#stay up until artfight is just about to end

[ragingtwilight]

WHY AM I SO EEPY!!!!! WHY NOW!!! I HAVE ATTACKS TO MAKE!!!! REVENGES NEED TO BE DONE!!!! THIS IS CATASTROPHIC!!!!!!!

[velvet-ii]

endlessly curious about the death note utena au 👀👀👀

okay so i wanted to have some more content to show before answering this ask... and i was already working on a character lineup for artfight!

so here's the full lineup of my death note au redesigns (not including any side characters i may include later as story permits such as akio, nanami, shiori, etc.) :)

and honestly i have to stop just calling it "my death note utena au" when it has a name.. so: here's the beginnings of revolutionary girl kira!

the basic premise is literally just inserting them into the death note character roles, nothing too crazy lol

surface breakdown:

utena is light! obviously because she's the main character but also because she would probably test out the death note to see what happens (in this au, she decides to use it to "revolutionize the world" and take out perpetrators of violent crimes who never faced justice)

anthy is L (or, in this case, "rue,") because seriously who else would be L. after shutting herself out from the world to focus on a job she can do without showing her face, she's forced to show her face and work with the police to gain access to more information. she knows this isn't a typical serial killer case...

wakaba is misa! she adores utena almost to a fault after discovering her status as kira, but becomes an invaluable asset due to the shinigami eyes she got from a deal with her shinigami (shadow play girl)

touga is the captain of the kira task force and is determined to stick with it until the end, maintaining his confident persona while overlooking key details provided by rue (much to her dismay)

saionji is touga's second-in-command, although treated more like a bodyguard than a friend sometimes. since high school, he's cut his hair short to distance his resemblance to touga (which doesn't work too well since they ended up in the same profession anyway).

miki takes on matsuda's role, but often takes things too seriously rather than not seriously enough. he's by far the youngest member of the task force, and is incredibly dedicated to the kira case.

juri parallels aizawa as a voice of reason for the task force, but their characters aren't too closely tied together. juri holds a grudge against rue (and later, utena upon joining the task force) due to her belief that they're young, inexperienced, and didn't work hard enough to get here; she's often maddened by rue's often unusual tactics and plans.

in terms of changes to the main story, a lot of it is driven by the subtle changes in character relationships or motivations. for example:

utena's motivation to use the death note, while similar to light's, differs in that she only kills criminals who haven't been brought to justice-- which makes it a lot harder for anthy and the task force to ignore the message she's sending.

wakaba and utena have a more balanced relationship than light and misa do in the original show-- utena still considers her a liability, and wakaba's actions lead to some unfortunate circumstances, but i want her to have a complete character arc (unlike misa's complete shafting in the show. pissed me off)

obviously, since touga isn't utena's dad, utena's gonna have to figure out some other way to get access to police records and land herself a spot on the task force.

utenanthy endgame. dont even worry

the themes established in utena (for example, the effects of misogyny and the meaning of revolution) will make a big effect on how the story changes from death note as well! i want to stay faithful to both source materials in a way that's productive.

if this ever gets written/created in some form, the story's gonna veer away from following the death note storyline at the end of L's arc. i have something completely different planned for those scenes that changes the rest of the plot!

with all that being said, honestly there aren't any guarantees i'll have time to end up making this real.. it's mostly just a thought experiment for now since i love both shows and also (re)designing characters :)

[featherglum]

Silly transformers ocs that came to me in a dream (except I heavily altered the designs and lore from the original vision)

In the dream, I was browsing a website similar to artfight and saw a transformers oc named Priest ( @sonia-aquamarineson 's oc Gusty was on there too, but he was called Herring. This has no bearing on the rest of the lore, it was just funny). Priest's original design was a bit different from the current one and looked more like this:

(Made with this picrew and edited a bit to be more accurate. I didn't draw him because I wanted to get his design down ASAP before forgetting everything + I wasn't very confident in drawing tf characters yet.)

His lore was very inconsistent. A picture on his page implied that his alt mode was a speaker, but the first line of his description said it was a set of silverware. But that was contradicted too at the end where it said he was "a book with pages as brittle as his trust". There was also a mention of how someone cursed him and since then he just stayed at home.

There were also these 3 pictures that were, (allegedly) related to his backstory:

(Some nun looking with disapproval, Priest's human version looking sad or scared and finally, a weird Christmas tree with a face [what])

So yeah. Priest's backstory was pretty nonsensical, but thankfully after sharing the dream with Sonia (because Gusty was there briefly) we were both so normal about the guy that we decided to make his lore make sense.

Basically:

Pine was a cringefail scientist fed up with having his lab at some abandoned, rusty old base next to a junkyard in the middle of nowhere and wanted the other cons to finally respect him. So when his inventions weren't impressive enough, he had a different plan

He was going to kidnap some autobot and then contact their friends with a typical "grr hand over the secret info or your friend will die >:-[" message. But here's the twist! Before that, he would put a bomb inside the bot's chassis, which would activate when they leave the base. So even if the friends showed up to heroically rescue their bestie, they would still die anyway! Yippee!!

He managed to catch an unsuspecting bot, which happened to be Priest, and all seemed to be going well...

.. Until it turned out Priest was about as respected by the autobots as Pine was by the decepticons. When contacted, Priest's acquaintances couldn't care less about him possibly dying. They didn't seem too keen on heroically rescuing him, but didn't hand over the information Pine wanted, either.

Pine wasn't sure what to do. Sure, the bomb was already there, just waiting to be detonated. But on the other hand... was it really worth it? What's the point of this kind of murder when no one is watching?! When there's no one the lament the loss of their loved one?! And as much as he hated to admit it, he felt some sympathy for Priest, who was as much of a loser as he was.

Pine was like "ok, kidnapping's over, your murder is cancelled. Lemme take that bomb out of your chassis real quick. Then you can go wherever you want and forget this ever happened. Sorry for wasting your time". And yeah he took that bomb out but there was another problem.

Priest didn't really have anywhere to go and didn't want to come back to the autobots, considering how little they cared about him.

And so, he ended up staying with Pine and joining the decepticons (which had little to do with the actual ideology and more with wanting their partnership to look less suspicious). Priest spends his days helping Pine with his inventions and digging through the junkyard for any interesting devices he could use as an alt mode (since there isn't much else to do there, really). As such, he changes his alt mode very often and it's a bit hard to keep up with sometimes. However, one form he often comes back to is an arcade machine (which is the design pictured in his ref!)

Also don't ask how an arcade machine ended up in space. This is a ridiculous little story about a pathetic pine tree robot and and a guy named Priest. And it was based on a dream. Weirdness is unavoidable here.

Oh that was long. If you're still reading say. Uh. Idk just say something.

And shoutout to @sonia-aquamarineson yet again for helping me figure out the lore and her contributions to Pine's design!!

If anyone has questions about them, my asks are always open

[kazehita]

I'm a huge fan of all your ISAT doodles! Sif esp their expressions are always so good on your style >:o

Would you happen to have any advice for someone who also wants to draw faster? I love how loose your doodles always look!

Wah !!! thank you so much !!!!!!!!!!! Honestly I've always really struggled with expressions, but Siffrin. They changed me.. Of course !!! Drawing looser was something I recently really worked at so it's fresh in my head! Tldr; art speed is all about having a solid workflow.

Earlier last year, I decided to do as many finished-ish pieces for Artfight as I possibly could. It really did speed me up!!!!! Gotta be careful taking on that kind of challenge though - it's really easy to burn out that way. I recommend taking something like that on when you don't have anything else going on at the time.

My workflow for those was sketch as fast as hell you can, clean up the sketch, flat colors down, and then bedazzle with layer effects. At the time, I really struggled to make flat-colored pieces look good, but I think i got it by the end!!

(this was for my homie okami, in artfight last year! I did 32 of these, in under a month. Phcoo.) But specifically with my isat doodles - the Real Speed comes from blocking it out with shapes first, sketching until it looks okay, coloring under it kind of approximately, and then slapping paint over the top, darkening the darks, and lightening the lights! and then i messily scribble over it again a bit to make it more vague.

( i didn't timelapse any of these doodles. do forgive me)

These sketches look the way they do because i don't really clean up the sketch that much, and I'm messy as hell with the coloring and shading. Having an eye for what is too much and what is too little just takes practice! Though, if you're like me, a very handy tip is to stay zoomed out on the canvas - when you're too zoomed in, its easy to loose track of the overall picture!

If you specifically want to sketch fast, use references! Pose in front of your own camera to get them even!! (i did not for the doodle above. that's why it took ten thousand year). It's terrifically annoying to find references for something specific, so in that situation I just accept I'll be in sketch iteration land for a while.

[solemn-siren]

*prepares to summon the Lego Elves fandom*

Fandom, meet the oc I've been working on for a while, Zephie Swiftbreeze and her shadow bat friend, Glyde! Zephie is a Ranger/Animal rescuer who dreams to end animal abuse, and Glyde is her friend to help her out.

Oh and there's also Breezetail the dragon

I'll also be putting them up on my Artfight as well for those interested in drawing them!

more under cut!

-Zephie's bio-

Full name: Zephie Swiftbreeze Gender: Female Pronouns: She/her/them Age: Slightly older than the main 5. (18 if we assume the main cast is around 16) Element: Wind Occupation: Ranger/Animal rescuer

Personality: Zephie puts others, especially animals, before herself. She doesn't judge a person or creature by it's appearance, and will always help them if needed. A desire to help everyone, her kindness can be taken advantage of by those of ill intentions.

Zephie is also independent, and would rather learn from nature and experiences than other people's wisdom. Even if she would benefit from it, she doesn't like getting help from Elves.

Weapon: Zephie uses both a plain bow and arrow as her weapon. However she also uses her wind magic to disorient her foes, making them easier to hit.

Not nessesary a weapon put Zephie has a special whistle she uses to call Breezetail to her current location. (This idea of a whistle that can call a dragon was inspired by the Draconna whistle by Elvendoodler)

Background: Ever since she was young, Zephie always loved animals, so naturally her dream job was to work with animals. When she was old enough she moved to the Rainlight Forest, living in a small treehouse deep within the forest.

For a while she just lived there and wasn't sure what kind of job to settle on, however her path was decided when she saw a group of Elves capturing a Pegasus while birdwatching. Zephie could only watch as the Pegasus had their wings clipped before being taken away from their natural habitat.

From that day onward, Zephie made a promise to stop other animals from falling the same fate as the Pegasus did. She converted her tree house into a rescue center and started using her wind magic to aid her in her mission, rescuing injured, captured, and abused creatures and taking care of them, before releasing them back to the wild. Those she took care of often came back to her to express their gratitude for her. Some, like Breezetail, stayed with her.

Years have passed since the Pegasi incident, and Zephie was now an expert in her work. One day she finds a mysterious small creature injured in the forest and takes it back with her, not knowing that she would soon make a new friend.

Social life: Living in a forest Zephie doesn't have any Elf friends, but the closest things to a friend for her is Breezetail and Glyde.

Other: Despite living in a forest relatively close to the Elvenstar tree, she has no idea about it's existence. She has seen Lumia a few times but only in her animal form, and she just thinks it's a regular wolf.

-Breezetail's bio-

(Breezetail's reference coming... Soonish)

Breezetail is Zephie's dragon. Originally he was a wild free roaming dragon but was mysteriously injured and crash landed near Magmara range. She was found by Zephie who took care of him until he was healthy again, but instead of returning to the wild he decided to form a bond with her, pretty much becoming her dragon

Personality: Breezetail is a father like figure to any injured creature Zephie rescues, especially to Glyde. He's a gentle dragon who wants everyone to feel welcome and safe. He can be very overprotective, especially with small creatures, and especially with Glyde. The shadow bat is like his son.

Powers: Breezetail is a speedy and agile dragon, being able to easily outrun most threats. Like his owner he can control the wind, creating breezes and powerful gales.

Breezetail is mind linked to Zephie's whistle, whenever she blows it, he comes flying in from wherever he was to answer her call.

-Glyde's Bio-

Glyde is a shadow bat originally from the shadow world as one of Noctura's minions, but now lives with Zephie as her best friend.

Personality: Literal child. He's curious about everything, even things you shouldn't touch. He does realize his mistakes though, and is quick to apologize when he breaks something.

Glyde is also sensitive to how others think of him. Being a shadow bat from another dimension, it's not rare for elves to make fun of his strange, yet adorable appearance. When insulted, Glyde immediately breaks down and cries. Poor Glyde.

Backstory: Glyde was one of the many shadow bats created by Noctura and was sent to spy on Elvendale. He only made it out of the portal and took a few flaps into the magical land when he was attacked by something and eventually ended up near Zephie's treehouse. It was her who took care of him and eventually formed a relationship with the elf.

Other: Glyde sits inside Zephie's mini pouch when travelling with her. He also licks your finger to show affection. And if you recently ate a snack and he's hungry.

[chazuramen]

2, 6, 22, 25! (for those artist asks)

artist asks ough this got l o n g

2) 5 favorite works of your own?

1-2. After being in a slump for so long and not being able to finish full pieces, I'm really proud I managed to push through with my entries for Rose Magazine! I really enjoyed trying make insect themed clothing inspired by Barong tagalog (though most of it is hidden ;w;) and Baro't saya.

3-4. These drawings I did for this year's artfight! (Olive belongs to Maizemaze and Preston belongs to U3pxx. Used this year's AF as a way to experiment with my process a bit and really liked how these ones turned out (cleaner rendering with olive and fiddling with lighting with preston)

5. Oldie but but goldie (to me,,) this is where I really wanted to start pushing myself to do bigger illustrations.

6) Which artists inspire you right now?

Hoo boy a lot, I can think of a lot of artists with all different types of styles with all different types of reasons. I tend to lean towards artists who do character design and narrative illustration. Off the top of my head though, these are who I can think of at the moment!

Ryoko Kui

Where to begin??? Everyone knows her character design is *chefs kiss* just gorgeous, but i also love the way she draws food, dunmeshi's panels (especially anything involving Falin) and the way she draws expressions (especially Marcille's reactions to the party's shenanigans)

2. Vivian Ha (TWT/ Tumblr)

ahh man they've been such an inspiration to me for such a long time, i think i found out about them around 2016? their linework and the shapes in their work are so fluid, and their coloring is so so soft

3. Tan Jiu ( IG / Twt)

Tamen de Gushi my beloved. There's something about their colors, the way they draw their characters interact (aside from sun jing and qiu tong, I also really love sun jing and mophead's dynamic, the way they draw their expressions are so funny) and just the warmth and coziness from their illustrations with sun jing/qiu tong. fills me with utter joy

4. Lyoo_lyoo (IG / Youtube / Class101)

Lot of pretty boys in this one, I found them through one of their speedpaints on youtube and their process was very interesting to me! Their colors are so warm and tasty and i love the way they paint hair and clothes!.

5. Jarvisdean (IG)

had to screenshot this one on IG ignore the arrow ;w; One of the official illustrators for All Saints Street. The way they draw characters so SHAPED, the composition and the detail!!!

22. When is your prime time to work on your art?

Usually afternoon to evening! I've been trying to avoid staying up too late to draw but this also ends up with me drawing personal stuff at work and forgetting to do my work tasks until it's really late.

25. Based on your recent reference searches, what would the FBI assume about you?

i wouldve probably gotten away with something mild but unfortunately i have the word foot in there so nothing good

[sankttealeaf]

Hi! Just wanted to check up on you, how are things!! hope you’ve been okay recently <33

hi anon!! thank u for the check in, u r so kind <3

i've been doing well lately! it's been unbearably warm here lately so my general motivation has ended up dying with the heat (i'm made for winter, not the humid sticky uk heat :'( ) i really wanna play red dead but my computer heats up a lot when i run the game which will only make my room warmer and im not about that :'(((

fic wise i've spent the first part of the month finishing up the outline for my fic for the grishaverse big bang! (and also mixing both my hyperfixations into one fic. i have such bad cowboy brain worms rn) and also i've been chipping away at part 4 of artistic endeavours!! i have 1100 words currently but half of that are just my plans for the chapter whoops

got a lot of dnd writing but i highly doubt i will share that with anyone else apart from my players (and even then 90% of the dnd fics i write i Will Not Share. my silly guys will stay in my brain forever until i die)

other than that, not much has been going on! made a dress, saw across the spiderverse, been preparing for artfight next month. keeping busy !

i hope you're doing well!! <3<3

[jade-everstone]

The yearly tradition returns: 2022's Summary of Art!

And hey, I did something a little more design-y than my past ones! Will admit it was a bit tricky to fit each month's pics into the frames this time but I'm glad I tried a different look than usual 

thoughts on each pic + reflection on the web + how I want to handle art going into the new year below:

January - Iri Intro!

From a somewhat short-lived thing I wanted to try out: Doing sketches of OCs just to serve as an introduction reguardless of quality. The good thing is, because quality's not a factor I can do these whenever in whatever format or polish. I just prefered doing larger pics this year

-

Febuary - A 'Cereal' Debate (comic short)

Ok, but she's got a point when you think about it.

From a comics class I took spring this year. The only prompt was "conversation"... well, heated debate in this case.

-

March - The School Mystery (comic short)

Another one from that Comics class and goddamn I think the panel featured here alone is one of the hardest things I drew that semester. That's pen and ink with minimal digital edits and damn hoping one day I could somehow make a longer comic with a similar style bc it was really fun to ink honestly.

-

April - The Fish Project

JADE WITH THE FRESH SALMON???? REAL!

Ok but for the real context, this was an April fools project I had in the works since 2021. I turned all my active art accounts at the time into an OC Fishing irony page and sent Jade, Iri, Risa, Jpeg, and both Prisma's on a fishing trip. Not sure how I'll top that in the future... I'm not revealing until April >:)

-

May - MOONROT

May was when I redesigned & revealed Io to the public! They got a bunch of art this month, but the CN challenge art is my favorite of all of them.

Huh. Suprised I didn't immediately burn out because that semester was extreme in terms of work. I guess wanting to draw Io was that strong.

-

June - Life, After Wither

A pre-Artfight 2022 pic: I was Team Wither! I like doing splash pics for my own page for Artfight and this stayed my main banner for just about most of the year.

The mini-story I made up for this is these three teamed up across dimentions or something to visit this forest.

-

July - In the Studio, fr

I don't normally do post-Artfight related pics, but Moog ended up getting the most attacks this year and I wanted to give her an extra pic based on it.

Seems she kept a souviner from the forest in the last pic.

-

August - B-Hold! The Portal King!

For Clockday on Newgrounds, Strawberry clock the portal King himself!

Kept getting swept up with other things to jump on Newgrounds events, I wasn't gonna miss one of the bigger ones!

-

September - //  DIRECTION //

(outside of being gay for the robot-) I just wanted to draw Alia tbh. With a similar energy she had in her older art too.

-

October - HELLSPAWN

ABSOLUTELY NEFARIOUS HALLOWEEN PIC!!!

Featuring Io's true/original form + their 'powered-up' state

-

November - The Fowl Pest (Mock-Cover)

The last two are for my Digital Illustration class. This one is a mock-book cover based on a worldbuilding project of mine (still need to organize it before sharing).

Though tbh if I do want to do more art for said project I might go tra-digital or use a grittier style. During crit I was told this looked "middle-grade"... when the world is "older-YA/Adult"... still like the pic, but damn.

-

December - Lan Party!

*Sigh* Always wanted to go to one of these! But alas, me and my irls are all busy these days. This is based off a different project I'm working on.

I ended up debuting some different designs for my OCs for said project (notably; Iri, Risa, and Human!Midi) but separate pics for them will have to come next year. In terms of digital lineart, this was the most intense I did this year (traditional lineart comes easier to me than digital).

---

So... 2022. Jesus Christ

This year was rough for me on things personal, and things non-personal. I mean jesus christ every other week something came out that was hostile to artists one way or another on top of some rough patches in my life. I don't want to jinx 2023 or leave things on this note though...

I think my biggest takeaway from this year is I need to rethink a lot of things. How I want to do art, where I want to go, or even my 'digital wellbeing'. This year, I realized keeping art a Hobby or staying "part-time" (as in small gigs & private comms only) might be healthier for me in the long run. I've already had my doubts with a lot of "professional" practices when I was shooting for it (a tl:dr it felt like "no fun allowed" half the time). But realizing how horribly i've treated myself and my art with this chase? That was another thing.

I think i've done a lot of strong pics compared to past years. Especially in terms of backgrounds and not being afraid to draw them (though I could always use more practice, lol). But I've also come to terms with I've been affected by social media without realizing it and how it hurt how I do art. Basically, for the past two years I've been working under the fear of being boxed into doing one thing. Be it fanart, genres, etc. To the point I stopped doing things to force a "brand". Specifically, I stopped doing fanart unless it's oc-centric. I hid straight-up fanart, and started getting irrationally upset over the metrics fanart gets over my original works.

And I hate it. I hate how I let myself judge the value of my work over "numbers and engagement". I hate how I boxed myself in trying to avoid being boxed, because of chasing this corporate measurement of worth. And most importantly, I hate that I nearly forgot that I enjoyed making fanart, because of some dumb culture caused by social media numbers and algorithms. I'm exhausted. So for 2023, I think I want my main resolution to do better with my online life & how I treat myself and my art. I want to pull away from social media a bit more (ironic considered i just came back here heh), spend more time on the slower web & offline if possible, and break that cycle of letting numbers judge my self-worth. And maybe help others do the same. It's much easier said than done, but I don't want to do nothing about this toxic hellscape that is how art is treated online, I want to do something even if the only person I directly help is myself.

And for what it's worth, focusing on my site so far has been cathartic. It's somewhere I can set up my art, projects, weird shit, etc. on my own terms, how I like it. It's quieter over there. And I'm glad I kept working on it beyond just a "portfolio site".

But I guess I have all of 2023 (and what's left of 2022) to process that. For now, I could use some extra time to pretty-up my website some more and take a few more naps before the year ends.

---

extra note: this post is a (slightly modified) mirror of a post over on the everlogs:

Website Version Here!

[duskythesomething]

omfg have i ever even given y'all the rundown on Tamakii's whole story?? he is such a Sad Boy allow me to explain-

so a few years back i had my first ever Real DnD with my ex and some former friends. i homebrewed my own race of catpeople that are essentially smaller humans with varying levels of feline features rather than straight up furries and called them Felikin, and i made Tamakii. this is the first depiction of him!

and whoo boy, i packed some backstory into this fella. Tamakii was sold off by his family, who lived in poverty, both to support their other children but to hopefully give him a chance at a more fulfiling life. he was bought by the royal family of the kingdom they lived in and groomed to be a guard for their young princess Natalina. they were both roughly similar in age, so they grew up together, and she was the only companionship he ever had. the idea was, either he survives and succeeds in his everlasting job, or he fails and dies trying and they just find a new guard for her. lucky for Tama, he's capable with a sword and in some magic, and he has an ability that allows him to take on a werecat form to protect others.

eventually, around the time that Tamakii was turning 20, their kingdom and a neighboring kingdom went to war. the battle came closer and closer to the city with the palace, and all hands ended up on deck fighting a losing battle. while his job was to protect Natalina specifically, he was also made to fend off attackers at the castle. in the midst of the battle, Tamakii got knocked unconscious by some sort of blast, and (where the DnD storyline actually began) woke up nearly a decade later, a continent away, buried halfway under rubble.

crawling from the wreckage, Tamakii was immediately thrown into typical DnD shenanigans, particularly fighting off and investigating a necromantic zombie apocalypse. the only important character from the party was a half-giant named Viggo, also searching for the special lady in his life. they do eventually find her, and Viggo parts ways with the group. the group also uncovers a dragon egg, which Tamakii lugged around until it hatched into a baby Tiamat, whom he named Tie-Dye. Tie-Dye stays with Viggo and his wife for the majority of Tamakii's adventures.

Tamakii's overall goal in life had shifted- he was supposed to be a protector and he failed. now, he was trying to figure out what exactly happened and get his shit back together. spoilers- he doesn't. i prefer to leave current-canon Tamakii off here, sad and angsty and struggling with his purpose in life especially regarding devotion to others. there is, though, two divering futures for Tamakii.

either way, Tamakii learns that it was Natalina who sent him away, hoping to give him a life of freedom she felt he deserved. her whereabouts are unknown, dead or alive, and the old kingdom definitely collapsed in that great war. in the first future, nothing spectactular happens, and Tamakii is just a really sad guy weighed down by failure, trying to move on with his new dragon child.

in the other future, Tamakii takes that fucked up necromancy knowledge he gained during the apocalypse and goes batshit crazy, trying to find Natalina to revive her and bring back his old life except, undead.

all in all, Tamakii is my sopping wet tragic catboy meowmeow who i use as a channel for all my Own personal failures and angst! here is a link to his Artfight page to see other art and facts about him: https://artfight.net/character/1653149.tamakii

[frankhightower]

Looking back

I think there's only one way to start this: my family is staying fed thanks you all. Thank you!

The TF drive was, by practically all metrics, a success: it made more than the last one, it reached a wider audience, and it made it to the end.

I may have bitten off more than I could chew, though: 15 pages in a month proved to be not quite doable, despite being "off work" (and even when we factor out the difficulties of working with a broken tablet).

But what I really want to look at is the plan I set for myself at the start of July

Art Fight: I issued a total of 8 attacks on this, my first artfight: 3 of which were in response to being attacked first, 3 which were responded to, and the last 2 which were me launching pre-emptive attacks that didn't get responded. However, my stated goal had been:

to finish refsheets for my characters so that I would get attacked on more than just Frank (which I didn't);

to issue 3 attacks per week once I was done with them (I sort of gave up on the refsheet halfway through the month so that would mean 6 attacks, so this goal was met and exceeded?);

to get more followers (which I didn't);

So it's a bit of a mixed bag, but at least I "get" art fight now.

Daily Pokémon: I drew a total of 4 pokémon during July (though I'd set myself a goal of 8 so goal not met?). However, it's important to note that the coloring of one of these four was by far my most popular pokémon coloring (on every platform!). Attempts to contact people who'd previously said they'd be interested in a coloring "later", all failed, though. I guess I am an impulse buy?

Pokémon Adopts: Didn't really do anything about them until recently, so it's a bit early to say whether this is working.

Instagram: I uploaded a total of 8 pieces of old art to Instagram (and everywhere else) in July. The goal was 8. Yay? I haven't really kept at it, though. The TF drive turned out to be far more time consuming than anticipated.

All in all, I have to give myself a "C": I know I can do better, but at least I'm not at risk of starving as I was back then!

Posted using PostyBirb

[thedappleddragon]

Day 106 (Friday June 26)

I woke up early enough to hear the weekly 11am tornado siren test! So that was kinda cool. I wrote down the dream/nightmare I had about magical girls and markiplier and webkinz and the cops. I went outside with my cat for a while, and there was a squirrel in the big tree in the corner of my backyard making noises at me. I recorded it on my phone and played back the chirps because I thought it was funny and it make the squirrel make more chirping noises. I got a couple good pictures of my cat being cute.

I tried brushing her a few times, and at first she was cooperative, but then she kept squirming away from me. We went inside for a bit, then back outside until someone started mowing their lawn. I don’t remember most of the day, but I spent some time writing descriptions and submitting characters for artfight. I did the dishes and my dad brought home pizza. We decided to get some night driving time in, and I drove us to the grocery store without a hitch >:) I’m really proud of my driving skills 🥰 we shopped for a while and I kept seeing a trio of yeeyee boys that went to my school. BUT I ALSO SAW A GIRL WITH GREEN HAIR WHILE WE WERE WALKING IN AND SHE WAS REALLY PRETTY :D anyway we did our shopping and I also got to drive us home. (Btw this is a reminder to myself tomorrow to add 30 minutes of night driving on the sheet) I helped put away groceries and ate some Neapolitan ice cream. I installed Pokémon smile because I’m bad at remembering to brush my teeth regularly (I know it’s gross but I never learned that habit as a kid and I’m trying my best) because I was board and sue me, it’s cute. It wasn’t picking up my brushing at first because I was too far away from the camera, but I didn’t know that, so I brushed for like and extra minute. And by the end the game DARES to not give me a good enough score to catch a Pokémon >:((( lol. I spent a lot of time overhauling my rules for characters on artfight and submitting a couple new characters. One of them is me, but I might switch myself out for another dnd oc of mine. I just have to learn to draw her constantly 😞 I don’t know how the fuck to draw her nose, so I might just give her a triangle animal crossing muppet nose idk. Anyway I stayed up way too late and it’s almost 5 am and I’m H U N G R Y goodnight ⭐️🌙💤

[exposedlockers]

Headcannons, mind showing their parents and family and knowing about their relationship and first reaction the Legion’s disappearances

Uh well to be honest with you, I don’t even have their full designs yet. I have like small segments of ideas and headcanons for their parents, Especially Joey. Their parents are still a work in progress; but now that artfight is over I can get back around on working on them!(kind of.) I can show you what I have so far and talk about their reactions. I’ll put a read more since there might be alot haha. I also don’t know if I could really give you headcanons for each but I can definitely talk about them.. since… it’s still a wip.. sorry about the inconvenience!

We actually got an ask about their parents and this is where I left off before I got busy with personal stuff and other things.

I always saw Joey’s parents the disco/soul type before Joey came into their lives, And Joey loves it. He actually carries a photo of their younger days with him in his backpack and holds it to him dearly. He just loves his parents and looks up to them heavily. As for Julie and Susies parents, I dont have really anything for their past. So sorry about that. And Frank is uhh, just Frank haha.

I’ve somewhat brushed on their relationships with their parents but I could talk alittle more about it!

Starting off with Joey, His relationship with his parents slowly went sour after Frank stumbled upon his life. His father became ashamed of Joey as he went through a transformation. looks, style,everything. He used to look like this:

I guess you could say he felt like he lost his boy, seeing the people he hanged out with. I wouldn’t say he despised him, more ashamed of him in a way. Joey didn’t end up the son his father dreamed of having. Though his mother doesn’t mind who he has become. Joey and his mother still held a close relationship, the only thing that got in the way was the drinking. His mother’s drinking habits held a burden upon him and his family, and it pushed him to distance himself from spending time with his mother. He couldn’t handle the atmosphere of constantly taking care of his drunk hungover mother. It depressed him watching her waste her life away, but there were brief moments where it was just the two of them spending time together just like when he was a little kid. To put it in a more simple way, Joey is sort of a mama’s boy. Sure he loves his dad even if hes too hard on him, But his mother was always good to him and he knew for a fact she would always love him no matter what. It was already mentioned that after their disappearances everyone just thought they ran away and left town until finding a body. It starts with devastation, especially with his mother. She’s in denial about it- the thought of her son killing someone just doesn’t seem real. Then him just suddenly disappearing, absolutely no traces to be found, she’s heartbroken. She blames herself for that night. Drinking so carelessly. Not getting up from the couch. Not stopping him at that doorway. She can’t help but blame herself, she feels like she failed as a mother. Then ontop of that her husband blames her too. I figure their fighting would escalate after the disappearance of their son, probably leading to a divorce or Joey’s mother dying from heartbreak. We haven’t really decided yet.

Yeah so I really dont have a grasp on designs for Julies parents. Well, pretty much everyones parents. I want to make sure I get that 90′s feel to their designs so i gotta tinker with it. But I Just… haven’t got around to it. On the other hand, Julie’s relationship with her parents is just a typical teen thing. She was their little sweet pea until highschool came around. Julie used to be the kid they were proud of showing off. A straight A student who played a bunch of sports, with a sweet simple girl personality,popular.  But highschool changed that. In a way, Frank changed that. Her grades started dropping, all her relationships with her friends fell apart, personality did a complete 180. In a way, her parents were pretty disappointed in the path she chose. Instead of trying to talk things through, they became a little more pushy with her. Trying to push her back to sports; mother trying to get her into cheer leading, signing her up for tutoring and what not. And of course this interfered with their relationship.I would say there were alot of arguments between her and her mother. Her father though was more on the sidelines about things. Yes he was disappointed on how she turned out to be, but getting between her and her mother wasn’t something he was interested into doing. He’s more silent about his disappointment, but spoke loudly through his actions. For instance, barely being able to look at his daughter, Or even talk to her at the dinner table kind of thing. Julie didn’t really mind, or at least showed that she didnt care. If anything, Her families actions pushed her more into her impulsive actions. Then when shes gone, they’re both devastated. They both blame eachother for her disappearance at first until the body showed up. They go through a range of emotions. Shock, anger, betrayal, disappointment. They would have never thought their own daughter would do something like that, but knowing the type of person Frank is, they could believe she could be behind the murder along with Frank. Although it upsets them that their daughter is probably behind the murder, they pray one day they could just hold their daughter one last time.

As for Susie, Her relationship with her parents isn’t bad. She isn’t angsty, She doesn’t fight with her parents, and she tries her best to be a good daughter.  Of course the group interferes with her for being an honest good hearted child, but the group doesn’t interfere with her relationship with her parents. We feel as though Susie and her family had a strong bond, they get their ups and downs but they only grow a stronger relationship. As stated before, Susie’s mother is extremely protective of her- practically all of her children. With being protective, she is also supportive of Susie and her dreams. She works hard to help Susie pursue her dreams of going to college for arts and encourages her heavily on her projects. Susie loves her mom, and admires her hardworking self, along with her father. We cant really see any complications about her and her fathers relationship other than him not understanding why she would want to go to school for art. They bicker about it at times but its nothing to big to ruin their relationship. I’ve already talked about Susie’s relationship with her siblings- Since they’re so young she cant really hate them. Kids are just obnoxious, and theres no stopping that. Obnoxious or not, she still loves them; even though they might steal her stuff, ask her millions of questions, or argues over control for the TV. She would protect her siblings with her life, and to the same with her from her siblings. But when she’s gone, they don’t understand. They don’t understand why their parents are crying, making thousands of calls desperately asking for more information on their daughter. It only leads to more confusion when their parents just turn silent about the situation, they won’t bring it up around them. Their parents won’t give them any answers- If anything, their parents probably lied to them and made up some story that Susie finally went off to college to at least leave some positive image of her behind. Now to get more into their parents reactions, of course they’re upset. They would never think she would just suddenly disappear like that, especially knowing that her relationship with the group isnt that strong. (at least with Frank.) They know for a fact she loves Julie with all her heart, and would be willing to do literally anything or her. They first come to the conclusion that maybe she was kidnapped, or possibly lost. With scarce information, their questions were answered with the murder of the janitor with multiple stab wounds. They couldn’t accept it, they couldn’t accept the fact that Susie would do something like this or that she would disappear so willingly. They automatically put the blame on Frank and Julie for her disappearance, unwilling to accept the fact she would do such a thing or even accept the fact she would just disappear so abruptly.

Then there’s Frank. He’s just a sad story with a sad ending. A nobody ending as a nobody. His parents gave him up, his foster dad didn’t even care about him when he was around. We don’t really think his foster father would care if he was even gone. Maybe even glad. It would be no surprise to anyone if he was the one behind the murder in the first place or the disappearance. Everyone knew the type of person Frank was, and everyone in the right mindset knew to stay away from him. There’s really not much to tell for him.

[jaxolinetheartist]

Well holy shit guys, 2018 is done. Time for another good ol’ spheal from your weird neighbor next door Jaxoline!

Firstly, (yes firstly) I didn't realize how much art I did this year between May and August until I started to assemble this morning (well, noon). There were so many pieces that I forgot about that I loved so there were many tough choices. Particularly May and August are my favorites! Somehow this year I managed to squeeze daily gesture observational drawings from March until August along with work and classes as well as work on some goofball comics as well as start the slow slow process of one I've been writing since Freshman year of high school... yikes! I can't wait to get to the first 50 pages to start publishing that somewhere hopefully in 2019.

The end of 2018 had some major bumps, during the summer I saved up some work money to buy a new tablet to replace my 10-year-old bamboo. This is an investment that I hoped to have for the next five years and was thrilled with owning a new Wacom! Unfortunately the last week of my fall semester a fellow Emerson College student stole it along with my camera and external hard drive. Selling an external hard drive and a DSLR camera online for some quick cash when this person was in a potentially tight spot is understandable... but the tablet. That was like another limb to me. So my art hit a rapid and sudden decrease because of this unfortunately as my inspiration got drained even further than it normally does at the end of the semester. To the student whole stole it I hope your life is going better with the money you made.

On a happier note, this semester I got to be a part of a zine, artfight, my friend’s BFA thesis film, design many many things for college including a 40-page magazine and a 176-page book! 

For 2019 the main goal is to get a full-time job (yikes!) as well as to continue working on my art, continue my comic, finish a rough draft to a novel, but also to keep in touch with all the fantastic people that have helped me through many rough years since 2015. Thank you to everyone who has cried on rocks with me, eaten froyo in a blizzard with me, stayed up till 3am with me watching vines or just talking in apartments, cars, or downtown. To everyone, I cherish continue growing and being the amazing people I love so much. Happy 2019 to all the beautiful souls in the world!

[thedappleddragon]

Day 123 (Tuesday July 14th)

I woke up feeling wierd in a way that’s hard to describe. As if every other day i woke up like a clean cut 2x4 piece of wood, but today I was partially rotted and covered in dirt, trying to be fit into the same space as a clean board. Idk. But I stayed in my room for a while and made eggs for breakfast. My friends set up a dnd session last minute in our rich friend’s basement, and at first I wasn’t sure if I wanted to go. But then more people responded in the group chat and I saw my one really friendly male friend was going so I made up my mind to go. I told my mom I would need a ride and went outside in my backyard for a while with my cat. She was really cute laying in the sun and purring, but I feel bad because she can’t see outside. Her eyes are always as big as dinner plates, and while it super cute, it might also mean she has brain damage and can’t adjust her pupils. I practiced driving with my mom and sister for about 45 minutes and I did really badly. I know how roundabouts work but I fucked them up a little bit and she kept yelling at me about not slowing down and stopping properly. She was right but it still made me mad, and I was at least partially spaced out the entire time.

I got out of the car and helped the host friend look for their dnd figurine for a while until we decided that it was lost and went to the basement. She went around looking a while longer while the rest of us set things up, picking out dice and doing the best we could with limited figurines. The host eventually brought out a tray full of squinkies (tiny squishy animal toys) and Japanese erasers (the kind you take apart and put together but never actually use as an eraser). I ended up using a rock from the driveway as my figure, and the host used a little pendant with a shiny dragon scale pattern on it.

None of us knew who was going to dm before we got there, so we decided to take turns, which quickly lead to our dice goblin friend DMing. It was her first time, but she did really good!! The party started off in a tavern obviously, rolling for inebriation. Valka is underage but was served alcoholic apple cider instead of apple juice on accident lol. Then a fourtune teller approached and answered one question for each of us. I asked if Valka’s dad was doing ok, since he was on his boat and she was on land and they hadn’t seen each other in a while. He missed her 🥺. The fortune teller was sketchy and creepy and probably scammed us but it was fun anyway. The next morning a little boy approaches us, asking if we can help find his dog. We were all suspicious at first, but Valka trusted him pretty quickly. We followed him until he ran into the forest, where we were immediately suspicious again, questioning him about what kind of dog he was looking for and if there really was a dog or if it was an illusion. We reached a clearing in the forest where he pulled out a knife and 3 bandits jumped out of the bushes. Valka immediately pulled out a mace and hit him upside the head, having no problem beating up a fellow child. Combat was going great until the first “bandit” was killed, whereupon the little boy turned his head around and shouted “DAD!” My soul SHATTERED in that moment. The next bandit got hit and the the kid whipped his head the other direction and cried out “DAD!” again. The dog went down and he cried out “CHARLIE, NO!” We were atracking this poor child’s dog and two gay dads. The third bandit, their daughter, ran the other way. When Valka’s turn rolled around she ran over to the unconscious dad and spent a health potion she had stolen back when school was in session and dnd club was still a thing. He was still unconscious, but stable. She was the first to stop attacking because she loves her dad very much, and could never imagine what she would do if her father was hurt or killed. We called for the family to come back. They were very poor, having to resolve to mugging and petty crime to survive. We all apologized for attacking and set up a campfire in the clearing.

We rolled for an order in which to tell stories around the fire, but then the host friend offered to make chicken tenders for us all so we paused the game. We sat downstairs and chatted for a little while until I realized the host wasn’t coming back downstairs, so we went upstairs and sat on the couch and talked. I laid down, and dice goblin friend laid down perpendicular to me and I burst out laughing from the sudden urge to just slap her face. Later, she picked up her head and I sat upright normally, instinctually picking up a pillow and putting it on my lap. She laid back down with her head on the pillow, so I patted her head and stole her glasses. We all traded glasses and compared eyesight like people always do whenever someone takes off their glasses. When the chicken tenders were done, we brought them downstairs along with chips and dips and goldfish and snacked and listened to the host talk about star wars to way too long. Friendly male friend had to leave, and dice goblin and baby friends’ social batteries were running low, so we hmmed and hawed for a minute wondering what to do until the host recommended watching a movie. We watched History of the World Part 1, and it was really damn funny and vulgar. I probably would have preferred if it was toned down a little bit, and all my favorite parts were the lack of sex/orgy jokes, but I still enjoyed it. Then we settled into quietly drawing together. I drew moments from the night and inside jokes and whatever came to mind.

I had some pizza and watched YouTube and painted the driveway rock I took, just kind of chilling for a while. I checked artfight and accidentally made myself mad. I got upset that I put a lot of effort into my attacks to make them look nice, and not liking some of the attacks I get back. I understand that that’s just part of artfight and not every artist is at the same skill level, and it might sound petty of me, but whatever. What makes me the most upset was when all the other pieces an artist made for other people look really nice, but then the one they made for me looks rushed or in a different style. Idk man typing this out makes me feel like an asshole, but I still want to document my thoughts and feelings. If anyone from AF is reading this, don’t worry!! I’m not mad at you!!! It’s all good.

[thedappleddragon]

Day 100 🎉 (Saturday June 20)

I stayed up all night last night drawings and went out into the kitchen at like 9am where I said hi to my dad, had some food, and said goodbye as he and my sister left so she could retake her learners permit test. I just hung out until I napped for about 3-4 hours and had wierd restless dreams. I would have slept longer but I don’t hang to end up staying up too late the next night too. I made myself some waffles and ate outside with my cat Lily. I took the bag of trail mix my dad got and stayed out there for several hours watching YouTube. I took a shower and washed my hair while my laundry ran, switching it over when I got out. I watched more YouTube until it was dry and put on some comfy pajamas. I grabbed a snack, emptied out the dishwasher, cleaned the dishes in the sink, and reloaded the dishwasher. Right after that my dad came home with groceries that I helped put away and boiled some shrimp which tasted better than when he does it for some reason. He used some dumb crab boil seasoning bags which juts look like big tea bags, but the shrimp usually end up tasting like nothing after a few hours. But I went back to my room and tried uploading a few characters to ArtFight, but I have no clue if it actually worked since the site is down for pretty much everyone. Then I spent wayyyy too long on TikTok and I gotta go to bed since apperantly we’re going to my uncle’s house AGAIN for Father’s Day. We’ve been going every other weekend for 6 weeks >:/ in other news I’ve been doing wierd shit recently. Idk if I should call it a tik or a stim or something else but every time I think of something bad or cringy I did I have to physically shake my head really quickly to make it stop. Less frequently, I’ll hit myself in the head or strain my eyes. I could probably stop myself from doing it if I tried, but it’s become a habit, which sucks. There’s so much extra time to think during quarantine which is more opportunities for bad thoughts to pop up and make me shake my head. There’s been several days where I wake up and think to myself “okay today I’m not going to do the head shake thing” but eventually end up doing it anyway. It happens sever times a day, so I’m going to try and stop, but not being around people makes it easier to not mask or act normally. In other news I ate a lot of trail mix today and noticed I constantly kept myself busy with either tasks or snacks or my phone ALL DAY. And I’m sad because my cat doesn’t want to hang out with me. Her new favorite spot is on a random shelf in the living room or on the couch, but I wish she would sleep on my bed again :( but!!! I did really really cute for a minute today >:)

[thedappleddragon]

Day 120 (Saturday July 11th)

I don’t really remember what I did in the morning, but I know I went to 2 different open houses. The first one was pretty small, with just the graduate and a few of her friends. One of my best friends was there so I stuck around her if the grad was ever busy with other guests. We played uno and talked about school or wherever. I left and headed straight to the second open house for one of my other best friends. There were tons of people there, both kids and adults, so it got really loud. One friend tried to show off the mnms with the graduate’s face printed on them, but when they threw the baggie it caught on their foot and exploded the mnms everywhere. We as a big group of kids in the same groupchat migrated from the garage to the house and back until we eventually settled to the backyard. We goofed around and took pictures and memed and laughed and had a great time. At one point, the grad was busy talking to choir friends and it got cold and windy out so about 6 of us headed back to the empty garage for a break. We had a moment talking about minor gripes we had with each other, and hung out until we realized we accidentally left without telling anybody so we went back to the backyard. I stayed pretty much until the end. Afterwards, I just chilled at home with my siblings.

Day 121 (Sunday July 12th)

Today we were all supposed to visit our aunt and uncle. None of us felt good about going, since our aunt is extremely immune compromised and was on hospice for a while not too long ago, but our dad wanted us to go anyway. He left early to pick up his father so that left about and hour of just us four kids at home, ho humming and talking about how bad of an idea it was. We left and picked up Starbucks on the way there. When we reached her house, we didn’t see our dad’s car in the driveway so we cruised through the neighborhood listening to my sister’s funny-ass trap music. It felt like we were navigating through suburban hell as the neighborhood never seemed to end no matter how many turns Eric took. We didn’t head back to the house until we got a call from dad. We sat and talked outside with them for a while, but as soon as they all started preparing for dinner, we sat on the front porch discussing how to tell them we were going to leave. All of us had been in high-traffic areas recently and most of the people in that house could die from corona, and we didn’t want to risk any of their lives. We told them this and they took it better than we thought, so we headed back home. We ordered Chinese food and ate on our front lawn. I headed to the park for another open house while my sister got some driving practice in. A couple of my other friends besides the graduate we’re there but eventually left, and there were 2 girls I didn’t know. We mostly sat and made polite conversation until that got boring and the weather got hot so we walked away from the party to a shady area under the trees with lots of clover. We made each other flower crowns and bracelets and talked about TikTok and relationship drama and school and the fae. It was really nice, and although I didn’t know 2 of the girls, I had a lot of fun. The grad had to go back to talk to other guests, so we all headed back and played corn hole (aka beanbag toss) really badly and went out separate ways until the end of the party. Grad went with the 2 other girls, and I stuck with the one other friend I knew. Both siblings left that night so I said goodbye.

Day 122 (Monday July 13th)

Today felt wierd, since every day for the past week or so I’ve been doing activities with Eric and Greg, but now they’re gone. I played on my ds and ate a lot of leftover Chinese food and drew 3 pieces for artfight. I watched the newest episode of the owl house and in the notes of one of my posts I saw someone say “I love this artist” and it made me flip my lid with joy like !!!!! Me?? Someone somebody looks up to????? I’ve never though of myself as An Artist in sense that I’m like. A creator. That people look forward to seeing content from. Idk how to explain it but omg!!! That was so cool :)