#so i can improve my commission turnaround time

[xejune]

ah, i just noticed the person who requested a floyd x OC drawing from me deactivated. i'd still be happy to draw it, but,, it feels a little weird to do so when i can't credit the person for their OC?

so in case they remade & happen to see this, hi, please DM me if you'd like me to continue that request 🥲

[renthony]

Official Commission Info Post

(Updated July 8, 2024. Copied over from my main website.)

Pay me to write about a topic of your choice!

Provide me with a topic related to my areas of interest, and I’ll share my expertise, opinions, and insights. My areas of interest/expertise include speculative fiction (sci-fi/fantasy), fiction writing, literature studies, television & film studies, media censorship, animation, and pop/fandom culture.

Note: You choose the topic, not the angle. You can’t pay me to write any amount on the topic, “why Ren’s favorite thing is actually bad,” or, “why Ren’s least-favorite politician is actually a superhero.” I reserve the right to refuse any commission for any reason, with money refunded where necessary. I retain full credit and ownership of my writing—meaning I don’t do homework and I don’t do ghostwriting.

Examples of my work can be found at this link. Further info below the cut.

Rates

$25 USD for 500 words.

Up to 3k words @ $0.05 USD per word.

Over 3k words @ $0.15 per word.

Over 5k words @ $0.20 per word.

Rates calculated using the IWW Freelance Journalists Union rate sheet. Writers of the world unite!

Payment processed via PayPal or Venmo. Final product will be emailed to you as a PDF, and cross-posted to my tumblr and Patreon page along with other platforms as I see fit.

Email me at renniequeer@gmail.com to commission today!

Turnaround Times

I’m disabled and have inconsistent energy levels, so turnaround times may vary depending on my health. At minimum, 500 word essays typically take me about a week, 3k takes about two weeks, and 5k papers take about a month. If there are any unexpected delays to my work, health-related or otherwise, I will email you with an updated turnaround estimate as needed.

À La Carte

Can’t think of a topic but still want to hire me? Here’s a list you can choose from!

General 500 Word Topics

500 words doesn’t give me much space, so these commissions are great for getting my basic thoughts and opinions on a topic. You can use the following list as simple prompts on their own, or as a springboard to come up with your own, more specific prompt.

Science Fiction

Fantasy

Worldbuilding

Self-Publishing

Animation

Tabletop Gaming

Cosplay and Costuming

Media Representation

Media Preservation

Media Piracy

Censorship

Purity Culture

Labor Rights in the Entertainment Industry

Queer Media History

Fandom

3k Essay Prompts:

These topics require a little more space to dig into, so I need at least 3,000 words to do them justice. You can also request any of the prompts from the 500 word prompt list for a more robust essay on the topic.

Always Watch the Background Actors: How Learning Stage Combat Improved My Moviegoing Experience

Animation and Musicals: Misunderstood Non-Genres

Draw from the Heart: Using Familiar Settings to Craft New Worlds

Worldbuilding: Avoiding the Planet of Hats Trope

Worldbuilding: Utilizing Elements of Culture

5k Research Paper Topics:

These are the big topics that will require research, citations, and several long weeks of work. I can write as much on the topic as you want, but it must be at least 5,000 words. You can also request any of the prompts from the 500 word or 3k word prompt lists for more robust essays on the topic.

Killing the Cat: Violence Against the Vulnerable as Sloppy Narrative Shorthand

It Wasn't a Damn Door: Why Jack Dawson Had to Die

Bury Your Gays on Solstheim: Queer Representation in the Elder Scrolls

Invisibility or the Freakshow: Intersex Representation on American Television

The Nuke in the Room: Political Allegory in Samurai Jack

Payment Installments & Discount Options

Times are rough for everyone. If you would like to hire me but can’t afford to pay all at once, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me about paying in installments! Details can be discussed on an individual basis.

For a 15% discount, you may also email me with proof that you have requested my short story, The Queen of Cups, at your local library! For a 25% discount, submit proof that you have requested both my short story, The Queen of Cups, and my wife’s novel, The Last Girl Scout.

[seekingseven]

Hi Seeking!! I remember a while back that you had writing commissions open, and wanted to open my own but could not find any good sources as to how to make it work or how to run one :’) Any advice you would give to writers who want to pursue having commissions?

hi friend! thanks for reaching out!

I'll be honest I've done very very few fanfic commissions (I think 5 total in the last few years), and the last two I did were for charity! (you can check out my kofi here, I'm still taking commissions actually and 100% of profits go to Doctors without Borders!)

I can't give you too much advice on how to advertise and make big bucks because I'm honestly not very good at that myself (maybe you could tell from the numbers lol); to be real, I don't think there's as much of a market for fanfics as there is for fanart, but maybe that's just me? I don't really know. I know that you cannot mention having fanfic commissions open / that a fic was a commission on Ao3 (major TOS violation; the reason the site can function and be represented in a legal setting is because it is strictly non-profit) so that may be a reason why.

BUT if you're interested here's how I did my pricing!

Fics were $1 for 200 words! So fic length was determined by payment amount. I'd have the commissioner write out for me what their fic idea was (the more detailed the better) and the turnaround time was about two weeks I think? Longer if I was in school at the time.

I'd send them the outline for approval and then, if that got the green light, went ahead with the fic. They'd see the final product once it was done! Sort of like a little surprise.

Since the fics I did in recent memory were all through kofi, I took the payment upfront. I think that most people would also advise that you do the same, but some people I've worked with in the past would take half payment upfront and another half payment once the outline was approved. I think that system works well if it's a bigger commission!

Regarding the price point: it may be a little low for more experienced/skilled writers. If you're good you can definitely charge higher, I think I've seen prices around $1 for 50-100 words before and thought it was reasonable from a customer POV. Up to you! I'm a slow writer with a lot of improvement to make so I try to keep the price point low!

And yeah that's all from me! If you end up opening commissions please let me know so I can support you!

[fainthedcherry]

IT'S NEW YEARS OVER HERE SO LET ME LAUNCH MY BABIES AT YOU FOR IT!!!!

In case you want their backstories, I just recommend you go over to their Toyhou.ses respectively, as- typing on Tumblr is a pain for my PC. My PC hates Tumblr in particular for some reason, whenever I format text, and I can't LIVE without formatting text as a hobby-author man. xD

LINK TO MARCO'S STORY

LINK TO ZORRO'S STORY

For new users; Marco was made by Heavenly-Hellfire and Hollowed-Hartlocke. I bought him back in 2019! Still love him like it's day 1. My best, most adorable boy <3, he's become my actual role model, I love him sm ;:

In case you never read them before, hopefully you enjoy the reads!!! I hope you can forgive the older grammar on Zorro's. I def plan to rewrite it, once I finish working on my raider-code. (It's been taking so long bc I'm trying to learn to use the CSS mixin z-index class-type. I still can't figure out image borders for the life of me, but I learned rotation class-types LOL.)

I've wanted to redraw both their reference sheet for almost YEARS now. Ever since I've gotten Marco, I continuously evolved how I draw him, over and over, to a point his old ref had become a detriment, due to how differently I draw him nowadays LOL. One thing that desperately needed a redo for him especially, how his hair is supposed to be drawn + his wings. His wings looked like floppy chicken nuggets on the old one LOL. PLUS! I added a section of details, where I see artists I commissioned, struggle with or fail on. Hopefully the detail section is sufficient in fixing that! I'm not sure, if I should also add a mention, of Marco's dot details below the pink pattern, as even the distance between the dots is different. + I LOVE DRAWING EXPRESSIONS. So to also add a small box of extras for Marco's cool glowy eyes was a treat. <3

I plan to redraw his refs for his magic wind attacks perhaps, as for now, I have a shabby drawing, and I got a free animation program lately, so I can FINALLY unleash my years of experience animating, in the appropriate program now LMAO. My own limitations of using SAI to animate, was making my animations look choppy and bad for years unfortunately, so my art always looked very amateur-ish when I actually know how to animate..

Speaking of that, for the attentive...Yes, I plan to possibly try and draw a 360° turnaround of my characters, as the next natural progression of refs next. I am SO close, so so SO close to making my art finally look like it's part of my project I've been working on for years in private. Ever since this year, people have proven, that you CAN start an animated series on the internet, and it will receive an audience. I also wanted to start an animated series when I was a teen, and now that I'm an adult I can make it happen for sure, with the right talents. When the time comes, I might seek out a music producer and perhaps, if I'll have the money, hire animators, so that I'm not the only one who has to work on the series I planned.

For Zorro....He had it coming. Last time I drew his ref, he looked like a 16 yo/ mobian child, it pissed me off for so many years, once I learned how to properly make adult characters look adult lol. THE CEREAL SPITTER NOW ACTUALLY LOOKS ADULT AND LIKE THE BASTARD SELF HE SHOULD BE. I don't have too much to add to him, but I consider him still a WIP in my brain bc- RAIDER PAGE CODE. I WANNA FINISH. GRABBY HANDS. I CAN FEEL THAT IF I LEARN Z-INDEX FINALLY I CAN REALISE THAT CODE. I've wanted to make a code for my raiders 3 years ago already y'all it's painful to be patient w/ myself sdgkldslgdsg

I'm so satisfied, with my ref sheets finally looking, like a professional drew them imho!! If you disagree w/ that notion, feel free to tell me what's missing or where I need to improve on! :D

My 2024 started amazing and with laughter and appreciation for my friends, I'm so happy finally. 3 years in a row, all I did was cry each new year, and be in pain. 2024 feels like it could be my year. Year of the dragon, bless me with your energetic and powerful spirit please,, 🙏

ANYWAY. Forgive me in advance for watermarks, but I kind of? Am paranoid now over my art a bit bc my work is good now? Like I think I'm in the final stages of my artistry. I can feel, that I might find the perfect style soon. I need to experiment just a bit more. Just a bit more...I might consider loosening up my linework in 2024. I honestly still? Hate lineart? Like..My lineart looks good now, don't get me wrong but. I just love sketchy artwork so much more??? Sketching is so fun, creating is so joyful, when it's a sketch..But lineart kind of.....Ruins my art. I think I should loosen up. It's why I might change my approach a millionth time, but my artstyle has potential now. I don't feel, like my art is awful anymore or worth nothing, it now HAS worth, I now HAVE the right to have an ego about it, but some pieces still are missing, to give me the ultimate happiness and relief in my work. Perhaps if I do some more commissions, I might unlock my final potential? We'll see.

My aspirations for 2024;

Pass the prep-exam for my workplace (I LOVE MY WORK. I SINCERELY WISH I'LL PASS. I love work so much omg I don't wanna be fired so badly)

Draw more art of Finn & Marco so they finally pass Chloe in most images on TH (I REALLY DON'T WANT HER TO HAVE THE MOST IMAGES STILL. It should either be my comfort boys or C.I.Ta)

Be more experimental with mixing medias traditionally (I wanna start mixing mini craft-projects + my drawings or mix more pencils + markers and also glass pens + watercolours. I rlly rlly wanna experiment and go loose.)

Animate more and possibly even post said animations. I know animation takes me HELL OF A LOT of time, as I lack so much time to do so, but I'd love to do that

Stop stressing so hard over OTA's and commissions. I know I tell myself each year, "this year will be the year I wanna finish all my owed art!!" But every once and a while, I need to be a realist to myself, my optimism may be good, but it sometimes..Is a little over-eager. But I noticed in 2023, I really heavily strangle myself out. I haven't drawn any private art since 2020, really.....It says a lot about an artist, if they now haven't drawn a personal drawing and finished it, in the same quality of their owed work for 4 years now. I haven't been really honest to myself and my heart, and I'd like to forgive myself slowly, by allowing to both work on owed work, and start creative, passionate art-projects again, again, where I can let loose and just. Experiment. Do something new. Push the boundaries of my art. Combine medias, collages, etc, anything under the sun I wanna try. I limit myself so hard, over chasing a goal, I can't achieve, if I won't acknowledge, I'll cause my own death as an artist, if I continue to chase unattainable goals, I can't achieve, if I won't be gentle to myself.

Finish revamping my commission sheet. It requires, I draw new examples of course. The big thing I need to warn ahead; I will have a fat price-increase, due to work taking all the time I can have now. I can only work around 4hrs a day on art. My art takes around 20 hours to be finished. Every piece is done with love, with time, with effort. I'm not an artist, who adheres to algorithms. I'm an artist who lives with passion, with freedom in mind. I have an endless amount of ideas, I have an infinite amount of space and ways to create it. I am not a machine, I am, what an artist strives to be. To simply...Create. AI can go to hell, and drag NFTs along with it. I to this day get attempts to be hacked, by tech bros, believe it or not. I pissed off BAYC on Twitter once, and some butthurt idiot, is still trying to get to my Insta and Steam to this day. Won't happen anymore with 2FA idiot, lmao. I won't allow a 2nd hack to happen.

Finish giving ALL my characters on TH a floatie icon. I know w/ 100% certainty, that I got this task in the bag. This one is of no problem at all.

With that, thank you for reading my world-salad! Almost as tasty, as mom's olivier-salad. Yumyum. Btw secret lil teaser ig below here lmao. I started Finn's sheet too, and I've got it 1/3rds done, but I don't wanna burn myself out on ref-sheets, so perhaps you'll see Finn also reworked in a few months! ✨

[serene-massacre]

Comms: Open!

Hello! This post will just basically be the nitty gritty of all my commission information!

If you happen to be interested in my commissions feel free to continue on below! You’ll find my terms of service as well as pricing! -^^-

Comm examples post:

Commission ToS:

Payment and refunds:

* Payment is expected within 24 hours after verification of commission sketch

* ALL payments USD

* Payment will be taken through PayPal and Cash-app ONLY

* Non-payment within 24 hours will result in the commission being cancelled. Progress up to this point, if any, will be deleted.

* Refunds are available but vary depending on how much work is done

* Sketch: 90%

* Line: 50%

* Line and Flat Color: 15%

* Shading/More : 0%

General terms:

* When commissioning me please do so in a kind and professional manner.

* Please provide clear reference images, I do not accept text messages as reference no matter how detailed your texts may be.

* Please follow any and all rules or directions within my TOS policy.

* If I have accepted payment for a commission but find I cannot finish it for some reason i will either ask if you want me to draw another character of yours, or give you full refund.

* I have the right to increase the price if your character has a highly detailed design or if you want a very detailed illustration.

* My art is constantly evolving and improving which means there will be some small changes from time to time in my work (anatomy, coloring, lineart etc) please keep that in mind!

* By commissioning me, you automatically agree to my Terms of Service and is expected and obligated to follow them. You are also automatically promising that you wont request any paypal chargebacks.

Copyright / Usage terms:

As the Artist, I am allowed to:

* Promote myself with the artwork on any other places or websites.

* Post/display the artwork anywhere i want (on my Commissions page or Discord for example) but i will always give you proper credit as the owner of the character.

* Publish works with it.

As the commissioner, you’re allowed to:

* Re-upload the image with proper credits given to myself in the form of a link, user, or discord.

* Claim the right of your characters depicted in the commission[s] but NOT the art work

As the commissioner, you are NOT allowed to:

* Reproduce/using the artwork commercially (meaning making money of it in any way)

* Remove my watermark/signature.

* Edit/change the artwork without my permission.

Finally: BY ORDERING ANY SUGGESTIVE/18+ ART YOU ARE AGREEING THAT YOU ARE 18 OR OLDER.

[Now that that has all been addressed be can finally get into the good stuff!!]

Illustrations:

Headshot/ icon:

- Sketches: $2-5

- Lines: $5-8

- Color: 8-10

- Color with Shading: $10

- Matching icons: 25 [Fully rendered always]

Half body:

- Sketches: $7-10

- Lines: $15

- Color: $20

- Color with Shading: $30

- Additional Character: $10

Full body:

- Sketches: $15-20

- Lines: $30

- Color: $40

- Color with Shading: $60

- Additional Character: $10

Backgrounds:

- Included with commissions just up to you if you’d like it or not

- Please refrain from asking for complicated backgrounds

Turnaround time: 1-3 weeks

Emotes/Badges:

- $5 per emote

- $35 for 10 pack

- 50 for 20 pack

- Color with Shading: $60

- Please have the emotes you want picked out before you contact me

Turnaround time: 2-6 weeks

Reference sheets:

- Front view: $60

- +Detail Shot: $15

- +1 Prop/Pet: $15-20

- +Back view: $20

- +Alt Costume: $30

- Backgrounds are Included with commissions just up to you if you’d like it or not

- Please refrain from asking for complicated backgrounds

Turnaround time: 2-6 weeks

Tattoos:

In the case that any of the work i provided is wanted to be used for a tattoo a $15 fee will be added to the final total.

To place an order, please fill free to send me a message through discord or use my commission email muttvibescomms@gmail.com with a clear description of what you're looking for. If you have any reference images or specific requests, please include those as well.

I'm happy to work with you to create a piece that you'll love. I also offer discounts for customers who order multiple pieces. This discount can be anywhere between 10-20% depending on the commission.

Thank you for considering me for your art needs! Looking forward to working with you!

Best for:

* Undertale/skeletons

* Reference sheets/character sheets (see for price)

* Character design (bring your Oc or other characters to life!)

Will draw:

* OCs

* FCs

* Cannon Characters

* Ships

* SelfShips

* Light NSFW/suggestive themes

* Mild violence

* Angst

* LGBT+

* Icons

Not great but will try:

* Banners

* Furries

* Scalie

* Chibi icons

*semi realism

Absolutely not:

* Realism (for now)

* Overly complicated characters/designs

* Overly complicated backgrounds

* Heavy NSFW

* Heavy gore

* Mechas or Gundams

* Lolis or other child like characters in sexual or suggestive themes

Comm examples post:

If there is anything that I haven’t listed here feel free to shoot me a message about if I’ll be able to draw it or not

[dosxxy]

⋆ﾟ☁︎｡ ﾟ☾ ﾟ⋆ART COMMISSION OPEN⋆｡ﾟ☁︎｡⋆｡ ﾟ☾ ﾟ

Commission Information:

What I Do:

-Ships: Whether it's your favorite pairing or an OC couple, I’m happy to bring your ships to life!

-SFW (Safe for Work): All artworks will be safe and appropriate for all audiences.

What I Don't Do:

-Mecha: Sorry, no robots or highly mechanical designs.

-NSFW (Not Safe for Work): I do not accept requests for explicit or suggestive content.

-Highly Detailed Characters: Simplicity is key! If you're looking for extremely intricate character designs, I’m not the right fit.

-Backgrounds: My focus is on characters, so I don’t offer complex or detailed backgrounds.

-Furries: I do not specialize in furry art, so I won’t be accepting commissions in this area.

Important Notes:

Not a Professional: Please keep in mind that I’m not a professional artist, and I’m still learning. My work might not always have the polish of a seasoned artist, but I’ll put in my best effort!

Inconsistent Art Style: My art style tends to vary from piece to piece. If you’re looking for consistency, please be aware that there may be some variation between commissions.

Turnaround Time: Since I’m still improving and balancing this with other responsibilities, the time to complete a commission may vary. I appreciate your patience!

General Guidelines:

- Please provide clear references or descriptions for the characters.

- Keep requests aligned with the styles and themes I offer.

- I reserve the right to decline any commission that doesn’t fit within these guidelines.

Payment & Refund Policy:

•A 50% deposit is required once the final sketch is approved by you. This ensures your commitment to the project and allows me to move forward with the lineart and coloring. The remaining 50% is due upon completion of the artwork, before the final high-resolution file is sent to you.

•No refunds will be issued once I start working on the lineart. Please be sure you are committed to the commission before proceeding.

•You will receive work-in-progress (WIP) updates during the sketch phase. Any major changes should be requested at this stage.

•Minor adjustments can be made during the lineart phase, but no large changes or revisions will be allowed once rendering begins.

•TAT: 2-7 days (depends)

•MOP: Gcash only

Thank you for your understanding, and feel free to reach out with any questions! 😊

[marcart122]

PLEASE READ - Ko-fi Commission Terms of Service

(You may also find this on Ko-fi, but for now...)

By default, I will:

Post your commissions here and on my Ko-fi!

Publicly disclose the cost of your commission. (You can request me to not disclose it.)

Frequently get in touch with you during the creation process throughout the sketching, lineart, coloring, and background phases.

Ask for feedback during those phases. (Let me know if you want anything specific changed or improved upon before the final product!)

Use Discord or Tumblr + Ko-Fi DMs for communication.

I reserve the right to withdraw approval of your commission at any time. If I do, I will make my withdrawal clear to you.

Turnaround time is a day minimum, if not up to a week or so if needed.

I use Stripe as my only method of payment. (This may or may not change in the future.)

[archiveoftheodd]

Guideline FAQ

Thank you for your interest in the Archives. We know that publishing can be daunting, and it’s easy to overthink guidelines, so we put together a few frequently asked questions for both writers and artists, outside of the main guidelines! If you have any other questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out at archiveoftheodd@gmail.com, or send us an ask!

Everyone

Q: What’s with your shifting submission windows?

A: A very fair question. We have multiple editors, all with extremely different schedules. To make sure all work gets our full attention, that means some schedule shenanigans.

We’re currently testing a couple of different windows, and hope to settle into two per year based on what works best. Apologies for the inconvenience in the meantime!

Q: Help! I haven’t received a confirmation email, but I submit two+ days ago. What happened?

A: This happens occasionally! Please email us to confirm. All of the emails are sent by people, not automated systems. Depending on the day, we can get large numbers of submissions in a short period, and might miss replying to one. Not receiving a confirmation doesn’t mean we didn’t see it, or won’t look at it, but it’s better to make sure that we received it (we’ve had a couple of submissions disappear into the void, with creators querying about submissions we couldn’t find record of).

Q: What’s your turnaround time?

A: That really depends. We have long submission windows, but won’t send acceptances until after the window ends, so if you send something in early, it could be months. We try to respond to all writing within a month of the window closing date, and paired artists soon after.

We try to send rejections as we go, but as part of our anonymous process, we read in batches. That means responses sometimes have to do with how many submissions are coming in. We’re working on improving our system, and things should speed up in the future!

Artists

Q: What is is paired art vs. individual art? Do you have a preference?

A: Paired art is how we refer to art commissioned specifically for a piece of fiction that’s already been chosen. If we like your portfolio, we’ll give you a chance to read all the available stories whose authors want illustration, and you can pick your favorite! This is first-come-first-serve, though, so not every story might be available depending on how long it takes to reply. If you’d prefer we pick a story for you, we can do that, too!

Individual art is art that is submitted as a complete piece during a submission window, with no relation to any story. Since we try to maintain a general theme/tone per issue, this can be trickier to place.

Writers

Q: What should go in my cover letter?

Since submissions are anonymous, your cover letter doesn’t matter too much! We do like receiving one, though. We prefer ‘dear editor’ to ‘dear Cormack’ or ‘dear CM Baldwin’, just because Cormack isn’t necessarily the editor replying. A good boilerplate is:

Dear Editor,

My name is [name]. I would like to submit my short story [title], which is [word count] words, for your consideration for Archive of the Odd.

Cheers,

[Name]

IMPORTANT NOTE: If there is crucial information you want editors to know, please put it at the top of your submission document, under the title. One good example would be if characters use slurs. Sometimes, we can’t tell by text alone whether you a marginalized author reclaiming them or someone being a jerk. Likewise, we might not know if you are writing about a fictional event or a historical event we just don’t know about. If the information is in a cover letter, it is lost to us until we’re already responding.

Q: I read the zine. Does my submission have to be formatted like that?

A: First off, thank you! Second, no, it’s not required! Visual elements are generally from the editorial side. As long as we can follow what’s going on, plain text is fine. By all means, though, if you want to, you can set up your story however you want.

We do not consciously give pre-formatted pieces an edge, but if you have what it takes to design your own forum, mimic online article formats, or provide the world’s most disconcerting children’s product design, we do delight in seeing them.

Q: How does the blind submission process work?

A: In the most convoluted way possible. You send in your submission. If you’ve removed author information, great! We download it*, and it goes into a folder. If you didn’t, that’s okay, there’s no penalty. We’ll remove the information (if .doc/.docx/.rtf), or black it out (if .pdf), and it goes into the same folder. After we reach a threshold (usually 10 submissions), those submissions are shared with all editors and read in a batch. This reduces some of the subjectivity of judging, as well as making it harder for the person who downloaded the submission to connect it to its author.

We read every submission all the way through. If it doesn’t meet our guidelines, we’ll reject with an explanation of what guideline it didn’t meet. After that, pieces are ranked within the pool. If we like a piece, it remains in the pool, and will be addressed again when we have more pieces to compare it against. Usually, in a pool of ten, the bottom five will be rejected.

This process of adding, rereading, and rejecting the bottom half continues until we have our final lineup. We often reread pieces three to five times when making final decisions, comparing themes, pacing, and how different groups of stories would read together.

*All rejected submissions are deleted immediately afterwards.

[onyume-designs]

DREAMS INTO REALITY

This is Onyume Designs, and our motto is “Materializing your dreams through Art” this is how this brand came to be.

At a young age, art has been within my surroundings, every little thing is art, I have been honing my skills ever since I was in elementary, having people around me who knew how art works is a huge help for my skills; I started off doing some music doing audio mixing and editing, then went on to doing simple typography edits, they were bad but I was trying my best as an adolescent, then I tried 3D animation, I’m still learning up til now, I’m getting the hang of it, then at my senior year of high school I got inspired to do drawing, I got influenced by a close friend who is amazing at doing drawings so I went to her and asked her if she could teach me, and she did and in addition to that I followed a lot of YouTube video tutorial on how to draw bodies and certain angles of the face; this skills led me to deciding my school and specialization for senior high school, I chose Illustration and Animation. In senior high, we were taught more on illustrating characters, we were taught to do concept designs, do landscape designs and a turnaround character design, we were also taught digital art and still life painting. In my last year of senior high right before the pandemic we were taught 2d animation traditionally, we were taught how to do keyframes and in betweening of frames, I learned a lot.

But then the pandemic came, I kind of lost a lot of motivation in doing illustrations, that was my forte at the time, then I started learning graphic design, I felt like if I can’t portray meanings into illustrations, maybe I can portray them through graphic design posters, and so I did; my first works were a bit bad but I improved myself nonetheless, I watched YouTube videos, got inspiration from fellow designers, learned how to do various designs and logos, with time I started taking small commissions like telegram / Facebook stickers or watermarks for small business owners to doing logos for them, I started expanding my horizons and went on to Upwork to seek part time jobs, I did get one eventually and got paid $60, but it was only for a short while. I stopped seeking work because of school, I needed to focus on my studies; eventually I found out from one of my close friends that I can seek part time jobs on Facebook groups, she gave me links of groups that I can join, and I did and I posted my post about looking for a part time job and posted some of my works, I did get a lot of engagement and I got one part time job that just got finished recently, I was making social media posts for a Facebook page, I earned 5,000 pesos for that, I’m still waiting for an approval if things will continue or not, but I am happy to be earning for myself. Then came on to making my page “Onyume Designs”, Onyume is a play word that came from the word Onyomi meaning “Sound Phonetic”. Onyume is consisted of 2 japanese word / characters; On meaning sound and Yume meaning dream hence can be “Sounding Dream”. I chose this as my brand title because of my motto, I want to make design dreams a reality, I want designs to be as accurate as your dreams. I hope for all the support I can get in making my dreams a reality.

[kirnet]

new and improved commission sheet for this half of 2022!

get one through kofi! more info on each option and add-ons over there

4 weeks turnaround time. All payment in USD. 3 slots at a time. You’ll receive a high-res JPG at 300 dpi. Alternate files available upon request. You can find more examples of my work at #minadraws.

have a question or want to be added to a waitlist if slots are full? dm me or email me at kirnetart@gmail.com

more info under the cut

I will reach out to you with different thumbnails for your approval and feedback. Once a thumbnail is approved, I will begin on the final piece.

Please add as many reference images and as clear of a description as you can. Body type, face shape, skin tone, hair and eye color, height, hair type, fashion sense, personality, scars or other markings, are all essential. Faceclaims, previous commissions, your own drawings, pinterest boards, etc are all incredibly helpful.

I will draw: -OCs / OC ships -fanart / real people -nudity -gore -backgrounds

I won’t draw: -hard NSFW -mechas -furry (animals are ok, I’m just not very good with anthro!) -RPF ships -my own ocs under a different name. -anything racist/homophobic/transphobic etc. -anything that makes me uncomfortable

All commissions are for personal use, not commercial. I ask that I am allowed to use the pieces for my portfolio, but whether the artwork is posted online or not is up to you entirely. I won’t post work onto my tumblr unless specifically requested by you.

Please give up to 4 weeks for the completion of your commission. Commission will not be started until payment is received in full.  If you need to cancel your commission, please contact me as soon as possible via email so I don’t get too far in the process! You can have a full refund before I’ve started the piece, or a partial refund after I’ve started depending on where I am in the commission. Finished product is sent digitally to specified email. No shipping required.

Up to two rounds of revisions are included for free, so please be precise with your reference and feedback.

[myonmukyuu]

hot milk tea, thoughts and feelings

I’ve only mentioned it briefly, but I’ve said that I’ll be taking a break from my SetsuAyu series - mainly because of my uni workload though.

But for now, I have a lot of thoughts about the entire thing as a project as well as myself as an artist. So I figured that I’d write a reflection of sorts (warning: it gets kind of personal).

Can you believe it’s been 3-4 months since the series started? I can’t, and I’ve been the one drawing all of these!! If you’ve been reading my work, I’ll say it over and over but I really appreciate it!!! Like I’m dead serious!!! Completely!! Utterly!! Without a doubt!!! I love all of you!!!

When I posted that first comic, I didn’t think it’d get the positive reception that it did get. Like, I’ve been producing basically entirely Muse content for years and suddenly decided to tap into Nijigaku? You could argue that it didn’t get that much attention, but either way, the attention it did get surprised me. I was so happy that people were engaged (and it still makes me stupidly happy, like on a level where I’m almost embarrassed to admit HAHA)

Recently I’ve just uploaded the bonus for the 3rd update which wraps up that part, and it really just clicked - that I really have invested soooo much time into this series. 36 pages now! And we’re only 3/10 main updates in!! I have so much passion for this - like a fire that can’t be put out. Every single update has something that I want to communicate/show so I always feel fired up. Heck, if you’ve spoken to me during the process you’d catch me always saying “I’m excited for the next one!!!” while working on it LMAO. It’s been my longest string of non-stop work. Usually I feel burned out more quickly but I was always so excited that I couldn’t stop! You’d find that I’m usually in a  state of conflict bc I alwaaaays want to talk about it but at the same time I don’t want to spoil anything. (THE NEXT UPDATE JUICY)

I think it’s a clear reminder of why I draw actually. The answer between each artist always differs, but I think it’s something important to be aware of. And well, for me? I’ve realised I’m a passion-monster. Passion keeps my blood pumping 100%. As a result... you could say I might be a more selfish kind of artist. Maybe it’s burn-out from running all those ask-blogs/RP when I was like 13-16, but I’ve realised that I’m having the most fun drawing what I genuinely love. It’s kind of why you’d rarely see me do requests and why I no longer do commissions. That isn’t to say that I hate drawing for other people. It can be fulfilling! But it’s more like - I barely have the time to draw for myself, so drawing for others is kind of a lower priority in general. It’s also why I’ve decided against studying graphic design when I graduated highschool. It’s just not happening as a career.

When I ask myself, “what kind of artist do I want to be?” I always think “Somebody who marches to her own beat and works hard to make content that she loves.” It’s also why I never delete anything - even my oldest art that makes me cringe. Because the me from 5 years ago put her love into that too. It’s really cheesy sounding but that’s how I see it LMFAO. I couldn’t do that to her. And also, just because I don’t like something anymore, it doesn’t mean that no one else does. So I’ll continue to never delete my old work. As a bonus, we get to see how far I’ve come too~.

I feel a little vulnerable admitting something like this and I’m pretty sure I’ve only told like 4 humans, but I think my #1 goal as an artist is that I want people to be able to look at my work (that I actually put my heart into) and think “this person loves this” or “this person works hard”. If you can do that, and sincerely feel the feelings I put into my comic, then I’ve already reached my goal. Can people tell how much I love these characters? The series? The concept? Can people tell how much work I’ve been putting into these updates? Can people tell when I’m having fun? It’s something I think about a lot. The idea of that people might think so makes me tear up HAHA - I get really sappy thinking about these kinds of things. And well, if people can’t tell then I’m not working hard enough!

That isn’t to say that I’m always putting my life-blood into everything I make. I’m mainly referring to the stuff where I do. I think it’s pretty clear when I’m pumping a lot of love into something. In general though, there’s always an intention for me to like communicate some idea or feeling and doing something like that requires maybe a bit of love~.

I feel like that as a character, Setsuna really resonates with me a lot. In personality? Not at all LMFAOOOO (she’s such a nice girl!!). More because of her ideals and principles. After typing like everything that I did up until this point, I bet you can guess why. I’ll keep it short and simple though, since this post is getting stupidly long.

Basically, I really resonate with her drive and passion as both an artist, and just in general actually? I’m a believer in that if you’re passionate about something, you can spread that passion. That’s the mentality I have with my art. If my love shows, then maybe other people will understand why I’ve come to love something. And maybe they’ll come to love it too. If I’m having fun, maybe they will have fun too! Very cheesy, I know, but that’s just how I roll!!!

Like rare pair? New fandom? Still applies. It might take awhile, but eventually either the people who love that thing will find me, or I’ll help people come to love something new (or at least see where it’s coming from lolol)! 

And as Setsu says:

You tell ‘em girl !!! That devotion is my driving force!!

Of course I know this is idealistic, but I think that’s fine. It’s no bother to me if someone feels indifferent/ negative towards my work because that’s just natural.

I think it’s a form of communication and that’s what drives my art. I’ve been intending on writing a guide/ or talking about my art process for comics for some time now and I think that’d be the first thing I’d mention? I’m always trying to communicate some sort of feeling/tone/idea and that comes from a place of love y’know.

I feel like I’m saying “love” and “passion” a lot - you can really tell I’m vibing with Setsuna huh LMAO. There are other reasons I vibe with her too, but I won’t touch on that.

Coming back to my SetsuAyu series. You can tell why I’m so happy about it right? The story, the pairing dynamic, I feel like that people are understanding what I’m trying to communicate - that people are receiving my feelings of love for it and that makes me smile so widely. I really put a lot into it!!

This series is the first large project I’ve ever taken you see and I’m so so happy that I’ve been able to get this far! It really means a lot to me. But it wasn’t actually the first comic series I’ve tried to do. I actually had a Muse long-running comic planned years ago - a Dancing Stars on Me! AU but it never came to life. I think it was my lack of confidence that held me back. It might be weird of me to pat myself on the back, but I’m proud that I managed to get going this time!! I’ve actually written the SetsuAyu series in a way that for the first half, I could drop the series if I really wanted to at any point (each part is pretty independent, and that description I always copy-and-paste is all the explanation you really need), but now I know for sure that I don’t want to drop it! I wanna keep going!! Even if it gets tough. Although it might be a little early for me to make such bold declarations, I’m only 3/10 through LOOOL. But that’s just the way I feel right now!

I know it’s irrational and it’s something I’d rather not admit, but an anxiety that’s always looming over me is the idea that I’m not working hard enough - or that people think I’m not? Each comic update...takes like a month right? And a month is a long time. There’s this part of me that is convinced that people think I’m lazy for working so slowly. And I know it’s not true!! It doesn’t make sense for it to be!!! But like I said it’s irrational.

I’m really proud of this comic y’know. It’s a really big commitment and I’m proud of myself for being able to commit. I work full time 9-5, and I also am in my final year at university. I’m... kind of busy lol. So the huge factor in that month-long update turnaround is just that I don’t have the time to always be drawing. But I try to draw as much as I can! If you have me on discord you might notice me work on it for like 2-5 hours, almost daily before I go to bed (1am). Of course I’m not only drawing, but after I get everything plotted out sometimes that’s all I do. This comic is super time-consuming LMAO - and I try my best to work on it a little at a time.

So yeah, the entire month of comic-production is me drawing every almost every night.

Yeah it, - it’s kind of exhausting. Even though I’m itching to work on my next update, I’ve decided to take a break for uni crunch which is why I say the next one might be two months. It’s really odd though. The other night I was in bed feeling restless. It was so weird not drawing till 1am that I felt like I needed to be doing something. This comic series might have weird effects on my habits...

It makes me anxious thinking that it’d be so long till next update. But I’ll do my best to push that aside ! Hopefully I can get uni done and dusted ASAP! I want them to date dammit...

I've decided that I want to see this series through to the end. It’ll probably be May next year when that happens though LMAO! Please bear with my slow turnaround time. It’s only been 3 updates, but I can already see that I’m improving with each one. With each update I feel like I really learn from the previous and I always feel this sense of excitement with trying out new techniques and trying to create different feelings. I really want to see how the last updates will look compared to the first!  Technically we’re 3/10 (10 is an epilogue), but after 6 I actually stop doing bonuses? So teeechnically I’m like 40% of the way through~.

It might be a little over-ambitious, but I kind of want to print it out and make a hard-copy when I’m done. I’m not sure about what the demand would be if I were to sell it, but I definitely want to print it for myself first and foremost (after touching up the earlier updates of course LOL). It’d be like a physical representation of my achievement. I hope I can make it there.

Anyways, I’ve rambled for far too long. I’m not sure why I suddenly felt like talking about uh, everything but yeaaaah. If you’ve read this far, kudos to you! You now have a window into my soul that I’m still not sure if I’m comfortable with revealing (but I’m comfortable enough because I’m posting this so...)! 

After reading all of this, can you tell why I always get so so happy after each update? It’s the fruition of what’s usually 2-3 weeks of non-stop hard work! Seeing people connect with it always sends me to another realm of bliss and I always feel soft like putty LOL.

[lethendralis-paints]

I want to say that I absolutely admire how disciplined you are when it comes to creating art as is evident by how short your turnaround time is for your commissioned pieces! It's absolutely mind blowing! 🧿 Do you have any advice for artists to be half as disciplined as you are? How are you able to finish such beautifully rendered pieces in such record times please teach us your ways senpai! *could've asked privately in discord but I thought any pointers can help other struggling artists too ;3;

Oh, dang! First of all, thank you for the glowing compliment, dear friend!

As for the advice....I truly don’t know if it will be a helpful one.

To be perfectly honest, I lost almost a decade of possible artistic progress to depression, crippling self-doubt and fear.

The thing that helped me to take a first step and leave this hole full of nothingness, was to find something that will truly inspire me and make my imagination wheels turn. Fantasy art was just the thing. Seeing works of mind-blowingly talented artists like you and our mutual friends, helped me form a set of goals I wanted to achieve both in terms of technical skill and also in themes i wanted to explore in my artwork.

And skipping a year to present day...well, other then a strong desire to catch up on the years lost and a constant stream of ideas my feverish brain produces, I’m mostly propelled forward by utter desperation. Because either I get good at this one thing that truly excites me in life and make it my profession, or I will never be able to stand tall and be financially independent. There’s only one way for me and it’s up. So Lethy is working her ass off to both improve her skills, build a good portfolio of works and hopefully make art her profession :D

As for small daily schedule tips. It’s the usual - set a balanced schedule for yourself (doubly important during quarantine), take regular breaks, take care of your health; regularly switch attention to other activities that restore your creative resources.

I’m sorry if this isn’t of much help, but I couldn’t get around this being just a brutally honest answer.

Hugs!

[lionews]

“@sleepyalpine do you have any small artists you'd recommend? i don't go to the art forums often, i only really see the bigger ones like honey and angel”

hi, sorry for the late response! here are some smaller artists that i’ve commissioned myself. all of these artists are ones i would leave a positive review on Yelp for.

no particular order, the list is as follows:

- hellameme 13375, -thecelest- 131669, cheph 85223, dictisaurus 119041, michkayls cooking 124774

all of these artists can do feral artwork and/or specialize in ferals.

i love -thecelest-‘s artwork because ive watched their art style progress throughout the years and i’ve commed them several times. it’s a good feeling when you see one of the artists you commissioned in 2017 improve so drastically over the years!

i also love michkayl’s artwork for two reasons. one, they are SO easy to talk to and work with that i felt comfortable enough to point out things i wanted to change or see differently while i commissioned my custom from them. and two, they do ferals and anthros - my custom was anthro - and the turnaround time was 2 days with many WIPs to make sure i was satisfied with my product. michkayl is super communicative and i personally love that in an artist.

anyone can dm me or send in asks if they’d like examples of the artists’ artwork or if they have any questions/concerns about the artists i listed above. all of these artists are on lioden and take GB — some may also take USD and items as payment!

[commander-passiflora]

Miscommunication

Day 2 of Valentine’s fic week! Today’s prompt is Memorable Dates, so this is kind of a brief history of Toril’s relationship with Erlend, who eventually becomes her husband, but this is like. Early early days kinda thing. This is like awkward baby Toril though, before she was all confidence and swagger. It was really fun to play with that part of her history!!

Again, this is also posted on ao3, so here’s a link for that for anyone who prefers. Thanks for reading! <3

“Hi, um, is this--sorry, I’ve never been to Lion’s Arch before. I’m looking for a blacksmith?”

Erlend sighed from his place behind the counter. Normally at this time of day, he’d have someone else watch for customers while he tended the forge, but right now he was working on a design for a rather expensive axe someone had commissioned, so he had the distinct pleasure of fielding stupid questions from random LA tourists.

“Well, I’m a blacksmith, and this is my shop, but--” he said, turning to face the woman.

What he saw stopped him dead in his tracks.

She was large, tall even for a norn, with silver hair down to the small of her back, held neatly in a braid. She didn’t fit in with the tourist crowd in the slightest--this was a woman on a mission, that he could be certain of. She was clad in heavy, bulky combat armor, with a shabby iron sword strapped to either hip, and her eyes held...something. Something he couldn’t put words to. A power.

“But…?” the woman echoed as he stared at her, wide-eyed.

“But...it’s very dependent on what kind of services you’re looking for,” Erlend said, shaking his head to bring him back to reality. “My prices are a bit steep for the average adventurer.”

“Ah, well, it’s a good thing I’m not the average adventurer then,” she said with a smile that he could’ve sworn stopped his heart for a second or two. “You wouldn’t happen to be Erlend Holgerson?” 

“That’d be me,” he said. “I take it you’re here to commission something, then, if you’re seeking me out specifically.”

“That I am,” the woman said, reaching out a hand for him to shake. “Name’s Toril. Tainesdottir. I saw you eyeing my swords, and that is exactly why I’m here. They’re terrible. I need better ones.”

“Well, it’s a pleasure to meet you, Toril Tainesdottir. I’d be happy to help you out, but I have to warn you, it’ll be a few months before I can get to work on any new commissions.”

“I’m willing to wait,” Toril said. “I want the best, and everyone says that’s you. These swords are going to see quite a bit of use; I want something that’ll last.”

“Is that so?” Erlend inquired.

“Yeah, um, I was just recruited to the Vigil. About two weeks ago now, I guess, and my first official mission is soon, so I want to go in ready for whatever they throw at me. Make a good impression, climb the ladder, you know?”

“Sure, but like I said, I’m afraid I wouldn’t be able to get them done with such a quick turnaround.”

“I understand,” she said. “That’s not what--I mean, joining was what made me want to get--but I--you know what? I am making a terrible first impression here. You must think I’m an idiot.”

“Not at all. I try not to make a point of judging customers in general,” he said, “but honestly, you’re a refreshing change from my usual crowd.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah, I mean, I became a weaponsmith because I wanted to make weapons, but once you have enough of a reputation, you start getting inundated with orders from rich snobs who want showpieces. It’s a pleasure to have a proper fighter seek me out.” 

“Well, I promise your work will see plenty of fights in my hands. I’m going to be a legend, you know,” Toril said.

Erlend laughed heartily.

“I believe it,” he said. “Well, I can go ahead and get started on a design for you, even if it’ll be awhile before I can really get working on it. You have some time to talk shop?”

“Sure, but could we do it over lunch? I’m starved.”

***

“So you’re a revenant?” Erlend said, taking a sip of ale. “I’ve never met a revenant before. I’ve heard of them, o’course, but I sort of thought they were just a tall tale.”

“Well, we’re certainly not a common bunch,” Toril laughed, “but we exist. In my case, I ended up in the Mists because of Bear, and she was the one who set me on the path. I’ve heard all sorts of stories, though, of how other people got started on theirs.”

“What, do you have meet ups or something?” he joked.

“Not exactly, but since there’s so few of us, sometimes we seek each other out to train and swap tips. Personally, I’m a bit more of a ‘figure it out as I go’ type, but I’ve helped out a couple kids who were just getting used to it after an accidental foray into the Mists. It’s hard to cope with. Changes you.”

“Well, I’d love to hear more about it,” Erlend said, “but let’s focus on the swords for now, if that’s alright with you.”

“Yeah, of course, absolutely. Maybe I can tell you about it another time,” she said, and Erlend felt his heart flutter. “What do you need to know to get started?”

“Well, for one thing, what’s your budget look like?”

Toril chuckled and said, “How about you tell me what you think it’ll cost when all is said and done, and I’ll deal with it? Your work is the best. I’ve been saving for months to commission you.”

“Ah, that’s--you’re too kind.”

“No, seriously,” Toril said. “I’ve been planning this for a while.”

“Really?”

She nodded. “Mhm. Everything really kicked off for me about a year ago, when I won the Great Hunt by slaying Issormir. After that, I was lucky enough to have Eir Stegalkin take me under her wing, and she recommended that once I was able, I come to you. Been saving every bit of spare change since then.”

“You’re Eir Stegalkin’s new protege?” Erlend asked, eyes wide. “I’ve heard so many great stories, but I never--wow, it’s--it’s an honor.”

“No, no, don’t do that, please. You’re the first norn I’ve met in ages to not lose it when they heard my name.”

“Fair enough,” he said. “I can understand that. I’ll let it go, on one condition.”

“What’s that?”

“You tell me your version of some of those stories yourself.”

She smiled, radiant and genuine and world-spinning. 

“I’d like that.” 

***

A week later and Erlend was meeting her at a practice field on the edge of the city. Turns out, it’s a bit hard to design weapons for a combat style you’ve never seen, and Toril agreed to give a demonstration. He was nervous, honestly, his stomach full of butterflies. Something about her was just...captivating.

“So the basics of how revenants fight are pretty out there,” Toril explained. “We, um, channel energy from the Mists, and it allows us to use a wide variety of skills.”

“So you use Mist energy to improve your combat abilities?”

“It’s...more than that. I channel specific people. Or beings, I guess. Their spirits. And they allow me to use their knowledge and strengths and skills to improve my own abilities in combat. Or, well, they don’t all allow it, per se.” She chuckled. “Sometimes it’s more that I just strongarm them into it.”

“I’ll be honest, I’m not sure I understand,” Erlend admitted. “Can you just show me?”

“I can certainly try,” she said. “Be prepared, though. I’ve had some people tell me it’s a little...disturbing.”

He didn’t know what to say to that, so he just shrugged and gestured toward a practice dummy. She smiled at him, winked (he thought he might faint at that), and then closed her eyes and drew her swords. When she opened them, they were glowing with a bright blue fire. It was like nothing he’d ever seen.

The same blue flames licked her wrists as she shadowstepped to a target and sliced it in half with a quick motion, sending sand spilling to the ground. She turned, raised a hand as if calling something down, and a moment later, a brick road--or magic shaped to look like one, anyway--was materializing before her, crushing three of the dummies as it went. She turned to another--the last one, now--and shadowstepped to it, before darting in and out of the Mists, delivering quick strikes faster than he could keep up with. When she stopped moving, she crossed her swords and conjured a chain, sending it flying to wrap around the target. Raising her hand again, she called down--he wasn’t sure he could describe it. It looked like the spirit of a dragon, but that was--that was ridiculous. Wasn’t it? 

It must have been real enough, because when it beat its wings it sent the target flying across the field. After a moment, Toril turned to him, panting, and sheathed her swords with a grin. He watched with fascination as the fire slowly disappeared from her eyes. 

“Yeah, I--sorry. I know it’s a little much,” she said, looking down as she approached him.

“No--I--that--” Erlend stammered. He took a deep breath, collected himself, tried again. “That was the most incredible thing I’ve ever seen. You’re incredible.”

“Oh, um, thanks. I, uh...I’m not used to compliments. Most people seem really creeped out by revenants.”

“People tend to fear things they don’t understand,” Erlend says. “Me, I’ve always liked a good mystery.”

Toril raised a single eyebrow, and for one tense moment, the smith thought he may have overstepped, until her rough facade gave way to a tender smile.

***

They met up a few more times, here and there. It was always at her invitation and under the guise of talking about the swords, about Toril’s combat skills, about what it’s like to be an oddity, what it’s like to forge a legend--anything that could be dismissed as strictly business. Erlend thought that was all it was, really. Business. She was fascinating and wild and dangerous and beautiful, and he was a smith born and raised in Lion’s Arch and distanced from his own culture for so long that every time it came up with Shiverpeaks natives he learned something new. 

This time, she’d asked him to dinner, and how on Tyria could he say no to that? 

Toril told him about her first mission with the Vigil--a resounding success, of course--and about her mentor, a stern norn Warmaster who had made a point of keeping her ego in check. He told her about some rich bastard who’d stumbled drunk into his shop and demanded Erlend make him a fine greatsword within the fortnight. 

“So hey,” Toril said at one point, a little serious to fit within the laughter they’d been sharing, “I wanted to, uh, talk to you about something.”

“About what?” Erlend asked, just a touch nervous.

“Oh it’s--it’s nothing bad!” Toril assured. “I don’t mean to make you worried, it’s just that--well, with where this seems to be going, and seeing as I really, really like you, I think you should probably know that, um, well...I have a girlfriend?”  

“You have a girlfriend?” Erlend parroted.

“Yeah, well, see, we have this, uh, arrangement, I guess you could say. We both have other partners. Or, well, can. She’s the only one I have currently. Unless, y’know…”

“I, um--forgive me, please,” Erlend said, “but is there--is there a particular reason you feel I should know this?”

“Oh, um, were you not…? Like, I thought you were maybe interested in me, and I’m more than a little interested in you, and...you know…”

“Are you--has this--have we been going on dates?” Erlend babbled.

“Haven’t we been?” Toril answered, now just as confused.

“I thought this was--I didn’t think you were--I didn’t want to presume anything, but well, you’re so--and just--”

“Hey, hey, hey,” Toril said, holding up a hand in an attempt to calm him, “it’s alright, Erlend. Stuff like this happens. Miscommunication and all. I’ve been asking to see you because I like you. I think you’re sweet, and you understand me, and you have this grounding sort of energy about you that I can’t seem to stay away from. I thought I had communicated that, but I suppose not well enough.”

“Oh.”

“Oh?”

“Well, y’see, you walked into my shop and I--” Erlend tried, took a deep breath, started again. “When I saw you, I think my heart stopped for a minute. You’re absolutely, stunningly gorgeous, and funny, and a badass, and just absolutely otherworldly, but I don’t go after customers. It’s rude. I’m not the type for that, bothering a lady just trying to buy a weapon. Too many other assholes out there who like to do that sort of thing. If someone makes the first move, well, I’m not opposed, but...I enjoy spending time with you, but I just assumed someone like you wouldn’t really be interested in...well, me.”

“Why on Tyria would you assume that?” Toril asked.

“Your life is so...I don’t know. Interesting? I’m just me, and you’re, well, you.”

She reached a hand across the table, placing it over one of his that had been fidgeting nervously with the wood. 

“Didn’t you hear the part where I said I like you?” she asked with a gentle smile.

“It may have gotten a bit lost in there somewhere,” Erlend admitted. 

Toril chuckled and lifted his hand, holding it in both of hers. 

“Every bit of time I’ve spent with you, I’ve enjoyed,” she said. “And I’d like to spend more time with you, if you’d like to spend more time with me.” 

“I...yeah. I’d like that, too,” the smith said, nodding awkwardly. After a long pause, he added, “So what do we do now?”

“Well,” Toril said, smiling brightly, “how do you feel about ice cream?”

[tsitra360]

Color Commissions Are (Open) by Tsitra360

If you like a color commission, my queue is open. I'll only have a few spots open this time around. This is so I can improve my turnaround time.  Expect delivery end of July - August. Commissions starts at $90, and depending on complexity of character or image overall the quote can be higher. How to enter my queue: * Submit a Deviantart note or Email with title "Color Commission" . I'll provide a form link you can fill out. Email: (tsitra360@gmail.com) * Submitting a note or email doesnt guarantee a spot, in case of overlap of submissions. The form will provide more info, basically sfw commission ideas and no romance based drawings. Be ready to receive PayPal invoices and double check your email submissions.

[thecollegefootballguy]

2019 ACC Coaching Power Rankings

During the offseason I like to do some of these fun projects that I normally wouldn’t have time to write while football is actually getting played. One of my favorites is the Coaching Power Rankings, where I decide where each coach rates relative to his peers. 

The ACC was probably the worst Power 5 conference out there last year, but the coaching seems fairly strong. I think we’ll be seeing a lot of good football coming out of the conference very soon as so many programs develop.

The ACC lost four coaches last season, the highest among the Power 5, including some of the best in the league. The venerable Paul Johnson (last year’s #4 coach in the conference) and Mark Richt (#2) retired at the end of the year. Bobby Petrino (#5) was fired after Louisville completely collapsed after years of strong play. Similarly, Larry Fedora (#7) was canned when North Carolina’s rebuild kept spinning its wheels.

That means the ACC lost four coaches in the top half of its ranks. That’s pretty tough to overcome, at least immediately. However, the league has made some good hires which should help get all four programs back on track, though it may take a while.

Oh yeah, and since he has to go somewhere, Brian Kelly is being counted as an ACC coach for the purposes of this list.

Check out the list from last year to compare and contrast by clicking this link.

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15. Manny Diaz

Record Overall: N/A

Movement: N/A

Manny Diaz is the only first time head coach in the conference, so he has to start all the way at the bottom. Diaz has been a talented DC everywhere he’s coached. Under Mark Richt, Diaz fielded one of the best defensive units in the conference. We’ll see how fast Diaz can get the Hurricanes back to their winning ways, but in 2019 that turnaround will have much more to do with the offense.

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14. Geoff Collins

Overall Record: 15-10

Movement: N/A

Geoff Collins has the monumental task of de-converting a triple option team back into a “regular” football offense. So Georgia Tech is probably gonna suck this year as personnel gets moved all around and the offense entirely reworked. However, there’s good reason to be optimistic about Collins. In his two years as Temple’s head coach, Collins kept up the Owls’ run as the plucky yet steady winner in the AAC. If he can bring Tech into the modern era and make them the University of Atlanta like he seems to be trying to do, he could do a whole lot of winning. Eventually.

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13. Willie Taggart

Record at Virginia: 5-7 Overall Record: 52-57

Movement: Up 2 spots

More or less by default, Willie Taggart moves up two spots to make room for two of the four new coaches to the ACC. His first year was not exactly a smashing success. It was Florida State’s first losing season since 1976, so people were pretty upset. I mean, it wasn’t totally his fault. He inherited a team that somehow didn’t have offensive line personnel, that he won 5 games is an accomplishment. 

I have faith in Taggart, he built Western Kentucky into a competitive FBS program, he totally rebuilt a South Florida team that was in shambles, and in one season he returned Oregon to the ranks of the respectable. All things considered I think he has the potential to reawaken FSU and challenge Clemson. But that’s a ways away, and he better start winning this year.

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12. Steve Addazio

Record at Boston College: 38-38 Overall Record: 51-49

Movement: Up 2 spots

For a couple weeks in the middle of last season, it was looking like Boston College might be turning the corner. The Eagles were 7-2 and ranked for the first time in a decade. Then they lost to Clemson, FSU, and Syracuse and their bowl game against Boise State was literally rained out. So, BC ended the year with 7 wins for the fifth time in Steve Addazio’s six seasons on Chestnut Hill. I give Addazio a lot of credit for getting the FBS’s furthest Northeast outpost back to being a competitive team year in and year out. It’s not a bad place to be, but they just can’t seem to take that next step and climb into the top third of the ACC standings. I hope he does it, but it might take a coach with more talent than my dude Steve Addazio.

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11. Scott Satterfield

Overall Record: 51-24

Movement: N/A

Scott Satterfield leaps in higher than the other newbie coaches because, I mean, did you see what he did at Appalachian State? Well, you probably didn’t, at least not on TV or in person. The Mountaineers have been one of the best G5 teams in the country for the past four years. App State won the Sun Belt for the past three seasons and were the winner of the inaugural Sun Belt Conference Championship Game in 2018. I’m sure he’s gonna do a great job at Louisville, though like Collins in Atlanta, this might take a bit of time.

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10. Bronco Mendenhall

Record at Virginia: 14-22 Overall Record: 115-65

Movement: Up 3 spots

The Virginia rebuild took a big step in 2018, as the Cavaliers nearly won the ACC Coastal in Bronco Mendenhall’s third season at the helm. I expect that they’ll keep improving, in fits and starts perhaps, but Mendenhall is a great coach and he’s done a wonderful job so far. I expect he’ll be climbing this list as long as he’s in Charlottesville. Adjusted more heavily for difficulty, he should be even higher up this list.

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9. Pat Narduzzi

Record at Pittsburgh: 28-24 Division Championships: 1 (2018)

Movement: Up 3 spots

Pat Narduzzi won Pittsburgh’s first division title in the ACC last season despite a 7-5 record. It’s still pretty good accomplishment, especially considering that the Panthers probably weren’t the best team in the Coastal. They got hot at the right time and sometimes that’s enough. We’ll see if Narduzzi follows Addazio in the perpetually mediocre basket, but he’s off to a better start and he’s in the right division.

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8. Dino Babers

Record at Syracuse: 18-19 Overall Record: 55-35

Movement: Up 3 spots

Narduzzi’s counterpart in the Atlantic Division had an even better year. Dino Babers’s Syracuse Orange exploded to their first 10 win season since 2001. From Eastern Illinois to Bowling Green to ‘Cuse, Babers has won everywhere he’s coached. He’s not in the right division to really compete for a conference crown, but with Florida State and Louisville out of commission, let’s see what Babers can build so long as he’s not offered gobs of money to take his considerable talents somewhere warmer. 

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7. Justin Fuente

Record at Virginia Tech: 25-15 Overall Record: 51-38 Division Championships: 1 (2016)

Movement: Up 2 spots

I have to say, I’m a bit disappointed in Justin Fuente. His first season went over so well I assumed he’d have the Hokies almost back to Beamer-esque levels by now. Perhaps that’s a bit optimistic, but 2018 was a nightmare season for the Hokies in terms of sheer attrition, very few teams lose that many guys, so I can give him a pass here. Still, expectations are high, I’m sure Fuente can win 10 games again, but it’s not like he’s got all the time in the world to do so. He’s entering his fourth year after all.

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6. Dave Clawson

Record at Wake Forest: 28-35 Overall Record: 118-115

Movement: Up 4 spots

Applause all around for Dave Clawson. Wake Forest lives one of the more desolate existences for a P5 program and Clawson has had the Demon Deacons bowling for the past three seasons. His predecessor, and best Wake coach in living memory, Jim Grobe only managed that feat once. I’m very interested to see how high the Deacs can rise, but I’m worried Clawson also might get poached before Wake Forest reaches their full potential. I’m honestly surprised he hasn’t gotten more attention, he’s perhaps the best turnaround artist in the game right now.

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5. Dave Doeren

Record at NC State: 43-34 Overall Record: 66-38

Movement: Up 3 spots

Welcome to the top 5, Dave Doeren! NC State has been one of the top programs in the ACC in the past two years and the Wolfpack are eager to see how far they can go under Doeren. It’s really hard to see them competing at Clemson’s level, but everything after that is up for grabs, especially with FSU, Miami, VA Tech, GA Tech, and Louisville all struggling.

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4. David Cutcliffe

Record at Duke: 67-72 Overall Record: 111-101 Division Championships: 1 (2013)

Movement: Up 2 spots

The beloved professor emeritus of the ACC, David Cutcliffe gets a nice bump up the rankings to the top five, where he truly belongs. Cutcliffe has turned the Blue Devils into one of the most consistent winners in the ACC in the 2010′s, which is just a stunning accomplishment considering Duke football’s usual lot in life. He really is a cut above.

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3. Mack Brown

Record at North Carolina: 69-46-1 Record Overall: 244-122-1 National Championships: 1 (2005)*

*with Texas

Movement: N/A

Oh man, Mack Brown is back in college football. Brown was one of the best coaches a generation or so ago, so it’ll be very interesting to see what he can do at North Carolina...again. Brown, of course, was already the head coach of the Tar Heels for a whole decade, from 1988 to 1997, before heading off to Texas where he reached the apex of his career. Back in the day, Brown had UNC running like a well-oiled machine. If Bobby Bowden’s Florida State wasn’t pushing everybody around, North Carolina would have won several ACC championships. He got back to back top ten end of year rankings at UNC, that just doesn’t happen.

Of course, that was over 20 years ago. Old coaches usually don’t do as well when coming back out of retirement like this, but Brown will probably do a lot to re-energize the fan base, bring in big recruits, and get newer facilities built. That’ll go a very long way in the Coastal Division.

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2. Brian Kelly

Record at Notre Dame: 81-35 Overall Record: 252-92-2

Movement: Up 1 spot

Notre Dame’s not very lovable hardass crashes the ACC party all the way up at #2 on the list. It’s kind of hard to remember how bad Notre Dame used to be before Kelly came into town, they were pretty pathetic for all of the 2000′s, which is kinda crazy because the Fighting Irish are one of the most successful programs in the history of the sport. It’s hard to remember because Kelly has done such a good job building ND back into a powerhouse. They’re still one step or so removed from being real National Championship caliber, but hey, that’s a short list. Notre Dame, of course, went 12-0 last year, their second undefeated regular season under Kelly, and they’ll probably pick up right back where they left off. The only loss the Irish suffered last year...was to our Mr. #1.

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1. Dabo Swinney

Record at Clemson: 116-30 Division Championships: 7 (2009, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018) Conference Championships: 5 (2011, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018) National Championships: 2 (2016, 2018)

Movement: Same

Dabo Swinney had a pretty good 2018. He put together his best season yet, a 15-0 campaign that looked absolutely effortless for large swathes of the year. Do you know how good of a job you have to be doing to have people think that you’re outdoing Nick Saban? It’s incredible, honestly. Dabo Swinney, ten years into his career, might already be the best coach ever in the history of the ACC. Bobby Bowden is the only man with a better resume, but he spent some of his best years outside of the conference. And Swinney could coach another 20 years. My God.

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Lastly, a fond farewell to my favorite image since starting this blog:

Happy trails, Paul Johnson.