#just messing around with filters and lighting and contrast

[elinordash]

Thank you @cobbbvanth for asking me for this; I’ve never been more flattered! ☺️ I’ve only been making gifs for a little more than 2 years, so I’m really still only figuring Photoshop out, and my colouring owes everything to other people’s tutorials (some of which can be found here). To be honest, I was only asked some tips, but I have no clue what to include and what to leave out; so, here’s my complete (if random) colouring process.

NOTE: This is a colouring tutorial, not a gif-making one. The tutorial that taught me everything I know about that (and to which I am eternally grateful) is this one by @hayaosmiyazaki.

I. SHARPENING My standard sharpening settings are:

One Smart Sharpen filter set to Amount: 500 | Radius: 0,4

A second Smart Sharpen filter set to Amount: 10 | Radius: 10

One Gaussian Blur filter set to Radius: 1,0 and Opacity: 30%

One Add Noise filter set to Amount 0,5 | Distribution: Gaussian

II. BASIC COLOURING This is the part where I add most of the adjustment layers available and just play around with them. Obviously different settings work for different scenes, but I do have some standard ones.

Brightness/Contrast I usually up the Brightness to +10-30, and the Contrast to about +10.

Curves

For the first Curves layer I go to Auto Options > Enhance Brightness and Contrast, and then adjust the opacity until I’m happy.

I might repeat the above step if the gif still looks too dark to me.

I add another Curves layer, I go to Auto Options and this time I pick either Find Dark & Light Colors or Enhance Per Channel Contrast, and check or uncheck the Snap Neutral Midtones option, until I see something I like. I will then adjust the opacity.

Levels I add a Levels layer that usually looks something like this:

Exposure I add an Exposure layer, where I usually set the Offset to around -0,0010.

Selective Color To make the faces look okay, I create a Selective Color layer, select the Reds and usually add some Cyan (+10-20%) and play around a little (±5%) with Magenta and Yellow too. I might also add another layer, select the Yellows and make slight tweaks there too.

III. FUN COLOURING About colour manipulation: PiXimperfect just uploaded a tutorial that explains everything so much better than I ever could, so I highly recommend you go watch it. It’s made for static images though, and things are more complicated with moving images, so I also recommend @elizascarlets’s tutorial.

The reason I usually go for a softer colouring is that a more vivid one requires a lot of patience and precision, and I honestly can’t be bothered. Instead, I try to tweak the colous only a little, so that the edges can be a little rough without it looking too wrong.

One thing to remember is that each gif is different, and there isn’t one foolproof way to do this, so you will need to use a different technique depending on the gif you’re working with.

Okay, so, after I’ve decided what colour I want my background to be:

1. I create a Hue/Saturation layer and change the greens, cyans, blues and magentas to that colour. That’s easy enough, since it doesn’t mess with the face colour. I then set the blending mode to Color. If your background doesn’t include any yellow or red, you might be done here, like in the case bellow:

2. To change the yellows and reds, I create a new Hue/Saturation layer, select the yellows/reds, move Saturation to 100 (temporarily) and then play around with the sliders until the face colour isn’t affected. I then change it to whatever I’ve chosen and change the blending mode to Color.

3. If for whatever reason step 3 doesn’t work (the background is white or black for example, or just too red), I might create a Solid Color layer set to whatever colour I want, set the blending mode to Color and then select the layer mask and carefully paint with a soft, black brush over the people’s faces/bodies. I will then lower the Opacity, to whatever looks smooth enough. If there’s a lot of movement in your gif, you might have to use keyframes (see elizascarlets’s tutorial linked above). However, my main goal is to avoid using those; that’s why I try my hardest to tweak around as many Hue/Saturation layers as needed and not have to create a solid color layer.

4. Once my background looks the colour I want it, I might add a Selective Color layer that matches my background color and then try to make it look more vibrant. For this Aziraphale gif below for example, I’ve selected the Cyans and then set Cyan to +100%, Yellow to -100% and Black to +60, then created another one, selected the Cyans again and then set Cyan to +20 and Black to +20.

5. If the gif has a white area, I create a Solid Color layer with a colour that matches the rest of the background and then set the Opacity low. I might also create a Selective Color layer, increase the Black and then play around with the colours.

IV. FINISHING TOUCHES

I create a Vibrance layer and set the Vibrance to around +30 and the Saturation to about +5.

I create a black and white Gradient Map layer (with black on the left end of the spectrum and white on the right), set the blending to Luminosity and the Opacity to about 20-30%.

AAAND that’s about it I think! This ended up way too long and perhaps a little incoherent. I tried to make it as general as possible, so you might have to mix and match for best results. Feel free to ask me for further explanations about any one of these steps, and please tell me if you want me to go through the colouring of a specific gifset (although, as I said, I'm by no means an expert). Happy gifmaking!

[2qties]

❝ 𝙈𝙄𝘿𝙉𝙄𝙂𝙃𝙏 𝘿𝙄𝙎𝘾𝙊𝙑𝙀𝙍𝙄𝙀𝙎 ❞

KOKUSHIBO X CHILD! READER

⋆°.☾⋆.ೃ࿔*:⋆ ‧₊˚ ⋅⋆⭒˚.⋆🪐 ⋆⭒˚.⋆⋆⭒˚.⋆

🪐 : ❝ first post on this page lesgooo. lost all my contacts nd stuff on the old one plus i ain't post much there after like a year so here we are on a fresh new page. no tw for this, just a lost kid nd a dangerous demon ❞

⋆°.☾⋆.ೃ࿔*:⋆ ‧₊˚ ⋅⋆⭒˚.⋆🪐 ⋆⭒˚.⋆⋆⭒˚.⋆

"where am i now..?" you mutter with a strong sense of unease. how long has it been since the festival began? how long has it been since you stepped foot into the forest? how long has it been since you got lost? the moon shone over you, the vast endless forest crawling with creatures, potentially some that one could not comprehend.

separated from your family or even an adult that could help you on a night like this strikes terror into you.

the lush green forest that sparkled with morning dew and sang with the chorus of birds was a realm of enchantment, a vivid tapestry of life and light. yet, as the sun dipped below the horizon and shadows lengthened, that same forest transformed into a realm of spectral mystery.

the moonlight filtered through the dense canopy, casting eerie, flickering patterns on the forest floor, where every rustle of leaves seemed to whisper secrets from ancient times. the once-inviting trails now twisted into labyrinthine paths of uncertainty, the scent of damp earth mingling with the faint, haunting calls of nocturnal creatures.

the air, cool and heavy with the promise of the unknown, wrapped around you like a shroud, and the towering trees, now dark sentinels, loomed over you, their branches intertwining above like the vaulted ceiling of a forgotten cathedral.

each step you took resonated with the ghostly echoes of your heartbeat, and you could almost feel the forest itself watching, waiting, as if it held within its depths the very essence of nature’s shadowed beauty and timeless enigma.

crunch.

the sounds the leaves made under your fee-

crunch.

that wasn't you.

your soft foot steps began to accelerate, not taking any chances of the creature- person- whatever it was behind you. the thing behind you didn't speed up but you did until you began to speed into a full dash, your lungs tightening in your chest as your adrenaline messed up your way of reacting.

somewhere to hide.. somewhere to hide..!

your mind chanted as if a mantra. where were you even going to hide?

it was a horrible choice to chased down a bunny into the forest, why did it seem right at the time?

time seemed to slow down and before you knew it, you were yanked and thrown across someone's shoulder. you were about let out a shriek of horror before your position was changed into being held in the arms of this stranger.

and staring up at this stranger was an even worse choice. he wasn't grotesque but he did strike terror.

under the ethereal glow of the full moon, the man's visage was both mesmerizing and terrifying. the moonlight highlighted the stark contrast of his six eyes, each pair aligned symmetrically. they glowed with a chilling, otherworldly light, their irises a vivid red-yellow that seemed to pierce through the very soul of any who dared meet his gaze. each eye held a different emotion: a mixture of calm, fury, wisdom, and a haunting gleam.

his hair cascaded down his back in waves of deep, midnight black. the strands glimmered in the moonlight, as if woven from shadows themselves. his hair moved with a life of its own, subtly swaying with the breeze, creating an almost hypnotic effect. the dark locks framed his face perfectly, emphasizing the sharp angles of his jaw and the intensity of his multiple eyes.

his aura under the moonlight was a palpable presence, a blend of ancient power and malevolent elegance. it radiated an overwhelming sense of dominance and authority, making the air around him feel heavy and thick. the coldness of his aura seeped into the surroundings, causing the temperature to drop slightly, the chill biting at the skin of any who ventured too close.

yet, no matter all this, he was still a stranger. some person you never knew, grabbing you and taking you away so you began to struggle. some effort was done as he did have some sort of annoyance on his face.

"would you stop that ? "

"let me go! let me go now ! "

"i'm trying to take you home, you fool . "

home ?

"how do you even know where i live , you creep ! leave me alone !"

"do you want to see your guardians or not."

"go away!"

and suddenly, you were on the floor again, dropped onto your butt. the mysterious figure glared down at you, not showing a sign of expression on his face, his annoyance was there.. maybe, you couldn't tell.

"go on and find your parents on your own."

he spoke before walking off and vanishing through thin air, as if teleportation. it made you gasp. not only did you miss your chance of finding your parents, your butt hurt. and what was that thing? six eyes? had you being lost driven you mad?

you stood up and dusted your clothing off before looking ahead.

the path looked different now, as if the tree branches had opened up just enough to let the moon glimmer softly onto the winding trail. if you squinted hard enough, you could see it—a light, faint yet unmistakably there. it wasn't the silvery glow of the moon but an orange light, flickering and warm.

that could only mean one thing: the festival was there, and soon, you would be found. the air buzzed with the distant hum of celebration, the mingling scents of roasted chestnuts and spiced cider wafting through the trees, guiding you toward the heart of the revelry.

the flickering light danced invitingly, promising warmth and the joy of reunion amidst the forest's nocturnal embrace.

you didn't even skip a beat as you began running down the trail, the thought of the man you had seen not lingering on you anymore. you just wanted to be home. just wanted to see your family.

strong wind whizzed behind your back and couldn't help but stare at your right, seeing something out the corner of your eye near the moon. and there he was.

the man, looking down at you with a solemn expression, just jerking his head in the direction you were meant to go.

as if meant for your safe arrival, you could have sworn the moonlight illuminating your way back dimmed down the second you were out.

⋆°.☾⋆.ೃ࿔*:⋆ ‧₊˚ ⋅⋆⭒˚.⋆🪐 ⋆⭒˚.⋆⋆⭒˚.⋆

🪐 : ❝ so tired bro don't pull all-nighters nd get your rest unlike me cs ik damn well imma sleep in till like 8 pm it's 7:50 am alr nd i got no shut eye fr 🙅🏽‍♀️ imma go eat cs im starving then im sleepin buh bye ❞

⋆°.☾⋆.ೃ࿔*:⋆ ‧₊˚ ⋅⋆⭒˚.⋆🪐 ⋆⭒˚.⋆⋆⭒˚.⋆

[reegis]

Yo! Do you have any notes/tips for your coloring process? I've always had trouble with that part of drawings looking good lmao and I really like yours! If not for your specific style, do you have any tips with that in general?

Iv gotten a few asks about how I color but iv always avoided answering because

A) I am absolutely awful at explaining things, and

B) I am a very Very lazy artist you should probably Not do the things that I do

BUT i feel bad gatekeeping(?) my horrible technique if it helps anybody ig ill try and explain so

✨✨✨Welcome to Reegis’ Probably Not Reputable (But Very Long Winded) Art Advice✨✨✨✨

line art of a random character for the example, just pic whatever colors you have in mind for your base colors, you can try using palette generators or basing it off of existing palettes/characters/whatever I have absolutely no idea how color theory works (& this is why you shouldnt listen to me) so im solely going off of vibes. but it is Rough so onto step 2 & 3

(edit to add i usually start off with the skin hair & clothes on separate clipping layers and merge them together towards the end.. i think i forgot to say that at all here oops)

I abuse the hellll out of layer blending modes. overlay, saturation & multiply mainly, but also difference, brightness & screen. (just doodle something & try all of em out to get a feel for them honestly ik theres a Lot and they can be intimidating) for this i just wanted a more cohesive warmer tone to start with so i added a peachy overlay & a slight ombré to the hair to add a bit more interest to the character.

then just the most basic of rendering, some blush & highlights just wherever i think theyd go.

Another thing they tell you Not to do, my next step is to block out all my shading in a vaguely purpleish multiply layer!!! i cant be assed to do it any other way im sorry…. once i have the basic shading down, i lock the layer & go in with air brush eraser & also airbrush in other colors wherever I think the purple is maybe too harsh/clashing

still wasnt 100% happy with the colors so messed around with some more layer filter/modes/whatever you call them then colored in my line art! i think this is honestly the saving grace for all of my art shshsdhhf color your lines people. doesnt have to be all (i dont, i like the contrast) but it usually helps to make some at least a little less harsh

then with a little more color tweaking im done! one random sleepy dude, fully colored (by my standards)

and then if a piece needs more dramatic lighting you justttt

im so serious play around with layer settings! these are just basic multiply & add(glow), there as so many others you can abuse the shit out of & nobody will know or care in your finished piece.

was this?? in any way helpful???? I hope so.

[owlchimedes]

Hi there ! I absolutely love your photos (I only just realized that a bunch of studyblr photos I've recently fallen in love with were yours!)

I was curious if you had any tips for taking good photos/editing them? I find that my photos don't seem to quite have the same good lighting as others' and would truly appreciate any advice you might have on the matter.

Thank you and have a great day!!!!

Thank you!! 🤩 (have to say, I’m a big fan of your blog)

I actually don’t edit my photos that much! Sometimes I might blur or crop out identifying information, but I rarely mess with the colors or shadows of a pic, and if I do, it’s just with the limited tools in the Apple Photos editor. I mostly curate my posts really heavily — for every posted picture, there are 24+ blurry bad ones that didn’t make the cut. Besides that, I do have a couple of general tips:

Prioritize light colored notebooks, papers, pens, etc. since they reflect more light and make an image seem brighter. Select matte over shiny. Photographing shiny black objects is very hard!

Pay attention to shadow and contrast. Hard, flat light (like full sun at an acute angle) in the warm spectrum photographs really well. Most of my favorite pics have been taken between 7-10 am or 4-7 pm. It can be helpful to haunt a handful of study spaces so that you can predict how the light will behave.

It really is about what you’re photographing. I like the way that paper, ceramic, leather, and glass refract light so I tend to have more of those objects around. I have a hard time photographing cloth, so I don’t do bed-spreads or carpet/floor layouts.

Be careful with blue light! Snapping pics of computer screens sucks because it adds a hard, blue square to an image that can be really jarring. Put f.lux or some other color filter on your laptop and take the pic from an angle to limit the amount of blue. Likewise, I try to avoid taking pics in the very early morning or under fluorescents.

Be careful with dappled or fractionated light. It can look very cool but depends on what’s being photographed (ex: left is fun, right is disorganized even though they have the same lighting situation).

It can be helpful to have a tiny guide/reference photo for each batch, or even a HEX code that you aim for. Honestly, I use the avatar thumbnail for this blog. If I put a picture next to it and squint, do they seem consistent? If they do, post! It helps with getting that warm luminous quality that I particularly like.

And lastly, always give yourself permission NOT to take a pic! My worst pictures come when I force them and the best ones are when I’m busy studying only to look up and go “woah, pretty!” You can boost your chances by sitting alone near a window & using all your favorite supplies, but it really is somewhat up to the Fates!

[hrizantemy]

SOMEWHERE ONLY WE KNOW

Nesta lay in bed, her body feeling heavier than ever, as though the weight of the world had pressed her into the mattress. Days had passed, blending together in a haze of muffled sounds and dim light filtering through the drawn curtains. The silence was her only companion, punctuated occasionally by the faint echoes of life happening beyond her door.

She turned her head slowly to the side, her eyes landing on the figure beside her. The girl, who had kept her company through these endless days, was tangled in the sheets, her body a mess of graceful disarray. Her wild hair fanned out across the pillow, an auburn halo that framed her sleeping face. There was a serene innocence to her features, softened by the gentle rise and fall of her breath. Half of the blanket had slipped to the floor, leaving her exposed to the cool air, yet she remained blissfully undisturbed.

Nesta’s gaze lingered on her for a moment, taking in the contrast between her own turmoil and the girl’s peaceful slumber. She marveled at how someone could sleep so soundly, so untroubled, when the world outside felt so relentlessly unforgiving. The girl had stayed with her, never once complaining, through every bleak hour and dark thought that threatened to consume Nesta entirely.

A sense of gratitude, rare and fleeting, flickered within Nesta. This girl, with her messy hair and calm presence, was a lifeline in the storm that raged inside her. Nesta reached out, a tentative movement, and gently pulled the blanket back over the girl’s shoulders, tucking it around her with a care that surprised even herself. She sighed softly, her hand lingering for a moment on the warmth of the girl’s arm, before retreating back to her own space.

With a measured breath, Nesta began to ease herself out of bed, careful not to disturb the girl sleeping beside her. She moved slowly, her limbs stiff from the days spent in stillness. Her movements were deliberate, as if she were performing a ritual she had repeated countless times before. She had, in fact, done this so many times that she had memorized the positions of every creaky floorboard in the room.

As she shifted her weight to her feet, the bed barely stirred, the girl’s breathing continuing undisturbed. Nesta glanced down at the tangle of sheets, ensuring they were arranged in a way that wouldn’t rouse the girl. The moonlight filtering through the curtains cast a silver glow on the scene, adding to the hushed tranquility of the moment.

Her bare feet met the floor with practiced precision. She stepped lightly, each move calculated to avoid the well-known creaks and groans of the old wooden boards. One step, then another, she navigated the room with the skill of someone who had lived within these confines for a lifetime. Her eyes remained fixed on the path ahead, her mind tracing the map of safe spots she had etched into her memory.

Nesta paused near the door, casting one last look back at the girl. Her companion lay undisturbed, the blanket now snugly covering her, rising and falling with her steady breaths. There was something almost sacred about the peacefulness that surrounded her, a stark contrast to the turbulence Nesta felt inside.

She let out a slow, silent exhale and turned back to the door, her hand hovering over the handle. The metal felt cool against her fingertips as she turned it with care, pulling the door open just enough to slip through without making a sound. Once in the hallway, she closed it just as gently, sealing the quiet sanctuary of the room behind her.

It was early morning, though the sky remained a deep, velvety black, with only the faintest hint of dawn on the horizon. The house was shrouded in silence, the world outside still asleep. Nesta moved quietly through the dimly lit kitchen, the familiarity of her surroundings providing a small measure of comfort. This had become her ritual, a semblance of routine amidst the chaos that plagued her mind.

She set a kettle on the stove, the soft hiss of gas igniting beneath it breaking the silence. As she waited for the water to boil, Nesta gathered her tea leaves with methodical precision, each motion deliberate and careful. The ritual of making tea was grounding, a series of small, manageable tasks that brought her a brief respite from the constant turmoil within her.

The kettle whistled softly, and she poured the steaming water over the leaves, watching as the rich, amber liquid swirled and settled in the cup. She wrapped her hands around the warm ceramic, savoring the heat against her cold fingers. The steam rose, carrying with it the faint, soothing scent of the tea, and Nesta breathed it in deeply, hoping to calm the storm inside her.

She carried her cup to the small table by the window, settling into a chair that had become her sanctuary in these quiet, solitary hours. She never really slept anymore. Instead, she remained awake, her mind too restless for the comfort of dreams. Occasionally, she would lose herself in a book, finding temporary escape within its pages. More often, though, she simply sat, sipping her tea and letting the silence envelop her.

In her darker moments, she had turned to stronger substances, seeking oblivion in a bottle. But she had been trying to do less of that, less of a lot of things. It was a struggle, a constant battle against the urge to numb herself, to escape the weight of her thoughts. Tonight, though, she had managed to resist, choosing tea over spirits, and for that, she felt a small measure of pride.

Nesta supposed she should have been more concerned about the girl currently occupying her space, but her mind had been too clouded to care when it all began. She had met the girl at a tavern, one of the many dimly lit, smoky places she frequented when the nights grew too long and the silence too suffocating. The memory of their meeting was hazy at best—admittedly, she had been blacked out for most of it.

Imagine Nesta's surprise when she came to, not in the tavern or some unfamiliar bed, but hunched over her own toilet, retching with a ferocity that left her trembling. And there, holding back her hair with a gentle but firm hand, was the girl. Nesta had been too busy expelling the contents of her stomach to question it, the whole scene surreal in her muddled state. When she finally managed to lift her head, weak and disoriented, the girl had assured her that nothing had happened while she had been drunk.

At first, Nesta had taken those words at face value, too exhausted to probe deeper. But the girl had stayed, even after the sickness had passed and the daylight had broken. She had stayed, helping Nesta to bed, bringing her water, and simply sitting with her through the worst of it. It was a strange thing, to have someone care without expecting anything in return. Strange, but not unwelcome.

Over time, the girl’s presence became a fixture in Nesta's life, and the initial surprise gave way to a reluctant acceptance. Perhaps Nesta needed something—someone—to fill the void that alcohol no longer could. The girl obliged, not just with her company, but with a quiet understanding that spoke volumes in the spaces between words. There were nights when Nesta couldn’t bear to be alone, and the girl was there, a silent companion in the darkness.

It wasn’t long before Nesta realized that she wasn’t the only one seeking solace. The girl, too, seemed to be using Nesta, perhaps for the same reason. They were both lost, two broken souls clinging to each other in the hopes of finding some semblance of meaning. There were no promises, no expectations, just a mutual understanding that sometimes, the presence of another was enough to stave off the darkness.

Nesta didn’t deny that she and the girl had been physical with each other. In those dark, quiet moments when the night seemed to stretch on forever, they had found solace in each other’s arms. It had started almost accidentally, a desperate, shared need for warmth and connection that transcended words. Nesta had never thought much about what it meant, and she didn’t think the girl did either.

Their encounters were not marked by grand declarations or promises. There were no whispered confessions or plans for the future. Instead, they simply fell into a rhythm, a natural progression of their shared existence. In the evenings, they would sit together, sometimes in silence, sometimes talking about nothing of consequence. When the nights grew too cold or the loneliness too sharp, they would find comfort in the closeness of their bodies.

Nesta found that she didn’t need to analyze it, to label what they were or what they were doing. It was a rare thing for her, to let something be without dissecting it, without trying to control or define it. But with this girl, it felt natural. They continued like normal, their days marked by an unspoken understanding that extended beyond the physical. They both needed this, and that was enough.

The girl never pressed for more, never asked for anything Nesta wasn’t willing to give. In return, Nesta offered her what she could—companionship, a shared space, and those moments of physical intimacy that kept the encroaching emptiness at bay. They didn’t talk about what it meant because it didn’t need to be talked about. It simply was.

And so they continued, falling into an easy, unhurried routine. The girl would wake before Nesta, making tea or sometimes breakfast, and Nesta would find her in the kitchen, a silent, steadfast presence. They would spend the days as they always did, each finding small ways to fill the hours. When night fell, they returned to each other, drawn by a mutual understanding that neither could put into words.

The quiet creaking of floorboards, certainly not as discreet as her own careful steps, pulled Nesta out of her thoughts. She glanced up, just in time to see the door opening slowly, revealing the girl. The sheets hung haphazardly around her, barely covering her as she made her way to the kitchen. Nesta watched silently, her gaze following the girl’s every movement.

The girl went about making herself a cup of tea, the clinking of the kettle and the rustle of tea leaves the only sounds in the stillness. She moved with a sleepy grace, as if the weight of sleep still clung to her. Nesta said nothing, and the girl, too, remained silent. Their unspoken understanding filled the space between them.

The girl joined Nesta at the table, sitting across from her with her tea. She seemed engrossed in the simple act of drinking, her eyes occasionally drifting to the window. The world outside was still dark, with only the faintest promise of dawn on the horizon. Nesta, book in hand, resumed her reading, though her attention was divided.

The girl’s presence was a quiet comfort, a steadying force amidst the turmoil of Nesta’s thoughts. She sipped her tea slowly, her fingers curled around the warm cup, her eyes reflecting the dim light. The sheets had slipped further, but she made no move to adjust them, seemingly content in her casual disarray.

Nesta turned a page, the soft rustle blending with the girl's occasional sips. There was no need for words between them; their silence was filled with understanding. The girl looked out the window again, her expression contemplative, and Nesta wondered what thoughts occupied her mind. But for Nesta, this was enough. She continued to read, letting the rhythm of their shared silence settle over her like a comforting blanket.

[trulybetty]

Sleep.

Pairing: Marcus Pike x F!Reader (no use of Y/N) Word Count: 1,689 Warnings: Late nights, talk of exes (we don't ship Lisbon here) and a little sprinkle of angst if you squint hard enough Summary: Marcus is leaving for a week for work

A/N: @gnpwdrnwhiskey reblogged the following and it stuck with me, and who better for it than our resident Fluffy Boyfriend™ Marcus Pike?

Sleep.

The air was still and heavy in the dimly lit bedroom, the only sounds were the soft hum of the air conditioner and the muted whispers of city life that filtered through the closed windows. As you laid there, the sheets soft against your skin, you couldn't help but revel in the sense of peace that wrapped around you.

Your heart still pounded in your chest, the aftermath of the earlier activities still resonating through your body. The warm, familiar weight of Marcus's head nestled comfortably on your chest, his breaths falling in sync with your own.

Marcus, with all his boyish charm, was sprawled across the bed, his toned, naked body half-covered with the rumpled sheets, his dark hair just as tousled. His arm was draped across your stomach, the warm fingers tracing idle patterns on your skin.

"You're going to make me fall asleep if you keep doing that," Marcus mumbled, his voice a mere whisper, lost amidst the rustle of the sheets and the hushed echoes of the night. His words were muffled against your skin, his lips tracing unintelligible patterns on your chest, raising goosebumps in their wake.

His statement elicited a smile from you, your fingers tracing a gentle path through his hair, causing him to let out a deep sigh. His hair was thick and soft, the strands sliding through your fingers. “That's the point.”

"But I want to enjoy this a little longer," he protested, lifting his head to look at you. His dark eyes were full of warmth and tenderness. His cheeks were flushed, a rosy hue that spread down his neck. His hair was a mess, dishevelled from your fingers and their earlier recreation, falling into his eyes. He was overdue for a haircut.

His hand, the one that wasn't tucked underneath you, ran laps from your hip to your rib cage, each run stopping to trace the delicate tattoo on your side. His touch was gentle, yet firm, the pads of his fingers tracing the intricate lines of the ink, the feel of his touch on your sensitive skin sending shivers down your spine.

"You need to be up early tomorrow." You reminded him, looking across at the late hour on the clock that sat on Marcus' side of the bed.

"Which is why I want to enjoy this a little longer," Marcus argued, nuzzling his face against your chest. His beard, which he had let grow in, tickled your skin, a contrast to the softness of his lips. The sensation sent a small shiver through you, making you giggle. He smiled at the sound, his eyes opening slightly to gaze at you. "I won't see you for a week."

"It'll fly by," you reassured him, tracing the shell of his ear with your fingers, eliciting a soft sigh from him.

"We'll see about that," he replied, his voice heavy with the knowledge that the week ahead would be a test of his patience.

"It'll be okay," you whispered, placing a soft kiss on his forehead.

"You're not going to go to Sweet Jane's without me, are you?" His question held a hint of a playful fear of missing out on the Sunday ritual. It was a small thing, but it was your thing - the cozy brunch place with the best pastries in town.

"Only if I didn't think I might still be there by the time you come back trying to decide on what to order," you joked. His laughter filled the room, a genuine, wholesome sound that echoed around the room.

"What would you do without me?" he asked, a smirk playing on his lips. His question, though light-hearted, held an undercurrent of sincerity.

"The same as I did before you," you answered. You feel him stiffen slightly, his eyes scanning your face for any sign of insincerity. You laugh lightly, your fingers tracing the furrowed lines of his brow, smoothing them away. "But it wouldn't be half as enjoyable."

His tension melted away, his smile returning. His hand found yours, his fingers intertwining with yours. His thumb traced small circles on the back of your hand.

The silence of the night wrapped around you both once more. You lay there, Marcus's head heavy on your chest, his steady breath lulling you into a state of quietude.

It's a comfortable silence, the kind that comes with familiarity and understanding. There are no expectations in the silence, no pressure to fill the quiet. There's just you, him, and the night wrapping you both in a gentle hush.

"Are you nervous?" you ask after a while. His fingers twitch against your skin, a tell-tale sign of his surprise at your question.

"About Sacramento?" he asks, his voice muffled slightly as he presses his face deeper into your chest. You nod, even though he can't see it, and he exhales slowly. "A little, I suppose."

You feel his hesitation in his words, a sense of uncertainty that tinges on his voice. You know he's been excited about this new opportunity, but Sacramento brings back old memories that have no place in the present.

You know the circumstances that brought Marcus to Washington, DC from Sacramento. His story had come tumbling out during your first date—typical Marcus—instead of the goodnight kiss you'd expected. He had been hoping for a happily ever after, but instead he found himself six months later in the nation's capital with only heartache.

And maybe you should have ran, you certainly didn’t need anyone to save you and you didn’t need someone to be the be-all and end-all of everything. Having said that, it's not like you weren't without your own baggage. So against your better judgement, you'd agreed to a second date. 

He's a hopeless romantic, loves the classic movies where the leading men were chivalrous and the leading ladies were damsels in distress, waiting to be swept off their feet. So it had been a tough pill for Marcus to swallow. Being with someone who didn’t need him, but wanted him there. It was a foreign concept. 

You knew about the first wife, the marriage ending when he couldn't bend on his passion for his work. She didn't want to follow him across the country to California and couldn't understand why all of a sudden he wasn't giving in to her after an entire relationship of him bending to be what she had wanted.

You also knew about Lisbon, doe-eyed and confused about what she wanted and leading Marcus along in the process. Though you suspected Marcus enjoyed the idea of being the white knight in this scenario.  

But you know, after being together for three years, the person he is now is so much different from who he was before. He’s come a long way; he’s found security in himself and in your relationship. You reach down and cup his face gently, lifting it up so your eyes can meet his.

"You've changed, Marcus. And for the better," you tell him, the sincerity in your voice piercing the quiet air between you."Plus I finally get to call you 'Professor Pike' officially," you said, referring to the series of lectures he was going to be completing that week.

He chuckles again, though this time it's softer, less sure. "I know, I know. I just...I hate the idea of leaving you alone here." The words hang in the air, his admission resonating with a vulnerable honesty. He pauses, the silence filled with unspoken thoughts and quiet contemplation. A sigh leaves his lips, a subtle sound that tugs at your heart. "I'm going to miss you."

You lean forward to press your lips against his forehead, a comforting balm of reassurance. "I know, Marcus," you whisper, your voice barely audible in the still room. "I'll be okay. It's not the first time, and it won't be the last."

"And what about you?” He asks, breaking the silence. His voice is softer, sleepier now. "Will you miss me?"

Your heart clenches at his words. Of course, you'll miss him, more than words could express. You love him and not having him by your side will make the days longer, the nights colder. But you also understand both the demands and the passion for his work.

"I'll miss you, but I know how important this is to you. Plus, it'll give me time to catch up on my pile of books to be read." You offer a small smile, hoping to lighten the mood.

Marcus laughs at that, a warm, deep sound that sends a shiver down your spine. His laughter fades into a sigh, his hand still tracing patterns against your skin. He presses another kiss to your chest, just below your collarbone.

"I wish I could take you with me," he admits, his voice barely a whisper. His words send a rush of warmth through you, and you wrap your arms tighter around him.

"And I would go with you in a heartbeat," you assure him, "But you have lectures to give and I have books to read."

Marcus's expression softens, his fingers tracing delicate patterns on your stomach. He leans in to kiss you. The kiss is slow and lingering, an affirmation of the love and trust that exists between the two of you. You feel it deep in your bones, a warm glow that spreads through your chest.

His murmur, muffled against your skin, was barely a whisper. "I love you." The words, although sleep-laden, held a depth of sincerity that tugged at your heart.

Your response was a whisper, a soft echo in the quiet room. "I love you too."

[ieatkeyboard]

LUCIFER CHARACTER DESIGN JUDGING

@ewesless Please dont kill me- I LOVE HIM VERY VERY MUCH OKAY. I'M JUST PLAYING DRESS UP. PLEASE REMEMBER EVERYONE IS ENTITLED TO THEIR OWN OPINION AND I'M NOT HATING ON THE CREATOR, THESE ARE JUST THINGS I DONT LIKE.

FIRST

Cool climbing rope on your hip bro. Goes great with your SHIT GREEN BROWN shoes. -_- The fluff isn't very fluffy. It looks he bought his jacket online, didn't fluff up the fur and tbought it was supposed to look like that. AND MY EYES ARE BAD BUT HIS SHIRT IS BLENDING INTO HIS JACKET TOO WELL.

LETS DO THIS 🕺

Changed the shoes to a red-er brown, made his rope a chain because...It was literally just a rope tied around his waist 😭 Made his shirt darker and his gloves lighter, since we want gray so bad. MADE THE FLUFF FLUFFIER. IF YOU'RE GONNA HAVE FUR ON YOUR COAT, DO IT OR DON'T.

NEXT

I hate. NOW ITS A CUTE OUFIT, NICE COLOR SCHEME. But if you put this under a black and white filter there would be no contrast. The outfit is too light and the blue is a nice tough but it isn't enough!

WEEEEEE

OKAY. I made his jacket lighter and more pigmented. I made his shirt a bit darker and made his shoes black. Now the contrast has VARIETY and doesn't look bland as shit.

ALSO I was gonna do his demon form but there is genuinely nothing I would tweak? Like there's nothing I could do to it so yeah :,]

NEXT

He has so many weird dangly things- The things on his vest? The little thingies on his arms? And idk if there are little bunnies on the backs of his heels but I fully thought those were mangled butterflies- So yeah they aren't reading very well. The weird triangles on the bottoms of his pants? WHAT'S WITH THIS GAME AND TRIANGLES. TRIANGLES WERE NEVER "in". THIS CAN'T BE DEVILDOM FASHION. DEVILDOM FASHION IS TUMBLR FASHION (Thanks Asmo) SO WTF?

ANYWAY.

I took the geometric bullshit out but I left the stripes because they ARE uniforms? So I'll let it stay 🙄 I took away the weird dongles, took the bunnies of his heels and made them one solid shoe because I have beef with open heels (THEY ARE SO UNCOMFORTABLE WTF). So yeah :]

That's all for Lucifer- I do really love his fashion sense (Just ignore his bathing suit...) but getting to mess with it is also fun >:]

[elderwisp]

How do you get such pretty lighting in your photos? Is it relight? Would you ever do a mini tut? 🤞

halloooo! i would say relight helps elevate the lighting a bunch, i do also utilize these lights (i find that ts4 neon lighting is missing vibrancy, so these are amazing!) as well as these (i love the shadow/spotlight one if i need to add in a harsh shadow to help make things look like flash photography in a dark room). i like to mess around with contrast and color mixer in camera raw filter (for photoshop however, reshade maybe gshade has a lightroom shader and that's awesome as well!) as for like a tutorial, i can give you some pointers!

when working with relight, sometimes it helps a bunch to have a low-lit room, it seems a bit counterintuitive, but i find that the photo can get easily overexposed. (i show example below of photo before and after with relight). relight is sometimes a bit tricky because certain angles don't work well, like GAWD i was having trouble with one of the photos from the photoset yesterday, but i literally just moved the camera a little to the left and for some reason it worked ._. SO don't be afraid to try weird angles!

^ also this little dude, super awesome, move it adjust it a bunch to see what you like! as you can see, i set my intensity pretty high, a lot of the times i max it out if i can ._.

i wanted to add with relight, add it to the top of your order so you can avoid things looking murky/washed out!

LMAO sorry if this was all over the place, lighting is an extensive process for me sometimes, but i find that layering details is key. i do like to study lighting in cinematography and photography, i especially love street photographers that have like really cool photos with neon lighting! i find that this helps me have a better understanding too! :)

[rollingsim]

How do you get your lighting so scrumptious in edits?

Lighting tutorial under the cut (it's long lol) I use photoshop + topaz clean btw :)

This will be our starting pic!! I use @hazelminesims photoshop action (all in one) to get the smoothening and overall base done first.

First step to colograding is using the 'Camera Raw Filter' in photoshop and adjusting the tint and curves tools. I generally like a greener, more cool toned color for pictures.

2. Now for the shadows on the sim! I make a new layer, set to 'Multiply' and use a soft brush at around 25-40% opacity with the color Black. I generally will add shadows to the parts of the body that are being 'covered' (neck, side of the nose, forehead, insides of arms and clothes). *If you use reshade/ gshade and have the mxao filter on, mimic where that filter adds shadows and either enhance it or add it in photoshop!*

3. In a new 'Multiply' layer, I do the same thing with the background. I darken the elements in the back to emphasize that my sim is in the forefront of the shot. TIP: don't add shadow to the light sources (neon signs, lights in the background) ! We actually want to enhance those.

4. Make a new layer, set to 'Pin light' at 100%. Grab a soft brush and highlight those light sources in the back. You can go crazy here, just take the Eyedropper tool to color match the highlights you want to emphasize. It might look a bit much right now, but we can tone this down by decreasing the layer opacity, Gaussian blurring the layer, and erasing any excess highlights if we want.

5. Now we add highlights to the sim. I make a new layer, set to 'Soft light' at 100% opacity, and with the white color, I highlight the sims body and clothes. (Now we want to add light to the 'raised areas' such as the center of the forehead, nose bridge, chin, chest, and arms). I also like to highlight any jewelry (necklace and belt buckle).

On a separate new layer, set to 'Vivid Light', I changed the brush colors to the ones in the background light sources (I used blue, yellow, and purple.) I'll go over the outlines of the sim's body with these colors (shoulders and arms, hair, side of face and neck.)

If you ever feel like you've gone overboard, just lower the opacity of the highlight layers and Gaussian blur them!

6. After you've messed around with the highlights, add the finishing touches. Usually once I merged all the layers I would go over with the Dodge and Burn tools to enhance the contrasts even more. I also recommend downloading and using LUTs for photoshop (I just use any free ones I find online).

[booskwan]

hi! it's theo aka user worldoutlaw and for 500 followers i wanted to share my coloring/sharpening process ! i've been getting a few notes recently complimenting my coloring and sharpening lately (ty all so much they make me smile every time) and i thought some people might be curious in my process so here we are ! :3 this is just coloring and sharpening so if you're looking for a general gif tutorial i suggest you check out usergif! now without futher ado let's start (color coded for my fellow adhders/neurodivergents who find reading hard)

i do most of my process through actions; of which i have several for different gif dimensions ie 540 width (typically for fancams where i keep the width of the file the same but change the height), 540 height (which i use the most for gifs like the above), and 850 height which i use for my sets that have side by side gifs like my pinned

actions make the beginning of making a gif a lot faster and especially save time when you're rushing to make comeback gifs lmao

after i've converted to the video timeline and selected all of my frames and converted them to a smart object, i apply userdramas's camera raw filter action which can help gifs look higher quality and create the illusion of skin texture when there isn't any

after this i convert the layer into a smart object again and apply my sharpening as follows (partly from anyataylorjoy's action pack)

smart sharpen 1:

smart sharpen 2:

smart sharpen 3: (this one is optional)

smart sharpen 2 duplicated

gaussian blur:

and i click this button on the far right to change the opacity of the blur (usually i set it around 10-30)

it may look funky but noise at the end will always fix it :p

after i sharpen i start on coloring!

my coloring process starts with editing values with curves, brightness & contrast, and sometimes levels

this helps to achieve the high contrast look i really like on my gifs and below are my settings for this specific set

i find that the marker in the center of the curves graph can often help darken skin tones if the subject appears too light

after i have my values down i move on to the actual colors

i start with adding a selective color layer; adjusting the red values, followed by yellow, then black, white, and any other colors i would want prominent in the gif

for example, with this set i wanted the blues to look really nice so i increased the cyans and decreased the yellows to my liking

changing the black values adds to the dimension i like in my gifs; these are my settings

forgot magenta whoops

next i add a hue/sat layer where i mess with the red and yellow values which often adds extra help to skin tones (i also recently started using hue/sat on colors like the blues here)

now these gifs didn't need it thankfully, but if needed i will also do color balance and channel mixer layers

after all my coloring and sharpening is done and i'm satisfied with how a gif looks i will convert all layers to a smart object and add noise (typically 1.5-3)

then the gif is done and i save it! these are my save settings

and that's how i turn this

into this!

hope y'all enjoyed and found this helpful and thank you again for 500<3333

some tags for fun and also to thank my supportive lovely mutuals @solojihyo @twiceland @97chwe @jeonwonwoo @sanchelinz @applejongho @hwanswerland @kyubins @minchanz @seonghwasblr @get-lit @jjongho @userwoosan @strhwaberries @dqmeron (ty for looking over this for me 🫶)

[canarysage]

Basic Adjustment Layers For Dummies <3

— as written by a dummy.

welcome to photopea for dummies, eos’ series on the website we all know and… “love”… photopea! if you don’t know what photopea is, it’s a free alternative to photoshop that can be used in your browser!

in any case, today we’re going to be discussing the average editor’s lifeblood: adjustment layers.

we’re not going to discuss all of the adjustment layers, as there’s about seventeen and some are much more complicated than others. for the sake of time, i’ll just be talking about some of the basic adjustment layers.

brightness/contrast

brightness/contrast is the first of the adjustment layers found in the drop-down menu (layers > new adjustment layer > brightness/contrast) and is fairly easy to use and understand.

as the name implies, brightness/contrast gives you two sliders—one that controls brightness, one for contrast. the contrast slider goes from -100 (low contrast) to 100 (high contrast.) the brightness slider goes from -150 (low brightness) to 150 (high brightness.)

this layer may seem fairly rudimentary, but makes a good foundation for all edits and can help set the tone of your entire psd.

— author’s note: if you need a quick way to make an image very bright, make a brightness/contrast layer and, without touching the sliders, set the blending mode to screen. then adjust the opacity as needed. it works well for a quick lighting fix, when you need one.

vibrance

vibrance is the fifth layer down in the drop-down menu, and marks the beginning of the category i like to call the color adjusters. i have no idea what the actual name is, so don’t ask.

similar to brightness/contrast, vibrance has two sliders: vibrance and saturation. vibrance is a lighter version of saturation—while saturation affects all the pixels of an image, vibrance tends to be much more targeted.

the vibrance and saturation sliders both range from -100 (least colorful) to 100 (most colorful.) it’s important to note that you should only knock saturation down to -100 if you want a grayscale image. i usually only push the saturation slider between the -30 to 30 range, but that’s just personal preference—mess around and see what works for you.

— author’s note: a fun trick to use is to mimic what i did in the image above: set the vibrance very high and the saturation in the negatives. it gives the image a nice pop.

photo filter

one of my personal favorites, photo filter is the eighth layer down in the drop-down menu. photo filter is a good way to collect your colors when they’ve splattered all over the place.

photo filter is a bit different than the layers we’ve looked at so far—it only has one slider, the intensity slider, which goes from 0 to 100, and has a small square above this slider. the square is where you select your color—click it and mess with the slider, or type in a memorized hex code if you’re some kind of color wizard.

most people have a general color palette in mind when making a psd, i’d like to think. photo filter helps to regulate these colors. if your psd is looking warmer than you’d like it to, a low level photo filter in #5b82a7 or #604db5 can help to cool it down. if your psd is looking too green, a low level photo filter in #af65c2 or #4a1a80 can do the trick. forgive me, but you’re going to want your color wheel for this layer. it’s easy to utilize, though!

— author’s note: a cool trick i like to use is to set photo filter’s density at 100 and get a pale grey like #eaeaea. it’s an easy way to desaturate your image without eating all of your colors. you can find this layer—or something very close to it—on virtually all of my psds.

threshold

ah, threshold. the best friend of every tumblr editor. threshold is fourteenth from the top in your drop-down menu, and is fairly simple to use. threshold has one slider, ranging from 1 to 255, and can be a little alarming if you don’t know what you’re looking at.

one of these days i’ll cover blending modes, but for now just know that when you’re trying to get a shadowy effect, it’s best to use darken, multiply, or darker color. threshold is an extreme contrast layer that breaks images into the whites and blacks. it’s commonly used to get a nice shadowy effect—you do this by setting it to multiply or darken.

the slider can be played with at your discretion; i typically have threshold as my first layer, and set it between 40-80, but it depends on the image.

— author’s note: i’ve also seen some people set threshold to soft light for real life images. i don’t typically work with these, and personally i don’t enjoy the look, but remember that nothing is set in stone—feel free to play with blending modes as much as you want!

and there you have it! some of the basic adjustment layers. i hope you have a greater understanding of photopea now, or at the very least a greater understand of my lack of ability to explain things. see you next time!

sincerely, eos

[star-png]

So uh, about the dark picture from Oregon parks department I messed around in ibis paintx and got this, (I don't think I found anything but just thought I'd post here)

(image when I altered the saturation and lightness using ibispaint FX filter, ignore the white border that's just the size of the canvas I'm using)

Previous image when I mess with the brightness and contrast:

Idk it might just be my eyes but it kinda looks like there's a triangle in the middle left?? Or some traingular thing dropped on grass? Or maybe these are constellations?

Might be a stretch but feel free to look at these edited photos in an attempt to search for clues lol

[kryptiq-kreachur]

Do you have tips on uploading trad art to tumblr and not having it look scuffed as all hell 😭😭😭 your art looks great pls share your secrets

Aaaa, thank you! I actually decided to shift my focus back to traditional art very recently and it means a lot to hear that ;; I hope this helps you and anyone else with similar questions!!

So I have two methods that I usually rely on when capturing my traditional art. The first one is kind of limited, but it is faster and more accessible. For these demonstrations, I'm going to use a colored sketch of my OC, Brinley. Step One: Taking Your Photo! All you'll need for the first method is your phone. What you want to do first is to find an area with nice, even lighting- the less warm, the less you'll have to correct later, so the closer to daylight, the better. In fact, using the light outside is a great way to capture your art! Note: If you are in a place with very cool lighting you will also have to correct the colors, but in my experience, cooler light is easier to work with. Position your artwork so it's illuminated with the light source directly in front of you. If it is behind you, it will be harder to get your shadow out of the shot. The spot I was in had my light source behind me, so my arm covered it a bit.

I repositioned myself to a spot with the light source in front of me instead, and I was able to get a nicer shot.

Keep your phone as level as possible over your drawing, and as close as possible without your phone going out of focus.

And now the first step is done! Step Two: Editing Your Photo! This is where everything starts to come together! Firstly, crop your drawing to your preference. I try to keep the negative space around my art as even as possible. IPhones have a handy feature where you can choose an even aspect ratio, so that will help keep things simpler if you want. Next, all you have to do is mess with the settings until you get it how you want it to look. Filters can help it to look more cohesive. I like to keep the art close by me to reference so I can get it to look as close to real life as possible. Note: black and white art is the easiest to edit due to the high contrast. Finished! Congrats! Your art is ready to post! Here's what my sketch looked like after I added a vivid filter and then messed with the settings.

The second method can be a bit more difficult, but the results always look better than just taking a photo. What you'll need is a computer (I think you can also use an ipad- any device will work as long as it can connect to the scanner), a scanner and any art/photo editing software. Step One: Scanning! The scanner I use is technically used for office work, but can be used to scan photos, therefore the quality is very much in the middle. There are scanners that are used purely for scanning high quality images of art and photography that will produce much better results on the initial scan, but this works just fine! There are also stores and other places where you can scan your work even if you don't own a scanner. First, make sure your art is as flat as possible and in the middle of the scanning bed. It doesn't have to be perfectly straight as it can be edited later, but if it isn't flat or it's on the edge of the bed, it will end up blurry in some areas or completely cut off. After that, go to your device and set the resolution to at least 300 dpi to guarantee a high quality scan, and then begin. This is what my sketch looked like after the initial scan.

Now we can move onto the next step! Step Two: Editing! You may have noticed that the colors are very washed out- scanners that aren't optimized for art and photos tend to do this, but with some editing, it'll look great! After opening it in CSP and selecting a canvas size, it's ready to edit! Note: Opening the image directly will automatically set the document's dpi to 72. Idk if that's a constant for other programs, but this means the overall image quality will be very low, so the picture has to be imported into a higher quality document with dpi set to 300 manually. I usually just copy and paste it into another document. Level correction is your friend! That's the correction layer I use the most when editing and it does the most heavy lifting, usually. After that, I sometimes edit the saturation. Since this is a digital method, you can edit your drawing however you want! You can fix some mistakes this way, or completely change things. There were notes and a sketch next to this drawing that i didn't want, so i painted over them with white- since i edited the level correction to up the exposure, the painted areas are indistinguishable from the background. Finally, I add either a gradient map for cohesion or fiddle with the tone curve until I'm happy with the final product. Once again, I like to keep the original art next to me while I'm editing for reference. (And then after that I might add a noise filter or some other effect, LMAO) Finished!! And now you have your scanned art!

These are all the editing layers I used!

Like with anything, trial and error are very important! You'll get better at editing art over time, so don't be discouraged if it doesn't look like you wanted it to the first time. Thank you for the ask, bye!!!!!!!

[disasterofastory]

Dear Santa (Stucky x Reader)

Dear Santa Santa Claus!Steve Rogers x elf!Bucky x Reader Day 29 - Dinner // December 2022 Warnings: none

Summary: Do you stay with them? Bucky and Steve wants to know your decision.

One year later…

Steve's office is quiet in contrast with the workshop below. The muffled sounds of machines and conversations filter into the room. The blonde man is at the table with a stack of papers in front of him, while the elf is on a sofa, reading and making notes. The scent of coffee lingers in the warm air. You are out with Twinkle probably while Steve and Bucky are busy with work. Christmas is around the corner again, and they have a ton of things to take care of before the big day. You help them too. They have to force you to take a day off and spend some time with your favorite reindeer.

Bucky's gaze wanders to the window again. The snow falls in fluffy flakes from the cloudy sky. It gathers on the windowsill. The wind swirls them in the air.

"Are you okay?" Steve breaks the silence when he looks up and finds his love deep in thought with a worried frown between his brows.

"Yeah," Bucky replies half-heartedly. "I'm fine."

"Tell that to your face too." A smile pulls on their lips. "But seriously, are you sure you are okay? You seem distracted for a few days now."

"I'm just…" the brunette elf sighs. "It's almost a year since we brought Y/N here."

"I know."

"And your agreement…"

"I know," Steve nods again. He doesn't know what to tell Bucky. You warmed up to them in the last year, and you are happy here. You have friends, a job, and everything they are capable of giving you. But what if it's not enough? What if you are waiting for the right moment to tell them you want to leave them?

"We should ask her," the blonde man suggests. "Let's rip the bandaid off."

"How about a nice dinner? I could cook."

"It sounds good," Steve smiles. His bright blue eyes warm up at the idea. "You should go, and I'll finish here."

It's already dark when you arrive home. The shops are closed, and the lights are on. Snow covers your warm pants and boots, and your fingers are frozen even through the thick gloves.

Warmth slaps you across the face when you push the entrance door open. Wood burns in the fireplace and delicious smells fill your nostrils as you step further into the building.

"Y/N?" You hear Steve's voice, and soon, you can see the man appearing at the kitchen doorway.

"Hey," you greet him with a smile as you kick your boots off and leave your wet clothes at the door, so you don't make a bigger mess in the house. "Are you cooking?"

"Not me," he replies. "Bucky. I drew you a bath, though. Go warm up so we can have dinner."

You do as he says. The warmth of the water makes your muscles relax, and you have to force yourself to wash and get ready for dinner, so Steve and Bucky don't have to wait for you. You are sure they are tired and hungry. As Christmas comes, the tasks that need to be done are more and more urgent. The whole town is busy, so everything can be ready for the big night, but Steve and Bucky really make themselves work until they fall asleep at their desks.

Your year with the two men at the North Pole was something you could have never imagined. After your agreement with Steve, you really decided to give them a chance, and they didn't disappoint you. They showed you what life with them could be if you choose to stay. Both Steve and Bucky are tentative and kind. The blond man who is the current Santa Claus is more strict than the elf, but you found love in both of them rather quickly.

"Wow," you hum as you make your way to the dining room. Everything is ready and looks delicious. Candles burn in the middle of the table. Your favorite drink is already waiting for you next to the empty plate. "What's the occasion?" You ask them.

You don't notice the glance between them while Bucky answers. "We just thought a dinner together would be nice. Who knows when we'll have another opportunity to be together like this?" 

You don't catch the meaning behind his words. "Oh, that's nice."

So all of you start to eat in silence. Bucky is great in the kitchen, so it's not a surprise that you don't sense the tension in the room. The men glance at each other every few minutes, trying to decide how to approach the subject. The fear that you want to go home is too big for them to speak up.

"So, how was your day?" You ask them after a while. The spices melt on your tongue.

"Good," Steve hums. "Busy."

"Now I feel guilty I didn't help," you grimace, even though spending time with Winkle and the others is always something you enjoy.

"Don't," Steve smiles. "We are happy you had fun today. You deserved it."

"And we all deserve to go on a vacation when December is over," Bucky adds, watching you subtly. His steel-blue eyes meet Steve's again.

"Oh? And where do you want to go?" You ask him, still not noticing their tension. "Somewhere warm?"

"Not necessarily," he replies. "Italy? Maybe? What do you think?"

Steve straightens up in his seat.

"I always wanted to see Italy," you nod, your eyes on your plate, enjoying Bucky's cooking.

"And what else do you want to see? We can go anywhere after Christmas," Steve tries this time. His knuckles are white as his grip tightens on the fork.

"Oh," you gasp as your head snaps up with a sudden thought.

Bucky and Steve are ready to jump up from their seats. This. This is the moment where you either break their hearts or make them the happiest men alive.

"I almost forgot," you continue, looking at Steve. "Did you read the document I left on your table? Tony needs your opinion tomorrow."

"Y-yeah, I already talked to him," Steve replies, barely finding his voice.

"Good," you smile. "It seemed important."

Yeah, they know a thing or two about important topics.

"What if we would spend New Year somewhere?" Bucky tries again. Steve almost laughs at his lover's stubbornness.

"Wow, you really want to travel, huh?" You ask him.

"Paris? Budapest? New York? Where do you want to go, Y/N?"

A frown appears on your face when you notice the tone he uses. He is not angry, but something is off. You look up at the elf from your drink. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," he nods, even though he sounds anything but okay. "I just want to know where you want to go after Christmas. With us? Or alone? What's your plan?"

"Okay, okay," Steve cuts in, putting down his glass to interfere. Seeing Bucky's half-impatient, half-panicked expression and your confused one, he has to do something. "Bucky… We want to know your decision. I mean, you have been here with us for a year now, and… and we are curious how you see your future?"

Recognition glints in your eyes as your lips pull upward. "Oh," you hum. "I thought you read my letter?"

"What letter?" Steve asks, frowning.

"The letter I wrote for Santa Claus," you explain. "I put it on your desk."

Before you can say anything else, Bucky is up from the table, running out of the house.

"He didn't have to get it," you state, looking after him.

"Let him," Steve replies. You can hear the laugh in his deep voice. "He needs a run."

After a few seconds of silence, you turn back to the blonde man. "My answer is yes, by the way. I want to stay if you guys still want me."

"Of course we want you," Steve replies, leaning closer to you over the table. His soft lips find yours easily and gently. His tongue brushes your bottom lip, nibbling on the soft flesh. "Bucky will be delighted."

"Oh," you smirk, knowing the content of your letter. "Just wait."

The man doesn't even have time to ask anything because the elf bursts into the dining room. Letter in hand, his t-shirt is halfway off his body. His broad chest moves with every panting breath.

"Oh, Steve," he gasps. His face is tinted with red, and his eyes shine with lust and hunger. "Put her on the naughty list!"

[snugglesquiggle]

Any tips on using fonts in ao3?

going to assume you're familiar with the basics — creating a new workskin at Dashboard → Skins → My Work Skins, and selecting a skin on the Edit Work page. if not, AO3 has a tutorial for this

(though skimming the tutorial, it doesn't seem to mention the <span> tag, which is your best friend when it comes to applying styles to a bit of text within a paragraph)

now for the more specific part of this question. also, be warned i'm going to be embarrassingly technical before i actually answer your question.

this is going to sound funny, but i am by and large not a fan of manipulating fonts as a stylistic device. my personal opinion is that what font a text is displayed in should be for the user to decide, both for preference and for accessibility reasons (e.g. there's fonts designed for dyslexic readers). i also tend to find most font changes to be a a bit goofy and immersion-breaking

it's different when i do it, but i'll explain my cope in a second

anyway, the style property you want to change to set in your work skin is font-family. e.g. font-family: monospace will give text a code/"typewriter" look, and on my own site i use "font-family: Newsreader, serif;". (the comma there essentially says 'if you don't have Newsreader installed, any serif font will do)

but as mentioned, i don't like messing with fonts, and in fact, there is no font styling as such in my fic at all. what gives?

(note: im going include mildly spoilery excerpts from my fic, Hostile Takeover)

but basically, i wrap cyn's dialogue in <code> tags, and most browsers will make that monospaced by default, but it leaves the door open for custom userskins to add their own flair to code blocks.

for example, my site puts little boxes around them

but with all that said, i think i might be taking this question overly literally. i think it's likely you aren't talking specifically about just fonts, and most of the interesting things people want to replicate from my fic aren't about what shape the letters are.

my secret weapon for styling this fic is the humble text-shadow property.

what it does is simple: it creates a copy of the text, and you have four knobs to turn: you can shift it over horizontally or vertically, blur it, and of course change the color

text-shadow: 1px 2px 3px red;

this gives you a copy of the text shifted to the right 1 pixels, down 2 pixels, blurred 3 pixels and colored red.

text-shadow: 1px 2px 3px red, -1px -2px 3px blue;

same deal but now there's another in the opposite directions colored blue, like a chromatic aberration.

you don't have to include the color or the blur if you dont want color or blur.

now i'll run through some real examples

the "pain" effect is what you get when you stack text vertically

text-shadow: 0 -3px 0px, 0 3px 0px;

the "beyond the grave" effect is text stacked horizontally

text-shadow: 2px 0px 0px;

the famous "i want you destroy you" text is of course colored, and here i offer an actual tip

you can predict the offsets, but the color is special

text-shadow: 2px -1px 0px #da38;

full explanation here, but basically, when you write a color with four values, the first three are RGB, but the last is the opacity. i think this matters because, if the earlier part of this post didn't make it clear, i care about readers getting a good experience no matter how they choose their custom styles (within reason, ofc)

by making the color slightly transparent, it blends with the background color, means whether you read with a light them or dark, it meets you half way

(try removing the transparency on that shade, and it's a pretty harsh contrast on both modes — though part of that might be that i made it super saturated to compensate for the transparency.)

i have some complaints about how ao3 handles css, and one of them is that it forbids you from using the very convenient filter: blur() function. to work around this, i cooked up a very "we have blur at home" solution

text-shadow: 0px 0px 6px, 1px 1px 3px, -1px -1px 3px; opacity: 50%;

(it looks much better on my site, where i can filter: blur all i like)

one of the reasons this sucks is that without a doubt the biggest limiter on doing really complicated stuff with text shadows is that they don't stack.

you'll notice that when the "pain" effect shows up, the "blur" effect disappears.

this matters most for what is definitely the most striking and involved use of text shadows in the work: the big man himself

the basic principle here isn't that special. the illusion of depth is accomplished by increasing blur and opacity the 'deeper' the text is supposed to be. the biggest trick here is that instead of the 'px' we've been using everywhere before, the offsets use 'em', which is a unit that relative to the font size.

but there is a nuance. you see:

text-shadow: 0px 1px 0px, 0px -1px 0px, #fd64 2px 2px 2px, #fd68 2em 1em 3px, #fd65 4em 2em 5px; text-shadow: #fd64 2px 2px 2px, #fd65 2em 1em 5px; text-shadow: #fd6 2px 2px 5px, 0px -3px 0px, 0px 3px 0px, #fd68 2em 1em 3px;

the "translate" looks like a combination of the new effect and the pain effect, but i had to give it a special style, specifying both by hand.

if you want to layer things, it will get out of hand, and if you ever opt to revise the specific colors or values, solver help you.

also, this doesnt show up anywhere in HT (yet), but i've used it in the past — only setting the blur of a text-shadow lets you give words an 'aura', and it's a neat and simple effect

(excerpt from Eifre Quest, an original work of mine from years ago. i have mixed feelings about it)

sorry if that was a long ramble or self-indulgent, but hopefully something there was new or helpful.

thanks for asking!

[seung-scrittore]

treasure’s reaction to your henna design ! — hyung line

genre; fluff, a little comedy || warnings; kisses, SMALL FONT !!, some teasing, they’re all really cheesy || wc; 1.7k

wanting to touch the ink - jihoon

it was early into the evening when you had finished intricately decorating your left arm with flowers and miniature patterns. the ink extended until your fingertips, where the chocolate coloured henna contrasted the supple skin of your palm. calling out for your boyfriend, jihoon, to see the gorgeous pattern which was slowly staining your skin. he'd seen your henna designs many times, though you'd never quite done such an intricate design. in truth, it had taken you most of your morning to etch the ink onto your shoulder and down to your forearm, with added difficulty when trying to duplicate each pattern onto all of your fingertips. once he emerged from the doorway, he saw your figure, basked in the golden sunlight that filtered through the window of the small room, and the way in which the delicate henna glistened across your skin told him that it hadn't quite finished drying. he extended his forearm, in a manner that expressed he meant to reach out for your still-drying shoulder. you quickly shuffled away from his hold, extending your right hand toward him with your palm facing outward. "hold it right there, hoon." you continued despite the pout that now adorned his features, "you know as well as i do that you're not allowed near me until this dries." his pout deepened in response, if you weren't dead set on keeping him away from you, you'd have probably broke out in laughter at his almost comical expression. "don't you remember what happened last time you were near me while my henna was drying? 'cuz i do. and it sure as hell wasn't pleasant." crossing his arms in front of his chest, he stared at you with contempt, "hey, that was one time! i'm responsible, y'know." his brows furrowed and his eyes slanted in mock indignation. he stepped closer to your frame, grabbing your right hand and clasping his fingers around yours before raising it above your head, taking a step back until your waist was trapped against the windowsill. you seemed ethereal against the golden light, your skin seemingly kissed by each ray of sunlight. he planted a brief kiss on your lips before diving back in for another, his right hand coming up to your frame out of instinct, where he accidentally brushed against the wet ink. his thumb smearing the corner of one of the beautifully crafted flowers at the top of your shoulder. he pulled away from the kiss at the contact, grimace adorning his face at the slight smudge against your skin. your eyes still shut, you tilted your head down, "jihoon, if you just did what i think you did, you have five seconds to run." "but wouldn't that just smudge it more?" "jihoon!"

hugging you // asking you how you did it - hyunsuk

"hyunsuk! c'mere!" you shouted from the bedroom that the both of you shared. you were basked in a pale moonlight, the open window in the back corner of the room sporting a full view of the waning moon. your skin seemingly glowing, showcasing the newly drawn henna along your palm. the ink-stained towel that you'd used to clean up the edges of your design now lay discarded atop your desk with the rest of your henna ink and pens. the clutter only adding to the mess that was your workspace. small ceramic bowls decorated the edges, filled with paperclips, bottle caps, thumbtacks, and other small doodads you'd kept or deemed useful. "hyunsuk!" you shouted once more, hoping for his sake that he wasn't ignoring you. just as you were about to storm out of your room to find him, a sleepy looking hyunsuk appeared in your doorway, causing you to immediately put your henna-clad hand behind your back. suffering from a bad case of bed-head, hyunsuk leaned his palm against the frame of the door to balance himself as he fought off his urge to sleep. lidded eyes looking up at you from the downwardly tilted position of his head, muttering something near unintelligible. "what? 'sukkie, you look like you just died and came back." in truth, you loved how he looked when he was tired. the weary look in his eyes and his slow blinking matched the small pout he unconsciously sported. drowsily making his way through the bedroom and over to you, hyunsuk nearly bumped into your desk. taking a look at the discarded rag, he'd realized that's why you'd called him over. before he could ask, you confirmed the suspicion by revealing your hand and palm to him. "oh, it's beautiful. just like you." shifting his gaze from the intricate art on your hand, “you should show me how you do that.” he looked into your eyes and blindly moved his hand to hold your waist. "you're a dork," you scoffed, tucking a strand of hyunsuk's hair behind his ear as he leaned his head against your shoulder, "hm… but i’m your dork." you noticed hyunsuk's breathing slow and his head get heavier against you as you smiled at the slumped-over dork. maybe he was a bit of a mess, but he was your mess and that was all that mattered to you. “i love you, you dork.”

you find them doing research on henna - yoshi

it was nearly two in the morning when you stumbled over a sleeping yoshinori. he'd fallen asleep at his desk as he so often did when he got overly excited about researching one topic or the other. his computer light illuminated the wisps of his hair as you cautiously stepped toward the sleeping boy, you noticed his notebook had clean, perfect handwriting which transformed into scribbled-down notes and later into indecipherable shapes on lined paper. skimming over the notes as best you could without disturbing the boy whose face was pressed against the reams of the notebook cover. when yoshi tried to learn something, he certainly gave it his all. you knew that already. though, most often he would share what he was learning with you since you'd always loved the way his eyes lit up when he talked about something he was excited about, this was not one of those times. he'd kept his research to himself and his journal. as you looked over his scribbled notes, you realized he was researching henna. you weren’t aware yoshi had any interest in it, but his notes were thorough, thought out, and he even included little scribbles of flowers. one of the drawn designs looked oddly similar. looking down at your henna covered arm, you immediately recognized the flower patterns you had raved about to him. it’d taken you a while to perfect them, and you were quite proud of the design you’d crafted. and so, you were more than excited to show yoshinori. carefully, you pulled a woven acrylic blanket over a shivering yoshi. he stirred slightly, looking confused as he rose from his hunched over position at his desk. “hm?” you giggled to yourself, watching his eyebrows furrow. “nothing, love. come to bed and get some proper rest, yeah?” he shuffled, rubbing his eyes and stretching before going rigid and closing his notebook, as if he’d been caught in the act of something illegal. “i, hm. i didn’t mean to fall asleep.” you decided he looked too cute to not tease; “who would mean to fall asleep when doing all that research? must’ve been interesting.” you smiled as he looked up at you, “it was.” “what did you research?” you asked as you grabbed his arm, coaxing him toward your shared room. “henna. mmh, i wanted to learn about henna for you.” he muttered, one hand over his eye in an effort to lazily wake himself up. “for me?” you inquired. “mhm,” yoshi prodded at the henna drawn on your arm, “it’s pretty, you’re pretty.”

taking photos - junkyu

you were sat at a table overlooking your backyard, where your boyfriend kneeled, taking photos of the flowery hedges which formed a lush border around the carpet of grass that was slightly overdue for a trim. there, you dragged the pen which held your henna ink along your skin, etching spirals along the blank canvas that was your thighs. you'd been lucky, the weather was finally at a bearable temperature for you to wear shorts, though not warm enough for you to feel burdened outside in the sunlight. the hem of your shorts was pulled up to your waist in an attempt to not stain the worn polyester. as you carefully dragged the cold liquid across your skin, a glare of light silhouetted your actions, shortly followed by a faint shuttering. once you'd turned your head to look for the reason which your vision had been overcome with a bright light, you were met - face to face - with the culprit, camera in-hand. junkyu, softly smiling at you from behind the dark frame of the lens. "sorry," he timidly muttered, hand coming up to the back of his neck in what you presumed was embarrassment, "you just looked too beautiful." to say you were speechless at his brazen compliment would be an understatement. your mouth agape, you stared at the soft-spoken boy in front of you. pen still in hand, you froze. your pinky slightly extended outwards from the overhand grip you currently had on your henna pen and your wrist tilted awkwardly above the unfinished texture so as to not let the dark liquid smudge nor come into contact with the blank flesh of your arm. "i looked too... what?" "beautiful." your mouth now clamped shut, lips forming a straight line as you stared into his chestnut eyes. still slightly embarrassed, his lips tugged upward in a shy smile. quickly grasping the black, boxed camera, the black strap which connected each side of the old fashioned camera moved from its formerly stagnant position around his neck, junkyu once again positioned the camera to face you. thumb resting on the underside of the lens, supporting the weight of the camera whilst his index finger hovered above a hard, recently-used button. click. the familiar, harsh shutter was heard again as a sudden bang of light crept upon your vision, the vivid light staining your surroundings for a moment before dying down. "sorry, just... had to capture that expression."

leo’s notes [🦔] … sorry it took forever to release !! i started working on it a while back and it got lost in the sauce… anw, enjoy !! ty anon for requesting this n thank you @alohajun for beta reading !! your compliments meant the world <3

tagging: @kflixnet , @kdiarynet , @kwritersworld , @yogurteume , @shysakuno , @sunoo-bby , @tbzloonar , @yedammi , @noramoons , @lluvnhwa , @septabuspass