#still got to figure out how to draw my new cut but wanted to doodle something

[candyheartedchy]

So I got my hair cut today~

[averlym]

,,, sun-dappled sheets...

[asherashedwings]

FNF CONNECTED UNIVERSE LINE UP Part 2: The Girlfriends

Yippee, new line up. Didn't have as much trouble on this one either.

Idk how much yapping I'll be doing, since I don't really know how much I have to talk about.

But still

Close ups and yapping under the cut

Alternate Universe Girlfriends

So just like with the Boyfriends, all these Girlfriends are technically all the same person, just from different universes. So I tried some elements of their designs consistent between them all, which stem from my base game Girlfriend design.

Unlike BF, there's a good bit more to talk about with GF since I draw her pretty different compared to her in-game design. The main thing is her more apparent demonic traits, like her horns, tail, and purple splotches. The explanation for this, in universe, is that she doesn't have the full power to cloak herself yet. See, her and her family are "music demons", which gain their power by leeching from music, usually a particular genre. GF hasn't really decided what genre to leech from yet, so she isn't as powerful as she could be. She also has a coat cuz uhhh. Silly. Things like her demonic traits and her coat (Or something of similar shape like a feather boa) would be the things to connect all the AU GFs.

Moving on, we have Herself, who I was looking forward to drawing the moment I started this line up cuz I had just. Such a clear vision of her in my head. Although it was a struggle to put that vision on paper.

It's hard to put the exact vision into words, but it's like having her form become less defined as it goes downwards, until it's just the wispy silhouette of her hair. There's a certain balance you have to strike with the wispy nature of her form and the trademark Girlfriend hair shapes, and that's what ended up being the biggest struggle. Once I figured that out though, it was pretty simple. Shapes were the most important thing since her coloring is pretty monochromatic. Not counting the black, this design only utilizes two different colors, both being shades of red. Her design includes a feather boa instead of a jacket, mainly cuz I completely forgot about that rule when I got to her and the boa was a lot easier to add than a jacket. It also makes an interesting shape I think.

Next is Funkadelix, and she really wasn't too hard. The main thing was giving her traits from my main GF design, which wasn't hard at all. For her horns I referenced her Halloween attire. Her tail too, sorta, but I mainly just referenced the thinness of it.

There isn't all too much to say about MDM. There wasn't a lot to change or add. Main addition was the boa, which was admittedly kinda fun to draw in my style for that AU.

Now onto Mix. If you saw my post yesterday about the doodle/sketch pile for this line up, you might've seen a design concept I did for Mommy Mearest, and that was literally just for Mix's design. Except it was virtually pointless cuz I didn't really include any aspects of my MMM into my Mix design. It's fine though, I think she turned out fine. Might take another pass at her in the future when I ACTUALLY have my MMM design figured out.

Lastly for this section, HD. I actually had quite a bit of fun drawing her. Don't really got much to say about her though. I'm pretty sure she was the first AU GF I gave a boa, so she's the one that started that. It was originally going to be all white, but my good good friend @minxtheeenby suggested it fading into black, and I really like how it turned out.

"Side" GFs

So first is Belladonn (B-Side). I know I wanted her to appear more sophisticated. That's just always how I imagined her, even back well the mod was still a simple recolor remix mod. There's also something so fun about classy characters that are also dangerous. We need more regal women that carry around bats full of nails. I had a lot of trouble nailing (pun not intended) her hair. The main thing that sets it apart from the traditional GF cut is her side bang (idk hair terms, I think that's what it is), but besides that, not much else. So I had to mess with it a bunch to get something I liked.

Amelia's (D-Side) design was pretty straight forward. The main thing was just adding a few more details to spice it up a bit. Which just happened to be buttons on her jacket and lil heart patterns on her knees. I also wanted her to be short. Cuz idk, she gives short vibes. A lil idea for her that isn't showcased here is that I imagine her pigtail buns actually turn into her horns when she is in her demon form. (Bad doodle, but just to show the concept:)

Lizzy (G-Side) was kinda fun to come up with ideas for. Most of her design is taken from the fake teasers for the mod, cuz silly. But because her mom is some sort of light spirit.. thing, I wanted to mix that in somehow too. So that's where the white highlights on her horns, hair, and tail come from, but that's not all it added.

She also has pretty funky eyes, that are somewhat inspired by Shara Ishvalda's eyes

Also, in that doodle, I imagine all of her hair is floating, I just. Didn't feel like drawing her pigtails cuz I mainly wanted to highlight the eye thing.

The New Yorkers

With Shaya, I mainly added a bit of stuff to her outfit, since the original is too simple with my design style. I basically just added a bat wing shape motif to her design. Cuz. Cuz vampire. This is also present in her ear shape cuz I didn't want them to JUST be pointed, cuz I wanted her to stand out a bit more from the demon girls. So different ear shape.

I don't really know how much Azalea (Neo) changed. I know I changed her hair a bit (to further differentiate her from GF) and I altered her top a bit but I THINK that's it. I did change her and her family's lore a bit though. Cuz I made them robots. THATS RIGHT, THIS IS WHO I WAS TALKING ABOUT WHEN I WAS TALKING ABOUT MAKING ONE OF THE GIRLFRIENDS A ROBOT. Azalea's pretty android-esc, but I imagine her parents are just full on robots. I can't wait to design them. But yeah, I imagine Azalea is much more human looking because she just wants to be part of human society and her parents love her so they got her the more human looking body so she could live out her dream. We love supportive parents *explosion emoji* *explosion emoji* *explosion emoji*

Not much to say about Grace. I just gave her a bit of melanin cuz apparently she's mixed. That's all I really changed tho.

I don't think I changed Judith MUCH. Her face is a bit more. Wolf-like? Idk. I also TOTALLY didn't reference Clawdeen Wolf's hair when designing her. Totally not.

Vikki (Minus) is grouped with the New Yorkers cuz. There's only one of her. Unlike the Minus BFs. I just made her a lil more goth, since people literally call her "Goth GF". Also made her hair a bit more blocky. cuz. cuz the minus symbol. Shape *sparkle emoji*

Who the Fuck Knows (Miscellaneous)

So starting with Cherry (Swappin'), in this AU she's actually GF's younger sister. She also already has a music genre to leech from (rap), so she's better at concealing herself. Not much else to say, I did not change her design much.

Nothing much to say about Barbara either, I barely changed her.

Now Astra (Starcatcher) was fun. While I was initially sketching her, I realized that both her alien species and the Alien Hominids have the same style of classic antennae. So I decided "Huh, what if their species are related." So I did that. Not much else to touch on besides that.

Tootsie belongs to @minxtheeenby and is part of their Sunday Night Snackin' AU. I drew her with her wings and tail out, which aren't usually out, but uh. Silly.

Belletrix didn't really change as much as I was expecting her too. The main thing was just. Making her an imp that could exist in the Hellaverse. Which was pretty easy. And then I just made shit up when it came to her outfit cuz it was kinda hard what was going on with that in the first place.

Next is Gabriella, YIPPEE. So she's the GF from Plants vs. Rappers. Vastly different appearance wise though, cuz, yknow. Can't have her look too similar to GF. And just like I did with Dennis, I decided to base her on another zombie from Neon Mixtape Tour: The Glitter Zombie

Idk, I thought it'd be cutie patootie. And it was. I really like how she turned out. I got lazy when it came to her flag, I did not feel like drawing that shit.

Last but not least is Ashley, the GF from my own AU. Which does not have a name. Idk, it's mainly just an excuse for me to draw anthro Monster Hunter monsters. But yeah, she's an intersex Leostra (Gender neutral term for the Teostra/Lunastra species that @sleepymushrxxm came up with) and I love her.

That's all I got. Gonna hopefully start working on the Pico's here soon.

[airborneice]

gonna just d r o p some extremely rough sketches here bc my sketchbook I’ve had on the go since 2020 is almost filled up and once it is I probably won’t go revisiting any of the sketches in it, so I may as well share some of them here

I’m incapable of shutting up abt my art so ramblings under the cut

1-3 - mattie sketches :) the last ones are recent and the 1st is one of the first drawings I did of her, back in 2021. idk I just think it’s important y’all know she’s been on her tide mouse shenanigans since the beginning

4 - I think I drew this back in last march and meant to move it to digital and clean it up there but things got busy and I never did :( they’re based on @randomwords247’s wonderful mermaid designs bc I love them

5 - unrelated to the last one, but while I was working on one of my little mermaid au drawings I tried to think how I’d approach the sequel if I got that far & ended up w. this. something something mermaids having human familiars being frowned upon

6 - I think. this is a drawing of @blaithnne’s pony!lauren that I never finished oops

7 - forgot I had this!! year before last me and @bubblekidaesthetics were planning to cosplay these two at comic con, and I got super hyped and doodled this. we did do this cosplay and it was awesome <3

8 - slightly more recent design stuff for freyja, still based on hilda-fanblog/rhombus’ design ofc but figuring out if I wanted my take on her to change anything like how many legs she has lol. also some pony!mountain king doodles on the next page

9-10- something something centaur au. somewhere in my notes app is a whole list of hilda chars and horse types/colours bc I started researching them and got so carried away. johanna’s supposed to be a bay and hilda was gonna be a shetland I think…? (the hilda one is a lot more recent and I think it shows lol). rip to dee who had to watch me talk abt this au so much and barely actually draw it

anyway tumblr won’t let me add any more pics which is probably a good thing 🤷‍♀️ I hope literally everyone feels better as an artist for seeing what an absolute mess my drawings start out as 😌 now I gotta buy a new sketchbook

[crabsnpersimmons]

Hey Crabs! I have a small question! 🦀

How do you make the pictures of your traditional art look so good!?

They are always bright and easy to see! But when I take a photo of my drawings, they always have a blue or yellow tint to them. So how do you make it look the way you do?

(Also, I want to gobble up your art it is so yummy and pretty! Sun and Moon are so precious in your style!) ❤️

Thanks! And I hope you’re having a good day! :D

no prob! there's actually a couple things i do, so here's the tl;dr:

Lighting: i use daylight or light from a neutral white lightbulb

Editing: i use my phone's built-in gallery app to lightly edit the colours so they're clear and as colour-accurate as i can get (from my screens at least)

and i'll go into a little more detail with some examples under the cut

1. Lighting

a habit of mine that i got from my IG days (ugh...) is using daylight whenever possible. daylight just lights up the whole area more evenly and relatively neutrally. this is my set up:

glamourous

basically, i put the artwork near a source of natural light and prop up a reflector (in this case, a blank page from another sketchbook) that helps distribute the light more evenly across the page, so that even the side that is furthest from the light gets some light that bounces off from the reflector. i don't always have a reflector tho, like if i'm only taking a picture of a small drawing and not an entire page, there's no need.

now, if it's dark, then i rely on my desk lamp, which uses a neutral white lightbulb. regular lightbulbs come in different temperatures, from warm to neutral to cool—so that might explain why your photos are coming out with a yellow or blue tint. warm lights are common in houses because they're cozy, while blue lights are common in working areas because, like daylight, they keep us more awake. neutral white is in between the two.

here's an example of my Moon doodle that i did recently under different lights: warm (from my bedside lamp), neutral white (from my work desk), and daylight (i don't have any cooler lights in the house, so i couldn't quite get the blue tint 😅)

now technically, NONE of these are colour accurate. so i always follow up with some light photo editing

2. Editing

now, i have 2 personal rules when it comes to editing my photos:

1) try to make it as close to the original as possible; and 2) don't spend too long on it

these are just my personal rules because... one) i'm lazy and i don't want to spend too long fixing every thing in my drawings, and two) i feel it is dishonest for me to make dramatic changes to my traditional art and still call it traditional art. whenever i do make digital enhancements (like colouring it digitally) i will tag it so no one would mistake it as purely traditional art. that's just me tho! there are no rules when you're having fun with your art and mixed media art is a thing! so do whatever you find fun and enjoyable.

also, i will try to make it as colour-accurate as possible, but i also recognize that not everyone's screens are calibrated the same way. my phone is set to a "Natural" colour setting, but on my new laptop (which i haven't figured out how to calibrate yet) is vibrant as all heck (like oh my gosh, maybe i need to start tagging everything with bright colours now, because what if someone else's laptop is this insanely vibrant and saturated??) but either way, i try not to spend too long on it because i know i won't be able to accommodate every screen.

anyways, for what i actually DO... i kinda just play around with different settings. if i took the picture under daylight, then there's not too much i adjust, usually it's the warm colours that are desaturated, so i try to make the reds pop more without effecting the blues too much.

or for my doodles, sometimes the doodle on the other side of the page is slightly visible, i'll tweak the lights and shadows and contrast levels until the background is clear enough (as long as it doesn't disturb the doodle i'm taking a photo of)

now, if your photos are coming out too yellow or blue because of your lighting, you can adjust that by tweaking the Temperature setting. here's an example of that warm Moon doodle:

already looking a little better, right? so don't worry if your photos aren't coming out accurate, there are work arounds!

here's the before and after of the Moon doodle by the way:

despite having daylight, i still needed to adjust the colours. specifically i needed to brighten up the reds and yellows, and bring back the page's natural yellowness. i also tweaked the Definition setting to make less hazy (sometimes i like the haziness tho, so i'll leave it as is sometimes).

and one other reminder: it doesn't need to be perfect, it just needs to be. a big reason why i keep coming back to traditional art is the fact that i can't control everything. i can't undo lines. i can't move things around. and i can't take the perfect picture. but it doesn't need to be perfect. drawing and sharing my art is supposed to be fun! and i don't want to put any barriers around that, or else it becomes unnecessarily stressful.

all that is to say, try out these tips if you want to, but don't treat them as hard rules and don't focus on trying to achieve perfection. just go have fun!

[aesethewitch]

Hey friend 👋 I just stumbled across your ghost analysis post and was intrigued, and saw that you do tarot readings?

I recently began looking into tarot, but the two decks I have aren't traditional ones, but I've read from a lot of people that traditional tarot decks are the (only?) way to go. I'm curious about your journey in learn to interpret the deck(s) you have, since I'm also struggling with that.

I also see that you have a free tarot reading Friday, and since it IS Friday, I'd like to ask- how can I overcome the political and religious obstacles that force me to hide?

(if this is a question that isn't so suited for tarot, that's my bad)

-SC

Hey there! (:

So, anyone who tells you there's only One Right Way to do something is full of shit. Folks just like to feel superior for doing things More Correctly Than You.

You can use whatever for divination and get solid results. You could make a functioning system out of coupons. Hell, you could doodle on printer paper, cut it into squares, and then use it as a tarot deck. That would probably work, as long as you understood what the pictures meant.

Some folks have an easier time with traditional decks, others don't. I tend to vibe with decks that are a little funky. Extra cards, different suits, interesting presentations, etc.

The deck I use most often, the Alleyman's Tarot, is technically not a tarot deck at all -- it's an oracle deck, since it doesn't follow the "traditional" composition of a tarot deck (major arcana + minor arcana). But I still call it a tarot deck because I can and I use it like one. It works great.

I do have the Deviant Moon Tarot, which is based on the Rider-Waite-Smith, and it would be considered a "traditional" kind of deck. It's a great deck, and it's the one I taught myself to read with many years ago.

When I got that deck, I believed that someone else had to buy tarot decks for you; it was "selfish" and would "taint" the deck's power if you bought it yourself. Also bullshit, by the way, but I had that belief in me. A kind lady overheard me lamenting and pining for the Deviant Moon in a bookstore, bought me a gift card, and gave it to me with a note telling me to buy the deck for myself. It was a life-defining moment for me, to be sure, and one that sticks with me today. I strive to live up to that kindness.

Learning was an interesting thing. I didn't look up any spreads, and I barely used the book. Mostly, I just wanted to look like I knew what I was doing right out the gate (I didn't; I was 18 and had self-image issues, lmao). So I taught myself to interpret based on vibes and imagery, then went back to reference the book when I really needed to. It helped that I had a spirit ally hanging around that was looking for a vessel; it's still attached to those cards to this day, and it helped me learn how to hone my abilities. For a long time, the act of pretending I knew what I was talking about prevented me from actually learning much at all.

It isn't... well, it isn't great advice. I wouldn't recommend "learning" tarot the way I did. I figured it out after a while, but there was no real system to it. If I could go back and relearn it the way I would do it now, I absolutely would. Here's what I've learned is a fairly good method for learning any new tarot deck:

Shuffle the cards and lay the pile face-down.

Draw the top card.

In a notebook, write down your immediate, knee-jerk impressions of the card. I recommend just key words or single sentences.

Then, take a closer look at it. Note the colors, positioning of figures, background imagery, and other details. Write down what you see, not how you would interpret it.

Now interpret. Take your time writing down how the card's specific imagery makes you feel. What does it remind you of?

Jot down an example question and how you would apply the card to the answer. For example, the question "What do I need to know right now?" answered by Temperance could be something like: "Patience is a virtue. Take your time." Or however you would interpret that.

Set the card aside. Repeat until the entire deck is done.

Congrats! Now, you have a general idea of the entire deck's meanings and a handy guide to help you remember what they mean to you.

Bonus step: Review periodically. Opinions and interpretations change as you do.

I follow this routine with every new deck I get. I've figured out that the same card in two different decks could have vastly different meanings, depending on how it's depicted. It's really cool!

Also, it's kind of important to note that I'm not really a full animist. I don't think that tarot decks (or other tools) have individual spirits. My Deviant Moon deck has one, but that's because of the ally I mentioned before. The Alleyman's deck doesn't have a spirit as far as I can tell. I've got spirits hanging around that enjoy assisting with divination and magic and such, though.

As for free tarot, it's closed for now! The update reblog was sent to my drafts instead of posting,,, sorry about that!! Your question would definitely be fine for tarot interpretations (though a little shallow with only one card; situations like that are typically better interpreted with more cards I've found). I do open it up every Friday, though, so feel free to stick around and send another next week! (: (Or visit my Ko-Fi linked in my pinned post if you want a more in-depth paid reading! /shilling)

[milkbreadtoast]

more oc doodles... tested a braid for him!! also made the butterfly motif more obvious w the butterfly clips... i rly wanted him to have them but rarely drew him from the back so...

this post is kinda short so gonna post some old art w commentary under the cut bc i dont think i posted them here before🤧 thought i did but....

(oct 2020) happy to see visible improvement from then heh... this is where i first got him closer to his current design/palette + decided on the purple/yellow palette and the inverting eye color idea... normally pretty and shiny but w a creepy spotted butterfly eye look when using his powers (simplified the dots to just 3 in his current design)...

more recent doodles (apr 2022)... these r cute tbh i like the 2nd pic, he looks so fluffy + u can see the butterfly hairtie... but i still wasnt satisfied w his design...

in my most recent attempt at designing him(aug 2023) i changed several things... made his bangs longer for a more elegant look(which is actually closer to how it was before)... figured out how to draw his eyes + eyebrows better + more consistent(had been going back n forth btwn double/mono eyelids and thick/thin eyebrows... finally settled on sleepy double eyelids + thick brows) + i also changed the placement of his moles... (used to be right under his eye; changed to middle of cheek + another near the nose.. aka the txt soobin mole KFJKS I like how this new placement gives him a softer and gentle elegant look?? it's subtle but I like it a lot better... Oh also I made his sideburn locks shorter instead of long and curly and I like this change a lot too... idk it looks cuter to me KJFKS I gave him the long curly ones before bc i thought it'd look more unique but... i decided it's more important that I personally like it rather than just give traits to set him apart... he already looks plenty flashy w his eyes and colors anyway🤧

bonus: another pass from p recently (may 2023) where, unsatisfied and wondering how to fix his design, attempted straying further from prev attempts by testing a middle part (and also a mole near his mouth)... but I was actually getting colder and not warmer.... I don't like these but at least I tested it to know that I don't like it!! u can also see a test doodle of the spiky green guy (hyojun) here lol

And finally, here's 1 of his very first design attempts from way back in aug 2019!!! (u can see early hyojun too...)

This was back when I was just starting to figure the current ver of his chara/personality/role in the story... not fleshed out at all but i at least had a vague idea and this was when I decided he would be purple (instead of other palette ideas i had considered earlier like brown hair, orange coding...) But at this early stage I hadnt come up with the butterfly motif, or the purple/yellow palette (he was purple/magenta here) or darker skin... Tbh I consider this a "beta design" bc theres sm thing that were diff/not decided yet but it's technically the same chara ckdbf

I can't fit any more images ㅠㅠ but u can see more concept sketches in this twitter thread... and yea I was testing an inverted eye concept even back then... I really liked this idea so I didn't want to abandon it, and im happy I made it even better since w the butterfly concept *_*

[evilspiritweek]

Hi! First of all, wanted to say that you are wonderful for still doing some little fun stuff for RC9GN fandom! I can't say how much I appreciate seeing the activity in the tag from you! Thank you.

Now, the reason I'm sending an ask, is I have a few suggestions/ideas that I wondered you might be interested to hear? If not, feel free to ignore this! ;D its totally cool.

You mentioned in the DTIYS post that you might be getting busy since the break is ending, and it got me thinking, maybe DTIYS could be extended for other artists? Like, if you are busy that week, or do not have an idea for DTIYS (or just dont feel like it, we all have those days lol), you can do a sort of 'feature artist for the week' to do a DTIYS drawing? I understand there might be a contacting/scheduling problem with that idea, but you can always just make a post/notice and see if anyone wanted to do this/next week DTIYS.

If you are worried about the complexity of the featured art, you can also make a list of requirement for DTIYS (like, only a single character, no/little background, props, themed and etc), so it would be relatively similar for everyone?

It also will give you an opportunity to participate in DTIYS too rather than just make it, if you wanted to! I kinda feel bad that you seem to do all the work, even if I know that you are doing it from love to this fandom haha.

Another idea I wanted to offer/discuss is the polls! I actually thought poll/episode bracket idea was a fun one, but i know its not the most favorite one. However, maybe it could be sorta implemented in DTIYS? Maybe a poll for a character/theme/episode-related idea for DTIYS people would want to see next week? It doesn't have to be constant polls every week, maybe just occasional if you do not feel particularly inspired that week, it could give you an idea?

I know that you started these new smaller events, because they were less stressful and urgent than prompt week/month, but still fun enough to engage with! If these ideas seems like too much worry/work, I totally get it.

Anyway, I wish you a good day! Thanks for reading.

(also ur art is ridiculously adorable ok bye)

Sorry for the delayed response!! You wrote a lot of good points and I wanted to make sure I addressed them all <3

The post was getting a bit long, so it's under cut. TL;DR I think I'm going to treat this year as a test run and then create a more formal one for next year! That will involve a Google Forum probably(?), but do note that one of the questions will be on a specific date. One problem I've found with events is the time they take place. Not planning on moving Ninjavember's month, but that for example is sandwiched between October/Inktober and December/Holidays/Finals, so it can get busy. Considering this is a new event, I want to give people in the fandom currently the freedom to kinda pick and choose when this might be done.

I think extending the DTIYS event idea to other artists is a great idea! I know that I started this rather suddenly without warning, so people weren't given a sooner notice, but if I do this again, I can perhaps create a forum for people to submit things to or have people submit things here. Nothing super formal (because organizing that might get messy), but that way it can feel a bit more like a community event :D

For this event, I'm kinda sort of just drawing by the week, so if anyone wants to submit stuff now, that's totally fine too! Worst case is we have more than 5 by the end of April, and that's definitely not a bad thing lol

As for complexity of DTIYS prompts, I wanted to keep it varied for fun, but I also think focusing on simple doodles is fine. At least then, it gives people more of chance to focus on their style first rather than figuring out how to draw a car or something (bane of my existence)

I also like your idea for polls, and perhaps if we do a more formal one for this next year, we can implement that.

[trashbag-baby666]

Way’s He Says I Love You-Webgott

Summary: David writes about Joes love language.

WC: 1,830.

C/W: None?

Link To My Masterlist!

He loves me, I know he does but he won't say I love you the way I'd say it to him.

The way I'd say it to Joe is a simple, "I love you." Or "You look nice today, is that a new shirt?"

But with Joe it was never that simple, hell when I met him I swore he hated me.

When Joe wasn't cutting hair at his mom's salon or driving a cab for his uncle's company he was doing art of some kind.

Since Joe could hold a pencil he was doodling and drawing. As he grew up he became more and more talented.

Art class was his only escape as a child, I'd heard from his parents and friends when he was young he had trouble making friends.

Mrs. Liebgott was quick to stick him in therapy, Joe the first born of five.

In therapy Joe barely talked but spent most of his time drawing. She took his drawings and began to read his emotions that way.

As his childhood went on his art skills advanced colored pencils and markers turned into acrylic paint and watercolor. Stick figures turned into actual people. The sun in the corner turned to shading. Printer paper turned to canvas.

His mother still has his childhood art hung up around her house.

I personally met my bitter half my Junior year of high school. My parents moved us from a penthouse in Manhattan to a far too large house for three in Frisco'.

I transferred high schools and just wanted to push through.

I met Joe in my math class, he was passing notes with a boy across the room conveniently also named Joe.

The math teacher was a hard ass with no will to help a child but to rather get a paycheck.

Mr. Sobel will forever be the bane of my existence; However, one day while the two Joes tossed a crumpled paper ball across the room. It landed on my desk on accident the moment Sobel turned around.

"What was that?" the tall man got defensive, "Whose passing notes? David, what's that in your lap?"

The lengthy man stormed across the room to my desk holding out his hand.

"Sir, it's just a book. I'm sorry I wasn't paying attention." I held up the book I was in fact reading instead of listening to him drone on.

"Put it away. Mr. Toye? Mr. Liebgott would you know anything about a paper ball being thrown across my classroom." Sobel crossed his arms and tapped his foot. I looked between the lengthy skinny boy with a septum and the Pureto Rican boy with the lip ring and a Twilight hoodie.

"Nope," Twilight hoodie popped his P.

"Not a damn thing, Sobel." Septum piercing crossed his arms leaning back in his chair.

"Language Liebgott," Sobel warned, "You hear me, no passing notes. I will know."

The man then turned back to the board writing down and drowning on circular circumferences.

That's when my life changed forever, I unwadded the ball. It had some messy handwriting about how boring Sobel was and a far too realistic quick sketch of Sobel sucking a dick.

I glanced at who I knew was Joe Liebgott. His eyes were narrowed and his eyebrows furrowed as he watched me with the sheet of paper.

"Now," he mouthed with his hand extended for the note. I glanced at the other Joe as he played with his black lip ring with his tongue watching me and nodded to the other Joe. Sobel had his back turned and I shakily stood up and walked to the back of class and handed it to Joe Liebgott. He snatched it from my hand and shoved it in his jean pocket.

"What're you doing out of your seat Webster?" Sobel spoke up now facing the class.

"Joe dropped his pen. I was just giving it back to him. I'm sorry sir," I hurried back to my seat and tried to pay attention to the rest of his class.

At the end of class on my way out Joe Liebgott grabbed my backpack tugging me back, "Hey Web or whatever the fuck your name is. Don't go fuckin' snooping through other peoples shit...Don't ever think about rattin' on us either." Lieb barked

"Lieb, give him a break, he's new, sorry about him." Joe came over to the two standing there.

"I got my eyes on ya Web." Lieb pointed at him as the other Joe pulled him away down the wall.

Somehow two months later we were dating and I couldn't function without his constant attention.

I quickly learned Joe was the most artistic person I'd ever met. Almost everyday Joe wore a leather jacket with an assortment of band patches and other patches on it. Turns out he had painted and sewed all of his patches on.

He'd also draw me doodles on everything, napkins, random paper, he painted me for one of his AP Art assignments. It was displayed in our high school for the rest of the year.

Something you've probably learned now is art and gifts is how he says I love you to me.

Sometimes I'll go back to an old book and pressed flowers would fall out that he had forgotten about. A few times he would draw scenes in pen on the pages.

Joe draws and paints it's how he shows his love. He only spoke those three words to me a handful of times. He would rarely let his emotions out for others to hear or see.

I think I can only recall a handful of times he was emotionally transparent with me.

Throughout high school Joe went to therapy and all kinds of psychologists because of having anger problems and an assortment of mental health problems.

     Joe had, had a bad day. His Bubbe passed away the week prior, god Joe loved her so much.

She was only 6 when the Holocaust and WWII began. Her family avoided getting hauled off to a work camp until it happened.

Once she survived to the end of the war she was orphaned.

Adopted by a Jewish US solider and his wife they brought her back to Frisco' where she was raised sticking to her roots.

Bubbe had a thick Austrian accent and David loved to listen to her talk for the short amount of time he knew her.

There was nothing more that Joe loved than was spending time with his Great grandmother. Every Wednesday Joe would go to her house and have tea together and bitch about life.

But she had passed from old age and Joe was heart broken.

Joe didn't process emotions well, when things were tough he would get self destructive and mean. He would shut everyone out, his art would turn into cooler shades or just black pen or charcoal.

I began noticing how his art and color theory reflected his emotions.

That day I couldn't get ahold of him, he had left school early to go to therapy.

I had called him more than 15 times. I needed to see him because I knew he needed to not be alone.

I drove my car out to where he went when he wanted to be alone or where he'd take me sometimes. It was a Rocky look out over the San Francisco Bay. We liked to listen to the sound of the waves hitting the rocks. I parked my car next to his beat up old Impala and climbed out of my car. Joe sat at the lookout his legs hanging over the edge resting his head on the lower bar. He nursed a cigarette in his hand.

I'd been trying to get Joe to quit but it was his unhealthy coping.

"How'd you know I was here," Joe spoke just above a whisper as he brought the cigarette back to his mouth and took a long in hale leaving it to dangle between his lips.

"Your mom said you'd probably be here," I sighed walking over and sitting next to him.

"Why're you here?" He flicked the cigarette off the edge watching it fall into the water before reaching for another one out of his pack sitting next to him.

I let him have it I wasn't gonna fight him on this tonight. He brought it to his lips and lit it setting his lighter back down.

"You shouldn't be alone. I don't want you to be alone." I spoke quietly staring out into the ocean.

"I wanna be alone," Joe grunted and took another long drag.

"I don't care," I dead panned. Joe had issues with his BPD pretty much his whole life on top of having manic depression.

A period of time went on both of us staring out into the ocean, Joe chain smoking, a broken sob broke their silence.

"Fuck. I cant believe she's gone." Joe sniffed letting his head fall into his hands as he wiped his eyes.

"I'm really sorry liebling," I sighed. Me and Joe only ever called each other pet names in German.

"It's fine, it's fine." Joe sighed rubbing his tears away and trying to hold back sobs, "She just meant everything to me I didn't think she could actually die."

I staid silent I just wanted him to let it all out.

"I don't know who to go to. I just feel like she was the only one who I could talk to besides you but she's always been there for me." Joe sniffed.

"I'm really sorry," I moved next to him and rested my hand on his thigh.

"Here let's get you home it's freezing out here." I stood up helping him up.

The other time Joe showed real genuine human emotion was on our wedding day. But it doesn't happen often but I treasure the moments that it does happen.

       I love the ways Joe says I love you to me. It's almost like our special connection, I won't forget how proud Joe was when he bought a tattoo machine off of Amazonand tattooed 'DW' on his collarbone.

Joe would often show his I love yous through tattoos on himself for me.

He had gotten the title of my favorite poem by Walt Whitman tattooed on his ribs.

     When it comes to the end of the day I couldn't say enough I love you's to Joe to feel how much I really did love him.

I loved every part of him, his fluffy chocolate brown hair, his deep brown eyes, the way he'd kept his septum in since high school, and his soft, pale skin. I loved to just lay and be in his presence.

To just feel him pressed up against me and the soft kisses he'd leave behind my ear.

      We'd be together and love each other in the strange way we showed it till death did us part and we'd meet again in the stars.

[seashellblue]

The big art dump.

I'm returning a lender iPad soon so I figured I'd treat tumblr as an image hosting website and throw all my recent artwork on here instead.

Theoretically it would be betting for metrics if I spread out my posts instead of doing them all at once... but I don't really plan on becoming a social media influencer anyway and tumblr was supposed to be the one place left that free of all that stuff lol

I'm just happy with the fact I can store these images here ~

Full explanation of the lore n' stuff under the cut!

1-2 - Misc. Drawings

Just a landscape test to get used to a new program (Fresco) and a still life referenced from a photo of some flowers in a vase.

3 - The Initiates

Mostly-undeveloped urban fantasy story, I think it's got a killer group of main character but I can't seem to find a good villain to pit them against or plot beats to work through. Currently still using placeholder names too, from left to right are Silver (monster hunter), Gold (witch), Green (werewolf) and Red (vampire).

4-5 - Ocean of Green

If you can't tell by the Hollow Knight bug in image 5, Ocean of Green is basically me just indulging in my love of Hollow Knight's entire artistic direction and style. Although there's also a bit of Sky: Children of the Light and Kuneho in there as well.

Plot's pretty weak, and that's probably the main reason why I don't feel the motivation to nail down some character designs I actually want to work with. Everything above just doesn't hit the right spot, at least for now.

Image 4 is mostly the twins Wisteria (ponytail) and Gahnia (no ponytail). Then 5 is more Wisteria (ponytail + the design with antlers), more Gahnia (anything with red hair) and another character called Nymphae (five-leaf crown).

6-8 - Crow's Orbit

This was a space opera, mostly combining some of the passing knowledge I heard about Star Wars (never watched it myself), plus a bit of Chinese mythology and a very small pinch of xianxia (once again, don't extensively follow the genre, so only a very small amount of inspiration).

The drawings were mostly me just figuring out the design for the main alien species of the setting, using some secondary characters from the story as a testing ground. Ultimately I'm actually quite happy with what I ended up with. Pictured from left to right are (and you'll have to forgive me for the unpronounceable alien names);

Xaashidean “Ash” (red), and Vivryaahnix "Annex" (blue-white) of the Xilica. A silicon-based species that uses psychic powers to levitate and maintain a constant operating temperature of 500° Celsius.

Yrii-Yhroande "Hira" of the Kyurione, a combination of two lifeforms existing in symbiosis like a herbivorous boar-like animal and a carnivorous plant. Bit like a green sea slug, haha.

Then lastly, Ze'Zreyin "Zevs" of the Varan'ze. Parasitic lifeforms that resemble larva, specialized in consuming and replacing the brains of their ecosystem's lifeforms. That, combined with a mastery of genetic engineering allow the Varan'ze to custom make their bodies to excel at any task. Under normal circumstances, Varan'ze act under a psychic hive mind, with their consciousness thinking of itself as a singular organism - a bit like how we think of ourselves as individuals despite being made of of a near incomprehensible multitude of cells.

9-10 - Burnished / Icosah

Probably one of my most developed worlds from a pure worldbuilding / cultural standpoint, mostly because it's designed more to be a TTRPG setting than for a standalone comic or webnovel. First image is a map of the two habitable continents with the major regions colour-coded, but not labelled... You're not missing out on much the names are all unpronounceable lol

Second image is just a quick doodle of some characters, left one is a weird Aasimar with a name I must omit due to potential future spoilers for a D&D campaign, right one's a Drow called Zinrena Aranriira. The character arc that poor girl goes through, oof...

11-18 - Everyone Loves A Songbird

... You can tell I have a bit of a preference for this one.

Just a heap of character designs with a pair of light doodles / joke drawings at the end. Story's still in early development so they all have placeholder names (this is my excuse for the names being dumb and nonsensical).

First green image is of the story's protagonists, [Half-Moon] (a reserved but kindhearted cleric with a few secrets to hide) and [Devouring Blue] (says he's a bard but seems like they're just a bit too good at martial arts for that to not be a lie). Three images below that are [Half-Moon]'s starting design from the story's beginning, his demon form (the angst is never-ending, he really is the crawling in my crawl of our generation), and an outfit update [Devouring Blue] gets about a third of the way into the story.

Next two are [The Pine Tree], a young king with a few too many enemies and not enough allies to spare, and [Yellow Ribbon], [Devouring Blue]'s estranged older brother.

As for the joke drawings, I know they're a little messy, so I'll clarify that the first one's [Half-Moon] and [The Pine Tree] and the second is [Half-Moon] and [Devouring Blue].

And yeah, that's about it!

[sumakha]

new sumakha maps just dropped!!! (and already added to the intro post)

random ramblings + previous maps under the cut

whew! third version of the sumakha map! if you saw the previous one in the intro post, you may think it looks pretty much the same, and youd be like, half-right. i used the previous map as a base still, but edited the proportions quite a lot (the old version was much more horizontal because i traced over the supercontinent rodinia for it and thats what rodinia was like)

what i think i really improved on is biomes! i finally took an ecology class (so far my favorite class ive taken in college) and i finally know the proper names of the common biomes AND where they should be (i actually got inspired to finally remake the map because i hated how i put the desert right on the equator on that one). also learned about RAIN SHADOWS!!!!! rain shadows my beloved ohhhh they saved my ass irt making the biomes make sense and also making the map look cool. i know a lot less about rivers and where they flow though, so the rivers i put on are tentative, but i think they look mostly fine. i think it'll be a while before i tweak the map again

just for fun, here's the old maps i had before (just the biome versions b/c the countries are still in the same relative place):

this map is from... exactly two years ago actually. i didn't really know what i wanted or how to make a landmass that looked natural, i just knew that it was gonna be a supercontinent with one island branching off. also didnt realize that arid grasslands and savannahs are The Exact Same Thing LOL

this one is from 7 months after the previous map, so august 2021. im REALLY glad i decided to look into earth's previous supercontinents because learning how to draw unique landmasses would have been... kind of a hassle since rodinia ended up looking so similar to what i wanted. it's kinda funny, i didn't know what rain shadows were yet but i still put them in accidentally. only things really wrong with this one is the desert right on the equator and me still not realizing that arid grasslands and savannahs are the same thing

okay that's all the old maps but holy shit here's a BONUS map!!! i thought it'd be fun to map out where the ocs i draw the most are from.

shikann and goddska are guys i have yet to post (they're part of eki's story), and kenzhe is a guy i have posted before in a doodle dump but haven't expanded on. i would've put tehmikh on here but tbh i haven't figured out exactly where he's from, just that he tours around annoshik

okay that's it! i think! i hope you guys enjoy the political map as well, i know it's a bit busy but i didn't expect to write all over it. in the next few days i'm finally gonna add a 'history' section to the intro post that'll give more context :-3 anyway enjoy

[enfrigginfuego]

2022 Fic in Review

I found this while I was looking for something else and decided to revive it for this year!

Tagging: @maryellencarter, @ysalamiri-queen, @called-kept, @tabbiewolfreblogs, @mistr3ssquickly, @dukeswonderousmenagerie, and @sempaiko! (Hi, SW friends, this is still @hixystix/@x-wing-junkie!)

So, for 2022, I have:

Total Number of Fics: 10 posted, 1 that will be posted, 1 I plan to write, 1 that might not get posted until the new year.

Total Wordcount: 158,099 (so far)

Fandoms: Lupin III & Star Wars: Rebels

Most Popular Fic (by bookmarks): At Sea (41 bookmarks)

Most Popular Fic (by kudos): Also At Sea (170 kudos)

Favourite Fic: Little Thefts, published 11/09

And below the cut, a month-by-month recap!

January

Nothing this month!

February

Morning Coffee: a short little Kalluzeb office AU ficlet! Pretty cute and fun to write, it was inspired by some @sempaiko art.

Ties That Bind: my first foray into multichapter Lupin fic, this is a soulmate fic that tries not to be a typical soulmate fic. After all, just cause you have a bond doesn't mean you don't have to work on your relationships, right?

Gimme Shelter: This was supposed to end up being LuZeni porn but just became a sorta sweet, sorta silly survival fic. Got to draw on my Wilderness EMT training, so that was fun.

March

The Last Prince: Part of my SPN/Rebels fusion series I wrote with Sempaiko! I wrote plot, she wrote porn, it worked well. :D

At Sea: Started in March, completed in May. This was my follow-up to Gimme Shelter and turned out to be a hell of a lot of fun to write. Because of course Lupin would tag along on Zenigata's vacation!

April

Resistance: So this wasn't intended to serve as a goodbye to the Rebels fandom, but it kind of did that anyway. I still love it, but I burned out a bit after 2 years, 58 stories, and almost a million words.

May & June

I was in a medicinal haze these months and got NO writing done. I was just glad I finished At Sea in time.

July

Smother Your Sorrows: This one is ALL @maryellencarter's fault for giving me an angsty prompt. It was an adventure to write because I was both thrilled to be writing again and challenged with characterizations and emotions I hadn't written before. Pretty proud of this one.

August, September, & October

I was working on Smother all these months!

November

Little Thefts: written for my friend @lots-o-doodles, who wanted something JigLup involving Jigen's purple shirt. It went more places than that, but it's cute and it's sweet and I have fun re-reading it!

Thief of Time: Still in progress! I actually wrote the first three chapters of this back in Jan/Feb, but it took me until November to figure out how to continue. If I can pull off this next chapter, I'll be as proud as I am of Smother.

Birthday Presents: Dashed off in a couple days for Jigen's birthday, this actually was the only smut I wrote so far this year!

December

Still to come: my Lupin holiday exchange fic, a LuZeni smut fic for Christmas (hopefully) and hopefully the end of Thief of Time!

[ox24g]

I love your art! What is your process like for making your comics and other drawings?

Hello! Thanks so much, that's very kind of you to say, and I'm genuinely so glad my silly comics are being enjoyed 💖

With regards to my process, I'm very disorginised and inconsistant. Generally speaking, if I get an idea, I'll either doodle something of it or write it down on any scrap paper I have to hand. If I'm actually sat down at my desk and trying to come up with ideas, I'll write out a bunch of them until I settle on something I like.

(under the cut because I wound up rambling and adding too many pictures of WIPS)

The top image here in particular, I did on the train, on the back of an airplane ticket (I'd got stranded at Geneva airport for 9 hours with only my copy of The Hobbit to keep me sane). I then did a few sketches of this particular pose of Bilbo, and some more sketches of Bofur (which, unfortunately, I no longer have to hand) to figure out how I wanted to draw him, before re-doing the same image on a slightly larger piece of paper in pencils, then going over that in a fine-line pen (0.05 for characters, 0.5 for text), and scanning it to my computer where I could clean anything up.

This one with Thranduil, I got quite stuck on Bilbo's pose. I'd wanted to draw him from more of a high-angle, but settled on just drawing him straight on 😅

With this one, I got stuck on Bilbo's pose again, because perspectives is hard 😂

For this, I took a photo of myself from that angle and used that as a reference, but when doing this it's good to try and avoid just straight up drawing yourself into the comic (which I have accidentally done on occasion). The one in the middle facing left with a slightly pointy nose was the first sketch on the page and is really just a picture of myself. I drew this comic a couple of times before I was happy with it... I'm still not happy with it 😂

This was another one I had to draw a bunch of times to get Bilbo looking the right brand of scrunkly/ get the perspective right.

When doing initial sketches, I do them on pretty much any paper (and sometimes immediately regret that), but for the fully inked drawings, I'll put them on either gsm 100 or bristol board- the latter is needed if I'm using a dip pen.

For this one I did a bunch of thumbnails first, but also spent a good deal of time practicing drawing all the individual plants (mainly the meadowsweets). This was done with my dip-pen, so it had to go on bristol board. It was then scanned and I cleaned it up with Firealpaca. Probably not the best program for cleaning things up, but I find it very simple and easy to use. I think for this one, I did the colours first with pencils and then inked it afterwards. You'll see a red line on the left edge of the onion which was my sketch.

For this one, I put the scanned image into Firealpaca, then set that as a "multiply" layer and added all the base colours. Since it was perfectly in black and white from the scanner, using them as lines was easy. I then did "select-> brightness" on that initial scan layer (which only selected the most saturated parts/ the black lines), then made a new layer and just filled the entire selected area with red and made that a multiply layer for my lines. I duplicated the new lines layer and then made the duplicate a little blurry with the "gaussian blur" tool, for the nice fluffy lines look. All the shading is just one multiply layer in purple.

I cannot overstate my own laziness...

Anyway, I went on and really rambled probably without answering your question very well, so have some more dirt to show that I have no idea how to draw Thorin.

[edith-hyde]

Norman Osborn X Female Reader

I Forgot My Umbrella - Part 7

Word Count: 3694

Summary: Your college friends stop by for a visit and the worst thing possible happens. But you also finally give a name to those "Unnamed Feelings" you have for your Boss.

Warnings: Age gap. Drama. One mention of "The Devil's Tango" and if you don't know what that is... figure it out. Let's say because of that, this episode is rated PG. *shrug*

A/N: Sadly, Norman himself does not appear in this episode BUT he is mentioned a lot. And I am so sorry this episode is on the longer side. I got a little carried away while writing. I tried to cut it in half but it was hard to find a good breaking point. [It was originally well over 4000 words.] Plus, I wanna get to Part 8 as soon as possible. Self-indulgent fluff is in our future, folks!

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If there’s one thing that can be said about artists, it’s that they can tend to be a bit… obsessive. And you were no exception. Since the day you had met Norman you had found everything about his appearance appealing. From his fluffy brown hair down to his fancy dress shoes- you liked every bit of him.

And, as with most things you liked, you wanted to draw it.

The day after you met him, you had gone home and opened a brand new sketchbook just to practice drawing him. You started out just drawing his suits and ties as they were always different each day. You also doodled his office and the New York skyline on a few pages. The pages following those were filled with attempts to get Norman’s face just right. You wished he was here so you could draw him properly, but your memory would have to do for now. You loved drawing his tousled hair, intense eyes, sharp teeth, and even his slightly crooked nose. You knew he wasn’t ‘handsome’ by other people’s standards.

But you didn’t care about other people’s standards.

His strong features just made him all the more fun to draw. His happy toothy grin would forever make you smile in return. Even with his tooth gap- you loved his smile. So you were grinning to yourself as you finished a sketch of him smiling. You were so engrossed in your artistic high that, before you knew it, you had filled another four pages with sketches. Several were of his face and others featured him sitting or standing by your desk. You even had a few drawings of just his hands and a close up of his watch.

It was at this point you realized just how deeply you were entrenched in your feelings for Norman.

And you know what?

You didn’t care.

The feeling made you happy and you loved having the inspiration to draw again. You were on your fifth page of sketches when your door suddenly burst open and three very loud people came crashing into your apartment.

“Y/N! WHATCHA DOIN’!?”

You gave a surprised yelp, slammed your sketchbook shut and about leapt out of your skin. You were assaulted with an excessive amount of laughing as you fully registered that your college friends had stopped in for a surprise visit.

And they abused the key you gave one of them.

Again.

“Key privileges revoked!” you shouted angrily, “Give it here, Dan!”

“Oh come on, don’t be like that!”

You glowered at your three friends. Dan, Tracy, and Kevin were three of your closest friends during your years studying art. And while you didn’t get to see them often, they still liked to crash your place every once in a while. Dan was usually the perpetrator of this. He was by far the most annoying one out of the group. If he wasn’t dating Tracy, you probably never would have befriended him on your own. You were never too fond of his obnoxious childish demeanor.

“Give it up,” you demanded as you stalked towards them, “I told you if you did that again I would take the key back. Now give.”

“You’re no fun,” the blonde haired man pouted as he gave you the key, “Lighten up.”

“You gave me a heart attack!” You snapped as you snatched the key, “And you two! Stop laughing!”

Tracy and Kevin’s laughter tapered off but they were still grinning at you. You fixed them with a glare and Tracy cocked an eyebrow.

“Why is your face all red?”

“Yeah, you look like a kid who got caught doin’ something they weren’t supposed to,” Kevin added.

You could now feel the heat in your face. You had almost been caught drawing an excessive amount of pictures of your boss. Of course you were blushing. And the fact that they had noticed just made it worse.

“It’s because I’m mad,” you snapped, “What are you guys doing here anyways?”

You stomped back to the couch and plopped down. You made sure to tuck your sketchbook behind your back to keep it hidden. The last thing you needed was for them to know what you had been drawing. You weren’t ready to talk about your “unnamed feelings” for Norman yet.

“We had some free time and thought we’d stop by,” Dan explained, “We haven’t seen ya since Christmas. How’s job hunting goin’?”

Your three friends took different seats around your small apartment. Dan sat at the other end of the couch, Kevin sat on the coffee table, and Tracy sat on the arm of the couch by Dan. The curly headed woman started playing with Dan’s hair- something she always did to show she had a claim on him.

“I got a job,” you said proudly, “Been workin’ there a week now.”

“Right on,” Kevin offered you a fist bump, “So what is it? You an art teacher?”

“Personal assistant actually.”

Your friends all shared a confused look and Dan piped up first.

“What was the art degree for then?”

Tracy smacked him on the top of the head.

“Rude.”

“No he’s got a point,” you laughed, “This is just a temporary thing. Ya know. To get job experience.”

As you said the words, you felt your heart fall into oblivion. Temporary. That had been your plan when you applied. But now… You honestly didn’t want to work anywhere else. The idea of leaving OSCORP, leaving Norman, made your stomach twist. Yeah… you had it bad.

“So where’s this personal assistant job at?” Tracy asked.

“OSCORP,” you answered with excitement, “You know, the big tower a few blocks over. I work directly for the CEO, Norman Osborn.”

Tracy instantly grimaced.

“Why the heck would you wanna work there? Are you out of your mind?”

You furrowed your brow.

“No? I like working there.”

Tracy shook her head, still looking at you with disgust.

“They’re a weapons manufacturer. Within city limits! You don’t think that’s even a little bit messed up?”

“They don’t develop weapons anymore,” you said with a roll of your eyes, “They’ve got labs researching clean energy and limb regeneration. Norma- I mean, Dr. Osborn has taken the company in a completely different direction.”

“My dad calls Norman Osborn, Dr. Dirtbag,” Dan laughed, “Says he’d sell ya to the devil for a cornchip.”

“He would not!” You snapped.

This response earned you concerned stares from all of them. Dan scowled and shifted to lean forward, pulling his head away from Tracy’s hands.

“Why are you so defensive over it?”

“Dr. Osborn is very nice,” you stated proudly.

You almost started gushing about how nice it was to work with Norman and how much of a gentleman he was, but you held your tongue. You were starting to get the feeling that your friends would NOT understand.

“I think it’s cool,” Kevin declared loudly, “I always wanted to go in there. Thought the architecture looked cool. What’s the lobby look like? I feel like it should have an Art Deco vibe but I could also see it havin’ a Neoclassical look maybe.”

You gave a little chuckle as you shrugged.

“I’m not an architect, Kevin. I don’t know… it’s clean? Black floors?”

Kevin grinned.

“You should take some pictures of the inside, dude. I wanna see it.”

“I am not taking pictures, Kevin,” you laughed, “I have to work. I can’t take my polaroid everywhere.”

“Why are you still using a polaroid?” Dan laughed, “Get a digital camera for goodness sake.”

You gave an expression of mock-hurt.

“Go digital? Are you insane? Why I would never! I like having the physical photo as soon as possible.”

You were glad the conversation was leaving the topic of OSCORP. You really didn’t feel like having to defend Norman, but you would if you had to. He wasn’t a bad man and they had never even met him. They had no right to pass judgment. But more importantly, you didn’t want them to figure out you had feelings for him.

You knew that would not go well.

—

Several hours passed as you and your friends caught up on everything. You did your best to keep the conversation away from your job, choosing instead to indulge Dan in his desire to talk about himself.

“I’m hungry,” Tracy whined after a while, “Let’s go get something to eat.”

“Ooo! Yeah! And Y/N can pay since she’s got the devil’s money.”

You glared at Dan and he held his hands up in surrender.

“Alright, alright, I’m done. Jeez. Learn to take a joke, Y/N. You didn’t used to be this uptight.”

“I am not uptight,” you glowered, “I just don’t like you judging people without actually meeting them.”

“That’s kinda my job,” Dan laughed as he pointed at himself, “Journalist remember?”

“I would hardly call you a journalist,” you smirked, “You write for a trashy tabloid. That’s hardly journalism.”

“Potato, Tomato,” Dan laughed, “One day I’ll be workin’ at the Daily Bugle writing slander about Spider-Man.”

You rolled your eyes.

“It would be liable, Dan. Slander is spoken.”

“Whatever.”

“And I wouldn’t be proud to write that kinda stuff. It’s all lies.”

Tracy hopped up from her seat.

“Come on!” she prompted, “We can argue about whether Spider-Man is a menace on the way to food!”

You all laughed as Tracy gestured wildly towards the door. Hopping up from your seat, you stepped ahead of everyone to grab your jacket off the hook by the door. You already had the door open when you heard Dan give a mischievous giggle.

“Oh ho ho! Lookie what I found! Y/N’s sketchbook! She was sitting on it. What could she be hiding, hmmm?”

Your blood ran cold.

No… Please, God, no…

By the time you turned he was already flipping through it. Tracy had come to look over his shoulder while Kevin was in the processes of retying his shoes. The horror of the moment was written all over your face as you dashed across the room.

“Stop it Dan!! Give it here!”

Dan jerked away from you and stepped around the couch.

“What’s your problem? You never cared before.”

You made another grab for it, desperation clear in your voice.

“Please, Dan!!”

“Dude,” Kevin grouched as he looked up from his shoes, “Give it back.”

“Oh it’s just a sketchbook!” Dan laughed, “What do you have to hide, huh? Been drawing lewd-”

Dan flipped the page and stopped. You tried to grab the book again, even going so far as to stand up on the couch. But once again he stepped out of your reach. His expression was unreadable but you knew what he was looking at.

“Please…”

You dropped to your knees on the couch cushions as Dan flipped the book around. Your drawing of Norman smiling was now in full view for everyone. Your face felt like it was on fire. You buried your face into the fabric on the back of the couch and felt the sting of tears.

You were so embarrassed!

No one, NO ONE, was supposed to see those!

They were your drawings.

Your private thoughts.

Dan had no right.

“Seriously, Y/N? This is why you were defending Norman Osborn so hard, huh? Look at all these, Trace. She’s totally obsessed with him.”

Dan flipped through the pages so Tracy could see and she grimaced.

“He looks so weird! Are his teeth really like that?”

Your blood began to boil as your hands turned into fists.

If they said one more thing…

“I know right? Seriously, what do you see in hi- HEY!”

You looked up to see Kevin bearing down on Dan, the sketchbook in his hand. Being much taller than Dan, he was able to easily hold it out of his reach.

“Give it back, man!”

“No.”

Dan made several attempts to reclaim the sketchbook, but to no avail. Finally he gave up.

“I think this is cause for an intervention,” Dan declared.

“It’s none of our business,” Kevin said in an even tone.

“You’re not the least bit worried about her having the hots for her boss?” Dan questioned.

“Not to mention, he’s Norman Osborn.” Tracy added, “He’s like, what? Twice her age? And he’s not a good guy. I mean, at least according to the newspapers he’s not…”

Kevin walked over to you and handed back the sketchbook. You quickly snatched it and hugged it to your chest. You couldn’t help the tears now and your jaw clenched. Tracy noticed your expression and she began to apologize.

“I’m sorry, Y/N. You were just drawing him because he’s got an interesting face, weren’t you? Like back in school when you drew that guy on the bus-”

“No,” you cut in, “It’s not that. I… I do… I am… I’m in love with him.”

Saying it out loud made it real.

The unnamed feelings now had a name. You loved him. You knew it was probably too early to call it love exactly, but there were only so many words in the English language. And ‘like’ was far too weak a word to describe the feelings you had for Norman.

“Are you… are the two of you…?”

You knew what she was trying to ask and you immediately shook your head.

“He doesn’t know how I feel. I haven’t… told him… yet.”

Dan rolled his eyes.

“You don’t actually think you could have a real relationship with a guy like him, do ya?”

You glanced up at him, eyebrows furrowed. The look you gave him said it all and Dan gave a look of disgust.

“You can’t be serious… What would the two of you even have in common? He’s old enough to be your dad. It’s honestly really gross.”

Dan gave a harsh laugh.

“Like, just imagine for a second, going on a date with him. People are gonna be so weirded out.”

You thought about going on a date with Norman and the visual made your butterflies dance. Having a candlelit dinner with him in some beautiful restaurant. Holding his hand from across the table as the two of you talked. It was a dream come true. You couldn’t care less what other people thought.

“I wouldn’t care,” you whispered, “Why should I worry about what other people think?”

“You should care,” Dan snapped, “Everybody at OSCORP is gonna think you’re doin’ the old Devil’s Tango with the boss.”

Full on rage bubbled inside of you as Dan laughed. He looked around the room as if he was going to gain encouragement but neither Tracy nor Kevin offered it. You actually saw Kevin tense up, his hands clenched into fists.

“Come on guys! Back me up here. We can’t just let her chase after this creepy old dude. I mean, seriously, he looks like a gargoyle.”

That was the last straw.

Before you could stop yourself, you were grabbing the nearest object and chucking it at Dan. Thankfully, it was just your eraser. Dan gave a yelp as it hit him in the side of the head.

“What the heck ma-”

“SHUT UP AND GET OUT!”

Dan gapped at you.

“Why? Because you know I’m right?”

Your tears were falling freely now as you pointed at the door.

“NO! MEAT-HEAD!!! It’s because you’re being a jerk! You had no right to look through my sketchbook. Especially after I asked you to stop!”

You took a deep breath and fixed Dan with a glare that could kill.

“And you have no right to make fun of me for FALLING IN LOVE WITH NORMAN OSBORN!! So leave. NOW.”

Your breathing was labored as you remained pointing at the door. Dan looked flabbergasted and tried to find aid in Kevin. But the taller man shook his head.

“You’re on your own, dude. Don’t look at me.”

“You’re being ridiculous,” Dan said with a roll of his eyes, “Getting so bent out of shape over this is so stupid. Come on, Trace. Let’s go.”

Dan stalked out of the apartment, shaking his head. Tracy trailed along behind him, an apologetic look on her face. Before the two closed the door, Dan turned back and glared at you.

“If you wanna go chasing after gross older men, be my guest. But don’t be surprised when he just uses you and throws you to the side. That’s all guys like him do in places like that. You’re just gonna be another notch in the belt.”

With that, he and Tracy left. A sob left you as you crashed into the couch, hugging your sketchbook. Kevin came around to crouch beside you. He set his hand on your back and sighed.

“Dan’s a dirtbag,” he muttered, “And he’s gotten even worse since he started workin’ for that stupid trashy magazine.”

“I didn’t want anyone to see,” you hiccupped, “They’re mine… I just drew them for me…”

“And that’s cool,” Kevin shrugged, “You’re an artist. Art is how you cope. Wasn’t like you were drawin’ him shirtless or anything.”

You turned to look at him, your face bright red. Kevin grinned at you.

“Put that in your head, didn’t I?”

You glowered and turned your head into the fabric in an attempt to hide your blushing face.

“Jerk,” you mumbled.

Kevin chuckled as he moved to sit beside you on the couch. The two of you sat in silence for a long time before you let out a whoosh of air. Your anger was finally starting to calm.

“Maybe I overreacted a little,” you said, voice muffled by the cushion.

“Nah. Dan deserved it. I woulda chucked the sketchbook at him. I was honestly about to punch. But you don’t need me to defend you.”

You tilted your head up, beaming at your friend.

“Thanks Kevin. Good to know you’re still cool.”

“Always, dude. Cool is my middle name.”

The two of you shared a laugh as you sat up and wiped your eyes. Kevin pointed at the sketchbook.

“Can I see ‘em? It’s cool if ya don’t wanna show me. But I’ve always loved your art.”

You were hesitant but eventually you opened up the sketchbook to show him. He nodded as he flipped through the pages.

“These are pretty good, dude. You’re getting really good at drawing real people.”

“Thanks.”

Kevin inspected one of the sketches and bobbed his head.

“He does have an interesting face.”

You scowled.

“Is that code for ugly?”

“Nah,” Kevin flipped to the next page, “It’s code for- you can like whatever man you want.” He paused for a moment and scowled, “Unless he’s like a child or a serial killer. Then I might say something.”

You giggled as he handed the book back to you.

“Thanks.”

“Hey, no problem.”

You gave him a sideways glance. Hesitantly, you asked a question you were dreading the answer to.

“What are you really thinking? Do you think I’m being gross? Be honest.”

“You’re not being gross,” Kevin said quickly, “Weird? Maybe. Gross? Nah. Weird is right on par with you, dude. You’ve always had interesting tastes… So… are you serious about pursuing a relationship with him? Or are you happy with things as they are?”

You thought for a long moment.

“I want to be his friend,” you said quietly, “I know that sounds dumb and childish… but he’s interesting to me. And if I ever get the courage to tell him how I feel…”

Kevin nodded. After a moment, he heaved a sigh and gave his honest thoughts.

“I don’t think this will be easy. As much as I hate to admit it, Dan did have a point. What would the two of you have in common? I know a relationship is a lot more than just common interests, but… you gotta consider that a guy his age probably enjoys vastly different things than you. And more than likely, he’s gonna see your hobbies and interests as childish.”

You sighed and fell back against the couch.

“Yeah… But so far he hasn’t said anything like that. He’s listened to me talk about my hobbies and he’s never said anything judgmental about them. He said himself that he doesn’t have many hobbies, if any. He’s been a workaholic for the past several years. He’s been trying to break himself of that.”

You thought for a moment, trying to find something you and Norman shared.

“I know we both like good stories. He’s read a lot of classic books. Dude made it through the entirety of the Lord of the Rings.”

“Impressive,” Kevin admitted, “I gave up during the Two Towers.”

You laughed and nodded. They were hard books. And you weren’t about to share where you stopped, or if you had even bothered to read them at all.

“Speaking of Two Towers though, they’re still showing it in theaters.”

“Oh yeah?”

Kevin nodded but frowned.

“I ain’t got time to go see it though. Wish I could. School is kickin’ my butt.”

“Bummer. I meant to go see it back in December, but with no job, I couldn’t really justify spending money on a ticket.”

“Yeah. But now ya got dough,” Kevin grinned. “You could invite Norman to go watch it with you.”

You gapped at Kevin.

“Do you think… Do you think he’d want to? Cuz like, he did say he was trying to stop overworking. And he does enjoy movies, he just didn’t have time for them before.”

Kevin got to his feet.

“You’ll never know unless ya ask him,” Kevin stretched, “Now come on. Let’s go get somethin’ to eat. I’m starvin’.”

You rose to your feet and gave Kevin a quick hug.

“Thanks for being such a good friend, man.”

“Like I said, it’s no problem, dude.”

You and Kevin left your apartment and you felt strangely free. You had finally named that feeling that was growing inside you. You had been so scared to admit it before, but weirdly enough, Dan’s questioning of Norman helped you finally realize the only name you could call these feelings.

You could say it now.

You were in love with Norman Osborn.

[bootleg-sara]

New character batch out! Now featuring Blue Baby (who is never called that in story lol) and The Lost

There wouldn't be a comic for these two this time as they can't technically interact. Though I do have a short lore post about Magic and Alignments to make up for that. All you need to know for now is that Alignments choose what kind of magic a human soul has. And I will draw a little something for The Lost too.

Character Bios and more doodles undercut

BB (Isaac/Bennett Benedictus/Blue): Same voice claim as Isaac

When Isaac got hold of the Book of Prophets from The Lost, his soul was separated from his body and transferred to the afterlife. While Isaac is awake, he is on earth doing whatever Isaac does. When he’s asleep, he’s in hell with Cain and Lilith trying to figure out how to get by the new environment. Taking on a new name to protect his real identity on earth if something where to go wrong. The name Bennett was made in a panicked shock before he was settled in. Though everyone calls him Blue cause it’s easier.

Now because BB and Isaac are the same person, just a separated conscious, they have the same personality. Anything I said about Isaac in his bio also applies here. There are a few slight changes given his circumstances. BB tends to be much more panicked and on edge. He’s considered a “high value person” in the afterlife. Because his soul is still attached to a physical body, he acts as a constant connection between the two realms. While it’s not known how it can be used to transfer something other than his conscious, others really want to get there hands on him. Plenty of people want to leave the afterlife and spend as much time as they can on earth. When people like BB show up, it’s an immediate race to see who can get him first. Forcing BB and anyone else like him to go into hiding. As one might image it’ll create more than it’s fair share of anxiety.

I don’t have to much else to say on BB personality wise that I haven’t already said with Isaac. Instead I am going to talk a bit about BB’s weapon. As a weapon born out of his own soul, he can summon it for use whenever he wants. It’s a decently sized Halberd. Just big enough for BB to wield around without to much trouble. The blade of the halberd is made out of water (hard to tell given my art lol). When touched it’ll feel wet. But because magic the water can be shaped into a blade which can cut up opponents. Alone, the halberd isn’t capable of all to much. Even with the water properties it still is just a polearm. At most it has some pretty good distance. Though when Isaac is charged with strong emotions, the blade will change properties and gain new capabilities.

Now originally I was going to have more than just four types of blade, but then I realized I was over complicating things way to much on myself. When emotionally charged, his blade will react and gain a slightly new form as seen above. Emotions are very varied and finicky, but all of them are categorized into these four categories when the weapon is summoned.

Joy and other happy emotions makes his blade electric, much like items like Jacob’s Ladder and tech items. The electricity that comes from the blade will stun opponents for a brief moment after a string of attacks. If BB is fighting a large, close quarters fight, the electricity can bounce from person to person while growing in strength.

Anger turns the water highly acidic and reactive. Based on the mysterious liquid item. It can very easily cut through skin tissue and weaker metals. It’ll burn BB’s own skin if he’s not careful with it. The burns it leaves behind are rather severe if they where to be left untreated. In a last ditch effort, the glass top that holds the blade can be broken to spray a large amount of the acid onto the opponent to cripple them. However, this leaves the halberd unusable as the blade of the weapon is taken with it. It’ll return back to normal once desummoned and summoned again. Though that’ll make the acid on the opponent disappear with it. One of the most powerful forms his weapon can take.

Fear makes the water blade sticky and viscous similar the ball of tar item. Parts of the blade can slip off and stick to the opponent. The sticky substance can glue the person together and make them slow down considerably from the extra weight. With enough attacks it can even completely immobilize them. Like with the acid blade, once the halberd is desummoned the sticky residue comes with it.

Finally there’s sadness. A finely sculpted ice blade based on the Uranus item. It’s harder shell provides a much more powerful swing. The rigid blade has a much easier time breaking down dense objects that BB normally couldn’t put a dent on. Along with that, the ice provides a freezing affect. A deep cut from his blade will momentarily freeze over. It’ll bring with it a very strong burning sensation like that of dry ice. It melts away quickly but makes it’s presence well known.

There is another instance that’ll cause BB’s halberd to change affects and become a completely new kind of weapon. However it’s very situational and also would take me awhile to get into. I’m going to save that instance for a future post when I go more into depth about the strange affects Isaac’s soul has. Because his soul is still connected to his physical self while also being in the afterlife, it brings along unforeseen problems. I’ll be sure to talk about later.

For now, time for Lost.

The Lost: Voice Claim - As the World Caves in by Matt Maltese

The Lost is an soul who ended up trapped on earth after a gruesome death. Being a spirit trapped on the physical planes of earth, he is unable to interact with it. Struggling with crippling loneliness as the world evolves without him. Out of pity and a need to travel between the physical and spiritual realms, the archangel Michael offers him a deal. He’ll make a relic, the Book of Prophets, that’ll allow a human who reads it the ability to interact fully with The Lost. In return, he is to find a human who he feels is a good soul. This soul will occasionally act as a vessel for the archangel to preform miracles and allow him to travel between the afterlife and earth. The Lost accepts without hesitation, not wanting to be condemned to a life of watching. This we find him today, offering the book to Isaac.

He’s very old, having witnessed the world’s biggest changes throughout time. The Lost is a vault of knowledge and wisdom from all of their experiences and the words archangel Michael offers him. Though he still still only human, so that knowledge is not perfect. The Lost is a respectable person and tries his best to be a good person. He is struck with his win selfishness most often. When it comes to choosing candidates for Michael’s goals, he doesn’t always choose the most virtuous person. There’s been plenty of times when he had choose someone just because he wanted to talk with them more, or simply found them attractive. His motivation wavers quite a bit too. He’s rather undeceive most of the time. Going from caring to uninterested at seemingly random. You’ll be rather hard pressed to find him not spending his time with the person currently connected to the book.

The Lost has lots of free time on his hands, after all people do need to sleep every now and again. He has found ways to entertain himself during that time. He learned that his inability to be seen does come with a few benefits. His favorite activity is to go into some random mode of nowhere wilderness and watch all the animals. They don’t get scared away from him and he can freely watch them. He loves learning about animals as he gets to see in action their hidden lives that no regular human could every wish to see. From the lush activity of the jungles to the hidden wonders of the desert grounds at night. There’s so much to see and it makes The Lost just that little more happy. With the rise of society, many of the wildlife zones The Lost used to visit have been cut down. He’s pretty upset about it but he still has a few hidden away places that have been left untouched.

Though he has found comfort in the ability to watch the beauty of the world in an undisturbed state, all he wishes for is to be with people again like had once done. Millions of years have left him isolated from the vaster world and he worries everyday he’ll be completely forgotten. All he wants to do is see his family again. His wife who he loved with all his heart. All he can do is pray for their safety and hope they had survived what he could not.

What's their relationship like?

While Isaac can not talk to The Lost in his soul form, the two of them still interact regularly on earth. I'll take this opportunity to go a bit into depth on their relation to each other.

Things didn’t start off on a good note with these two. Isaac was rather terrified seeing a ghost in his house after a book was mysteriously following him wherever he went. The Lost was used to this reaction at this point, most people where freaked out at first. He was just glad that Isaac’s soul had made a safe transition to the afterlife. They were very shaky for awhile when they where first introduced. The Lost made a good effort to try and establish a connection with Isaac, but he was very unresponsive. He wanted answers that The Lost couldn’t provide. It took a good while for Isaac to calm down and finally talk with him.

Slowly but surely The Lost became a mentor of sorts for Isaac. Offering whatever advice he may have as well as words of comfort when Isaac was at his lowest. The Lost took a shine to him, treating him a lot like the son he had lost contact with many years ago. Isaac is never fully trusting of him, he was the one that sent Isaac to the afterlife and put him in a constant state of panic. Though with time he starts to understand why. At least enough so he doesn’t despise having him around. It’s a nice benefit that The Lost isn’t completely unhinged like most of the adult figures in his life. Isaac respects his centuries worth of experiences and can see The Lost is not trying to ruin his life.

They take solidarity in knowing that if either of them needed something, they’d be there. The Lost hates using Isaac for anything as he views himself as someone who should be there for Isaac. Not the other way around. He fully recognizes that him choosing Isaac for Michael’s vessel was rooted in his selfish desires to experience the joys of being a father to someone again. He keeps that little detail to himself. Isaac doesn’t need to know anything about that. Though The Lost doesn’t want to get to attached. Like everyone else does, when Isaac dies and becomes a permanent resident of the afterlife, he’ll never see him again. Try he did, failing spectacularly.

The two of them together work around their own lives and mental woes. All they can do is help each other make it through the next day. Not like they have much choice in the matter.

There you go baby! A new batch of characters ripe for the picking. Had lots of fun with these two. The next batch should come out sooner cause I don’t have a comic paired with them. I’m working on that lore piece and hopefully I’ll actually draw something for the lost and not leave him in the dust. Don’t think he’ll like it that much if I did.

This batch does feel much more confusing than the last one, so if you have any questions at all send them right over via my ask box. I’ll be happy to answer any questions or clarify something that may of been confusing. Sometimes I write stuff that only makes sense to me and I don’t realize it until it’s out there. Anyhow, thank you all for reading!

[pandemique]

hI!! i love your art and was wondering if you could make a tutorial showing how you paint stuff? only if you can! it's just really pretty !!

hi nonnie! thats very flattering !! i’m sorry i dont think i’ll be very helpful bc i’m a mega noob as well :D but i’ll try my very best <3

my process is very tailored for speed instead of quality (oops soz LOL) so i do suggest this for if u have short doodle breaks ⬇️⬇️⬇️

thumbnailing (for comics) -> lines (sketch who?) -> bucket tool/color drop in the base color -> color in the lines -> one multiply layer for a “base” shadow (in the vid below its purple!) -> one (1) render/paint layer a.k.a lawless no man’s land

full rendering process & more general painting tips below the cut‼️

NOTE: i’ll be focusing more on traditional/fundamental tips for stylized art because i’m sure there’s a much more effective way in digital. I truly do only use one normal layer for render... i think this is bc before i made this blog, my only prior experience in drawing is middle school art class, so all i know is traditional painting on one layer.... pray i can answer this again in the future with something smarter lmao

🌺 MY PAINT PROCESS

1. Choose a color scheme!

It doesn’t have to be set in stone like below, but i at least keep in mind the color range i’d like to use depending on what i want to convey (ex. soft pastels for soft fluff, or warm colors for happy vibes). I try to be as limited as possible for base colors because I tend to go ham when painting, you’ll see later AHAHA

2. Base coloring + Base shadow

Base -> bucket tool in the color scheme (I know other artists are against this but when i discovered the bucket tool in digital art I immediately divorced manual coloring i’m sorry i loved you tho bae) (this is why my style and lines are simplistic as they are, so the color drop works!)

Base shadow -> in theory, warm-colored light creates cool-colored shadows and vice versa. because i’m a fluff addict i mainly use warmer light, so i like using blue/purple as the shadow. generally u can’t go wrong with complementary colors!! (yellow light & purple shadows / orange light & blue shadows).

I make a new multiply layer (decreased opacity just bc i like things soft okay) and clip it on the base layer, then block in the areas i think would get blocked from the light.

3. Color in the lines!

for simplistic styles i swear this works wonders. i just clip a layer to the lineart and manually color the lines with a darker but more saturated version of the base color. it just tends to look more dead i guess with low saturation lol (ex. u can see above i use both peach and red or pink for lines of skin, i guess it implies the blood under the skin too. or something :D)

4. RENDERRRR

when i’m not in a rush i just paint things completely (and mindlessly), but here are the things i almost always do:

line the shadows with a saturated color! i’m not sure this is common but i love it lol, in almost all my doodles just check the shadows—on the edges, there’s bound to be a wild color :D (usually its the light color, shadow color or a color scheme color but sometimes i’m just like boY do i loVe piNk)

my art major friend told me about saturated colors on desaturated bases and my life was changed forever lol. u can see below even when my base is very grayyy, my rendering is very gay :D ❤️🧡💛💚💙💜

make the shadows darker where i think they should be darker. usually i can just colorpick from that darker, saturated lineart color!

if it’s a more realistic piece i usually make the highlights lighter, but in simple doodles i find it unnecessary, and i dont like how light/white it looks :( i tend to just make the areas exposed to light more saturated

color in the rebound light~ in reality there’s usually not only one primary light source, at least there’d be secondary light from where light bounces off objects. in art we just emphasize that! so in large shadow areas, or in areas close to other objects/colors, i like to ‘splash’ other colors on

yeah this part is less intuitive for beginners and u have to learn a grasp on the concepts over time, like for lighting and structure. values can be more important than color, so i do suggest learning shading first before coloring, but only if u like (u can always be like me and just pull up references when u dont get how the light would fall on some materials :>). i have more general paint tips below! don’t give up okay, i believe in u nons, we’re all still in the eternal learning process together ( •̀ᄇ• ́)ﻭ✧

5. OOOOHHH SHINY ✨🤩

this step is just me being mesmerized by how easy it is to play with lighting in digital. i play around with the layer settings (multiply for shadow, overlay for light, and often try out the other settings too!). my favorite effect is the highlight glow thing, where u just make a copy layer of the highlights below the original layer, and blur it slightly so it looks like glow ✨✨🤩 overpriced acrylic could never

6. COLOR ADJUST / EDIT

Truthfully i usually skip this step, but my more pro friends really vouch for it!! i think definitely an incredible thing with digital is that u can edit proportions and even color after you’re done. i think they usually use like the curves adjustment layer in photoshop until they get colors they like, but for me, well, in a reaally diligent day i like to slap on the “auto” fliter in the iphone’s photos edit button lmaoooo

🌺 GENERAL PAINTING TIPS

learn basic theory: i think theres free courses everywhere online, but heres a few things u might like to have a basic understanding of: color, perspective, shape language, lighting, composition. don’t sweat it too much tho, it should be fun to explore the concepts!

and for drawing hoomans: proportion, gesture, expression, and veery basic anatomy. i find that overall forms are so much more important to learn than like detailed anatomy bc u can always look it up lol

but remember, u mostly want to learn the rules so u know better ways to break them :)

uuuuse manyyyyy referencessss every time u draww!

^this includes other people’s art — when u see good stuff, figure out why u like it and apply it to ur own art

get feedback!!!!

draw tons!!! brainrot helps !! ;D

aaand thank u for coming to my ted talk! sorry for the ramble nonnie, i hope u got something out of this lol