Simon Petrikov is a service top and you can fight me about it (Patreon)

WIPs of some of my drawings where i made a full little painting for the sketch to nail colours or values first. i thought it would be fun to do a Behind The Scenes and also show u how some drawings changed, what i kept and what i discarded and at what point i just started adding unplanned details

all these were done using a mixture of sai and procreate

more comments on The Process under the cut

eye of the otherworld is inspired by a real photo i took two weeks ago!

i soooo wanted to draw water that looked like this, weeds and all, so the original colours of that sketch were picked direct from the photo. but i wasn’t satisfied with it so i changed it using a gradient map (you can see it’s crunchy on the borders between colours). for the final, i re-painted everything again using the sketch colours as a guide so that i would not end up with the crunchy edges a gradient map will give u, and so that i could add in extra contrast over the top. the black swirl pattern in the final was an ad lib lol but i’m really happy with how it gives the impression of water or liquid even if it’s not realistic... i will try again to recreate something like this photo tho because i am obsessed. the birds were originally swans but the necks were driving me crazy i needed a bird with a shorter neck and grebes are associated with this location in canon so it was perfect. they have very funny feet. the last detail i added to this was the white flashes in their primary flight feathers (which do not occur in nature btw)

hanged man was an interesting one because it’s based on a sketch i made in 2020 when i first wrote this fun impalement scene

here is félix being impaled for the first time in 2020 by a rusted harpoon that essentially rips his human disguise off to reveal the black carapace underneath

for the coloured sketch in the photoset i re-lined this exact sketch in sai to update it to match my current lineart style, but as you can see i realised the pose itself needed work and not just a re-line so i completely redid it in procreate to exaggerate the pose and gestures. i went into this one already knowing exactly what bg colours i wanted so that was no issue but the hardest part was weirdly figuring out what he was going to be standing on. in canon he is standing on top of a very high wall and leaning back over a fatal drop. the black pencil lines in the clouds and the bird were ad libbed but i liked the idea of throwing the bird in as some extra symbol of freedom the likes of which you will not experience if you have been shot with a harpoon. the green was not working at all so the swap out to more purpley pink tones was last minute. i unified the different colours by using a colour-shifting brush (you’ll see that his gaiters are different colours - i didn’t hand pick those, the colour jitter did)

for Big Pascal... originally it was going to be a confrontation between the guy on the ground and pascal but i wasn’t feeling the standing pose and it ended up being... if not restful then at least maybe a little more benevolent than the shadow of colossus shit it was before. the white cracks in the sky were originally going to be black but it just didn’t work. a lot of people tag this one as some form of cowboy aesthetic which is funny to me. there’s no cowboys here

i do like the lens flare effect in the b&w thumbnail tbh and i think i kind of lost the low camera angle effect in the final

i drew a bonus comic of the two characters interacting during this scene (mostly the lil guy just trying to ignore what’s happening in the sky)

nine people you'd like to know better

tagged by: @freckliedan tysmm omg. i did start writing this on the 21st but then i got busy :(

last song: was sin eater by penelope scott last friday (when i started to write it) and still is LMAO. very good song 10/10

favorite color: well ok. it was blue¹ for the majority of my life and i still love blue a lot But!! i think i gravitate more towards pinks (and some reds—pink is just diluted red anyway) nowadays so like yeah my fav colors are pink and blu—ah fuck accidental transgenderism

currently watching: tmnt (2003)...... nostalgia is one hell of a drug.. idrc tho it actually holds up in many aspects lmao. i also bought a dropout tv subscription so im watching game changer & make some noise

sweet/savory/spicy: im literally eating nutella as i write this lol. i mean. i do enjoy those other things as well. but yeah

relationship status: naaahhhh. a (romantic) relationship sounds fun in theory but ive never felt the need for one in my life ever. like i keep waiting for the moment where i finally want one but naaaahhh as it stands nope. not in one don't really want one.

current obsession: i have a few! game changer & its spin-offs on dropout, caryn and connie (i love their sims builds!! their banter is also very fun to listen to in the bg) and the aforementioned accursed turtles.....

last thing you googled: i use duckduckgo 😎 that being said it is "what is ctrl r in google docs" LMAO can't escape google.....

tagging: UM. I DONT KNOW. i am quite afraid of seeming annoying and pushy. to overcome my fear i will tag some people BUT do not feel at all like you have to do it!!!! im just gonna tag mutuals/people who were mutuals for a long time

@captainquacksheart @maybebi47 @heyitsphoenixx @thursdaygirlmp3 @cartilagexfluid @thepeonie & anyone who wants to do it !!!!!!!!

¹ actually tho speaking of blue (language rant incoming) many cultures have different ways of categorizing colors and our color perception is in part shaped by that! a lot of languages differentiate btwn lighter hues of blue and darker hues of blue (e.g. russian and turkish) SO when i say "blue" i am actually thinking of the color "mavi" which refers to lighter shades of blue!! isn't that rly fucking cool!! the other word "lacivert" refers to the darker shades of blue. now, mavi is the more general name for that color, and lacivert could be considered a shade of mavi, but even then, a lot of native turkish speakers would find it super odd to call a super dark blue thing mavi. even calling something koyu mavi (dark blue) wouldn't be the same as calling that thing lacivert even though lacivert refers to a darker blue, bc guess fucking what there is also.....KOYU LACİVERT!!! isn't language so cool. i love thinking about language and words wait what was i doing

I absolutely loved BG1 and 2, Neverwinter Nights Hordes of the Underdark and Neverwinter Nights 2 too are among my most favourite RPGs. But Larians writing, particularly in D:OS2 turned me off so much :( How different is BG3?

big wall of text under the cut and before anything else i want to say that criticizing a game does not equal not liking it

i thought a lot about my response to this ask, since i must admit i have never played bg&bg2 and jumped straight into the hype train of bg3. and i'm genuinely curious what exactly about dos2 turned you off that much. here's what i personally think:

i played d:os1 and d:os2 and while i'm a big fan of the latter… dos1 couldn't keep me entertained even when playing with a friend in coop, which shows just how exhaustively boring and unmemorable it was. i really love dos2 and despite what i will say next, nothing is gonna change my love for this game. but. imma be honest, it was 3 and a half characters that kept me playing. i love sebille and lohse, i love malady — the mystery around her has its own appeal, but it's still a huge miss not to expand on such intriguing character as herself. i slightly care about ifan and fane, i couldn't give a lesser fuck about beast, i fucking hate the red prince and his writing is one of most unlikable from any rpg game i ever played (i can elaborate. but that's a post for another time). in short: lack of memorable characters, and those who are there have to make up in quality rather than quantity.

and larian is still... larian. their ambition makes them bite more than they can chew, you don't need to be nitpicking on purpose to notice just now empty act 3 of d:os2 was compared to fort joy or driftwood. in similar-ish way act 3 of bg3 feels less polished in terms of performance and content. like they even had to add an alternative ending to karlach's quest only after the game's release lol. there are quite a lot of bugs and players who are doing an "evil" playthrough like me found themselves deprived of content — sometimes you're just locking yourself out of quests, encounters, characters entirely because of decisions you made, quite literally making the game harder for yourself.

another important thing that i'd point out that dos2 felt kinda lacking in terms of the character creation because ocs always felt less immersive and shallow compared to the playable origins (i had the time of my life playing as lohse, tho). i know people who managed to have fun filling the blank spaces with their imagination, but i'm not one of those people, unfortunately. when i tried creating a drow character in bg3, however, every third npcs made sure to glare at me distrustfully and be fantasy racist towards the drow. like really? thanks for noticing! this might sound weird, but i liked that. it enhanced my feeling of immersion thus making it more satisfying to play. like yeees... yes... i indeed am a drow!

i'd rather stop focusing on its shortcomings because it feels unfair to larian when they are listening to the playerbase and trying their best to deliver patches as quick as possible. after all, what makes a good dnd adventure for me is always the story and characters — banal it may be, as long as it is fun, it is a good dnd game. and bg3 is very fun and addictive. there's this unique feeling when you're planning your next playthrough and considering what you would've done differently when still doing your first. i like it more compared to dos2, because... i'm not sure why myself? interpersonal interactions just feel a bit deeper, and i actually care about almost every companion, even the ones i did not expect to care about (like gale, astarion, shadowheart). and variety of the character creation, of course. and i can bet on bg3 being next the goty haha

to sum this all up:

if you like dos:2, you will like this game

if you like dnd e5, you will also like this game

if you like bg1 and bg2 then i genuinely don't know i'm sorry

Yo hello:3 I'm bored so I thought to ask you for your opinion on this: is there an outfit you can recall one of the boys wearing unironically that was REALLY bad? Like, a stage fit or a concept photo fiit or just anything where you couldn't help but think 'gosh darn the stylists had one job, who dresses up like this?' I have multiple for every member bc I refuse to accept 'its a statement' as an excuse, as well as some mortal enemies like whoever put Chan in cornrows that one time. If I knew who that was it'd be on sight. Anyway feel free to not entertain me on this, although it could be fun if you did, we can talk about that for a bit

omg anon that's such an interesting topic and i'm dying to hear your thoughts and see the outfits u hated but... my memory is like mashed potatoes.... i can't remember shit so it's really hard for me to point out a lot of specific looks... here's a recent one that came to me right away

i hate it so much.................. idk if its really bad tho or just really against my tastes lol

but also wtf is this

that's all i can point out right now.............. but overall ever since i got into skz i did have the general impression that their stylists do a good job like most of the time i think they look good which i thought was great considering my previous main bg looked bad on so many occassions.... specially red carpets like it was appalling

but please please send me your worst looks... maybe one ask for each member if you like and i'll give you my thoughts on them!

Guess who is starting (another) (new) business in the new year lmao who is surprised. Its funny bc i spent this entire year working on another new business (which i had 3 launches for this year 💀) which i am so passionate about but for some reason things kept getting in the way so i finally took it as a sign after a very random convo with my gay friend 2 days ago. I am so excited about this tho bc i actually have the educational bg for this and also a bit of experience in the field so i feel like i know what i’m doing this time around. The other business i dealt with imposter syndrome every fucking week eventhough i am very qualified to take on clients etc but i just felt lost often. This new thing is actually an old thing but i am finally taking it seriously now. There is a LOT of competition tho and i have to work with a lot of suppliers which i can only hope execute my projects to my standards. Creating an investment plan for the year bc i am about to make some very big purchases and i’ll also (finally) be hiring a team (very scary) but that’s luckily not until like 3 months into the new year bc of testings and lots of legal work. Very relieved tho bc it takes the pressure off of me a bit bc i don’t have to have things like my website, templates and original content ready for jan 1st like i was planning for the other business. Also no need for a studio as of jan 1st (yet) but i REALLY want one so might just go ahead and still manifest it lmao it would be so fun. This is veryyy out of my comfort zone. I backed out a year ago bc this requires me to be in the limelight all the time, have lots of in person meetings and also just the fear of not being exceptional enough in the industry. But this time around i am more ready than ever. I feel confident about it. Might even start a blog to document this bc i feel like that would be so fun to look back at lol. So excited for the new connections i’ll be making. This was my passion all along i was just so nervous to pour into it but it’s time :) Finishing up my 2023 overview, Q1 plans and maybeee i’ll get started on the branding. Already did the strategy work + creative direction and it’s looking SO good. Ahh can’t wait to see how this unfolds!!

I've been watching The Vampire Diaries lately as a show to kinda relax to without needing full attention and:

Kinda ship Bonnie/Caroline unfortunately I doubt this show has lesbians (but buffy had willow/Tara in the 90s so I wish this 2000s drama does -.-; I'll see I guess)

Kinda enjoy Tyler and Jeremy's scenes post 1x10 which I'm surprised by cause before I'd been rooting for Tyler to die

Damon/Elena are eons more interesting to me as a dynamic in that their scenes together have less predictability and more interesting outcomes (I get why elena/Stefan is a thing, they're both book loving reading nerds who like to talk about that stuff for hours and write diaries and spend quiet nights kissing/sleeping together and chatting about stuff they fan over basically - without the vampire old issue/Katherine ex situation they'd basically be a normal couple with shared interests, but like... as tv entertainment that's just not as fun to watch as ppl who do not get along and slowly need to learn to understand/interact. It's like angel/buffy versus spike/buffy or faith/buffy I suppose. Except I do appreciate stefan/Elena actually fight over "yr a vampire damn! People are dying I need to get AWAY this is fucked" and "I look like your dead ex what rhe fuck is wrong with you/any other secrets??!!!" Because like while it's still teen romance show level "I love you" ridiculously fast and unrealistically with a yikes vampire usual age gap lol, at least Elena's and stefans reactions seem somewhat more like real people would actually do? Whereas like... idk I usually see a much less realistic reaction of "wow people are dying I need to get away from you and reevaluate my view of the world goddamn".)

Bonnie makes me feel like I'm watching Charmed

Watching vampire stuff I'm glad there's a lot of death in this cause what even is a vampire story without people getting their blood drank? Also this show reminds me I've got my own vampire story I eventually want to write ToT but mines more itwv level bloody than teen angst. That said, i appreciate the slightly outside of high school elements of the show which remind me of charmed or buffy and give the impression this show CAN grow beyond a high school setting as the plot ages out of it, like buffy did, which gives it space to possibly do some cool stuff later on (that say a show like teen wolf bound inside teen-life couldn't really move to)

Thank goodness the show has some horror scenes and fights I really Can't focus without my action scenes lol

Like buffy (tho idk How better the writing will get) I can tell that around mid season 1 the writing shifted from Teen Show Pilot usual to having a more solid idea of the angle it wanted to go in. Caroline went from a "could be any teen extra" to a character with a clear personality, Bonnie went from only magic-show-plot element to someone who's friendships and enemies in the show matters, Matt and Jeremy as plain humans get a more defined characterization driven by their internal values more than only what's happening to them externally, Elena once she finds out vampires exists her character acts much more idk Likable to me? She's an everyday girl stand in, but with the knowledge of vampires her personal bg as someone fucked up by tragedies in the family and feeling death is inescapable to her (vampires all around and looking like a dead ex katherine), her desire to not see anyone else die and personally try to help stop vampires who are hurting people in town (despite being very mundanely human) gives her a solid backbone of who she is when put in a hard position. I liked her trying to fight a vampire alone with pencils and a broken broom - she doesn't succeed as she's a completely untrained and regular strength human but it shows she's got future potential and a trajectory, her trying to stop vampires from killing, her willing to go into danger, her willing to confront anyone, etc. She's showing some interesting traits specific to her that not every character Would do. Even Stefan with as little as I'm personally clicking with him, is making lets say Relationship choices that are distinct from Edward type or Angel type or Spike type or Lestat lol, so at least he's feeling like His Own individual character in a vampire story instead of a copy of someone else. He communicates eons better than Edward, saying he'll leave before leaving for someone's safety lol, and just in general open to conversations when conflicts come up more, he's mopey sure but not to the level of emo Angel from buffy is (and not quite as creepy tho he also stalked for a year lmao) and Lexi coming into town showed he's really not Endlessly pessimistic the way Louis or Angel would be. He's got a distinction versus other leading romance vamps, and although his dynamic doesn't have the enemies/rivals to friends to lovers I enjoy in watching a romance (bellamy/Clarke, lexa/Clarke, lucifer/Chloe, spike/buffy, louis/lestat etc) I do like that he feels like his own character to me. So I'm hoping like buffy the depth of characterization gets a bit better as time goes on for everyone. And the plot expands past high school as characters age up.

Damon and Stefan remind me of Dean and Sam. Yeah I know what I said ToT if supernatural went on 150 years and they turned into demons or vampires or whatever, both fell for the same girl, who's to say what coulda happened. All IM saying now is a crossover when they'd both been airing would've been hilarious.

club penguin rambles

there are a LOT of images bc the post is abt cp outfits. but also a ton of text bc i talk way too much. also I POSTED THIS ON THE WRONG ACC. I POSTED IT ON MY THEME TESTING BLOG BY ACCIDENT SO I HAD TO REPOST THIS. its the 11pm brain fog getting to me

okay so club penguin released a new clothing catalogue for november and here's my hippie fall outfit i came up with. it's designed around the sweater bc i thought the sweater was super cute but there wasn't any other hand item except guitar that really matched with the outfit. and like yes i could have it without the guitar (which i did do to take the 2nd pic) but i wanna equip a hand item!!! which sounds really stupid bc it is stupid but i'm picky and idc. the sweater IS adorable tho like look at it, its got little puffles on it and shit!!!! fucking adorable!!! and the colour is so pretty and nice too :3c i would buy that sweater if it existed irl. also look at the cool ass ghost puffle!!! their name is goober LMAO i dont rmb why i named them that. i think i was thinking like goofy goober but i already have an orange puffle named goofy ah so i guess thats why i just named this ghost puffle goober? genuinely i have no fucking clue. but i'm gonna keep them around cuz they look dope as fuck and also they match my penguins purple skin colour which i think is neat.

other outfits

since i am making a post abt cp outfits i also decided to add my previous outfits (that i have screenshots of) to this post too just to archive them so i can come back in 10 yrs and be like wow 16 yr old me had horrible fashion taste. (i hope tumblr is still around in 10 yrs. i mean, its lasted 15 yrs, so like whats another 10 right?)

for context:

the first one is one of my earliest outfits which i made with help & advice from moose bc i suck at fashion (thank u moose). i think it looks cool, tho there wasnt like a theme or anything that i was going for. i just liked the hair + jacket and wanted to make an outfit with it lol

the pizza one is from the pizza party event. do not ask me why they had a pizza party event. i have no idea. anyway it was really stupid but fun and i suck at the pizzatron 3000 minigame. i wanted to use a mouse for it but my mom took my mouse when she took my gaming pc so i had to use mac trackpad to play and boy it was Not good. also i gave my puffle jellybean a sombrero which i know is mexican and pizzas are from italy but i didnt know what else to give him!!! plus he looks really stupid cuz the sombrero is massive which i think is cute. oh yea, also i met rookie during the pizza party and i wanted to equip his background but my penguin covers half of rookies body and it didnt look good so i ended up going for this bg instead. its kinda lame but whatever, i still got to meet rookie and thats all that matters <3 (btw, for context, theres lots of npc mascots in the game and every so often they "come online" (its just a bot walking around really) and if u join the same area as them, u get a stamp + bg gift. i met rookie & jetpack guy during the pizza party and got their stamps and gifts but i love rookie more lol, hence why i wanted to use his bg. its too sad it didnt fit nicely bc i think its a p cool bg but oh well)

the bottom two are just variations of each other. basically for the sept or oct catalogue (i forgot which), the cp team added a bunch of punk stuff and i bought all of it bc it actually looked dope as hell. the one on the left came first but i didnt rlly vibe w the hair which is why i ended up changing it. also, the wings are a neck item which is why the first outfit doesn't have the dog tags even tho i wanted them. couldn't have both ): anyway, the second one came about after i got to meet cadence during the music party and i LOVE cadence (i had a massive crush on her when i was younger. like literally shes so pretty?!!) so i got rid of the raven wings so u can see her face in the bg. i can't lie i do think the bg is a bit lame bc its completely empty on the right which makes it feel kinda unbalanced, also u can see i have the cadence signature pin equipped. u can't change the positioning of the pin which sucks bc i would've put it on the right if i could but oh well. and yea i added the dog tags since no more wings. i accidentally clicked jellybean before taking this pic so it sent him home LMAOOO and i couldnt be bothered to get him back at the time so thats why hes missing from the pic. overall i think this outfit is def my favourite, the vibes are just so good. i love punk. oh and also the vampire teeth are bc the catalogue was mainly a halloween theme and well, they looked cool lol

for the record, jellybean is my favourite puffle hence why hes in all these pics. idk why but i just love white puffles, theyre so adorable and smiley despite being shy. also white puffles are slightly smaller than all other puffles which makes them 10x cuter. but i'm gonna keep goober around for a while just cuz they look cool as fuck. but i'll prob switch over back to jellybean when its closer to xmas. anyway its now 1120pm (i spent like half an hour writing this) so im going to sleep. goodnight

Hiiiiiii miss miso soup💗 sorry i took so long ( ˃̣̣̣̣̣̣o˂̣̣̣̣̣̣ ) ive been kinda down but im better now probably💗♡٩(❛ัᴗ❛ั ๑)

♡o｡+..:*♡o｡+..:*♡o｡+..:*♡o｡+..:*♡o｡+..:*

Yeah i have 3 doggies and 1 kitty💕 i loved momos pup he literally sounds insane ♡♡♡♡♡ my doggie is crazy too♡

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ive seen every clip u shared and i think i should definitely get more into them ♡∇♡ i think jihyo is def the one that gets my attention the most but sana nayeon and chaeyoung also have my attention 😳🤍

The Feels seem so fun to dance! and Cry For Me..sexy(๑°ㅁ°๑)‼✧ i didnt know the song ive loved it ☆♡ actually i knew very few songs by them before (their songs usually didnt hit much) i think I Cant Stop Me was probably my fave but you're getting me into them now ~♡ i also really loved 1, 3, 2 omggggg... !!!♡♡♡♡  (・-・*)♪

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and i only mentioned Lorelei before but then i remembered Galaxy and how much i like it❤️‍🔥 actually i think i like almost every song by them even if they are not my fave style but they are so nice to listen to! ive listened to sojung's songs and yeah i like ballads to an extent but her voice is sososososo pretty exactly the kind of voice i enjoy the most!😲😳 i did like her songs tho! I'll come back with my fave later

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and yeahhh i know... new idols are generally talented but so much focus is put into insane production and technology and weird stuff... it's definitely impressive but seldom original and often tiring... im not interested in getting into them cause they are too young but everytime i listen to most songs im like ??? i do like stayc a lot tho.

and yeah dancing is very fun! but when we do ggs😭 cause as i said the bgs they choose sound all the same so i dont know where to put the moves lol.. do u like dancing? o(^^o) (o^^)o do u sing or play an instrument? i sing ~♡

ok I'll come back later mwahhhhhhhh ily

-💗

hiii lovely anon 🤍 i hope you're doing better now! we had some thunderstorms yesterday. storms stress me out tbh, but i still think they’re cool. and it’s been so long since we had rain. it helped cool things down for the day, too. how are things for you? i think like, the entire northern hemisphere is having heat waves this month. things are normal here though… it’s just always very hot and dry.

awww so cute! my sibling’s kitten is like that, too… her default noise is growling, and she really likes to play by biting, so my arms have been full of teeth marks lately. she’s very cute still…

i’m glad you like them ^-^ sana, chae, nayeon… so true. sana is so sexy and fun. tbh, i’m most excited to see what personal projects chae eventually pursues bc she’s so cool. she fits every concept and she’s actually super talented! she’s kind of in the background in twice, but on sixteen (their survival show to debut), she was shown to be really solid in every area. all of the girls held her in really high esteem, so i think she’ll absolutely kill whatever she chooses to do 💕

and nayeon!!! omg her solo debut is in just a few hours!!!!!!! i’m soo excited. nayeon is right after jihyo for me. I’m reaally looking forward to her ep and the mv. idk if you’ve seen the teasers? there’s so much going on like a million different concepts tbh. they really went all out for it. it seems like it’ll be super fun and bright, which suits her perfectly.

yeahh all their dances are so fun tbh! like they’re not necessarily the most skilled group in any specific area, but they’re always so fun to watch perform, and their discography (especially the past couple years) is super solid. the feels is soo fun fr. have you seen any of the videos of them performing 1, 3, 2? they’re not super high quality bc they’re from concerts, but the concept is so stunning! there’s this part where the backup dancers use lights and it’s so pretty ✨ and also it’s soo nice to see jeonyeong performing again bc she was out for a while due to injuries and illness.

ohh right? there’s just something about lc’s music that’s so pleasant. and yes! sojung is my favorite vocalist of all time. her voice is just soo good, and i love how her tone is p unique within kpop. definitely let me know your favs sometime 💗

mmm yeah, i agree. it’s like the production overwhelms the actual performance. plus a lot of the songs aren’t very singable? whether it’s bc the choreo is just too intense for them to realistically sing live or the song itself is a mostly talk singing. + it seems a lot of ggs don’t really give their artists music that suit their vocal ranges… idk it’s all very strange lol. and right. especially with how young so many of the idols in the groups are. i’ll listen to their music, but i don’t really get that into the groups, bc it just feels kinda weird if they’re like fifteen

stayc is actually one of my favorite groups! i’ve loved everything they’ve released so far, and i love how unique their voices are from each other. their concept rn is “teen fresh,” so it’ll be cool to see how they grow from that as they continue 🌟

i’ve actually never tried dancing. just like.. in my room lol. it’s fun, though. ohh you sing? that’s so cool fr. i can play really basic piano, and i used to play cello 🎻 i want to take lessons again sometime, or maybe switch to viola, bc cellos are just so big =_= i love classical music, but musicians are so pretentious lol. playing in an orchestra or groups is so magical, but i’ve learned that i really prefer keeping things like this to myself ^^ i want to learn to play guitar or bass, too. once i’m finished with school, ig!

okayy keep me updated on how you’re doing and lmk any other music you like! ily 🤍🤍🤍

End of Year Questions for Writers and Artists

Was tagged by @eredins-a-king-aint-he thank you for that! ❤️ (and I'll finally answer in a timely manner XD)

Tagging @traumschwinge @dazedandinked @do-androids-dream-ao3acc and @rawrkinjd if you want to that is :) Or anyone who wants to look back on their 2021 projects (tag me in that case pls!)

Questions:

1. What project are you most proud of and why?

2. Which project did you have the most fun making?

3. Which project was the most unexpected and/or challenging and why?

4. Which project would you like to receive more attention?

5. Is there a project you intended to work on but couldn’t find the time? If so, what is it?

6. Have you noticed an improvement in your skill this year? Did a specific project help?

7. If you could remake any project you’ve created this year, which one would it be and why?

8. What project would you like to make next year?

Answers under the cut:

And again with the answers:

1. What project are you most proud of and why?

That's difficult to say because there are so many pieces where I'm very proud of certain details or aspects of the creation process. But the one I'm proudest of for carrying through the entire project was the 5+1 collection of Geralt being picked up and carried around. It had so many pieces that I wasn't sure I was going to finish all of them, especially considering how legs are very hard for me ^^;

2. Which project did you have the most fun making?

The one above. I generally suffer and whine a lot during the process of working on a project, because I try to force myself to use colours (and I regularly forget my brush and colour palette settings orz) so technically that's less fun. But the poses were fun to try and figure out and alter for armor and the different body type of the characters (even Geralt went through some changes, especially with Letho lol), and it was ultimately funny to keep squinting at my figures and wonder "when did your legs grow that extra mile, my dude?"

3. Which project was the most unexpected and/or challenging and why?

The Geralt and Duny chilling in the cave by firelight I made for the Witcher BB. I'll be honest, even with my fascination for Emhyr and his curse I did not actually expect that I would end up drawing a hedgehog. Ever. But here I am. I pushed myself on textures and mood and lighting and background, and it was a lot of panicked scrambling in the beginning, but it turned out unexpectedly cool, and I'm real proud of it. Especially for the 3 hours I'd spent on all the furs on Duny's shoulder and in the bg. (and the rock texture, god that was fun!)

4. Which project would you like to receive more attention?

All of my big bang pieces tbh, because I do try to really push myself on them and they get little attention compared to that, I think?, but if I'm being very honest it's this one. I mean, it did one of the best amongst my Geralt/Emhyr pieces, but I love this one so much, I really would have liked if it got a little more attention. We all have our darlings, you know?

5. Is there a project you intended to work on but couldn’t find the time? If so, what is it?

Yeah, plenty. A lot of them are fic illustrations where I have a very rough sketch outline, but something just refuses to work and I just didn't have the time or energy to figure it out (there are 3 of those in the below compilation of wips I really wanted to work on this year). (It's mostly patience that I lack tho.) There is the one with Geralt and Eskel - which I plan to figure out in January, as I'm planning to dedicate that month to him; and further prompt fills for the Witcher Rareship Summer Bingo that I didn't have time for. That includes Geralt and Regis and Dettlaff sharing only one bed (there are so many limbs and pointy elbows there omg); Eskel, Lambert and Geralt howling at the moon for the 'Serenading' prompt that I imagined would have been best in a little comic strip kind of format and would end up a little sappy (I don't have a single line laid out for that one); Geralt and Emhyr cuddling after a nightmare and Geralt still having his toxicity lines showing.... I really had big plans this year. Way too big.

6. Have you noticed an improvement in your skill this year? Did a specific project help?

Yeah, definitely. I've improved a lot this year in many, many aspects. I've learnt a lot of anatomy (it's a big jump from zero to some but it still felt like a lot, even though I only just noticed how little I actually know lol); and while I forgot how portraits work, I think I can finally put the eyes in their right place and right-ish size. Most of the time. It's been a huge issue that still haunts me from previous years. Umm... I did a lot of drawings for the drawer (and Traum), because I'm not willing to go to twitter to post them (so you might guess what those drawings are), and they helped a lot. Lots of limbs and muscles in action, that's all I'm saying. They are very helpful.

7. If you could remake any project you’ve created this year, which one would it be and why?

It would be this one, with Geralt and Emhyr. I still very much like the accidental texture of the armour and cloth folds, and there is a charm to how rough it is, but I'd really love to see it a little more smoothed out (now that I'm familiar with the brush as well) and fix some anatomy issues with Emhyr. His arm is bugging me.

8. What project would you like to make next year?

As I've mentioned above, I would like to draw a lot of Eskel in January. I'll never forgive how TWN did so dirty by him in season 2, and I feel very bad for having pushed him back in this year's project line-up. (I'm open to ideas and proddings ;)) I would also like to work on the rarepair bingo prompts and see where they take me. As well as finally finishing this piece I started back in January for Anomalous Elixirs. It's almost done, only missing the lines and colours for the last panel with Geralt and Dettlaff.... and my courage to look at the other panels to rework some details, because hoo boy, is it obvious that I've been working on it on and off throughout the whole year.

Aside from those, I'd probably set the same goals for myself as I did for 2021. Push my working process so that a piece wouldn't take weeks to complete; learn how to do backgrounds (that's not just a bed); work on simplifying my style into something more illustrative and less semi-realistic, if that makes sense? I feel like that's trapping me a lot. Also I want to do some cute sticker designs, i'm really looking forward to those ^^

What do you mean you didn't enjoy the Dave content???? 😱😱 He's my favourite character this half-season! 😂

lol, well tbf i havent rewatched s4 & maybe i'd be able to enjoy him more with some distance but i found him particularly and the secret service plot generally pretty boring and kinda repetitive of the previous fbi stuff while being de facto less interesting (due to lack of turner) & therefore at least low level annoying, and (as a result?) a time suck from stuff i wouldve found more interesting/particularly wanted to see, especially from a final season.

i think the longer the show went on, the more both beth and rio managed to irritate me, and the more of a turner fan ive retroactively become lol. one of the things that annoys me the most abt the s2 finale is the squandering of the beth + rio + turner dynamic, which is doubled down on by turner's (apparent!) death in the s3 premiere. we only get one beth + rio + turner interaction in the whole show! and they're never all active participants in a scene together!!! wtf??!??!?!

i was fine with the law enforcement storyline being dropped (tho i still think it's super weird that we never got a realisation of or acknowledgment from the girls that rio was (presumably!) responsible for turner's death?? like wtf???!! is he ever mentioned again????), so to have another one almost immediately with less interesting characters seems a bit...silly? i mean it's kind of an upping stakes i guess but it just felt needlessly repetitive, and i think as with other things in the later seasons (e.g., beth getting rio arrested again, or kidnapping 2.0) couldve been easily improved with concrete references to previous occurrences from the characters! even if kind of oblique?

like the secret service storyline was overall pretty inoffensive but i just found it quite bland/boring, and it frequently stretched the limits of my ability to suspend disbelief? (tho being not american im sure helped lol.) i sometimes enjoyed phoebe (and particularly her dynamic with beth), but i think the show squandered the opportunity to do something with the ~women in male-dominated industries thing, like that didnt really go anywhere? i thought ew guy (i wanna say henry?) was a kinda fun character, and i was hoping he and annie were gonna meet and get stuck in an ew off, but he swiftly disappeared into the bg?

also the weird all of law enforcement are gay thing was just.... so odd??? (i did super enjoy that nick's assistant lampshaded it lol.) if dave didnt fuck dean on the books & kick off the dean coming out storyline we deserved....i just dont really get what the point was yknow? and along with the unfulfilled potential of the women in male-dominated fields thing, it feels like there's a sort of wasted opp to properly mirror the phoebe/dave & beth/rio (~professional) relationship thing.... or like.... idk it feels kinda like the show accidentally said the key to career success is either to get your boss to leave his wife or fall in love with you LOL (am now obsessed with the idea that dave and rio went to the same management conference offscreen at the tail end of the season and suddenly learnt how to listen to women tho....)

the wrap up of their storyline with the blatancy of the beth protecting rio / beth and rio as the co-presidents of the we hate nick club WAS super fun but it repeatedly felt kind of preposterous that dave and phoebe were being so agreeable to the girls?

ultimately i'd put a lot of the secret service stuff in the chaff i didnt really care about column, which is frustrating when there was other stuff i wish the show had had space to focus on e.g., why set up this beth-stan conflict to just have it putter out?! we deserved a scene of the two of them absolutely losing their shit at each other!!! And/or destroying everyone at scategories!!!!! christina and reno as scene partners was such a treat!!!

and like honestly....law enforcement exist to kick off a brio fake dating ploy... turner understood this.... all of fanfiction understands this.... why were they there otherwise yknow?!

plus i def think the whole thing could have benefitted from a surprise: turner’s actually alive reveal!!!! #mencantdie

but im glad someone was getting some serious enjoyment from his presence, haha

Becoming a Family With Him, Part 3 // Shuichi, Hikaru, Rhion, Luke, Eisuke

so this came out, as further celebration for the anni. VERY GOOD, much more appreciated than the prior story set lol that one was kind of boring but i get it

they made the kids for all the... kid-less ones, and the eisuke one that used to be VIP-exclusive is now here for everyone to buy (rip those ppl who gacha for it)

my rambling behind the cut (spoilers!!)

shuichi // as ud expect, shuichi has a literal hime ass looking girl (kikyo) for a daughter. she’s only 6, but is pretty calm and ladylike. She even calls her parents with –sama so... ok luckily shuichi does not strip down all the way in the presence of her daughter and only takes off his suit coat. thanks dad

anyway since shuichi has a break coming up, he wants to have a family trip how nice. but then the dang girl wants to go over to see eisuke WHAT when soryu exists and lives a block away? unrelatable, im closing the app anyway eisuke is her first love, which wtf he’s like 20 yrs older than u. even worse, mc says she’s been in love since she was like 3.

shuichi is reconsidering the benefits of democracy in his mind but eventually relents. but then they’re still following the fucc-days rule they set years ago. well, as he says in the story, RULES ARE RULES

blah blah i don’t want to go over everything bc then it’ll be boring reading the story when it comes out in engl right? also im tired bc it’s 1 am and i just want to play toontown in bed but nothing really bad happens. they are a v cute family bc shuichi is a pleasant and mature dad. kikyo and mc even do a little surprise for him at the end and it is very sweet. i feel like out of all the families, this is the most ideal

mad hatter // so they have twin sons named Rui and Kai. Rui is the childlike one that resembles Rhion in personality, Kai is the more mature one that resembles Al. man i forget that boy’s name but u get me i know they only can use stock bgs but it’s killing me that these dang kids get to sleep in what looks like separate king sized beds.

even though rhion is now a father of two, he still acts like... 10. i mean he still horni but it makes me feel weird

later it’s revealed that Ota teaches them both as an art tutor bc they both showed an interest in art. this is cute bc ota is bad with kids in this universe LOL

the ending on this one was weird cuz the kids didn’t show up in the entirety of the last ep bc it was about WORK. so uh... interesting

hikaru // so their son is named akari. haha get it because it means light. like how hikaru also means light. can mc name her kids unrelated to their father or is that against the Geneva convention

this kid actually acts like an actual little boy. like what hikaru would’ve probably turned into if not for the whole sad backstory. the story starts with akari just bringing a dog randomly home one day. he actually saved the dog (it is very cute bc he did not want the dog to cry), and then after a talk they decide to keep the dog as long as akari knows the responsibility of taking care of an animal.

so next day, the bidders come over to their house and everyone’s like woaw a dog. lol they come into their house as guests and eisuke and mamo still demand for beverages, they all suck

akari names the dog... “Light” (Raito) and i want out of this nightmare. Naturally bc Light is an abandoned dog it’s still kind of bad with interacting with things. But then Light suddenly be giving the ( ╹ਊ╹) to soryu bc remember, animals love him. everyone clowns on soryu for being an unintentional dog whisperer and then akari is like “soryu san pls make me ur apprentice” and he gives some advice like approaching it slowly, and talking to it from the front instead of back.

blah blah there’s a situation where Light goes YEET after a Doberman gets all angry and then hides bc then another dog is scaring it. hikaru swoops in to the save the day as the Real Dog Whisperer. ok it’s cute when hikaru actually gets to look cool  for once LOL

luke // luke is cute on the bc “pre-story” scene he’s actually pretty open to the idea of having kids; he actually goes “well imo we should think abt it pretty soon, but i wanted to hear ur opinion on it” but then he gets horni. and then he’s like “our kids are going to have your collarbones. awesomeee im looking forward to that” ....ok

ok cut to the actual story and they’re in Japan. Luke’s kid looks... strange versus the others. why are his eyes so big? omg voltage his eyes arent going to be saucers just cuz he half white also the kid’s name is Yuri (Or Urey). They couldn’t think of any other Brit-styled names? Like Harry? Henry? William? Wilfred? hey stan be my princess btw he’s pretty cute, though he gives serious “timid kid that gets bullied in the children’s movie” vibes. He calls Luke “daddy” and mc “mammy/mommy”.

so luke talks about his relationship w/ soryu and eisuke and then yuri is like “i want friends like that” wow cute but also find less ethically-complicated friends

so luke lets yuri meet a young patient of his (haru) so they can be friends. they get along so it’s good. haru gets in critical condition later so luke zooms outta there to do the operation.

LOL but at the end yuri is like, “i want to make more friends. (...) can i go to the bidder’s room from now on?” this boy works fast

And then he’s like “Eisuke-san... please be my friend.” HIS POWER. even eisuke was like :O so then eisuke orders a whole bunch of food and books up to the penthouse. But then yuri’s like “...i like eisuke’s eyes” and everyone’s like oh man that’s gonna be his fetish

Baba: why have u started to have an interest in eyes Yuri: I read it from one of daddy’s medical books Hikaru: wtf u can read that at 4??? (...) Soryu: wat Yuri: um... i want soryu to be my friend too Yuri: bc soryu’s eyes are also powerfully cool...

eisuke // ok this gets an extended ramble bc the more annoying the story the longer i must complain

so you might be thinking, “oh so this is gonna be a flashback in some in media res styled story with your 2 kids, u know in the style of the others” and well, no you just go straight to white screen into the flashback, back when eito was smaller and thus a little more cute. well it’s not really false advertising bc they did say “reminisce” in the description. but i wanted to see eito be a good big brother for a moment! or... less good? man i wanted to see kaito go waaaah like a baby idk i wanted to see him exist

so back to the story they cut to small eito. even as a smaller punk he does fight with his dad a little, just w/ a more narrow vocabulary to work with. tho at this point he’s still pretty sweet so clearly eisuke clowning him day and night was a negative effect on his development. (doesn’t treat his child like a child) (child grows up to a punk that doesn’t respect him) (surprised pikachu) being the son of a billionaire means that this child has to go study at a very young age and listen to MOZART. no child of eisuke ichinomiya will be listening to degenerate bops like lee taemin’s criminal next day they all go to the very fancy school that eito will be attending. eisuke does a speech, but then eito is all like “why is papa over there all the time” in reference to how all the other parents in attendance are having fun with their children, but eisuke is busy talking to other people for business and connections etc. etc. mc kind of has a hard time trying to explain it to eito bc... it’s honestly poor parenting... eiji shows up after arriving late, and he’s like “gramps is gonna be with ya today! instead of papa” which is cute but then she’s like psst thanks for coming and im like oh... so grandpa just didn’t randomly come to the open house for fun he’s just gonna be surrogate dad while real dad is busy... aw... and then at the end eito’s like FUC THIS KINDERGARTEN. eisuke is like “(smh) don’t yell in public. (despite everything) you are still the eldest son of the Ichinomiya family”

and so afterwards it’s clear that eito does not want anything to do with this school. he just sits in the classroom until mc is there to pick him up instead of playing in the courtyard or w/e, wanting nothing to do with the other kids.

so later there’s a hiking trip for the students and both of their parents, and mc asks eisuke if he’ll be available for it. eisuke is like, “i have a business trip that day, so I’ll have to adjust my schedule” and he’s been very busy in the opening of a new business or w/e. mc tells him to not do so much for something like that and that it’s ok if she goes alone with eito on the trip.

it’s the day of the trip, and mc goes alone with eito. she notes that a lot of dads did indeed come along for the trip. she apologizes to eito and says that she did talk to eisuke about the trip before, but he’s simply busy for this day. and im like... but girl, you were the one who told him not to change his schedule for the trip. yes a trip may seem less important than business ventures, but don’t make it sound like you weren’t the one who stopped him. lol. idk why im pressed abt this single line of dialogue bc later she does realize she fucced up there well eito is just like w/e about it and has pretty much accepted that sort of thing

anyway eito goes missing later and one of the kids said that he told eito that his dad (eisuke) didn’t come bc his dad thinks that his work is more important than his son. so eito got mad and ran off somewhere

and then mc finally gets the lightbulb moment that eito... wants to see his dad!! he ran off to go try to see him somehow??? !! wow so sweet

it’s raining like a mf but then in her search for eito eisuke randomly pops out of nowhere. He’s like “ho i did not remember saying that i wasn’t coming” and she’s like “im sorrryyy” and both me and him are like “just find the dang kid”

ok yea they find eito, he starts being a good student, and u start to see where he starts being antagonistic towards his dad LOL etc. etc. lol this story annoyed me so i don’t feel like doing the rest of the play by play orz

anyway thanks for reading my garbage LOL

Good things that have happened this weekend:

1. I managed to call my bank and got an issue sorted out (it was a minor thing and took like, 2 mins to figure out lol) and the ppl at my bank are always super nice and helpful :) (it was a misunderstanding but I originally thought the last job I did didn’t pay me, and the person I talked to was getting heated abt it on my behalf and that was very nice even tho that turned out not to be the issue ahah 😭)

2. I had two different really nice convos with cashiers at stores. With the first person we talked abt loz which. I’ve had on my brain a lot and always love talking abt 😭 and the second one we talked abt fashion which is another topic I love (specifically we were taking abt wacky unique fashion omg they told me they saw someone w little babydoll earrings and I WANT some…)

3. yesterday I got to go to a relatives house and pet and hold some chickens they have and hang out with one of my baby cousins briefly, and that was really fun bc she’s like 5 and was excitedly showing me all her lil toys 😭 the chicks I held were soo small and I could feel their lil heartbeats and I about CRIED. Babies… (I also held their hamster and pet the cat and we saw a lot of cows, donkeys, horses and dogs on the drive there since it’s farm land…and u kno I had my window rolled down screaming joyfully to them all that I love them)

4. today me and my mom tie dyed some shirts and a hoodie and it’s my first time doing that so I’m very excited to see how they turn out!! Hopping they look cool, we just kinda did scrunching instead of actual twisty patterns or anything fancy, but I am excited anyway! It’ll be a few more hours until they’re done but I’m like 👀

5. it’s been warming up here and it’s sooo sunny and nice out today ☺️ I’m so ready and excited for spring!!! My fav season!!!

6. My mom made a delicious pineapple upside down cake and I had it for breakfast and there is no better breakfast than a Cake Slice. But I also made an omelette and had a breakfast for lunch situation and it was just about the most picturesque omelette I have ever made, it was BEAUTIFUL (and tasted very very good)

7. Drinking out of the mug one of my bffs sent me and it’s so cute and the perfect size 🥺 it’s def my new favorite mug ❤️

8. I managed to finish a drawing! Nothing huge or with a bg, but it’s so nice to get over my art block a bit. Going to wait a while to post it since I’d like my latest drawing to be at the top of my art blog for a while, but I’m proud of myself for managing to draw!

hi tange ❤️❤️❤️ I hope this is ok to ask but as an art student was there ever any issues w/ submitting fanart since uv said u did naruto stuff at school? I only have experience w high school art class and the mortification of showing people my fanwork was too much for me so I just did original art I was less passionate about to show teachers etc 😖 but I dont look back on that art as kindly as I do my old fanart either yknow ?

hi!! oh my gosh if u or anyone ever had qs about art school please ask! i'm always down to answer to help unveil the mystery of it and also to help out haha, putting a tldr upfront and long post under read more

tldr: on the offchance ur school does allow it go for it cus no one will care, but i highly suggest taking the opportunity to explore original IPs instead because it's hard to do outside of an education environment, esp if ur normally into fanart (like me)

ok heres the long reply: its gonna be based all lot off of ur schools rules! to be honest a lot of my work was original, the only classes i submitted fanart for were my digital animation class bc i 1. was at the point where i didnt give a fuck LOL and 2. the professor did not check in with us before we started so we could do whatever.... and the other class was for character design because it was a fanart assignment 0: most other times i acually did strive to do original work and focused mainly on three different IPs i have.

i did dress up as naruto on multiple occasions tho because the opportunity popped up! probably like 5 times lol

i think something (and this is based on school) that you will discover is that professors genuinely do not care how outragous your content is! if anything if it's super whack then it's more entertaining and ull have more fun w it. i animated the nyan neko sugar girl rabies bite and my teacher didnt bat an eye and also made an oc in chara design whos biggest trait was being obsessed w how good she looked and having the BIGGEST tits and ass as a part of her character and my teacher was like 'yeah but this boot is uneven? watch the curve on her bra, etc'. i even used her in some of my bg paintings later haha. so i would say more than making fanart just feel out the vibe of ur school, it's honestly a REALLY good time to explore original work because once ur out u can make whatever you want, or do original work for ur assignments and fanart for fun? which is what i tried to do! when ur in you get feedback from other students and teachers which is something that becomes a lot harder post graduation, so learning how to build up strong original stories is great and you'll come out with lovable characters that r dear to u! but also some/most? schools don't allow fanart, mine normally didn't except for that animation class n i'm sure it's only cus he didnt recognize the source material haha..

also people really will not care if it is allowed because EVERYONE else at art school also draws for fun and is going because they want to. like no one is forced to go into art school and normally have to fight their way in. people at my school KNEW me as the naruto person who loved sasuke lol like i got coined the title of hokage for like the second half of my time there.. so do not fear! if ur talking and making connections with ur fellow peers (which u should really try to do) then eventually youll be talking about similar interests and sharing social medias anyways and unless ur drawing like. REALLY weird/yikes stuff it's fine! one of my best friends is making a living off of explicit furry nsfw rn lol

hopefully this helps i think i tried to answer like 20 questions instead of just 1 but i think fanart is a good segway into just type of content to make for school! also try to avoid putting fanart in your portfolio if you can, or keep it in a separate section. I keep my nice quality fanart in mine but specifically labelled in a section called fanart so people can look at my original work because that's where its All My Brain, which ppl wanna see if that makes sense. Fanart is something where someone would look to see how you executed a piece just for draftsmanships sake but ig another reason to not do a lot of fanart is you won't come out with as many portfolio pieces you can use confidently? some recruiters dont care and some do so its best to just be safe

My dudes wasabi Japanese is so cool this site is so cool literally my dream site ToT (thank u @yue-muffin for all those free reading links <3 which is what included wasabi Japanese)

I know what I’m doing after I finish reading Japanese in 30 Hours! (I might keep reading Reading Japanese for fun too just cause... I might as well we will See).

So like curse me if, when I say I will, it makes me not lol. I hope I DO actually do this. Because it sounds so much more clicks-with-me right now than my alternate study plan (which was Nukemarine memrise - which I WILL eventually do ToT I plan it ok, and tae Kim’s grammar guide - which I’m happy to replace with any grammar guide I’ll finish fucking reading tbh).

1. Remembered bilingualmanga exists and I am making no commitments to read anything (tho I have 4 mangas open and an urge to read them for the first time in years since I read yotsuba earlier and followed it). But I will say it’s quite cool I could um read and look words up (ditto for just regular iOS word lookup and Japanese scripts... I’d say ditto for Animelon too and I DO recommend it but I’m just not really an anime watcher).

2. Wasabi Japanese has a: a grammar guide. So my ass is gonna try reading it (in my defense it has audio which I find marginally nicer than the other sources I’ve been looking at... like I literally read Japanese in 30 Hours aloud audio helps me... also why I suspect in part Nukemarine’s decks help they make me listen a lot). https://www.wasabi-jpn.com/japanese-grammar/wasabis-online-japanese-grammar-reference/

3. Even better (to me) wasabi Japanese has b. A grammar drills lesson course that has you shadow and practice SENTENCE PATTERNS AND GRAMMAR. I was literally considering buying a Japanese shadowing textbook for just this purpose (but that textbook was random phrases whereas this is targeted sentence patterns). Also I learn best by just fucking seeing sentence patterns so I kind of suspect an activity like this would click with my brain better than actual grammar guide reading (tho grammar guide reading gives me a useful overview of what to start noticing). Like I literally own the book Japanese Sentence Patterns just cause it was the only thing that clicked... Bonuses about this lesson course wasabi Japanese has: it’s me Doing stuff, I learn best just Doing tbh (it’s why just brute force reading clicks well with me lol). And better, Doing stuff in a streamlined way so I can not bumble as long lol and I have reference if I’m confused (Also why I like graded readers). Info: https://www.wasabi-jpn.com/japanese-lessons/how-to-proceed-with-the-instantaneous-composition-method/ The lessons: https://www.wasabi-jpn.com/japanese-lessons/materials-for-japanese-lessons-intensive-reading/

4. Wasabi Japanese has lessons through stories, listening reading and shadowing. Phenomenal. Both the perfect chance to test if Listening Reading works some more (which I’m currently into), and to actually DO some things I wanna do like read and practice listening (versus Nukemarines memrise courses which are just flashcards, or playing Japanese video games which is... doable but too draining to be enjoyable or efficient yet). I’m excited. How to use: https://www.wasabi-jpn.com/japanese-lessons/japanese-lessons-how-to-proceed-with-read-aloud-method/ Actual lessons:. https://www.wasabi-jpn.com/japanese-lessons/fairy-tales-and-short-stories-with-easy-japanese/

5. Assuming you’re better at Japanese than me - wonderfully wasabi Japanese has a course I could use, right after finishing that last one, at a slightly more difficult level, with manga: https://www.wasabi-jpn.com/japanese-lessons/materials-for-japanese-lessons-intensive-reading/

6. Alternatively, want a different N3 course that’s radio program based? Here it is: https://www.wasabi-jpn.com/japanese-lessons/materials-for-japanese-lessons-read-aloud-method/ so yeah, wasabi Japanese looks like a quite nice alternative to flashcards or a textbook if a babe just wants to learn from stories with audio for a while ToT

7. Also I am again contemplating the benefit of just playing audio in the background more. Will I do it? I don’t know. I’d love to play SpoonFed Chinese audio, Japaneseaudiolessons, and Japanese core 2k audio on in the background. As it’s all comprehensible input I know I’d mostly pickup if I just heard it enough to Review it (whereas rn I just hear each audio file once ever on a walk then never again cause I have little time for focused audio only listening). But I feel bad when I play them in the bg and don’t fully listen ;-;. Ah the dilemma. Truly though they’d help so much if I played them in the background I know it... as of this month as an experiment since reading The Word Brain, I’ve been listening to SOME Chinese audio more. Specifically Guardians audiobook, a random Chinese hp audiobook, Alice in wonderland audiobook, silent reading audiobook. You would not believe how much it’s been noticeably helping. Usually it’s avenuex’s Guardian audiobook and every time I catch a bit of it casually in the bg while working, I’m blown away I understand clearly what I didn’t the time before. In particular I’m probably having the most improvements in this novels comprehension, since I’m Listen Reading Method with it too. But like... the first time I focused listened to it during L R? I caught everything with difficulty during the only-chinese audio but English text step 3. And then listening alone only caught the main story beats/scenes (which was already a major improvement for me). Now when working I can actually catch the paragraphs about Guo Changcheng’s family, his uncle, going to McDonald’s - these are details I very specifically remember being the ones I could NOT catch doing listening only the first time post L R. So after idk 3-6 listening of this chapter, just listening again in the background (since L R takes too much time I’m lazy I only do L R once), I’ve made this much progress. I only saw the full definition of everything ONCE one time during L R step 3 once. But just listening more I catch more and more. And of course, as I catch more the unclear parts become easier and easier to maybe figure out. All I know is I severely underestimated the benefit of repeated listening - at least when (at one point once) you comprehended the material. So considering this... I think now with hindsight, yes listening to condensed audio of a show or just a show, that you’ve seen before with English subs/dual subs/in target language and looked unknown words up, in the background probably could help. If at one point you comprehended it before. (So for me Guardian cdrama is hella on this list lol). With hindsight yeah, repeated audio of an audiobook chapter or audio drama you followed the target language subs for before, or that you could read but not hear alone, would probably help listening skills. Definitely my audio flashcard files where they’re literally Built to be comprehensible since it’s English then target language each line. So... yeah in hindsight more audio, even background audio, can help. Guarantee when I’m not L R with the guardian audiobook I’m barely even listening. And still I find myself catching parts of it.

8. My roommate got too excited about Final Fantasy 14 and informed me it’s free to play now.. which I didn’t know. So of course I foolishly looked up if I could play it in Japanese on a PlayStation and looks like answer is probably yes and I am sorely tempted...

9. It’s gonna be wild for me looking back on may progress at the end of the month because: I did almost nothing I planned, I got demotivated then intensely motivated, I’ve done a ton ToT, I also did a ton of Japanese immersion which?? I’m not even counting?? I don’t track my Japanese immersion yet because like... it’s not my priority right now. I read a ton of manhua the other day and just forgot to log it. I watched some of the woh concert and just did not count it, I read a surprising amount of Japanese this month for someone “not studying it much” yet (aka maybe more than I read last time I studied Japanese??). I did a lot of L R method I didn’t even track, I did a ton of background listening and I’m not tracking just hoping for the best. Did I finish 小王子 this month or last month? Whatever month that was I read like 4 Chinese books. I just remembered I read like 3 Japanese graded readers but didn’t count them cause they felt too simple to count (only 28 pages each). I watched 10 Cure Dolly Japanese grammar vids tho not sure how much help it is long term. Whatever time I did the Japanese video games had to count for something even tho it was draining af. Anyway my point is just... count on me to not do what I planned but be more productive when I do that. All that said: I’m more productive when I set plans even if they aren’t always followed, so I’ll keep making them lol. I think I just needed to hit that turning point of “do anything you want, just continue to do something” instead of “complete this first!” (Although I’m still aiming to complete things - or at least go for progressively challenging things). I dunno... I want to say I want to consider just trying to finish things imperfectly just finish them (to motivate me to finish my Hanzi books, Japanese books, courses I find). But knowing me.. I have no idea what will get me to keep going. Just need to remember it’s ok to do it imperfectly. Just need to remember to place what I will care about and actually do, as priority over what it is I think “must be fully done.”

Hi, Val! Have you finished all of nhie season 2? If so, did you enjoy it? I’m only two episodes in so I can’t really form a great opinion lol.

heyy jessica 😊💕 yes i finished it and overall i did like it. it's not really a show i had any expectations for so it was fine. came for the train wreck got the train wreck.

i didn't particulary vibe with the first two episodes (or gigi voicover in 3rd) either because the last thing i wanted was cheating plotline and also i thought s1 ending meant she was with ben now so this felt like it was going bit backward. but it did get better for me as it went tho. i did love the family aspects and new character that comes in later. at some point the show even got a little more serious than in the first season especially with some topics they brought up.

i mean something i didn't like and that bothered me was the way relationships were done. all of them felt... ehh superficial. most of the characters were two timing and it seemed like it's not really a big deal if you ditch, emotionally cheat or break up with someone. and yeah most of the side stuff isn't that important and it's a show with messy character but it felt kinda meh considering how first season was and when you contrast it to the main relationships. also s2 felt a lot more focused on paxton and giving him personality which i get considering the way plot goes. but they did kinda put ben in bg because of it and since i prefered focus to be more on some other things i did like s1 more.

but yeah watched it to have fun and i did ¯\_(ツ)_/¯