#this was mostly me playing with textures and shading

[chromaclopse]

[I.D.: digital fan art of akio, utena, and anthy from revolutionary girl utena, set against a background of roses with a spotlight shining on them from above. utena is in the very center, holding the sword of dios. on her left and slightly in front of her is akio, and to her right and slightly behind her is anthy. akio has a hand on utena’s chest, and is leaning in to kiss her with his eyes closed. utena’s mouth is wide open and so are her eyes, looking forward to the camera and slightly to the right, toward anthy. anthy has her eyes closed with a sad, weary expression. her arm goes under utena’s arm and grips the sword right before the tip. the other arm firmly holds utena’s other wrist, and head rests against utena’s shoulder. / end I.D.]

happy pride heres an utena based on that one anne hathaway image

description by @divine-buster!

[whalefill]

art process PLEASE i love your art sm i need to steal your style asl;jfdl;asjdf

thank you! finding an art style you're happy with just takes time and intuition, but i can still show you how i go about mine - using this fancy goldfish as our guide :)

step 1: sketch your drawing and don't feel the need to be as neat as I was here. step 2: clean up your sketch, or line it. i usually choose the former, but it mostly depends how much of a mess the sketch is and which option i know is going to take more effort. (i also prefer to do this because i think it gives my art more fluidity and emotion! line work is tough for me that way!)

step 3: lay in your flat colors. step 4: shading/rendering of those colors; usually pretty minimal for me. step 5: further rendering, but this time on top of your line work. i get really lost in these steps, playing around with different hues and values until i feel the drawing come to life. again, it just takes intuition. (i'm a self taught artist so i literally can't tell you how i learned any of this shit, it just happened, i'm just as confused as you are)

also, note: i merge my layers as i work. some people think that's chaotic but for me it keeps things simple. that brings us into the next part, which is

step 6: create an overlay layer and clip it to your drawing, because it's magical and it makes all of your colors more vibrant and cohesive‼ 👍😼 (i don't always do a gradient like this, but the drawing was pretty monochromatic so i thought it looked nice)

step 7: miscellaneous final touches like highlights, and then most importantly, add texture. for me, since i use paint tool sai, this is "paper" under "texture" in the paints effect window in the top right corner. can't tell ya how it's done elsewhere. sometimes i take a random image of colored static off of google and create an overlay of that, for texture, too.

thats pretty much it man

[prince-kallisto]

Crowley Levan is Meleanor’s “eyes, limbs, and husband”…wouldn’t it be cool if the one who married into the Draconia family had a crown/headpiece that resembled horns, worn for ceremonies, public appearances and the like?!

We haven’t seen Levan yet but I know in my heart he’s just a silly little guy as long as you ignore The Killings 💞

I talk more about concept art and costume details below the cut!

Levan’s headpiece is designed to have more of a live-action Maleficent feel, where she wrapped her horns in…fabric? Snakeskin? Whatever it was, it looked really shiny, oily, and really cool, so I tried to depict that texture to show how his horns are fake.

And sort of elaborating on the Draconia crown idea, perhaps each crown from every ruler who married into the family has its own unique shape? Levan’s halo-like shape is unique to him, so ones before him perhaps had more “traditional” dragon-like horns, and others had twisting ones like a sheep, etc etc. Since I’m OBSESSED with TWSTs religious symbolism- the Dawn Knight popped off with that winged helmet- I also wanted a halo shape to make Levan look slightly angelic.

The beads on his horns were slightly inspired by the mianguan, a formal headdress worn in ancient China. He also wears nail guards covered in shiny jewels… Let him be extra ✨

Levan having wings over his eyes like the Dawn Knight would be a fun parallel, and as a reference to him being Meleanor’s “eyes, limbs, and husband.” Like I mentioned in the comic, he covers his eyes and disguises his body under bulky clothing to be publicly dramatic af 😭 he takes his title way too seriously haha. The idea is that when he isn’t around Meleanor, he sheds his mask so he can report what he sees to Meleanor. But when he is with her, he “blinds” himself as a demonstration of trust. I’m sure he can actually detect his surroundings very well despite the mask- he just likes to play around and act dumb to make Lilia and Meleanor laugh haha. I haven’t thought much about the clothes under his cape, but I imagine it’s very like Malleus’ masquerade outfit. Something very streamlined and agile in case he has to enter a sudden battle or fly into the air.

And with my concept art, he was meant to have the shoulder feathers like Crowley and Malleus! They were like pauldrons covered in feathers. But when I was working on the final piece, I spontaneously changed it to fit the sketch for something more flowing and bulky haha. In my head, this bigger cape has a more “General” vibe to it? Something that draws your attention when Levan walks into a war room! Speaking of, I really love the fantasy-vibe of the costumes in Book 7- I feel like I can really go all out with Levan’s costume if the Dawn Knight is allowed to have a helmet like that!

This was super last minute in the painting process, but I’d like the inside of his cape to have constellations and stars all over it! I tried to draw the Corvus, Crater, and Hydra on the visible parts of his cape.

I prefer painting with ink far better than acrylic or even watercolor…so doing this in mostly black and white inspired me to give Levan porcelain-like skin, shading his skin almost like he was a doll and not a person. I think about how Diablo in Sleeping Beauty was turned into stone, so it’s meant to be a bit like marble too

I imagine Levan to have long, wispy hair that resembles briars and a bit like live action Aurora from Maleficent. Its very striking how he’s repeatedly described as “beautiful,” and although short hair is very beautiful in its own right, something about his mysteriousness and beauty gives me Aurora vibes specifically. Speaking of, Book 7 seems to be more obvious with combining elements from the original Sleeping Beauty and the live action Maleficent. Perhaps Silver could be the OG Aurora, but I can still give Levan live-action Aurora’s pretty hair haha.

When he wears his headdress and cape, he has his hair pinned up in the back. I’d like to draw my interpretation of Levan more in the future so you can see how his hair would look when it’s all down or in a ponytail. Perhaps Raven-Fae do more elaborate hairstyles that incorporates jewels/shiny things into their hair? Also, this inspiration is VERY specific haha, but if you ever read or watched Cardcaptor Sakura, Nadeshiko’s hair is very close to how I imagine his hair to be- very full and flowing! (Cardcaptor Sakura’s aesthetic snatched me up many years ago and has never let go since haha)

I don’t know, I just think it’s really cool yet ironic that Meleanor and Lilia talk about Levan as someone whose a crybaby, kind, beautiful, airheaded, but then Lilia casually drops that Levan is one of the top generals, an extremely skilled diplomat, and battled the DAWN KNIGHT and survived, when even Lilia hasn’t at that point. So I thought it would be fun if he had angelic themes in his outfit, while still making it clear that he’s dangerous.

Whoops this got pretty long! ∑(ﾟДﾟ) Haha, I think I like sharing my designs- not for the art it self but just to ramble about my entire thought process/inspiration/details! Although I try to get better at depicted all these ideas through the art itself, I can’t help but want to talk about it haha

[swordsandspectacles]

Drawing this and just… picturing Anathema FRANTICLY shushing everybody, while also going “oh my fucking god you guys look at these two”

Julia’s going to have the WORST crick in her neck

Mum says I can ramble AS MUCH AS I WANT in the readmore. You’re trapped here with ME.

And ooh look we have progress shots and the original reference that’s fairly sexy

My toxic trait is putting so much texture into lines only to blur/chromatic abberation/add noise until it’s all just a soft fuzz.

Pouring one out for the lineart of Julia’s hair tho. Loosing that’s a tragedy.

Drawing this didn’t take much brain power, it was mostly ‘see ref, become obsessed, work on this between comms’

It became a FIGHT once I got to colour/shading/light though. I wanted some streetlight-y look but also not quite that and?? Spent well north of an hour and a half (about half the total work time) pushing and pulling. The bright blue/orange/red is of course what saved it in the end. This was as far as I intended to take it but I’m glad I put the extra time in.

Also as I’m sure is blindingly obvious— playing with the idea of sidestep Mel not bleaching her hair. You have no idea how much blonde Mel ruins the composition it’s so bad

She looks like a diFFERENT PERSON—

[datura-tea]

holy shit this year marks 10 years of this blog and moz!! i can't remember the exact date i started posting here - my archive says i have one post from november 2013 but let's disregard that - but i do remember it was around late 2014/early 2015 :)

^ one of the very first moz art pieces i ever drew, for fallout week 2015!!

memories and art through the years under a read more bc it got long

2014 → baby's first rpg!! i started playing fnv on my cousin's jailbroken xbox late 2013 and finished mid 2014 and i loved every minute of it. i remember waking up at 8am and playing almost nonstop until 2am the next day haha!

i didn't play moz on my first playthrough - but i did start creating a character that would eventually become her: a shorthaired ex-boxer who punched her way through obstacles when diplomacy failed. i remember she spent a lot of time with boone. i liked him then, because he saved my ass more times than i can count. but i digress. this is draft 1 moz essentially

2015 → this is the year that i was doing my thesis so i could graduate but i was so depressed and stressed about it that i distracted myself by replaying fnv on pc, where i played through the dlcs for the first time. i fell in love with the dlcs' oversarching story; particularly ulysses, who i became obssessed with, especially since i couldn't find any content of him at the time. in the game, i played as moz; i had most of her personality and choices down, but her backstory was still up in the air.

fun fact: this was an existing sideblog that i remade to be a fallout blog so i could look for ulysses content, and when i couldn't find any, i made some myself, featuring moz as my main courier six. originally, i didn't ship them, but eventually i ended the year as a courier/ulysses otp shipper.

this was the year i started drawing digitally - my uncle let me borrow a drawing tablet and i used an old copy of photoshop i pirated hehe

2016 → i graduated this year!! and promptly fell deeper into my depression. this was the year that it got so bad that i had to be medicated. through it all, this blog and moz and ulysses and my fandom friends were with me. and for that i am truly grateful :) this was the year i figured out how to lock transparent pixels so that i could color my lineart lol

2017 → i started hammering out moz's backstory this year i think. there's a lot of sketches of her and her family in my files. i experimented with shading and backgrounds here but that experimentation was pretty short-lived

2018 → i started using references seriously!!!! i did a lot of oc on oc kissing this year, featuring mostly moz and many friend ocs haha

2019 → didn't draw much this year. actually this year was a blur and i can't remember much from it except from it being the year of my terrible no good bad copywriting jobs... anyway i did manage to continue my courier/ulysses brainrot and make this piece, which i'm still proud of

2020 → pandemic time. i spent a lot of time asleep at home and i think this was also the year i started doing commissions?? shoutout to anyone who has ever commissioned me - thank you so much, i truly appreciate it!!

2021 → i switched from my old-ass pirated photoshop to clip studio paint and never looked back. also i did a bunch of commissions for my grandmother's surgery, which failed, and i distracted myself from the sadness by drawing my ocs over and over and playing disco elysium

2022 → by this year, i've got moz down pat and have started vaguely developing other ocs instead. but she's still always at the back of my mind

2023 → i bought new brushes from true grit texture supply and immediately found new favorites that i started using for everything. i tentatively started incorporating background elements in some pieces!

2024 → while it's still too early to say where this year will lead me art-wise, i will say that i started experimenting in realistic paint studio (which i bought in 2021, the same time as clip studio paint) a few days ago and i'm liking the results so far. we'll see!

all in all, these last 10 years have been quite a ride, but i'm glad i stuck around and i'm glad you guys stuck around too!! much much love 💖💖💖

[mimisempai]

He who knows me

Summary

Sometimes emotions are so strong, so overwhelming, that it's impossible to describe them. But do you need to speak when you have a partner who knows and understands you better than anyone else?

POV Aziraphale

Notes

This is the first time I've written in the first person, so I don't know what I'm doing, but I'm doing it anyway.

On Ao3

Rating G -  1235 words

"Your hair has really grown, my dear."

Crowley nods and replies playfully, "Because I know you like it longer."

I don't try to argue with him because he's right and he knows it. However, that doesn't stop me from retorting as playfully as him, "Just like I know you like it when I take care of it."

He doesn't deny it either; we know everything about each other and we don't hide it.

At least we don't hide it anymore.

I let the red strands slide along my fingers, admiring the different warm shades as they catch a ray of sunlight coming through the window. 

Crowley sits on a pillow on the floor, leaning against my legs as I gently run my fingers through the thick mass of wavy red hair, carefully untangling the knots so that the brush can run smoothly through the hair later. Anything to make the experience as pleasurable for my demon as it is for me.

Once I am sure that the hair is mostly untangled, I take the brush and begin to gently stroke it from the top of his head to the end of the first strand, marveling at the softness of the hair as it flows like silk over my fingers.

For a while, the silence of the bookshop is broken only by the few notes of soft, jazzy music playing from my old gramophone and the gentle sound of my brushing along Crowley's hair.

Suddenly, an almost purring sound comes from Crowley's mouth as he leans against my touch.

Leaning forward to look at his face, I see that he has his eyes closed and a look of pure delight on his face.

I can't help but be overwhelmed with emotion at the thought that my touch is causing that expression.

"Why did you stop, angel?"

I leaned in close to his ear and said softly, "I was just admiring the effect my fingers are having on you."

The same sound of contentment came out of his mouth again and he replied softly, "The effect is divine. As expected from an angel."

I laughed softly and whispered in his ear, "Idiot," then couldn't resist pressing my lips to his temple before continuing, "But if you lean against me any more, I won't be able to go on."

He laughed softly as he straightened up a little, just wrapping his hand around my ankle before saying, "Go on, please. "

I press one more kiss to his hair, this time, before resuming my brushing of his hair, and as another ray of sunlight reveals the different shades of red in his hair again, I can't help but murmur, "Gorgeous."

Crowley asks in a confused voice, "What?" 

"Your hair, my love. Its color is so unique, I never noticed all the shades. But also its texture when I run my hands through it, when it's smooth like now or shaggy when you wake up in the morning." 

Feeling him squirm against my legs, as he does every time I pay him a compliment, I place the brush on the arm of the sofa before leaning forward and placing my hands on his shoulders, I bury my nose in his hair. After a deep breath, I continue, "And you don't know how much I love the fragrance of your hair, it's so you."

He breathes in a slightly rough voice, "Angel..."

Wanting more, more contact, more closeness, I let my hands slide from his shoulders to his neck, then to his cheeks, framing his face from behind, and with a light pressure I make him tilt his head up to gain access to his forehead.

After brushing aside a few strands that had fallen across it, I plant a long kiss on it, pleased at the new sigh of contentment that escaped my demon's mouth.

I straighten up a little, but just as I wanted to withdraw my hands from his face, I felt his hand grab mine and his lips press against my palm before he murmured against my skin, "Thank you, Angel."

I grab his chin to turn his head toward me and reply, "The pleasure is all mine, believe me, my love," then I lean in and capture his lips in a tender kiss that he returns with equal fervor. Unfortunately, we're forced to break the kiss because of the uncomfortable angle and position.

A little dazed from the kiss, I barely have time to realize that Crowley has risen before I find myself with a demon on my lap, his arms wrapped around my neck as his lips press gently against mine, continuing the interrupted kiss.

Much later, when we separate to catch our breath, he lets his forehead rest on mine while his hands gently caress my back.

He is all around me, my eyes in his, his breath mingling with mine, his skin against mine, the warmth of his body wherever it touches mine.

We're so close and yet I want more and more and more.

I want to tell him, I open my mouth, breathe in, "Crowley, I..." I inhale and try again, "I..." but the words get stuck in my throat because the emotion is so overwhelming.

Then he pulls back a little and against my will, my hands tighten around his waist.

I don't want him to pull away.

I want to hold him tight, feel his closeness forever.

He murmurs softly, "Shh, Angel... I'm not going anywhere."

His hands slip from my neck and come to rest on mine, which grip his shirt. Despite my resistance, he grasps them, then, after placing my hands on his hips, his own hands come to frame my face.

I want to try and speak again, but he won't let me and, caressing my lips gently with his thumb, he says in an incredibly soft voice, "I know, Angel. I know."

Of course he knows.

He's always known better than anyone else.

He has always given me what I needed before I even asked.

I nod quietly and say nothing.

He repeats softly, "I know."

Then I close my eyes, take a deep breath and let go.

Immediately I feel his warm body pressing hard against mine, his arms and legs wrapped around me in a tight embrace, his face buried in my neck.

This is the closeness I've been longing for.

He murmurs one last time against the skin of my neck, "I know."

I don't know how long we stay like this, entwined so tightly that I don't know where he begins and I end. 

But I do know that when I fall asleep, I'm only aware of him, and when a cheeky ray of sunlight makes me open my eyes much later, the first thing I feel is his body against mine, and the first thing my eyes meet is his.

We must have moved in our sleep, because now we are lying against each other on the sofa.

With his head resting on his hand, he asks me gently, "Are you okay, Angel?"

Smiling softly, I nod slowly before answering, "Better than all right."

Giving me a little wink, he replies, "I know," then brings his face close to mine and continues playfully, "How about we make it even better?"

He doesn't give me time to react and presses his lips to mine.

And I don't resist.

Because he knows.

_________

Still not beta'd

Still not my native language

Still hoping you'll enjoy this story  🥰

Still thanking you for bearing with me 😝

Ineffable Growing Love series : (After season 2) 

Part 1 Story 1-99

Part 2 Story 100-?

Ineffable Husbands masterlist : here (Before season 2)

[adobe-outdesign]

could you review some of the neopets as animals outfits, like the fennec kacheek, red panda vandagyre, and cockatiel pteri? (those are examples, choose whichever you like!) thank you <3

(Note: I included a random selection of outfits in this post, but feel free to send in asks if anyone wants to see a specific outfit I didn't cover.)

I'll be honest, I'm personally not super big on the "outfit that resembles a real-world animal" trend. First, I play Neopets for the cool fantasy creatures; even the most true-to-life Neopets species have some pretty fantastical colors. I feel like making pets just look exactly like actual animals kind of defeats the purpose of them being Neopets. I get why people would like it and I'm not saying it's bad; it's just not my thing.

Also, the other reason I'm not always big on these outfits is that a lot of Neopets have colours that already resemble real animal patterns. Not only do the outfits blur the colour/customization line quite a bit, but usually I like the colour ones much more, as they keep the actual design of the Neopets in place and just change the patterns and colors, rather than covering up the fun fantasy elements. This also helps them avoid the uncanny valley effect, which I talk about more below.

Also I might be over thinking this but who is making these outfits. None of these animals seem to exist in-universe as far as we're aware. what are the shopkeepers basing these off of. the colours at least have a magic as an excuse

Examples that I think are okay:

Feathery Pteri Outfit: This one's nice! I like the layered patterning on the wings and the high-contrast colors. Most, though, I like that this sticks fairly close to the actual pet, mostly just changing up the tail shape. This almost could've been a paintbrush colour, but then again what colour is up in the air.

(Side note: the eye clipping over the beak is a rendering issue? I think?)

Bouncing Zafara: This one definitely strays farther from the actual pet than the Pteri, but it's a fitting animal choice and it doesn't fall into the uncanny valley, which is all I care about. The body is still somewhat recognizable as a Zafara in terms of shape, and the Miamouse as the joey is super cute.

Freshwater Lenny: Kind of the same case as the Zafara; not super one-to-one with the actual pet, but it's still recognizable as a Lenny and isn't too uncanny. The legs are a particularly nice touch, actually changing the pose to look more heron-like (though they are also the part that strays dangerously into being too detailed).

Please don't:

Adorable Kacheek: Sorry to the fans of this one, but this outfit just resides deep within the uncanny valley to me—like it's a mascot suit instead of just a normal pet. The artstyle is way off from Neopets, looking much more Subeta-ish (except Subeta's art usually isn't so off putting). It's not a bad artstyle, mind you, it's just not very Neopets-ish. I also feel like a fennec fox was also a bad pick for this one, as it's basically unrecognizable as a Kacheek at all.

Feathered Eyrie: Speaking of the uncanny valley, this is another pet that lands squarely there due to having entirely too much detail in the shading and weirdly realistic fur textures. It also just doesn't look very good aesthetically—the beak doesn't fit the face, and the wings are an absolute trainwreck (not only is the perspective wrong, but the left wing is coming from the middle of its back!). On the plus side, you'd be hard pressed to not recognize this as an Eyrie, and it's a fantasy creature instead of a regular animal, so I guess that's something?

Furry Meerca: Hmm... no. This one also suffers from an overly-detailed artstyle and way too much realism, which is especially jarring when placed on top of the Meerca's heavily stylized body shape, resulting in a perfectly round animal with hyper-realistic animal eyes. It's also particularly bothersome because we already had a chipmunk Meerca design in the form of the striped Meerca colour, which is just this but less soul-haunting:

Which is what I meant at the beginning when I was talking about colours vs outfits. The colour is a Meerca that looks like a chipmunk; the outfit is a chipmunk that looks like a Meerca. Big difference.

[pencilpat]

In Any Form You Take - dukeceit

Scar positivity, mostly made for the purpose of comforting myself, but I wanted to share it as well. I hardly see media involving people with scars as gnarly as mine, so hopefully this can bring others comfort as well. The title is a reference to this song.

Read on Ao3 here

[Content warning for implied past self harm and current body image issues.]

Remus sits splayed out on its bed, trying to act like it isn't waiting for something. Janus has, for the first time in the months they've been dating, agreed to stay the night in its room. He disappeared into the bathroom to change almost 30 minutes ago, and Remus would be lying if it said it wasn't worried. It turns over to look at the ceiling, making bored popping noises with its lips.

It doesn't blame Janus for any nervousness there may be, Janus hasn't been naked around... well, any of the sides for as long as it can remember. Remus can't place when it happened, but as Thomas grew up and Janus became more engrossed in his role, he started to cover up everything. Literally and metaphorically. Long sleeves and even gloves, at one point when they were a teen he even had a half mask on his face before everyone discovered his snake-like features.

Remus knows Janus must be getting into pyjamas, and the sound of shuffling indicates it doesn't have to speculate for very much longer. Janus cracks open the door slightly, just enough to see his face, his long hair down and swaying by his chin. "Remus?"

"Yeah, Janus? Everything okay in there?"

"Yes. I'm okay. I- I just need you to not act weird, okay? Can you promise?"

Remus sits up cross-legged, face scrunched up in confusion. It chuckles slightly, rolling its eyes. "All I ever do is act weird, but I can tone it down for ya."

"Remus, I'm serious."

It takes pause, blinking and tilting its head to the side softly. Janus's tone of voice is heavily somber and almost nervous, and it's not one that Remus hears often. "Uh, okay. I promise, no weirdness."

Janus takes in a deep breath, and the door opens. His hand falls from the knob and holds his own wrist anxiously, eyes refusing to make contact with a nervous attempt at a coy smile filling his features. "I- I know it's a lot, feel free to stare and ogle as long as you'd like." Janus's biting sarcasm feels completely toothless, and he can't quite make himself look at Remus's face. So, when its suddenly right in front of him, he startles and gasps quietly. But as he's pulling away, Remus is reaching towards him.

"Stare and act weird at you about this? What? Why would I be that mean?" Remus lets its hand hover between them as it waits for a sign that it's okay to touch. It tries not to look outwardly fascinated by the scars that cover its boyfriend's arms almost entirely, all thick and bumpy in varying shades of purple and white. Old, but definitely some nasty keloids.

"Remus you've done meaner things in your sleep, don't play with me." Janus laughs and it comes out strained. Cringing at himself, he barely feels present all of a sudden. Like he's floating. Dizzy, lightheaded. "I know you've seen scars before, though you only seem to have them for a short time when you do get them, but they... stayed on me." Janus rubs his own arm, horrifically textured no matter what he does, breathing out shakily. Remus is observing him silently, and Remus is never silent. It makes him terrified. "Sorry, I know they're gross, this was probably overstepping. It was wrong to assume you'd be okay with it, I can go back to my own-"

Remus's hands close the gap, and rests right there, directly touching his scars. "Nah, you assumed right, I don't mind one bit!" It smiles, sharp teeth gleaming at him. "The shit you've seen me touch and you thought I'd find you gross? Jan, that's so unintelligent that I barely recognize you." Janus is frozen in place, his eyes watching Remus's face as it touches his arm, running its hands over even the ones Janus won't let himself touch. A gentle smile fills its face, and it leans in to plant a kiss on Janus's cheek. "Certainly adds a bit of dramatic flair to one's body, huh?"

Janus feels tears in his eyes, glancing to the side as Remus kisses his scales. He can't seem to make words come out of his mouth, because if they did it would just be bashful apologies and humiliated proclamations of how ugly he is.

"Did someone tell you you were gross?" Remus asks, bizarrely quiet and soft compared to its usual self.

"God no, I'd rather die than show any of the others this. No, I did all the name calling myself, thank you very much."

Remus's arms wrap around him in a hug, gripping him tightly. "Well then tell that asshole to shut up for once, why don't you?" It buries its face into Janus's shoulder. "I will hunt down and eat anyone who ever says those things to you, and that includes you yourself!"

"Remus..." Janus can't help a light, comforted chuckle at the expression of violence. "You won't be eating anyone, down boy," he jokes, laughing even as he's sniffling.

Remus pulls back, gazing at him fondly. "You're really pretty, Janus. Scars included." Its eyes darken playfully. "And when I see a pretty boy I want him in my bed!" Remus suddenly swoops Janus up over its shoulder like a sack, making the smaller side yelp and cling to it upside down. Without time to adjust he's chucked haphazardly into a pile of pillows, wheezing out a laugh and covering his face.

"My god, you're so dumb. Fine then, bed me Mr. Duke," Janus dramatically throws a hand against his forehead and lays back as though on a fainting couch.

Remus cackles and throws itself on the pillows right beside him. "No offense, babe, but I'm exhausted and I'd rather just cuddle and feel up your sick ass battle wounds, if you'd let me. I can even scream dramatically and act like I stepped in horse shit if that'll validate your self flagellation!"

"Oh, how caring and noble an offer," Janus quips, rolling his eyes and cuddling against Remus's chest. They both laugh, and then go quiet, staring across at each other.

"Love you," Remus offers up.

"Love you too," Janus accepts, the room darkening as Remus wills it to and settling them into darkness for sleep.

[chubs-deuce]

Hola. Me gusta como dibujas y quería preguntarte, ¿qué pinceles usas? Y porque los elegiste.

Quiero publicar mi propio arte, pero no me decido si usar pinceles muy definidos o con textura.

Tuve que usar un traductor para leer este mensaje, ¡lo siento mucho si entendí mal algo! Lamentablemente no hablo español, así que mi respuesta necesitaría pasar por un traductor de cualquier manera ^^" Mantendré el resto de la publicación en inglés para que sea más accesible para blogs internacionales, ¡espero que te parezca bien!

----

I mainly use the Clip Studio Paint standard brushes, though I technically have a bunch of custom ones too haha

These are the 3 brushes I use most!

the Design Pencil tool from CSP for sketches and outlines (reason: the softer texture feels nice to sketch with, since mistakes fade easier into the background - important for my lineart since I just adapt and clean up my sketches for that - and I like the way it layers, I can block out some monochromatic colors or simple shading with it very easily, which I tend to do a lot when I'm going for more of a composition concept sketch!)

A rough, round custom brush for blocking out flat colors (reason: the slight texturing makes it blend into the more transparent edges of my textured lineart better)

The Guache Brush tool from CSP for shading (reason: I mostly do my shading using layers on multiply mode using a darker and a lighter color - this brush blends them using pen pressure very smoothly and I like the subtle texture it adds to my drawings! I also sometimes use this brush to block out rough shapes in the background because it blends with other colors easily, keeping the shapes more vague)

overall whether or not you use textured or simpler brushes depends a lot on what feels the most comfortable for you, so experimenting is important!

There's many many artists who work best with the standard, untextured round brush you can find in every art program, others (like me) prefer to play around with textures for their workflow :D

I hope this bit of insight helped even just a little, thank you for the ask!!!

[faytalepsy]

Process of my HEX Gift

I finally remembered to take a few screenshots of my progress stages and I always wanted to do a walkthrough post so here we are!!

I did not have a specific prompt from my giftee, except for the ship which was Silrah so I decided I wanted to draw a cozy romantic Christmas scene.

Which totally showed in my first sketch...definitely... My first sketches mostly look unrecognizable and there is no real system for them because it's just lines for my brain to visualize where I want everything to be. Sometimes they look like this, sometimes they are more light/shadow inclusive. The next step was to work out the poses for Farah and Saul and as you can see, I was struggling. 🤣

When I finally found the pose I was looking for and fleshed out some elements in the background it was time for one of my absolute favorite parts.....that I forgot to screenshot....THE VALUES Which is me trying to figure out the lighting by blocking in light and dark areas with various shades of grey. But because I forgot to take a screenshot (and the value layer that I normally keep until the end for reference disappeared into the void of procreate) we will skip straight to the colour! I very roughly block in the areas with the colours I have in mind to see if everything fits and change what I don't like yet. When that is done I now have a finished concept which I need to refine and then paint!

And now I reached the point of actual background design which was HARD. I looked at many pics of Farah's headmistress' office to try and get a feel for what items might be in her private suite. The mantle of the fireplace looked very empty even after I added the little astrology magic thing and the flowers so I decided to add a circle just like the ones in her office as @septemberrie deducted. I also played around with the design of the fire guard because I wanted it to have that elegant whimsical fairy vibe. I added a lamp inspired by one from Sims 4 and a book in the foreground to hide the awkward angle they are sitting at. For the frame on the wall, I wanted a moon-themed design but it took me a while to figure it out, which is why I left the frame empty for now. Then it was time for lineart and actually sketching in the elements I wanted to be in the background. I usually set my colour or value layer and the sketch layer to 20% and draw over it.

You might also notice that the wrapped sword disappeared...which I regret to this day because I simply forgot to paint it into the rough lineart and only remembered when Skye asked what's supposed to be in the remaining present. Maybe I will add it at some point because now Saul has no present...except for Farah. But the square box present was meant to be Saul's present to Farah and originally I wanted a jewelry box but it was too small to see so I just....put a bigger box. Creativity *sparkles*

Another thing is that from the rough line-art to the nice line-art (yes I always draw my line-art two or three times.....even though line-art is my least favorite stage probably) the Christmas tree is losing a lot of ornaments. Originally I wanted to put in way more stuff like small straw stars or figurines but after painting a million tiny branches I started regretting every life decision that brought me to this point so I simplified the tree. A lot. In the end, I don't regret that because I think it fits them even better. Silrah don't strike me as people who go all out on Christmas and rather just decorate small and tastefully (given they would even celebrate because Otherworld= different culture, but we ignore that piece of worldbuilding for this Christmas-themed drawing)

Next I block in every area on a separate layer so I can alpha-lock them for the painting process. At this point I was getting too annoyed with the tree because painting it was a pain in the ass so I started shading and painting in textures and finishing everything else before even continuing to block in the tree.

The whole image was still too cold at this point so I went in with one of my favorite parts: atmosphere and then lighting bringing it all together and making the painting shine! Painting light is so much fun and I definitely want to learn more about lighting and structure to get better at it but I really love it when someone compliments the light in my art!!

I also finally added the title of the book in the front. I wanted it to be something about magic that Farah would read and looked at various old book covers with pretty lettering. I decided on "The Story of Magic" because I found a very pretty-looking reference cover with exactly the letters that I needed to spell.

And then....something was still missing......THE TREE. (I didn't take a progress picture at that stage that's why it's already in the pics up there but in the end I still had to draw the light on the branches and after doing about four or five of them I decided the effort was not worth the result and did the light reflection very very roughly. But I don't think anyone except me really notices.

And tada the finished Christmas drawing!

[diezmil10000]

Hi hi, hope you're doing well!! Wanted to ask if you could explain how you pick colours! They're always so appealing to look at... (If you could also explain how you pick blush colours it'd be great! I never manage to pick good ones, no matter how hard I try :'))

hi anon, i'm doing fine!! it's summer right now where i live and that's healing all my problems (⁠◡⁠ ⁠ω⁠ ⁠◡⁠)

i have recorded the process of some of my drawings and everything is posted in my youtube channel (in twitter too), so i'll drop the link here and try my best to explain the coloring part to you. the short answer is that none of the colors you see in my drawings are similar to those i initially picked.

i try to keep my lineart loose but i pay attention to the outlines so i can quickly select the outer parts, invert the selection and fill it with the bucket tool. my base colors are all 100% opaque and i don't use any fancy brushes here.

as to how i pick colors, i never use the color picker tool, i eyeball everything. that's important for me because i tend to make all of them warmer: the greens are dark yellows, the pinks are light reds, and everything that's close to blue is very desaturated. i do this even for drawings that turn out much different later, unless i have a very specific vibe in mind from the beginning. i also never use pure whites for anything, and if something is black i make it part of the lineart.

then i always color my lineart!! there's no trick to that, the layer is in normal mode and i just paint it with a darker color than what's below it. i usually add the shadows and highlights at this stage of the drawing too. you're going to kill me for this but shade with gray set in color burn or linear burn (never multiply). i just don't want to think about color variety at this stage because it makes things more difficult for later. sometimes i add textures and some basic color correction here (curves, color balance, layers set in overlay, etc.) but i mostly leave that for the next part.

as to how i choose blush colors, i usually pick the base color and move it towards the saturated end of the color wheel, and a bit more pink. sometimes i add a multiply layer and airbrush hot red over the base colors at low opacity. coloring the lineart with hot colors surrounding the blush areas helps a lot too :)

i also almost always duplicate the lineart, blur it and set it in linear burn (i paint this layer in a light gray). this adds a lot of depth to the drawing, especially if later combined with the bloom effect.

the key to why the colors in my art pop so much is that i don't enjoy drawing as much as i enjoy postprocessing pictures 😂🤣😅👌✌️👍 once i'm satisfied with the "base" colors i merge everything except the background, open a new canvas and go crazy with filters and textures. that's why i use ibispaint X even if i do the lineart elsewhere (krita), and even if it works a bit wonky with big canvases.

i do something different for each drawing here, so first i'm going to explain my reasoning so that you understand my process: i used to have a problem of using very strong colors that overshadowed my beloved lineart into which i had put a lot of effort, so my goal nowadays is to make everything look less contrasted without losing the visual impact of saturated colors. that way the lineart remains a strong point and not just a way to separate one color from another.

what i usually do is duplicate the new merged layer, set it to exclusion mode, add a gradient map and play with the opacity. then i duplicate that and do the same thing with another gradient or another blending mode. i tend to add like 3-6 layers of bullshit over my drawings, including textures and other filters like "bloom" or "sharpen". i understand everything that's going on there but i don't think too deeply about it, i just pick whatever looks best.

for the final touches i always pull up the saturation and contrast (since a lot of it gets lost in the process), and i usually have to manually change some colors (ibispaint X has a filter to do that) or tweak the curves. then i add chromatic aberration, noise set to overlay and little polka dots set to linear dodge.

here are some comparisons of the before and after of recent drawings. the 1st one is very subtle, but you can clearly see how much warmth and depth it gains it gets after all the postprocessing. the 2nd one is so different that i understand why you're curious about how i pick colors. i don't think i can replicate that look just from picking nice colors, there's a lot more going on!! the 3rd one personally feels like it had potential lost (i liked the yellow highlights), but the colors were too strong and all over the place, so the finished result looks more intimate and calm and i like it a lot more.

thank you for the interest anon, i'm very happy that you like the way i color things and i hope i have explained myself. good luck with your own journey!!

[boxwinebaddie]

Across the ninaverse Kyle is beautiful yes ( and I his is definitely true for your lovely take on the superhero au ) but so so scary

Please don't let that ugly ass tfbw human kite suit design stay scary tho I'm begging you ☹️☹️ I'm not sorry it's so horrid I cry thinking about it even Cousin Kyle pulled it off more than they did like holy fuck IT'S SO BAD 😭😭 I have personal beef with that god damn design LIKE WTF IS THAG?? I never got the chance to fully play through tfbw after my mom DELETED IT OFF HER COMPUTER I'm still mad about that hwhdhgr but!! from what I saw I didn't mind the human kite I just stay up at night thinking about how Kyle deserved better

also!! I think it's rlly cool that it's canon the human kite is gender neutral and asexual and I wanted to hear your opinions on that and COUSIN KYLE WHEN?? 🤨🤨

( now I don't remember if I actually sent one previously about rm5 and how much I loved it I might have deleted it?? It was a dumpster fire of rambling is all I remember )

-Stan who loves Kyle but is personally traumatised from that ugly ass tfbw design 🧡 I'm actually personally offended for him they did him so wrong I'm sorry if this makes no sense this is built up anger

hi orange heart stan! :) <3

first of all, i am glad you agree! i believe in beautiful style supremacy.

i just think whereas stan is like commercially and cosmetically beautiful, like in terms of like celebrity, supermodel, break your neck looking at him on the street, boy next door pretty. (aka conventionally attractive in a way that is indisputable, i think, like That shockingly stunning...also he hates it more than anything in the world smh )

kyle is definitely a more ethereal renaissance painting, sort of elfish/fae like, looks kind of like a timeless museum statue like high cheek bones, prominent nose, pretty red hair, hes attractive in a feel like a less conventional way but is still spellbindingly beautiful as a muse...also kyle thinks hes ugly i want to die ( spef. human kite kyle )

--sorry i sat on this anon for a while, i was trying to troubleshoot what i wanted my human kite to look like in my universe! which, again, i have not played tfbw -- but i have read extensively on it because you know i try to be thorough...so if some of this is wrong it all belongs in my dystopian, sci-fi commentary on societies prejudices, fear of what they don't understand, superhero au, where canon is mostly there to provide the bones/basics and i chaotically world build around it. ;)

**also i did not know that kite!kyle was gender neutral and asexual, so i will adjust accordingly and use they/them to refer to kyle. i also have never played an asexual character, so i am interested! i am also curious whether that was a conscious choice or something to do with them being an alien ( i think...both maybe? interesting! )

also bc last time i did toolstan and kyshed, this ask is for the kyle/kite lore im working through and a lot of stankite because aw <3

but DO NOT WORRY!!!! i did scrap the original design because it's hideous. okay i'm going to drop some pinterest pictures. xx

( you how i am im sorry guys i love pinterest sm smh )

this is insane...i am apologizin in advance...

*hides* don't make fun of me omg

so obviously kyle is an alien and as such i feel like the pigment of their skin is not a natural...human color. so i was thinking about shades of the sky and i was thinking about the teal jumpsuit so i settled on blue!

so to me, in alien form, kyle has blue skin ( sort of similar to mystique in xmen i feel like...probably an interesting skin texture? ) and i think all of their freckles are actually white? so they look like little stars ;-; their entire body just looks like beautiful night sky or blue sky with tiny clouds/sun spots...theyre like a living painting.

however...they are...insecure abt it but when kite visits stan and stan likes them more and more he says theyre really beautiful <333 :') ( them and their frecks ) and that he tells his super best friend, who is anxious abt their freckles that they look like constellations but that kite really is like The Sky haha

( i think it’s funny when secret identity stan and kyle talk abt eachother in human form to kite and shed haha )

--sidebar, but i think that ky might have some sort of kite alien birthmark to represent the kite imagery, but its hidden ofc ofc

—second sidebar: i think kyles voice as kyle is very uptight and forced but as kite, his relaxed alien mothertongue is a lot more fluid/faster it has a fantastic alien dream like quality they also forget to use human words sometimes bless them stan is confused

( he’s not complaining tho whatever u say beautiful alien person w the cool pretty voice )

i also think just for the purpose of it not being too obvious who kite is in human form and just based on the reverse of kyles warm toned human skin pigment being blue i think that kyles hair in kite form is...white? i feel like they r giving celestial drow elf alien energies.

( also tech bc of the reverse pigment their cool laser eyes should be red but i kinda want them to be really bright green like wooo shiny )

but their HAIR AAAAA ( ok its curlier tho like very curly )

also yes its really pretty!!!! stan did say wowza up close skhdlkha it has soft cloud texture and feels like cotton candy...wowza indeed

as for the costume moment...to me it really reads as more of a cloak? like i'm thinking raven of team titan vibes except...weather?

like this cool cloak thing, maybe a little half leotard/jumpsuit moment for For Their Bits...do aliens have bits? yes...maybe? im crying omghs ( listen i made stan look like a birthday party stripper or like hes on the cover of a sexy men at work playboy calendar [ was it you that thought it was funy when i said shed looked like a magic mike construction worker? ]...ky can be a little scandy as a treat xx )

but!!!! in my brain, the cloak is an heirloom that was passed down thru shelia's side ( in my weird lore, i'm thinking shelia is an alien who married a nonmutated human and had kyle who is like half alien? ike is not an alien...just a human canadian boy...and nuisance. )

...and its like a sheet...of the atmosphere? or something that was like...made/woven out of the sky?? and it helps them with flight and also turns the color of whatever the sky is at the moment ( for camouflage purposes ) and is essentially weather proof, rain, sun, snow,

thunder...lightning...:/

so i think kyles one regret is that they missed stan getting struck by lightning but risked alien form flying him to the hospital, concealing him in the kyle cloak and set him on the steps of hells pass...they could have prevented it and it haunts them everyday bc stan almost didnt survive...kyle does not know it gave him powers however smh

but yes!!! half kite/atmosphere alien icon kyle!!! i hope they thrill you!!!

i think the entire broflovski family is concealing the fact that they are aliens/harboring secret aliens because its dangerous and people are REALLY racist towards aliens ( who i think fled their planets due to persecution...i dont know if this is getting too political given the current climate lmk ) and they get killed by extremist groups who...sigh...tell them to go back to their planets...their galaxies >:(

reg kyle “human cameo form” just for reference btw (if we remember) ft. kyle trying to draw what he thinks shed looks like ;-;

for ref they are like an art history/psychology major at cu

stan and kyle are roomates ouo but no they do not kiss :/....yet ;)

kyle is mad abt hiding it but for the sake of their family, keep it lowkey...that does not stop them from protesting for mutant/alien rights, going to dangerous rallies with stan ( who is shed aka mutated technically...but bc his mutation is considered "helpful" "not ugly" or scary by society...tool shed is a superhero...where as someone like kyle who is an alien and widely hated and demonized. )

i also think that kyle...might not sleep at night bc alien ? i think that they might just watch stan sleep in their dorm ( ok twilight ) or take night flights ( WHICH IS DANGEROUS SHEILA SAID NOT TO DO THAT ) and i also dont think they eat human food? or at least it doesnt nourish kyle/other aliens...and tastes really fucking bad.

i think there is some sort of underground part of the city, some sort of like dark web, undercity, black market part of denver/most major cities, where heavily mutated people, aliens, cyborgs, other species can interminge, you can buy alien life sources/energy fluid idk, chef is down there and i think has 72372329 arms and makes the alien food into fine dining...which is probably still scary but stan will eat anythin

also yes i do think kite takes stan down there once and they sit in the human-alien friendly restaurant and stan is like WowZA !! its scary but accepting down there...they also make u state ur species...and stan says human bc...his cover...but the machine picks up that he has a mutation but stans like ahaha must be broken im so normal! woops!

--sidebar abt stan...also heres pinterest toolstan again for ref :***

greasy king oh my god...hes cute tho in a snapback frat-fuckboy way

people do not know that stan is mutated, when they checked him at the hospital i think the machine...Exploded...when he was being treated for the strike...but uh RANDY IS SUPER RACIST AGAINST ALIENS AND MUTATED PEOPLE HE THINKS THEYRE ABOMINATIONS so its a secret...sharon...might know? and is protecting him from randy and people that might want him dead.

but I THINK that because stan can manip tools it works for things like...gears...engines...metal...parts of technology? so he makes the scanners and mutation check station machines go haywire or malfunction...tbh he is safe for now but he do be fuckin up smh

( but anyways! i do think that humans going down into the undercity alone is not completely safe...or at all because while a majority of aliens/mutated humans/other species are very kind and accept you for your authentic self...

...there are definitely some extremists on the other side of the coin who think ALL humans are evil and should die so...kind of dangerous to go alone...but i think stan goes down there ( either as shed or reg stan ) to pick up more alien food for kite bc he looks...faint...i think he almost dies or gets captured ripppp he is a damsel in distress )

cousin kyle!!!! oh my god so cousin kyle i guess is also a kite mutant alien then...BUT HES REALLY BAD AT BEING AN ALIEN AND HIDING IT HES BAD AT CONTROLLING HIS POWERS AND ALMOST BLOWS THEIR COVER A LOT...and whenever he comes by...kyle is basically babysitting him...bugs them abt liking stan

i do also think sometimes cousin kyle has to tag along w kyle to raccoon and friend meetings so he knows kyle is kite AND ALSO WENT WITH HUMAN KITE 2 AS A NAME? KYLE WAS MAD ASF

off topic i think alien kyle is like seven feet tall *wowza* i also think they have a tail not in a furry way let me live!!! in a badass alien way!

also...riley if ur reading this...alien form kyle is tall...but human form kyle...is short...also im making toolshed stan tall...ur welcome bestie

they also practice both judaism and kite theology ( but venturing to that church or getting caught w/ their alien torah essential is dangerous and could get you suspected as an alien and killed :( )

like u can live in society as an alien or someone with an advanced mutation but its...4x as hard to get a job, do anything, you get hatecrimed everyday...could get killed...its not worth it :////

last thing just for clarity:

i'm still working on this bear with me...its complicated ik

to me the way society divides mutations ( also i think there is a 20% percent chance people are born mutated bc of how chemically contaminated the possibly worldwide water supply is ill go into that later if people want it ) that u are accepted in society as a mutant if you have a small mutation, like a party trick, something that doesn't effect how you look but! also if you look human and have a power that you use to Save people, you're hailed as a superhero aka toolshed/fp

but racoon and friends is for like the shady odds and ends, the social pariah/outcasts who society doesnt like/dont fit in, like racoon!cartman is literally a raccoon person, mosquito i think does have a crazy pointy nose situation/maybe is some sort of bug alien...captain diabetes is medically compromised/weak...kyle is an alien...tolkien used to be racoon and friends bc he was a cyborg but realized evil was not the way...him and timmy switched over...

tldr: public perceptions in my weird tfbw universe ( wip )

humans: "good" ( ew )

humans with mutations that dont effect how you look: also good

human-mutants with strong powers that appear human/conventionally attractive: extremely good, worshipped

humans with mutations that make you look inhuman ( extra limbs, unnatural skin color, scales cysts/growths, wings, fangs, tails, ‘monstorous’/scary deformities): bad, frowned upon

aliens, cyborgs, other species in gen: V BAD, might incite violence

r&f are villians but because they are against a society that hates them and therefore lashing out in a way that started out as vigilante justice, but is now becoming Evil ( cartman i think just likes chaos )

and freedom pals is just trying to keep everyone safe and i think there are varying tolerances for the members of r&f by fp ( not bc of their mutations but bc of the atrocities committed by r&f like suspending school buses over buildings, holding civilians hostage etc. ) so when mysterion presented the idea of a merger a lot of them said hell no!! im not working with those motherfuckers!!! stan included...but after spending time w/ kite is reconsidering his stance on the merger

i also...think the undercity is a wellkept secret/people think its an evil place and dont go down there...its hard to get down there unless u know someone to protect civilians living down there..so most people think its a myth, a bad place etc. fp included but now that stan has been hes like...ITS BLOWING HIS MIND OKAY HES LEARNIN SM

sooooo basically kyle joined the villain cause bc people treat them like a villian anyways also took the name Human Kite when theyre obviously an alien just to b an asshole…luv them omg fight the power

ANYWAYS! I HOPE THAT MADE SENSE THE BOTTOM PART I AM STILL WORKING ON SHLHDSD ALSO IDK I TOOK A LOT OF LIBERTIES LMK HAHA SHSJS

-uncle nina, sweatin over my weird au again

[bee-dot-exe]

Hey, it's my first and absolutely not last, QSMP fic. I had the idea for three settings, and all of them made my stomach hurt, but I didn't want to choose, so voila. Apologies for the inevitable heartbreak.

You're Beautiful, But You're Not Quite Her

710 words

Angst. Nothing bad. Just Wilbur missing our girl.

I: Garden

The leaves rustled softly in the trees above, some held onto the branches with the last bit of strength they possessed, some already fallen on the ground below, all on the cusp of changing shades, an array of soft green and mustard yellow and umber brown.

The lake nearby ran gently and splashed against the shoreline, the fine lavender sand becoming a pulp like texture in places.

The kaleidoscope of autumn crunched beneath my boots as I neared my destination. The garden I intended to build with her. A tunnel of mostly sage green supported by mauve tree trunks. The ground was covered in flora, lilacs and roses and dandelions to name a few.

I found a spot that was bare, save for the olive grass, and sat with my back against the grape wood and my legs crossed.

I reached a hand to the entrance edge beside me, brushing some stray leaves off the surface of a block of black concrete, and rested it there for a moment, hoping I was making some sort of connection with my girl, wherever she was.

I positioned myself, put the guitar I brought from inside onto my lap, and began to play.

II: Lullaby

The moon shone down on the world, giving an almost powder blue tint to the areas not illuminated by the soft clementine hue of nearby torches, in place to ward off possible threats. I kicked the leaves in front of me gently, more as a way to stave off boredom as I walked than to create a path, but I wasn't going to complain that both were being done.

El cielo de las tortugas.

A large area that was technically underground but wasn't entirely blocked off, made up by dirt and cobblestone and moss, with a wooden gate at the entrance. Dozens of turtles with varying patterned shells roamed, some finding refuge in the foliage, some stayed in the open, curious of my presence. I maneuvered around the ones that were in my path or trying to get under my footing as I walked to a just wide enough hole in the ground.

The opening lead to a separate room, not as grand as where the turtles found solace above, but comfortable enough, made of sandstone. All that resided in it was a torch and a drawing on the wall of a tiny white egg wearing a maroon beanie with a peach background.

My sun, moon, and stars. Mi niña. My Tallulah.

From the painting, or perhaps behind it, was a melody. It was short, but played on an endless loop. There were no lyrics, just the gentle strum of acoustic guitar. It was what I played when she was lost shortly after our first meeting.

The ground wasn't the most comfortable, tiny bits of dirt and sand fell as the earth shifted above, but I stayed anyway. I didn't have any kind of bedding, but I laid down anyway. I felt tears forming in the corners of my eyes and creating tiny trails on my face, but let the christened lullaby take me to a dreamless sleep anyway.

III: Amipola

There was almost more sign than room visible around me.

You're my favorite superhero. I have a lot of love to offer. Please never forget me, I'll wait for you, always.

I picked up my guitar from the cushion beside me, the springs in the sunny yellow couch creaking softly as I shifted my weight, and played. Maybe I was only filling the silence, the empty space. Maybe she was listening. A wooden chest sat on the floor in front of me.

An amipola for every day you've been gone.

Bits of emerald and burgundy were practically bursting between the container and lid. There were well over a hundred. I got up from the couch, took a couple of the flowers, and very gently climbed the ladder to her bedroom.

I placed a sturdy black chest in the room's center, and put in the poppies, a photo of the two of us, a piece of paper containing the chords to our song, and some blank signs for her to let us know she heard us. So she knows I'm back home. That I waited too.

[neriyon]

More pics of my dear pixel children. Gonna be a long post, so hiding it under a read more o7

N'jinh actually looks pretty okay on benchmark, but he's already getting his entire face redone since I want him to use different base than Hawu'li. But he has that lazy, kinda dead eyed look too :/ Like the cheeck paintings showing up better tho!

Naho is mostly better, but I don't like the kinda wet glow on her nose + will have to do some adjusting to her skintone.

Good god Yulan looks so dead behind those eyes D: Like horrifyingly empty... Benchmark also seems to make everyone into some weird yellowish hue.

Firn..... weird lighter eyebags aside (I think it's one of the face paints so it should be easy to fix at least), they stole his pretty, thick white eyelashes?? And why is his nose so dark, everyone else I've seen complains benchmark made their's too light??? (There's also some really weird graphical bug of his hair clipping really fast through that metal part of his feather hairpiece lol).

Einn is otherwise fine, but some weird graphical error eats his eye dot (it's just a tiny " / " line instead) and I have this weird feeling they made his eyes wider? Like they used to be very narrow, and now they are bigger around the middle. Also not a fan of his new lip color :/

Momo honestly rocks the new look! My only complaint is that their nose looks very different, but it honestly fits them better. Very much a fan of the more rounded chin too, but I could see some people disliking it on their characters. Also very positively surprised by the new limbal ring, it fits in better and gives their white eye a nice glow.

Meanwhile Chili looks a bit off? I loooooove the horn and scale textures, but his skin has a very weird green tinge I absolutely hate, as well as the new metal tips on horns (why same color as horns?? what's the point if I can't even see them?). His limbal rings are a bit funny with his eyecolor, so definitely have to tweak those little.

Gee, Fish, who does your mom let you have eyeshine? Honestly she's looking very nice too, can't really find anything to complain about. Extra points for finally making her mouth look better.

Ryne looks very good too, lalas are clearly the true winners here. Even her new eyecolor is closer to Ryne's. Interesting how her eyeshape seems to have changed too, but unlike Hawu'li hers actually fits her.

Hyth..... love, what on earth happened? Why is you face so round? Where did your eyebrows go? Why is you nose wider? What happened to your lips? Hydaelyn help me.... I'd almost say it's worse than Hawu'li's face changes :/

Super secret bonus: unnamed elezen base I played around with in character creation last week

Uhhhh there are some nice points, like the shade of his new lips, but I do not like how bumpy the new shadows make his face :/

[kirk-goes-to-gallifrey]

I love your art! (I clicked on your art tag and started scrolling.) What is your process for creating a piece? Do you usually look at a single reference photo which you draw from? Do you somehow incorporate photos into your drawings by drawing over them? (I did that once on a tablet.) Or do you use another method? Thanks!

omg hiiiii thanks so much!!!!!!!!

my process is a bit all over the place (I've tried to describe it before with not much success, maybe now I can do a better job hahaha) but yes I always need reference photos, I can't draw anything from my imagination :( sometimes I use more than one picture, but most times I think I use just one photo that I really like and want to reproduce.

when I'm feeling super inspired and I have a lot of free time, I draw from observation only. And then if I get stuck on a particular spot that I feel I can't get right, I overlay the reference picture and make the necessary adjustments. I've been replicating images for such a long time that nowadays I can usually overlay the original over my drawing and 90% of lines match 😅 And when I draw on paper I do the same thing, I place the paper over my screen to check if the lines are where they should be, but always retroactively, first I draw then I check.

I actually started out drawing everything upside down! I learned that technique with another artist (I took a course when I was in high school 15 years ago), cause apparently if you flip your reference upside down, a house stops being a house, eyes stop being eyes, a mouth stops being a mouth, so you can focus on distances between points, lines, areas and proportions only, without thinking "oh a mouth looks like a little cartoon bird on top of a minimalist boat" or whatever, but rather "this shape is about the same size as that one, and is positioned in relation to that other one and that other line..." So that's sort of how I learned to draw/replicate I what I see (if that made any sense). And replicating a photo is much easier than drawing reality cause a picture is already 2D, when I'm drawing something real I have to convert the 3 dimensions to 2 in my head and I often get a headache by the end of the process lmao

Sometimes I don't have the time or energy (it takes a lot of effort from the brain to do the observation thing) and in those cases I do some lines over the reference pic just to get key areas, then I delete the reference layer (of course I keep a copy in another corner of the screen so I can keep looking at it) and paint over the sketched lines till they mostly disappear.

I think painting is the most fun - either in color or b&w - getting the shades to blend and the painting to look realistic is the part that I like most.

I usually paint on photoshop but I recently got a tablet and I've been trying out new software on it. I mostly require a soft brush with opacity varying with pressure. I start out by doing blocks of color and then I blend blend blend.

I often think that my art is not very good (sometimes I question whether it's art in the first place), cause the only thing I'm good at is copying what I see, and because of that I've been trying to play more with colors and textures, trying to make my paintings a bit more different than their reference photos, a bit more "artistic" idk. I wish I could do more stylized stuff. But the realism can be fun too, it relaxes my brain after a whole day of PhDying.

Thank you so much for the ask!!! And for telling me that you like my stuff (ಥ _ ಥ) means a lot <3

[boymeetswerewolf]

I love your art! It’s so high quality. What program(s) do you use to achieve that effect? And what tips do you have for aspiring artists wanting to reach such levels themselves?

Hi Anon!

Thanks a lot for the lovely compliment.

I mostly create my art using a technique called overpainting where I paint over reference images. I have an art background (took art at school and at college), but it was focused on abstract art so my experience with realistic proportions is exceedingly terrible and I've just never had the patience or put in the time to learn proportions from scratch. I've always admired artists who put in the time and effort to learn how to do that!

As for what programs I use, I tend to stick with Photoshop since that's what I was trained on and am most familiar with. I use a combination of brushes, filters and textures to give my art the look that it has. I tend to work at a resolution of about 3000px for height or width (whichever is the largest for the layout I'm going with) and a fixed brush size so that I can add a lot of detail and that it looks consistent throughout the piece. I also use tons of layers so that the lining, shading, colouring and any extra adjustments are all separate from each other and easily changeable. My PSD file usually averages between 300mb to 400mb in size because of all the layers.

The tool I probably use most outside of Photoshop is Color Cop. I'm partially colourblind, so when I want to use specific colours I need the hex codes or RGB codes otherwise it takes me ages to get the colours to blend right.

Below are some progress examples (from the "Sacrifice" theme for Sterek Week '23) of how I usually start out when I'm creating something. I go hunting for images and make a collage/edit of what I'd more or less like the finished piece to look like. Usually during this part I also play a lot with different ideas to see what works best. (Sometimes the final result ends up looking how I wanted, sometimes it takes on a life of its own and goes in a completely different direction!) The "Sacrifice" piece is made up of a promo shot of Stiles from Season 6 and a screenshot of Derek from Season 3 (I think). The background is made up of official images from Stranger Things that I blended together and added colour filters to.

Once that's done I start painting with pencil brushes to get the lines, then follow up with texturing and shading. I like to use a soft neutral colour like a beige as a base canvas so that I can paint with black as well as white. Lastly I'll paint in the colours and then finish off the piece by cleaning up the linework and by adding filters to adjust contrast/balance or colouring. Occasionally I've worked "backwards" by roughing painting the shading and some of the colours out first before adding linework.

As for specific tips, I think mindset and believing in yourself is important. It's very easy to get overwhelmed in the beginning, so don't compare yourself to others. If your art makes you feel something, then you're on the right track. Regardless of whether or not you work professionally as an artist, if you express yourself creatively in a visual medium - whether it's an oil painting or making lewd doodles in a sketchbook - then, in my opinion, you are an artist.

Once you're over that hurdle, the next part is just to keep at it. I hate using the word "practice", so I'm rather going to say keep making art consistently, and - most importantly - have fun while you're doing it. If it's fun, you're more likely to stick with it and improve. If you're trying to go in a specific direction with your art, I think there are two important areas to focus on: expanding your creativity and your familiarity with the tools you use. The latter especially will make your life a lot easier.

For me, being familiar with Photoshop is what allows me to make digital art the way I do. I've used it for a long time so I know a lot of tricks and shortcuts to help me achieve what I'm going for. This goes for any program you choose to use, though. And you don't have to limit yourself to one. Play around with different tools and programs and see what works the best for you. The internet is also a fantastic (and often free) resource, and YouTube especially has a lot of tutorials that can help you get started or help you build on your existing skills.

To expand your creativity with regards to your art, I recommend studying other artists - and not just one specific kind of artist either. Look at the old masters, look at modern art, look at fan artists, look at photographers and cinematographers. (And, of course, Mother Nature - the greatest artist of all.) Look at how they use composition, how they use colour, how they use lighting and shading. Try and incorporate some of those aspects into your own work and see what works for you.

TL;DR - Experiment and play… and most importantly, have fun!

Thank you for coming to my TED talk.

~ Bren