#weirdly that's also part of my drawing process

[youchangedmedestiel]

Going from the song Suicide by Yseult (which is a Dean song by the way) to Footloose by Kenny Loggins is part of my drawing process. What about you?

[spicymancer]

What was the process like for designing the ActiRangers, their civilian and suited forms? Their suits look so cool, it’s definitely clear you have a lot of familiarity with the genre while also having great ideas on how to innovate and add your own unique elements! Did they go through lots of conceptual iterations, or did they come pretty naturally? Any particular teams that inspired you, like SPD or RPM with their numbered members?

So the Actirangers started out as characters designed for a private little Tokusatsu OC jam I did with some friends! The design I submitted was Pink, (hence why she's kinda the main character of the story)

(Real name and certain background elements redacted for spoiler reasons)

So Pink's suit was the first one designed, hence how she's kinda the most basic of the Rangers. I had just got done watching Birdie Wing and Love After World Domination and thought it would be kinda fun for a golf themed sentai hero.

She was originally going to be ActiRanger 5 before I thought of the "Four/Fore" golf pun.

The rest of the team was then designed from there with each of their sports in mind and some general vibes.

I don't think they went through all that much iteration, though I will say since I tend to draw them in Black and White I sometimes mix up which parts of their suits are their color and which parts are black.

I wanted to give them each some kind of Power Weapon so I stuck to stick sports and also Table Tennis. (I am still weirdly fond of the old Penny Arcade Paint the Line comics)

As far as Power Ranger teams that inspired them, Mighty Morphin' is obviously the biggest inspo. (The Dan Mora run on the Go Go Power Rangers comics is awesome.) Time Force, S.P.D. and RPM were all on my mind as well.

For the Gambit Gang I was struggling to come up with a fun villain theme and eventually figureod out that the enemy to the "Sports" team had to be the "Chess Club". (Insert joke about polycules and board games)

Gray in particular was conceived at this point when I and wanted an Evil Ranger on their side. Chess Knights having a vague horse theme, he obviously had to be Polo! His design draws pretty heavily from Mystic Force's Koragg which is still IMO one of the sickest designs Sentai has ever cooked.

Wow that got a little more long winded than I inteded but I hope y'all enjoyed this little peek behind the curtain of the ActiRanger's development!

Thank you all for enjoying my silly OC comics and doodles!

[dizzybizz]

hai here is a sketch dump with too many fandoms :) sorry about the ungodly amount of men here i have been going through it and by it i mean gay

ok wait i ran out of tags??? it wont let me tag them all😭😭😭 im gonna have to be sparing with them uhh i guess i will have to ramble under the cut then cus i like rambling in my tags but i cant with this one 😭

(ok im back from the ramble: it is way too long.... proceed forward if you want to see some guy just absolutely talk nonsense for entirely too long)

no cus i swear i have tried tagging more stuff than this before and never hit the limit but whatever

hello i really use this like a fkn blog huh

i just wanted to provide some thoughts on the harper and rosé one first bc its important to me 😌 cus i was thinking abt harper and how in my head and heart of hearts she would be the kid who thought you get pregnant from kissing and i dont think she ever really grew out of that belief. <- this ended up spawning the idea of harper being a sex-repulsed ace and i will die on this hill actually. fight me or die, you die either way actually nvm

this is just a buncha blorbos i dont know what to tell you really. sketch pages like these always end up so weird for me bc for some reason my brain always wants the characters in them to interact in some way. whether that be talking or just reacting to what the other is doing... its something i cant stop with, its so stupid and silly and i hate it and i love it. where else would i see kabru slowly losing his mind with how loud phoenix wright is in court????

I THOUGHT I HAD GOTTEN OFF THE RAILS WITH THAT BUT THEN THE NEXT PAGE HAPPENED. and all i could do was laugh and ask "what the fuck am i drawing??? HOW DID WE GET HERE? WHY IS THISTLE HERE WITH LEOPIKA HELP" LIKE that page started with the big leopika and then i was like "man i miss thistle lemme draw him real quick" but the curse struck and now hes being homophobic so </3

i rlly like how the nic(k) page turned out ... i just have a lot of nicks i like drawing idk.. the lil guy is an oc,,, one day his ref sheet will be finished and itll be awesome but not for now, sorry baby, no can do. im weirdly happy with how the hands turned out for all of them tho?? so thats a W

yotasuke, murai, nick (youll never know which one im referring to. .. jkjk its hoult i love the pose there ehehhe), nic and the entire last page r my favs. i like em all but those rlly get me yknow- the olly too ofc but ive already posted him, dont mind him being here, hes part of the set. AND OVER ALL IVE BEEN HAVING SO FUN WITH SHADING BLACK AND JUST LEAVING SPOTS BLANK ITS SO ?`????

WHY IS THIS SO LONG PLS DONT READ ALL THIS THIS IS STRAIGHT UP EMBARRASSING AGHSDFGSDHJSGD im all like "yeah i dont like talking about myself or whatever" but as soon as i get to my process or blorbos or smth the floodgates fucking break open, not even burst man.

also dont mind how i havent even acknowledged pingas twink pokemon counterpart. hes just here for shits and giggles i dont know the guy like at all, i watched a handful of eps of horizons and that was it RIP

[mwinor]

School AU Headcanons with Theodore Nott

-ˋˏ✄┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈

Theodore Nott is that guy who doesn’t try to be the center of attention — but somehow ends up there anyway. Always dressed neatly but never flashy. There’s something quietly refined about him, like he was born in a coat and with sarcasm in his pocket.

Theodore Nott smart without the stress. Teachers respect him. Not because he’s a try-hard, but because he always knows what to say and when to say it. He doesn’t stress over tests, “I’ll either pass or find a way to talk my way through it.”

Theodore Nott will casually score three goals in PE, then shrug like it’s nothing. Coaches try to recruit him every semester. He always says no. “I’m not into uniforms or shouting.”

Theodore Nott will end up doing everything himself because he doesn’t trust people to get it right. Unless you’re in the group — then he’ll give you half the control without question. Trust is rare with him, but you’ve earned it.

Theodore Nott has the most organized chaos of a locker. There’s a book on psychology, gum, spare headphones, a mini first-aid kit, and a crumpled drawing he once made of you (but he’ll never admit that’s who it is).

Theodore Nott is surprisingly domestic. He’ll fix your broken phone case with superglue. He knows how to cook eggs five different ways. You once caught him ironing his shirt before school — shirtless, earbuds in, focused. It took you a minute to recover.

Theodore Nott has old-soul habits. Writes in pen. Hates texting. Loves real books. He has a chess app but prefers real boards. And sometimes he talks about the future like he already lived part of it.

Theodore Nott is the one who always remembers your schedule. You forget your locker combo? He remembers. That biology test you were nervous about? He brings you your favorite snack the morning of. You never told him the date — he just knew.

Theodore Nott’s handwriting is ridiculously neat. Not because he cares what people think—it’s just how he processes information. He claims messy notes. “give him anxiety.”

Theodore Nott is the kind of guy who remembers random facts forever. Ask him when the French Revolution started—he’ll know. Also knows weird facts like how jellyfish don’t have brains or that bananas are berries. It’s weirdly charming.

Theodore Nott doesn't need to be liked — but he is. Somehow, despite not trying to fit in, people respect him. Even those who say “he’s kind of weird” still want him on their project team or sit near him during lectures.

Theodore Nott doesn’t wear cologne — but still smells nice. It’s just his laundry detergent and something natural about him. Someone once asked what he wore and he just blinked and said, “Soap?”

Theodore Nott doodles in margins when bored — mostly patterns and geometric shapes. You once caught a tiny, perfect sketch of a raven in his notebook. When you complimented it, he just flipped the page without a word — but his ears turned red.

[art]

Creator Spotlight: GDBee Art (@prinnay)

Geneva Bowers is inspired by the wonders of the natural world around us, and enjoys manipulating colors to create art full of mood and feelings.

Check out our interview with Geneva below!

How did you get started with art? Did you originally have a background in art?

I’m going to say yes because that’s all I’ve known how to do. It started because I wanted to draw better horses than my sister, and it just spiraled from there. People started asking me to draw things because they saw me drawing horses. I was like, well, I can draw things that aren’t horses, and then it was just kind of all I did. 

Have you ever had an art block? If so, how did you overcome it?

I have one right now! Honestly, with time, and I also collect art books; I think I have a couple hundred. If I really want to draw something, then I just flip through those and try to steal some ideas.

Which three famous artists (dead or alive) would you invite to your dinner party?

I mean, of course Van Gogh…I’m really inspired by Impressionism and Post-Impressionism, so I would invite Van Gogh, Monet, and Julie Dillon to a dinner party.

Have you ever wanted to dive into another medium before?

Yeah, actually, I currently am! I’m trying to do more traditional painting. I used to do a lot of acrylics, but I haven’t done it in years, and now I’m kind of bad at it. I’m trying to get into actual impressionistic art with oils and oil pastels. I’m like failing, but you know, you get there. Just fail until it looks presentable. 

If there is one thing you want your audience to remember about your work, what would it be?

I guess it’s more of a feeling. I create art because I’m inspired by things around me, like certain video games. For example, I have been inspired by a Japanese RPG called Chrono Cross on PlayStation 1. They make me feel a certain type of inspiration to create something, so that’s kind of like what I’m hoping to leave behind. 

Have any of your projects surprised you with their outcome?

Yeah! I did this Weapon Faerie series where I took three prompts: a weapon, a winged insect, and an herb, which I combined to make different characters. So, a faerie with a spiked club or a butterfly faerie with a katana. I made 13 of those, and they kind of took off! I wasn’t expecting that at all.

What is the hardest part of your process?

My whole art style is coloring, like the way it’s colored… but I hate the coloring process, haha. I like doing the color combos, but I don’t like the blending and shading. That takes like one-trillion years. It’s the part where I’m most likely to give up. You know how art kind of looks ugly before it looks good? I’m trying to trust that process. 

What do you wish you knew when you started creating art that you know now?

I guess one big thing would be knowing how to use lights and darks. When I do color, it is definitely colorful, but when you switch it to black and white, you see that everything’s the same tone of gray. I’ve learned that if you just use some brighter colors and some darker shades, you create a bigger impact in the end. So, now, when I paint something digital, I make it black and white for a moment to see where all the hues are, and if something is weirdly dark or not dark enough, I can change it.

Who on Tumblr inspires you and why?

Oh, @feefal definitely inspires me. She does a lot of spooky art.

[funnelcakesandinfinitesuffering]

Things I loved about the Murder Drones Finale: Part 3

Spoilers, obviously

The secret handshake during the boss fight was great, (V did not want to be a part of that.)

Uzi predicting Cyn’s teleport was genius.

The way she created a black hole like you’d detonate a grenade.

She blasted a hole through the whole planet and used the sunlight to melt Cyn’s heart. Incredible.

Cyn’s face when Uzi swallowed the solver core.

Thad’s skateboarding move and Lizzy taking a selfie after almost dying. What a duo.

Nori definitely passed down her awkward tsundere energy to Uzi.

Khan’s kinda freaky, and the teacher just climbed back down instead of dealing with it.

A sentinel driving a bus wasn’t on my bingo card, but okay.

Not my personal ship, but Envuzi shippers ate well with this. “Weirdly hot robots”, and this reunion scene. Perfect.

Uzi absorbed an Eldritch entity, and her first instinct is “oh this makes me so much edgier now” is hilarious.

Callback to the pilot episode.

“Get tunnel vision on spooky robot corpse reveal and work backwards from there.” An accurate description of the writing process.

That teacher’s gonna lose it.

“That’s my girlfriend!” WE FUCKING WON!

Also Lizzy and V might be a thing? If so, good for them.

N knows how to draw manga now.

J’s rebuilding her ship. Maybe she’s running away to the dog planet, IDK.

Doll’s funeral was so funny. “Babe-a-tron Queenthousand?” Lizzy please. But at least we got to see them in their prom outfits again.

“It should have been Rachel.” TF did Rachel do?

Also Thad’s pose, lol.

Khan and Nori did properly reunite, and N finally got to play that game of Gin Rummy.

Finally, it seems the solver’s consciousness is still alive in Uzi, but she’s got it under control at least. So good for her.

[pritong-baboy]

also- same anon that asked the sacrifice for Bee question, I love how "selfishly selfless" Shockwave is in a way, if that makes any sense haha

I adore characters that has limited ways of expressing or feeling emotions and I'm so incredibly fond of how Shockwave is portrayed.... he's cruel, he's tormented Bee for so long and ruined his trust, betrayed him, etc. and yet you're weirdly aware of just how everything he does is out of love. It's a horrific tragedy, he goes to extreme lenghts out of affection and everything about it is so selfish but it's also because he genuinely cannot comprehend how Bee himself functions, that when you view how he perceives his actions it becomes almost selfless. It reminds me of that baby deer curled up beside a target practice deer, except now the mother keeps the calf captive

I'm relatively new but as I'm reading some of these I really get the feeling that he really does want what's best for Bee but just cannot understand what he needs and wants, when you strip yourself of your own individuality you struggle to find value in it at all, so he strips away Bee's too. When all you need is one thing because you can only ever prioritize one thing, Bee shouldn't need anything other than him. When you complete a checklist you get your reward, so how come he does everything right and Bee still doesn't love him? or trust him?

I think there's something so devastating about Shockwave platonically/familiarly (is that the word?) falling in love with Bumblebee because of his innocence, trust, and individuality and in the process of trying to make him his he's slowly hurting and destroying those exact qualities he found so fondly without even realising it. something about thinking of those blue eyes so fondly and yet replacing one with red so Bee can be more of him.... oughhhhh. and yet despite it all he loves his son all the same. there's a person somewhere deep inside there that only remembers how to love, yet not care....

There's so many instances in these asks and drawings where Bee does something that upsets Shockwave but he just tries and tries again, but Bee just never reciprocates the familiar love, and Shockwave just can't understand. I keep thinking about that one post where try as he might he cannot hold Bumblebee in a way that doesn't hurt him and envies how everyone but him seem to have it so easily... they make me so illlll..... I love your take on him so much he's such a fascinating thing, sorry for the ramble, I just needed to get this out of my system, have a good day!!!

hrgghhh this ask made me wanna lose it ngl. you hit the nail so hard, i literally teared up HUHUHUH.

"When all you need is one thing because you can only ever prioritize one thing, Bee shouldn't need anything other than him. When you complete a checklist you get your reward, so how come he does everything right and Bee still doesn't love him? or trust him?"

YOU ARE GETTING IT. as you said, the way i write shockwave is that he ultimately is a tragic character filled with so much love and affection, but it always just spills out so cruelly and it ends up drowning the very bot that he wants to keep. and i like the way you say that shockwave "falls in love" with bumblebee in a parental way, because he really does fall so hard for him it's something he has never felt before.

the thing with the optics too. they were a big theme in my two part series and how much shockwave adored seeing not just bumblebee's optics, but seeing himself in them. it's not that shockwave likes how bee's optics looks, he just likes it when they are looking at him specifically, when he sees that he's in the center of them. his affection is so harsh and selfish it always circles back to seeing himself in the end. it was sort of a telling how much shockwave seemed to care for bee in the surface, but every action he does really is just self-serving even if he doesn't intend it to be.

you describing shockwave as "selfishly selfless" is just...mwah...perfection. cuz like, yeah, when shockwave says he'd do anything to convince bumblebee to stay with him, he REALLY DOES MEAN IT. he is legitimately willing to kill anyone and ruin everything if it meant getting a sliver of reassurance that bee is going to love him back. it's just that....him willing to do all of those things doesn't mean that bee wants any of that.

[tj-dragonblade]

[Bingo Ficlet] Til Death Do Us Part

Fandom: The Sandman Pairing: Dreamling Rated: T Word Count: 1463 Tags: vampire AU, vampire Dream, Hob is still immortal, vampiric angst, talk of blood death and sex, hurt/comfort, emotional hurt/comfort

Notes: This covers:

@dreamlingbingo Square B1 Hurt/Comfort plus adoptable prompt Forehead Kisses

@monsterfucktoberbingo square Vampire

@mr-sadman's All Hallow's Sadman mini-event, 10/31 prompt Monster

Summary: Dream laments his vampiric nature. Hob offers reassurance, patiently, for the thousandth time

On AO3

~ "I am a monster," Dream is murmuring, over and over, the first thing Hob hears as consciousness returns—that beautiful velvety sonorous voice in the same lament it has been voicing for decades. He can feel Dream's arms around him, cradling him close against Dream's narrow chest and beneath his pointy chin, rocking him gently back and forth. It's comforting, familiar, and Hob sighs happily, as soon as he has the faculties and bodily control for it.

"Hob!" Dream loosens his hold enough to (presumably) look down into his face at the sound; Hob's eyes aren't quite working yet. But he can manage a smile, and so he does, and then Dream's lips are pressed to his forehead in a fervent kiss, Dream's arms crushing him tightly. "Hob, my Hob, I'm so sorry—"

Silly Dream, Hob thinks, fondly. Nothing to be sorry about.

And he'll tell him so, again, as soon he's got enough life back in him to speak.

He can feel the spark and rush returning, little by little, blood replenishing itself in his empty veins; soon enough he'll be right as rain again.

"I'm sorry," Dream murmurs once more, and his tender kiss in Hob's hair holds not the slightest hint of fang.

~

Seven hundred years ago, Hob unknowingly challenged Death to a game of chance and won. She'd been a great sport about it and honored his winnings, promised she'd never take him until he asked to go.

Fifty-eight years ago, he'd stumbled across a half-feral vampire in the woods and fallen in love. Died a couple of times first, which complicated the process a bit, but obviously it'd all worked out in the end.

Most things did, for Hob Gadling.

~

"'M fine, duck, jus' fine," Hob manages, several moments later. "No need t'worry, see?"

"I cannot help but worry," Dream returns, and his voice is thick with unshed tears. "I drained you. No matter how many times you come back, it is traumatic to surface from a damned blood haze—a failing I should be well able to control by now—to find my lover dead by my own fangs."

"Understandable." Hob nuzzles his face weakly against Dream's throat. They're both still naked, he can tell now; Dream is…sitting cross-legged in their bed, cradling Hob against him. "But it's very nice to come back to life in your arms like this."

"You would find the optimism in even this." Dream kisses his forehead again and sniffles. "But the fact remains, had you not bound yourself to a monster with abhorrent appetites, you would not be subjected to repeatedly dying—"

"Nine times in fifty-eight years is hardly 'repeatedly'."

"Hob—"

"Eight if you don't count the night we met, since we weren't together yet."

"I have drained you. To death. Nine times."

"And yet I'm here, love, cozy in your arms and having this very familiar peculiar conversation. No harm done. Much opposite-of-harm achieved."

"It does not feel like 'no harm' when your body goes lifeless in my arms, Hob."

Hob's been sparring in this particular argument for a very long time now; perhaps it's time to try a different tactic. "Can I tell you a secret, love? One that might change your perspective a little?" He grins, a little sheepishly. "Might also make you think far less of me, but that's a chance I'm willing to take."

Dream scoffs. "I cannot imagine anything you could tell me that would lower my esteem for you."

"Well. Alright then." Hob coughs, draws a great breath. "It is weirdly enjoyable, to die with your teeth in my throat and your cock in my arse. An orgasm on the brink of expiring, the 'little death' become the big one? There's nothing quite like it."

Dream blinks at him.

"Not saying I wanna do it all the time, mind. It is bloody strange and whatever I might theoretically get out of it is not worth the distress it causes you. But just. It happens when several of your deepest instincts converge, and sometimes you still can't hold back. That's okay. I'm a kinky fucker, as it turns out, and I realized the first time—the first time after we got together I mean—that I could enjoy it. But I could also see how hard it is on you, so I wasn't going to make a thing out of it. But maybe, if it helps you to know, I'm—not getting off on it, I wouldn't go that far, but I'm not suffering. At all. You're neither hurting nor harming me."

Dream, as usual, seems not to absorb the point Hob was trying to make. "But Hob. I am killing you, again and again, because I am a monster whose appetites cannot be controlled—"

Hob stops him with two clumsy-but-gentle fingers pressed to his lips, then slides his hand to cup the side of Dream's face. "My dearest, sweetest Dream. We've been over this, love. You cannot kill me, not in any way that matters. I always come back. Haven't I proven it, these past fifty years?"

Dream makes a sound not unlike a sob, presses into Hob's hand on his cheek.

Hob manages to exert enough pressure to tilt Dream's face down to look him in the eye. "This 'monster' business," he says, so gently. "Utter crap." He leans up to kiss Dream's forehead softly. "You found yourself the only human you can drain without killing and you've not taken anyone else for decades."

"Hob—"

"And when I met you, you were starving yourself on animal blood, living half wild in the forest so as not to tempt yourself on human blood. Centuries without, you'd gone. You're not a monster, darling, you're a person with highly specific dietary needs and a vigilant conscience about how your food is sourced."

Hob was hoping for a laugh, but Dream only sighs, one corner of his mouth ticking down. "I drained you when you found me, Hob. My hard-won self-restraint was for naught as soon as a human crossed my path."

"Because the animal-only route was obviously not enough for you. You were clearly starving, love. And again. You found a human you can feed from without harming, even if you do drain me. I'm still here."

"I killed you four times in the first eight years we were together—"

"And only five times in the fifty years following, because you worked so hard to establish control and to feed ethically and better yourself". Hob pulls himself up, still weak but improving with each passing moment; he gently disentangles himself from Dream's embrace to sit facing him. He takes both of Dream's pale long-fingered hands in his own. "I know you hate the need. I know you hate the instincts that that bastard left in you. But Dream. My love. You are so much more than that and just because you're not where you want to be yet? Doesn't mean you're never going to get there." He squeezes Dream's hands, ducks his face to make sure he's got eye contact. "Please, love, give yourself a little grace. You've come so far, I'm so proud of you, and I'm with you all the way. No matter what. We'll get you there."

Dream holds his gaze a long moment, eyes watery, and finally leans forward to rest his forehead against Hob's collarbone, puts his arms around Hob again and clings to the backs of his shoulders. He heaves a great shuddering breath, wet and trembling, and a tear drips onto Hob's naked chest. "I am weary of the struggle," he says, voice thick. "I wish to be. Stronger. Now."

"I know." Hob caresses his cheek, moves him just enough to kiss his forehead again and pulls him close to tuck him back against his own chest. "But I can see how far you've come already. And I promise, we're moving ever forward. We'll get there, never mind any setbacks."

Dream nuzzles under his chin, brushes his lips so gently over the healed wound where his teeth had sunk into Hob's throat earlier this evening. "I am sorry for hurting you," he says softly.

"Again. Neither hurting nor harming me." Hob runs gentle hands up and down Dream's spine. "I do kind of enjoy it." It still feels weird to admit it aloud.

"You are a peculiar human, Hob Gadling." Dream kisses the healed bite mark again, sighs, and the smallest bit of tension falls out of his spine. "You are also far too kind, too forgiving of me." He drops one last kiss to Hob's throat. "But I fear who I would be without you."

Hob grins. "Lucky then you'll never be without me, hmm?"

Dream laughs, a short watery little bark, and burrows comfortably closer against Hob's hairy chest.

= Started: 10/28/24 Drafted: 10/30/24 Posted: 10/31/24

And that's a blackout! 🎉 Master post to come...later.

[jorvikwildhorse]

do you remember when i drew a star stable online fancomic? that was wild.

i don't know if anyone really cares to read about this, but sometimes it crosses my mind and i feel bad for never finishing my sso fancomic. i feel weirdly ashamed that i left it hanging like that, but with my waning interest in the game and a long depressive episode following some general burnout last year I wasn't looking forward to working on it even when I felt like drawing again.

(I still play sso occasionally but i take super long breaks between play sessions, mostly because i've done basically everything in the game and have run out of things to hold my interest as a solo player. I still enjoy it and look forward to its updates ofc.)

Still, I sometimes go through my works in progress folder for the fancomic and feel guilty, mostly for myself because I have a horrible track record of actually finishing projects but there were some parts of the story i was looking forward to illustrating. I had the overarching plot laid out and a couple chapters scripted up to completion, but I no longer feel like continuing it and would like to work on some potentially original projects. I am happy to have made it as far as I did however, because I feel that it taught me a lot about the comic making and storytelling process. exp, if you will.

I'm gonna share the pages I had done anyway. it was a really long chapter, with 19 planned pages although i only finished 4 of them and they're a year old at this point.

a panel from a later page i liked

also here's some bonus sketches and drafts

a scene perhaps after farley was revealed as a dragon. wasn't sure if depicting animal predation/death would upset ppl

and some mane care and bonding with farley n lakshmi.

anyway, if you read this or ever liked my silly little self indulgent fan comic, thank you truly and honestly.

[chriskotiesen]

How do you think of your wonderful beasts?

Usually I start with really vague ideas for shapes or colour schemes and just make the creatures up as I go along. Most of the time I'm aiming to make something that has personality but isn't too easy to compare to any existing animal. If it's too boring then I'll weird it up a bit by rearranging parts or throwing on extra shapes. If it's too abstract then I'll swap in some more realistic animal features.

I saved some in-progress pics of yesterday's creature to step through the process:

I started by giving myself the very open-ended task of drawing a creature with a mouth in an unusual place. When sketching digitally I often like to forgo lineart and just play with blocks of colour.

Why is it crescent shaped? Why is it orange? I dunno. But I think that I can turn this into a body with the mouth at the centre of the mass. There are certainly weirder and more interesting places to put a mouth then in the belly, but I don't really know how this sketch is going to go from here. Maybe I'll put more mouths on the feet or something. Finding out is part of the fun.

Let's start simple. I figure that it should have arms to pick up food, as well as eyes and a nose to clearly define a 'head' somewhere away from the mouth. Okay now it looks like a creature, but not one that I particularly like. Also there's nothing between the nose and the mouth so it looks less like it has a mouth in its stomach and more like it just has a really big, weirdly-shaped head. I can fix that if I move the arms above the mouth. And I'll give it a tail and another bend in the torso to balance it out and make it less front-heavy.

Now we're getting somewhere. I'm starting to like this for reasons entirely unrelated to the mouth, so I'll just remove it completely. It's getting in the way of the rest of the anatomy. There's no client or art director dictating what I need to make here. The initial premise is just a jumping-off point and I can ditch it entirely if the design works better without it. I like this bug-eyed, cobra-hooded aardvark-centaur-dragon-thing. That seems like enough of a creature without throwing on extra features.

I try to keep my palette organized and only add more colours when they feel necessary. The countershading here helps to define the creature's shape a bit better and break up all of that orange, as well as just making it a little more realistic. I made the tail bigger just because I like what that does for the 2d composition of the picture.

Cleaning up the shadows also helps to make the volume read a bit better. The stripes help too, but I mostly added them to break up the orange some more and make the creature more interesting. I also started laying in some blobs of colour for a background. Now that all of the basics are in place it's just a matter of adjusting colours and polishing out details until I'm either happy with it or just sick of looking at it!

Done!

[traumasurvivors]

Here’s a link to a blog post on my personal website on a topic that I think is very important.

I’ve also put it below the read more for people that don’t like external links. But if you're okay with it, checking it out on my personal website is really nice (and even giving it a heart if you can)! I don't make money from my website, so there are no intrusive ads or anything like that to stop you from reading the article.

Embracing Your Inner Child

This applies to anyone, but I really want to emphasize this to my fellow survivors who went through trauma as children and/or teenagers.

I’m so sorry you lost part, most or all of your childhood. That doesn’t mean it’s too late to give your inner child what you can. This includes comfort but it also includes doing the things you didn’t get to if you can.

Play the fun games. Buy the tasty treats. Go on adventures.

It’s never too late to feel a little more of the kind of joy you had (or should have had) as a child. You may not be able to be a child again, but you can still help and support your inner child.

You might have been told that a fun idea you had was “silly” or even “stupid.” When you have those thoughts now, instead of rejecting it, embrace the “silly” idea and let yourself enjoy it. It’s not shameful or wrong to do the things your inner child wants to do. It’s okay to be “immature” sometimes, even if you’re twenty years old. Or thirty. Or sixty. I just want to say that I don’t think any of this is immature, but I know that is a bias and judgement a lot of us might pass on ourselves. 

A short, not at all complete list of things you might do for your inner child:

Watch childhood movies or tv shows (Did you watch “Blues Clues”, or “Pokemon”? Maybe “The Land Before Time”? There’s no reason you can’t still enjoy them.)

Listen to “silly” music, maybe singing along or dancing to it (for me, one favourite is “I Just Can’t Wait To Be King” from The Lion King. I know every word and have a dance party everytime it comes on my shuffle.)

Go to the park and use the swings (I don’t know why, but flying up just a few feet can make me forget all my “grown-up” worries)

Have a treat just because (maybe that big sundae your parents never let you have, or the chicken nuggets you haven’t had in a decade). Maybe you want to fulfil your childhood dream of having ice cream for breakfast! 

Go to the toy store - maybe even get some stuffed animals or other toy items. (I just recently realized that I can fulfill my childhood dream of collecting certain toys that I never got to have when I was younger!) 

Ride a roller coaster and scream your head off on the way down (I like to try to be in the very first car)

Make creative, crafty stuff - like a painting or drawing, or decorating a picture on construction paper with googly eyes and glitter or a clay model with a weirdly shaped head (even if the result looks like something you’d expect to see in a kindergarten class, or the process makes a mess that looks like a glitter bomb went off)

Another aspect of embracing your inner child is trying to give your inner child the person you needed when you were a child. 

This might mean standing up for yourself when others try to put you down or take credit for things you’ve done, even (or especially) if no one else spoke up for you when you were a child. 

It might mean offering comfort and compassion to yourself, and not being too hard on yourself when you make mistakes that you would have been insulted for as a child or don’t know something that “everyone learns as a child.” Maybe now you can teach yourself that accidents happen, and spilling a drink or breaking a plate is not the disaster and failure of character that you were told as a child. 

It might mean being patient with yourself when something is harder to do than you feel like it should be (whether you actually aren’t able to do it as easily as others, or you have unrealistic expectations of its difficulty because of the expectations put on you as a child). There are lots of instructional videos out there to help you to gain basic cooking or cleaning skills. If you never really learned to read, there are programs to help you. If you weren’t allowed or able to learn to manage your emotions or relationships in healthy ways, there’s help out there for you. There is absolutely no shame in not learning any kind of skills you feel you “should” have learned as a child, and it is okay to learn them as an adult.

You may have had to grow up too fast. You may not have been allowed to do the fun things. You may have suffered trauma that shattered your childhood. I’m here to tell you that you still have an inner child, and embracing that inner child is good for you. Just because you’re an adult, at any age, doesn’t mean that you’re too old to have fun.

No one else gets to decide what’s right for you - you get to decide what you enjoy and what you want.

And it’s never too late to remember, indulge, listen to, and embrace your inner child. Let them be a part of how you choose to move forward. It’s time for us to realize that there is no one way to be an adult, and we get to decide what being an adult means to us. And if that means I want to rent a bouncy castle for my birthday, then that is my perfectly valid version of an adult birthday (a birthday which my inner child would be thrilled about, by the way).

[regencyrosalie]

Hey there! <3 I really loved the way you write about modern! Anthony and I was wondering on maybe doing something with Benedict?

I was thinking always a modern one, either a xreader or maybe dating! headcanons!

in that case, thanks in anticipation and have a good day/night!!🩷🌸

hi hon ! thank you so much for sending an ask ! im going to structure this like i did for my anthony hc’s, i hope thats okay! im working on a fic rn that’ll be out hopefully soon!

biblically accurate modern!benedict hcs

- benedict WILL draw you

- he will draw quick little silly sketches of you in funny outfits and hats with exaggerated eyes and show them to you while giggling relentlessly

- but he also has an entire sketchbook filled with accurate and detailed drawings/paintings of you. he gets bashful every time you find a new one.

- may or may not have a caffeine addiction

- when you move in with him he moves his little art corner to a different room so you can still sleep while he works

- will get frustrated and come back into the bedroom and watch you sleep until he gets motivated/inspired again

- he loves dogs, specifically small dogs. chihuahuas are probably his favorite but he wont tell anyone.

- his sleep schedule is HORRIBLE, but it evens out when you live together because he wants to fall asleep with you.

- speaking of, i feel like Benedict is a human heater

- which is amazing during the winter

- but when it’s hot it is actually torture because hes trying to fall asleep practically on top of you.

- and youre like PLEASE get the FHUCK off of me and then he pouts and huffs until you make it work or he falls asleep

- benedict is close with every one of his siblings. but especially anthony and eloise.

- has funny uncle vibes

- especially with the younger siblings. he will sneak them candy and also probably money.

- anthony and violet have yet to find out

- i think he probably likes savory foods more than sweets, but will eat anything you make him.

- i feel like hes fully clothed about 50% of the time. the man despises pants i can just feel it in my bones.

- favorite color is red. he likes the versatility.

- cannot sing. but will sing. and will sing loudly. every shower is a concert.

- probably the closest with his mother

- love language is quality time

- this means picnic dates, movie dates, target run dates, going to the grocery store dates

- will make you handwritten cards and paintings for holidays, and puts sticky notes with sappy notes and bad pickup lines on everything you own.

- other than visual art, i think he has a few other hobbies. he likes movies, in fact, he pretty much likes every movie he watches. cant get into shows though, his attention span is not long enough. he also likes puzzles, and will frame them and keep them hoarded in his closet.

- i think a part of him is still grieving his father. violet was in constant agony after he died, and anthony was busy inheriting everything and dealing with the trauma of witnessing it: so benedict was left to pick up the pieces with the rest of the siblings. ie. explain what happened to the younger ones, try to cheer them up, etc.

- for that reason, i don’t think he ever really processed it completely, and he gets weirdly quiet when he thinks about it too long.

- cant be in anthony’s office for more than an hour at a time, because it used to be edmunds, and all he can think of is how he would pester his father all day while he worked.

[cultivating-wildflowers]

Books of 2025 - April

Another quiet month wherein I said I would focus on reading instead of Other Things and then proceeded to not do that. The distraction got so bad that I had a run there where I was technically in the middle of six or seven books and not making much headway on any of them.

I did enjoy the books I ended up reading (even if I haven't finished some of them yet)! Unfortunately I'm in one of those moods where I'm Noticing Themes in, like, everything, which really slows down the process.

(I sent excerpts from several books to my sister, who had just finished beta-reading my manuscript, and her response was, "Oh wow. Ouch. How are you surviving this book??" and later just a lot of crying emojis. Girl, your guess is as good as mine.)

In further not-great news, I've barely touched the mountain of books I actually planned to read this year. It's becoming the year of the series instead.

Total books: 3  |  New reads: 3   |  2025 TBR completed: 0 (0 DNF) / 2/18 total   |   Total books read this year: 23

March | May

#1 - The Tropic of Serpents by Marie Brennan - 5/5 stars (audio)

I read the first book in the Memoirs of Lady Trent series a little over a year ago and, while I enjoyed it apart from that emotionally-gutting twist, it didn't really leave an impression. It was only at the urging of @distance-does-not-matter and a few others that I have picked up the next book.

As those other reviews suggested, the series does pick up after the first installment. While I loved Brennan's descriptive writing in A Natural History of Dragons, The Tropic of Serpents felt more cohesive as a narrative. I really enjoy the tone of an older Lady Trent relaying to us the adventures of her younger self. The world Brennan paints is so vivid and absolutely teeming with life. This might have been easier to read than to listen to, given the volume of new names to learn, but I was able to follow it just fine.

And now, bribed with promises of friendships and a new romance, I'm eager to pick up the next book.

More like this: Weirdly, it kept reminding me of Beryl Markham's "West with the Night"? (Which I also read a year ago.) Possibly it was the combination of the setting and the autobiographical style. But I'll be honest, I also thought of Tarzan (1999) more than once.

#2 - Frieren: Beyond Journey's End, Vol. 1 by Kanehito Yamada with Annaliese Christman - 4/5 stars

Found this at a bookstore while exploring Ann Arbor with Kenzie; recalled one of my mutuals mentioning the show; picked it up to check it out.

I went in completely blind on this one. The art style is fun and I love the perspective of a practically-immortal character learning to connect with the people around her. Absolutely adorable and delightful. I don't know that I'll immediately jump into the rest of the series (thankfully it's not very long) but I would like to read it eventually.

#3 - Voyage of the Basilisk by Marie Brennan - 4/5 stars (audio)

Very much a no-thoughts-head-empty sort of reading experience for me, in the best possible way. (Minus the amputation scene. I had to stop in the middle of vacuuming to grab my phone and skip it. I made many distressed noises while I did so. I may have cried.) The pacing felt somewhat disjointed after The Tropic of Serpents; so much happened and then we got to the (rather sudden) conclusion and I felt somewhat out of breath.

Drawing hearts all over the entire cast. Extra pink and purple glitter hearts for Suhail.

Currently Reading:

Kristin Lavransdatter, Part One: The Wreath by Sigrid Undset, tr. Tiina Nunnally - Note that I finally made up my mind to break this up into three books, as the series was originally published and as it's listed on Wikipedia. I am ALMOST finished with the first one! It's quick work once I settle down and pay attention. I just have to figure out how to settle down and pay attention.

The Lantern Bearers by Rosemary Sutcliff - I had to put this one down for a bit because it is simply much too depressing for me right now.

The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion, Vol 3 by Beth Brower - Lord knows why this book of all books is taking me so long to get through, but here we are.

[tezzbot]

Hiiii I love the way you draw the trolls!! I know this is weirdly specific but how on Earth do you draw the hands ;w;

I've (mostly) got the hang of troll anatomy with the feet, torso- even the neck and head but my gosh I cannot get the hang of the hands and arms. Do you.. mayhaps, happen to have any tips for a beginner artist? Or possibly a reference handy?

This is kiind of difficult to explain bc in my head it's just. I Do It KGJFH which I know isn't exactly helpful so I am gonna try my best to explain my process

I am gonna be describing how I do it in My style so there's gonna be discrepencies between how I do it and how they look in the actual movies, but I hope it helps break em down enough?? Idk we'll see

Gonna need a diagram to help bc it's easier to show than tell so uhhh hey Branch

So, I know you're asking for hands but yknow arms are part of it lol, so the trolls in the movies do have arms that go from slimmer at the shoulders to wider at the wrists (there is a word for this. they taper?? I think?), I tend to exaggerate it a little just because it makes more sense in my head and for me personally is easier to draw, think of em as like little teddy bear arms lol

Some proportions in Trolls (and to how I draw anything generally lol) are incredibly flexible so it really doesn't matter how good you are at anatomy, the idea is to make it look good moreso than make Sense a lot of the time, as long as it looks vaguely right then you're on the right track :P

Now for what you actually asked for: The Hands!!

Troll paws are real nubby little things lol, but they do operate just the same as any other regular hand you would draw, just a lil more squart and missing a finger sgfdhf

Think in more Rounded Rectangles than anatomically correct hands. I think that instead of the three knuckle joints humans have, it is easier to picture them as having two (I think that's how it is in the movies anyway?? icr lol) The knuckle where the finger connects to the hand and then a single joint in the middle of the finger to allow it to yk actually bend LOL

Also drawing hands in general, The little chubby bits on the outside of your hand under your pinkies and thumbs are really useful guidelines for me personally, so it's good to know if that helps you too ^_^

As for actually connecting the hands With the arms - Again this is for my style, it's not really how it looks in the movies I don't think but, it's close enough that I get away with it FHGFJH

So, generally what I'll do is I'll connect the back of the arm to that first knuckle, usually making a little triangle where I guess the back of the hand is??? This can be squarshed and stretched as needed, I usually don't even think about it tbh but I did notice that it's there DSGFDHF

And here's just a couple other angles of hand arm connection. Otherwise, yeah, they do basically just work like regular ol people hands they're just a lil chunkier hehe

Also you can hide a bent elbow behind a hand nobody has to know.... as long as it lines up it doesn't matter... GHKFG

Thank you Branch for being our wonderful hand / arm model this evening

And I hope this was in any way at all useful!! If you'd like any more explanation or have any other questions feel free to lmk!!

[dailyhmsw]

i was wondering how you come up with ideas for your art? because i really want to draw more but i tend to struggle just because i don't know what to draw people doing

honestly, it's a struggle for me too! and sometimes that's just the way it is, where you're hard pressed to find anything inspiring at all.

usually the remedy for me is like, an hour of pinterest scrolling. but i also keep ideas i've been wanting to do in the back of my mind, and i consult those too to see if there's anything. weirdly enough talking with my friends also helps,, they're very . inspiring and entertaining /silly,,.. also reading and consuming other forms of art, like books and music. and some days inspiration just strikes and i HAVE to draw this lest i be tormented for the remainder of my days. there's a lot of places to go for inspiration!

just a reminder though not to beat yourself up if you don't know what to draw. it can be frustrating but it doesn't make you any less of an artist, and it's just part of the process!! take care chat C:

[sweetbunpura]

>:D

Ok~ Strap in, Cause this is gonna be a long one too!

So, the basic premise of this idea is that, When Silver, Sebek, Grim, and Yuu escape from Sebek's collapsing dream, Yuu ends up getting splintered off and separated somehow during transit.

While, Silver, Grim, and Sebek land in Lilia's dream, Yuu ends up landing in a completely different dream. Whose dream, you may ask?

Rollo. It's Rollo's dream.

Yuu doesn't crash land into the dream though, no. She jolts awake in bed, as if awakening from a horrible nightmare. Her breathing is ragged and her eyes dart around the room, alert and wary. There is no sign of encroaching darkness or Malleus. Rather, she was in the bedroom she and Rollo would usually share when they cuddled together.

She sits there in bed for a moment, processing.

....

She blinks.

....

Nothing happens. Her rapid breathing begins to slow.

Was... Did she just have a bad dream? But... it felt so real...

She hears what sounds like rustling from down the hall. Then, the sound of the oven going off. Someone was in the kitchen. The smell of breakfast finally decides to make a coying pass at her nose. She smiles and rolls her eyes. Yuu slips out of bed and pads down the hall.

In all her eagerness, she fails to notice that the interior architecture of the hallway is slightly....off...

She turns into the kitchen and smirks when she sees her boyfriend with his back to her, still wearing his pajamas only with the addition of an apron, pulling what looks to be home-made croissants out of the oven.

"Really, Rolls?" she chuckles, eyeing the ensemble of breakfast foods already on the table, "I thought we agreed that breakfast was my thing."

Rollo huffed.

"On any other day, I would have let you, but..."

She sees the tips of his ears flush.

"I..I wanted to do something special. Today is our anniversary after all."

Yuu's brain halted.

Anniversary?

..What anniversary??

They had only been officially dating for three months???

"What are you talking about?"

Rollo froze just as he sat the croissants down, then.. slowly turned around to face her, his expression flat.

"Yuu...Don't tell me you forgot."

Yuu racked her brain, trying to think of anything that would be anniversary worthy. All she was drawing were blanks. It must have shown on her face, because Rollo's scrunched in annoyance.

He rolls his eyes.

"Honestly Yuu.."

He starts pulling off his oven mitts.

Yuu's eyes widen when she sees it. There, on his right hand-

"Its not like you to forget our wedding anniversary."

-was a gold wedding band.

.....And from there things begin to spiral for Yuu. She doesn't hate the idea of being married to Rollo, far from it. Its just...not something she imagined him dreaming about.

In his perfect little dream world, there is no magic and He and Yuu have, apparently, been married for two years, having got hitched shortly after graduating college (a College that weirdly is NRC or NBC, just regular ass college). "Ramshackle" is actually just their house, that has elements of Fluer city architecture frankensteined on to it.

His brother is also alive in this world and comes over to visit later on after getting out of school.

"But, where is the truly angst part about all of this?" You may ask.

Well... did I forget to mention that, since Yuu has no way of leaving this dream, as her dreamwalker is in another castle at the moment and can't choose the dream he enters, she's stuck playing to Rollo's fantasy? Cause if he wakes up, and Silver isn't there to bail them out, then the dream will collapse and they'll get swallowed by darkness.

Also, Yuu has to desperately fight not to "fall asleep" here as this dreamwalking experience slowly morphs into a shared dream, with Malleus's magic beginning to tug at her mental eyelids as the dream begins to include this that she desperately wishes for.

Like her father, for example.

Slowly, the dream begins to feel more and more real.

So, Yuu is effectively forced to pretend that this is all real until Silver and Co. show up, while simultaneously fighting to keep her grasp on what's real and what isn't.

Just basic dream mind-fuckery~

-From Rollo x Yuu angst Anon (Shortened to Angst Anon for brevity)

Okay, but I love that you looked at the info about her, because you brought up her uncle and her father~

Yuu stares at his golden wedding ring and fights to keep her eyes from widening. She takes a glance at her own hand and, yep, there's a matching one right there on her ring finger.

She clears her throat before Rollo has time to think about her mistake. "Yeah, my mistake. I just woke up."

His look of annoyance disappears as he approaches her. "That is true, perhaps it's my fault for waking you up without time to process." He wraps his arms around her and pulls her close. "That and you'd have changed into normal clothes by now."

Yuu, for the second time this dream, looks down to see herself in Rollo's large gray shirt. "You're right."

He chuckles and kisses her, which she returns. It's a calming morning for a married couple, Yuu could recount her parents doing this in the morning before both of them had to run off to work. She misses the door opening and closing followed by the pausing footsteps.

"Should I leave you two lovebirds?" That is not a voice Yuu recognized and as they separate, she stares wide eyed at the newcomer.

The man is leaning against the wall with his arms crossed and a smile on his face. His gray hair is swept to the side of his head and he's sporting a dress shirt combo outfit. His eyes are the same as Rollo's and Yuu's brighter green eyes flick between him and her "husband" before it dawns on her.

Oh lord, this is his brother.

Rollo semi-glares at his brother. "Can I help you, Hector?"

Hector laughs. "No, no, I just wasn't expecting to walk in on you two making out."

Rollo's face flashes red and without his usual handkerchief handy, he just hides his face in Yuu's shoulder. She hardly notices, too busy staring at Hector.

"Wonderland to Yuu." He waves his hand in her face, which she flinches away from.

"S-Sorry about that, Hector. Not 100% awake."

"Understandable." Hector pulls Rollo away from her. "Did you get everything for tonight?"

Rollo, now composed, just sends his brother a look. "You think ill of me if you honestly believe I would forget a single thing for this anniversary."

"What's going on or is this some top-secret 'can't tell the wife' thing?" She jokes.

Rollo grabs her hands and Yuu hears the faint clink of the rings as they meet. "I've invited your parents over to spend part of the day with us."

Parents.

Parents.

Plural.

"M-my parents?"

"Indeed, your father-"

Yuu feels her mind disconnect immediately after she hears that and her grip tightens on Rollo's hands, causing him to pause.

"My Love?'

"R-Repeat what you just said, I must've missed it."

"I said your mother would try to meet us over at the museum. She'll be dropping by after she visits your father's grave."

Right, right. Her father is dead... and there's no way for him to return. Well, Yuu knew one thing to be very certain in this moment.

She was going to kick Malleus' ass for this.

🎊Thanks angst anon!🎊