?” “i mean, i did now,” you muttered, voice now only a little bit higher, smile growing only a little bit wider. Moths to an open, inviting flame.

“Jesus. Thank god she did. Did you cry?” he asked, eager. “Do you want me to cry? Thats telling-” “-no i dont want you to cry,” “hey, im not shaming your fantasies, im just-” “my fantasies dont involve you crying.” you pause before speaking again. “Right.” “i mean- they.. They involve you - like all of you guys, hah, just..not crying. Happy,” you hum. The moths get dangerously, hopefully closer to the burning flame. Its painful and its warm. “Whatever. Did you cry?” he asks, and you allow him a laugh at that. You wonder if he has moths of his own. Maybe dragonflies. They suit him better, you think for a split second, before his fire invites you again with a calloused hand, crackling firewood. “See, the fact that you’re not answering is more of an answer.” You shrug, knowing he cant see it. Part of you wonders if he knows you well enough to commit your actions to memory - enough to know when you're doing them, enough to predict them like a well choreographed dance. “I cried a little. Like, one tear, and then i stopped,”

“Right, sure.” “you know, you forcing an answer out of me is also more of an answer.” you say, flipping the conversation over on it’s head, the dancers doing a somersault on the thin cracks in your ribs.

“what? How?” “now i know you cried while watching it-” “i did not-” “-or else you wouldnt want me to be as miserable as you-” “i didnt cry, i dont even know what youre talking about,” “i can literally ask sasha.” “you wouldnt…do that,” he says, unconfident. you suck in a dramatic breath, pretending to get ready to shout sasha’s name, before he interrupts you with a slight terror behind his teeth, “okay, i cried like, a little,” he says, his voice a little static, but you could hear the expression he was making behind the layers of faux cockiness. You hum knowingly. “Just a little,” “dont sound like that.” 

You breathe out a laugh, smile reaching your eyes, your cheeks pushing against the phone on your ear. “Sound like what?” “like…like youre judging me,” “im not judging you! Im all for crying.” “just not enough for you to do it?” “i’ll cry when i need to.” “and when’s that?” “i dont know, maybe when they declare that, like, all chocolate has lead in it or something, and they ban it.” there was another pause. You gauge his reaction, a flash of regret for your statement, and then a laugh from his end, crystal clear. Even with the phone hindering your view of him, its perfect - the happiness resides in his chest, and it makes it’s way out because of you, crawling into your arms through the shitty microphones that the big companies cant seem to perfect, and youre afraid it’ll catch a hold of you and you would never be able to shake it away; the feeling of his laughter in your chest, shared and kept and bottled up in the shape of something familiar but terrifying and real. You dont realise youre also laughing a little by the end of it. 

“That wouldn't stop you from still eating it.” he says. “Fair point,” you reply, playing with a strand of sasha’s hair between your fingers. Your love has always been louder than you would've liked it to be, its shouts keeping you awake at night, the harmonies - or lack thereof - disrupting your usual schedule. It had to find a way to get out, and you weren't sure where to put it once it did. Where your love could find a place to rest without urgency, silent under a warm gaze. You didn't know where to find it. 

you suppose your next offense - and it was a big one this time, staring at you in the face until you were too scared to look away - was actually noticing. 

not that you didn't before. it wasn't unknown, the fact that he put meticulous effort into his appearance, combing his hair a certain way, wearing different colours that he knew worked, smelling nice. he was the one who made it known, a pretentious boastful laugh about how he'd bought a new perfume after sasha pointed it out, telling the table of five that he actually had the money to buy it and he was going to use it to it's fullest extent. but then you started noticing the unimportant details, the natural ones that came as a habit to him but became holy to you. waving a hand through his hair after it unravelled from its former position throughout the day, wearing the bracelet you had hastily and ironically made for him as if it was a part of his own wrist, regardless of if it matched his outfit or not, his perfume wearing off sometime in the middle of the day, but the residue of it could only be smelt when you were sitting close to him, brushing his shoulder with yours. All the unimportant things, you think, a big weight on your already hesitant shoulders, weak under the boulder you were trying to push. 

The way his voice dipped when he muttered something he knew was unimportant but wanted to be known anyway (you wouldn't tell him you would always keep those mutters in mind - chanted scriptures until they're all your tongue and ears remember). The way he fidgeted with his rings sometimes, slipping them off of his finger and and onto the next, continuing to do that until all his fingers had worn the jewellery (one time it slipped and fell through his fingers, an unnoticeable action, and his fingers hovered mid empty air, grasping metal that had slipped away). The unimportant scar on the front of his right shoulder, only to be seen when he wore a tank top during the summer, when he’d told you he’d saved a dog from a car accident with red cheeks and ears - a telltale lie. You let the statement lay in front of you before smiling with an exaggerated, proud puff of air, after which he had immediately went back to his story to correct it. The reality was that he tried diving into a pool once - only for his shoulder to be scraped up on the diving board, along with his jaw, as he fell. He said this ungracefully, scratching the back of his neck and waving his hand as if it wasn't a big deal - and you would agree, it wasn't a big deal. yet. There was always a yet. You wanted to write down all his words, through his stutters and higher-pitched words, his unintentional pauses, and etch them into your spine. What good were your bones if not to be carved under a weathering, hopeless love that could never prevail? What good were your lungs if not to build a home out of unbreathable air?

Unimportant. You’d call your love that; a universal truth. You couldn't give yourself the permission for more than that, for an offense greater than the one you’d already guiltily committed. 

Falling in love with jean kirstein was out of your hawk-eyed control. Realising you were in love with jean kirstein was an unmistakable, out-of-question, universally bound reality that you couldn't escape. Or maybe one you didn't want to escape. 

You weren't hopeful of a reciprocal or even a secure future. You were never quite the hopeful one, and maybe that's why you chalked yourself up to a non romantic person who’s forbidden to use those big movie words with the big important meanings and the confident and hearty laugh after a confession. Being a romantic took a hell of a lot of hope, something you fundamentally lacked, something that you could never live up to. 

So this was it. Staring at you in your face, his eyes brown and a little golden at the edge like a pot of pouring honey, warmth under those tones, unhidden with full and weighted importance that you never had the permission to receive. His shoulder - the scarred one - is pressed up against the wall and the party is loud and his cup is almost empty, his first drink of the night, and his cologne is fading away only a little, a strand of his hair falling on his forehead. And this wouldn't be a big issue if it wasn't for the fact that you were thinking about it all, the unimportant parallels and the god like, important-unimportant words, etched into your hesitant and tired vertebrae. His smile is soft. Has it always been? Were you deserving of that? After all of your committed offenses? 

“This punch is fucking disgusting,” he says, changing the previous topic, smelling the drink in his hand. You were incapable of speaking, of using your big mouth and small words. “Its.. interesting,” you finally muttered, looking down at your own cup, your thumb rubbing gentle, controlled back-and-forths on the rim of the cup. you‘re not sure how he even heard you but somehow he always does.

“I can make a better one for you,” he says, as if he doesn't have anything better to do. “No, im good. I dont want to get… y’know,” you say, eyes pointing to the vague direction of a now-shirtless connie, waving the shirt in a loop over his head disregarding the beat and rhythm of the song completely.

Jean’s eyes remain on his friend for a while. “Yeah i wouldn't want to get…that either,” he says, and you snort an unattractive laugh, and when you look back up, he’s laughing with you. Smiling at your unimportant sound, his hand holding the cup by its rim and dropping his elbow down so the cup rests somewhere near his thigh. 

Unimportant. All of it. But somehow holy. Human condition. 

He moves towards the kitchen either way, claiming something about having non-alcoholic fruit beer in the fridge just for “this”. He says “this” as if its a confession, something he’s been meaning to get off of his chest, “this” like he knows your unimportant and off-handed comment about not wanting to drink from last week and carrying it around like an effective poem, life altering with every sentence. He says “this” like it's important. Somehow holy, human condition.

And he follows through, with whatever his “this” meant, and hands you a can of some kind of soda. A sip later, you find out its peach flavoured, surprisingly addictive, not too sweet. You steal a glance at the front of it, a bright and vibrant logo greeting you with a smiling mascot of a peach with sunglasses. You look back up at him with a raised eyebrow. “This was a conscious decision?” you ask, turning the front of the can to him so he could see what you were referring to. A smile split his face, followed by faux annoyance and an eyeroll, “thank you, jean, for always thinking of me,” he says, high pitched, and the implications are not lost on you, and he continues when all you do is smile with a breath of laughter, “thank you, jean, you bought me my favourite flavoured drink-” “thank you, jean kirstein, my saviour, for thinking of me,” you say, the sound getting lost somewhere in between your mouth and his. His smile hangs on his face with pride, an action you unknowingly put there. 

God, and falling in love with jean kirstein was so easy. Easier than breathing, more conscious than involuntary blinking, more natural than your fidgeting hands. 

But realising you were in love with jean kirstein was more uncomfortable than the act of being alive, more conscious than the fact that your voice could produce a sound that occupied space, more careful than your hesitant thoughts. 

Everything chalked up to this; loving jean kirstein was easier than any feat you couldve ever done. Any holiness, any prayer, any selfish and hopeless act of greatness that was trapped in your veins.

Realising you’d always love him, realising maybe you’d always be stuck in this limbo was the only thing that proved to be difficult. You're a creature of habit - habitual sighs, rhythmic steps, habitual solitude - and you'd never been prepared for this. But it was okay.

Being in love with jean kirstein - and realizing you’d always love him - was okay. Habitual. All offenses could be just those - offenses. Habitual. You’d learn to live with it as you did all other things. 

✿

[katiekatdragon27]

Guys what is this book and what is the Bill on it? All I know is gay shapes-

A. Sphere: I'm not calling you "Good Boy" A. Square, that court case was SHIT.

Me earlier: Wow! The Book of Bill just came out, that's cool ig.

Everyone recently: *being super active in the tag, watching the movies, relogging and liking my art*

Me: *me carrying some small doodles over* WHO ARE YOU PEOPLE???

Thanks for bringing me back to brainrot by spam-liking all my old posts guys I forgive none of you (/J I LOVE YOU ALL)

More stuff below cut (BE WARNED NEW FLAT-PEOPLE SOME OF IT IS LOWKEY SPOILERY):

A. Square and A. Faux Line: Damn, that circle kinda a hottie- ...

I had this silly idea after my 29374th time watching Flatland that a majority of the first part of the movie is just A. Sphere watching all the shit go down like the worst telenovela you've ever seen. Also, that A. Line was originally going to be the apostle, but... uh... she can't really do that anymore, so he banks all his money on A. Square.

Also, I thought it would be super funny of A. Square and A. Faux Line both crushed on A. Sphere when he first showed up lol. Crazy smooth priest spawns and everyone swoons.

Older Hex doodles too. I love Hex, they're such a real one the whole time. With all the faults of Sphereland, I do like Hex maining in that one. But I also like picking and choosing which things I take as canon in my own work, so you get young adult Hex with their totally not-romantically-involved-with-at-all partner Punto (P. Octagon).

It's been a bit since Flatland happened in this hypothetical, so A. Square's still around. He's trying to be supportive of his masc-nonbinary kid who likes kissing boys, but still has to be annoying with dad jokes and the occasional backhanded compliment. He means well tho.

A. Tesseract: Hello A. Square!

A. TESSERACT OH HOW I'VE MISSED YOU POOKIE <3333. She's probably one of my most favorite ocs I've made (and the one that gets the most art <3) She's also the one I feel the least awkward about shoving into the source material lol. I yearn to work on A Heightlander's Escape again, but we'll see.

I just wanted to draw something cute between her and A. Square. She may or may not be the voice at the end of the movie hmmmmmmmm.

At least A. Square would end up in good hands.

"There is always something beyond. There is always INFINITY."

Just a little doodle of smth I may or may not render cuz I really like how it looks. There is always something greater after all.

Thank you all for the recent support on those old-ish drawing, y'all made my week tbh. I have a new AU cooking for this so look forward to that lol. Have a good one :)))

[chocodile]

Hiya! I was the advice anon from a few days back! First of thank you so so so so much for taking the time to not just answer but give such thorough advice! I really appreciate it so much, shared it with other friends of mine who have similar anxieties as I do. I really do appreciate it so much. Even if the internet isn’t how it used to be with less algorithms and numbers, I hope that I can still find my own enjoyment. I do have a best friend who I reconnected with 4 years ago and he gave me back that spark I was losing being one of the first people genuinely in love with my work much how I love his!

And yes please! I would love to hear your thoughts on meeting other creators and how to “launch” stories , and create that community! I love hearing the insight and introspection of fellow artists ! Everyone has different experiences that can be learned from and I just love reading what artists have to say about their work or methods ! Don’t worry about length, the more the better (of course please do not stress or worry about it, take all the time you need!)

Thank you again for answering my questions earnestly, made my week!

Hey Anon, sorry this took a while to get to! I've been pretty busy. I'm glad you found the first post helpful!

Regarding audience building and finding other creators... as I mentioned, I have a lot of thoughts. Here's a bunch of slightly disjointed notes on I've put together…

AUDIENCE BUILDING TIPS FROM SOMEONE WHO KINDA DID IT:

TIP 1: FIND OTHERS WITH SIMILAR INTERESTS!

Making OCs and original stories can be kind of isolating compared to, say, fandom. Best we can do is find specific points to bond over.

What is your story about? Does it involve heavy research into a specific topic, like speculative biology or real-world history? Look up tags related to this and see if anyone else is doing characters or stories based around this topic.

Does it share a theme with a popular media property? See if you can sneakily trick some of the fans of that media property into looking at your thing, too. ;) For example, a high-fantasy story might do well to court D&D fans. If you're writing a romance story, try to think of other stories and popular fandom ships that share themes with yours. You can follow artists who draw for that fandom, draw fan art for it, or make an AU of your character in that setting. Or all of the above.

This can even apply to very superficial things. Like, is your main character a woman with red hair and glasses? Did you find another artist whose favorite OC is a woman with red hair and glasses? That's a connection opportunity! And chances are, that artist may have friends or fans who ALSO like red haired women with glasses. Superficial appearance might feel like a silly thing to bond over, but catching someone's eye with your design is often the first step toward them engaging with the character more deeply.

Of course, you shouldn't be doing this as a cynical attention-grab… I absolutely wouldn't recommend courting a fandom for something you don't personally enjoy, and I wouldn't recommend following artists purely in hopes that they follow you back. That's a recipe for feeling miserable and resentful when it inevitably doesn't "pay off" immediately. Building relationships and establishing yourself in spaces takes time, and it needs to be something you enjoy doing or you'll just feel frustrated and give up.

TIP 2: BE THE ONE TO REACH OUT FIRST, BE CONSISTENT, BUT HAVE REASONABLE EXPECTATIONS.

So you've found someone you think is cool! Their story has werewolves in it, and so does yours. You think their main character is pretty cool and would like to know more about them. (And, secretly, you want them to ask you about your characters, too!)

So, get the ball rolling! Go ahead and ask them about their guy! It's scary, but that's often what you gotta do. If, after a few messages, they seem amenable, you can eventually start dropping tidbits about YOUR guy and YOUR story. "Your description of how the transformation sequence feels is very vivid and cool! In MY OWN werewolf story, transformation goes more like this…" or "Your guy who hates his werewolf side wouldn't see eye to eye with my werewolf character, who sees it as a blessing because…"

See if they bite on that. If they don't, maybe they're just not interested. But a lot of creators are interested in that kind of connection!

Some caveats here:

While many artists love that sort of attention, some people can be kinda defensive of their creations and become standoffish and prickly when strangers try to chum it up with them about OC stuff. If someone is like that, leave them be and don't try to force it.

Super popular artists tend to have way more messages than they can keep up with. You're very, very unlikely to develop an equally reciprocal friendship with them as a stranger in a short amount of time, and it's absolutely not anything personal. That's not to say you shouldn't bother interacting with them, just don't feel stung if they don't respond or follow you back. (This kind of overwhelm happens at much lower levels than you might think!) In my own experience, friendliness with a popular artist tends to happen when you're a consistent positive presence over a long period of time (often multiple years, but at least a span of 6+ months). And even then you will not be in their "inner circle" with the friends they've known for a decade, and that's fine!

Artists with smaller followings are way more likely to be receptive to following you back and doing the reciprocal friendship thing.

TIP 3: FAKE IT TILL YOU MAKE IT.

If you do manage to make a connection with someone, or get a friend or two on board with your story, commenting and sending asks and stuff publicly is extremely helpful for audience-building. Not only does it increase your visibility, but it gives shy audience members "permission" to comment themselves, and a template for what kind of comments you find agreeable. A lot of people will think "Oh I want to comment… but what if I say something wrong and they get mad? I'll just say nothing instead." If you demonstrate that you respond in a friendly manner, they'll feel more comfortable. People are herd animals like that.

Also, people love the audience engagement aspect of sending "asks" and seeing responses to comments drawn. It doesn't need to be an "ask", though--one of the first things I did for Amaranthine was draw Hyden reacting to people's tags. You could even invent a question no one actually asked and draw a response, just to show people that you are open to that kind of thing.

In fact, way back before Amaranthine, I proposed a plan to collaborate with my friends to astroturf audience engagement to launch a story by sending each other and ourselves fake anon asks with questions. I ended up not having to do that--Amaranthine's popularity caught me completely by surprise--but if I ever have to cold launch a brand new story, I would probably send myself some fake anon asks to get the ball rolling, hah. Feel free to steal this idea and try it yourself!

TIP 4: SHOW CHARACTER, SHOW LORE, OVERSHARE, AND DO IT OFTEN!

There are tons of characters on the internet. What makes them memorable is sometimes their design, but usually it's their personality and story. If people don't know anything about a character except their name, physical appearance, gender, sexuality, and three character traits, they might think "aw, that's a neat character!" but probably won't think much more than that. They may like the cool art but probably won't say a lot about it beyond #cool art.

But if you draw the same character living out their daily life, interacting with friends and lovers and enemies, hanging out in their messy room, a flashback to them as an angry teenager, a short mini-comic of the incident that got them expelled from necromancer school, all coupled with little lore tidbits that offer a deeper look into their life, world, and inner psychology… that's when they start feeling like a PERSON, not just a cool design. Couple this with the asks and stuff from tip 3 and they become "a person I, the viewer, can reach out to and engage with".

It feels vulnerable to put this stuff out there initially, when you're not getting much feedback. But by having this built-up library of art and info people can read through, new viewers will arrive, think "hey, this character seems cool!" and instead of stopping there, they'll binge on your archives. It's very fulfilling to see a new person find your stuff and then see a strong of "likes" on older pieces as they go through your story/OC tag.

…Also, people have short attention spans, and modern social media means a lot of people won't see and certainly won't remember everything you post. Kwillow and I occasionally joke about "whoa, I can't believe I got a question about a topic I already answered! Don't they remember this 1 single post I made about the topic four years ago?" NO, THEY ABSOLUTELY DO NOT. You need to restate things, repost things, etc because people are probably not paying THAT much attention. You can't just put it out there once, especially the really juicy stuff!

You also gotta stick with stuff even if it feels like it's not working. Put your stuff up on a bunch of different platforms and cast a wide net. You might only get 1 comment on Tumblr, but if you post it to Bluesky, DeviantArt, Instagram, etc, and each of those gets 1 comment, then that's 4 comments. Think of posting on other sites like extra slot machine pulls. Even the ones with bad odds are still worth doing when the cost to pull the lever is basically nothing.

TIP 5: THE BITTER PILL:

Bitter pill to swallow: Modern social media favors things that can be distilled down into hashtags/tropes/aesthetics. Furries, punks, cottagecore, monsterfucker, D&D-esque, enemies to lovers, princess-core, werewolves… the harder something is to reblog with #aesthetic, the harder it is to sell in general. It'll always be harder to sell Bob The Regular Human Guy's story than it would be to sell that same Bob as a furry, or Bob as a shy punk with a shipping-fanfic-trope-friendly crush on a guy at a coffee shop. This doesn't mean you can't or shouldn't try, but it is something to be aware of. Like, if your thing isn't doing social media numbers, odds are high it's not bad, just not hashtaggable enough.

This is one of the reasons I say to try to focus on yourself and a small group of like-minded friends first. You can't count on social media mechanisms to help boost you if you're marching to the beat of your own drum. You can try to use tropes and fandom for your benefit, as described in #1, but even so it's often kind of an uphill battle.

However, if you have a ton of energy and love for your project then the awesome glowing power of your passion will help draw people to you. People like that energy! It may never be huge social media numbers, but do remember that every single person who interacts with your stuff is A WHOLE ENTIRE REAL PERSON, and that's pretty damn cool. 10 notes on something is 10 entire people standing in your living room giving you the thumbs up.

Anyway, hope at least a few of these tips are helpful! The social media landscape for artists is, frankly, very bad right now, and if you are struggling and feeling discouraged you are not alone. But there are still ways to find each other even in this landscape!

[attentialkane]

Okay I went full circle and went back to drawing fanart, but honestly I cannot be bothered to draw unless it's something I'm hyperfixating on and DE is giving me brain worms.

I've been SERIOUSLY struggling with letting myself be consumed with another piece of media (we will not be talking about my almost decade long jse hyperfix thank you) because most of my current friends have really cool interests and I felt silly being so fixated on videogames so I kinda just shut off everything and tried to """"intellectualize""" more hoping that it would also translate into original art, but all it did was give me an almost year long artblock and zero inspiration for anything and many many many projects that I never finished (see the shop, all the ocs I just forgot about etc etc etc...) - and I think that is exactly where I went wrong, most of my passion projects despite being aus or fan related content have never lacked of deep meaning. ( See the mhau, which btw I'm going to revist in some way – as I told to a friend I'm not letting a 4 years long project rest to rot lol. It's probably gonna get turned into another original story, unrelated to jse and the other admins of the au out of respect.)

I'm trying to take in what this year has been artistically for me because as for personal growth it's a can of worms I don't want to open.

I think taking a break from fanart and posting art to do more irl art stuff did do me good for a while, but then I carried it on for too long and it did the exact opposite.

As for numbers go, I've had most of my hit posts (mostly qsmp on twt and tumblr and some mouthwashing stuff), which was super great for a bit until it quickly burnt out.

The thing with running art pages (I've made and deleted at least 10 art accounts, yes that is another mistake) is that it's almost impossible to have fanart and originak content coexist with the same engagment.

Anyways, still I feel like I still improved artistically and I finally let go of ibis paint to use csp, which has been great.

[bottledpeaches]

been thinking of street racing with aventurine bc I imagine he’d like the thrill of it too…

tags: not proofread, I typed this out in tumblr drafts, some suggestive comments, flirting, gn reader, I don't know anything about street racing so pls forgive any inaccuracies, banter (they're so silly)

Aventurine, who pulls up to the race in an edgy and sleek sports car, drawing the attention of everyone else there- yours included.

You lean against the side of your car, watching him as he leaves opponent after opponent in the dust. He's skilled, you'll give him that. From the aggressive driving style and the make and model of the car, you're betting it's just some bored teenage boy with daddy's money to burn, but you'd be lying if you said you weren't at least a little bit curious about the person behind the wheel.

A few easy wins later that night and you're slated to race against him. He takes his sweet time pulling up to the finish line, but to your surprise, he rolls his window down for the first time that night and you're able to get a good look at him. He's no teenage boy but he has the same mischievous look that implies he's up to no good.

"Checking me out already?" he remarks, his (captivating) eyes twinkling in delight, although they're hidden behind his sunglasses. "And I thought I'd for sure be the one to make the first move."

Oh, so he's a flirt too. You can barely hear him over the loud purring of his expensive and modded car's engine and you know tonight's race will be a tight one.

"I see you've got money. What's a rich boy like you doing all the way out here?"

His grin widens.

"Ooh, you’re sharp. I like that and the way you talk.”

"Why don't you tell me who you are first?"

He laughs and shakes his head. He rolls up the window, much to your irritation, but not before saying one last thing and sending a wink your way.

"If you win, I'll tell you who I am. How does that sound?"

Damn. No other choice but to accept since the race is about to start.

You end up losing, but just barely. You had to push your car to its limits and he wasn't above playing dirty too, giving you a couple of close calls throughout. Although, he at least didn't endanger your life like some others have in the past, so you'll give him that.

After the race ends, you pull into a brightly-lit gas station with some people there. Shortly after, another car pulls up next to you and he steps out.

"Not bad, not bad," he says, clapping lightly. "It's not often that I find someone that can at least keep up with me, much less overtake me a couple times."

"So you were following me."

He raises his hands as a mock display of innocence.

"Hey, relax! Don't be so hostile! I just wanted to get to know you a bit better, that's all. Besides, you wanted to know who I am, right?"

You watch as he scribbles something onto a business card.

"Wasn't that only applicable if I won?"

"Eh, I've changed my mind now," he says, handing the card to you. "I don't make deals that don’t pay off and I'd consider it a loss if I didn't get at least your number tonight."

"You still didn't answer my original question. What's someone like you doing all the way out here? Surely you have more important matters to attend to, right?"

He laughs.

"Wow, you really don't know who I am, huh?"

"... What's that supposed to mean?"

"Ah, nothing. Just talking to myself. But to answer your question... I suppose it's because I enjoy the thrill of it. It's like gambling. Not knowing whether you'll win or lose, or even live or die. After all, the higher the stakes, the higher the excitement- why're you looking at me like that?"

"… You're insane."

"Sure, sure, sweetheart. I'll pretend that your reasons aren't the same as mine and that the adrenaline rush doesn't excite you every time. Why else would you willingly race, night after night?"

With one last wink, he gets into his car and drives away. You finally glance at the business card, only to do a double take and gape at it in shock when you realize its contents.

Aventurine, one of the IPC's Ten Stonehearts? No way... this guy's an IPC exec?

You don't know whether to feel proud about the fact that you got an IPC executive's number without trying or humiliated about the whole exchange...

There's a winking smiley face and an "call me xoxo" written next to the phone number.

And against your better judgement, you do just that.

He turns out to be an interesting companion. You'd think that with his demanding position, he'd be traveling all over the galaxy every day- which is true, to an extent, but he's always there for your weekly races and frequently drags you out shopping with him. He teaches you how to play poker and how to count your cards, if you didn't know how to already. He then tries to get you to play a round or two against him, which you promptly refuse each time.

("I spent all that time teaching you how to play and this is what I get in return? Boo, you're no fun. But a round or two never hurt anyone, right?"

"Aventurine, even a round or two is a surefire way to go into debt to you. Absolutely not."

He pouts and grumbles like a little kid every time.)

He also pays for additional mods to your car. When you try to refuse him, he merely brushes off your concerns.

"Sweetheart, I don't think you understand," he said back then. "I make more in a day than what it costs to mod your car. To me, this is nothing. Besides, I want an opponent who can keep up with me. If you start falling behind, well, then that's no fun for both of us, right?"

One night, there’s a particularly high-stakes race that you’re slated to compete in. The cash prize is one that’s too big for anyone to pass up.

Well, except for Aventurine. That amount of money is probably nothing by his standards.

For once, he’s not racing. When it’s your turn, he waves you over with a teasing smile as you’re getting ready.

“Say, how about raising the stakes for tonight?”

“What now?”

“Let’s make a bet.”

“… Fine.”

“If you win, we go on a date together. My treat, of course. If you lose, then you’ll have to play a round of poker with me.”

There isn’t an ounce of shame in his words. You openly gape at him as he beams at you proudly.

“… What?”

“You heard me.”

“Why though?”

He shrugs.

“Simple. I know this is a bet that will pay off. And I’ve been wanting this to happen for a long time now. So…”

He leans in close, lips teasingly brushing over your ear for a moment.

“Don’t disappoint me. I want to see you try and turn the tides in your favor for this race.”

You pull away from him.

“I accept, but only because I am not going into debt because of poker.”

He laughs.

“Go on then, sweetheart. I want to see you leave everyone behind in the dust. Oh, and don’t forget your good luck kiss!”

Aventurine blows a kiss to you. You roll your eyes as you climb into your car. Insufferable, that’s what he is. But if there’s one thing he’s good at, it’s reading people. Meaning he must’ve noticed that you wanted this too.

You roll your neck and focus on the road ahead. The race is about to begin.

That cash prize and date with Aventurine is yours.

@ bottledpeaches, do not copy, repost, modify, translate, or feed to ai