#there were a combination of ideas here: i wanted to do a glowing cityscape of its city lights and have it softly blur into the night sky

[mienar]

remnants of where we have been

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[writing-on-the-wahl]

Okay, this one’s been done already by other blogs and I understand that not every writer wants to do the same prompt as another so if you’re not comfortable with this then absolutely stay in your comfy zone. I just think it’s fun to see different interpretations

But basically, Civilian is unknowingly dating Villain (as in, Civilian doesn’t know that villain is a criminal), and Villain is introduced to Civilian’s brother, Hero. Hero is terrified that Villain is going to hurt Civilian the entire time, but Villain just keeps on showing lots of sweet affection to Civilian (Hero and Villain recognize each other but Civilian is clueless of both their “jobs”). It’s up to you whether or not Villain actually loves Civilian or is just taunting/threatening Hero :)

Wow that was long my bad

Sorry this took me like twelve years to get to... @glowing-alpaca it won’t let me tag you... idk why🤷🏽‍♀️

Ok yes I’ve seen a few of these, so I took the general principle and made it Civilian’s POV eehehehe

hope you enjoy:)

*special thanks to @im-a-wonderling and @watercolorfreckles for the beta reads and all your amazing help on this one!!*

———————————————

Civilian shifted from foot to foot, rubbing her left wrist as she tried to focus on the conversation swirling around her. Her limbs felt lead-heavy and numb, deadweights that she wasn’t sure what to do with.

She clasped her hands together in front of her, then let them hang by her sides. Then clasped them in front of her again.

Her breathing felt loud in her ears, and a few of the patrons glanced in her direction. Could they hear her breathing?

Her eyes darted to the entrance for the hundredth time. Her brother was late. Hero had promised to be here early—he knew how she felt about crowds. And since he was the one who insisted her first art show be public, he’d reassured her he’d stay by her side the whole time.

The show had started over an hour ago.

“Well, Civilian?”

Her eyes snapped away from the door and back to the circle of patrons around her. Her stomach sloshed cold. They were all looking at her, their stares burning holes.

“Sorry? What was that?” Her stomach continued to twist and writhe. Now they all knew she’d been distracted.

Did they think she was ignoring them? Had she been rude?

She’d only glanced at the door for a moment…

An older man shook his head as his companion repeated her question about her choice to use different mediums to portray the same image.

She answered the best she could, gesturing to the wall beside her, which was filled with a dozen paintings and drawings of the cityscape—some created with ink, other with oil, acrylic, watercolor, or charcoal—she’d used them all.

She rubbed her wrist again as she tried to explain how she’d used the different mediums.

A few in the circle nodded their heads, but her heart was pounding and doubt nagged at her as she spoke. Was she talking too much? Not enough? Was what she was saying stupid?

She stumbled over her words, unease crawling beneath her skin.

She looked down, unable to complete her thought.

“I think it’s a marvelous technique.”

Hero looked up sharply as the deep voice continued, covering the awkward pause she’d created.

“...to get to look at a wall full of paintings, all capturing the same image but each conveying a different mood or emotion.”

Her rescuer was sharply dressed: his dark hair carefully styled, his suit perfectly tailored, and his gold watch designer. Combined with his confident posture, his appearance practically screamed “lawyer,” same as her brother. But while Hero was a public defense attorney, crusading against a flawed system, the man in front of her was probably what Hero would call a ‘leech,’ a rich defense lawyer catering to the criminal elite.

And while Civilian sympathized with Hero’s cause, she also had enough experience as a starving artist to appreciate the luxury of not having to worry about how much money she had to spend at the grocery store.

Plus, he’d been so kind to save her; how bad could he be?

Her rescuer was still speaking, his smooth words and confident tone confirming his profession.

“... the kind of art that needs to be seen and studied to be appreciated.”

At his hint, the crowd began to drift towards the gallery walls.

Her rescuer met her gaze through the crowd, and she offered him a small smile of gratitude as the people around her shifted away.

She turned towards the wall of cityscape paintings, breathing a sigh of relief before stopping to analyze one of the city in the rain. She eyed the brushstrokes, mentally smoothing a line here, adding a shadow there. She shook her head and turned away. Now was not the time.

But her rather abrupt turn sent her careening into a wall-like something that wasn’t a wall, but a certain tall lawyer in a thousand-dollar Armani suit. She jerked back, horrified at her lack of grace, but tripped on her blasted heels. Hands at her waist stopped her fall, long fingers tightening around her as she regained her balance. When she was finally steady, his hands slid away.

“Thanks.” Civilian forced herself to look up into the face of the man who had now rescued her twice, rather than looking around like she wanted to to check who else had noticed her embarrassing almost-fall.

He was smiling warmly, and for the first time all night, her heart wasn’t pounding at the thought of speaking with a stranger.

“I’m sorry for running into you.” She felt breathless, but it must have been from her almost-fall.

He waved her off. “I shouldn’t have been standing so close. I just wanted to compliment the way you’ve captured my favorite view of the city.” He gestured to the painting she’d just been critiquing.

“I painted it at the top of the—“

“Capitol building, yes I go there often.”

“Because you work there often?” Civilian flushed as she spoke across him, but her heart steadied as he didn’t seem to mind. His smile widened, and he leaned closer.

“What gave me away?” His voice was deep, and he looked at her as though they were sharing a secret.

Her cheeks grew warmer, and she looked away, heart racing for an entirely different reason.

“My brother is a lawyer, so I usually can just tell. He was supposed to be here actually…” a frown came to her face as she remembered her brother’s promise.

She shook herself out of her reverie. Her rescuer was looking at her warmly.

“I’m sorry! You rescued me back there, and I don’t even know your name…” She looked at him expectantly, and he offered a bright smile that made her stomach flutter.

“I’m Villain. Pleased to meet you.” His voice was practically a purr, sending tingles across her skin as he took her hand, gently raising it to his lips. She looked down as her cheeks heated at the old fashioned gesture.

“I’m Civilian,” she said as he released her hand, returning his bright smile with a shy one of her own. “Although you probably already knew that since my name is on the program...”

He nodded. “I have to say, I’m quite impressed by your—”

“Civilian!”

A blur in a tan suit darted around Villain and grabbed her arm, pulling her back.

“Hero, what?—” Her brother was a mess. His suit was wrinkled, tie coming undone, hair mussed.

He continued to pull her back, eyes on Villain. “Civilian I need to talk to you—it’s urgent!”

She glanced back at Villain as Hero tugged her away.

“Sorry!” She mouthed.

He just shook his head, an amused smile on his face, before mouthing something that looked suspiciously like, “I’ll see you later.”

Her heart warmed, and she was still grinning when Hero pulled her around the corner and flipped her around to face him.

“What are you—”

“Do you have any idea who that is?” Hero’s fingers gripped her shoulders. “What he is?”

“He said his name was Villain? And so what that he’s a lawyer, Hero. I don’t get why you are freaking out!”

Hero’s hands shook her shoulders. “He’s not just a lawyer, he—”

Civilian wrenched free and shoved Hero’s chest. “He what? Actually helped me? When YOU failed to show up like you promised.” Her last words slid into a growl.

Hero had the decency to look ashamed for a brief moment before his face hardened. He lifted a hand, gesturing with one arm back towards where they’d left Villain. “His people are the reason that I’m late!”

Anger sparked in her chest, and she rolled her eyes. “Sure,” she scoffed, “blame some random lawyer for your broken promise. That’s a pitiful excuse, Hero, even for you.”

She shoved past him, heading back into the gallery.

“Wait, Sis!” He grabbed her arm. She shook him off and stalked away.

But when she returned to the main room, Villain was gone.

[sunshine-on-my-mind]

Remind me to thank her

pairing: johnny storm (au! no superpowers) x reader

warnings: good old fluff, mention of hook ups, slight hints of sexy time (nothing specified), johnny being adorable, shy reader, cuteness.

words: 1,447

a/n: sort of a self-indulgent fic, hope you all like this, feedback, comments and reblogs are appreciated!! i love fluffy johnny

made this mood board

(y/n) is a socially awkward girl and to find her at party is equivalent to the chances of getting a text from a crush who is out of your league. oh lool, a text from the crush - as in y/n is at a party after her friend sort of emotionally blackmailed her to join her. so here she is awkwardly standing in the corner with a drink in her hand.

“don’t like the party?” a voice comes from beside her, she turns to find a man with blonde hair with a smirk on his face. she is not at all good in making conversation. why is this man even talking to her? she wonders. he seems kinda out of her league. “hi, i am johnny” he says accompanied with a smile. “hi, (y/n)” she returns the smile, with a hint of shyness , she tends to get shy in general and the glow of this man is charming yet a little intimidating for her.

“(y/n) that’s a pretty name, so as i was saying, you don’t like this party?” he takes a sip of his own drink. “no i mean parties aren’t exactly my thing. it’s too loud for my taste and there are way too many people here, i don’t even know whose party this is, i just came because my friend insisted.” she sort of rambles and his smile gets bigger. “well you’re in luck, this is my party” wow, she gets flustered. “i-i mean uh- it’s a good party” he raises a single eyebrow at her. “remind me to thank your friend for bringing you here.” he winks. she is flustered even more, she is not at all used to this. is johnny flirting with her? her? why? “so if parties aren’t your thing, do tell me what is.” he tilts his head a little. “i mostly like staying home, watching movies, spending time with my close friends, i don’t have a lot of friends though. and occasionally i like going out, going to some cozy pretty cafe, spending some time there. well, i am definitely not the most interesting person one knows of.” she says with a smile. johnny understands that she is not exactly his type but she is quite intriguing. “there’s only one way to find out, i should get a chance to know you to see if you are interesting or not? how about we get out of here and go to some coffee shop, get something to eat?” johnny offers. (y/n) isn’t exactly sure what’s happening, or rather how? is he asking her out? he wants to spend time with her? or does this offer have some other meaning? she may be shy and may not be super experienced but she knows about this sorta stuff.

“um johnny, i don’t exactly understand what you are suggesting, besides it’s your party, why would you leave?” johnny laughs a little, she is cute. “well i am suggesting we should go out? and about me leaving my party, it’s no big deal, most of these people are way too drunk to realise whether i am here or not, still i’ll just send a text to my friend to take care of things. so you wanna go? because i wanna go, get to know you.” before she can stop herself from doing anything, a blush automatically appears on her face. “um we can go, but uh- i- this is only a visit to a cafe right? there is no other meaning behind this? you don’t expect to end this night in- you know in a certain way” she looks away as she says the last line. johnny can’t help but let out a small laugh. (y/n) feels she has already made a fool of herself and that’s why he laughed. she decides to go away, she is a little hurt and doesn’t know why. as she is about to go johnny holds her hand and stops her.

“wait where are you going?”

“away, i think i have already made a fool of myself it’s better i just go”

“what are you saying? is it because i laughed? i didn’t mean to make you feel bad, it’s just you’re so cute, asking about other meanings behind this, so very cute, a laugh just escaped from me. i am sorry.”

“it’s okay, i am just not at all used to any of this.”

“i understand, it’s alright, and to address your doubts, i just wanna get some coffee, get to know you, that’s all, no other intentions.” he pauses before looking into her eyes. “well not for now at least” he winks. “okay, we can go” she tucks a hair strand behind her ear. “great, let’s go!” he offers her his hand, she hesitates but eventually takes it, johnny smiles.

walking in new york city at night with the right company can be quite nice. johnny is happy that (y/n) is still holding his hand, he has a constant smile on his face since he met her. they find a cute little coffee shop and decide to go in. “what would you like to have?” johnny asks. they place their order and find a place to sit down. it’s by the windows and it’s quite beautiful. (y/n) loves to watch the cityscape at night with a beautiful combination of light and darkness. johnny can’t help but admire that, her face is glowing, he doesn’t know if that’s because of the lights or if it’s natural. “looks like our order is ready, i’ll get it” johnny brings their order to the table. (y/n) drinks her iced coffee. “so this is your thing?” johnny asks and she nods. “is it too boring for you?” (y/n) enquires. johnny chuckles. “no, not at all, this is pretty good, even better because of the company” he raises his eyebrows at her. “you’re something aren’t you johnny?” johnny truly is something. it’s true this is not usual for johnny he is more of a party person. he doesn’t like to get attached and hook ups have worked fine for him till now. but maybe this will be different, this maybe new? he won’t lie he is a little nervous, yes johnny storm is nervous. but excited too.

“johnny?” she waves her hand, he realises he hasn’t said anything, too busy to admire the scene in front of him. “right, sorry, yeah well i guess” he seems to be out of words, which is extremely unlikely for him. “you seem out of your element, are you okay?” she says and takes a sip from her coffee. johnny is more than okay, he feels like a teenager all of a sudden, sitting in front of the girl he likes. “i’ll be honest (y/n), i haven’t dated properly in a long time, i wanna say and ask a lot of things but i am too engrossed in just enjoying this vibe right now. i have never enjoyed not talking and just being in the moment this much.” (y/n) sort of got used to his flirty side by now but this is new, and even better. a blush creeps up her face. “well this is new for me, i am not very outgoing. i honestly didn’t expect someone like you to- you know be interested in me in any way. but um- all i can say is this feels nice. being with you here, as you said, being in this moment feels good.” she looks down at her drink, worried if she has ruined the moment. she feels comfortable with johnny, even though she just met him. “hey look at me, you have no idea how happy i am to hear that, and what can i say? you should always expect the unexpected with me” he winks. she blushes more. “so yes i am very much interested in you, and want to get to know you more, you’re very intriguing, a lot more than you give yourself credit for.” he moves up in his seat and places his hand on hers gently. “i can understand this is new for you, in a way it’s new for me too, but it’s making me nervous in the most beautiful way and if you feel the same, i think it’s worth something.” she has a warm smile on her face, he loves that so much, he loves to see her smile for him. “i think i do feel the same.” she says, he returns the smile and rubs his thumb over her hand softly.

“great, then this is officially a date and we should start planning our next one?” she laughs at his eagerness, she likes it honestly. maybe this could be something, something neither of them were looking for but found. johnny will always be thankful to her friend for bringing (y/n) to the party.

[joon-ipersgirl]

“inked heart” - jjk oneshot

genre: friends to lovers!au, fluff, a teensy dash of angst

pairing: tattoo artist!guk x tattoo artist!reader (f)

summary: jeon jungkook, a rising star in the tattoing world, is looking to take home best large black and white piece at the 25th annual milano tattoo convention. already one to watch from his previous wins as a young artist, pressures rise when his model for the competition cancels half an hour before the show. 

always there when he needs you, you offer to be his model but jungkook is reluctant, especially when the piece is in a more... intimate place. and the fact that he’s been in love with you for the better part of two years. jungkook isn’t too sure how he’s going to survive the next three hours, not when you ask him if he thinks you’re attractive. 

caught between a rock and a hard place, does he lie to you and himself when the prize is on the line? it’s go big or go home...

word count: 5.9k

warnings: some guk pining, cursing, mentions of heartbreaker jimin, the smallest dash of angst about not winning, tattoo artist yoongi

a/n: my first guk piece! thank you guys so much for the love on the preview, especially your comments. they honestly make my day. i hope this lives up to your expectations and you enjoy it just as much. this was a random idea i had and i love tattooed guk so here we are. i tried my best to make sure all the tattoo things were accurate so if they aren’t sorry in advance 😭 this was a lot of fun to write and i’m actually debating on writing some other things for this couple (especially for guk’s birthday), but i’m not sure yet. let me know if y’all are interested though and i’ll see what i can come up with. as always, thank you vi for supporting my shenanigans and reading this like four times lmao. feedback is always welcomed and highly appreciated. enjoy everyone! 

full masterlist // drabbles

Jungkook’s body buzzed with excitement as he squeezed past the bustling bodies at the 25th annual Milano Tattoo Convention. His fourth year at the world’s largest tattooing competition with a chance to take home the prize for “Best Large Black & White” piece against four hundred incredible artists had Jungkook amped up and ready to go. Some of his inspirations - legends in the game - were mere feet away from him as he browsed the almost endless stations filled with merchandise, displays of new tattoo designs, and occupied benches with models. There was almost nothing he enjoyed more than being around the sound of buzzing guns and filling sheets of half-filled paper with sketches his brain had no issues conjuring up but sometimes struggled to complete. Well, except food. And video games. And you. Not really the point though.

He’d been tattooing for almost six years now, from the moment he’d been able to convince Yoongi to let him be his apprentice. Jungkook had wasted no time in starting his own personal tattoo collection, quickly filling in a full sleeve on his right arm going across his right pectoral and another upper half sleeve on his left. Now, he was making his own name in the art world, commissioning pieces solely off his ability to execute various styles well with very little practice. Jungkook was a jack of all trades and very nearly a master of all. He was a risk-taker and it had paid off for him during his time at Milano, taking home “Best Small Black & White” his second year at the ripe age of twenty, and then “Best Medium Black & White” the following year. Yoongi could barely believe it when the judges called his name and announced him the winner but Jungkook knew his mentor’s chest was swollen with pride. This time, though, there were bigger fish to fry - “Best Large Black & White” in a style Jungkook had just begun feeling comfortable with: fine line tattoos.

He paused at the Killer Ink booth where Hori Kashi was working on a beautiful traditional koi fish upper half sleeve design as his phone buzzed. An Instagram notification.

_petuniablooms: hey jungkook! im so sorry this is last minute but i won’t be able to make the convention to be your model. I got a bad case of food poisoning from dinner last night. i hope this doesn’t cost you the comp. but when you’re back in the country, maybe i can schedule an appt? sorry again!

Jungkook blinked slowly. She couldn’t make it? This was not part of his plan. She was supposed to be here in the next half an hour so he would have enough time to complete his piece for judging in four hours. As one of the younger artists at the convention and with immense amounts of talent, people wondered how long Jungkook would be able to sustain his efforts, especially after taking home prizes in one of the major categories two years in a row. Most of them thought he would burn out after his second year or third year, but here he was. Competitive by nature, Jungkook wanted to prove them wrong - that he really did have what it took to be one of the best in the game. A legend in his own right. He shoved his phone back into his black cargo pants pocket and tugged on his curling brown locks. What was he going to do now?

“Guk! Hey, Guk!” He could barely make out your petite frame as you shoved and elbowed your way through the throngs of folk gathered around booths. You were set on getting to him though, your smaller form not holding you back from covering the distance, your brow set in determination whenever he did get glimpses of your face in the crowd.

That was something Jungkook admired about you: your no-nonsense-get-it-done attitude. Friends for almost three years now, he’d seen the way you’d taken charge of almost every opportunity that came your way. You didn’t take no as the final answer and if you couldn’t find a way to make it happen, you created your own. Either way, you got it done. As the first lead female tattoo artist at your shop, Sin City, you’d also made a name for yourself in the tattooing world as a specialist in black and white shading. Your signature though was the three-color-combination color style you developed for your color tattoos. That’s how the two of you had met - the year he’d won “Best Small Black & White”, you’d taken home “Best Medium Color” - and the two of you hadn’t looked back since.

“Gosh, there’s so many people here. It was so hard to find you. I knew I should have checked the Kashi booth first,” you said after finding a pocket of space next to him and hugging his torso.

“Y/N, it’s a convention. Of course there’s going to be a lot of people here,” he replied, wrapping his arms around you, subconsciously looking for comfort in your touch.

Though the two of you mostly had conflicting schedules due to the demand for your work, you did your best to make time for one another. Jungkook had grown accustomed to seeing you every few weeks for lunch or on Friday nights with beer and chicken for Marvel movie marathon weekends. He didn’t dwell on it too much - how ridiculously domestic a lot of your traditions were - not wanting to shake the table and send the precariously perched house of cards pyramid the two of you had created crashing to the ground, upsetting the balance of your friendship. No, Jungkook would leave those thoughts right where they were.

He more felt than saw you roll your eyes as you said, “Yes, Guk. Conventions have lots of people. This just seems like a health and safety hazard though.” Jungkook squeezed you as you pressed closer to him, slightly uncomfortable as more people gathered in the area.

“Alright, let’s go,” he replied, reminding himself to search for the finished koi design afterward as the two of you walked away. “How’d your piece go?”

“So fucking good!” you beamed and turned your face towards him. He couldn’t help but smile back. “Though I don’t know if it’ll win this year, the guy seemed to be really pleased and that’s all that matters. Plus, t-shirt sales have gone up. Like way up! Speaking of which, you should buy one. My t-shirt design on your body?” you did the chef’s kiss, “Impeccable!” you exclaimed and grinned.

Your smile was another thing Jungkook admired about you. The faintest dimples appeared when you did and there was almost never a moment when he couldn’t not smile with you. It was a smile that reached your twinkling eyes and illuminated your face with a glow. Like right now, as you’re striking poses and modeling your black and white cityscape background covered with your shop’s name in a candy red color, a tattoo gun positioned to finish the last line of the last letter on the white tee in the middle of the crowded aisle in some of the shortest shorts he’s ever seen you wear in public. When did you get those?

“You know what would look good on my body?” you asked as the pair of you carried on walking. Me, he thought, but knew where this conversation was really going. “One of your tattoo designs!”

Jungkook sighed. “Y/N, we’ve already talked about this -”

“I know, Guk, but you literally have no reason to not tattoo me,” you whined. “You’ve tattooed every single one of your other friends! Hell, even Yoongi has a tattoo by you.”

“Yoongi has what?” the older man asked as he bumped into you two as you passed the registration booth.

“A tattoo by Jungkook,” you pouted, arms crossed.

It wasn’t that Jungkook didn’t want to tattoo you. He just didn’t want to fuck up a design that would be permanently etched into your skin for the rest of your life. He wanted to create something that was beautiful for you, something that really conveyed the importance of your presence in his life, but every time he sat down to do so, nothing seemed good enough. You’d been seriously begging him for the better part of a year to do something - anything - but he’d refused saying that he didn’t have the time. Secretly, he just didn’t want to fail and let you down.

“Ah, that age-old debate. It’ll happen one day, kid,” Yoongi said as he patted your shoulder gently. “What time are you setting up, Jeon? Your model’s supposed to be here soon, right?” Yoongi asked.

“Fuck!” Jungkook shouted, tugging on his hair and startling a few people around him. “Fuck, fuck, fuck! I don’t have one. She can’t make it. I have to find someone else,” he yelled as he took off, no destination really in mind.

“Wait! Guk -” you called after him but he didn’t stop.

Sometimes, being around you was dangerous as Jungkook could quite literally forget what it was he needed to be doing. There was just something about you that made him lose focus, just a little bit. He couldn’t have that right now. Jungkook needed to be on his A-game, scouting a model that would give him consent in - he checked his phone - twelve minutes.

The one time Jungkook needed someone to be interested in his work, there wasn’t a single soul around. Where had all the people who were begging him to schedule them in for a quick session disappeared to? None of the people passing by were interested in getting a random, floral design done by Jeon Jungkook today, unfortunately. It was as though the devil of the tattoo underworld had cursed him the one time he could have used some luck for the sole purpose of being entertained. Circling back to the D-Town Tattoos booth, Jungkook was running out of options. Shit.

“There you are!” you wheezed as you came to a halt and rested your hands on the table in front of you. “Fuck, I forgot how fast you are.”

“Y/N, I don’t have time. I have to find a model -”

“Why don’t you just use Y/N?” Yoongi asked as he calmly took a seat next to his bench, a tall young man following behind him.

“I couldn’t -” Jungkook spluttered, eyes wide.

“Like you said, Jeon, you don’t have time,” Yoongi reminded him, setting up his work station for his client.

Jungkook looked over at you, still slightly hunched over and trying to catch your breath. This was not how he’d wanted to do this. “Are you sure, Y/N? I don’t know if -”

“Fuck yeah, dude!” you said interrupting him. “100%. Let’s do this!”

Jungkook watched as you made yourself comfortable on his workbench, waiting for him to get started. The fact that you weren’t nervous only added to his apprehension, the fear of potentially disappointing you resurfacing and rising in his gut. It felt like he was taking a risk with stakes much higher than he was willing to bet on, but the trust you had in him had him saying, “Okay. Fill out the consent forms and I’ll pull up the design.”

“What are we working with?” you asked curiously, handing the clipboard back over to him, not really reading it and only signing your name in the designated spots.

“Thigh piece,” he murmured, concentrating on finding the correct sketch on his iPad.

“Sounds fun. I know it’s going to be amazing, Guk. Don’t worry,” you reassured him. He smiled warily as you gave his shoulder a tender squeeze.

Nodding more to himself than you, he showed you the design. @_petuninablooms, like her name suggested, loved flowers. So much so, she’d wanted a full piece dedicated to that specific flower as well as whatever other floral arrangements she thought Jungkook could make look pretty against her skin. She’d won his Instagram contest to be his model for free at the convention because of her sentimental design and background as a botanist, something that piqued Jungkook’s interest. Though he was proud of the design, it didn’t seem to fit you.

“I don’t know, Y/N. I don’t know if it’ll fit your style,” he said, gesturing to your upper half sleeve. The three faces of Frida Khalo, Nefertiti, and Tomoe Gozen were beautifully designed and organized by you as a symbol of feminine unity - embodying passion, leadership, and grace. A much edgier piece than what currently sat on the screen of his iPad designed for his winner, he wasn’t sure how you’d feel about the softer image.

“I told you, Guk. You could tattoo anything on me and I’d be happy. Maybe even more happy than if you’d let me tattoo you. I just want to have something of yours on me - support your craft, you know? Besides,” you said zooming in on the flowers, your gold rings shining in the light, “I like petunias.” Jungkook wasn’t sure if you were only saying this to make him feel better, but he was grateful for your encouragement anyway.

“Uh, I’m going to need you to take your shorts off,” he said hesitantly. “Yoongi, this isn’t against the rules, right? Like having another artist sit for you?” Jungkook asked, turning to give you some privacy though anyone walking past would be able to see you shimmy out of them as there was no curtain or door to shield you.

“Nope. Not that I’ve read,” Yoongi replied, concentrating on his design. Jungkook nodded, steeling himself to focus and get the job done. What he wasn’t expecting was to see you adjusting the band of some very high-waisted, very skimpy, black panties. He nearly choked.

“Does this need to be further up? If not, I can take them off for you. I don’t -”

“No!” Jungkook cried out as he tore his eyes away from the curve of your ass. “I can just move the stencil. It’ll be fine,” he continued after clearing his throat.

“Okay,” you said awkwardly. Jungkook apologized for his outburst as he wheeled himself over to sit in front of you on his little stool. He was making a much bigger deal of this entire situation that it needed to be. He’d seen you in a bikini before, but something about seeing you in your underwear sitting before him was different.

“Relax, Jeon. It’s only a thigh!” Yoongi teased, his head down but his shit-eating grin very much present as he worked on the shading on his client’s forearm. Though Yoongi would never say anything to you out of respect for Jungkook, Jungkook knew Yoongi enjoyed putting him through the wringer whenever you were around.

“Not just a thigh! It belongs to me. My thigh is prime real estate, Min Yoongi. There’s a lot of artists that have been wanting to get in on this,” you joked. Jungkook laughed as he prepped your skin for placing the stencil with rubbing alcohol, hating the fact that he couldn’t feel your skin through the latex gloves but also grateful for the sensory blocker. He knew you were right though - lots of artists did want to work on you and have you walk around with their work as free endorsement of their skill. Honestly, this was a prime opportunity and he should make the most of it.

“Would you be okay with me changing this larger petunia into a mandala? I know you like those,” Jungkook suggested.

“Guk, this is your piece. I told you, I’m good with whatever,” you said cheerfully.

“Keep talking like that I’ll tattoo my name on your ass,” he quipped as he adjusted the design before placing it.

“Make it your face and we just may have a deal,” you shot back and Yoongi gagged from his corner. Jungkook did not want to think about the potential implication of those words.

He wasn’t sure if he’d be able to survive the next three and a half hours with you making suggestive comments while standing in your barely-there underwear, but he was going to have to. Of course, as friends, you’d always had the occasional flirty banter but the “Best Large Black & White” prize was calling his name and God did he want to win. He double-checked the placement of the design as it stretched from just above your hip bone to finish in the middle of your thigh. His adjustments were so precise, it covered the expanse of your thigh damn near perfectly. Jungkook grinned.

“Ready?” he asked, holding up a mirror as you checked out the placement, twisting from side to side.

“Yeah, looks great. How do you want me?”

Jungkook paused as he set up his rolling tray filled with his ink caps and laid out his sterilized needles. There were more than a few ways he could answer that but he settled on, “However you’re most comfortable. You’re going to be here for a while.”

You laughed and climbed onto the bench, giving Jungkook a perfect view of your ass, before you settled against the leather on your left side. Jungkook adjusted the height of his seat so he could position on your thigh with your bent knee resting against the bench and angled towards him. Confirming you were indeed comfortable, Jungkook gently rubbed the A&D ointment across the first section of the design, taking slightly longer than necessary, and got to work. There was a little over three hours to get it done.

He worked diligently as he traced the fine lines of the flower petals, slipping into his professional mode. A small crowd had gathered around the booth, intrigued to see him work on you. Most of the folks there knew about your friendship from social media and mutual community-work settings, how the two of you had bonded over your shared love of tattoos, but seeing the two of you together like this was a real treat. He didn’t feel any pressure as the cameras fought to get a glimpse of him working though. Jungkook did well under pressure but there was a lot riding on this one piece. For him and for you. He wouldn’t disappoint you though. He couldn’t. Not when you looked so peaceful as he worked on the tattoo. Jungkook would win and make you proud.

“Guk, I have a question.”

“What’s up?”

“Would you fuck me?” Jungkook was thankful he’d removed the needle from your skin to wipe off the extra ointment as there was no doubt in his mind he would have fucked up had it been there.

“What?” he asked, slightly breathless.

“Okay, maybe that was a bit vulgar. I guess what I mean is do you think I’m attractive? Like -” you tucked a loose strand of your hair behind your ear, “- a woman you’d spend the night with. Date long-term. That sort of thing,” you finished. Jungkook swallowed before he spoke.

“Uh, yeah. You’re an attractive person.” Jungkook replied, avoiding eye contact with you as he went back to tracing the lines and tried not to think of you under him, around him, on top of - “Why do you ask?”

“I don’t know. It’s been a while since I’ve been in a relationship - since anyone has even asked me on a date. Seokjin never called me back after we went for drinks that one time and Jimin - nevermind actually,” you sighed and Jungkook re-lived the memory of Park Jimin with you - the second man to break your heart in a matter of months. His face soured as he remembered how inconsolable you were the first few months after the breakup and how badly he’d wanted to take a baseball bat to Jimin’s very nice, very expensive car. “Maybe I’m unapproachable. Yoongi, am I unapproachable?” you called over to him.

“Yes,” he said dryly, not bothering to look at you. You scoffed in response.

“You’re never the best person to ask, you old man! People barely talk to you,” you murmured.

“Y/N, you’re great,” Jungkook said in response. “You’re more than great actually, but maybe now isn’t the time to get into a relationship?”

“Why not? I have a stable job, I’m cool -”

“Barely!” Yoongi called over. Jungkook watched you shoot Yoongi the finger before you began speaking again.

“- and I’m charming. It would be nice if someone could appreciate that too, someone that wasn’t only me.”

“Hey! I appreciate you!” Jungkook blurted out, slightly offended.

“Yeah, like a friend. Guk, you know you don’t -”

“Don’t say it. Don’t tell me I don’t count, Y/N.”

“But Jungkook -”

Jungkook paused and set his gun down. “No. No ‘but Guk’, Y/N. I appreciate you, more than you know or understand. I get that we’re friends and I know you value our friendship, but you don’t get to tell me I don’t count because you think you know how I feel about you. Please don’t let your perception of my words and actions let you label them “friendly” when they’re something else.” Jungkook picked his gun back up, avoiding your gaze again, slightly alarmed by his unplanned confession.

“What? What do you mean ‘something different’?” you asked, confused. “Was I supposed to read this any differently after you said -”

“You weren’t supposed to know. You weren’t supposed to find out - not like this at least,” he muttered. Taking a deep breath, he said, “Just don’t count me out okay, Y/N? Not this time. Can we talk about this later though? I just -”

Before he could finish, Jungkook’s alarm went off, signaling only an hour and a half left before he needed to be taking you for judgement. “Okay, Guk. I won’t count you out. Finish,” you said softly as you nodded to your tattoo and chewed your lip in thought.

With time against him, you and Jungkook no longer conversed, though the conversation rattled in his brain like loose change in a tin can. He would need much more than a penny for his thoughts if he wanted to get out of this situation. The hasty confession had Jungkook wondering if he’s said too much too soon. Had he finally sent the house of cards tumbling down? It’s not that he hadn’t wanted to say anything, but the fear of you not meaning what you’d said frightened him. Memories of the two of you curled up on his aging leather sofa flickered across his mind’s eye and he wondered if this fuck up was worse than the time he’d quickly denied having any romantic feelings for you the morning after a drunk confession and you’d reciprocated the feelings. It had taken a few months for things to return back to any type of normal, an uneasy tension having over you both whenever you’d met up. Every few seconds his eyes flitted to your face, hoping to catch a glimpse of whatever you were thinking sprawled across your forehead in your big, looping handwriting but your eyes were closed and your face fairly serene as you let him work in silence.

And work he did, shoving the thoughts to the back of his mind, finishing the last lines of the final petunia and filling in the mandala with various degrees of shading. He admired the delicacy of his work against your smooth skin, deciding it did suit you, much more than he could have hoped. Jungkook was actually slightly disappointed he was close to finishing, already missing the intimacy of working on you, but also eager to get you on stage so people could see his work. He’d gotten lost in the act like he usually did, concentration never breaking as the rest of the Milano Convention continued in full effect around him. Why had he waited so long to do this? You were a dream to work on, never flinching even as he finished up the minute shading of your tattoo, the worst part for many people. A true tattoo veteran with a hell of a pain tolerance. Roughly ten minutes left in the session, Jungkook wrapped up the piece.

“All done,” he said softly, wiping away the excess ointment and admiring his work briefly.

He heard you gasp as you propped yourself up to get a better view of it. “Holy fuck, Jungkook! It’s perfect. I love it!” you whispered in amazement and Jungkook smiled, relieved to not have disappointed you.

“Let me get some pictures, yeah?” You nodded and Jungkook snapped a few shots, promising to send them to you after the convention ended.

“Looks good, Jeon. And you got it done in time. You learned well,” Yoongi chuckled as Jungkook weakly punched his shoulder. “Are you happy, Y/N?” Yoongi asked as he packed up his spare equipment while his client waited patiently to be escorted to judging.

“Happy?” you scoffed, checking the tattoo out again in the mirror. “How about fucking ecstatic? I’m absolutely in love. Seriously Guk, thank you,” you beamed and launched yourself at him for a hug. Jungkook made eye contact with Yoongi as he held you tight in his arms, the older man relaying a silent message to his younger apprentice through raised eyebrows and crossed arms.

“Alright, alright. You can stare at it more later. We have to get to the judges and make it through all these people so,” Jungkook trailed off, letting you go while simultaneously ushering you out of their designated little space. Agreeing, you grabbed your teeny shorts and shoved your feet back into your sneakers. Jungkook stayed close behind you in an effort to cover your very visible, very exposed ass from peering eyes as you moved through the crowd. As much as he hated to admit it, he was really protective of you.

The trek to the judging station wasn’t as official as the name made it sound. It was really just a small stage raised a few inches above the ground with a table and enough chairs to seat the three judges as artists and their models were scored based on design, complexity, and overall execution. This year’s judges were Jung Hoseok of J’s Tailored Tattoos, Kim Namjoon of Mono & Moon, and Kim Taehyung of Vintage Vante. The three of them were rightfully deemed the gods of the tattoo world and Jungkook looked up to them immensely, each of them having numerous titles on the world stage in countries like Brasil, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Nerves rolled in Jungkook’s belly as he waited in the crowd with you for the host to call his name. A win with these guys as the judges would really put some of those naysayers in their place and Jungkook shuffled in place behind you, antsy.

“What’s wrong, Guk?’ you whispered to him as another artist and model headed on stage.

“What if they don’t like it?” he murmured anxiously.

“Do you like it?” Jungkook nodded. “Then that’s all that really matters. You’re insanely talented and I know they’re some of your role models, but they’re fucked if they don’t see how incredible you are. You’ve got this, Guk,” you said in a hushed tone as Yoongi took the stage with his model from earlier. Jungkook smiled into the back of your head as you stood in front of him and gave his hand a squeeze. Jungkook could always count on you.

It was now his turn. Standing with one hand tucked into his pocket and the other firmly gripping your shorts, Jungkook watched as the judges made their notes on their scoring sheets. You turned graciously to give all three of them the best view of the tattoo. And while he knows that there are probably a few people who’d be overjoyed at the challenges he faced to get to this moment, Jungkook didn’t care. Not when your uplifting words still wrapped around him, affirming his skill and talents. He was proud of what he’d accomplished today and while winning was the ultimate goal, he was also at ease because he’d succeeded in fulfilling one of your wishes and you were happy. Jungkook could only smile as you showered him with praise and tried to convince him to tattoo you again as the judging continued.

The two of you stood with Yoongi, chatting as the judges tallied up the scores. He tried to stay still as he watched the host organize the names of the winning artists, losing interest in the conversation as the judges confirmed the final results. One by one, the host read the categories and its corresponding champion. “For Best Medium Color,” the host paused for dramatic effect, “Min Yoongi!” Jungkook cheered loudly with you as his mentor took the stage with his model showing off the antique pocket watch and a royal flush poker hand on top of a wispy background.

Jungkook’s heart hammered in his chest, the sensation almost worse than his first year at the convention as Best Large Black & White was read out. Though he wanted to look calm and collected on the outside, Jungkook was sure he looked anything but. The audience created their own drumroll as the anticipation built - “Jeon Jungkook!”

Your squeal kickstarted Jungkook’s brain as he processed his win. He’d really done it? A few people around him clapped him on the shoulders in congratulations as he was pushed towards the stage to collect his prize and take his place beside the host. “Congratulations, Jungkook! One of the few artists to take home all three wins in one category,” the host announced. If only they knew what it took to get there. Jungkook felt like he was on cloud nine as he shook hands with the judges and took his picture with you and them, prize in hand. He knew he was positively glowing with pride.

“Guk, you did it! I told you that you could!” you cheered as you bounced up and down in happiness and excitement as they moved onto Best Large Color. He smiled down at you and unable to help himself any longer, he scooped you up into his arms, burying his face in your neck.

“Thank you, Y/N!” He repeated the phrase earnestly as if saying it over and over again would finally let you understand just how grateful he was but all it really did was make you giggle as his breath tickled your skin. “Seriously, I really couldn’t have done this without you.”

“I know,” you joked and flipped your hair. You both laughed and you pulled him in for another hug as you said, “Of course, Guk. I’m always here for you. Always,” you punctuated with a squeeze and a smile.

“Yeah, yeah,” he agreed. “You are always here for me,” he said vaguely as he stared down at you in his arms.

“Guk?” you queried as he stared off into the distance.

“This isn’t happening because I won. I don’t want you to think that I only do things like this when I’m any sort of intoxicated, okay?” Jungkook clarified as his confidence grew.

“Things like what?”

“Like confess and kiss you,” he stated.

“Kiss me? You’ve never-”

“Yes, I know I’ve never kissed you. But I want to. Is that okay?” Jungkook asked seriously.

“Yes. More than okay,” you whispered.

It was all Jungkook needed to hear. He was finally kissing you. A soft kiss that grew the longer you stood pressed together in the middle of the convention floor. Jungkook had had his fair share of first kisses, but yours was the one he’d remember for the rest of his life. Maybe because it was you. Maybe that’s why it would always be his favorite. He’d always refrained from putting himself in any situation where he’d be even the slightest bit tempted but now, after having you, he wasn’t sure he’d be able to let you go. The overwhelming sensation that it was actually happening was quickly quelled by the insurmountable joy he felt as you kissed because it was actually happening.

Jungkook may have ascended into another plane as your fingers curled into the hair at the base of his neck and you pulled him further into you. Though he really didn’t want you to think he was only doing this because he’d won, the courage it gave him really did help. The feeling of winning nearly paled in comparison from the brief, sweet taste that was you. Even if he’d never won tonight, he would have considered himself a winner regardless from the kiss alone. Jungkook sighed into you as he savored the moment. Through the pounding of blood in his ears, he could vaguely make out the hoots and hollers of passerbyers as he held you close. Lost in you once again, Jungkook forced himself to remember your earlier conversation.

“Did you really mean it though?” he asked, one arm still wrapped tightly around your waist and the other holding onto his golden plaque.

“Mean what?”

“Not counting me out.”

“Did you mean what you said?” you countered. “Even if I wasn’t supposed to find out this way.”

“Yes, and all the times before then,” he answered truthfully. “So, does this mean you’ll have me?”

“Absolutely. Totally. With my entire hea-” He pressed repeated kisses against your mouth, your teeth clashing as you both smiled, neither of you willing to break apart until a familiar voice cleared its throat.

“I leave for five minutes and this is how I find you. Took you long enough though. Be that as it may, are you done?” Yoongi asked, expression wry and his own prize peeking out of his duffle bag. “I could use some food before we head back to the hotel and Y/N is going to need that tattoo bandaged.”

“Right, right,” Jungkook answered and let you go albeit reluctantly. “We’ll meet you at the car?” Yoongi nodded.

“Don’t take forever. I will leave you. Both of you,” Yoongi warned as he headed off to the exit without any further questions.

Back at the booth, Jungkook applied a generous amount of ointment to the piece before securing it with a bandage and double-checking the tape. Helping you step into your shorts, he smiled at the tattoo. Not only would it be a great reminder of a great win, it would also signify the milestone in your friendship - relationship? - was taking. “Told you that you should’ve tattooed me sooner,” you quipped as you gingerly pulled up your shorts.

“Oh yeah? Why’s that?” he asked, playing along as he quickly packed up his things.

“You would have won much sooner,” you murmured, standing before him.

“Really? What would have been my prize instead? Because that plaque is pretty great.” Jungkook sat his bag on the ground and rested his hands on your hips.

“Better than me?” you grinned and he pressed his lips to yours again.

“Looks like I’ll have to come up with another design then,” he hummed.

“Or you can let me and I can tattoo you,” you suggested with a devilish grin.

“And what do you propose?”

“My name. Right here,” you pointed to the empty space on the left side of his chest.

“Only if you let me tattoo my face on your ass,” he joked and gave it a gentle squeeze.

“Deal,” you laughed.

Jungkook said nothing further, only smiled as he laced his fingers between yours and tugged you in the direction of the exit. “Great. I’ll have everything arranged,” he replied. Laughing with you in these moments meant so much to him and while he wasn’t sure what would happen between you after you left the convention and headed home, he would take pleasure in these moments for as long as you’d let him. As the two of you exited the building and hustled across the busy street to the parking garage so Yoongi wouldn’t have an excuse to leave you, Jungkook wondered if you’d known that your name had been inked over his heart a long, long time ago.

full masterlist // drabbles

ⓒ joon-ipersgirl, 2020

[georgesmithindustryskills]

Personal Project Evaluation

20/06/18

In this evaluation I will share my thoughts and opinions on my final piece and the techniques and materials as well as the positive and negative aspects of it. 

Graphic Media, Techniques and Technology

First of all, I’d like to talk about the technology and software/resources which I used in this project. At the start of the project, I used a sketchbook, this was during the early stages so I didn’t need to use anything more than this. I used this sketchbook so that I could start drawing and writing out initial ideas that came to mind. In fact, I was required to fill at least 10 pages worth, and I realise that this was a very important part of this project, since if I were to go into this without planning beforehand, I would certainly be lost and wouldn’t know where to start with anything, let alone my final piece. After I had finished sketching and writing out ideas down in my sketchbook, it was time for me to start bringing them to life in the form of experimenting in other software and programs. Since the majority of my best ideas involved creating an illustration of myself or something/someone else, I thought it best to open a drawing program called Paint Tool Sai and start drawing out something which could look good. I started by doing some sketches of myself, and soon realised that this was the path I wanted to choose. To be fair, the final drawing doesn’t perfectly resemble me, but I think that it has some features which make it more recognisable, such as the hair and eyebrows. The drawing took me over a week on and off to finish, and I was more or less pleased with the result. Anyway, back to the technology I used - after I’d finished the illustration in Paint Tool Sai, I decided I wanted to start working on the background for my final piece. I went to Adobe Illustrator to create it initially, but soon realised that Adobe Photoshop was going to be the optimal resource for me. Illustrator is good for creating shapes and vectors which may be quite complex, though Photoshop is good all around, and has very useful effects for me to use as opposed to Illustrator. That is about it for the technology which I used for this project. 

As far as techniques go, I used many in Photoshop, they ranged from blurring, which is one of my personal favourite effects to use, as I think it can give the illusion of depth, and can be great when there is movement, like in an animation for example, where the human eye cannot register all of the movement between point A and point B, to giving certain aspects a glow, for example the lights/windows on the buildings in the background of my final piece. I also used less prominent effects like altering the brightness and contrast. One very useful technique that I used after I’d created my assets (illustration and background) was the magic wand tool - since the illustration didn’t have a transparent background for some reason, when I imported it into Photoshop, I needed to delete the background. I set the value to a high number so that it would leave me with as little white from the background as possible, but also not making it look jagged and rough. I also used the blur tool to try and hide the white that was leftover. I did use other techniques, but they aren’t as notable as the ones I have mentioned.

 In the early stages, when I was brainstorming ideas in my sketchbook, I needed to conduct a fair amount of research so that I could increase the amount of ideas, and be inspired by certain things. I mainly used Google images for this part, though I have been using certain media for a while that has definitely influenced my work positively, such as Twitter. I created a mood board consisting of ideas images that I was inspired by and thought were very interesting. I wrote about an individual by the name of Romain Trystam, who creates beautiful cityscape in Photoshop - he has definitely inspired me in some way to create the background for my final piece. 

Suitability of Selected Materials, Techniques and Processes

I used a wide variety of materials in my work, so I’ll be going through what I used in this segment. So as I’ve mentioned, I started off using the classic sketchbook to record all of my ideas for this project. The sketchbook that I used was an A5 one, which I can understand some would argue that it could be seen as cheating, since the pages are smaller, but I just prefer to work with smaller pages. I used mainly a mechanical pencil to draw with, the name of it is Uni Kuru Toga, I don’t think it’s for drawing actually, but I still like using it. I did use a regular HB pencil at times - I alternate between the two since they offer different ways of drawing I think. I used an eraser a lot, since I make quite a lot of mistakes, although, I suppose you can’t technically make a mistake when you’re just brainstorming. I used coloured pencils in some of the ideas in the sketchbook near the end, but I didn’t use them much as I just don’t really like colouring with pencils. There was an idea near the last page, where I needed a lot of black in the drawing, so for this I used a black charcoal pencil, and then I used nail varnish to stop it from smudging or printing onto the next page when I close the book - this worked very well. On my personal favourite sketch, I decided to go over it with a copic marker, I think it was a 0.5 one, and it looked pretty good - it is by far the drawing that most closely resembles my final piece. A ruler was also one of the more prominent materials that I used throughout the sketching process, since I drew boxes containing each idea for each page. 10 pages of my sketchbook now look like a very poorly made manga. That was all I used for the sketchbook phase of the project, I moved onto drawing the illustration in Paint Tool Sai. For this, I used my own Wacom drawing tablet and pen, it’s one of the smaller models - I really want the bigger model with a screen, though it will probably take me a while if ever, to get my hands on one of those. That was it as far as materials that I used in this project go.

I think that overall, my process was well thought out, and served to create a very decent piece of work in the end. It was well-structured, and had 4 main segments, the sketching phase, the illustration phase, the background creation phase and finally the phase in which I combined all of my assets to create my final piece. I believe that the techniques that I used were very necessary and suitable for making it look good in the end, since if I didn’t use effects such as blurring and glowing, the illustration would look very strange and out of place in contrast with the background. I think some of the main reasons for that are the colours, they’re very vibrant in the background as opposed to the illustration which look kind of washed out and desaturated at times. Another reason would probably be something like the forms of each aspect - what I mean is that the background is rather simple, with it consisting mainly of rectangles and squares, as opposed to the illustration, which doesn’t contain a single generated shape created using one of the shape tools, unless you count the striped shirt - it’s not necessarily a bad thing of course. 

What Went Well

The whole duration of the project went reasonably well in my opinion, and I’ll go over the positive aspects here. First of all, I’ll talk about the sketching phase, there were a lot of good ideas that I was able to get down during that phase, and one of them even resembles my final piece fairly well. The research that I conducted during the early stages went well, with the mood board etc. As I’ve mentioned, the illustration went well also, so that’s another positive aspect of the whole thing - it turned out well, and was good practice for me, since I need a lot of improving on my drawing skills - most notably, clothing, and anatomy of the human body with pretty much everything under the collar bone. The background was fun to make and turned out well in the end. I especially liked making the windows on the buildings and adding glows to them, because I think that they turned out pretty good. I liked combining the two main assets that I made together, (city background & illustration) and editing them to fit together was successful for the most part, like with the blurring around the sides of the illustration because of the white airbrush effect that I’d added before. All of the variations that I created turned out well with all of the effects and adjustments, especially the one with the glowing striped shirt, my personal favourite variant. 

What Needs Improvement

I was happy with the majority of the project, but there were a handful of things that looking back, and whilst I was making it, need improvement. First of all, I drawing - I need to improve my drawing skills, and the main things I need to improve on are clothing and anatomy of the human body, as I mentioned briefly above. The illustration turned out well, but it was by no means perfect, because the whole thing looks a bit disproportionate to me. I find clothing to be more of a challenge than actual human anatomy, or maybe just about the same, but either way, I find it difficult right now, since there is a lot to get right, and if you don’t get it right then it can kind of take away from the whole drawing in my opinion. Aside from the illustration, I think that the background also may need improving. It’s not that it has any glaring mistakes or problems, it’s just that I think it could have more on it, only I couldn’t think of anything to add at the time, nor can I now, but next time I would make sure to brainstorm ideas more for the background, since I basically just went straight into making it in Photoshop without much idea generation beforehand. Those are the main things that I believe definitely need improvement. 

How will I take what I learned from this project and apply it to future work to create stronger design work in the future?

I learned a fair amount throughout working on this project, and I will definitely carry it over to future work, such as idea generation - I didn’t do idea generation to the level of this project before, with the 10 pages of sketchbook work, which really helped me with my final design, because it helped to narrow down the best ideas from what I’d created, and I could choose some aspects from other ideas that may not have been the best ones there, to combine them and create a superior idea, which was my final creation - if you look back at my sketchbook pages, then you can see a lot of the ideas in my final piece just scattered about, as well as one almost completely resembling it, which I’ve mentioned earlier. Anyway, it’s definitely something that I’m going to carry over to other work, so that I can come up with a solid final idea for whatever I choose to do in the future. To be honest, I didn’t really do a whole lot new during this project other than the sketchbook idea generation work, and I suppose I should try to branch out. So something else that I’ve learned from this project is that I should experiment more, and try to get out of my comfort zone and stop primarily creating backgrounds consisting of cities and nighttime, because it seems like my mind just goes straight to that when I need something for a background. So that is what I’ll carry over to future work, new ideas and more experimentation. 

Overall, I enjoyed this project, since it offered a lot of freedom and room for whatever I wanted to do. I realised, although I already knew before, that I need to improve on the anatomy of the human body, as well as clothing, so I’ll be sure to work on that some more when I get the chance to. 

[yananafysa]

Walking in the City

A response to Michel De Certeau’s reading.

“Transformed into a texturology in which extremes coincide - extremes of ambition and degradation, brutal opposition of races and styles, the contrast between yesterday's buildings, already transformed into trash cans, and today’s urban irruptions that block out its space.”

This diverse texturology is one that I experience in every moment that I spend in Tamaki Makaurau. There is diversity around every corner, particularly in the starkly contrasting buildings that rise and fall with fluctuating business economies and the government spending which dictate how the cityscape will materialize. The inner CBD’s buildings agitate my need for order and consistency in the visual aesthetic of an environment. Its architectural complexion is a conglomeration of Victorian, Art Deco, Post-Modern and Modern. These various styles being in such tight-knit proximity to one another is something which struck me even from my first moments experiencing Tamaki Makaurau as a child.

However, beyond the optical dissimilarity of Auckland’s urban landscape, is the wildly complex history that its foundations lay upon. Prior to European colonization, Tamaki Makaurau had, just as it does today, an incredibly active topography. The topography of the time, however, was not one of concrete and steel. But one of a tectonic; volcanic nature. The land’s volcanic ridges made for incredibly fertile land, making it ideal for agriculture. Due to the volcanic ridges, the rise and fall of the landscape made for division between land ownership. This disparate surface of Tamaki’s land allowed for a segregation determined by the social hierarchy of European settlement grew. This segregation was a by-product of not only financial means but religious ones. Towards the East, more specifically towards Symonds street where the socially elevated Anglicans. Of which we see architecturally in the grossly ornamented St. Paul’s church and the dressed up Victorian fronts of the buildings along Symonds street (now owned by Auckland University). Towards the West side of Tamaki Makaurau and Queenstreet were the working class, Catholics resided. Something here that I find fascinating is how apparent the societal ranking is to this day, and what a slow moving organism social hierarchy is, even within the Urban; which is essentially seen as a rapid growing microbe.

Which leads me to believe that the Urban as a concept is one only skin deep, it is a layer used to sugar coat the realities of social and financial inequalities in the modern place. From the day I could understand the difference between people and the class they are assigned to, I understood my place in that world. Growing up out west there was a stigma instantly labeled to you, at school there was this ‘gross, poor, westie’ mentality spoken of between us children, it shocks me that in year 5 I knew that I belonged to a specific category of people, even more so that it gave me this thirst to belong elsewhere. To live in Mission Bay, or Ponsonby, getting all of the clothes and toys I wanted and saw on TV, for that was what I was led to believe was wealth, happiness and being well-off.

“Escaping the imaginary totalisations produced by the eye, the everyday has a certain strangeness that does not surface, or whose surface is only its upper limit, outlining itself against the visible.” I feel this concept heavily when experiencing Tamaki Makaurau’s CBD, there is an underlying history to every road, street and building built. This history has gotten lost in the wildfire that has been Tamaki Makaurau’s urbanization, flashy billboards, construction sites sprouting up every day and the recent influx of immigrant citizens have all formed a new layer to Tamaki Makaurau’s historical strata. Thankfully in growing and learning, I've come to be aware of the realities of this, specifically this year in Encountering the Urban, learning of Tamaki Makaurau’s past allow it to rise to the surface that of which I experience when existing in Tamaki Makaurau’s urban space.

This surface can be experienced as the streets that we physically engage with, we are immersed in them and what they advertise to us; wealth, superficial happiness, materialistic appeal and most importantly something better, better, better; the future. “One’s body is no longer clasped by the streets that turn and return it according to an anonymous law; nor is it possessed, whether as player or played.” The ideals of the Urban are in accordance with the anonymous laws that we play into, the behavioral codes and conventions that we uphold against ourselves dictate how we think and exist in urban space. We allow ourselves to be played by playing others, giving into the social constructs we are raised to believe true. When walking through the concrete jungle, it’s atmosphere is thick with the contradictory laws set by societal constructs, this air possesses us into the versions of ourselves that we allow the public to see.

The contrast between public versus private is deeply rooted within the personas we must adopt to survive the modern day. As the identity we wear is not one that can be shied away from, one who does not conform with the ‘normal’ will feel the need to hide their real selves for reasons varying from protection from harm, being singled out, or simply to be left to themselves. Nevertheless, “culture organizes modernity - cuts it into scientific and dominant islands” - these different islands will be occupied by each member of the crowd whether they like it or not, thus when in the city’s grasp we are ultimately, beside ourselves yet completely, within the Urban.

“The networks of these moving, intersecting writings compose a manifold story that has neither author nor spectator, shaped out of fragments of trajectories and alterations of spaces: in relation to representations, it remains daily and indefinitely other.” this we all feel when walking/existing in Urban space, these networks are in the memories (or lack thereof) we hold to certain City pockets of space, it is in the exchange between oneself and a stranger we might never cross paths with again. It is in the mentally held ideal of a city lodged into our minds that mainstream media, films, books, images, and stories have infiltrated. “What can be seen designated what is no longer there.” But it is more than the visual encounters, it is in the sensory moments, the feel of the solid concrete westernization laid beneath our feet, in the shifting colour and light of natural and artificial light that we examine when making our way through wide streets and narrow passes. It is also in the memories awoken by certain smells or, the gratitude our modern tailored heart's desire of moving away from the cool outdoor air into a warm, heated store.

“Perspective vision and prospective vision constitute the twofold projection of an opaque past and an uncertain future onto a surface that can be dealt with.”

“Perspective vision and prospective vision constitute the twofold projection of an opaque past and an uncertain future onto a surface that can be dealt with…’The City’ like a proper name, thus provides a way of conceiving and constructing space on the basis of a finite number of stable, isolatable and interconnected properties” This we discussed in class and (if I recall correctly) Dieneke made the comment that ‘the city is a concept, it is a lived experience, not a place that we tie memories to.’ I responded to this with the idea of seeing the City as an artifact which cannot exist without a consumption of it. It is that exact ideal, one of mass consumption that the City is founded upon. It allows its existence to be a real, tangible place available for the experience by the living, breathing organisms that work within it. Those who consume and produce the products of consumption; us.

Because of our involvement in the City dimension, we have created for ourselves an accessible space which anyone can experience. Be they of present day, past, or future. Responding to this quote from another point of view: Are we those properties? Are we and our societal issues the surface of properties to be dealt with? For we are ultimately the sole ones who animate this surface into being. We carry the past, present and the future with us throughout the urban space. Urban constructs we in spirit with our daily functions tasks allow the City space to progress and advance with us. Thus, where the bulk of modern-day wealth lies and where Urban hope’s and dreams await for their partners to meet them is within the City; the City that resides within us. The rise of social media and advertising: “Beneath the discourses that ideologize the city, the muses, and combinations of power that have no readable identity proliferate; without points where one can take hold of them, without rational transparency, they are impossible to administer.” Products and business schemes target the masses and are the vehicle large corporate businesses use to infiltrate themselves into our minds. Large billboards, magazines stands, logos pasted on convenience store windows, large bright glowing signs, public events, publicity on buses. These tactics directly sell their image by thrusting it into the optics of urban space, we are force fed it until we believe it. Take New York City in the 1950’s-1960’s, with large cigarette advertisements running alongside buildings, crowds of the time read and believed their slogans. Slogan’s calculated to attract their attention, fooling them into the ‘good’ cigarettes could provide the individual with. The glorified lifestyles advertised and their creators roam through the same crowd we do, because of the anonymity they cannot be identified or singled out. This too is applicable for dangerous characters of the Crowd, pick pocketer’s, stalkers, thieves, any predator can use the crowd as camouflage. To hold any claim that questions a stranger’s intentions would be stereotypical. Stereotypes thrived in early Urban space, used to hold people in place, in class we got a glimpse of this in Edgar Allen Poe’s ‘The Man of The Crowd’. Stereotypes they are still a large part of how we behave in Urban space today, however as the common mindset becomes more progressive so does how people are treated and categorized within Urban space. This is speaking very generally, for attitudes vary depending on the country, city, and place. However, Tamaki Makaurau was not too long ago, a jagged, violent space for persons who did not fit into the heterosexual, cisgendered white male (my opinion on this is based on documentaries, social media, and conversations with my seniors). Based on my experience growing up in Tamaki Makaurau, I feel that the atmosphere of today is more open and accepting of people and their unique backgrounds.

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AN AUGMENTED REALITY APP THAT INJECTS THE INTERNET INTO REAL LIFE

WHEN RYAN STAAKE and Patrick Piemonte first worked together, they helped you get round: Both were interface designers at Apple, with Piemonte running specifically on the iPhone’s map generation. Now, nearly a decade later, the two are operating collectively once more—but this time, in place of helping you get around, they need to use the power of augmented fact to appreciate the hidden things around you. That’s the idea at the back of Mirage, an iOS app the duo and a small team simply launched. It’s no longer the first AR app to be had in the App Store, and it definitely won’t be the ultimate, however, it may properly be the handiest one to marry augmented fact’s hidden-global appeal with social media’s shareable, remixable content. And in doing so, it’s making AR no longer absolutely a technology of interest, but one of connection. MORE FROM THE AUTHOR

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Netflix’s Secret Weapon Isn’t Reboots—It’s Genre Movies In case you’ve got been at a 3-month silent retreat, you’ve got likely heard some thing approximately how sure tech titans are charging towards AR—and the use of your phone’s digital camera to get there. Both Facebook and Apple have brought developer platforms that allow people to combine AR results into apps. However, whilst early experiments had been encouraging, in particular, those the use of Apple’s ARKit, they may be essentially built around simulations that bridge a few type of experience hole: What does that bulgogi bowl seem like in actual existence? Could my backyard deal with a SpaceX Falcon nine touchdown? How many cats in shape in my office? Whether they’re useful or high-quality, they feel very much like sealed products. You fire it up, see the thing you want to look, and … Nicely, it really is it. Mirage, for its element, is even much less useful than a floating tic-tac-toe recreation. But it truly is the idea. It’s no longer a carrier or a simulation or a product—it is a palette. The complete factor, as Staake says, is for people “to communicate thru the real world.”

How those verbal exchange works is a bit organization textual content,

a little bit social-media app, and a little bit treasure hunt. When you fire up Mirage, you’re supplied with a digital camera view, together with a small Google Maps thumbnail in the top corner. To add a “mirage,” you point your digicam at some thing and take a picture; the app then permits you to embellish the object with text, drawings, 3-d emoji, even pics or animated GIFs. The Mirage then shows up on the map as a glowing circle—as do all the other mirages human beings have made to your location.

If you want to find those different mirages, make bigger the map and walk in the direction of the glowing circles (this will feel familiar if you spent any time gambling closing 12 months’ AR break out, Pokemon Go). When you get near a mirage, a tiny thumbnail of the precise place will guide you toward the proper spot to trigger the mirage. You can picture or movie other mirages, and then proportion the ones on other systems—or you can simply revel in the small thrill of seeing something others can’t.

The mirages themselves, although, are not just static items; if someone has created a mirage of a hashtag, for example, then tapping on that hashtag will release Twitter. Not simplest are mirages virtual items that exist inside the real world, then, however, they act as a portal between the two. “Where we have interaction with each other on the internet, whether or not it is on a web page or in chat, is kind of this representation of a non-space,” Staake says. “We’re very interested in the concept the Internet oozing into reality a bit extra.” (Staake has blurred the one’s lines earlier than; he directed the viral meta-video for Young Thug’s “Wyclef Jean”, and has created numerous VR initiatives.) Despite its iOS exclusivity, Mirage wasn’t constructed with Apple’s ARKit; Staake and Piemonte got here up with the authentic prototype 8 months in the past and scaled it up themselves. “ARKit is super,” Piemonte says. “but it’s a special use case.” Whereas ARKit apps react to the person’s environment to carry out a generalized characteristic, Mirage is a long way extra context-precise: Oh, howdy, someone created a mirage outside this particular eating place you’re on foot beyond, it says. Check it out.

And in case you’ve concerned approximately a cityscape clogged with the AR equivalent of pop-up ads and ghost sites, don’t be. Each mirage is designed to vanish after 24 hours—unless different users upvote it. (People can also file mirages for objectionable content material, wherein case they’ll be deleted early.) That, Staake and Piemonte desire, will reward humor and creativity, making the places you stroll via every day just a little greater exciting. Someday—a at some point that, possibly, is a lot nearer than we would have as soon as imagined—this other layer of enjoying will truly be part of everyday lifestyles. Whether by means of AR-enabled glasses or a few another way, bodily and virtual objects will co-exist; that interplay will provide instruction, distraction, and the whole lot in among. For now, though, there may be exploration; for now, there are apps like Mirage, seeking to supply on the promise of AR. One hand-positioned poop emoji at a time.

4. Freelancing

You can also do freelance work for internet marketers if you are good at building websites, writing content like articles, blog posts, e-books and short reports, designing banners, e-covers and graphics.

But do not expect to get high pay unless you are an experience programmer and software developer.

You may head down to sites like Elance, Fiverr, and Guru to offer your services.

5. Mobile Apps

This is another profession you may consider if you like to learn and earn from designing mobile apps for people.

Given the fact that iPhones are very popular these days and people tend to surf the web through those to laptops and desktops, this is another model you should consider.

6. Creating And Selling Your Own Information Products

I did cover this topic briefly in my article on the Two Sides Of Affiliate Marketing Coin.

What this means is you write your e-books and design your own video tutorials