#like I did this all in one sitting but they all have a different artstyle

[z3r0-0r3z]

twf sketchbook page because I miss all the silly little characters

[otterloreart]

someone on MLPTP asked for Lil' Litters puppies/kittens so I've been attempting them in the background.

More information about these sculpts (aka down the rabbit hole) after cut

The coloration of the models in my shots were based off the My Little Puppy "Pretty Poodle" family, but models were reused for other sets

For example, Sweet Spaniel family had the "blue poodle" model but a unique sitting spaniel, although it looks like the proportions + ears are the same as the other two

And then the next release had the "Funtime Spaniels" set which had the same poses but was more colorful, and also the puppies with the other "mom dog" sculpts:

The website Toysisters, where I got the above photos, mentioned that the entire second line of My Little Puppies is hard to find so I looked them up and

This was the only My Little Puppy 2nd year release I could find and its a single figure for $75.

Also in the 1980s hasbro purchased the rights to a Barbie competitor (originally made in the UK) called Sindy and reused some of the pet molds in pajama party packs:

And this one also sells for a lot and isn't really available in many places

I don't bring up the prices, btw, as a critique of vintage toy collecting or anything. I don't make these models because I think people should just make new ones all the time. I /like/ that we're preserving old toys.

Rather, I hope my sculpts are used for collectors who have part of a collection and can't find a real vintage one, or people who think it is sweet and want to make a custom one (like they could do their dog or just a fun new thing). It's just for fun and not a replacement

I think what really disappoints me about all the lil'litters characters is they don't have the colorful marks like the ponies. If you didn't know, the original pony marks were made to imitate the marks on an appaloosa horse

And to me, while they aren't the only reason the ponies did well, they're definitely one of the things that makes them unique, like the carebears stomachs or strawberry shortcakes' fruit hat

Like they made a dalmation dog and they didn't even give it like... heart shaped spots. Huge missed opportunity there imo.

Also they did the siamese in reverse dark-light colors and iut looks like a fox. Siamese cats don't work this way, they gotta be darker around the tips for a reason.

Hasbro did release a line called Little Pretty that had a similar conceit, but I find the sculpt of the toys... underwhelming. They look more like Proto-Littlest Pet Shop to me than My Little Ponies:

The one on the left is supposed to be a dog and I only figured that out because she has no ears, just hair...

I much prefer the Lil Litters sculpts, they look more detailed and unique to me, and more similar to the OG MLPs

the My Little Kitty / Lil Litters were actually released concurrently with the Little Pretty line, both around 1990, so the discrepancy in artstyle feels really weird. but also it's just such a weird choice to create two similar looking brands to me? I don't... get it.

This was also year 9 of my little pony so the brand was going wild with the ponies and its interesting to me how plain and early-years the dogs+cats were in comparison

they were giving the ponies neon colors, false eyelashes and built in pockets and decided that their other animal lines would just be... different colors.

anyways my send-off is here are the first releases of lil litters:

[cowboy-robooty]

Regarding like Itager like in your mind what kind of dates do they go on

Like are they the kind of couple to go on like extravegant ass dates to like fancy restraunts and stuff or do they just like sit around in their house and like watch random movies

BOTH! I think because of germanys inexperience in his brain a date is only a date if its like "Take to dinner. Watch Movie. Wear something nice. Escort Home and if youre a slut get a kiss on the cheek." yknow the textbook definition, and because of that maybe once a month or something he will plan a date like that and be like Italy. Lets Go..... on a Date. and ofc italy is like hell yes bro me when i dont have to plan and hell pay for my meal n ticket 😍😍 I think even sometimes he borrows Japans shoujo manga (since he canonically in draws in a manga-like artstyle.. thats crazy) and studies it with sticky notes and shit to get ideas for new dates. so i think if you asked them theyd say thats what their dates are, but really theyre having casual dates like every fuckin day. Because theyre also best bros and Italy will shoot himself in the head if germany cant attend daily movie night with him (never forget when germany hung out with greece for four hours and italy went *cries* YOUVE BEEN SPENDING ALL YOUR TIME WITH GREECE LATELY....) They go on adventures together all the time like Harold and Kumars quest for white castle and i think something like that can be considered a date, since a date is just doing shit together yes? If anything I think they get equally romantic together on a fancy date and daily best bro adventures, bc on a fancy date its not like germany suddenly gets all gay, hes still normal its more like theyre just hanging out doing fancier things because germany doesnt really know how act romantic (besides being classic germany flustered... actually i think the only difference in their pda together is that as bros germany is like whatever. ill hug you its a bro thing. but when hes on a date hes like PDA IS COMPLETELY INAPPROPRIATE. PLEASE WAIT UNTIL WE ARE IN A PRIVATE AREA. >///< and italy goes PLEASEE PLEASEEE GERMANY KISS KISS KISS IT ISNT A DATE WITHOUT A KISS PLEASEEEE and germany goes eugh.... fine. *blushes* and does it because germany will do anything for italy if he asks twice) and italy doesnt really change his behavior either cuz if anything he already constantly acts like a clingy affectionate amoeba so its actually all the same...? The only difference i suppose is that ironically at the end of the date they usually part ways because in germanys head thats what a gentleman doss after escorting someone home and italy is like whatever lol bc either way that night he breaks into germanys house, crawls into his bed naked + uninvited, and well.... *looks around* did anybody else see that? And when theyre at home chilling the only difference is that Italy already has step one done (infiltrating germanys home) so... it always ends the same practically everyday! What a wonderful date!

*NOTE: i do think that Italy has learned that he can only try macking out on Germany inbetween episodes/movies because bro locks in hard and will go BITCH GET OFF ME IM INVESTED RN if he tried mid show. And even when germany says fine ok after Italy asks twice hell be distracted bc he was so locked in so Italy has learned its better to just wait until his brain is released from the screen. In general thats how Germany is if hes doing a task so thats why one time they got hospitalized for 2 weeks because Italy tried to give road head while also being the driver! A man has to do what a man has to do

[fins0up]

GRAAAHHHH I HAVE TO TALK ABOUT THE MINECRAFT MOVIE I HAVE TO I HAVE TO!!!

(Small disclaimer: I don't blame any of the underpaid and overworked writers & animators. They deserved better than this slop, I'm sure of it.

like the general public, I too despise the trailer. Let me just start with the trailer itself.

1.) Love how you can tell where the fucking green screen is. /sarc. Also the line "This guy is such a toolbag" they give her feels not only millennial, but fucking stupid jesus christ. You could've made a block joke there like. "...This guy is such a blockhead." "Yeah everything's made of blocks here." Or something AT LEAST TRYYY GUYYYSSS...

2.) The artstyle I know everyone talks about it but the FUCKING ARTSTYLE OH MY GOOODDDD IM DYING why has literally no one talked about the wolf though LIKE???

why is the wolf's body literally discord shaped. Why is Built like That. What the fact did they do to you??? Like, I just... I hate the combination of the realism and the blocks like??? JUST MAKE IT FULLY BLOVKY???? WHAT THE FUCK IS THIIIISSSSS GOD it's so fucking uncanny I hate it. I hate it so.

3.) Love the whitewashed Steve /sarc. Fr though, are we surprised? I hate that Jack Black of all people is playing him like guys that was a joke people was making. Are y'all able to understand jokes? Or understand what a pos Jack Black is? Jesus fuck gamers he's not only ableist (supports Autism Speaks) but a zionist as well. But besides that Steve feels like. Hold on.

Look at Steve. If he actually existed in the real world, I have a feeling he would be muscular (because he mines, builds, + farms like all day), and probably somewhere around his 20's-30's. You're telling me that Jack Black, an actor + musician who's in his 50's. Like, this isn't to say that Steve wouldn't have some tummy fat at all, he probably would! But like... Jack Black just doesn't... feel like Steve at all. Jack Black is like the exact opposite.

There's just like this... massive, icky vibe about the entire trailer that makes me hate it. I think it's a mixture of the live action "isekai" shit with the like... blocky textures that makes everything uncanny and gross to look at. And it feels like rather than taking the concept and saying "Hey, since the experience is so varied, let's take multiple characters and storylines and take proper care of each to tell a different story of the same game" (like Fallout the Show) they're just like, "Eh... I mean... I'm sure the Isekai trope will work again."

Not only that, but like over all it feels like rather than looking and seeing this game and being able to "laugh with" Minecraft fans (side note: I wouldn't mind Minecraft being comedic, admittedly, a block world is a fucking ridiculous concept. But, I'd still say keep the same sentiment that the game has which is, "You can build your own version of the world from the ground up, you are the master of your destiny") they're looking at it like that one mom from that AITA post and saying, "This is ridiculous and childish. Why do you like this? It's stupid. It's just some game about blocks."

I'm not gonna sit here and pretend that fans can't be picky about videogame movies/tv shows at all. Because I enjoyed the Mario movie, despite some fans hatred of it. I can't ignore the fact that videogame movies tend to be 50/50 on how fans will react to them. But still, really? This is what you guys have to show after 10 years? This is what we get? It feels like a punch in the gut, dude. I hate so much. I can't stop thinking about it.

[adidegmez]

One last time

The bad batch s3 ep 15 spoilers

I am not okay.

Kids survived, some clones survived, tha batch survived What more could we ask for? Well i know Tech. I wanted Tech to return why couldn't he return. Why give us hope why? They convinced us cx2 is someone important and i believed he was tech. But no they just gave hope for nothing.

Ending caught me off guard. I thought someone was going to die i think everyone thought someone would ünd maybe even everyone dies. They survived all them i am glad by this its great.

I cried a lot. When they mentioned Tech i couldn't keep it together.

I am still sad. Ending was great we have everything we ever wanted except Tech.

Hemlock died, rampart died. Nala Se was good. Emerie helped the batch and now she and echo going to help clone underground(hopefully we will get a clone underground show with this artstyle). Everyone and everything is good again except tech i can't stop thinking the fact that they didn't bring hil back why???

If he doesn't have a hand to tremble, there is no trembling problem. They actually did that.

Echo is proud of Omega, hunter wrecker and crosshair knew right away zillo was omega's work.

I thought wrecker was going to die when he echo asked where Hunter and Crosshair are.

The hug omega gave Hunter and Crosshair, the scene where all the batch (except echo and tech of course) sitting in peace so beautiful.

Clone x troopers there are 4 of them. When i was watching i thought they might have been developed with special mutations like bad batch's. But this is not true probably one of those clone looked like a reg. They are all probably reg but how can they fight so good?

Btw I didn't think for even 1 second that the clones wouldn't help rescue their brothers. I like clones, their personality (and their voice ofc) is perfect.

I hope Crosshair knows tech wanted to save him(they must have told him right?). I wish Tech could've see crosshair's character development his story. I wish no could've knew he joined them. I wish... Tech was alive. They didn't bring him back but how could he be dea i still can't belive and now while writing this i am thinking why can't he still be alive maybe i am being so delusional but they didn't confirmed he is dead if there is no body then there is no death, right? Since the end of season 2 we assumed he was alive but they didn't do anything different in this episode than the whole season to prove he is dead. But we still believed he was alive why cant we still believe he is alive the show ended yes but maybe in the future they will make a clone underground show and maybe tech will return. He probably wouldn't return but i refuse to believe he is dead i will believe he is alive untul they prove he is dead but they probably wouldn't prove it. So in my mind tech will be alive and i don't care if i am being too delusional. 🤷🏻‍♀️

When i see older omega first i thought she became a liberater of ancient wonders but this ending made so much more sense. Omega left without saying goodbye to crosshair and wrecker. But Hunter and omega's conversation was beautiful. I think they made that place like a museum?

Crosshair and hunter together killed hemlock, they saved omega together, they believed omega, they believed eachother and themselves. That scene was perfect.

Everything went well, we got a better ending what i expected. But tech...

No matter how much we want some stories doesn't have a happy ending this is what i think about even though we have happy ending i will never forget how tech sacrificed himself for his family. in the end they didn't waste his sacrifice in s2 finale and they did what they were going to do before hemlock captured omega in s2. They lived a peaceful life in pabu they retired.

I keep coming back to the same thing, i know but i can't help it. Tech tech tech... Heroic tech.

I've written too many things too mixed up. But if you've read this far, thank you. And I'm so glad I can be a part of this adventure. I started by writing my thoughts about star wars on Tumblr. And here, theories, fanarts, headcanons, everything was beautiful. Thank you everyone for everything. I'm glad I was able to experience the adventures of Bad Batch with you. goodbye till the next adventure.

thank you dee bradley baker and michelle ang for bringing these characters to life. And thanks to everyone who worked on this beautiful show.

It has been a beautiful (sometimes painful an sometimes peaceful) journey.

goodbye to the bad batch, goodbye

Hunter

Tech

Wrecker

Crosshair

Echo

and Omega.

It has been an honor to know you and being able to watch your adventures. Goodbye o7.

[ravangie]

Your style of characters is so beautiful!! How did you learn/develop/practice to draw like that?

Ah!!! Thank you!! 💗💗💗✨✨

Here comes a long rant, get ready

Talking about your own art style is kinda tricky, I feel like to artists it comes as second nature, so one doesn't really see it as a so-called separate "style". Rather they see it as a continuation of themselves in a drawn form (at least i do). But if i had to, i'd say that one's art style consists of two things:

1) What comes naturally.

I look at 5 year old kids drawing and see that each one of then has their own unique style. Already. Without even trying.

I've been drawing my whole life and I never tried to shape my drawing style into a box that I could call "my style". I just let the lines flow naturally and followed where they led me.

I started going to live-drawing sessions again recently and my friend told me that she could see "my style" of drawing that she sees in my digital works in those quick sketches that I make during these sessions. I think that's because when I work on digital illustrations, I don't think about how I should draw this or that. I just do it.

So, practise! With time, the ways you personally draw things will flow to you. When you draw one thing a 100 times you start to notice simularities in all of the 100 different examples, and then you systematize what you've learned and put it to use drawing your 101 drawing. After a while you won't even think about it before drawing them in the usual for you way.

I like to draw freely, not picking up a pencil from paper, with my lines just flowing naturally everywhere that I want them to. And I try to keep that same feeling in my finished drawings (where there is lineart still visible).

Here, found an example of a quick live sketch without any boobies for ya (just to be safe) and a linework for one on my more recent digital works. See how I try to keep the lines alive in the same way. And add highlights where I deem them necessary just for something interesting to the eye.

2) Your inspiration.

Everything that you see and like impacts your style, whether you mean it or not. My friend (other friend) watched Wolfwalkers the other night and immediately texted me saying she could see the inspiration that I've drawn from that movie. And she was right. I am a fan of the artstyle of the whole studio, so it's only natural that i, maybe even unconsciously, took something that i liked from their works and incorporated it into my own art style.

When I asked my friend what exact simularities she saw, she couldn't pinpoint them, she said it's just the vibe that she's getting. And i was content with that answer. Means i didn't copy and paste, but rather interpreted what i liked in my own way.

Also. Very important. You have to love what you draw. You're gonna wanna spend some extra time and add those extra couple of strokes that don't add anything in meaning, but are there to just be pretty. Sometimes those couple of strokes make the biggest difference. I think it's is very important to take time to just sit with your work and listen to what it needs to make it truly finished. A drawing can go from empty and unfinished to fantastic in just a couple of lines.

So. There it is. Sorry for the long answer. Or maybe you're welcome? Anyway hope it satisfies you!💖💖

[capybonara]

just ran through the tags you gave us, those comics were so good!! i love the framing and your artstyle is so cool... im a huge nut for worldbuilding and i love your ideas about saiyan history, mythology, and all that good stuff

VERY EXCITED that there even more deities in the "pantheon" like conquest and brute, we're SUPER curious what that comic about fight's origin was going to be like and about the identity of these mysterious moon gods... like the Silver Sister who seem related in some way to the triad's "ascensions" it's wild that you two thought all this up before battle of gods came out. there's only ONE super saiyan god I recognize and his name is FIGHT!!! o7 but seriously if you're willing to talk more about the characters, we'd love to hear more about fight's story :)

Sorry for the wait! I've been juggling so many things lately I haven't had a time to sit down and write this out the way I want to. Funny enough, I did recently go over my old story for Fight's origins so my brain is all refreshed. SO HERE IT GOES

There were three moons I made up that were always in different phases to avoid all three being full at the same time. And each had a name like Silver Sister, there was Red Child, and Dark Brother. Each god's own ascension correlated to one of the moons when they were at their zenith. So with Eat, Dark Brother was at its peak, and Fertility had Red Child.

Silver Sister was for God of Fight, and she was the only one I designed specifically for his story. He started out as a normal saiyan who is not happy with his lot in life, his clan is small, his leaders are weak and he wants MORE.

One night, he dreams of a white haired saiyan woman who he can only see in the reflection of water and she tells him she could give him everything he wants if he submits to her. And he's like "hmmm nah don't sound good" but she's being charming and telling him if he accepts her power and does the impossible task of killing the sun for her then he doesn't have to submit. He agrees to that and is like "okay let's see this power of yours" and suddenly he wakes up and he's turning into a giant ape under the full moon of Silver Sister and goes berserk and destroys everything around him.

When the sun rises, he turns back and while he's unconscious Silver Sister returns to him and he's yelling at her that he can't defeat the sun because he didn't have time, and he didn't have control. She laughs and says "you foolish boy you can't defeat MY mate, his power is mine, and I gave a portion of that to you which makes you mine!" When he wakes up his hair is gold, said to have been scorched by the sun, and a mark of shame to him, that he's under her control.

He doesn't hear from her again and he's angry that he was tricked but realizes the benefits of his new power and because of the destruction he caused, its opened paths towards new territory. And because they were witnesses to his transformation, saiyans of his clan look to him as their strongest leader now.

[dreadnotau]

Its been a decent couple of months of productive work, so it's sadly time for a schedule change. I'll be posting pages two weeks apart again. Details provided below if you're curious as to why.

In all honesty there's no big dramatic reason this time around. I've just slowly lost drive to work on Dread Not as often and as thoroughly as I used to be able to. As I said in one of my previous posts (that sounded suspiciously like this one), I want to focus on other projects as well. One of those is my personal art blog, which I've neglected even though I've had art on the backburner that I've been meaning to post for AGES. Kingdomrune is another one of those, where I have shit I could post that I just... never did. Dread Not takes a lot of time and I miss being able to dedicate that time to consuming media instead of just grinding and trying to produce my own. One of the most important things to do as an artist is to broaden your horizons and take in as much art as you can, to diversify and expand what you know and what you can make. But, when all day every day I'm just sitting and drawing my own thing, it's like I have tunnel vision and my creative resources run dry. It's starting to feel weirdly soulless on my end, because I don't feel nearly half the inspiration to make the pages as I did when the big hiatus ended. It's all dependent on time and exposure, and I can only crunch for so long before it starts to feel damaging to me instead of fun and creatively fulfilling.

So what does this mean, practically speaking? Well, for one, I'm spacing out the page upload for the rest of Act 1, as previously mentioned. I'm well aware this will kill the pacing and it'll drag out longer than it theoretically needs to, but I'd even rather that than trying to rush out a page in the Two Days I have free this week (yeah, ONLY two days free out of the ENTIRE week. Don't ask me why it's not even my fuckin' fault this time). If pages become even more scarce than 1 page per 2 weeks, blame it on college. I'm getting new subjects and I don't even know the class schedule yet. Concerning Act 2 though, I'll be changing the structure of the pages from their core. I'll be switching to a different drawing software (probably Krita, suck my dick Photoshop) so it'll take some getting used to. I can't even promise bonus content or anything during the necessary break between acts because of that shift in software happening, I've never done a massive technical move like this. However, it'll allow me to, not only work on Dread Not better, but expand my art overall, so it's definitely worth it. I've wanted to get into animation for YEARS and Krita seems like an okay place to start (the gif on this post WAS made with Photoshop, but shitty gifs are about all I can make as animations in Photoshop). Act 2's style will, predictably, differ heavily from Act 1 and (with how long writing the dialogue alone for it is taking), it might end up being Longer than Act 1, too. Visually, it'll probably be something like cleaned up and coloured sketches, with simpler colour palettes and simpler (big airquotes) visuals overall, and it'll speed up the process and possibly allow me to post more than one page at a time. Possibly. That's not a promise.

I'm sorry if that's disappointing to anyone, but I physically can't make myself continue the current artstyle across all acts. It's just not feasible.

For those curious about the FARTHER future of Dread Not, I have plans to turn Act 3 into a series of fics rather than full comic pages, and something maybe a bit more insane for Act 4. I don't have everything figured out yet, and I don't want to make any false promises or give any grand ideas I won't be able to commit to, since only time will tell how my creativity will flow years from now. If you all want more content from me specifically, again I'm planning on reviving my art tumblr like a half buried zombie, and you'll probably see more there than you bargained for once I actually get into the habit of posting things. If you're mayhaps interested in my original stuff, keep your eyes peeled for a guy called Duro, I might start posting about him some time soon.

As always, thank you for your patience, and apologies again if this news was disappointing to anyone. I'm just one guy and this comic is a titan of biblical proportions. I'll keep you all posted on any further developments and plans for the future! Stay tuned!

[chiricat]

another ramble about art again so i’m hiding it all under a ‘keep reading’ thingy so as to not clog ur feeds :]

aka thoughts about imposter syndrome, fanart, and what it means to draw stuff loosely disguised as a ‘ramble’. maybe a bit of akito almost-kinnie-isms (and probably ena) in there too because why not. also sorry this gets a lot less coherent as it goes on (i lost my train of thought near the end. it’ll come back someday)

i want to keep getting better. i want to keep growing and improving, so that i can convey the ideas in my head to others. i’m afraid to stagnate for too long, because what if it means i’ve hit my limit? what if i’ll never get better than i am right now? an irrational thought, really, but that doesn’t mean it’s impossible. hell, i felt like i hadn’t improved all that much from a year ago, when i tried to redraw a few of my older posts.

part of this stems from the question ‘how do people see my art? what kind of artist am i to them?’ which comes from when i got into fanart and fandom spaces, a long time ago. i would categorize the people i looked up to, my idols, my role models. there was the one that made comics that felt like home with your friends, and there was the one that made pieces that felt like i was sitting in a café in the middle of a busy city, and there was the one that made renders that felt like i was looking at liquid gold. i was fascinated by the effects of all these different artstyles, and decided that i wanted to do the same. i wanted to make art that made people feel at home, like a fic that you keep coming back to, or art that conveyed how i felt well enough that others felt the same way, or could understand it at the very least. 

naturally, as i continued to draw and admire these artists from afar, i wondered why exactly their art appealed to me. at first, the answer was simple: i like looking at it. but that wasn’t good enough - what about the things i didn’t really care to look at, then? what made this piece any different?

so i tried to understand, why i liked something, or why others liked something. after studying art for a little (yay classes) i understood more, i understood why those artists made the choices they did. for one, it was their powerful composition, and how they wanted to pull the viewer in with the characters. for another, it was their color palettes, which were always balanced yet strong and guaranteed to catch your eye because of it. other times, it would be the lighting, angled to present the characters in such a way that it made you feel like you were there too, or linework that made you feel just how much the artist cherished the characters. there were other, less technical things too, but i was trying to build a foundation before diving into things that were harder to learn.

in short, there was so, so much more to everything than i had realized as a kid.

so i asked myself the same question. why do people like my art? why is my art appealing and worthy of your time? and where did i fit in, if i were to categorize myself? 

these questions got a little worse. incredibly irrational. imposter syndrome was kicking in when i saw that more people were liking my art, especially when i compared it to myself from a year ago. or when my favorite artists were following me back. (it was weird, somewhat. i had always seen them as worlds away from my own space, artists that i had admired from afar and thus never believed that they would turn around and see me.)

‘do people actually like my art? is my art actually worth anyone’s time?’ i wonder. ‘do i deserve these nice comments, or even these likes?’ 

‘am i even getting better at all?’

these are a bit foolish of me to think. it shouldn’t matter, really. as long as i’m enjoying drawing and having a fun time, then why should it matter whether others like it or not? i don’t have to be doing my best, giving it 110% all the time, i’m allowed to make goofy art or self-indulgent art. this is my motto, for the most part. as long as you’re enjoying the craft, then it’s worth it.

but with the goal of improvement, i don’t always want to stay in my comfort zone. i want to keep pushing my limits, even if its just a little at a time, so i can make something impressive, something that really resonates as much as i want it to, as much as certain pieces resonated with me when i was younger. the same way that i kept coming back to certain pieces (and still do), i want to be able to do that too. i don’t want to feel like a kid playing at an adult’s game, like someone who doesn’t know what they’re doing and it shows.

it’s a tricky balance. i’m not sure if i’ll ever truly feel like i’ve ‘finally done it’. i think that most artists are never truly content with their work as a whole, anyways, and that’s okay. that’s something i should be more okay with. i can make art just for fun, and i can also make art with the intent of solely improving or practicing. i can even combine the two, and most of the time, i try to anyways.

(sorry, i lost my train of thought after writing the last few paragraphs... i dunno where i wanted to go with this exactly HHH.

tldr; i’m always stuck between ‘i’m happy making this art even if its bad’ and ‘i need to get better and leave people in awe to feel like i deserve the love and nice comments i receive’.

if you somehow managed to get to the end of this, ty for reading, even if it was a hot dumpster fire LMAO)

[fraeuleintaka]

Investigations 1 Official Anthology Manga - Volume 1

This is the 72nd post in the Ace Attorney Investigations Collection Countdown: 9 days left until release!

Today's topic: the Investigations 1 Official Anthology Manga (Volume 1)!

I've talked about the official Investigations manga in a previous countdown post but that's not the only manga release accompanying the Investigations games. There are also several anthology mangas featuring Miles and Co.! Unlike the manga series these don't tell separate stories with different cases than the games but jump off the games' events and show some shenanigans the characters get up to. Since there are several volumes I'm going to label them by number in my posts even though they're not in any way consecutive but they don't have any special titles to differentiate them by either.

The "first" one (cover shown above) has its short stories in the order of how the cases are played in the game (so starting from I1-1 and going to I1-5). All of its stories take place during the cases (or shortly afterwards) and all use concrete moments in the game, specific interactions or events happening inbetween that we didn't get to see, to build a narrative around. Most of them are simply funny but there are also some rather serious and emotional ones. The stories vary greatly by length, some are only a page long and others much longer. The artists for each story also vary but at least in this case the artstyle differences aren't too extreme. Of course, just like the manga series, the anthology mangas aren't canon to the games. However, apart from some joke stories that are clearly just exaggerations for humour the characters are written pretty faithfully to the games. I can easily see a lot of the shown interactions happen in the games and will definitely take them as canon as far as they don't contradict anything!

Sadly, all of the anthology mangas are only available in Japanese and out of print so extremely hard to get. It took me a lot of effort and luck to be able to acquire them and call all of them my own. And it was so worth it! The stories are so well made, hilarious, adorable, everything! They add even more to the characters' personalities and relationships with each other. So much fun to read and to just look at the panels, too! They also have some gorgeous art!

All these artworks are used as "covers" for the different story sections in the manga and they have these beautiful coloured versions at the beginning! Love them! They also have character relationship charts at the beginning for each section similar to what the Complete Guide had (without colour though).

I plan to talk more in detail about each different comic that's part of these anthologies at a later date as that would be far too much for one single post but I do want to highlight some of my favourite parts and my favourite individual (out of context) panels. So much good stuff!

Gumshoe, the professional stalker OR how the partner mechanic would actually look like

The Prosecutor Championship (with friendly help from the janitor)

When Gumshoe just gives him a prompt and Miles goes into an entire fanboy rant about the Steel Samurai

How Miles and Kay really escaped the hideout

Exchanging cards gone wrong OR Shi-Long just wants to be cool but it isn't always easy

How Manfred thinks he comes across VS how he actually comes across

When Miles gets a little distracted from the "perfect" case

Apparently Shi-Long also wears his sunglasses indoors just to make a cool entrance and then immediately takes them off (Miles did not like his cool entrance)

Shi-Long really wants to give Miles a birthday gift, but sadly it's not his birthday (he still accepts the gift though because it's tea)

Miles & Shi-Long just chilling and drinking tea together (I love the way Shi-Long sits on the couch!)

And finally, probably my absolute favourite one, Miles & Shi-Long arguing way too seriously about tea! Apparently Miles finally found someone who's as passionate about tea as he is.

[mw-draws]

gonna ramble abt tears of the kingdom for a quick minute (spoilers btw)

So, i don't really post much about Tears of the Kingdom (or zelda in general) all that much on here, but i just wanted to get all this out my head.

totk is a fantastic fucking game man. the gameplay, the music, the artstyle, it's all fucking fantastic. but the thing that really lets me down is the story. or lackthereof.

I wanna talk about the final boss for a quick minute. The final boss fight feels really fucking epic. the fight. the atmosphere. the MUSIC. It's all fucking fantastic. but it feels as if something is missing. what's my motivation for actually killing this guy. what's his motivation for killing me? Ganondorf feels very different in this game. I feel as if i don't have a personal connection like i did in previous games. The most Link has to deal with is meeting this guy like once and then you go and fight him. I'm sat there like WHERE'S THE MOTIVATION.

yeah, you can tell me that Ganondorf is gonna destroy the world and shit, yeah he's the Demon King(tm) or whatever, but that just feels like some label to me. who actually is this guy and what is his motivation for killing Link? yeah, he was told like a million years ago that some guy called link was gonna kill him and stop his dastardly plans, but to go through the process of Dragonification, literally destroying his body, mind and soul, just to kill One(1) twink that has a magic sword and that he met ONCE very briefly, it seems like overkill to me. and to go through all this and have so much hatred for link, who's just gonna curb stomp him anyways?? WHY, what is the fucking reason???

I suppose you could say this about Twilight Princess. You don't actually hear of Ganondorf until about 3/4 of the way through the game and you don't fucking meet him until the very end boss fight and vise versa. This guy doesn't know who link is lmfao, some farm boy and a weird looking thing is about to square go you. But that version of Ganondorf is the same guy that got grassed on by Link 100 years ago. tp link is that kids descendant, so there's a connection there. totk Ganondorf is just some old guy that is completely disconnected from the lore of the three goddesses and shit. he doesn't posses the Triforce of Power. he posses some "secret stone" that isn't so secret. there's nothing connecting Link to Ganondorf in this game, whereas, before, it was the triforce and demises curse.

there's no motivation, no connection and it leaves a pretty fucking epic fight feeling pretty empty. I think disconnecting Link from the main story of the game was a pretty poor move. i want to experience a story, not be told it.

I mean, being told a story can have it's impacts. for example, finding out that the light dragon is actually zelda. finding that out fucking destroyed me man. i felt empty and sad after watching that cutscene, but because i was told the story, i ended up just piecing it together myself. Now, imagine the impact of finding that out if i got to experience the story. it'd be 10x worse.

then actually, it turns out zelda's alright in the end and it's like??? Well. okay then. i didn't actually do anything to save her, some ghosty fuckers did. Like, what is Link's impact here? i would've loved it if i got to do it myself.

And being shown that scene where zelda transforms into the light dragon and feeling fucking DISTRAUGHT, not wanting to move anywhere or do anything and link is just ??? okay that's fine then, lets get on with it. there's no personal connection to anything that happens in the story and it makes me sad.

Like i've said, the actual gameplay of totk is amazing. i blasted through 12 hours of the game in one sitting when i first played it. it's got amazing mechanics, beautiful music and the graphics and artstyle is to die for. but the story is just not there for me. i can't feel connected to it whatsoever.

[cosmic-ships]

long post about me talking about a video game yipeee

crush and stuff under cut and me rambling about the game still lmao

Okay well- hm, the game really didn't tell me too much more. There is a bunch of information that it lacks and the story while interesting/intriguing didn't really do it for me? <- at least the ending didn't

The ending was a little lackluster to say the least. You can definitely tell it's an indie game that was poorly translated in some parts as there are parts that text was just copied and pasted from moments before.

There isn't a lot of character development either... They randomly threw characters together as "couples" at the end but showed no chemistry between them beforehand. I mean there is a detective character and then there is a woman who seems like the typical sex worker type and at the end, they're just... together? In the story, they interacted maybe twice and only ever talked about the case.

Games fun, the artstyle is awesome, the music is also really nice but unfortuantely the story falls flat! I'm hoping their next installment will be a little better storywise.. The game was so short.. I started it two days ago (I could probably beat it in one sitting through as it seems like it's roughly three hours long)

The game is called Almost My Floor.

ANY ANYWAYS I am crushing on the "protagonist", his name is Alex. Since the devs did such a poor job at giving the characters lots of personality/development I guess he belongs to me now! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Hell, they ALL belong to me now! I will give you personalities and development! Seems like other characters only existed to push the story which is unfortunate and it's only hinted at why the antagonist did what he did but didn't dive further into his side of things which would have been so interesting to see!

This game was made by a husband and wife and that's pretty much the entire dev team but you could really tell they struggled with making the male characters look different. They all really did look similar to one another, which I totally thought it was going to play into some time travel shenanigans but it doesn't, they're legit all different characters.

Alex himself remarks that he, Adam (the detective), and Kate's father all look alike but then after that remark it's never mentioned again and I feel like it would have been cool to explore that but I think it was just the creators poking fun at themselves for their lack of male character designs I guess?

I'm left with questions and wanting to know more but unfortunately this game is the only source of information as there is no wiki to go to, there's zero posts on this hellsite. It truly is a little indie game with no exposure. I am happy I played it though! I got two new f/o outta it! hehe

Also I'm crushing on Kate- Do I even need to explain why!? she's a vibe and my type!

If you read all this I applaud you lol

[urnumber1star]

Writerly Questionnaire

Thanks for tagging me @agirlandherquill !!

About me 

When did you first start writing? 

It’s hard to say. I’ve come up with stories in my head for as long as I can remember. But the first thing I wrote down was an unfinished book from when I was about six.

Are the genres/themes you enjoy reading different from the ones you write?

Not really. I love reading sci fi just as much as I love writing it. But I love reading fantasy and historical fiction but those two are the most difficult for me to write. 

Is there an author (or just a fellow writer!) you want to emulate, or one to whom you're often compared?

I love Brigid Kemmerer's writing style. It's just so descriptive, and fluid and pretty and I love it! I want to be able to write like that one day. I actually have never been compared to any other writers before. Mostly because I’ve been SO SHY about sharing my writing. But I'm doing a little better at that.

Can you tell me a little about your writing space(s)? (Room, coffee shop, desk, etc.)

I mainly love to write wherever I can. If I get a sudden burst of motivation I’ll grab my computer and sit down wherever I am at the time. But I mainly write at night while I'm in my bed. I find that I'm much more relaxed and motivated at night. 

What's your most effective way to muster up some muse?

If I'm struggling with writer's block or just feeling like creating another WIP I will put my music playlist on blast. Music has always helped me imagine different scenes and characters, and after that I make a new google doc and just start incoherently jabbering about scenes and character ideas I have until they all fit together! Then I make it a little more coherent of course lol

Did the place(s) you grew up in influence the people and places you write about?

Not really. The places I write about are always so different from the modern day. But I do sometimes accidentally inspire a character's personality off a friend or someone I know. 

Are there any recurring themes in your writing, and if so, do they surprise you at all?

Twins. For the life of me I don't know why. I am an only child with no siblings and in every single story I've ever written since I was six there have been at least one pair of twins. It’s like my trademark lol. Along with lots of action. I love intense, gut-wrenching action scenes. 

My Characters

Would you please tell me about your current favorite character? (Current WIP, Past WIP, Never Used, etc)

I think my current favorite character is ironically Talia from my current WIP. She just reminds me of a really close family member of mine and I also just love writing about her. She’s very spunky and pretty funny. Added bonus because she's a twin (the blasted twin thing again) and she’s an artist! And a boss lady. :] 

Which of your characters do you think you'd be friends with in real life?

Micheal and Talia. Talia’s an artist like me and Micheal is just a nice and cool guy that I’d like to be friends with :)

Which of your characters would you dislike the most if you met them?

No One. You will get no context as to why. But I think you already know why.

Tell me about the process of coming up with one, all, or any of your characters,

Fun Fact! BRS is technically a rewrite of an old WIP from like two years ago. It’s very different now but still. I ended up just simplifying everything and having only one character to completely focus on first then figure out their personality and the people around them. Then I expand upon the people around them. And I keep doing that until I flush everything out. 

Do you notice any recurring themes/traits among your characters?

Constant sarcasm and a massive sense of humor. Just like me TwT 

How do you picture them? (As real people you imagined, as models/actors who exist in real life, as imaginary artwork, as artwork you made or commissioned, anime style, etc)

I imagine them in my artstyle. I imagine them animated in a very distinct way. It makes imagining their scenes very fun and vibrant!

My Writing

What's your reason for writing?

Because I wanted to find a way to tell all the stories in my head as a little girl.

Is there a specific comment or type of comment you find particularly motivating coming from your readers? 

ANYTHING. Honestly anything is just so rewarding for me. But my favorite comments to get are questions asking about details, or someone comparing my character to one they saw on TV. It makes me very happy :)

How do you want to be thought of by those who read your work? (For example: as a literary genius, or as a writer who "gets" the human condition; as a talented world builder, as a role model, etc)

I’m not sure. Just someone who can make an interesting story people like! 

What do you feel is your greatest strength as a writer?

World building. I could talk for hours about the politics, currency, social aspects, technology etc in my stories. I’ve always enjoyed fleshing out my settings. It just makes the story feel so much more alive!

What have you been frequently told your greatest writing strength is by others?

Dialogue actually. My cousin read a WIP of mine a while ago and she claims that it’s good so…. I do trust her judgment though as she is an amazing author.

How do you feel about your own writing? (Answer in whatever way you interpret this question)

I honestly hate most of what I write. But I love the process of imagining it and perfecting it later after I’ve improved.

If you were the last person on earth and knew your writing would never be read by another human, would you still write?

Yep! Because I don't know what I’d do if I had all these ideas in my head and couldn't let them go! Plus it's just so therapeutic. 

When you write, are you influenced by what others might enjoy reading, or do you write purely what you enjoy? if it's a mix of the two, which holds most influence?

I write what I want to. Which is mostly what I’d like to read. But I write for me.

Boy this was a long one, but it was very fun!

Tagging @leahnardo-da-veggie @the-ellia-west @illarian-rambling @kaylinalexanderbooks @mysticstarlightduck @melpomene-grey +anyone who wants to <3

[captainbobbin]

Hi- I have somehow survived the depths of completing a whole game in one sitting, grinding for the talents of a character in another game, and completing one of 3 endings for undertale as well as attempting to art. So how are you? <3

Also would love to make you aware your Saix/isa, Xemnas, and Terra are the reasons I question if I'm truly AroAce because of the FOUL, down right HEINOUS things I want them to do to me.

Also, I was going to ask this on Retrospring but I have no idea if the ask button was either tricking me by looking like it was doing nothing or if it just wasn’t up to doing its job, but, I scroll through the Saix tags often and there was this one post that pointed out that he has a hourglass figure and I could not for the life of me tell if you draw him with one too or not so, are you aware of this? If I’m wrong about him having that figure or if you do actually draw him with one then you can just ignore this.

Also, finally looked at your twitter since I don’t usually use it and there was this one thing you said and while I can’t exactly pinpoint what it was I know it was enough to make me audibly gasp and then mentally agree. Anyways that’s all, have a good night or morning I’m still trying to figure out time differences. (Also if I ramble too much feel free to tell me I’ll gladly shut up a bit….maybe- I can’t even trust myself to remember to breathe actually so- nvm)

long response so -

ayyy I'm glad that you've been doing okay lately bud - its always satisfying to complete a game that you've been sucked into, and I hope you had a fun time with it!

You know. You'd be surprised how many aro and/or ace people have said such things to me/are actively in my chat encouraging me to make more nsfw content regarding my blorbos lmaoooo I actually had a message on retrospring the other day regarding my portrayals of certain characters making people question their orientation and I'll put what I responded to them here - 'there's a post that I love and its like. If you are really into something and are passionate about it, you will accidentally convert others to enjoying it. By making content where you genuinely show how much you love a certain thing and you project your headcanons onto it and display the depths of your inner love about a certain concept, character, body type, topic, etc, that people will see it and connect with it whether you mean for it to be convincing or not hahaha. Sometimes just really loving something inspires others to love it and see it your way too.'

Saix undoubtedly has a pretty curvy silhouette, yes lmao there is no way I wouldn't realise that hahaha - Its harder to see it in his KH3/Unreal Engine model due to the stylistic overhaul but his original (and superior imo) model has notably wide shoulders and hips compared to a small waist, yeah. All of the original Org members had really distinct shapes so you can tell who is who, even with the hoods up. I do tend to draw Saix with fairly muscular thighs and broader shoulders, but in general my artstyle is what I would say is 'not very anime proportioned' in that I try to have a decent amount of realism in my anatomy/shape rather than super lean or angular bodies. I don't ever want my blorbos to appear emaciated or for them to have the 'ideal standard' body, if you know what I mean, I really enjoy drawing my faves to look like real people that have folds and bulk and 'imperfections'. I do typically try to draw Saix as fairly broad, with a balance between topheavy upper arms and chest and a more rounded hip area compared to his waist. (some examples below, including a super super old sketch I did to visualise lfotr isa and terra's size difference). I do try and make all of my usual blorbos have identifiable yet still human proportions; I tend to draw Xemnas slightly softer and chubbier around his middle but he is still broad and powerful. Saix is curvy but still noticeably strong and while not entirely lean he has a sleekness to him. I draw Hendrik with a lot of padding, hair and with much more unique facial features. Sylvando is probably the only character I draw that has a body close to the canon source - he is lean and muscular and tbh the only character I really draw with pronounced ab muscles, the same way that in canon he is shown to be very cut - but in all fairness he's a gymnast/acrobat/performer/contortionist/dancing clown so drawing him as noticeably and suprisingly ripped tracks imo. Plus I sprinkle on so many of my own headcanoned features regarding his hair, skin tone, freckles, etc that it doesn't feel too weird to me haha. so tl;dr yes I do draw Saix with somewhat of a curvy shape (when I do fullbody draws of him, its been a little while) however I think my version is pretty masculine and doesn't read as disproportionate or exaggerated.

Anatomy and stylization are things I always want to push myself on and develop more - my biggest fear is having 'same face syndrome' or for my work to feel like my love for the characters don't come through haha - though by the sounds of it, the way I portray my blorbos is definitely doing something for you, so I must be going in the right direction haha

oh I yap about all kinds of bullshit on twitter lmao I use it as a place to talk about my blorbo thoughts often :p for those who don't follow me on twitter, you can find me here, although I'll warn you that I do most some n/s/f/w stuff there that I do not post here. Let me know if you find out which post I made that vibed with you, I'd love to hear which thing I said resonated with you and why haha! I am somewhat more active on twitter than on here/I tend to share more of others work and do general updates on twitter just because its easier, but I think interacting long form with others is a lot easier on tumblr for sure. Long asks and chats like this area always nice!

[friedfriedchicken]

Fried live reaction to rewatching Akudama Drive ep 1 GO

YOU

His eyes are so big- even for the Rui Komatsuzaki artstyle that man's eyes are WIDE

She is so cute

3D MODEL COURIER

Gotta love Ordinary Person being so nice and throwing out Courier's garbage because she's so cool like that fr

Also there's like a convenience store opposite the Takoyaki stand- It would've been so simple for Ordinary Person to waddle in and find an ATM or a cashier willing to give her change but noooo get arrested girlie

:( She's just sitting in the car that's so sad

Man- I love the background characters in this scene. There's really nice continuity between different scenes showing the same crowd-fillers but also they're all just sitting around abnormally

Girlie :( also SNIPER SPOTTED YIPPEEE

CGI Courier spotted again

OMG THIS IS ACTUALLY THE UNCENSORED VERSION YIPPEEEEE

That guy's head wasn't as gorey as I thought it'd be- Made in Abyss did worse but I understand the precaution AD has. Maybe I'm used to it but at least I don't have the black blurs hehe

Courier's phone looks like an IPod

I love how Black Cat's messages for everyone seem specifically written for them. That's really cute in a horrific way 🥺

Doctor just sitting in the air bus like a normal person is funny to me. She seemed very nice and polite and somehow no one went "huhhhh didn't I see her on a wanted poster today?"

Man- Kansai really did just make every single screen ever tell people about Cutthroat's execution. Imagine watching Elmo then the screen turns black and red and it's telling you someone is going to die. F

Everyone standing against a dark sky with the red tower in the background looks so nice woaaa

"I'm not a Swindler!" Now you are bestie

Brawler literally moves so fast he's like a fly or something 🛐

All the people in the police station were just staring out the window to watch wwwwwwww

BLACK CAT!!!

Hacker's little drones open their mouths like :D as they turn into hover platforms 🥺

How did Doctor get in unnoticed? She's bright pink whuh??

Akira reference heehoo

Somehow I never noticed this ref before

Not Brawler hearing Courier whisper from 50 yards away 😭

Hacker :)

I'm really amazed that Courier somehow manages to drive his thick motorcycle through the police building easily. It's his thing but the doors- dude how are you getting through the doors

Courier with pink eyes

Genuinely so hard to watch this and NOT hear Leona Kingscholar's voice whenever Courier speaks- this is so sad 😔

Somehow Doctor works as a projectile to destroy a whole floor and doesn't break her back oml

Hacker is actually just a rat that they discovered hiding in the walls during demolition

"You're not dead?!" I FORGOT THAT SHE COULD DO THAT- still no idea how she could even reach her back but she's silly like that. Horrible painful foreshadowing mayhaps. Gotta love how she's just like "I wanna join hehe" while everyone is pointing weapons at each other

Everyone is out for MURDER until Swindler comes in with Black Cat wwwwwww

[cherchersketch]

Daisy - How to become the Duke’s Fiancee

Is this another ~contract marriage~ with a stoic duke marquess (but not from the north)? Yes. Yes it is.

The artstyle changes halfway through but I think it still looks ok. Though you can really tell the difference when they put in flashbacks with the previous artwork. Lol

Summary Our main girl, Daisy, travels back in time after being drowned to death. Back to the day one of her useless dad’s creditors showed up to the house. Instead of blending into the background as she did before, this time she boldly approaches the ~cold duke marquess~ with an offer of marriage. Because he’s totes going to need that in 3 years when grandad kicks the bucket and his will states that his successor needs to have been married (happily) for 3 years or more. It’s a win-win because she’s sworn off love after the events of the previous life and he doesn’t believe in love because of his family’s history. Of course, they eventually fall in love, even though it’s just meant to be a ~contract marriage~. Come on, it’s a shoujo manhwa after all. 

Tropes   - died and came back to life X years before to escape the death flags   - just throw this gambling-addicted father away   - this is just a contract marriage he/she would never love me   - these grandad dukes really love putting in a no-marriage no-inheritance clause

FL - Daisy Filberlin D’Essel

 - oh no it’s the ~middle child~ syndrome ;w;  - so glad she is now never gonna get together with the trash man ;w; (though I’m interested to see if he’ll ever show up in the current timeline)  - employers love her: the 20 year old with 20 years of work experience  - 10 steps ahead of everyone (being from the future helps)  - gaslight gatekeep girlboss  - a lady’s battlefield is tea parties and banquets

ML - Marquess Killian D’Essel

 - wow a rich noble who actually works (and not like sits behind a desk of paperwork all day)  - not a duke yet but he already has the cold duke of the north personality nailed  - richer than you’ll ever be  - the guy always falls in love first ;w;  - put him in horny jail

this series doesn’t really have cute little chibi scenes ;x;

Rating: I enjoyed my time reading this It’s a chill, cute romance. Hehe Status (as of 11 Nov 2023) Ongoing. Honestly, it’s probably way longer than it needs to be. We’re just barely touching on the whole ~madness of the OG Duke family~ plot. But as a bingeable series it’s fairly interesting I guess. Though it should really be like half the length ;;;

Same Same but Different  - The Predator’s Fiancee  - The Villainess Lives Twice  - No more Nice Sis

full rec list