toothpaste-for-the-skin

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My friend had told me that she wanted to make a Salmonid oc, so naturally I begged to help bc I REALLY like designing Salmonids, and also this ment I got to draw a Steelhead

The name/aesthetic was basically all her, and I just did the design and stuff

I think the total amount of time spent with this was like 4 hours? Idk we were in vc watching movie clips from Trolls and Hotel Transylvania for some reason

Some other notes/stuff lol:

- The look of the Steelhead helmet was inspired by the Backburner from tf2! Idk why I was thinking about it but yeah. I was also going for a general Mad Max style look

- ignore the absolutely horrendous time stamp on these messages, but yeah we literally were watching clips and trailers from random movies lol

- You can find this character on my friend’s Art Fight!! Her page is right here

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Whatever. Go my inkfish.

Here’s all my current inkfish characters, ordered by height in their humanoid forms!! I included their swim forms too, which are also accurately scaled, since they’re all different in comparison to their humanoid forms.

Some notes: (under the cut)

Some of them (Min, Toothpaste, Astra) have swim forms that are drastically smaller than their humanoid forms. This is sometimes just due to random chance/genetics, but usually the original species they’re evolved from has something to do with it. The harlequin octopus (Astra) and flying squid (Toothpaste) are both pretty small species after all.

Some others here (Lynn, Hermie, Jodi) are pretty much (comparatively) average sized, give or take a few inches. I’m considering the “average” size of a swim form vs humanoid form to be when they’re around the same size as each other (aka a 5 foot humanoid inkfish has a 5 foot swim form). Hermie and Lynn are both flying squids along with Toothpaste, but they both just so happened to have more “average” swim forms anyways.

Now one of them (Iota) just, has a freakishly huge swim form, way larger than their humanoid form. This is probably due to Iota being a Humboldt squid, which is a very large species of squid.

I'm operating off the assumption that the average inkfish is around 5 feet tall, which is shorter than the average human. So even though something like 5'8" might not be super tall for a human, it's considerably tall for an inkfish.

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Random oc fun fact:

Hermes (which is Hermie’s real name btw) and Iota (agent/captain 3) are actually distantly related. Distantly enough that they don’t know each other and don’t know they’re related, but if someone put them together and said they were related, it would be believable.

This is kind of just a fun fact for them. They’re distant cousins but it doesn’t really matter bc they don’t know or interact with each other at all.

They have similar features like having sharper faces and longer ears, as well as being a bit taller than average. They also both share some kind of a love for nature/the environment. Hermie is a gardener and Iota is a survivalist. Herm also has a resting sad face and Iota has a resting angry face, so misery apparently runs in their family.

Hermie is a flying squid, and Iota is a Humboldt squid, but one of the alternate names for a Humboldt squid is a “jumbo flying squid”.

Also this isn’t really the case anymore, but their color schemes used to be opposites of each other lol (which was unintentional)

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Even more of my yapping and yammering about this guy

The final(?) Art Fight ref of mine:

Hermie real name reveal (and the first real ref he’s gotten in the 5 or so years of his existence as an oc of mine). His real name is actually Hermes, directly taken from his namesake. But he often just goes by “Hermie” or “Herm” because he somewhat dislikes his real name.

Herm is kind of a sad guy. Seemingly perpetually a bit melancholy, he’s also very much a pushover. He has a bad habit of keeping silent about his most serious concerns in fear of making others upset, which has resulted in himself and those around him getting hurt (since he often won’t call out bad decisions). Despite this, he doesn’t realize his efforts to avoid “stirring the pot” are only making him feel more and more miserable, so I doubt he’s going to stop anytime soon..

Also extra random info below:

- Hermie cannot wear any shoes or socks that cover his ankles. The fins on his ankles are incredibly sensitive so wearing anything that covers them is very uncomfortable.

- His forearms and the part of his legs from his ankles down are a brownish orange color. This is a body pattern and will always be there. This is bc the tentacles on flying squids are this kind of orange-brown color. Toothpaste and Lynn (who are both also flying squids) have a pattern on their bodies somewhere like this too, but Hermie’s is the most prominent.

- Hermie loves gardening. Despite being a bit of a prissy rich kid, he really loves getting his hands dirty with gardening, especially with flowers. The marks on his arms are also (somewhat) meant to give the appearance of gardening gloves to go along with this theme. Flowers (especially roses) are a big motif in his design.

- The “winged eyeliner” look of his eye mask is actually meant to be a pun. He’s a flying squid that’s wearing winged eyeliner. I think it’s pretty funny. Also the lashes are a permanent part of his eye mask and is not makeup. He was just born that way.

- Hermie’s design was meant to parallel Toothpaste’s in a way. The two were originally supposed to be a subversion of the “blue is for boys and pink is for girls” thing (which is why Hermie is pink and Toothpaste is blue), but they also parallel in some other ways. Mainly by how they both have a similar downwards V pattern on their tentacles. I feel like it’s not so obvious that they’re meant to match anymore now that Hoover and Lynn exist, but idk.

- My friends think he is pretty?

- Hermie’s favorite food is strawberries.

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I feel bad for him honestly. Herm is very timid and tends to slink into the background, and I realize that even I as the oc creator tend to forget about him.

I don’t think it’s entirely his fault either, it’s mostly bc of his background

The final(?) Art Fight ref of mine:

Hermie real name reveal (and the first real ref he’s gotten in the 5 or so years of his existence as an oc of mine). His real name is actually Hermes, directly taken from his namesake. But he often just goes by “Hermie” or “Herm” because he somewhat dislikes his real name.

Herm is kind of a sad guy. Seemingly perpetually a bit melancholy, he’s also very much a pushover. He has a bad habit of keeping silent about his most serious concerns in fear of making others upset, which has resulted in himself and those around him getting hurt (since he often won’t call out bad decisions). Despite this, he doesn’t realize his efforts to avoid “stirring the pot” are only making him feel more and more miserable, so I doubt he’s going to stop anytime soon..

Also extra random info below:

- Hermie cannot wear any shoes or socks that cover his ankles. The fins on his ankles are incredibly sensitive so wearing anything that covers them is very uncomfortable.

- His forearms and the part of his legs from his ankles down are a brownish orange color. This is a body pattern and will always be there. This is bc the tentacles on flying squids are this kind of orange-brown color. Toothpaste and Lynn (who are both also flying squids) have a pattern on their bodies somewhere like this too, but Hermie’s is the most prominent.

- Hermie loves gardening. Despite being a bit of a prissy rich kid, he really loves getting his hands dirty with gardening, especially with flowers. The marks on his arms are also (somewhat) meant to give the appearance of gardening gloves to go along with this theme. Flowers (especially roses) are a big motif in his design.

- The “winged eyeliner” look of his eye mask is actually meant to be a pun. He’s a flying squid that’s wearing winged eyeliner. I think it’s pretty funny. Also the lashes are a permanent part of his eye mask and is not makeup. He was just born that way.

- Hermie’s design was meant to parallel Toothpaste’s in a way. The two were originally supposed to be a subversion of the “blue is for boys and pink is for girls” thing (which is why Hermie is pink and Toothpaste is blue), but they also parallel in some other ways. Mainly by how they both have a similar downwards V pattern on their tentacles. I feel like it’s not so obvious that they’re meant to match anymore now that Hoover and Lynn exist, but idk.

- My friends think he is pretty?

- Hermie’s favorite food is strawberries.

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Here’s all my main Art Fight ref refreshes!!

There’s more refs I’ve done for AF, but these are like the “main” ones ig lol

My Art Fight user is 2thpaste!! I’ll be on Team Fossils!! I’ll make my AF card soon!!

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The final(?) Art Fight ref of mine:

Hermie real name reveal (and the first real ref he’s gotten in the 5 or so years of his existence as an oc of mine). His real name is actually Hermes, directly taken from his namesake. But he often just goes by “Hermie” or “Herm” because he somewhat dislikes his real name.

Herm is kind of a sad guy. Seemingly perpetually a bit melancholy, he’s also very much a pushover. He has a bad habit of keeping silent about his most serious concerns in fear of making others upset, which has resulted in himself and those around him getting hurt (since he often won’t call out bad decisions). Despite this, he doesn’t realize his efforts to avoid “stirring the pot” are only making him feel more and more miserable, so I doubt he’s going to stop anytime soon..

Also extra random info below:

- Hermie cannot wear any shoes or socks that cover his ankles. The fins on his ankles are incredibly sensitive so wearing anything that covers them is very uncomfortable.

- His forearms and the part of his legs from his ankles down are a brownish orange color. This is a body pattern and will always be there. This is bc the tentacles on flying squids are this kind of orange-brown color. Toothpaste and Lynn (who are both also flying squids) have a pattern on their bodies somewhere like this too, but Hermie’s is the most prominent.

- Hermie loves gardening. Despite being a bit of a prissy rich kid, he really loves getting his hands dirty with gardening, especially with flowers. The marks on his arms are also (somewhat) meant to give the appearance of gardening gloves to go along with this theme. Flowers (especially roses) are a big motif in his design.

- The “winged eyeliner” look of his eye mask is actually meant to be a pun. He’s a flying squid that’s wearing winged eyeliner. I think it’s pretty funny. Also the lashes are a permanent part of his eye mask and is not makeup. He was just born that way.

- Hermie’s design was meant to parallel Toothpaste’s in a way. The two were originally supposed to be a subversion of the “blue is for boys and pink is for girls” thing (which is why Hermie is pink and Toothpaste is blue), but they also parallel in some other ways. Mainly by how they both have a similar downwards V pattern on their tentacles. I feel like it’s not so obvious that they’re meant to match anymore now that Hoover and Lynn exist, but idk.

- My friends think he is pretty?

- Hermie’s favorite food is strawberries.

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Is that Hoover from Splatoon

Quick icon for Hoover’s art fight profile!! Another remake of last year’s with a bit more movement and all that!!

You can find his profile here if you want!! Also I’m on Team Fossils

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The green one is here.

Final agent ref for Art Fight!! This time it’s Iota, my Agent/Captain 3!!

She’s very triangle. Also please get that Splatoon 1 Slosher away from her. Splatoon 1 was 10 years ago, let it go man..

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This was originally meant to be Astra’s Art Fight icon, but honestly I ended up not liking it and thought it might be like, too unsettling-? I ran it by a few people and they all thought it was fine, but I’m erring on the side of caution

Irregardless, I didn’t really like this icon bc there’s not much movement going on, so I’ll probably redo it later anyways

(Also this is a thing I think she can do. It doesn’t do anything but she’s weird)

Also this is a Baldi reference

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And what if Toothpaste.. was actually toothpaste..

Much to think about..

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When they tell you to “be there or be square” and you aren’t there:

LOL here’s Min’s new ref sheet for Art Fight!! She got redesigned a bit too, but not by much.

Mainly she got more square, so now even more people are telling me she looks like Minecraft..

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Omg ignore the typo in the ref I will fix that 💔💔

Oh no it’s Agent 8

Art Fight ref for Astra!! She got redesigned a good bit since last year so she definitely needed it

Astra’s always been a strange character for me bc even I can’t really get a full picture of her. She’s meant to be kind of odd and a bit unknowable despite how “normal” she appears

Her design has weirdly a lot going on so I had to make another extra sheet to explain other things more. Also yeah my idea for Agent 8’s “hero headgear” is a customer service/dispatcher headset. I call it the “Hero Earpiece”, idk

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Oh no it’s Agent 8

Art Fight ref for Astra!! She got redesigned a good bit since last year so she definitely needed it

Astra’s always been a strange character for me bc even I can’t really get a full picture of her. She’s meant to be kind of odd and a bit unknowable despite how “normal” she appears

Her design has weirdly a lot going on so I had to make another extra sheet to explain other things more. Also yeah my idea for Agent 8’s “hero headgear” is a customer service/dispatcher headset. I call it the “Hero Earpiece”, idk

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Art Fight is approaching, you know what that means..

Here’s Toothpaste’s new and updated 2025 ref!! Tbh not much changed but the art needed a refresh imo

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Some finished Coroika comms!! There are still 4 slots open if youre interested :]

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Remade an animated icon for my main character Toothpaste!! This is a remake of her icon from last year and it’s for her Art Fight page

You can find her page here if you want, I’m still in the midst of updating everything though lol (but her page in particular is basically completely updated)