#used a reference for the 1st one that i found on pinterest

[dusty-monkey]

repost better quality sketch from bnha stage play (a gem)

I found lots of references for dadzawa on pinterest, the 1st is one of them

want to use them all with problem children

He was the kind of guy who wouldn't hesitate to take in a kitten I pointedly ignored.

[the-spiderverse-watcher]

All right, let's do this one last time. My name is Ark Holmes. I was bitten by a radioactive spider, and for seven months I've been the one and only Chaos Spider. I'm pretty sure you know the rest.

I fight baddies, create things, fall in love a lot, occasionally loose control... and in my spare time, I traverse the multiverse, documenting people like me.

To the Spider Society I'm known as "The Spiderverse Watcher." They don't like me very much.

I try to stick to the sidelines, try not get noticed, and watch events unfold.

As a cool kid named Miles once said, "Anyone can wear the mask. YOU can wear the mask." I think a lot of people need to hear that every now and then. That it doesn't take an accident or destiny to be a hero. That you can be great by just being you.

So I hope you find this, and you decide to become a hero yourself. Even if it's not in the ways people might expect. Even if it's just putting one foot in front of the other.

I hope you like the all the people I've seen. I know I do. And I hope you like yourself, too. (I know I do.)

{art references and fourth wall break under the cut}

-

hi everyone! thanks to @mellon_soup and @_doodles_i_guess_ for the art bases! I can't do anatomy on my life, and I was so happy to find their references to use to create my very own spidersona! they were free to use with credit, and I hope that they see these! I'm not sure if they're on tumblr, but I have linked where you can find them elsewhere, please give them some love!

anyway, this blog is going to be for all things spidersona. as of writing this I've yet to see atsv, but I have seen itsv! i just love the spiderverse so much, and I love the creativity and diversity it brings within fandom. it deserves to be showcased. so I made a little story as a sort of meta kind of thing, for this blog. I really hope you like it!

my main is @sundry-whovengerslocked and the post that inspired me making this side blog can be found here

[p.s. I started working on my spidersona (I made that first picrew) on August 1st, 2023. so that's how long the Chaos Spider has been around! three months! I'll probably update this post eventually to match that as time passes.]

-

pfp reference:

found it on pinterest and it was too cute to not do my own version!

[godnectar]

Hey are you copying saelestia or inspired? You nearly have the same theme as her old one don’t wanna accuse you or anything

She had the same theme February 15th and now you have nearly the same theme February 25th with the pictures and everything

note: dunno why I took this message so seriously but still did

gonna be completely honest– I just woke up, it's 9 in the morning (early asf for me on a Saturday), and at first I had no idea what you are talking about or which theme are we even referring to 💀😭

So I went to search that blog, 'cause I srs didn't recognize it, and didn't see anything related, but then kinda found what you mean (which is kinda (much) crazy to me ngl) ⤵️

anon's first "point" 🫠 (y'all have the same theme, same pictures)

I'm guessing these are the themes you're asking about 🙃 and yes, they do have the same two pictures at the header 🙂 but can you really say that "you nearly have the same theme as her old one"?? 🙃🙃 please–

anon's second "point" 🫠 (bc 1st doesn't need any further explanation) (the dates)

"She had the same theme February 15th and now you have nearly the same theme February 25th with the pictures and everything"

yeah, she did make that theme on February 15th (from what I saw), but now guess when I made mine 🥴 JANUARY 13TH ‼️⁉️ again, please–

(second pic is a screenshot I made that day because I always save photos of my themes) (also, every time I change my theme, I reblog it. And yes, yes, the date is still January 13th)

my third actual point 🫠 (about the pics)

if you want an explanation as to why we have the same pictures– I dunno 💀

these things happen so frequently, my dear, that at this point, it shouldn't even be a surprise (and then get into accusations) that two or more accs have the same gif/fanart/banner used, because pictures get reutilized and reposted all the time

in this case, I had the inspiration and found this fanart on a pinterest pin that I'm currently trying my best to find (edit: here), and if saelestia or any other blog had the same idea from a mf pin that went viral, that's perfectly okay

resume bc wtf 🫠 (have nothing more to say)

please (dunno how many times I've said this word), please search nicely before sending this type of messages 🥹

I'm perfectly aware this anon hasn't said anything rude and that the question was redacted with a normal tone, but I still had the necessity to make this post so long for some reason I still don't recognize

point is that as much as the pics are the same, there was no theme stolen, nor copied, nor plagiarized 👍

[toucandrawz]

Hello!!! :D

I'm Toucan! I'm a minor, so nsfw/18+ accounts please don't interact with mine! Even if it's just liking or reblogging my stuff, it makes me uncomfortable.

I’m a he/they trans guy and prefer you use both interchangeably!

If you've seen my account before it's most definitely for my drawings of CoD MW characters as merpeople! It's so exciting to see people liking my art on here because of it, so I really hope if you like the CoD art I do I hope you like the other art i do! :D

I use #Toucan’s gay shit to tag my posts, so you'll probably be able to find all my posts under that tag! I'm also tagging my CoD merpeople designs under #mercod but it's not working like the other one? If anyone knows why that'd be helpful lol.

I have ADHD and so I get hyperfixated a lot! My most recent ones have been

— Call of Duty: Modern Warefare

— Rammstein

— My Persona

— Spooky Month

— My Hero Academia

FAQ!

1.) Q - Can I use your designs?

A - ofc! :D I love the thought of people using my designs! Please if you do use any designs i make for anything tag me!! I'd love to see it! :)

2.) Q - Can I draw your OCs?

A - Yes! But I'd prefer if the specific situation or something was run by me first, since I'm very attached to a lot of my OCs and can be quite picky about their portrayal. Please don't hesitate to DM me or ask about anything if you have any questions on their designs or personalities!

3.) Q - Do you do commissions?

A - yes! My commissions are always open unless I say otherwise! Please feel free to DM me on Tumblr or Discord (at toucan_drawz) if you have any questions about commissions or want to commission me! —> here is where you can find my info

4.) Q - Can I use your art for my profile?

A - yes! Just please credit me by providing my account for that platform or crediting my YouTube or Tumblr. Please do not share my art as your own!! My art is very important to me and if you use it or share it for any purpose, I would like direct credit. Preferably a link, but just a username works too lol.

5.) Q - can I reference/heavy reference/trace your art?

A - using my art for referencing or tracing in a learning environment is alright. Heavily referencing is a bit of a grey area for me, if it's heavily referencing my OCs that makes me uncomfortable, please do not heavily reference or reference my OCs at all. On the other hand, if you heavily reference my art I'm a bit more okay with that. Just please credit me in all these situations. Please, do not trace and claim and of my art as your own.

6.) Q - What is your political stance?

A - left. So far left. My blog/account is a safe space for everyone and everything, except racism, homophobia, transphobia, zionism*, nazi ideology, and anything along those lines. I don't care if you think that ANYONE doesn't deserve to live based on a stupid ass principle of religion, race, gender identity, or sexual orientation. If you think that, get the fuck off my page and block me. Thank you.

*By Zionism I am in no way referring to being okay with anti-Semitism. By Zionism, I'm talking about the people who justify the genocide of Palestinians because of zionism. Please, do your daily clicks. And if you can, donate. (I also have another blog dedicated to Palestine, so almost all reblogs or links can be found there :])

7.) Q - Can I repost your art?

A - Please don't repost my art unless credit is given/you link to one of my accounts! Please don't repost my art without my watermark (the TD signature) or with it cropped in pretty much any way. I'd prefer it wasn't resposted at all, but if you do please add credit! My art is something I hold very dear to my heart and something I value a lot.

8.) Q - What program/tablet/brush do you use?

A - I use multiple programs! Mainly procreate for a lot of the things I post, with that I use an Apple Pencil (1st gen) and a 9th gen iPad. For the brush, I usually use the teyoid lineart brush that I got off Pinterest, and the hard round brush for shading and coloring. I also use CSP (Clip Studio Paint), especially when I draw on PC, with a pc I use a huion Inspiroy h610 . And for the brushes, I mostly use this peachy’s somewhat dry ink brush for lineart, and then the default g-pen for coloring/shading.

9.) Q - do you have other social medias/where can I find you?

A - I do! I have a plethora of other socials, you can find me almost anywhere under Toucan Drawz, Toucan_Drawz, or anything along those lines! I don’t have specific links, since, well, I think I have too many socials to count. But I’m most active on tumblr out of all the socials medias that aren’t basically a messaging app (looking at you, discord).

10.) Q - Can i recreate your art?

A - No, please don’t. My art is very dear to me, and I don’t want it recreated. Imo recreation is different to tracing (in a learning environment) or heavily referencing, because it’s basically just remaking something, but changing it a little or not changing it at all. Even if it’s with a different medium, it makes me uncomfortable. Using the same pose/scene idea is absolutely okay! And if my art makes you feel inspired enough to want to, I’m glad! :D But please, do not recreate my art.

[yorshie]

A wtiting ask from one of my favorite tmnt writers! Hmmm, so many good questions.

6?

Question: What is your writing process? Describe it.

Oh sweet pineapples. My writing process? Bold of you to assume it’s a process Nonnie lol

I get a lot of my ideas when I can’t sleep, or when I’m feeling lonely, or when I’m listening to music. And since I’m the type of person that likes to wallow in the lonely, I live by the motto ‘I’ll sleep when I’m dead’, and I’m literally listening to music all the time, the ideas tend to pile up. Whether or not they get used depends on how often I return to the idea and what mood I’m in. 

Most of these ideas are malleable, and they get twisted around a lot instead of used immediately. I know that’s a poor way of explaining, so I’ll include an example on how an idea might go through the wringer:

I stumbled over a writing prompt list on Pinterest last month, and wrote down the following tidbit: (listen to me. You’re trapped. They’re going to take you.) 

Now, shivers, immediate shivers. And then we add the little notes I’d written under the prompt, (two separate notes, meaning I came back to the prompt twice), you can tell I was in a different mindset each time.

The first note is embarrassingly disjointed, but it was: Bay Blue/Reader. Mission gone wrong, open end. Bay Blue is Bayverse Leo, judging by mission gone wrong I can safely assume this was not a happy fic envision, and open end means I thought the ending should remain open, or basically leave it up in the air whether Leo would save reader.

The second note is more explanatory, and I know I was listening to my playlist Orange Creamsicle (its happy go lucky songs like Owl City, CRO, and OneRepublic) because the note began with that, but it went: Orange Creamsicle, DonDon, capture the flag, reader on team with D and R, hides in a tunnel and gets found, looses game. Immediately I know this was a happier version, likely almost comical of Donnie telling reader the other team of brothers had found their hiding spot. Probably will end up going this route when I eventually write it.

Sometimes its notes like above, sometimes it's simple blurbs of text, and sometimes it's just a few names and a song title, but once I warm up to an idea, it goes to my sister, who is the one that tells me yes or no. You guys have no idea how many times she’s gone: “No. Red. No. You can’t write that, that’s evil. You’ll make people cry, and then you’ll feel awful.” Apparently she’s saved everybody from the ‘angst train’ a number of times, as she likes to call it. For reference she likes the second version of the 1st idea, in fact when I mentioned the first one she straight up put her head in her hands and just said “noooooooo”. She’ll also egg me on if she thinks I need it, though, hype me up, problem solves with me so everything flows right. 

And then I write the outline, if the story is long enough to need one. I don’t do chapter by chapter summaries, but I do make sure to plot out things that HAVE to happen, and observations to keep in mind while I’m writing. The most important thing to me is that my stories feel like real people, how one might react in a real situation, and they behave in a way that consistent with how I’m handling the characterization. 

Then I write out everything out once, either the whole fic or the chapter, open another document, and copy write it again, but the second time paying more attention to word choices and descriptors. The second time goes quicker, but it also lengthens the document since I tend to meander and add in unneeded details.

[mochela]

:) 

[pontsalin]

hiii if your comfortable, could you possibly walk us through what designing a character is like? like the steps you go through? i really admire your cahracter designs and since its something i struggle with, it'd be nice to know your process :]

Oh boy, my process is a bit of a mess, but I'm going to try my best to say what goes through my brain.

I redesigned Lizzie like 5 times in the past few weeks because I couldn't find a design that was appealing, so I think she's a good one to talk about.

Since we already have a base (read: personality), I usually start with a pose that fits their personality, then figure out clothes. I settle on a body type before hand (that's something purely from headcanons, making an original character is more chaotic to do)

The first one that I did has a very awkward pose, the silhouette isn't clear and not really telling of anything on her.

Silhouettes are very important (and why character designers start by doing that first instead of... jumping in like I did)

You should be able to get who it is, and what their personality is just from the silhouettes, plus have it clear enough that you get the pose (empty spaces are really important! it helps the understanding of the picture and pose)

Going back to Lizzie, I restarted all over again (2nd design in that first drawing), got rid of the buns, kept the same dress. Pose is nice, silhouette passes, but I thought the simple dress just?? Did not fit a giant fish goddess... So I took the pose and restarted the clothes all over again (I loved the dress, but its just ehhh on her)

So for clothes inspiration, Pinterest is your best friend honestly. I have a complicated relationship with Pinterest, but for finding inspo it is literally the best thing. (I've also been using ArtStation a bit more lately though). Make pinterest boards for characters, or at least different boards for general vibes . You can also make moodboards for every design you're doing. (I often do these, or at least slap my reference pictures onto the canvas, but I won't show them as I sometimes use art and don't want to repost stuff)

I did a mix of like several clothes / character designs that I found cool, then did put them all next to each other to see which one I liked more.

Now we can jump on the second important thing: shapes!

If you've watched like any youtube tutorial on chara design they will tell you this: cercles are soft and kind, rectangles are rough and sturdy, and triangles have something mischevious (its often linked to evilness as well). When you design a character, you should write down next to them like 2 to 5 words that describes their personality, and associates those traits with those shapes.

Though do not be afraid to mix up shapes (especially if you tend to have a more realistic art style); if your character is kind and generous, them having a few squares isn't going to ruin everything.

My Scott design is very triangular, but he has a few squares and circles to break it a bit.

Fish hybrids would usually be triangular as well, but by giving soft edges to him, he ends up looking much .. well softer.

I won't describe everything there, but you get the idea (I hope).

While I did end up chosing her clothes by asking people, I do think its worth looking at Lizzie's shapes.

I draw her face very round, same for her eyes , and the two bottom rows makes her look too... serious? Like it isn't the Lizzie that tries to scam everyone. I chose the 2nd one mostly because the 1st one had too simple clothes (what I was trying to avoid), but I know many people liked the 1st one better.

I just really like my clothes to have tons of details. Which can be a flaw? But my biggest inspiration lately is League of Legends, so I enjoy adding unnecessary details that would look cool in a splash art I will never draw.

Yay! We got a proper sketch now! Unfortunately my color picking process is extremely chaotic. It consists of finding a base color that I color pick from an art that I like (usually the skin color), then basing my whole palette around it. I can only suggest to not be afraid to color pick from art that you like, and before putting proper base colors, messily put the colors that you want, they might not all end up looking good next to each other and you want to easily change it. I would suggest to learn color theory as well, but I'm not going to lie I've always winged that part lmao

Hope that could be of any help to you anon,

[crystalstarseed]

{{ fingerpainted digital art by a masochist }} >> more art like this on @redreveriee’s insta >>

~ graphic artwork created using the markup tool freely accessible in the pre-installed, photo-editing feature on all ios devices.

~ to increase difficulty, i decided to basically fingerpaint instead of buying a stylus & i have the smallest iphone screen available rn (iphone 8). if ur artistically-inclined, dare u to try this difficult feat!

• art references are listed in more detail on my instagram. 1st image at the top left is an original chibi face & added unknown snapchat font & bg stickers . top right pic‘s model is @luna.corvis on instagram where i got the permission to use her photos as reference. 3rd pic in the lineup is not original at all since i used a screenshot from the popular anime, attack on titan, featuring a prominent character from the series, jean kirstein as a reference (it was my first attempt so cut me some slack). the next two art pieces are of the same oc that i was commissioned for in order to create the first character designs for an upcoming graphic novel made by my good friend jason beam. last drawing (the one at the bottom to the right) is my personal favorite hence why i chose it as my profile pic, but i don’t have credits for the model i used as reference. i reverse image-searched the photo i found off pinterest for hrs & even days with no luck.

[smalltragedy]

* brigette lundy-paine, nonbinary + they/them | you know kirby wormwood, right? they’re twenty five, and they’ve lived in irving for, like, two weeks? well, their spotify wrapped says they listened to ring ring by mika like, a million times this year, which makes sense ‘cause they’ve got that whole balancing acts at perilous heights destined to entertain, jack of all trades master of none, refusal to accept the mortal world as it is thing going on. i just checked and their birthday is december 1st, so they’re a sagittarius, which is unsurprising, all things considered. ( james, 21, est, they/them )

hllo welcome 2 my third character i love them a lot theyre a. remake of an older oc of mine so this is fun <3 sdfhk anyways once again i am asking u. pleathe like if u wld like to plot.

ARSON TW

mini playlist.

wizard ;; lucas lex / ring ring ;; mika / crows ;; clues / sunrise sunset ;; bright eyes / la llorona ;; beirut / no children ;; the mountain goats / might be love ;; the pesky snakes / sax in the city ;; let’s eat grandma.

statistics.

full name: kirby wormwood (currently).

nickname(s): magpie.

birthday: december 1st, 1995.

zodiac: sagittarius sun, aries moon, libra ascending.

mbti & temperament: estp & improvisor / sanguine.

label: the hellion.

hometown: abilene, texas.

sexuality: bisexual.

pinterest.

biography.

alright lets get right into it. kirby ws switched at birth. they cld’ve hd a very like. picket fence trampoline in the backyard. 4 columns cos its texas n it feels right. bt instead they were chosen <3 somewhat unintentionally <3 by dorothea n fawley wormwood, two traveling circus workers who emergency stopped in abilene.

n u know what. growing up in st. pierre’s traveling circus ws kinda fkn awesome? like ok. besides the fact tht they were homeschooled fr like evr n there were a sparing amt of children 2 socialize with? it ws p cool idk.

it ws kinda like everybody ws their parent n also not at all bc they were all very casual. bt they grew up learning hw 2 maintain the circus (n also like. normal school thingz bt i dnt think kirby hs ever cared abt school like ever) n whenever they hd a show kirby wld facepaint or handle tickets until they were old enough 2 start learning like. the Real fun things. 

fawley hd a lot of his own weird odd little like superstitions n beliefs n practically raised kirby on them like n they dnt rly <3 make a lot of sense. lots of made up philosophy. very much like. nothing defines u. u cn b anything or anyone. n kirby ws like ok cool. n then developed a god complex.

names didnt rly stick 2 kirby when they were a kid like. nothing satisfied them or felt worthy fr them or simply they just. got tired of a name. this isnt related 2 them being nonbinary BUT it did help ease some of the. pressure of exploring gender identity. theyve only hd one name tht stuck genuinely n tht ws magpie n. thts bc everybody hd their own bird name n it felt very. like community. like a role. usually the names they used during performances bt. anyways KFHDSGLKKHL

theyre Kirby bt answers 2 most. neutral nouns.

honestly. they were also a rascal as a youth. ws like. oh. i learned sleight of hand? cool. time 2 pick pockets. wld throw popcorn into the hair of other kids n b like. omggg what was that ... became a mime fr a year. it ws a rigorous training.

now a master of charades. bt anyways. they traveled pretty much weekly, maybe bimonthly n sometimes just pure monthly. there wsn’t an off season fr them, when the colder months came they’d travel south and when summer rolled in they’d go right back up again. it ws easy to switch personas almost daily n just. never reveal ur true self. totally not saying tht’s what kirby did bt thts what they did. it nvr made them lose sight of themselves it ws more like. acting. tricking ppl fr fun. 

anyways all good things come 2 an end and when kirby ws like. 18. they were like hey ur old enough that we cn trust u with fire. we think. n they started 2 learn fire-throwing n like. they were ok at it bt lessons were painfully slow n kirby ws like. i wld b so good at this if i cld do it all the time. n it ws like. hey kirby, chill. u already know a lot of things.

arson tw // u see where this is going. tents are kind of flammable. kirby ws unsupervised. bad decisions all around. circus is aflame. all the animals n all the circus workers got out fine bt like. st. pierre’s ws efficiently out of business. arson end of tw //

n kirby fkn booked it they just. ran. pure fear. nvr looked back which is like super traitorous of them 2 do bt. sometimes they meet up in secret like. sunglasses n all at a coffee shop. not all of them just like. fawley or someone else. theyre like. ur family u cld burn down a thousand circuses n we’d still love u. n kirby is like yeah i know bt i’ve rly committed to the bit now. n they dnt reunite.

anyways. since then kirby hs just been. a traveler. nvr rly staying anywhere fr super long n driving around in their shitty little van tht’d been used as housing back at st. pierre’s.

they’re in irving n theyve been there fr almost. suspiciously long. compared 2 their average stays. when asked abt what they do or why theyre there theyll just. give a vague answer or spin a long tale tht usually involves a burning circus.

theyre staying at uh. abernathy creek rn bc of course they r they fit in so naturally. welcomed with wide arms. might b soul searching rn might b on the hunt fr their birth parents might b just vibing ... whose to say ..

personality & facts.

has a Big personality tht attracts others fr better or fr worse. either super likeable or the most despicable person on the earth. no in betweens. n honestly tht is a talent in itself

has no off button is constantly. spinning tales or performing a dance or getting kicked out of bars fr whatever nonsense reason. 

honestly they prob think tht nothing bad cn ever happen to them even tho like. bad has literally happened 2 them before? love the optimism here. KLFGDLKFSDHGF

acts a bit like u’ve known them fr ur entire life they r oddly warm in tht way bt they themself r so distant tht its like. oh nice ok ...

both honest n yet dishonest like. yes they will hustle u out of ur money bt they will also tell u their opinion straight up. 

probably smart bt they r just like. prime thembo? flowy pirate shirts n cropped tshirts n pants tht r never tight. dresses like they do still work n live at a circus. 

likes 2 instigate things between others n then stand back n just watch it happen while taking like zero accountability. loves a good small town drama. avid milf hunter.

does not hv any faith in the american healthcare system at all n will straight up refuse 2 go 2 a hospital if they get hurt theyre like. i cn do it myself im like practically a professional. they r not a professional. 

bt does hv like. a thing abt apples. fkn loves them. 

uuuhhh cn play instruments bt all very badly. only knows one (1) song tht isnt made up n its wonderwall by oasis. they play it at parties. they expect fr tomatoes to b thrown at them at any given time.

very nimble. agile. granted its frm. learning circus tricks frm a baby age bt they hv impeccable balance n cn sneak up behind anyone without a single noise. uses this 2 their advantage in order 2 scare ppl. chaotic neutral.

loves having the attention on them i wont fk around here. will go to drastic measures to accomplish receiving it. my other muses r capable of taking things srsly bt kirby just. is not. they do not take a single thing srsly they barely even took. st. pierre’s destruction srsly n they caused it. maybe.

likes being able to just. be unknown so the amt tht ppl know abt them is actually very. little. i dnt think they even tell others their last name. sometimes not even their first. just hs so many aliases n nicknames. i know i didnt list any bt thts simply bc Any cld.

probably acts out to compensate fr the. underlying guilt they hv bt thts okay. i mean it isnt bt.

will probably show up if u call them fr help bt they lose interest in people p quickly n r always moving onto the next shiniest person. bt when they do they give them like. all their attention. if u wrong them in this period they will just. ignore it. bt when theyre bored then its like. u werent even friends at all? very odd.

perhaps it is commitment issues bt <3 ya. thts them. they do not claim favorite colors or movies or. most interests. probably bc theyre very very disconnected frm pop culture i think they learn everything thru twitter n google.

i wld not call them a good person bt i also dnt think theyre like evil horrible nasty awful they just. think abt themself a lot more than they think abt others n also refuses to face consequences ever and also .. anyways.

wanted plots.

part of the bird’s nest ;; honorary bird honorary circus member. u hv to be very well regarded by kirby to earn a bird name bt i feel like tht doesnt feel like a lot considering theyve only been here fr like. two weeks KDGDSHKGK. the catch is tht u cn only refer 2 them as magpie frm then forward. 

hand in unlovable hand ;; theres comfort in being terrible ppl together n it may not last bt it doesnt hv to anyways. its just them n the like. vibes. n knowing tht its smth thts nvr gna b long term. cld b anything ur character just hs to be also a little evil. KHDSGFDS

one jester ... wht abt ... TWO jesters .. ;; hoo boy. ooh man. unstoppable force and immovable object combine forces n just become. the worst of the worst. ultimate jokesters. epic pranksters. absolute clowns. chaotic energy unmatched. always nonsense. 

n also ;; ppl they’ve stolen frm, ppl who hv caught them in that act, ppl who’ve maybe seen them in the circus a very long time ago, Found Family Trope, real family shenanigans, kirby just asking everybody if theyre their dad., mortal enemies if they see each other its an instant duel 2 the death, etc.

[reversecreek]

clicks onto the dash wearing kitten heels n coyly holding my bang....... hi. me again. it took me so long to select a gif to use on cricket’s intro n i settled on this one bc he looks so unsure abt his smile n it’s rly his essence <3 u can find his pinterest board here n his (work in progress) spotify playlist here. hmu to plot!!! 

* alex wolff, cis male + he/him | you know cricket donahue, right? they’re twenty-two, and they’ve lived in irving for, like, all of their life, on and off? well, their spotify wrapped says they listened to should have known better by sufjan stevens like, a million times this year, which slipping on wet leaves to photograph a tree struck alight by lightning, delivering a tedtalk to your own reflection to hype yourself up to buy groceries, hiding your hands inside of your sleeves in case you grew an impromptu megan fox thumb overnight thing going on. i just checked and their birthday is october 1st, so they’re a libra, which is unsurprising, all things considered. ( nai, 24, gmt, she/her )

HISTORY:

cricket ws born to a couple tht lived in lilac ridge. their trailer was tucked closest to the woods n always fell under the shade. it was like the leaves wanted to pretend they were a perpetual hanging cloud on the family n that was kind of fitting. their only reason fr having him in the first place was a kind of shrugged like........... we’re under the income bracket we’d get child benefits so why not! may as well try it to rake in some extra cash! needless to say they didn’t rly think it thru or anticipate all of the responsibilities tht came w children n wound up seeing him as an extremely large burden n boy didn’t he know it!

(child neglect & abuse tw) i’ll try to keep this part vague n brief but things were Not Good for cricket growing up. people in lilac ridge didn’t like his parents n it was for a gd reason. he remembers foggy things. being little n wandering around combing the grass with a stick to search for wrappers to suck on bc he was hungry. feeling uneasy when the front door opened. finding out his name was cricket bc the insects used to crawl into their trailer thru the vents n his parents liked to squish them into the carpet -- his mum told him as much once. i think this says a lot. to excessively trim the fat of the story he wound up entering the system at around 8 after his latest and most serious hospital visit. his parents hd to deal w the authorities n last he heard they bounced to evade charges.

(anxiety & violence & trauma tw) cricket sustained a few lifelong injuries from his time in lilac ridge. his knee didn’t heal right which meant he had (n still has to this day) a limp n he’s partially deaf in one ear. he’s always been an incredibly insecure n anxious person so this mde him rly self conscious going into a strange n new environment tht wld b difficult fr any kid to adjust to, nvm w these added worries. he jst felt like something weird to ogle at honestly. he probably wld have felt like that no matter where he was or what he looked like. he cld be in a huge hall of 200 people all wearing the same uniform n he’d still feel like the odd one out. needless to say this didn’t rly help him make friends

cricket’s coping mechanisms were romanticising the things tht other people found ugly or embarrassing or painfully ordinary. he liked it when the rain hit clunky drops against school windows n forbid everyone from playing outside bc he could feel the vibrations through the rubber soles of his shoes n it was a little bit like hearing all of the world at once fr just a moment. he liked medieval fantasy lore about stout gnomes w crumbs in their beards n cheeks red from ale. he liked fallen nests with the remnants of hatched eggs still dirty from the branches n soil they’d hit on the way down. he liked the way the sunlight leaked thru the leaves of the trees in the woods and how, when he sat very still, he could tune into the ringing that was always in his ear n pretend it was coming from the same place, that light thru the leaves, that the angels were trying to talk to him.

he spent a lot of time in the red room at his high skl (i’m begging u this is not a 50 shades reference) (after googling i jst realised it’s called a darkroom bt i’m leaving this fr the sake of sexy bimbo authenticity) n felt quite at home in there. he borrowed a camera whenever he cld (maybe he did yearbook) n photography became his way of immortalising the world as the romanticised version he wanted it to be. his memories were bad bt his photos were beautiful. maybe if he took enough they’d paste over n bleed into each other. maybe bad cld be replaced w beautiful if he tried his very best.

he got placed into fostering w a family once bt apparently didn’t meet the vibe check of their tastes so he wound up returning to the group home he’d initially been placed in. overall this is where he grew up n he aged out the system rather than getting adopted. there was a sense of floundering/isolation/not feeling gd enough in tht bt cricket made do the best he knew how. 

that said there were some gd points! (shocking i kno bc his life hs been so fking bleak so far bt please it’s ok........) (is it?) (🤔). basically he interned as an assistant at this local photography studio during high skl working under this kind of whimsical yet endearing old man. suspected wizard possibly in cricket’s eyes, as an avid fantasy genre reader. for one of his bdays said old man / his boss bought him his very own film camera n cricket cried bc he’d never been bought a bday gift. this ws rly embarrassing bc this old man didn’t know how to emote n neither did cricket so he ws jst sort of sat wiping his eyes n sniffling saying he wasn’t crying as the old man pretended to suddenly clean his lenses. when cricket graduated he offered him a full time position there. they do like. wedding photographs n family portraits n all kinds of things...... pay isn’t huge bt it’s something n he Loves taking photos so it’s sexy <3

PERSONALITY:

SUCH an anxious person it’s actually unreal. overthinks absolutely everything he’s ever said. one morning he might hv put green socks on n for the rest of the day he’s nervously looking around like omggggggg they’re all looking at my socks probably thinking im a little green sock boy thinking i’m a fool n a jester this is all everyone’s probably thinking about i hv to hide my green socks..... even tho literally no-one cares

once saw a girl eating a chicken wing n in his head was like ok she likes chicken good future gift idea..... n turned up at her house with an entire rotisserie chicken

probably thinks WAY too hard abt what to write in bday cards n googles like generic ideas that he can use.... u open a card from cricket n it always says smthn weird like “Warmest wishes and love on your birthday and always!” or “You deserve everything happy. Wishing you that all year long!” tht he got off google

nervously fiddles w things a lot. literally anything. his hair. the cuffs of his sleeves. a thread on his bag. u name it

struggles w eye contact sometimes............ it’s like. he wants to talk to ppl n make friends bt he’s honestly so bad at it. he’s fumbling thru life like a nervous headless chicken

ALWAYS has his camera on him. like always. will tke a photo of u bc he thinks u look nice then be like im so sorry im so sorry...... bowing his head shakily holding his camera bc he doesn’t even kno what possessed him he jst thought it’d be a nice photograph bt boundaries exist. probably breathes very heavily over this later in his room panicking thinking he nw seems like hannibal lecter

probably more confident online bc he has time to think abt what he says more.......... i can see him hving a group of online friends tht he’s more confident w. honestly he’s pretty witty at heart he jst has a hard time verbalising things so ppl overlook him sometimes bt once u get to know him more / he’s more comfy he can b a funny little man.....

loves photographs where he cuts something out of them. loves missing spaces n voids. thinks it’s a rly interesting concept when something that isn’t there becomes the focus of a photograph where everything else is. probably loses his mind fr a collage like a front row 1d stan. likes experimenting w light n perception. pretty artistic honestly hs probably made a stop motion film in the past bc that’s just an extended form of photography in his mind bt i doubt he showed anyone

ummm...... very sweet bt like. he reminds me a lot of this quote. “he had the awkward tenderness of someone who has never been loved and is forced to improvise.” feel like tht sums him up quite nicely

WANTED CONNECTIONS

someone he met at a wedding: cricket probably ws forced to photograph a wedding fr his boss one time n it cld b interesting as a place to meet from that....... like. i can imagine either it being rly awkward maybe he accidentally spilled a drink on ur muse n was stuttering rly apologetic n it ws just a train wreck. or mayb they took pity on him or even (in a shocking turn of events) a shine to him n invited him to drink n dance. omgggg the thought of cricket trying to dance makes me wna die n probably mkes cricket wna hyperventilate bt idk maybe he went wild n let loose. mayb they wound up damaging the camera somehow. mayb they had to scramble to get another one n ur muse covered the cost n it was a strange late night excursion tht cricket thought about a lot since. cricket probably vowed to pay them bk somehow no matter what. idk. we can work things out. lots of diff options here. doesn’t have to b a wedding either can b any event tht required a photographer

ppl he went to school w: pretty self explanatory i suppose...... maybe they were frm completely different worlds..... mayb ur muse was popular n cricket was definitely not but they got paired fr an assignment n had to work on a project together....... mayb cricket asked ur muse on a date one time n it was completely embarrassing bc he didn’t realise they had a bf n it haunts cricket at night still bc he’s rly dramatic.... mayb ur muse felt sry fr him n ate lunch w him n inducted him into their group like a lost puppy finding a home.... world’s our oyster

neighbours from his brief time at lilac ridge: not to reference taylor swift but i’m gna reference taylor swift n say we cld do a seven inspired plot here. sighs a little..... then sighs a lot. he was here ages 0-8 so idk. we cld work out childhood plots perhaps....

sickening simp: i mean.............. cricket probably gets crushes on ppl so easily like just. anyone who’s the slightest bit nice to him.................. he’s a disgrace. ok i take it back. bt also please get it together freak............... i didn’t say that. he’d probably b extra nice to this person n try n pay close attention to things they liked so he cld get them little gifts. just a bit embarrassing n lovestruck bless his heart. wldn’t expect anything back tho honestly that just isn’t something he tends to do.

let’s go gays: cricket’s bi but he probably was rly in his head abt liking boys n tried to sort of squash it internally during his younger yrs...... i think he’s more comfy w it now MAYBE idk bt back then i picture him having a friend tht ws kind of like. similarly loserish as him perhaps (no offence to ur muse potentially filling this plot or cricket bt let’s face the facts) n they’d hang out n play games a lot n one time it jst kind of happened n he was like............. *struts in looking around sharply* What going on here? except not. bc it’s cricket. more like *shambles in looking around anxiously* What’s, uh... What’s... the happenings? S--... I’m sorry. (immediate apology for saying what’s the happenings bc nobody talks like that n it was an impulsive panic bc he didn’t know what else to say)

those who grew up in the system w him: maybe at the group home or i’d also like the family that fostered him n said sayonara. honestly i imagine the parents just thought he ws a bit too much of a handful / had too much baggage which is rly quite merciless n terrible but. if u think that aligns w ur muses home situation hmu......

um. can’t think of more bt just anything honestly. jst go wild.......

[cindylouwho-2]

RECENT NEWS, RESOURCES & STUDIES, late February 2020

Welcome to my latest summary of recent ecommerce news, resources & studies including search, analytics, content marketing, social media & Etsy! This covers articles I came across since the early February report, although some may be older than that. I am a bit behind due to my trip last week and other events, but some things here are a bit time-sensitive so I wanted to release this now. 

I am still looking into setting up a new ecommerce business forum where we can discuss this sort of news, as well as any day-to-day issues we face. I need some good suggestions for a cheap or free forum space that has some editing tools, is fairly intuitive for inexperienced members, and is accessible. If you have any suggestions, please reply to this post, email me on my website, or send me a tweet. (I will put out a survey once we narrow this down to some good candidates, but if you have any other comments on what you want from such a forum, please include those too!)

As always, if you see any stories I might be interested in, please let me know!

TOP NEWS & ARTICLES 

Since we are seeing more shops closed due to Etsy’s customer service level standards, my blog post on ODR now has major revisions explaining what we have learned, and includes some tips for staying out of trouble and if necessary, appealing a suspension. Please circulate the info widely, as many sellers still haven’t heard about this, and some were closed without having any clue this was possible. 

Mobile continues to grow while desktop use is slowly shrinking. It should affect how we design web pages. “Mobile visitors also behave differently from their desktop web counterparts, staying on pages for shorter periods of time, for example.” Other interesting takeaways from this SimilarWeb report: “[Facebook] lost 8.6% of [web] traffic over the past year alone” but increased in app sessions. 

The price of domains ending in “.com” will almost certainly be going up soon, and will go up most years after that, unless something changes at the last minute. If you are absolutely certain that you will continue to use the same domain name for your website, blog, ecommerce forwarding etc., then you might consider paying a few years in advance to save a few bucks. 

Another article explaining how people are selling thrift store and vintage clothing on Instagram, without setting up a checkout/cart anywhere. (The article focusses on teenagers, but does reference other examples.)

ETSY NEWS 

Two weeks ago, Etsy Support posted on Twitter that they were no longer monitoring the account, and asked everyone to use the help page maze instead when they need support. Forum thread here.  

Another trend report for 2020 from Dayna Isom Johnson [podcast links & transcript] She leads off with tips on how to get featured: “ so it's incredibly important to see a bright representation that really clearly shows your product...Do be original. I'm always trying to find the latest and the greatest that isn’t already on the shelves...Do be inclusive. ... I'm talking about models of all ethnicities, all genders, all body types, all ages.” Etsy chose chartreuse as their colour of the year: “in the last three months, there's been a 12% increase in searches for green already, and a 55% increase in neon green.” The wedding trends part was mostly already covered in a blog post, but she does also answer a few seller questions. 

Website user experience (UX) is a big part of getting people to convert, and an outside group ranks Etsy’s as “acceptable”. Many will be unsurprised that search gets a score of “mediocre” and Accounts & Self-Service get a “poor” grade.  

The migration to Google Cloud services is complete, so now Etsy can run more experiments more often, including those involving AI. (Although the forum thread was laughing at the idea of bad reviews helping shops, there is actually some research supporting that, so it is a logical thing to test.)

Etsy sellers in the US, UK & Canada who use Instagram can apply to win a trip to Etsy HQ here, until March 1.

Etsy is launching an Etsy U program which just seems a bit sketchy. Forum thread here.

Reverb (owned by Etsy) named a new Chief Technology Officer on Feb. 18.

SEO: GOOGLE & OTHER SEARCH ENGINES 

Google does not confirm every large search update, so this one remains a mystery at the moment, since Google refused to give an answer. That means it’s not a core update. 

Another video (with subtitles in several languages) from the SEO for Beginners series from Google, on the basics you need for good website SEO. 

If you are interested in “searcher intent”, this 500 person survey asks about what people are really looking for, and what they think of the search results the end up with. Overwhelmingly, they say they prefer organic results to ads, and the majority see targeted ads that they can’t figure out the reason/s behind. “Sixty-eight percent responded that Google adding more ads to the search results would make them want to use the search engine less.” Also, a slight majority preferred text results to images, video, & audio. “When asked which factor had the most significant impact on their decision to click a result, 62.9% responded it was the description, followed by 24.2% who said the brand name, and 13% who said title.” That means that the first part of your Etsy listing description, or the coded meta description on a page on your website, has the most influence on people clicking on your link once they see it. 

I usually strongly suggest that people setting up their own websites make sure they do some SEO work & keyword research for their category/shop section pages, and it turns out that there is new research showing I am correct. “Specifically, e-commerce category pages – which include parent category, subcategory and product grid pages with faceted navigation – ranked for 19% more keywords on average than product detail pages ranked for. The additional keywords they ranked for drove an estimated 413% more traffic, based on the keywords’ search demand and the pages’ ranking position. With optimization, those ranking category pages also showed the potential to drive 32% more traffic.”

Semi-advanced: explaining the (seemingly endless) debate on whether subdomains or subdirectories are better for SEO. 

SEO study - do you really need to use H1 tags on a page? Maybe not, although some screen readers recognize them as the page title so they help with accessibility. (Etsy & many other marketplaces don’t let you make this coding choice, so don’t worry about it there.)

Confused about how to apply all of these SEO tips I post here to your Shopify site? Good news! Here’s a list of what is most important for Shopify SEO. Note the attention to setting up your category pages, which is something I completely agree with. (it’s by Ahrefs so of course it pushes their tools; you don’t need to pay for that.)

CONTENT MARKETING & SOCIAL MEDIA (includes blogging & emails) 

Some businesses say social media doesn’t work, but maybe they aren��t doing it right. See if you are making one or more of these three mistakes. “Understanding who your target audience is - what they want, what they need, where you fit in, etc. - is critical to maximizing your social media marketing performance.”

Email marketing also works better if you do it right, so here are 5 things you might be doing wrong. And if you like a quick read, here’s an infographic on the psychology of email marketing. 

8 ideas for getting more interactions on Facebook (detailed infographic).

More fourth quarter reports continue: Pinterest’s 4th quarter revenue was up 46% but they lost $1.36 billion, and they are introducing a verified merchant program. “Almost all (97%) of the top searches on Pinterest are unbranded, according to the company, giving merchants a chance to stand out.”

Want to tap into that Pinterest traffic? You should because “90% of weekly Pinterest users log in to make buying decisions.”  Here are 10 ways to get more attention, followers, and pins. 

Like almost all social media, Twitter has an algorithm that mediates what users see (although you can turn it off, or use apps such as Tweetdeck to get around it as a reader). Ranking factors include recency, engagement, media and activity. The article includes a few tips on how to make it work for you, but then slides into promoting its app as the solution - you can just skip that part. 

ONLINE ADVERTISING (SEARCH ENGINES, SOCIAL MEDIA, & OTHERS) 

Google search ads get more results than Facebook and Instagram, simply because more people who see them want to buy something. “Less expensive products tend to sell better than more expensive ones on Facebook and Instagram, per the study.”

If you are running ads where you can choose your keywords, don’t forget to examine your organic search results and impressions for new words to advertise. Google Search Console is a great source.

If you found Instagram ads too expensive, check out this post on how the ads are priced, which can help you make decisions on your spend. 

ECOMMERCE NEWS, IDEAS, TRENDS 

Amazon has nearly 40% of the US ecommerce market, according to a report by eMarketer. Etsy is not in the top 10; eBay is 3rd behind Walmart. 

Sales on Shopify sites during the Black Friday-Cyber Monday long weekend went up 61% to $3 billion in 2019. They claim that the “direct -to-consumer” approach can be successful for both big & small brands. 

Japanese authorities are going after Rakuten for the ecommerce company’s push to make its sellers offer free shipping. 

eCommerceBytes’ annual Sellers Choice survey placed eBay first out of the online marketplaces that were rate. Note that this is not a scientific survey and largely covers the site’s readership only. Bonanza was the most improved & Etsy showed the worst drop (from 1st to 5th place). 

A review of that article last month that says ecommerce sites should have info pages as well as product pages, if only for SEO reasons. The author approves. 

The CBC show Marketplace did a large test buying branded items on AliExpress, Amazon, eBay, Walmart and Wish. It turns out that most were fake. 

Facebook’s cryptocurrency plans (Libra) finally have a partner: Shopify. The potential benefits include no credit card processing fees. 

BUSINESS & CONSUMER STUDIES, STATS & REPORTS; SOCIOLOGY & PSYCHOLOGY, CUSTOMER SERVICE 

Younger people (think Gen Z) expect to see gender treated expansively and beyond traditional stereotypes, and they expect this from companies and advertising. “Half of women and four in 10 men in the U.S. now believe that there is a spectrum of gender identities, according to a recent Ipsos poll titled "The Future of Gender is Increasingly Nonbinary." An additional 16% of those surveyed said they know a person who identifies as transgender”

MISCELLANEOUS (including humour) 

Google employees are pushing back against the sea change in the company’s culture and values - and some are being fired. 

Turns out that the “Peleton Wife” ad might not have hurt them as much as you might think. However, their stock dropped 12% after the fourth quarter report showed a 77% increase in revenue that still managed to be below market predictions. Interesting discussion around going viral in a negative fashion.

[academiceve]

Intern Archives: My 1st Creative Internship (Event Planning)

Welcome to a mini-series of blog posts titled “Intern Archives” where I will be sharing in greater detailed about all of my internship experiences so far! I was requested to write about my internships on Instagram during a Q&A session, so follow me for more frequent updates HERE. 

I want my internship experiences to have dedicated blog posts because not all of them have been in psychology/neuroscience fields or research! I’ve discussed in previous posts how my education path was quite unique, as I started my education by attending a fine arts profile school for 12 years (my gymnasium/high school was combined with fine arts classes). I always had interests outside of academia and my 1st internship allowed me to explore my creativity!

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

I started it in January of 2016 after I had returned from studying abroad in South Korea. I wanted to throw myself into school work and extra curricular activities and this internship just sort of “landed” into my hands. My aunt has a wedding and event planning company and was looking for people who would be willing to intern for her. Given my artistic background I agreed to join the company and help out. This is a great example of networking for finding internships that I have discussed in THIS blog post which includes general tips for finding different internships!

MY TASKS

As an intern I started with doing research on PInterest, organising inspiration boards for different events, as well as looking up reference photos. Before events I also worked on DIY art projects and packing for the event. During events I would help with decorating venues, setting up tables, chairs, linens, centrepieces, table numbers, etc. I also got to assist during creative photoshoots and other special projects, such as Bridal Brunch workshops.

I decided that I liked working for the company, so I ended up staying for 3 years and worked as a creative assistant once my internship had ended! It was nice for this internship to turn into a part-time job, alongside it being a creative outlet for me. 

WHAT I WAS ABLE TO LEARN

I live for personal development and growth; therefore, it should not be surprising to all of you reading this that I like to reflect on what I was able to learn during all of my different internship experiences. 

For this one, I learned not only about event planning and decorating, how much time, effort and money has to be put in to organise a Pinterest like party but also about working with clients, as different people have varying needs and wishes, as well as team work. It was important that our team worked cohesively, so that the event would be a success for everyone involved and most importantly our clients. 

This experience also allowed me to practice other skills that I posses, such as creativity, time management, interpersonal communication all of which are not directly related to academia! I also got to experience working for a small company that was a side job for everyone involved, kind of like a passion project. We worked directly with a really small group of females, all of which were very different from each other. Although it was not always easy to work under pressure, we would always come out happy with our work in the end. I liked having a creative outlet outside of my studies and if it wasn’t for this internship I would not have taken an Instagram marketing course and started my studygram!

This was my first reflection about my 1st internship during my undergraduate studies. I am looking forward to writing and reflecting about others, all of which are more directly related to Psychology and Neuroscience, so stay tuned! I hope you enjoyed this post and found it somewhat useful. 

I have written other blog posts about internships, which you can find here:

Finding Internships: General Tips

How to Find a Research Internship

Day In My Life: Internship Edition

If you would like to read more from me, click HERE to see other blog posts! You can also follow my studygram HERE for some inspiration! 

[left-myself-in-the-alleyway]

Thank You

Description-You’d had a bad day, well more like a bad month. After some classic high school drama you come back to Avengers tower and eventually end up breaking down and having a good cry with a special person coming to lend a shoulder.

Warnings-crying, anxiety, mild swearing, fluff????? The fact that I write 1st person??? And that I’m a horrible writer???

A/n-having three long cries in the last twenty-four hours and seeing some stuff similar to this on Pinterest I decided that I needed to write this. Also, I’m horrible at writing, so sorry. Also, minor Gilmore Girls reference for any of you who catch it.

Pairings- Peter Parkerxreader

Disclaimer- I own none of these characters but I do own this idea... somewhat. Rights go to Marvel.

“And with the addition of the thermal-“ *bell rings* “-we’ll finish tomorrow. Don’t forget about your midterm on Monday!” The teacher yelled as the students fled as fast as they dared.

I’m so happy this day is over. I got two pop quiz’s today and I forgot my band instrument meaning I had to skip band- the only good part about school.

So overall it had been a crummy day, well, more like a crummy month. Between training with Nat and missions every weekend and homework on top of it all I haven’t had much time to unwind.

I don’t need anything from my locker so I’m hoping to make a quick escape.

“Y/n!”

Or not..

“Look, I know we haven’t been able to hang out much lately but I’m really busy with my internship at Stark industries-“ I started, not wanting a fight with y/b/f/n.

“Cut the crap Y/n, your internship is as fake as Peter’s. You made it up because you want to look cool,” She snapped. “You don’t have time for me because you don’t want to make time for me. If you’re not going to put any effort into our relationship, neither am I. We’re done.”

I just stood there stunned. Honestly, I’m not sure how to feel. She never really was a good friend in the first place, but it still stung. Though, with everything piling up, it just seemed like one more thing to deal with.

-

On my way home it had started raining and since I walk to and from the tower to school I was stuck in the downpour. As much as rain is my favourite weather, today was just not the day. Especially since I hadn’t applied waterproof mascara this morning and I was wearing my glasses instead of contacts. So on top of having been poured upon for my 15 minute walk back, I looked like a squinting raccoon while doing it.

Once I finally made it back I immediately headed to the lounge because I had left my headphones in there this morning. But, of course, everyone was in there. Steve,Tony, Bruce and Clint. Natasha was probably waiting for me in the training room with Peter. Goody.

Everyone froze when they saw me, a dripping mess, but I ignored them, grabbed my headphones off the coffee table and made my exit.

Luckily I made it to my room before anything else could befall me. I quickly stripped of my sipping wet clothing and donned my training gear. I also took the time to wipe off my raccoon eyes as much as I could and add on a quick flip of mascara. Once I popped in my contacts I headed to the training room.

On the way there I told myself I would just listen to my music and do my workout since today isn’t sparring day. I found a good playlist on my Spotify and plugged myself in as I walked. Ironically enough “I’m a Mess” by Bebe Rexa started playing.

Though, when I got there my plans were foiled.

“Ah, I see you finally decided to show up. Now that both of you are here I have an announcement,” Natasha starts off. “You guys have deemed yourselves worthy to train with the rest of the group. So I suggest you warm up before the rest of the team gets here.”

As we started stretching Natasha continued, “You’ll each be sparring with different members of the group today. Remember, they’re not here to train you. We’re all here to train each other, so don’t hold back.”

“I can’t believe we get to train with the rest of the team!” Peter exclaimed enthusiastically.

“Yes, so exciting. Yay.” I replied with as much fake enthusiasm I could muster. He didn’t buy it, but he also didn’t push for answers. A nice refresher.

Once the rest of the team arrived we all paired up with someone to spar. I got paired with Clint. Mainly because he’s one of the only people who isn’t afraid to hit a girl. Peter got paired with Steve, then Thor worked with Tony. Natasha just walked around watching Peter and myself.

Peter, of course was doing fantastic. Myself, not so much.

“Y/n, come on! You can do better than me this!” Natasha yelled as I hit the mat, yet again. But I got up, again, and got myself in a sparring position.

I can do this I tell myself. Yet I couldn’t.

I hit the mat again, this time with a very loud thud. I was definitely winded.

As I tried to catch my breath the words, “Peter was ready for this but I guess you aren’t.” Reach my ears.

As my eyes water I stand shakily. “Maybe that’s because I don’t having fricking superpowers,” I snark through my tears. I storm out of the room tears flooding from my face, I didn’t even bother to grab my phone.

I slam the door to my room and fall on my bed. What I did after that, I sobbed. I cried and I cried. I cried about life, about friendship, about failure. What I cried about most of all, was Peter. The fact that he would never love someone like me, someone who couldn’t even keep up with him and was constantly failing.

The knock at my door made me evaluate myself slightly. Yet again having runny mascara, definitely bright red from crying, clinging to my pillow. Yet, I no longer care.

“What do you want?” I manage to sputter our through my tears.

“It’s me, Peter. Could I please come in?” He spoke softly with kindness in his voice.

“Sure,” I mutter. Though he must have heard it as he came in after I said it.

When he entered he looked slightly taken aback by my appearance but, nevertheless, came and sat beside me.

“Would you like a hug?” He questioned.

I answered him by cuddling into his side and holding onto him instead of my pillow.

Besides him eventually running his hand through my hair, that was it. I was and absolute mess who was sobbing my heart out onto the shirt of the most perfect boy ever to exist.

After I managed to calm myself I sat up and apologized. “I’m really sorry, I guess I just snapped,” I sniffled, wiping my tears on the blanket that was sitting beside us. “Is Nat mad?”

“A little, but that doesn’t matter.” He said. “I’m more worried about you. Strong people like you don’t just snap like that. What’s wrong?”

“Just little things piling up over the day. Ever heard the saying that people don’t break over one little thing? But a bunch of little things over time lead them to snap? That kinda what happened to me,” I tried to explain.

“But it doesn’t matter anyways,” I muttered, looking at my hands and feeling really bad for snapping at Nat. “People like me never matter.”

I had mumbled that last part so quietly I didn’t expect him to hear.

“Of course you matter. You matter so much to so many people y/n! It’s just that they often get so used to you being so amazing and wonderful that they take you for granted-“ he paused.

“If you didn’t matter... would I do this?”

He lifted my chin and softly kissed me. He pulled away after a second.

“Thank you.”

Before he had a chance to respond I jumped up and ran out of the room and down the hall as fast as I could. I could hear him following me but the embarrassment kept me going. Though, soon enough, I felt his hand wrap around my arm stopping me.

“Thankyouforgivingmeapitykissandcalmingmedownbutyouhavenoobligationstome.” I rushed out.

After Peter stared at me for a minute with his eyebrows raised he replied.

“It wasn’t a pity kiss, y/n, I actually really like you... and I’m hoping you like me back.” He replied with the softest of voices, yet a deep red blush on his cheeks.

Instead of messing things up even more I opted for just kissing him.. which seemed to work out pretty well.

Peter laughed and spun me around. “Y/n, will you please be my girlfriend?”

“What do you think I’m going to say?” I laughed. “No? Heh, as if.”

“So... how do we explain this to everyone else?” I ask, still giggling.

[zexalmonth]

Hello everyone! 

Some news before we begin, if you didn’t know this will be my last Zexal Month hosting, you can read the information here. Also @yaminoamber will also not be apart of the Zexal Month team, as she is too busy. So for this year, it will just be @pyrachan and I. Because of us leaving, Pyra will be alone for the other years to organise, which cannot be the case. 

In which case, If you would like to be apart of the Zexal Month team, feel free to send Pyra a PM. There are no real requirements for this, just to be apart of the Zexal fandom and be willing to discuss with Pyra prompts and information to keep this month going every year.

Now for 2018 Zexal Month!

For this third year, Zexal Month will be a tad different. I have organised 60 prompts. This time, all of you have your own free mind in what to do for selected days. However, every Friday will have a selected prompt, or theme (Mostly a fun game). Prompts include a saying or message which will then allow all of you to do whatever you like to participate. 

How you choose to contribute is entirely up to you.

For example, you could gif, draw, write, edit etc. The options are endless. Participating every day is not required!  

With these as well, feel free to mix prompts up together, use more than one a day or use any character from the Zexal series or manga. You can also use your OC’s if you would like, as long as they are related to Zexal. 

Rules:

DO NOT REPOST ART FROM OTHER SITES WITHOUT PERMISSION. This includes artists on tumblr. Do not take their work without permission. These include sites that most reposted art are found. (E.g Paintbucket and sites like it, pinterest, instagram etc.)

Respect everyone’s work, headcanon etc.

Please respect any OC’s, fan characters, self inserts etc. Even if you don’t like them, they would mean the world to the creators. I’ll be tagging as ‘zexal oc’s’ if you would like to blacklist that.

Please tag ‘nsfw’ things as they are. Or triggers if you feel the need too.

ALL PROMPTS AND INFORMATION UNDER THE CUT

Wednesday 1st and Thursday 2nd include regular prompt days.

Friday the 3rd includes:

All of your favourites, including:

Favourite Character Favourite Friendship Group or Friendship Pairing Favourite Episode(s) / Manga Chapter(s) Favourite Moment(s) in Anime/Manga Favourite Duel Monster / Non-Human Character (Barian/Astral etc) 

Plus any other favourites you would like to share. 

Saturday the 4th - Thursday the 9th includes regular prompt days.

Friday the 10th includes a special prompt called ‘BlahBARIAN’:

I originally got this prompt from writers digest but I changed it up a bit since it was fitting. 

A scene/s or anything that includes a character speaking a different language, speaking in a thick accent or otherwise speaking in a way that is unintelligible to the other characters. (Note: Be creative with the languages, it could be your own language that isn’t Japanese or English.) Such as, maybe each Yugioh series has a ‘different language’ and Zexal characters try and communicate with them.

Saturday the 11th - Thursday the 16th includes regular prompt days.

Friday the 17th includes a Yuma Day:

Since it is Tasuku Hatanaka’s birthday today, this Friday will be a tribute to anything and everything Yuuma.

Possibilities are endless with this one. Yuuma is in everything, shipping, AUs etc. Go for it. Favourite moments, things Yuuma inspired you about, Yuuma videos, fanfics, art and AU’s. Or if you would like to share any in real life Kattobingu life moments. Nows your chance!

Unfortunately Hatanaka has actually been said too taking a hiatus from his twitter.

Saturday the 18th - Thursday the 23rd includes regular prompt days. 

Friday the 24th includes a little fun game called ‘A Game of Reactions’. (This again was from writers digest but I thought it would be fun to try out). 

Writers digest originally said this: “A character’s reaction to something without explaining what it is. See if others can guess what it is.” HOWEVER, we could include the fandom as the ‘others’. Such as someone posts a picture from an episode and all of us guess what episode it came from, OR it can be as what it says there and do the content of for charades between a character and the fandom, or a character and another character.

Saturday the 25th - Thursday the 30th includes regular prompt days.

 Friday the 31st includes a phrase called ‘Duelling Opposites’. 

Again this phrase can be interpreted differently. You could switch personalities or decks, or even switching series. Consider this as a cross over prompt perhaps. 

REGULAR PROMPTS ARE AS FOLLOWERS

1. “Do you love me?”

2. “It hurts..”

3. “You are my world.”

4. “I can’t.”

5. “Help me.”

6. “There’s too much blood!”

7. “Do you know what to do?”

8. “Poison.. ”

9. “Are you cheating on me..?”

10.  “How can I if you won’t let me?”

11 . “You have to let go.”

12.  “What about you?”

13.  “How?“

14.  “You make me happy.”

15.  “Do you understand?”

16.  Timelessness

17.  Elementary

18.  So close, and yet…

19.  Sleepless

20.  Out of place

21.  Road trip

22.  "Have fun. Don’t die. Don’t kill anyone.“

23.  Pranks and Perspective

24.  “That’s not what I meant”

25.  Lucky day

26.  Going viral

27.  Table for two

28.  Shark attack

29.  “I can’t believe I didn’t see that coming”

30.  Caught pants down

31.  “Howdy, partner”

32.  “What in the world did I agree too?”

33.  “Why did you do it?”

34.  Something special

35.  “May death find you alive”

36.  A fishy situation

37.  Montages

38.  "Get down from there!”

39.  "I have cookies.“

40.  Getting lost somewhere

41.  A death of someone close.

42.  “Great, how are we supposed to get home now?”

43.  “I got the call last night…”

44.  “Did you hear something?”

45. “Please don’t do this…”

46.  “I wish I never met you.”

47. “You should think about what you’ve done.”

48. Past, Present, Future all in the same.

49. A Holiday Celebration

50. “Well, that was certainly awkward”

51. Baby pictures.

52. “Let’s pretend I didn’t see you do that”

53. “Are you stupid or stupid?”

54. “Call me now. it’s urgent.”

55. “Everything will fall into place.”

56. “Fight me, you attractive stranger.”

57. “Fuck’s sake, what’s your problem?”

58. “Kick his ass for me.”

59. “You’re pathetic. If I wasn’t willing to fuck you, no one would.”

60. Study partners

As an added bonus, I found this MASSIVE AU Compilation on Tumblr. Feel free to use it. http://hollandrhododendron.tumblr.com/post/116179859418/super-long-au-compilation

If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask me on this blog or even on my personal blog at @wendymoto.

Reference sites I found content for this month: 

http://www.writersdigest.com/prompts

http://bucketofprompts.tumblr.com/

We encourage anyone and everyone in the Zexal fandom to try and contribute or reblog others posts.

Let’s continue to enjoy and love ZEXAL for everything that it is and isn’t.

If you would like me to see them, please tag them with #ZexalMonth, #Zexal Month, #wendymoto. We will surely see and enjoy your posts as well.

I’ll look forward to seeing the posts you guys make.

Thank you, everyone. <3

With ‘zeal’ Wendy and Pyra. <3

[thehumanbodyfmp]

Research - Muscles

The Human Body includes around 600 muscles and there are three main types of muscle. The Skeletal Muscle - is the specialised tissue that is attached to bones and allows movement. The Smooth Muscle - is located in various internal structures including the digestive tract, uterus and blood vessels. The Cardiac Muscle - is the muscle specific to the heart. Muscles have a range of jobs to do such as pumping blood and supporting movement. They work together by either contracting or relaxing to cause movement. This movement may have been made consciously and voluntary or involuntary without awareness. In order to move the brain sends a message to the motor neurones which triggers a release of a chemical called acetylcholine from the presynaptic terminals. The muscle then responds to acetylcholine by contracting. Muscles are made up of thousands of elastic fibres that are bundled tightly together and each bundle is wrapped in a thin transparent membrane which is called Perimysium. They come in four main shapes and can take up to 30% - 40% of your body mass. Spindle - these are wide throughout the middle and become progressively smaller towards the end. Flat - these are sheetlike and relatively thin. Triangular - these are wide at the bottom and small at the top. Circular - these are in a ring shape.

I found that this website was extremely helpful when looking for my information on muscles. It includes information on the different types of muscles, what muscles are made up of, the neuromuscular system, shapes of skeletal muscles and muscle disorders.

Harvard Reference

Department of Health. (2012). Muscles. Available: https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/conditionsandtreatments/muscles. Last accessed 1st March 2022.

The Heart

The Heart is the most important muscle in the human body and it’s job is to pump blood throughout the circulatory system. Blood carries oxygen and nutrients around the body organs and they need this to stay healthy and to work properly. The heart has four chambers, two atria and two ventricles and they all have different focuses. The Right Atrium - this receives oxygen and pumps the blood to the right ventricle. The Right Ventricle - this pumps the oxygen to the lungs. The Left Atrium - receives oxygen from the lungs and pumps it to the left ventricle. The Left Ventricle - finally this pumps the oxygen to the body. It is the size of a fist and is located behind and slightly to the left of the breast bone.

I have created a Pinterest board that links to muscles and I will keep adding to it throughout the unit. I have included photos of muscle cells and realistic photos of muscles. One of my ideas are to pleat my fabric in order to reflect the scales found on muscles.

Primary Research

After visiting the library I found a book that included photos of anatomy. I found a section called the Skeletal Muscles and this is where I found this labelled diagram of muscles in the head and neck area. I chose to use this as when looking on the internet for photos it is quite difficult to find realistic photos of muscles as computerised diagrams are mainly shown. This diagram has labels such as the temporalis, legatos scapulae and the risorius. You can clearly see the texture and shapes that are found which is something that I could recreate in my work.

Harvard Reference

David Morton and James W. Perry . (1997). Skeletal Muscles. In: David Morton and James W. Perry Photo Atlas for Anatomy and Physiology. England : Brooks Cole. 160.

[productionartsbyisabel]

Tuesday 19th October, Lecture notes

Context: In this session we started to build onto our characters and practice facial anatomy.

I found this session in particular extremely helpful as I’m very used to copying images over to paper with little plan or technique. Using the actual guidelines and cutting the face into thirds was extremely helpful as I could be sure that the image I was creating was anatomically correct from the get go. Anatomy is definitely something I want to understand better through practice. It also felt good to make multiple copies of the same image, not getting too attached to each one.

1st image: practicing facial structure using shapes

2nd image: 1st attempt using little structure for reference

3rd image: better attempt with better structural format

4th image: structure reference used from Pinterest