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pisoprano · 2 years

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My current art process (July 2022)

Thought it might be fun to show off some of my (still developing) artistic process since some of the other Miraculous Ladybug comic creators I’m a fan of have done so recently (and I need to work on being my own hype person).

[note: this is all in reference to my ML fan comic Runaway Catwalker, which updates at @runawaycatwalker ]

Before I do anything, I write the script. Since words are cheap, I might write out the same scene/beats out several times coming from various angles to give myself fodder for what I eventually will use in-comic (at least a third of my 43k draft document right now is stuff I’ve already thrown out, and much more of it will be cut as I transition the words to the comic page). For example, here’s an alternate version of the interaction that takes place on Page 10:

When I’m ready to start working on the next installment, I pull up my comic template and start making sketches to get a feel for the layout.

Earlier on, my sketching process was more deliberately messy, with handwritten text and a larger line weight. I soon stopped doing this since I realized that I was investing in a version of the comic that wouldn’t exist, so it’s better to just use all the same basic tools regardless of what phase of the process I was in.

This is more how I do my sketches now:

Once I’ve sketched out the full comic page, I start working on the lineart, using the sketch layer as a mostly-transparent guide. If anything is in the background (or otherwise is complicated), I’ll use multiple lineart layers to keep things separate if I so I can easily adjust things later.

Then I start adding colors. By now, I’ve got a dedicated color palette for all the reoccurring characters (plus some other colors that come in handy) and any variations in shade just come from the fact that my main color layer is at 80% opacity. In cases where colors might seem complicated (such as Ladybug’s spots, Alya’s shirt, or things with fading colors), I’ll often ink in oversimplified colors for the character that I’ll add details to later. If the colors are for magic powers or tears, those get their own color layer.

On the occasions when I actually put effort into my backgrounds, I’ll pull up a reference from the Miraculous Ladybug Wiki to use. Otherwise, I’m usually content to let page’s overall color and/or some vaguely colored blobs do the trick.

At some point, I’ll start adding ovals/rectangles to my Speech Bubbles layer and panel divisions to my Front Panels layer and realize that--no matter how much I tried to account for the room available--I will be covering up something I didn’t mean to and therefore I will have to start moving pictures around and/or figure out how to convey things in fewer words. I’m usually not entirely happy with the final layout, but I think it’ll be easier to live with now that I’ve decided to now include the version without text bubbles in the Read More of my posts.

Back when I first started making this comic, blissfully unaware that it was about to take over my life, I put additional effort into adding shading. That was abandoned by page 3. I’m not even a quarter of the way through what I want to do yet and I’ve been at it since February, so as far as I’m concerned, avoiding shading means I’m saving my sanity in the long run.

The final step (besides actually posting it) is creating the image description for the page. This usually consists of me copying all the text boxes into a document, fixing any typos, and then trying to describe what I see in each panel. It’s an interesting exercise for me, as a writer who seldom describes anything in prose, to try to reverse engineer visual storytelling, but I hope it helps people get a better read on what’s going on in the comic.

And that’s it! Hopefully that was interesting to you, let me know if you have any questions.

#runaway catwalker #my art #my art process #miraculous ladybug

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thehoneyknight · 3 years

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Comics

The next comic- the first part of The Radiant Arc- will be posted on Tuesday! It is called ‘Pride’.

An update on what’s happening with the comic, changes and whatnot is under a ‘read more’ below if you are interested. :)

The comic has been gone for a long time. Sketching the next portion of the story took a lot longer than I anticipated, and in the end it took far more pages than I had ever expected. The Radiant Arc is 430 pages long. The current length of the entire comic is 612. The upcoming pages (in the later half especially) are a lot denser than usual comics, so essentially Radiant Arc doubles the size of actual comic in the comic.

I say all this because I cannot easily state that the comic will not be finished as quickly as I had hoped it would. Sketching everything beforehand was necessary for the story to be the one I wanted to tell, but in doing so it grew outside that same scope into something that benefits the greater story but hinders my capabilities as a single person to draw it. I didn’t realise that I was very burnt out from sketching all of this arc until December when I finally finished the 11th comic, and I don’t want to risk losing all motivation to draw again. I won’t be drawing as much as I did before, simply because I cannot, and this is unfortunately going to affect the comic directly.

Most of The Radiant Arc comics are the same general length as a normal ‘long’ comic. The first four are all 10 to 12 pages. Another is in the 30s. One later is 166, and the one after 108. To cover the stupid amount of time needed to cover how long it will take to draw these massive comics I’m going to put the comic on a loose monthly schedule, and post on Tuesdays to retain some sort of structure. The mega-comics will need to be uploaded in segments to avoid the post limits but I have a plan for them that I’ll go into nearer the time.

As for the comics themselves... there are a few changes. I’m decreasing line thickness for main and secondary lines slightly. Backgrounds are almost entirely out of thinner lines so characters don’t get lost and I can add more detail when needed. This helps all the text stand out more too, which itself will be alternating between the same size and slightly larger so it’s more readable (thanks for the feedback!). Colouring has always taken a lot longer than I wanted, so instead only characters and major backgrounds will be coloured. The rest will be greys n’ gradient. Things might look a bit off for a while as I adjust, but essentially not much is different. The same story is being told.

The story itself is reaching it’s first ending before Chapter 4 reaches the actual end. The Radiant Arc is a huge part of the story and completely changes the possibilities for the upcoming plot. Radiant Arc goes places a little bit further than the canon story and expands on some of the very loose lore we were given. However I have tried to keep everything rooted in the same ground as everything else we know from the extended lore (ie Vespa’s Blessing is the same idea as Joni/Salubra’s Blessing etc, it’s same with Radiant Arc). It’s going to be very exciting to post some of this story that the comic was created specifically for! :D

Thank you all for waiting this long for the next comic and for reading this far. Send in an ask if you have any questions (I will answer tomorrow). Thanks :D

#mod talk

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ot3 · 4 years

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your last post made me think about how I loooove how you use color in your art, it's so vibrant and full of life and movement and expression! I was wondering if you had any advice on how to do color studies? perhaps doing drawings with limited palettes? or anything similar?

First things first, thank you, I really do appreciate comments like these! this post now also has a follow up for finish limited palette pieces

I'm obviously very fond of limited palette art and color studies/color thumbnailing are great ways to get that done. When people think limited palette there's often the association of unrealistic and fantastical color palettes, but learning to limit your color use absolutely applies to semirealism and just builds stronger color theory in general. I was planning to talk about limited palettes in more realistic color use in this post, but this already ended up way too long. If that's something people want to hear about I can talk about it later.

Color theory basics crash-course! I'm sure almost anyone who has colored anything is familiar with this, so I'll be SUPER brief, but I want everyone to be on the same page for this. Color has three qualities you need to take into account: Hue, saturation, and brightness. Hue is what we think of as the 'color'. Saturation is the vibrancy of this color; how bold or dull it is. Brightness is how light or dark the color is. Here's this all labeled on a color picker I stole from google.

As a rule of thumb, things that look good in color should look good in grayscale. Having a strong range of values (brightness) makes for a strong image. Keep this in mind when you're picking colors – knowing what areas need to be light and what areas need to be dark before you start coloring will make your life easier. I'm going to teach you when and how to break this rule later, but for now let's just talk about picking a palette. I've found five to seven different colors to be a really nice sweet spot for working with limited palettes.

There are three main types of color palettes ill work with and ill provide examples each of them. I expect you to all politely refrain commenting on the amount of homestuck fanart that's here.

Monochromatic, where the piece is all within one color family with slight variations in hue, and larger variations in brightness and saturation

Accent, which is essentially the same as a monochromatic type with the addition of a strong, contrasting secondary color in one or two variants. Normally the accent color is lighter and serves as a highlight. This is not any kind of a hard rule, but is instead just what I like.

Split. There are two (or more) main colors at play, each with a couple of different shades.

Cool. Now lets see how we'd go about making one of these palettes.

I'm grabbing an inconsequential sketch i've already got and we're gonna slap some color on it. Let's start monochromatic – I've gone and just tossed six pretty random shades of green on it, picking what goes where based on what I want to be light and what I want to be darker.

Keep in mind, by monochromatic, I don't mean just picking one color and making it lighter or darker! Adjust your hue within the same color family – some of these are very blue, definitely more blue than green, and some are much warmer and yellower. Play around. In this stage I like to have every color on a distinct layer, so I can just recolor the entire layer at once as I tweak the palette.

On the right, I have each color lined up in order of lightest to darkest just so I can get a sense of what I'm working with. Lets go ahead and call this one thumbnail. Now I'm gonna group the layers, duplicate them, and flatten the copy. I'll shrink it down and shove it off to the side so I can compare it to the other ones I make later.

Okay, I did a few more almost completely arbitrary monochromatic palettes. Here they are compared with their grayscale counterparts.

All of them have the same number of colors, and lights stay lights, darks stay dark, midtones stay mid consistent between all of them, but the range of values is different between them all. The difference in light or dark between each tone is different and it gives a different mood that you can see even in black and white. None of them is more 'correct' than any other, and it's all about establishing the tone and atmosphere you want. Experimentation is key.

Now lets try making this a complimentary palette. With a strong accent color, your accent should be placed at areas of importance. People are naturally drawn to contrast and when using an accent color in a piece it'll make that area stick out, so make sure you're placing your colors with intent. For this I went back to that first set of greens I had because it was my favorite. Since this palette is over all very dark, I am going to make my accent the lightest color, because that'll stand out more. In a lighter palette, try making your accent the darkest color. Once again I must stress these are not hard rules – there are very few hard rules in art at all – but these are very useful tips for getting emphasis in the right place. This is just an example piece so I'm not being huuugely thoughtful with how I'm placing the color.

Here's the same image but with the lightest green just swapped out for a far more vibrant accent of yellow. Looks pretty terrible. I don't want all of the papers and blinds to seem so prominent. So let's scrap this and try a different approach. We're gonna instead add our accent as a sixth color to our palette.

By adding another color, I've added another level of detail. Figuring out how to manage detail isn't just dependent on how many colors you have, but this is already going to be ridiculously long so I'll spare you that spiel. This is another one of those things I'll talk about more later if people want to hear my #thots. Using the new yellow accent, I emphasized the eyes, the mug, and added some interior detailing to the objects on the table. I also decided to place yellow in some of the windows of the outside buildings, to add a bit more interest in that area, and to justify giving yellow back lighting to our little goblin lad here, which makes him stand out nicely.

A split palette makes things a whole lot more complicated. Now that you're gonna be working with two different base colors you don't just only have to worry about which one is lighter or darker, you have to worry about how the hues look next to each other. Lets work with an orange on top of our original green here. I picked two of the greens and replaced the darker one with a darker orange, and the lighter one with a lighter orange. Now our palette is six colors split 50/50 between orange+yellow, and green.

But now something interesting is happening. Let's take a look. If you're particularly keen eyed, you might have noticed that there's a third set of colors here, using a greyish brown in place of the oranges. What's up with that?

Well, what's up with that is, they are orange. The palette on the far right is what happens if, instead of choosing my own oranges, I simply hue-shifted the bluegreens until they were technically orange in hue.

The oranges I chose just based on how they looked without actually checking the value and saturation of actually changed the value hierarchy of the whole piece. The table, instead of being in between the objects stacked upon it in terms of brightness, is lighter than either. This isnt bad at all – there's absolutely nothing wrong here. It's just important to be aware of things like this! This is why I said a split palette is the most complicated of the three I'm talking about here – in many occasions, the hue hierarchy can top the value hierarchy. Keep that in mind for slightly later.

I think split palettes work really well for comics, and I like to make my comics with split palettes. Whereas with a single illustration, you can just putz around with your color thumbnails until you get something good, for a comic you're locked into your palette once you've done the first page. Unless you're some sort of insanely meticulous person, in which case I envy you, you probably don't have every single page of your comic blocked out with respective values and can't apply your palette to the whole thing at once to test it. This means you'll need a palette that's pretty versatile. Having a split palette where one of the hue sets is lighter than the other overall allows you to decide whether you're going to create an overall light panel with dark accents, or vice versa. I'm gonna compare two palettes I'm using for comics to make this point.

Here's a sampling of the comic pages in full color, at 0% saturation, and adjusted for grayscale respectively. You'll notice a slight difference between the desaturated colors and the grayscale colors – grayscale seems to hold truer to the full color version, doesn't it?

Now, here are the palettes themselves, and some grids showing the relationship between every pair of colors. When you don't know exactly what you're going to be using any given palette for, the relationship between any two colors becomes more important than ever. The bottom palette is split three ways, red yellow and blue each with a light and a dark, and then a completely neutral dark gray color. I'm using it for a long ongoing ace attorney comic I'm drawing. The top one has 4 shades of blue that go from darker and cooler to lighter and warmer, then 3 shades of orange that get yellower as they get lighter. Underneath is just the values – you'll notice that the top palette has a larger value range, with its lightest color being lighter than that of the bottom palette, and it's mid tones spaced further apart.

What you'll also notice about the bottom palette is that instead of the reds being lighter than the blues and darker than the yellows, the value alternates dark red dark yellow light red light yellow. Take a look at the color grids. You'll notice that for the most part, every color in the palette on the right looks good with every other color. That's not nearly as true for the palette on the left. The light blue has a weird vibration where it meets either of the reds, and a few of the pairings just aren't particularly pleasant. Honestly, from any objective ideas of color theory, this palette kind of sucks shit. Lets make some adjustments to it.

I've changed the dark yellow and light red hues so now the light red is slightly darker than the dark yellow. That's the palette that's on top now. Looks better, doesn't it? But so now the question becomes why am I using a palette that looks awkward, disharmonious, and visually strained when I know exactly how to fix it? The simple answer is because I wanted a color palette that's awkward. I wanted that visual strain. I have trouble working on comics and general, especially anything as long as this one, and I wanted a color palette that already meant things would come out looking a little bit wonky, so I wouldn't be as concerned with nitpicking all the details and making everything pretty. I think the sort of visual upset also fits the tone I'm keeping with a lot of the comic.

Remember earlier when I said I'd talk about breaking the rule of stuff looking good in gray scale and in color? That's now. Take a look at this image.

Which of the three colors is darker: the red, blue, or yellow? The stupid truth of it is that there's not really a proper way to tell. All three are technically the same 'brightness' but our brain tells us that the blue is the darkest, and the yellow is the lightest. Why do our brains do this? Let’s make em gray now.

On the bottom you can see what the colors look like when they are set to 0% saturation; as you'd expect it's a homogeneous gray blob. So then what the fuck is going on with the grayscale one? The grayscale one is closer to the way our brains interpret the colors, but we know this to be an improper rendering of their respective values. Which is the correct version, then – the grayscale or the desaturation? Luckily, we're using a computer, so we can have photoshop tell us the exact balance of hue, saturation, and brightness of any given pixel. Let's take a look now.

Wait, huh? We can plainly see that all three of the colors are at 49% brightness. But neither the desaturated value or any of the 3 grayscale values have a brightness of 49%. So what does a brightness of 49% look like?

Okay. Sure. Why not.

All of what I've just shown you regarding grayscale is to emphasize the point that your best judgment for which colors look good is a far better measuring stick for a good color palette than any technicalities. Even if the value is the same, the hue can differ enough that you can still get a beautiful finished drawing. Color and our perception of it is so, so vastly technically complex. You can not allow yourself to be bogged down by this. Simply practice, and color will become intuitive to you over time. I have a lot more I could say on the subject of picking and using your colors, but this is already insanely long. Feel free to ask any follow up questions, I hope this was of literally any use!

#long post #uhhhhh.#color theory #i guess #i drew this #Anonymous

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stry-someone-to-remember-you · 4 years

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Plan(ed) to Have Something Ready, By The Ball Drop &/or Tomorrow!!! If Everything Works out...

Hey Everyone,

HAPPY NEW YEARS EVE!!!

Wow, this is the second message without any art added or anything... LOL... Seems odd really to do this without having something up by now... By the way, yes the current avatar pic is related to the comic as you’ll come see soon. It’s and early sketch so some kinks aren’t worked out in the current image. But it was the one I was ready to have when I made this blog so there was at least something...

So as you probably can see by this title, I do plan on having something posted... I just don’t know to what extent. Due to some family drama, and continually piling on work I wasn’t able to get my Christmas Pic out to you guys, which was just a static scene with a few of the characters to get us started here. But... well family got in the way, continually decorating till Christmas day... a lot of things going on, bickering (though we all love each other) it’s just... you know life. I fully expected this as well, which is why I promised something before New Years, but didn’t specify as to what.

I postponed that idea to be released today or tomorrow, after seeing how I was completely unable to get to the work by Christmas Eve. But, by the looks of the progress I made on it and my families continually need of me till we get some things done in this house (that always has something to be done in it... LOL, at least things are coming fairly together). So lets just say, I may not have anything out by tomorrow. But with hopes I want to have something out. So We’ll see. I could release early the character sketches. But I want to keep this blog clean as possible, so I feel releasing the character profiles, cards and blogs together prior to the Prologue, would fit better and keep this page having a cleaner look to it at the start.

Maybe even by midnight tomorrow PST I could have something... But that again depends. I need to clean stuff for the internet/cable guy and I’m seriously allergic to dust... So the next few days I may be in an almost sickly comatose state regardless of the precautions I take. If dust gets kicked into the air at all and isn’t properly vacuumed up, than I’m often sick for days... I feel like all I’ve been doing the whole month is cleaning or working story wise on this comic... Mostly cleaning if you ask me, but at least after Saturday things should be more relaxed and I can have a better work schedule planned out. So yeah, that’s my life...

But DIDNT’ WAN TO LEAVE YOU HANGING with this Negative Nancy Talk ;D ;P ;D lol....

I want to tell you what I have so far:

I have the Christmas Image at least with the basic building blocks to complete it. Like I’ve drawn where I want things, but not detailed anything... So that’s why it may be a day or so... Technically its a Happy Holidays and New Years piece, but with the Christmas Tree in it I have the habit of calling it such...

I may have plans to detail it a bit more then I plan on having the comic, but that also depends on things. I may just leave it in the same style and not fully decked out to make it easier to finish...

~Several Characters for the beginning have their final forms created. These are major characters that will be scene in the prologue. I’m just having to figure out out little things with background characters in some instances.

~The prologue is almost completely written out. I had a change of heart a week ago on some things and had to change it around, which is why the written format for the prologue isn’t complete as it initially was. I just felt some things didn’t fit, so I added and took away some things so it flows better and also works both fanfiction wise for the story, but easily mixes for the Ask AU... I also have at least the beginning portion of the Intro script written, the parts unaffected by the changes. However, parts of the intro will be written out, depending on the questions you ask the characters in this prologue so these portions I’m leaving open on purpose. It’s the plot driven portions I’m mentioning that I’ve changed slightly. ;) I have fun plans for the prologue. Remember this story has a clear direction I’m taking it with plot. But the Ask portion will be a part of it, I have such a fun way of Ask’s being tied into the plot driven story, and it will change depending on the context, person and setting which makes this really fun to plan out.

-With that said, here’s an early heads up, that for Ask Questions, I will allow any sort of asks, but if it has potential to spoil a part of the story, then I won’t answer it. Alongside this, I’ll allow Anon magic to a small degree. I won’t include Asks that like spoil something for a character, or tell the character where someone is, give away what someone else is doing to another character, etc... Unless it may fit the context, but generally I won’t use these types of asks. I will allow Anons to appear occasionally rather then just be unseen voices, as I have fun ways of incorporating Anons into the story that also works with different points in the plot. I will accept things like... say a dog or cat to appear for ex. amount of asks. I already know who they’ll be and have been planning out their designs, but I may draw the line at other animals (e.g. horses, fish, racoons, squirrels, lizards, etc.) Although, I do really love rabbits, I chose to make it concise to just two animals that if asked could appear. It’s not because I can’t draw them but I don’t want things getting out of hand. Types of anon magic I’m not going to use if put in the Ask portion, are things like giving people certain powers or items that may completely effect the tone or plot of the story, accept maybe if I did a non-canon AU to this au for fun one day. I will go more in depth in the general rules later. In no way is this to discourage anyone from asking such things. I may set reminders at times if I get to much of something. But, in general I’ll do what I can to make this a fun Ask blog all the same.

~The Larger Summary, I promised like a trailer would be in the comic form I have rendered the Script for, and have two slides so far drawn out, just not completed. (for the time I didn’t have around the Holidays compared to normally I actually surprised myself with this)

~The story itself is really coming together, I already have a starting and stopping point (which I had prior to this blog) as it will have several Acts and Arcs, some which have greatly changed and take on new depth since the point I started this blog. The themes and story in general are drawn out pretty well. I don’t have all the chapters I’d want fully written. As I have my plan, but I also want to get the prologue in first, just to see if there’s anything I should change with my concept. It’s just a precaution, something I’ve learned well when taking on something new. So I don’t have things that are written in stone and hard to change if the form I’m hoping to take doesn’t work out and needs to be retooled or something. But these are minor and shouldn’t change the overall scope and plot I’m taking this story on either.

~I’ve created several of the character bios, many in fact are already written in true Henry Stickmin fashion. But as I took inspiration to make this into a AU as well, I will possibly make both the bio cards and show a static shot of the characters alongside it or something... It’s an idea, but I want this to also be the easier comic. But, considering that I’ll always have a static shot I use as reference for any character I make, this is what makes this more realistic to occur as well. ~I’ve nearly drawn out all the characters for the intro portion. And already know how I’ll handle Anon’s in the story. In the Prologue itself, I’ll actually have you Anon’s being referenced as audience members in a conference of sorts. Think of it like those conferences when a new Apple or Microsoft product is first advertised as something new to the news conference, those big rotunda’s where someone's being interviewed and presenting the hot new item. Think of the opening to the prologue being something like this scenario. So the questions directed at the character in there, who... *cough* I will introduce later after I fully render both their character profile and have their character bio(s) fully done. Which considering how fun and easy it’s been to do this so far shouldn’t be to long now... Although to keep from getting questions to soon on them, I may hold off on posting the Characters and Bio’s till I have that Intro/Trailer completed... I’m still considering which to do first actually. But top on my list out of all of these is having my cover art for the top completed. That’s something I admit though I have the layout I have hardly started on and should focus on first.

~I’m also taking close looks at how to properly make the rules for this group. When I posts either the Character Bios, Holiday Pic, OR the Trailer Comic... Maye even just the cover art... Then I will try to have out an official Rules list. The one I have on the group posts is just general stuff... But I’m reconsidering some rules I already wrote... Basically keep things family friendly, be kind an courteous, nothing vulgar or disturbing.

I may change this from a PG-13 comic to maybe PG-15. I’ve realized recently, there are some points that some characters do swear... sometimes more then once. I’m not someone who talks with vulgarity myself, but I sure can write characters with it.... Let’s just say I’m going to see if in those scenes I might just bleep out words and see if the dialogue still comes through. But, I dunno... LUCKILY, we don’t have to worry about many of those scenes till way further into this comic. So lucky for either of us, this isn’t a major concern at the moment. And on the plus side it’s not the crudest words I could have chosen so... it may still work as a PG-13 work... I’ll make this decision soon as possible.

Another reason for the sudden change, came as I realized as the story goes, and even in early chapters there will be scenes where blood is shown and physical mortal danger and peril is experienced by the characters. I do have heavy theming sometimes, later on it may seem constantly about. As this story is heavily Drama/Mystery and some suspense based. As the story progresses it will become less Drama/Mystery and more based around the drama/suspense itself. This will obviously be some more intense scenes that showing less blood would allow me to make PG-13, however I also don’t want to undercut the certain tones using representations of a mortal wound would bring. I also want to look at things like these future scenes realistically. Which is why I’m mostly considering changing this story to a PG-15 or at least more certain I am. I just don’t want people shocked that I’m doing this. I don’t feel this story will be R, there was a time where I heavily considered it. But for once I decided no, I didn’t want that. I just didn’t want to open the door for scenes I didn’t intend to have in this story. There will be heavy themes that my have TW for some people. But I didn’t want some TW’s that having a R rated story could potentially have. I mean certain themes people are free to write fanfictions for, and depending on the content can make art for. But again this will be family friendly group... As You can see I’m considering more then a little here when it comes to the official rules. These details will be followed up on the official rules post.

~~~~~~

Now I apologize for the length.

The structure of this and the previous Authors Notes will probably fall under their own category for length. I’ll work to make sure posts in the future won’t be so long and hard to read. It is early morning for me when I woke to write this, and I found once much of the day passed that I still wanted to include the stuff I did into this update.

I have more to tell you, but I think this post has spurned the energy in me out. Anything that I missed in this post, I’ll try to remember to update in the next post (hopefully after I get some art on here). What I can’t do at the moment is promise dates right now till I’m more certain of schedule to work on this or can promise that my general allergies won’t cause me to delay this at all. But I can confirm that I should have several things coming out this next month, including the comic Prologue I hope. Depending on the traction the comic and fanfic gets, I may try to work on it quickly, or take my time with it. I may do a mix of both as my perfectionist self won’t let me just shoot something out without giving it my all first. I’m shushing that side slightly so this comic will be easier on me then the more detailed one I have planned. All the same, I’m planning to work on this one more at the moment till I can get an idea of my work flow. Sometimes the easiest route of work is better for planning, rather then diving head first into the deep end right away. You don’t learn to swim by jumping head first into the ocean. Piece of advice that it took years for me to learn myself ;). Anyways, I figured since I did promise something hopefully by today or tomorrow, I’d give you a formal update... Also... Well I can’t promise that updates won’t be like this in the future. I’ll try to keep them concise. But as people who know me, well have learned when it comes to personally talking I tend to write or talk out epistle. So... When I give updates, I may have lengthy ones... I’ll try my best to keep this side of me out of updates, if I can help it. Anyways Happy New Years Everyone!!! I hope everyone's Christmas and Holidays were extra special, despite the state of the world!!!

HAPPY NEW YEARS EVE AND DAY!!! Sincerely, <3 (Mod) Sweet Heart Blaze

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rotzaprachim · 5 years

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in secret, between the shadow and the soul 1/2

Kanej, Inej-centric. Teen ish, marriage of convenience, 3000 words

(About 6 years post Crooked Kingdom)

Read here on ao3

The apothecary asks her how long it’s been since she’s been intimate with her husband, and Inej almost chokes, says no, she hasn’t been in a very long time. Honesty is always difficult in her carse- dealing with her own past, own demons is hard enough without having to watch other people attempt proper emotional responses on her behalf, and maybe the apothecary senses that because she doesn’t ask more.

----

“It’s legal more than anything. A question of economics,” Kaz said, and Inej nodded, because it's kerch and how could it be anything but? Certainly nothing as tawdry as emotion or desire, let alone love, could interfere with so large a life decision.

Only Kerch citizens can hold berths in the water, and its significantly easier to manage bank accounts and conduct major financial decisions of the kind Inej needs to make on the near daily when restocking her ships. There's one route faster than all the others to becoming a Kerch citizen.

Inej suggested it before Kaz did.

She isn’t ready for marriage, she said. She isn’t ready to be tied to a man, to be anything more or less than herself alone. The Kerch made the whole business easy by never referring to this thing they’re doing as a marriage, all the paperwork is about Economic Units, Civil Unions. There’s so many pages of jargon it made Inej’s eyes bleed. Future children held less inches of fine grey type than agreements on pigs and shipping company stocks, and were described in the same economic language.

Kaz went through the whole thing line by line until the shore she was going to call for an annulment before they’d even gotten the damned thing notarized, or else make herself a tastefully rich and very young widow.

“It’s a contract,” he said. “You should know all the details before you sign your life away.”

“For heaven’s sake,” Inej said, irritated by the last several pages about Property Division in the Event of Medium Sized or Larger Storms, Grisha Attacks, and General Flooding, “I’m not signing my life away.”

“When you get married, it might be difficult to annul if you’ve still got a legal Kerch-”

“When I get married?” she shoots back challengingly. “To who?”

“I don’t know. That fire-tongued revolutionary who writes you poetry and will make you a new world. The Kaelish tavern maid who always pours you a free beer in her bar while you sing about the plight of the repressed. Someone hopelessly moon-eyed and optimistic, who thinks the world shits rainbows and knows what you’re worth.”

“You, Kaz Brekker,” she finally sighed, “are a hell of a lot dumber than they say you are.”

---

She doesn’t tell her parents. She’s not ready for that conversation.

---

She doesn’t tell Nina. She’s not ready for that conversation either.

---

The whole thing was finished in a notary’s office in ten minutes.

Kaz’s gloves were off, more because they both need to be fingerprinted than anything else.

He swore a short, official oath of his loyalty to both her and the Kerch market, promising not to cheat in foreign ports and to provide for and any hypothetical children. She thought of the paid-off indenture and the ship and the found parents and berth twenty-two and and her room in the house in bought on the Zelverstraat and thought that maybe he’s better at doing that than he thinks he is.

She swore a shorter official oath about fidelity and staying true and all her children being her husband’s, because to do otherwise would be bad economics and make her a poor investment, a value-destroyer, on the family line. Because it’s Kerch and of course it is.

---

“What are you thinking about?” he asked her afterward in an attempt at being casual. They’d been sipping at warm lukewarm flagons of beer in one of the harbour’s more reputable establishments and looking out at the water for twenty minutes.

“I’m thinking,” she said slowly, tasting her words, “that Alys Van Eyck is a very, very lucky woman that we came around when we did.” She’s still thinking about the various punishments for women who pollute the family line, which even if motivated by economics over faith as such things would be in Fjerda, are not dissimilar in practice. She’s realising more and more the Kerch neuroticism over bastardry probably comes from having so many of the young men gone for half the year at sea.

Kaz guffawed, which was not a sound she was really used to him making. “You never fail to surprise me, Wraith.”

“How is the Vrouw Dazi”

Kaz shrugged. “Not useful to my purposes anymore. Wylan’s got her an Bajan set up in a little cottage outside Pijl with a tidy sum tied to not making too much noise.”

Sometimes she fantasized about breaking into that cottage and putting on a performance similar to the one that sent Pekka Rollins screaming from Ketterdam. She didn’t, because she didn’t subscribe to the idea of the sins of the father and thought Saartje Kazanja deserved a da with his mental pieces mostly intact. But saints take all, she wanted too.

“How’s Saartje?”

“I don’t know. Kid? Looks more like she could be ours than Jan Van Eyck’s, that’s for sure.

The tips of Kaz’s ears went red before he finished that sentence and he stared into the foam at the bottom of his glass, head turned decisively away from her.

“Fine, I think. In school now. No reason to keep tabs.”

They toasted her new Kerch citizenship. Inej swore she saw his hand shaking.

----

Her citizenship documents, stamped with a wax seal of three flying fish and a small Kerch flag came three days later, expedited by Kaz in ways she cannot begin to fathom. It’s only then she realised that they’re for the new Vrouw Rietveld, that she made her vows to Kasper Rietveld. It’s only logical- Rietveld can be the upstanding businessman who only exists on paper in a way Kaz Brekker cannot, all the better for her dowings, but it still feels like a piece of himself gifted to her.

She could forge Rietveld’s name for her own purposes too; they practiced on old betting slips that she then threw into the fire. Kerch women can legally make almost every kind of financial decision and dealing, less due to the Merchers’ Council’s upstanding opinion of the female gender than the portion of the year the men are at sea, the incredible odds they won’t come back.

(They’ve rather flipped that scenario.

“How much cross-stitch will you do do fill up the void of my absences, she chided him. “They say the old sailor’s wives used to knit lace from the white froth of the sea.” Nowadays Wealthy Kerch women waiting for their husbands to come home tended to stick to knitting hats and scarves for orphans. So saints-damned many hats and socks, and yet you could still scarcely move for the number of bare-headed, barefoot orphans come winter. It was one of Ketterdam’s greatest mysteries.

“Inej,” Kaz sayid, eyes closed, genuine concern cutting his voice. Ever more she was picking up a sailor’s sense of gallows humour.)

---

They exchanged rings at the registry. Inej’s was a simple band, no gemstones but she suspected it was solid gold. Inside was etched a wave pattern, an endless strip of open sea.

Wearing it on her finger meant something, soo she looped it onto a sturdy chain that she hid between her shirt and her beating heart. That seemed appropriate, doable. Young sailors often took the bracelets and handkerchiefs of their sweethearts out to sea as good luck tokens; Inej had a gold wedding band.

Kaz’s fingers brushed the chain in the warm dip between neck and collar as he said goodbye to her on the docks, and after she nodded infinitesimally, telling him to go on, finish this chapter of the story, he slowly pulled up the rest of the chain and found the band.

“I thought-” he said, but she looked him in the eyes, square as she could, and he halted. She doesn’t know what he thought.

“There was not and is not and will probably me a different man for me than you, Kaz Brekker.

He swallowed thickly and then slowly lifted her skin-warmed band to his lips, even though he did not believe in luck, had said he believed in nothing but her.

---

The Kerch don’t have seperate words for “husband’ and “man.”

---

“Mijn mann,” she says in response to the curious looks her crew gives her after the band slips free during repair work, and it doesn’t feel like anything more or less than the truth.

“Mijn mann,” she says tacitly when border authorities raise their eyebrows in suspicion at her Kerch passport.

“Mijn mann,” she begins her letters back to him. “Dearest Inej,” his come back, sometimes even “Loveliest Inej,” but he never uses a possessive pronoun form.

---

Having any kind of passport, official documentation, feels alien and strange. She comes from a people without a land, and for her entire childhood they Suli were denied any official documentation of Ravkan citizenship. That’s changing now, but many are still wary, and with very good reason to be.

---

The quick bureaucratic sketch to mark Vrouw Inej Rietveld as a Seetsen Van Det Kerchrepublik, looked absolutely nothing like the drawings on the three individual sets of national wanted posters that keep cropping up in seedy port cities. Absolutely none of the above get her nose right.

“I look white in this one,” she said, holding a particularly egregious example up to Aigerim, who commiserate mightily. “Look how fucking straight this nose is. No eyebrows.”

Hitting the nose furnishes very fun target practice for when her fingers itch to throw knives.

Inej wins a lot of games of darts in a lot of seamy seaside pubs tucked into a lot of different gritty port cities.

---

They dock in Pijl before Ketterdam to catch their breath and do repairs. Ketterdam’s a good place for business and to look for secrets and plan strategy but a shite location to re-sew a sail or patch up a wall, unless you like replacing your supplies every time they’re stolen. The prices of grain and barrels of water and apples are lower are lower closer to the fields as well, even if that involves bartering loudly in a Centraalmarket that smells like spilled cider and pig shit, straw crunching underfoot, rather than the hallowed halls of the Exchange.

It takes her three days to come down with the evil hybrid chest cold-stomache flu of her fucking life. Ameera shoves her back into bed with ginger tea and another blanket. The thing they don’t tell you about awesome pirate ships with awesome international crews is that you also get the full spectrum of awesome international germs.

By the fourth day, she’s putting on all three of her coats and stuffing a wad of kruge and her passport into a pocket to visit the clinic in town.

---

Other people seem to register this whole being-married business than Inej ever does. She just prefers the expedited customs lines.

The splotchy faced, matronly woman at the clinic sits her on a paper-covered table and reads through a list of questions on a clipboard. Nian loves the lab smell of pure alcohol, would probably dab it on as perfume if she could, but Inej only associates it with injury, with being patched and stitched up after a bad scrape, with the white-coated doctor who came in every two weeks to swab Tante Heleen’s girls for disease, with the brown bottle of the stuff she uses to clean blood and worse off of her knives.

“Family history of pulmonary infections?” the woman asks her. “Smoking, alcohol, jurda use?” Every question makes her squirm slightly, as if in the historyof her wheezing lunghs is some sin she’s committed and will only now find out about. Nejn, nejn, nejn. Inej forgot how much she hated being looked at.

No grisha in her family that she knows of- scribble scribble scribble- but a lot of bad eyesight.

“When was the last time you had intimate relations with your husband?” the woman asks bluntly, and that’s the question that knocks the air out from her. The woman’s thin yellow eyebrow quirks up, but Inej manages to disguise her gasp as a particularly bad fit of hacking. She knows its nothing but a bit of intrusive medical questioning, but words can have many meanings and the answers to questions can be both yes and no at the same time and a certain turn of phrase can punch like a fist and cut like a knife. So she just says “six months ago,” and gives the woman her answer for the write-up.

“Long time.”

“He’s a sailor. I cry as I wait for him to return to me.”

“Ghezen’s speed that he does.”

---

She isn’t quite sure the Kerch even believe in Ghezen as anything beyond a bit of window-dressing to their financial affairs and the punchlien to jokes. Not like she honours her saints, the small painted icon of Sankta Inej she also keeps next to her heart, her daily prayers in the dark comfort her her room. She stands with Merjan, one of her crewmates, at the grave of Sankta Mahari, Queen of Mercy and Patroness of the Lost as they read the ancient prayers together, their voices settling into the steadiness of bees. Our queen, protector of our people, give us mercy, pray for peace, pray for us, pray to bring light to the shadows of the things we have done.

Sankta Anastasia, Sankt Dmitri, Sankta Mahari, she whispers into her knuckles, her fingers moving along the prayer rope with the decisive snapping of wooden beats, pray for our safety in the storm and bring us to the shore.

---

If Inej has found her own name, written with a familar jagged hand, among the prayer-knots tied to the Zentzbridge in a plea of mercy from the sea, she will not mention it.

---

Ketterdam is ugly and bright and familiear. You can smell the rotting flesh and beer smell before you see the smoky smudge of the city on the horizon. The crew makes quick work of unfolding the grishaworked official three-flying-fish flag that gives them clearance to enter the harbour without having their decks searched by the council of tides and carefully docks at Berth 22. Considering that the berths are now being numbered out into the two-hundereds, its a plum location, but its also damn close to the action, meaning that she can already see the glimmer of plastic beads floating on the water, the dark smudges of drunkards bobbing along. A few of the crew memebrs are going to get their pockets picked right off the bat. Inej already has a slush fund tucked away for precisily this reason. She’s getting better at this, she hopes, being a leader. Predicting what will happena dn why and when. Being someone that other people- many younger and more vulnerable than her- can rely on.

“AIGERIM,” she screams as she buttons up her city coat, “only two of thsoe pink trinks with the paper umbrellas MAXIMUM. You hear me?”

“Yeah, boss.”

She sighs. She doesn’t want to be anyone’s boss. “If there’s anything like what happened with the canal and the Stadwatch last time happens again, I think I’ll find the decks need a good scrubbing.”

Aigerim gestures wildly. “Course, boss..”

She tries to take deep rbeaths to calm her nerves. Maybe she’s becoming a worried old crone forty years early, but she’s the one who survived this hellhole of a city. She’s the one who survived this far. In this world, twenty-three is a badge of honour.

---

He cuts a familar figure on the docks. THey each have their own webs now, know of each other’s doings three or four times removed, like recognising a faovrite drinking song on it’s third round of translation. The recognition of a familiar trick, hand, murder method. Kaz will read in a news paper of a mysterious storm that’s tripled the price of indigo and sweet-wood fans after a whole line of ships went missing off the Southern Pelagic Reefs and Inej will hear in a greasy Kaelish bar about the shocking downfall of an old Kerch trading family and they will each smile, privately, and admire the other’s handiwork.

But seeing him in person is something altogether different, and she still rushes over the slats of the quay, coat streaming behind her, stopping abruptly when she comes to him. They pause there for a second and then he lifts his arms and they wrap themselves together around each other, hesitantly but then warmly, firmly, sturdy as a sailor’s knot and with all the inevitability of the sea wearing stone to sand.

“I’ve missed you, Wraith,” he says into her hair and she shrugs into him, her head level with his chest. His chin rests neatly on her head now, if he leans down slighlty, and she swears that wasnt the case the first time they embraced, the first time she left Ketterdam. He denies that the Ice Court, Van Eyck, all that happened while he was a boy not finished with growing. Yet she herself’s tried on that first Wraith outfit- a costume of sorts, really, how different was it from the Scarab Queen’s glass-bead veil in the third act of the Komedie Brute- to find it no longer fit, that she couldn’t easily do up the buttons on the front. She has more of a woman’s set of curves to her hips and long, hard-earned muscles on her legs and thighs, and even if she is creating some new kind of legend it is under her own name now.

Sometimes, Ketterdam feels like that too-small jacket; it cannot fit the woman she’s becoming. So she sews herself a new coat from the fabric of the world.

“Mijn mann,” she says, because she likes the way his body flinches and then stills under her fingers with those words, sharp and unexpected as any knife. “I’ve missed you too.”

#my writings #kanej #i'm surreee there's spelling mistakes #kaz brekker #inej ghafa #kaz x inej #kaz brekker x inej ghafa #kanej fic #six of crows fic #grishaverse fic

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princessselene126 · 5 years

Text

Date Night

Sorry I’m a day late with this. I had to go to the planetarium for a class, and then I got a headache so I was not in a mood to word, if you know what I mean. THIS FIC CONTAINS SUPERNOVA SPOILERS. 1821 words of fluff with a minor cliffhanger. This is technically the last part of the Nights Miniseries (part 1 and part 2) I’m doing, but the fic that comes after this will take place directly after this one. It probably won’t be posted for a bit though because I have other parts to this series I wanna work on. Also special thanks to @insomnia-sketch for giving me an idea for the ending.

This is part of a larger series that can be read as individual fics or one big one. If you’d like to read them in order, please go to the second masterlist linked below.

masterlist We Rise with the Sun masterlist

Nova and Adrian were supposed to go out the next night like they planned, but there was a problem at headquarters that needed Nova’s mechanical expertise. So they took a rain check, rescheduling for the weekend when they’d surely have time.

They were wrong.

Max asked for Adrian’s help on his new Gatlon model for the upcoming parade and it ended up taking the entire weekend. It was time well spent, and Adrian wouldn’t have changed a thing about it, but he felt guilty about their plans changing again.

They tried to make time every day for the next week, but something always came up. One or the other, or both of them had to respond to something.

The night of the annual renegades parade came around. As usual, the remaining council members, along with a few new ones, were wearing their traditional costumes instead of the black and red ones they usually wore.

Renegades walked around everywhere they went.

Nova held Adrian’s hand as they walked past the floats lined up. A year ago she was perched on a rooftop waiting to kill Captain Chromium at this very parade and now she was going to take part in it. There was a strange feeling in the pit of her stomach. Not a bad one though. It was more like...hope. There was a sense of hope and joy inside of her that she’d never felt while she was at one of these parades.

Adrian’s hand tightened around hers, drawing her attention toward him. He had an adorably goofy smile on his face. She couldn’t help bringing her free hand up to his cheek and stroking her thumb over his skin.

“I love you,” she whispered.

Her heart leaped when his smile grew brighter.

“I love you too. Now let’s get to our float.”

Nova pursed her lips. “Do I really have to be up there with you? The city is pretty split on how they feel about me still. It might be safer for both of us if I stay on the sidelines.”

“Star, we’ve talked about this,” Adrian said gently. His hand landed on her hip and drew her closer to him. Ice blue eyes met chestnut brown. “There are always going to be people that think you haven’t changed, but the people who matter know the truth. Besides, everyone is still in the honeymoon phase from the Supernova. It’ll be fine.”

She sighed, leaning into his embrace and resting her cheek on his shoulder. “The ‘honeymoon phase’ hasn’t done much to stop people from hating me.”

“And loving you. More people love you than hate you, Nova.”

“You don’t know that.”

“The people that matter love you. I love you.”

Admittedly it was nice to hear him say those words again. Those three words that always made her feel warm and fuzzy inside no matter how or when or where or why he said them. Pulling her face off his shoulder, Nova met his eyes again. “I know. I love you too… but do you really think it’s a good idea?”

“I don’t think it’s a bad one.”

She took a deep breath. “Alright. Let’s go.”

Adrian pressed a quick kiss on her forehead then lead her over to the float they were assigned to.

Danna was already there, leaning against the decorated platform. She picked at her nails with a bobby pin. Narcissa sat behind her on the flat, braiding three of Danna’s dreads together. Her head perked up when Nova and Adrian were a few feet away. “What took you two so long?”

“I had to convince her to join us a few times.”

Nova elbowed him in the ribs, but smiled while doing so. Yeah he had to convince her, but she was there, wasn’t she?

“Where are Oscar and Ruby?” she asked Danna.

“Oh, you know Oscar. He was hungry. They went to get him something deep fried to eat so he didn’t, and I quote, ‘die of starvation during this dumb parade.’”

Adrian laughed, not at all surprised. “Of course they did.”

“I told them if they’re not back by the time we get going that we’re leaving without them.” Danna looked back down at her nails, seemingly satisfied with how they looked. “Which is any minute now, so we should get into position.”

“Right,” Nova said. She moved toward the platform and was about to hop on when Adrian’s hands grabbed onto her hips. “What are you--hey!” He lifted her up and setting her on top of the float. Turning around she raised an eyebrow at him. “You know I could’ve gotten up myself.”

Adrian smiled up at her a mischievous glint in his eyes. “I know. But you’re short, so I thought I’d help you out.”

She scoffed. “I’ve always been short, dumb ass. That doesn’t mean I can’t get up on tell things.”

“I know.” He hopped up and sat on the edge of the float, then stood so he could look down at her. “I wanted to though.”

Instead of climbing up like a normal person, Danna transformed into her butterfly swarm then reformed next to Narcissa. “How is it possible that you two are getting even more disgustingly affectionate? I don't know who’s worse: you or Oscar and Ruby.”

“It’s definitely them,” Ruby said. She and Oscar stood below holding an assortment of fried foods.

Oscar laughed. “Well, it’s not Danna and Narcissa.”

Nova’s stomach grumbled at the smell. She couldn’t remember the last time she ate. Maybe she should ask if she could steal a mozzarella stick or two to tide her over until the end of the parade.

As if reading her mind, Oscar held the deep fried deliciousness up to her. “There’s plenty to spare.”

She gave him a smile before reaching down to take one. “Thanks. I haven’t eaten all day.”

“Nova,” Adrian chastised.

“I’m fine. I’m eating now.”

He sighed. “Alright. Alright.”

She knew he wanted to say more, but was glad he bit his tongue. He was always so concerned that she wasn’t taking care of herself. She was doing much better than she used to be though. Forgetting to eat once in a while didn’t affect her that much because she didn’t sleep. Something to do with her metabolism not processing as fast because of it, or so that’s what Leroy theorized. They never had the resources to actually figure it out.

Ruby and Oscar climbed up on the float with them, careful not to drop any of the food. Once they were up Nova took another mozzarella stick.

Someone announced that the parade was starting and a few seconds later the floats moved forward.

The group split up. Nova and Adrian climbed up the ladder that lead to the top point of the star, while Ruby and Oscar went to one side point and Danna and Narcissa went to the other.

“So… maybe we could consider this date night?” Adrian asked once they reached the top.

“You want to call riding around on a giant star through the city in front of thousands of people date night?” Nova put her hands on the rail and looked down below.

It was quite the view from the top of the float. She could see Max in front of them with his glass replica of Gatlon. The ice float was ahead of him, and the lava one ahead of that. They weren’t quite to where people started gathering on the sidewalks yet. That was still a few blocks ahead.

“Sure, why not?”

She turned around, leaning her forearms against the railing. “Alright. Date night it is. That means the whole shebang though. You have to kiss me and tell me you love me and when we’re done here, you’re buying me dinner.”

“I think I can manage that.” He grinned, leaning down to kiss her softly.

Nova smiled into the kiss. Moving her arms from the rail, she wrapped them around his neck and tugged him even closer.

She let go of Adrian when she heard the crowd draw nearer, hesitantly waving.

“Heyyyyy,” he whined. He reached forward, wrapped his arms around her hips, and set his chin on top of her head. “I want to hold you.”

Nova hummed, “You're holding me right now.”

The people down below cheered when they saw the star float approach. Some called out for Monarch or Smokescreen. Some for Red Assassin or Reflection. But most of the noise was for Sketch and Nightmare. The entire city was overjoyed to see a reformed villain and Gatlon’s golden boy so infatuated with each other.

There were posters and signs saying tacky things like “Sketch and Nightmare 4ever!” or “LOVE CONQUERS ALL” scattered throughout the crowd.

Frankly Nova found them a bit annoying. She didn’t like that the public was so invested in their private lives. She also didn’t like the insinuation that Adrian changed her somehow. He didn’t change that she wanted to help the city, he just helped open her eyes to the right way to do it.

She sighed, listening to people call her name. She didn’t like the attention.

“I told you they love you,” Adrian said.

“I guess I'm just not used to the attention.”

“It’s been six months.”

“I also lived in the subway for the same amount of time you’ve been in the spotlight.”

“Touche.” He loosened his arms around her, moving so they were face to face. “I know you don’t like people prying, so we’ll do what we can to keep them out of our business. I promise.”

Nova smiled, wrapping her arms around his neck. “I love you so much.”

His smile widened. “I love you too, my star.”

She stood up on her tiptoes to press a kiss to his lips. It was meant to only be a quick peck, but Adrian pulled her closer and tangled his fingers into her hair. Nova flushed when the people on the streets grew louder because of their public display of affection.

Adrian pulled back just enough to look into her eyes. “That’s going to be on the front page tomorrow.”

Nova groaned.

An hour later they walked to a pizza place not too far away. Oscar wanted to go with--saying that the snacked he had earlier weren’t enough--but Ruby convinced him to go somewhere else to Nova and Adrian could have some alone time.

Hand in hand, they crossed the street. The pizza place was on the corner and Adrian pulled the door open for her.

Nova was about to step inside when she felt a slight tug at her wrist. Her right hand immediately flung to her left wrist to keep the bracelet on. Her head whipped around, looking for the one person she knew would dare try stealing from her. Nova’s eyes locked on a scrawny young girl with a jet black bob. “Come here, you little shit.”

#nodrian #nova artino #adrian everhart #danna bell #ruby tucker #oscar silva #narcissa cronin #max everhart #nova and adrian #oscar and ruby #danna and narcissa #renegades #arch enemies #supernova #supernova spoilers #mine #my fic #i made this #We Rise with the Sun

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monstersandmaw · 5 years

Note

i have a question for you, oh great one (lol)!! Would you be so kind as you bless upon me some writing tips? As a non-professional writer, I struggle with writers block quite often and I'm always hating on my work-- seeing as it's not as amazing as others, for example, yours. Your creations are just so breathtaking that I just NEED to know you to come up with such amazing creations and how you write so beautifully!! Care to offer up some tips?

Oof, lemme tell you that everything you’re feeling right there is something that every writer feels, if not all the time then at least a good chunk of the time. It’s just... part of being a writer, and a part which you have to learn to put to one side when you’re attempting to do... *clears throat*... The Writing(tm). There will always be writers out there who are more successful, have a larger following, sell more books, than the rest of us, so try to find a way to put that to one side and tell your story.

Remember that writing is a craft and an art. Painters don’t become ‘the next Michelangelo’ on first picking up a brush - they do sketches, they study, they practise, and over the course of a career, they develop and evolve their skills. Same for writers. Make your grammar tight, edit after writing, be ‘active’ in your writing - feel how the words sound in the sentence, and how the sentences themselves fit together. Writing is not just transcribing a load of letters on a page; it’s conjuring a story in the reader’s mind, through sound, sight, smell, taste, touch... etc. etc...

Here’s a chunk of a larger blog-style post from my Patreon about Writer’s Block vs. ‘Creative Hibernation’ which might help:

Ask yourself what’s the roadblock? It sounds obvious, but you may not actually be as clear as you think. Really sit down, perhaps with a pen and paper, and write something like ��‘what’s stopping me writing this story?’. Do a flow chart, spider diagram, list, bullet points, random phrases, whatever to get your brain going. Once you’ve done that, ask yourself how you can get around/through the real issues. Break it down.

Write in different places and in different media. I read once about an author (can’t remember who it was, sadly!) who wrote the stages of their work in different places. They planned it on the ground floor, in pen on paper, then moved to the first floor to type up a first draft, and did the final work in the attic. Obviously we don’t all have multiple floors, but try shifting around and starting by planning it on paper. Not only will that help you feel like An Author™, but it can help to have the mechanical connection to the words/shape of the story.

Be comfortable. Have a pee, wear your favourite clothes, be fresh, be the right temperature, have a bottle of water nearby to keep hydrated (plus it means you’ll have to take some breaks later on which is also a good thing, either to refill the bottle or to empty yourself!). Whatever you need to do; if you’re thinking about yourself or your environment, your head’s not in the story. Being comfortable should help you to write. Just get the words down; at this stage don’t worry about whether it reads well. A first draft doesn’t have to be perfect - a first draft just has to be written. Leave it for at least a couple of hours, preferably overnight, then come back and edit it, pretending it’s someone else’s work that you’ve never read before.

Read. Read other people’s work that you admire, whether it’s fanfiction or classic literature. Read stuff that’s not related to the genre that you’re writing. Good writing is good, no matter the subject. Work out why it’s so good: what makes your heart pound or your eyes water? It’s not copying if you start writing in that style, but it’ll help you to be a better writer if you know why something is good writing. It also helps you not to exist in a vacuum.

So, having felt a lot of negativity, and having referred to it as Writer’s Block for so long, I took up the advice of someone I saw on Tumblr, and called it Creative Hibernation. The danger with doing this, however, is that you run the risk of excusing it. There’s no excuse for it. Find a way to trick your brain into wanting to do The Writing (or The Thing).

Work it out, make the time to write, and just… do it. No excuses. Take care of yourself, take it slower, do it in chunks, change your style, change your medium, but keep. writing.

And finally, some advice for life, not just writing, from Mark Twain:

“The secret to getting started is breaking your complex overwhelming tasks into small manageable tasks, and then starting on the first one.”

___

Hope that helps! Check out the tag ‘writing advice’ on my blog for more posts about the craft of writing.

#writing advice #writing #writer's block

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elvesofnoldor · 4 years

Photo

didn’t wanna repost the sketch i posted two days ago but i made the hands larger and fixed the arm a little so the body doesn’t look as horribly out of proportion as it does before (listen i was so exhausted from drawing the hands from two days ago that i didn’t bother to fix it that day), and i know i said i didn’t like the face before but honestly it sort of grew on me. i like the face shape, the features might be a bit....too....amateur looking but hey...i am amateur..what can i do. but i do think i get the rough shape of maglor’s face in my mind, and that’s what’s important. i can see him better in my head now.

ALSO i sketched maglor’s harp in detail, so im using this as an excuse to dump some headcanons on my blog

anyways, i have like, a page full of maglor related headcanons but this one about the harp might be my favourite.

so that little harp (more like a lyre tbh) with feanorian star on it is a golden harp, forged and crafted by the very hands of Feanor maglor’s father. It is made of pure gold, but feanor tinkered with the metal and made it so that it weighted much lighter than what a harp made of gold should weight. The strings are also metal strings, and yes Feanor is one of the very first people (aka elves) who made harp strings out of metal instead of animal products because I Said So. This is feanor’s gift to maglor on his coming of age ceremony (which would be his 50th begotten day). in his youth, maglor has shown exceptional talent in songs and playing of various instruments, with harp being his favourite. Though feanor noticed that his second child’s talent in crafts have very little to do with smith works, he was nevertheless extremely proud of him and wanted to encourage him to pursue his passion. Over the years, maglor has many harps of various sizes and designs later in his life, some he made himself and the others were made by his father, but this little golden harp has always remained his very favourite. Back in the better days on Aman, He’d always brought it along with him on his travel with his brothers. This is one item that meant far more to maglor than the similars, and he kept it with him during the hundreds of years of war. On beleriand, he would bring the harp along with hi on his hunting trips with maedhros, and also when he patrolled his gap near Himring as he sung songs of power with the harp and using it to cleanse the nearby areas of any foul air. After the second kinslaying, however, maglor had wanted to destroy the harp--it, like the oath and the similars, was yet another relic of their father’s accursed legacy. But he couldn’t do it, of course. He kept the harp with him, to the very bitter end along the shores. Even after he casted away the similars, he could not part with the golden harp. So he wanders the shores and does what he always does--to sing with the companying chords of the golden harp.

#mae overshares #my sketches #<---again. thats a art progress tag

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girllustrators · 5 years

Text

STORYBOARDING

ELIZA: Hey ladies, What do you use for boarding your dummies? Like do you print out a template, or just hand draw it as you go, or do it all digital? I'm looking to break away from my usual style of Post-It notes, which was something I took from animation a while back...as I feel like I'm not respecting the gutter as much.

LALENA: I’ve been doing it on my iPad. But previously I’ve printed out templates on paper. This might be one of those areas where everybody thinks that everyone else has a better method! I got some Post-it notes to try it your way. And I like how Patty and Vanessa put them up on the wall; I’ve meant to try that too.

PATTY: I make templates and then slide them under tracing paper when I'm getting started. That way I don't have to keep printing out templates; also the tracing paper softens the black outlines. I like to use several thumbnail sizes because sometimes a sketch might look fine tiny, but not so good at a larger size. I like to make thumbnails that reflect the proportion of the book.

ELIZA: Thanks; love hearing your process! I agree on softening the black outlines, maybe that's why I've avoided any outline! But feel like I've gotten in trouble with gutter a lot because of that. And definitely want to make sure I do thumbnails that reflect the size of the book as well!

PATTY: You could also print them out at 50% opacity to soften the lines. They bug me!

RIVKAH: I used to print templates, like Patty, but now I just use lined index cards. (I did the sticky note technique a few times too!) I like index cards because they feel less precious, and I don't hesitate to chuck them or try to draw a real pretty thumbnail. Quick and dirty! I draw the full spread on the index card if it's a spread. I go straight to full size sketches after thumbnails. Though my current dummy-in-progress, "The Wind," I cut out paper spreads and am sketching at half-size because I'm trying to keep the art (relatively) simple...r! I used to draw page and panel lines in non-photo blue so I could scan and edit them out in photoshop later. Black box lines drive me nuts too!

EMMA: I make templates with lines that are 25% black, so that they aren't too harsh. When I'm ready to make the pencils a little tighter, I use tracing paper so that there aren't any lines. I then scan those and edit the .tiffs in PS before I put them into a document. When I make the document, I enlarge the pencil sketches about 200%. That makes them not thumbnails, but not full size, either. That's how I start to see what's working and what's not. For the comp I'm making of Yellow Birds for my agent to have in Bologna, she'll have that mid-size comp. She's asked me to take a few pages to color, so for that, I'll take my chosen pages, enlarge them to what I think is 100% and draw them with a pencil, making sure everything looks structurally sound. I'll trace that with charcoal, scan the charcoal drawing and paint in either Photoshop or Illustrator. I still prefer Illustrator because I like adding vector texture. In the past, when I've sent something out on submission, my prior agent would want me to send out a pencil comp at 100%. She'd also want 2-3 spreads in color, so I would do those separately and she'd send that with the comp. Dunno yet what my new agent will want for submission. I love reading what everyone else does. It's SO helpful.

#girllustrators #kidlitart #children's book illustration #storyboard #Illustration #picture book illustration #illustrators #Austin illustrators #scbwi #scbwi austin

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kidgezine · 6 years

Photo

Since the zine is going to be printed, we have to follow some specific setup requirements. So we’ve made an image template to help our artists get their work print ready. We’ve even thrown together a quick tutorial on how to use the template so y’all can be sure you’re doing it right. Just follow these easy steps.

Step 1: Download the Template

PNG (works in most programs) | Photoshop File

Use the links above to download whichever template works best for you. Do NOT use the image above the links, it’s the wrong size. Both templates are just a black border on a transparent background to give you the aspect ratio and show you where the bleeds will be. There’s some text in the middle but that should be removed and replaced with your image. The Photoshop file is in the correct color profile with layers already set up for your image to be placed under the border but the PNG works just as well. We might do a color tutorial later to help y’all with converting RGB to CYMK.

Step 2: Check Your Size

The templates should be 13 by 19 inches at 300 dpi with a half inch black border (bleed) around the edge. It’s possible the PNG may save at a lower dpi so go to your image properties and be sure you’ve got all the right numbers. It should be 3900x5700 pixels which will print 13x19 inches at 300 pixels/inch resolution. If your computer has trouble with that size you can shrink it down to 1950x2850 (6.5x9.5 at 300dpi) but that is the minimum print size so don’t go any smaller.

Step 3: Drop in Your Art

This is best done at the sketch stage but you can drop in more finished work too, you may just have to make some adjustments for the bleed. Your image should go on a layer below the black border which should always be the very top layer. That border is the bleed - a 3 to 6mm border of unimportant but still complete extension of your finished image. Your work should look its best with that border turned on (covering the bleed) but still look ok with the border off (showing the bleed). If your composition looks better with the border turned off then you need to shrink your image so that it fits inside the border (see gif at end of post).

Why do we do this? Because most printers leave a white border around the edge of the paper, so most print shops will print an image on a larger sheet and cut it down to the desired size to create the effect of a ‘full bleed’ where the image goes all the way to the edge of the page. The bleed is the part of the image that gets cut off but printers and cutters aren’t perfect. They’re often a bit crooked so if your image doesn’t extend into the bleed you run the risk of little white edges where the cutter wasn’t properly aligned.

Step 4: Paint the Whole Canvas

Extend your image all the way to the canvas edge and finish your sketch. I usually turn the bleed layer to a low opacity while I’m doing line work then hide it completely when I color, occasionally turning it back on to be sure my piece still looks best with the border on. If your piece is already finished you may have to do some extra work to paint the bleed. The edge underneath the border is getting cut off so you don’t have to be perfect with it. You can be downright sloppy with your bleeds if you want. It’s going to get cut off. Don’t waste time putting detail in the bleed. It will confuse your printer (me) and make them think your piece doesn’t have proper bleeds. I will pester you about bleeds if you have detail on your edges.

Step 5: Hide the Bleed and Save

If you leave that black border there you’ll run the risk of having black edges instead of white ones. Hide the bleed layer and save your file. It’ll look a little strange with the border turned off but that’s ok so long as it looks the best with the border on. If you have Photoshop you can just send us the PSD file. If you don’t then you’ll need to save the file in a format we can use. PNG is a pretty reliable format but it will convert your image to RGB color which is bad if you were working in CYMK. PNGs can also be tricky about their dpi so make sure your pixel sizes are right if you use this format. TIFFs are the old reliable of print media but they are huuuge files. They are the best quality though so save as TIFF if your computer and file transfer method can handle it. Google Drive is a great file transfer method. Do NOT save as JPG - these are for web use only. Do NOT save as PDF unless you know how to prevent it from converting your images to JPGs. We might do a tutorial on that later.

Special Consideration: Books Add Curve

If you’re preparing your image to be printed in a book (which you are) then you’ve also got the special consideration of the curve. Open any book with a spine. See how the inside edge of the page is curved and a bit shadowed? Open a bigger book and see how that makes the effect worse. If your image is going to be in a book you need to be sure to account for this and not put anything super important on the inside edge. You may not know which edge that is so it’s best to just not put anything on either side. You can request a specific side if you really want something to be right on the outer edge but there's only so many of each side so ask first.

Special Consideration: Finished Image

Some of y’all have already (or nearly) finished your images. Hopefully you’ve accounted for bleed but it’s ok if you didn’t. You’ve got plenty of time to fix it. Just drop your image into the template and resize until it fits inside the black border. Once you’ve got it to the right size all you need to do is lay down color that approximately extends your image. You do not need to be nit picky about this. Just get it close enough to blend into the finished image. Don’t put anything new on the edge because it will get cut off. If you need help I can teach you some tricks to easily add bleed (clone tool is amazing), just find me (umbraja) on Discord.

#kidge zine #kidgezine #tutorial

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thewritewolf · 6 years

Text

True Sight - Chapter 3

Hello and welcome to the preview of Chapter Three! I’ve gotten back into the swing of things, so I’ve got some August Fluff Month stuff on the way. As always, I’ve only posted the first thousand or so words of the chapter, with the rest (and all the other chapters) on AO3.

Enjoy!

Read the rest on AO3

Marinette was feeling better after talking things through with Chat. While they aren't any closer to finding out who the stranger is, the situation didn't seem as frightening as it had before. She sighed as she set her backpack down on the chaise in her room, pulling out her homework as she did so.

Tikki flew out of her purse and landed on her shoulder. With so many possible things to talk about, Tikki waited for her charge to initiate conversion. In the meantime, her presence was comfort all its own for the frazzled teenager.

She had just gotten home from school, a familiar routine that gave her solid ground in this rough patch: Wake up, get ready, talk to Alya, take a seat. Clash with Chloe – gotta make sure she doesn't help out Hawkmoth everyday. Perform basic pleasantries with Adrien, take notes, eat out with her three main friends. Her heart fluttered for a moment as she realized she could count Adrien among her friends now. She cheered herself on. One step closer! Take more notes, go home.

Sitting down at her desk, Marinette began staring at her homework. Her mind was too preoccupied with the Ladybug side of things that she couldn't focus on the assigned worksheet. Tikki landed in front of her, meeting her eyes. The young heroine of Paris let out a sigh. “Chemistry can wait. I won't be able to work on this until I've settled down a bit.”

“Maybe a walk in the park will help you organize your thoughts? It certainly wouldn't hurt to get some fresh air.” Tikki offered.

She considered it. There was plenty of sunlight left, and the park was beautiful during late autumn. Why not?

-------------------------------------------------------------

A short bus ride later and she found herself wandering through the park with her sketchpad. The park was popular this time of year, and she passed by a few of her classmates.

She spent some time sketching in amiable silence with the other class artist, Nathaniel. He had been working on a larger piece, and was taking a break by doodling in the sunlight. Marinette made sure that he promised to keep her updated with his progress before she moved on.

In her search to find a secluded spot, she stumbled across Juleka and Rose. She thought about calling out to them, but decided that might be intrusive and turned around.

Max, Kim, and Markov were heading to a soccer game Kim was taking part in. She joined them and made some sketches while cheering with Max and Markov. It wasn't too interesting to her, however, and too distracting for drawing. Halfway through the match, she excused herself and spent the rest of her trip on her own.

A couple of hours passed and she found herself out of the park and with several pages filled with sketches. Most were scenes she had watched, some sly sketches of random park goers, others particularly beautiful plant life. Some was design sketches for warmer clothing for her and her partner. Which got her sketching Chat Noir more. Who knew it was so fun to draw his distinctive outfit?

She hummed absently to herself as she roamed the streets of Paris. Tikki poked her head out of the purse she was hiding in to take a look at their surroundings. “Marinette!” She whispered to her charge. “Master Fu lives nearby. Maybe he knows something about the man? I know his parting words have been bothering you.”

Was that why she was feeling so out of it? “I suppose you're right, Tikki, but I don't see why he'd know anything.”

Trying a different angle of approach, Tikki responded. “Maybe he figured out why the ritual didn't work?” With another potential enemy floating around, Marinette would like to have that power boost sooner rather than later.

Marinette came to a decision quickly. With a firm nod of her head she changed course. “We're almost there anyway. We might as well ask.”

She ducked into an alley and made a few quick turns before reaching the storefront – a store which boasted “ancient Chinese secrets” and “world-famous chi massages.” She was glad she had her sketchbook with her, since she ended up having to wait for about half an hour due to a customer's session being already in progress. Eventually that customer left, and Master Fu stood before her, holding open the door while waving her in.

Nodding his head in a shallow bow, he moved past her to pour some tea. Two incredibly small cups and two normal sized cups were arranged on a low table and filled. He took a seat at the table, on the red cushion there. He started the conversation. “My apologies for making you wait, but I cannot act too suspiciously while either of you are here on non-urgent business. The facade I have established can withstand some... eccentricities... but not in great quantities." His face became a mask of gentle concern. "What is troubling you?”

Am I wearing my worries that openly? Or is Master Fu simply very perceptive? Filing those questions to the back of her mind, she answered as she took a seat opposite him. “Do you know anything about that person who we fought yesterday?” As she asked, Tikki flew out from her purse as Wayzz emerged from... somewhere. She didn't catch where he was hiding. They landed next to the tiny cups that had been poured for them.

He stroked his beard thoughtfully. “Possibly, but I can't be sure. Tell me about the fight the two of you had with him. We will address his capability for hunting akuma afterwards.”

Marinette took and breath and gave what she thought was a fair account of the event – their arrival, his confirmation of their identity, his assault and the clashing between weapons. It was as she was describing the rapid exchanges between Chat and him that Master Fu held up a hand to stop her.

“You say that the sword was leaving physical marks on the staff of Chat Noir? You are sure of this?”

Marinette nodded. “I didn't even think that our weapons could be damaged.” She had see them lose their power before, but barring that, they hadn't suffered damage. Which made her a bit less confident in her armor.

“They shouldn't be able to. The number of substances that can damage the main components of the miraculous can be counted on one hand. The most obvious are other miraculous. The others are rare to the point of non-existence or lost to time.”

Marinette's eyes widened. “Do you think that we are dealing with another miraculous bearer?” She wasn't sure what she thought about that. Hawkmoth was bad enough, but at least this one seemed to be willing to fight alongside them.

Master Fu stroked his beard once again. “It is possible – there are still miraculous that are lost or unaccounted for, including one of the seven. But I feel this is not the case.”

Marinette's ears perked up at that. Having the stranger be a miraculous bearer was something she understood and could plan for. But an unknown person being able to harm at least their weapons and probably even their armor was... unsettling.

He got up and walked over to his electronic notepad. Returning to his seat, he began flipping through the virtual pages of the copied book of miraculous lore. While doing so, he spoke. “I have not made progress in deciphering the remainder of the ritual we performed, but I have compared it to the other pages in the text. Specifically, the alchemical recipes that unlocked the specialized forms of your miraculous. It was difficult to notice at first, but the language is subtly different. The potions claim to awaken power from within, whereas the ritual promised to sharpen their powers.”

He stopped and sipped tea while Marinette absorbed the information. So the ritual was meant to hone their abilities rather than be a power boost. Her shoulders sagged. I guess it was too much to hope for a quick fix to our problem. Then her eyes widened as the implications caught up to her. “Do you think that we... summoned this person?”

Master Fu slowly nodded. “That is a very real possibility. The fact that he appeared no more than a day after we performed the ritual and tracked you two down specifically is too great a coincidence to be ignored.”

Great. So they were responsible for adding to their own troubles. Then again, that fight with the akuma immediately afterwards would have been time consuming without help. There was also the relief that this wasn't part of a slow burning plot by Hawkmoth. Which reminded her... “Did you want me to describe the battle with the akuma?”

At his nod, she began. The form of the villain, their brief struggle before the stranger's arrival, his discovery of the akuma's hiding spot, his defense of Chat, and the delayed beeping of their miraculous.

The elderly guardian had been following her story intently, but was surprised with the ending. “That is... very strange. That would suggest they were receiving outside power, sustaining the transformation.” He furrowed his brows and looked deep in thought. “I feel that deciphering the remainder of that ritual has become of paramount importance. Is there anything else you wanted to ask, Ladybug?”

God, it was weird to be called that while she wasn't wearing the spots. She shook her head and got up to leave. Tikki returned to float by her head.

"Good bye, Ladybug, and be careful. We do not know what motivates this stranger."

--------------------------------------------------------------------

She still had homework waiting for her, but she found it much easier to focus on after her walk. She got it done in record time, but the sun had long since set. Leaning back in her desk chair, her mind wandered over the day's events.

Her conversation with Master Fu hadn't exactly set her at ease, but she was at least glad that it wasn't Hawkmoth up to any new tricks. He may be getting stronger, but she and Chat Noir were improving as well! As her thoughts drifted to Chat, she was reminded of Tikki and the sustained transformation.

“Tikki?”

Her kwami stopped midway to lifting a whole cookie to her mouth. She gingerly placed it on the desk and glided over to her charge. “Yes, Marinette?” Tikki watched her with big, round eyes.

Marinette paused. “Did you feel the flow of energy Master Fu mentioned?”

Her kwami crossed her arms and legs over her, eyes crossed for a moment. She looked deep in thought as she responded. “Yes. It was very strange." She opened her eyes and began flitting around Marinette. "Normally, I draw my power from a pool within me – cookies help fill this pool, but there is a steady stream that will fill it over time. In that moment, the stream's flow became much stronger, and I could keep up the transformation with no problem. If given time, we might have even been able to call on the Lucky Charm again.”

Marinette mulled over this information. Most of it was nothing she hadn't figured out on her own, although Tikki put it into more definite terms. “Has this ever happened before?”

“Sometimes. Usually, when there is a lot of magic in an area. It probably wasn't a conscious decision, for what it's worth.” Tikki waited for a response, but Marinette was tapping her finger on the desk, plainly unsatisfied with the answer. Tikki returned to her cookie and was beginning to nibble at it while Marinette watched.

She bite her lower lip and wondered if it would be too much to ask if Tikki knew anything about the ritual. If it was in the guardian book, then that must have meant it had been used by miraculous users in the past, right? Maybe other Ladybugs had dealt with it before, and Tikki would have been there for those times...

Tikki looked at her with eyes filled with sympathy, likely having figured out her charge's next question. “I'm sorry, Marinette. I can't answer questions about past Ladybugs.” The kwami became more vibrant and her voice took on a more hopeful tone. “But I can say that you shouldn't worry about it. This will all work out in the end, trust me!” Her charged sighed, disappointed with the answer, but not surprised by it. Still, she trusted Tikki had her best interests at heart, and felt worry slip away.

Marinette yawned and took that as her cue to get ready for bed. She was able to sleep early for once and she fully intended to take advantage of that. Tomorrow, she would have patrol with Chat, but for now she could relax.

#miraculous ladybug #miraculous #marinette dupain-cheng #master fu #marinette #True Sight #ml fanfiction

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amberviernes · 3 years

Photo

Digitalized Survey Page (Hub + Questions + Results) Wireframe (v.2) vs the original sketch.

See the conceptualization process here!

BONUS: I also have a reflection on my thoughts of this page’s design, what I like about it, what could be improved, and how I feel about it in relation to the previous survey page designs. This can be read under the cut, as it’s quite long (and also has a bunch of math)

969 word reflection ⬇⬇⬇

Anyone who has been following this blog long enough (or gone through my archive), knows that these pages have been the most challenging to complete.

I highly suggest reading this post if you haven’t already, as it talks about why I sought to combine these pages. And for those of you who don’t want to read the post, basically, across the three different survey pages, there was a lot of redundant writing and unnecessary repetition.

And so, I proposed a solution to remedy this: a combined layout of the three pages. How do I feel about it? Well, I like it a lot!

At first glance, it might be a bit of a “mouthful.” The wireframe is 3,590px in height. To put it in more digestible terms, if you had a screen with a resolution of 1200px x 675px, this wireframe would be nearly five and a half screens put together.

Someone may say, “Okay but... I don’t know if I want to scroll for that long.” And I get that! But, I think that objectively, this is an improvement compared to the previous wireframes. Why? Because there’s math to back it up.

Let’s start by taking the measurements from the previous page drafts:

The survey data hub page is 1980px in height (1840px if you remove the header/footer)

The survey questions page is 2965px in height (2825px if you remove the header and footer)

The survey results page is 3459px in height (3319px if you remove the header and footer)

Right off the bat, you’ll see that if you combine the content of these pages, as well as the header/footer height... It is quite a lot. 8124px to be precise (1840px + 2825px + 3319 px + 140px, where 140px represents the header and footer). If we continue the screen visualization, that’s a little over 12 screens! Meaning, that the previous draft is larger than this new draft by TWICE the size! And that’s not good.

Not only that, but the survey results page only accounts for TWO of the fourteen artworks that were evaluated. Now, this also applies to the new draft too- but we’ll get to doing some comparison math later.

So what would be the true height of the survey results wireframe, if all fourteen artworks were included? Let’s do some math:

From the top-line of the header, to the bottom-line of the authenticity scores header, it has a height of 1819px.

There is 24px space of padding between the bottom-line of the authenticity scores header to the top of the “artwork evaluation” section.

Each artwork evaluation section is 669px in height (as all artworks follow a constraint of having the same height)

There are 64px of padding between two artwork evaluation sections.

The bottom of the page is 214px.

Therefore:

1819 + 24 = 1843px, marking the start of the authenticity artwork evaluation sections

669px x 14 examples = 9366px height

64px of padding x 13 gutter spaces between sections = 832px

Then, add all of the page together. 1843px + 9366px + 832px + 214px 12246px.

From this very long string of calculations, we see that the survey results is a whopping 12,246px long! This page ALONE, is a little over 18 screens long,

And when you combine the height of this page to the other survey-related pages, you get a height of 17051px (1840px + 2825px + 12246px + 140px). That’s 25 screens right there.

Now, of course, my “new” draft doesn’t account for the 14 individual pages of artwork analysis. I estimate that each page may be somewhere around 900-1200px in height (depending on what kind of design I go with). And of course, adding these all up will get you in the range of 12,600px - 16,190px.

But, I think ultimately, I prefer having the 14 art evaluations as a separate sub-page, rather than being all together on ONE massive page. And here are my reasons why:

With a 12.2k long page, the user doesn’t have much freedom of choice in where they can go, without scrolling for what they’re looking for.

While technically speaking, the page hierarchy can allow users to quickly glance at the overview of the page as they scroll, it’s much more efficient for them to click/find what they want.

Not only that, but the 12.2k long page may take.. Awhile to load (not to mention, it’d likely be even LONGER on mobile layouts).

While the user would technically have to press more buttons if they’d like to see ALL of the results, I think it’s much more efficient to have the results on separate pages that can be accessed with a “menu” of sorts (the menu being the gallery).

Anyways, this getting is really long. While I do think there can be improvements to this current draft, I may need to let it sit for awhile before I get back to fine-tuning. But overall, I really like that getting around the site will be much easier, and the content has been more streamlined since the previous time! While this means that I’ll have to design 14 subpages for each art, I don’t mind if it means that each art has more time to shine.

TL;DR, Summary: I prefer this design to the other three pages. Objectively speaking, it’s a lot less scroll through mathematically-speaking. And subjectively, the content in the new draft is much more precise. There may still be some improvements I can make to the new draft, but it’s a step-up from the previous design. Additionally, with the individual results getting their own page, it’s much easier to focus on creating a more streamlined layout.

#web design #wireframes #cm 491 #amber updates #this was a DOOZY to write. so much math that i wanted to get out of my head #but for those of you who don't wanna read the VERY long update just scroll to the bottom to see the TL;DR summary #which is: i like this! goodbye to the three individual survey pages #i'll have to make wireframes for the individual 14 pages but thats fine with me #anyways i'll go ahead and make another post to describe my next steps because i don't think this post is the place for that

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toevenexist · 7 years

Text

Lights Pt. 7

HELLO I’m so sorry this took so so so long to get posted, Life swept me up and has just put me down!! So here is this! I hope you like it! Please please please please please please let me know what you think? and what you want to read next!

There is a spoiler sketch here (let me know if you like it :))

I just want to thank and tag @cizavilation @ailingnoor @omeliathehurricane @latetothegreysparty @greys-is-life-and-whatever @francescabuccino @jia911 @juanitawritings for continuing to ask about this series, or helping me with it, or continuously supporting me! And thank you too everyone else (Anons included) who reads this and any other of my stories and lets me know, I soo appreciate it and I’m so glad that you all enjoy my writing.

Enjoy xxx

“What the hell is that Owen?” Amelia stood at the doorway of her closet dressed only in a tshirt and her panties. “It’s a support belt”

“Not for me” she stated, eyebrows raised.

“Yes for you” he said, walking towards her, smiling, holding the white contraption out towards her. She backed up a little, shaking her head, holding her hands out.

“Owen, I don’t need that thing, its… ugly and it won’t be comfortable” She said, shifting past him, moving around the bed, standing behind Jilly, who sat on her side of the mattress.

“Arizona told me to get it, so you’re wearing it, it’ll help”

Amelia pouted, twisting her lips, eying the odd item in Owen’s hands, absent-mindedly running her hands through Jilly’s fur.

“It’ll help you get through surgeries” He said, smiling knowingly, moving slowly towards her. She pressed her lips, huffing through her nose.

“Fine” she moved towards him, sighing as she lifted her shirt revealing her rounded abdomen so he could put it on her.

“It looks too big” she told him, watching him wrap it around her back.

“It’s right, I checked the measurements. Stand up straight”

“You checked my measurements!?”

Owen smiled tightly, keeping his gaze from hers, busying his hands with the velcro bands.

“Did you do it while I was asleep?” Amelia squeaked. Owen smiled wider, prompting Amelia to sigh and tip her head back, rolling her eyes.

She had to admit that, as he tightened and adjusted the belt, the relief was instantaneous. Her silence told him exactly that, “good?” he asked, lowering her tshirt, concealing the belt.

Amelia shrugged, but her smile gave it away.

“I told you” Owen chuckled, soothing his hands over her bump.

She was on her final day of ‘at home’ rest and was headed back to work tomorrow, no surgeries for another week however. Amelia was nervous, a shuddery, quiet sort of nervous. When she had left, she’d been only just visibly pregnant. She’d be going back tomorrow and it would be all anyone would see.

She looked down at herself, pursing her lips, running her hands over the ridges of the belt. Owen saw the thoughts darken her eyes and paused.

“What is it?” he asked her, dipping to meet her eyes. She shook her head, escaping the grip of worry.

“It’s nothing… I just… I hope I can still do my job… that the pain won’t come back” Owen gripped her shoulders, rubbing them up and down, making her shrug.

“You’ll be fine… rest when you need to, keep going to physio and we’ll go to prenatal yoga… you’ll be fine Amelia” he nodded, prompting a nod from her.

“Oh” Amelia breathed, peering down at her stomach and enclosing it with her hands.

Owen’s smile dropped, and he lowered his eyes.

“A sharp kick” Amelia circled her hand around her bump. Owen exhaled, still worrying his eyes around her. She puffed a breath, closing her eyes again, “I think…” She reached for his hand, pulling it to her stomach, “you might feel it”.

She felt it again and grinned, meeting his eyes. He gasped, eyes widening, breathing “Oh” tearfully. A bright smile creased his face, and he laughed, feeling them move again. Amelia giggled, taking Owen’s other hand and placing it on the other side of her stomach.

“They’re moving so gently” Owen said, staring at her in fascination.

She nodded, “for now”.

“Party’s over” Owen chuckled, feeling the movement slow.

Amelia ran her hand up and down Owen’s forearm, before reaching up and wrapping it around the back of his neck, pulling him down to press a kiss to his lips.

“I’m going to go throw a ball in the yard for Jilly” she spoke against his forehead, before letting him go and walking away.

Owen smirked as he watched her leave, “Are you not going to put on some pants Amelia?” he called after her.

“No” she bellowed back, putting on Owens coat and slipping on some rubber boots.

“Amelia, you’ll catch a cold”

“No pants”

“Amelia” Owen continued, knowing it was a losing battle. She hadn’t worn pants since her appointment at the hospital a week prior, jokingly declaring that she’d never willingly wear them again.

“It’s basically spring, it’s not even cold out” She retorted, opening the door to the yard, allowing Jilly to bound out ahead of her. Owen simply shook his head, smiling, watching as his pregnant wife pulled his coat around herself and wandered across the garden, with her pale legs glaring in the sunlight.

He stood at the kitchen window, drinking his coffee, watching as their excited Labrador ran back and forth, retrieving her favourite ball, allowing Amelia to take it from her drooling mouth and throw it time and time again.

What she’s wearing:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CL21UW2/ref=sspa_dk_detail_1?pd_rd_i=B00CL21UW2&pd_rd_wg=MEdkG&pd_rd_r=V2PRJ183ERY33P5PPJS3&pd_rd_w=bxffD&th=1

“Okay, So you’re alright for today?”

“You mean, do I remember everything I’ve been told to do and not to do? Yes Owen” Amelia told him, diving her hands into her pockets and pulling her new, larger, coat around herself.

Owen side-eyed her, taking in her expression of concealed nervousness. They continued their way across the parking lot and just as they reached the entrance Amelia stopped, inhaling, staring ahead into hospital. Owen paused, moving in front of her, meeting her eyes.

“I don’t know why I’m nervous” She confessed, shaking her head.

Owen shook his head too and smiled sympathetically. “It’s alright, You’ve been away for a little while, and things have changed” he smiled wider, slipping his hands under her coat, enclosing her stomach. Amelia looked down and then around, checking that no one was watching. She nodded again, sharply. “everything is going to be okay” he told her.

“People are going to treat me differently”

Owen quirked a smile, “They will.”

Amelia sighed, lolling her head to the side, peering through the doors.

Bailey approached from behind them, smiling, “Hey, welcome back Dr Shepherd”

Amelia gently nudged Owens hands away. “Thank you” she replied

“I’ll come see you on neuro later, check how things are going, you can get first pick of the interns” Bailey said, smiling warmly, nodding a little before continuing on.

Owen beamed at Amelia, raising his brows, “first pick of the interns”

“I guess this has some perks” she chuckled, taking Owen’s hand, walking with him.

“Karev” Amelia greeted Alex in the CT gallery, “You paged?” she continued, sitting her hands on her hips.

Alex’s eyes widened, “Woh” nodding towards her bump.

Amelia sighed “Yeah, yeah” as she flopped into the chair beside Alex. “What am I here for?” She said, leaning back in her chair.

“I just need you to take a second look at this, I think it’s clear but …. Well you know…”

She hummed, sitting forward to look over the scan.

“You getting that a lot?” Alex asked,

“What?”

“People reacting to your bump”

“Oh yes, non stop. I mean its my first day back so at least the staff will stop soon… This is clear” she declared, sitting back. Alex gave a thumbs up to the radiology assistant and she went about taking the patient back to her room. “You working a full shift?”

“Yup, no surgery for a week though” Amelia replied, sinking in her seat, reminding herself to sit down more.

Alex nodded, looking back to the monitor, tapping on the keys.

Amelia pulled out her phone, checking the time. “I’m due my break” she muttered, mostly to herself.

She had multiple messages from Owen, checking up on her. Just as she tapped in her pass code the door slid open. Owen. He was breathless, meeting Alex’ eyes before fixing them on Amelia, “Hey, I sent you messages, how are you doing? Have you had your break, did you have a nap yet? You should have had one already?” He rambled, crouching down in front of her, quietening at the sight of her smile.

He let out a breath, glancing then to Alex, “I’m okay, I’m pretty much on my break now, I’ve had one nap” she said, answering all of his questions in one. Alex kept his eyes on the screen, not wanting to intrude.

Owen nodded, eyes dropping to her bump; Amelia was still lounging back in her chair, so it stuck out proud. Amelia’s hand smoothed over the expanse. “Want to get some food? And…” his hand cupped her knee, “Have another sleep?” he said quietly, circling his gaze about her.

Amelia closed her eyes, consciously quashing her reluctance to succumb to her body’s requests and nodded. She rolled her head to the side, looking to Alex.

“You need me for anything else neuro?” She asked him, slowly sliding her hand across her thigh, fiddling with Owen’s fingers.

Alex shook his head, pressing his lips, “Nope, everything’s clear here” He leaned back in his chair, folding his arms.

Amelia nodded, holding onto Owens hands and letting him pull her up. He paused, as Amelia acclimatised to standing, fixing his eyes on her endearingly. She smiled, meeting his eyes, communicating her love to him, and that she was okay.

Amelia groaned, lowering herself down onto a bed in the on call room, sitting in a beam of light cast through the window.

She pushed all the covers to the end of the bed and sighed, watching contently as Owen wordlessly sank down in front of her and pulled off her shoes.

“Thank you” she whispered, closing her eyes. Owen moved to stand between her legs. She inhaled his smell and rest her head against his stomach.

“It’ll get easier, it’s only your first day back” He told her, voice rumbling against her ear. He felt her gently nod. “Come on” Owen said, nudging her shoulder towards the pillows, “Lie down.”

“Babies kept rolling around while I was doing rounds this morning” Amelia told him as she settled gratefully against the pillows. Owen grinned, climbing over her, wrapping an arm around her middle. “Little gymnasts” he whispered against her ear. Amelia’s smile was soft and easy.

“This is uncomfortable when I’m lying down” She said, turning onto her back, pulling up her shirt to reveal the support belt.

“Has it helped though?” Owen asked as he grappled at the velcro, letting the belt rest at her sides, leaving her bump bare. “Definitely” she closed her eyes, blindly moving to pull her shirt back down, but Owen’s hands stopped her. He leant on his elbow and danced his finger tips against her taut skin, enticing a satisfied sigh from her.

“If someone comes in, cover me…” she uttered as sleep washed over her. Owen’s lips quirked into a smile. Her hair was a beautiful mess, not as intricately braided, and tidy as he was used to seeing it. She was flushed, cheeks rosy. Her chest rose and fell steadily, round stomach raising slightly with every breath.

A strong nudge rippled under Owen’s palm and Amelia gasped in her sleep, fidgeting her legs before settling again.

“Mommy’s sleeping little ones, let her rest now” Owen leaned towards her bump and spoke against it. The movement didn’t repeat and he smiled, pressing a firm kiss against her skin. He rest his lips there and closed his eyes, feeling them burn with tears. He grinned against her, shaking his head, overwhelmed with love and awe, and excitement. He pressed another kiss there and settled back up beside Amelia. Dragging his fingertip over her bump, he saw a minute smile quirk her lips and goosebumps raised. She shivered and rolled to face him, nuzzling under his chin.

“Owen” she mumbled incoherently. Owen wrapped her in his arms, replying “Amelia.”

“Cold” she continued sleepily, curling her arms between them against his chest.

“Okay” he spoke as he haphazardly pulled the blankets up to cover them, she hummed sweetly.

He crooned his neck to dust kisses against her cheek. She chuckled sleepily, and he felt her hand creep around his waist and settle against his back.

The buzzing of Owen’s phone pulled Amelia from sleep, she moaned from within the cocoon of Owen’s arms around her. He was so warm, and she was so comfortable. As consciousness slowly returned, so did the awareness of the pain in her back and pelvis, she whined, rolling onto her back and raising her knees. Her bump was still exposed, so she ran her hands over it before pressing her fingers into its lower regions. Owen yawned, propping himself up on his arm again.

“If you get onto your hands and knees I’ll give you a massage?”

Amelia considered his offer, thinking about doing her evening rounds with a backache. She opened her eyes and fixed them on his. They were half illuminated by the evening sun. “that would be great” her voice husked with sleep. He nodded subtly and dropped a kiss to her forehead.

She sat up and turned on her knees, dropping onto her hands.

His administrations were firm against her lower back, and pleasure sent shivers through her body. Owe chuckled, “feel good?”

She smiled, and hummed.

Just then the door swung open, and Owen paused until he recognised Meredith’s face. She froze momentarily, realising what they were doing. She entered quickly, shutting the door.

“For a moment that looked bad” she grinned, crossing the room and sitting down on the lower bunk. Amelia pressed her lips together, shaking her head. Part of her wanted Owen to stop now that they weren’t alone, but that desire was disproportionately outweighed by her relief at the feeling of his warm hands working into her tight muscles. And it was only Meredith, not some gossipy intern.

Meredith sat watching them, somewhat hypnotised by the sight.

“Mer did you come in here for a reason?” Amelia questioned, twisting her neck to look at her.

She shook her head slightly, “I did, to sleep, Just had eight hours in the OR” She sank down on the bed, lying on her side, still watching the couple.

Amelia sighed and sat down onto her knees, shoulder blades brushing against Owens thighs. “You good?” he asked her, soothing his hands over her shoulders. “Mmhmm” she replied, picking up the support belt and wordlessly handing it to Owen. Meredith smirked, Amelia met her gaze and frowned, “Why are you smiling? Does my suffering amuse you?” Amelia quipped, eyebrows raised.

Meredith sighed, looking up to the slats of the top bunk, “No Amelia… I was just thinking about how sweet you two are” she said, smiling, eyes closing. Owen and Amelia beamed bashfully at one another, as Owen tugged down Amelia’s top.

“Oh” Meredith continued, just as Amelia pushed on her shoes. “Next time you get a sonogram… could I… Could you get an image printed for me?”

Amelia paused, frowning confusedly, “For the kids I mean, they… they would love to see” She continued. Amelia nodded, taking Owens offering of a hand up. She smiled to herself, looking down at her bump, thinking about how excited they were, and how quietly excited Meredith was.

“We have one tomorrow, so yeah, I’ll get one for you” Amelia said, standing, rolling her shoulders.

Meredith nodded, smiling.

“Well that was weird” Amelia stated, linking her arm through Owen’s as they made their way along the hall.

“What Meredith said?”

“Yeah, I mean I can believe the kids would like to see the babies, but she seemed…”

“She wants a photo” Owen chuckled, understanding Amelia’s surprise. Meredith always tries hard to appear somewhat nonchalant towards Amelia.

Amelia smiled to herself. “I’ll see you in a couple of hours” Amelia said, as they reached the elevator. She stood on her tips toes and kissed him. “See you later” He said, kissing her again, slipping his hands beneath her lab coat to brush her bump.

“Hello, this is sooner than I thought” Owen grinned at his wife as she walked into the ER.

“Indeed Hunt, I’ve been beckoned” She smiled, taking the chart he held and running her eyes over it.

“Ohhkay” she rounded the bed the patient lie supine on and began her exam, flicking the beam of her flashlight across their pupils.

Owen worked on the wound on the patient's abdomen.

“Pupils are equal and reactive” she paused briefly, stilling her hands, closing her eyes for barely a second, though it was longer than an ordinary blink so Owen noticed, as did April.

Amelia smiled softly and bounced up and down on her feet, just once before continuing on with her exam.

April smiled knowingly, continuing too, with her exam.

“Alright?” Owen checked, eying her as he finished his final stitch and washed the area.

Amelia nodded sharply, smiling toothily and she went about checking reflexes. Owen beamed through the whole work up, tugging her back when April pulled the gurney from the room. She span to face him, still smiling.

“Owen” she said, indicating at the door. “Wait, what was that earlier?” he asked, feeding off her energy, unable to suppress his smile. Seeing her so happy made his heart thump harder.

“Oh…” she looked down at her bump and back up to his eyes. “They’re moving around, they like it when I’m doing things, like…” her eyes flicked up and right as she thought through the occasions their offspring had made themselves known. “Neuro exams, or sutures, or… anything that I get excited about, looking at CT’s” she spoke joyfully, cheeks flushing, eyes shining.

Owen grinned, nodding along with her story, basking in the information. “They’ll be a nightmare in the OR” He told her, folding his arms.

Amelia sat her fists against her hips, sighing through her nose, thinking over the prediction, “As long as they’re healthy, they can bug me as much as they like.“

“They’re gonna be Gymnastic surgeons” Owen said, pulling the door open, letting Amelia out before him.

“One might be a gymnast, and the other a surgeon” Amelia suggested, bumping her shoulder against Owen’s.

He smiled, pointing a finger up through the air.

“That would be perfect, the surgeon can fix the gymnast when they get injured” He joked. Amelia’s mouth gaped.

“Are you saying they’re going to be in trauma?”

“Maybe” that were talking to each other loudly as Amelia moved away from him, toward the elevator.

“No no no, neuro, they like neuro” she wagged her finger, cheeks dimpling from her smile.

“Well they don’t get to experience trauma” his tone increased at that.

Amelia chuckled, shaking her head, declaring “You can carry them tomorrow then, yeah? Vary their experience”

Owen smirked, nodding at her wave as she disappeared into the elevator.

His smile lingered all the way until he saw her again.

Link to Chapter 8

Let me know what you think!

57 notes · View notes

inquiringquilter · 3 years

Text

Destination Quilt Along - Block 3 Fair

Hi! Welcome to Block 3 of Destination: Quilt Along!

You’ll find the details of the quilt along on the Destination QAL page. Here’s the short version: we’re presenting the blocks for this quilt along in segments. To win a prize, make all the blocks from that segment, then upload a photo of them at the end of that segment.

This is Block 3 in the quilt along and the third block in Segment 1. There will be four blocks in this segment, released every week on Tuesday. To enter for the Segment 1 prize, you must finish all four Segment 1 blocks and post a photo of them at the end of Segment 1. The prize winner for Segment 1 will be announced on August 10th. Click here to view the QAL schedule and to learn more about it.

To enter for the Grand Prize you’ll need to make all 12 blocks in the quilt along. You don’t need to make a quilt using the blocks although we’d love for you to! At the end of the quilt along, we will provide several setting suggestions if you’d like to make a quilt.

Block 3: Fair

This week’s block is a visit to a small fair! What’s the best part of any fair? Why the food of course! The fair is the time to indulge and to try new things, like a new flavor of ice-cream! The designer of Block 3 is Abbie @ Sparkle On! and you can download the pattern there.

I’m here to show you my version of this week’s block and to provide tips for making it.

My Fabric Pull

I’m using Island Batiks for this quilt along because they are so much fun!

For my fabric pull, I started with several photos of vintage ice cream trucks because I love how they look. The photo of a Mr. Softee truck really takes me back.

I pulled my ice cream truck fabrics using these images as my inspiration. I wanted to add a striped awning above and a short ledge below the window so I chose fabrics for them.

For the background, I thought of the small church fairs we have around here and pictured the ice cream truck parked under the festive banners and colorful lights, with the kiddie rides and carnival games in the distance.

I imagined my favorite ice cream perched on top of the truck and selected a soft pink and a dark brown (for peppermint ice cream with chocolate sauce.)

Here’s my fabric pull.

Here are the fabric details of the Island Batiks I used:

Background

#121716860 (Morning Sunshine collection)

Ice Cream Truck

#121809612 (Check it Out collection) Sprinkles (Neutrals collection) Turquoise blue dots #821707310 (Elementz collection) Buttermilk (Neutrals collection) #122005012 Large Wheat Leaves Glaze (Autumn Sunset collection) Carnation (Basics collection) #111923082 Mosaic Lines Coffee (Clockworks) Flower burst green blue purple Pink flowers on purple blue green Blue-green hexies #821707615 (Elementz collection) #121613330 (Sweet Nectar collection) BE38-D1 Small Pointed Flowers (Blenders collection)

My Tips and Tutorials for Making This Block

Here are my tips for making the Camper block.

Make this block yours

My first tip is to make this block yours!

For example, use your favorite fabrics or favorite colors for the ice cream truck or use an ice cream truck from your childhood as your color inspiration

Choose fun colors or prints for the pennants

Have fun with the background as well. Remember that this is a fair, so think of lights, carnival rides, a village green, a church courtyard, or wherever you attend a small local fair.

Cut a Large Background

Because the process of finishing your applique may skew the Background a bit, it’s best to start with a 13” Background square and then trim it to 12-1/2” after you finish the applique edges.

creating the pennant banner - Cutting the pennants

I decided to use more than three colors for my pennants because I love using lots of scraps to create color.

To do that, cut (2) 2” squares for each pennant. Fold one square in half.

Lay the two squares wrong sides together then trim from fold to corner on each side to cut the pennant shape.

Put the two flag shapes wrong sides together as instructed in the pattern, and sew 1/4” along both sides of the pennant. You are not turning the pennants inside out after sewing so remember to place the two wrong sides together.

I made the hanging part for the pennants just as I do my binding. First, fold the strip in half and press then fold in half again and press.

Slip the pennants into the open part of the binding at the measurements given in the pattern, then sew along the edge to close the binding and hold the pennants in place.

After making the two pennant strings, pin them in place on the Background as instructed by the pattern. Abbie gives you measurements for placement that work out great so follow that.

Pin then sew along the bottom edge of each pennant string to hold it in place. You’ll trim the ends of the pennants later after you trim the block to size.

creating a striped Ice Cream Truck

Like last week and inspired by the vintage photos I found, I decided to make my ice cream truck two colors. To do that, I sewed two fabrics together.

The finished strip set needed to be larger than the truck template which is 4” x 7”. So I chose two strip widths that would make the finished strip set 4-1/2” x 7-1/4”.

Like before, I traced the fusible for the ice cream truck and fused it to the back of my strip set.

ADD the Ice Cream Truck APPLIQUE - Trace and fuse shapes

Now it’s time to fuse the camper applique.

To add the truck to the Background, start by printing out the templates on pages 5. Use the 1” square to ensure that the templates are the correct size. Print at 100% and DO NOT scale the pattern to fit.

Trace the templates onto fusible web and cut them out loosely (1/8” outside the outline). For large pieces you can remove the center of the fusible leaving at least 1/4” inside the line. Removing the center of the fusible makes your appliques more supple.

I decided to fuse windows to the truck rather than cut them out. For the windows, I chose a light color to represent the inside of the truck, lit up. My windows are a bit faint thought so if I had to do it over again though I might have chosen a brighter yellow or a darker grey.

To create the chocolate sauce template, I traced the ice cream template and improvised a drippy bottom edge.

To create the awning and shelf templates, I sketched them onto the truck template, then traced them onto fusible.

Fuse the web onto the back of each fabric and cut the shapes out on the line.

ADD the ICE CREAM TRUCK APPLIQUE - Assemble the camper

I like to assemble my applique shapes on a pressing mat then position them on the Background for final fusing.

Note: If you don’t have a pressing mat you can use parchment paper. The idea is to use something non-stick for the applique shapes don’t fuse to it.

I fused the chocolate sauce onto the ice cream then fused the ice cream under the cone.

Next, since I’d decided to fuse the windows rather than cut them out of the truck I fused them next.

If you decide to cut out the windows as instructed in the pattern, trace them onto the truck using a light table or a window, or trace the window shapes onto paper and trace around them onto the truck fabric using a marker and cut out the windows on the line.

I then fused the awning and shelf above and below the main window. This was something I added as well.

Finally I fused the ice cream cone on top of the truck.

Fuse the completed Camper to the Background. Because it’s in one piece, it’s easy to fuse it in place exactly where you want it to be.

ADD the ICE CREAM TRUCK APPLIQUE - Finish the edges

Edge-stitch the applique shapes to finish their edges. I normally use a straight stitch and matching thread although you can use a small zig-zag, blanket stitch, or satin stitch to finish the edges.

I use an open-toe foot so I can see where I’m stitching.

I slow down my machine so I have more control.

For stitching curved shapes like that curvy ice-cream, having a knee-lift that lifts the presser foot without moving your hands really helps you get the job done fast!

If you’ve never machine appliqued before, click here for a step by step photo tutorial.

Trim Your Block

After you finish the applique on your block trim to it’s final size—12-1/2”.

Thanks for the Tips! Where do I get the pattern?

Drop by Abbie’s blog (the Block Designer) to download your free Fair block pattern. Hurry! The pattern is only available for free until the end of the quilt along.

Here are the other quilt along hosts. Drop by their blogs to view their versions of this block and to read their tips for making it.

April @ JANDA Bend Quilts Jennifer @ Inquiring Quilter (that’s me!) Karen @ Tu-Na Quilts, Travels and Eats Laura @ Slice of Pi Quilts Sherry @ Powered by Quilting

How Do I Enter the Giveaway?

Our giveaways are open to anyone who is at least 18 years old—US and International citizens. To enter, make all the blocks in a Segment. This is Segment 1. Segment 1 entries open on July 27, 2021 at 8 am EST and close on August 10th, 2021 at 7:59 AM EST. To enter, you’ll need to post a single photo of all the blocks in that Segment. I’ll post full details on July 27th. For now, get stitching!

If you make all the Segment 1 blocks, you might win:

A 6-month subscription to Make Modern e-Magazine!

A PDF pattern of your choice from this Partner in Design:

Jennifer @ Inquiring Quilter (that’s me!)

Thanks for stopping by! The next block will be released Tuesday, July 27th. It’s my block this time so be sure to drop by!