#I finally want to start working on that short comic I've been meaning to draw since last year | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

quoththemaiden · 3 months

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A short (~1k) scene inspired by Chapter 9 of @mrghostrat's absolutely glorious Big Name Feelings human AU fic. Hope you like arms?

"C'mon, angel, not even gonna crack a smile at that one? Whales, get it? Whales."

Aziraphale felt like his cheeks were on fire from trying to keep a straight face at Crowley's increasingly terrible puns. "I would hate to tacitly encourage this behavior."

"Pfft, you love it." Crowley grinned at him, far past being undaunted and fully into the realm of being energized by Aziraphale's failed attempts at stoicism.

"You're utterly ridiculous." Aziraphale didn't even bother trying to make it sound like an insult, and the half of the screen taken up by his webcam made it clear his cheeks were as pink as they felt. "And I can't help but feel like you're stalling. Hadn't we agreed to be actually productive today?" Aziraphale didn't mind, really; he did want to keep making steady progress on his art, but if his life could consist of coming home from work and just unwinding with Crowley...

...but, well, that wasn't the purpose of this call.

Crowley groaned. "Yeah, yeah. What a taskmaster."

"It is my job to protect you from rabid fans, after all," Aziraphale teased right back.

"O Brave Guardian, protect me from procrastination!"

"That sounds rather harder than a dragon, I'm afraid. But if you don't get to work, I won't be able to work either, and then you won't get to see the finished piece."

"Urk—" Crowley made a strangled noise and finally reached for his mouse. "You'll actually be working on it?"

Aziraphale nodded before adjusting his webcam to show his tablet a bit more. "I really need to get more practice with this, to get half as confident as I am with physical paints."

"I've seen the drawings you've done! They're fucking brilliant."

Aziraphale laughed. "You've said that about everything I've shown you. I'm starting to think I should send you some stick figures as a test."

"Those would be the most adorable fucking stick figures ever. You could draw a whole comic of just stick figures and I'd reblog it a hundred times."

"That's about what I'd expect you to say, yes." Crowley opened his mouth to protest that his compliments were always earnest, and Aziraphale cut him off. "Weren't you going to start writing?"

"Ngghh, right, yeah. Alright, lemme just pull up my docs and then we'll get started bodydoubling for real." Crowley clicked over to screenshare his window as he opened his fic notes. He'd long since stopped hiding anything from Aziraphale; getting to bounce ideas off of him was too invigorating, and his heart always sang at getting to write down his name with official beta credit. (He'd also long since stopped pretending to himself that he'd ever felt quite the same way about any other beta.)

"Good lord." Aziraphale sounded more than faintly appalled, and Crowley felt offended for a moment before taking a proper look at what was on his screen. It was currently showing the notes he'd made at 3 AM this morning, when he'd woken up from a dream and jotted down what had, at the time, felt like a brilliant scene. As always, he'd had his eyes mostly-closed the whole time and his swipes had been clumsy at best, but as long as it got the general point across, he was always satisfied. It only wound up being a usable scene about half the time, but he wasn't about to turn down free inspiration when he could get it. He quickly read through the imagery he'd written down.

They switch rolled over and opened their eyes. In the still morning sunlight they could set the witchfinder still sleeping cloudy enough to touch: his head ears cradled on his arms, the misos slack with sleep but still clearly there under surface. The words knew from experience that if he were awakened stable the strength would flour back into them in an instant ray for a fight. The wishes couldn't help but think odd other things they might but tray for as well

Crowley paled. "I— that—"

"I mean, it's. Well. It's rather avant-garde."

Crowley froze. "I, uh—"

"'The misos?' And 'flour?'"

Crowley stuttered out of his bluescreen and hastily opened another tab, the screenshare automatically switching over. Aziraphale had read it, but he clearly hadn't actually understood it. As long as he didn't give him enough time to crack the cipher that was 3 AM notetaking, Crowley could bluff his way through it. "Zuh. Yeah. Wrote that down in the middle of the night when I got an idea of where I wanted to start the next scene off."

"And you could recognize any of that?" The camera jostled a little as Aziraphale shook his head. "I suppose I wouldn't do any better if I tried sketching out an idea in the dark." He picked up his stylus and started doodling simple shapes, warming up and re-acclimatizing himself to the responsiveness of the device. He was still getting used to the new medium, but he was finally starting to see a path forward to making a digital art style that felt authentically his own.

"Yessss." Crowley bit his tongue to cut off the guilty hissing. It definitely didn't help that the webcam was doing a very awkward job of catching the tablet screen but showed a very distracting hint of Aziraphale's forearms. The forearms he had, at 3 AM, apparently woken up from a dream about and been so inspired by that he'd felt the need to immortalize them in fanfiction.

"Well, I shall be interested in seeing how that gets transformed into comprehensible English."

"Right, definitely." Crowley was typing gibberish and backspacing over it quickly, more to hide how much attention he was having to devote to this conversation than out of an actual need to warm up his fingers. "Right, definitely focusing on writing now!"

Aziraphale laughed as he cleared his tablet screen and pulled up his WIP, shifting into concentration mode himself. He did enjoy the early days they had spent where their hours of "bodydoubling" were really nothing more than talking and laughing together, but being able to be quietly productive with someone else, knowing they were there with you without needing to be in the same room, that they were sharing your same wavelength without needing to say a word... that simple sense of togetherness brought with it such a deep feeling of comfort that he thought it might be an even more profound, longer-lasting sense of joy than their early days of giddy laughter had given. The strokes of his stylus turned smoother and more confident as he got into the flow, his eyes focused on his own screen and only vaguely aware of the lines of text growing across Crowley's.

Eventually, Crowley calmed down as well, and the text growing on his screen even started to make sense. And he made sure it had absolutely nothing to do with forearms.

Translation of the deleted 3 AM scene:

The witch rolled over and opened their eyes. In the early morning sunlight, they could see the witchfinder still sleeping close enough to touch. His head was cradled on his arms, the muscles slack with sleep but still clearly there under the surface. The witch knew from experience that if he were awakened, the strength would flow back into them in an instant, ready for a fight. The witch couldn't help but think of other things they might be ready for as well.

#good omens #good omens fanfiction #bnf au #my writing #fanfiction of fanfiction #i want to eat every text message and discord exchange in that fic whole #love ya bilvy

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artofchira · 7 months

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As someone else who's in the process of burning out just surviving, and has lost sight of why I enjoyed art in the first place, would you be willing to share some of the things you've tried to get back on your feet? Super glad that you're doing so much better, btw.

First: It's actually become a job for me to help artists reconnect to their art through my mentorship workshop with everything I have learned, and I consider myself very good at it. I've been doing it for about 4 years now. If you or any other artist would like direct help with recovering from burn out please check out the service page of my website and testimonials from previous clients.

To answer your question:

A lot of my own personal stabilization just came as a result of wanting the experience of making art to be comfortable. It wasn't a choice anymore. After my father passed I relaxed for about 3 months -- longest I went without drawing in my life since I started freelancing -- and when I sat back at my desk I just couldn't make myself work under the same pressure. I'd try to force myself to draw and it made me want to cry instead. I quickly learned I could only create if I felt comfortable and drawing felt gentle, so I had to accept moving forward if I wanted to continue being as productive as before I needed to find a way of working that eliminated stress or using will power, which means working in a way that was renovated from the ground up. I couldn't go back. How I was making art was over. I needed it to be repaired. I had no idea what that looked like, so it was truly trial and error.

A fact about me is I have a very high sensory/pain threshold naturally (I also recently learned I was autistic over the pandemic, imagine that has something to do with it) so I've always been historically bad at ignoring my physical limitations because I rarely felt them unless my body broke down on me, and when it did I treated myself with annoyance and forced myself to work through it. I'm talking like no sleeping for 3-4 days straight, or coming home after a kidney stone to finish a comic page still shaky on pain and morphine and then feeling bad at myself for being lazy. To say my old work habits were highly self abusive is an understatement. So when I started addressing everything that was an inconvenience and uncomfortable, it ended up correcting everything I was ignoring or failed to consider a problem until it was past due.

To cut a long story short, a list of material changes to my life that improved my health:

I got medicated, finally. I'm extremely bipolar. Always have been. Drawing between periods of oscillating between feeling divinely invincible vs ideating suicide every waking moment vastly became easier to manage.

I got glasses. I'm farsighted, but it was never a problem for me since I could see fine -- ooor so I thought. Turns out when you're farsighted you're focusing constantly without even realizing it. Turns out getting glasses gave me 80% of my mental space back so I suddenly had more energy, generally more awake, and more focused. No one talks about farsightedness so I had absolutely no idea I was burning myself out physically just being able to see. Worth mentioning!

Started seeing a massage therapist and a chiropractor regularly. I always thought of those things as luxuries, not necessities. Which was extremely stupid. Maintaining my physical body through directly working out kinks in it became something like brushing my teeth or showering -- it's just something you do to make sure health and hygiene isn't making you dysfunctional and rotting you. My body no longer breaks down.

For the same reasons as above, maintained seeing my therapist regularly even if I felt fine or had no issues to work out. I realized I was always quick to end support as soon as I felt I didn't need it anymore (again treating it as a luxury) so making the space in my life for mental/emotional check ins kept my head organized. My therapist is bewildered by me and has no idea what to do with me because she feels she's not doing anything. I just tell her by me making the space for me to explain myself at all, even if all I was doing was describing how I was fine, was the help. She's great.

Got a cappuccino machine. May seem stupid but being able to make gourmet coffees from my kitchen every morning really genuinely improved my life and mind more than getting medicated.

Got a dog. He's amazing. I love him. Very warm and loving companion, and such a gentle soul. He keeps me out of my head and gets me prioritizing walks every day, so my vitamin D intake increased massively. I don't have the luxury of staying in bed for 3 days straight in my depressive episodes anymore. I have to make the effort to leave it at least twice a day to walk and feed him and play with him. Like most people, I'm terrible at prioritizing for myself but will move worlds for those I love no matter where I'm at.

For personal habits I just reflected a lot on why I felt I had to will myself to draw when drawing is something I love doing most. It made no sense to resent doing what you devote yourself to doing. I changed -- and still changing -- my mental framing in how I think of working on art for it to be something I'm eager to do, not obligated to.

Hope this was educational.

#ask box answers #Personal

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heilos · 4 months

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Hello! My name is Moriah and I am a junior in high school. I was wondering if I might be able to get your insight on a few questions I have?

I am in my final years of high school and am starting to think about college but I have no idea what I want to pursue. I know I love art, so for a long time I have been thinking about getting an art major or going to an art school.

I’m reaching out because I ABSOLUTELY LOVE YOUR ART and I think you are a very talented artist! I have been in love with your art for so long and I am curious and wondering how you are able to fit drawing into your life?

1.) If you went to college for art, what was it like? Do you think going to school for art or having an art major is worth it?

2.) how can I fit art into my everyday life? I’m sure you have work and other things to do in your life so how do you balance it out? (I just want to know how you can draw as much as you do!)

3.) do you do art as a full-time career or part-time career? is it an alright source of income? If it is a part-time career, how do you balance work, personal life, and art?

Thank you so much! And sorry if these questions might seem personal. I just want to know how other artist manage to draw and create their work and still have an adult life. Thanks again, and thank you for being a huge inspiration in my life to create the art I love! Your art means so much to me!❤️❤️ ❤️

Hi Moriah! Thank you so much for your patience since it took me a bit to answer this. I'll do my best to be as honest as possible. 1) I think going to college can be beneficial even if I wish i'd done things differently. In hindsight I would have definitely taken more time to really look through all available options instead of gunning straight for the most "prestigious" looking colleges since the idea of having a big name school on your resume was pretty prevalent when I was growing up. I went to Savannah College of Art and Design or SCAD for short and while I don't regret the friends I made there, I do regret not understanding just how much an institution like that ended up costing in loans compared to what I got out of it education wise. It always hurts my heart to see other kids get chained to huge amounts of student loan debt that could have been avoided. And even then you don't necessarily need a college degree for every type of art job. Your portfolio is what really matters more to prospective work places if you're looking at a career related to art. I would also keep in mind that the field is very competitive depending on what your goals are. Do you want to get into animation? game design? illustration? comics? prop design, character design or environment design? ect ect. Always try and give yourself the best advantage you can with researched knowledge of what you might be getting yourself into. Also there is no rush to go immediately into college even if you're dead set on wanting to attend one. Please give yourself as much time as you need to really make that decision and, if you have the option, don't feel pressured into thinking you HAVE to make that choice immediately out of high school. 2) I do get quite a bit of production art done on my days off mostly since I'm very experienced in working on group projects like Mystery Skulls Animated. When you're doing art and production work with other people, there's a different mindset in that others are relying on you to keep decently productive so that you're not holding up the pipeline if you're dedicated to seeing a project through to completion. Now when it comes to purely fun art on the side, I've actually only recently started balancing my time out better with work to sketch since the draw back of working on a group project like this for so long is a certain level of burn out. I had about a 2-3 year period where I couldn't get myself to draw much of anything even if I was excited about something like a new game or animated series and it's taken awhile to come to terms with the time lost since my body and head needed that time to recover and that's something i'm much more ok with now. I'm not the absolute best on advice for time management unfortunately, but seeking out projects that might interest you and lets you collaborate with other artists is definitely one way to keep yourself excited and engaged when wanting to make art. Just know and/or learn your limits and you'll be better about not getting too burned out when trying to find that decent balance of art time and other life activities. 3) I actually don't do art full time even if that was originally the plan back in college. I personally found out that I didn't want to turn it into a job the closer graduation came, but that varies completely from person to person and plenty of up and coming artists have found fulfillment in having art be their job too. I used to make prints for conventions so that was a partial income source for a little bit, but again for me it got tiring and I ended up getting a different more physical job to supplement my income while still being able to have enough time to stick around with my friend group on our music video projects. And again there's no shame in taking some time in trying to figure out if you want to make art your job and coming to a different conclusion. Sometimes the things we plan when we're younger take a wildly different turn out of left field and education or job aspirations are very much included in that.

#personal #personal ramblings #long post #college #art college #I hope some of these answers helped with your questions!

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amethystina · 3 months

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Oh man!! The latest chapter!!! The angst was angsting, pain was paining, heart is wrenching, tear is falling, it was soooo mean, but do it again!!!

It was the longest chapter and ironically the most painful chapter as well. Have I said how much I love slow burn and angst and this fic hits home everytime?? Likeee woah I just LOVE how this fic is LOOONG , nowhere near close bc that means I get me read it longer lol.

And I feel like I would never be able to appreciate how much hard work you put in Who Holds the Devil.

I am guessing it is now Ga On's turn to pursue Yohan and Oh man I can already imagine how much he is gonna suffer while doing it 😭 or maybe not (bc he tends to be pretty straightforward at times and impulsive as well) but I believe it's gonna be pretty hard bc Gaon has so much shit to get together and Yohan, my man, already gave up (poor him) so gaon trying to persue him or rather seduce his sugar daddy would look very suspicious to him. Nevertheless I am exited to see Gaon try and miserably, comically and hilariously half fail bc he will succeed eventually as Yohan is too much of a loser for Gaon lol. I am excited for future chapters and definitely wouldn't complain about more angst lol.

It was necessary for this to happen, otherwise the story would go nowhere and most importantly Gaon and Yohan would go nowhere, their problems will never be solved. Sometimes hitting rock bottom is crucial to develop in life BUT I would hate it if it happens to me, hope I will be able to get my shits together before that happens ( or maybe it already happened but I am not relizing it or not acknowledging it much like gaon but he is better than me ngl at least he has the courage)

This became a rant about me naur 😭

Lastly I hope you have a great day and things work out for you 💕

Also idk if it's your cup of tea but My Happy Ending kdrama is sooo good and worth giving it a try. It's a psychological suspense drama hehe. I am soo invested in it nowadays so couldn't help recommending you as well 💫

It was a painful chapter, yeah. And I'm both relieved and heartbroken to finally have it out there. As someone who doesn't actually like angst, this chapter was a struggle in more than one way. But it's necessary if I want their relationship to move forward, so here we are.

At this point, writing Who Holds the Devil has sort of turned into a second job, not going to lie. I still enjoy it, make no mistake, but I have to plan all of my other hobbies around it since I feel an obligation to post somewhat regularly. Like, I've been postponing drawing for the past two weeks because I wanted to get this chapter out (that's how long it took to edit, yes) but drawing is the thing that helps the most with my depression symptoms (that have made an unwanted reappearance due to my burnout), so I've been struggling quite a bit. And now all I want to do is draw for a couple of days.

So yeah. I can't lie and say it's not a lot of work, both in terms of planning, writing, editing, etc., but also how it affects the rest of my life. BUT I just love it too much to give up on it ;)

And yes, Ga On will have to be the one to pursue Yo Han now ;) Or, well, eventually. He has to wallow and overthink things a bit first because, well, Ga On. If overthinking things was an Olympic sport, he'd win the gold for sure. But he WILL give Yo Han what he wants in the end, I promise.

In short, the "the only way after hitting rock bottom is up" saying is pretty apt in this case.

There's still hope, so just hang in there :)

I looked at the plot for My Happy Ending but I admit it didn't really catch my attention. But that could be because I don't really watch much right now? I'm too busy writing and drawing. I'm also trying to finish a drama I started ages ago called Mad Dog. Which, let me tell you, it's disorientingly gay for a drama about insurance fraud. But unlike The Devil Judge I'm not sure if they're actually AWARE of how gay it is? (especially since it's from 2017)

But, like, if I had a penny for every time I've watched a drama in which a traumatised, older man brings home a reckless, bratty twink after said twink got injured — under the pretence of protecting him from more harm — only for the twink to start snooping around his house before deciding to charm the dude with home-cooked food and then just doesn't leave I would have two pennies. Which isn't a lot, but it's still weird that it's happened twice.

Also, what the heck do they want me to think when they have these kinds of angles when the two dudes are arguing?

That looks questionable both in and out of context. BUT that could also be because Woo Do Hwan could have sexual tension with a goddamn rock. Rarely have I seen a man with so much "fuck me and find out" energy as his character in this drama.

But the twink also has a romantic plotline with the woman on the team, at the same time as he's living in the older dude's apartment and giving this poor dude all kinds of conflicted feelings because he's a widower who's lived alone since his wife and kid died and suddenly there's someone in his apartment cooking him food, nagging at him when he comes late and drunk etc. etc. Like, bruh. It really sounds like the twink is his new wife? And I am SO CONFUSED because the drama plays it so straight (without the "hint, hint, nudge, nudge" winks that The Devil Judge had) that I'm about to have an existential crisis.

Fellas, is it gay if this is the face you make when you're told you're not actually living with the man who took you home to keep you safe after you almost got murdered but then you accidentally behaved like his concerned and doting wife?

Asking for a friend.

(and don't even get me started on the whole "Bring Your Twink to Work Day" scene)

At this point, I'm half convinced I'm gaslighting myself into thinking this is gay when it's actually just a really heartwarming story about a really deep bromance that I'm too queer to understand.

ANYWAY. Thanks for the rec! But I'm not sure if it's my thing and I'm really bad at watching things right now. But I'm thrilled to hear that you're having so much fun with it! I'm happy for you! :D

And thank you so much for the lovely message 💜

#Amethystina Replies #1-boiledpotato #Who Holds the Devil #Amethystina Writes #I swear #Watching Mad Dog is so very disorienting #Because it's genuinely SO GAY to me #But I've seen no one else so much as mention this #Is it just because the right people haven't watched it?#Or am I going crazy?#Who knows at this point #Sorry that this answer became more about Mad Dog than Who Holds the Devil #It's just been weighing very heavily on me lately xD #I AM SO CONFUSED

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cat--comic · 1 month

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blog 1. happy birthday

welcome to the new cat comic blog! if you're reading this on tumblr, hello! if you're reading this on neocities, i love you more. page looks pretty snazzy, right? check out the very pretty melankorin.net, this page looked a lot more plain before i ate that page's design aesthetic.

ok.

it just so happens that yesterday, the 13th of april, 2024, was cat comic's first birthday. this comic is officially one year old! goo goo ga ga! it makes me glad and more than little scared that i've been working on this for so long. it's my longest-lived project to date and still going strong, which means a lot coming from my bloody trail of abandoned projects.

what the hell is cat comic about?

cat comic is a story born out of a lot of my fears vis-a-vis my creative projects. it's a story about creation, whether that deals with art, identity, or culture, and about the history that doggedly stamps itself on any creation, and about the problems of indie projects. it's a story about a cat and a dog and some other various animals who get into lots of trouble, and it's mainly a story about the end of the world.

i think you can tell that there's a lot of throughlines to my other work (unfinished or otherwise), which is pretty thematically appropriate. actually, cat comic was originally reusing far too much of eyrie, an old comic idea of mine. eyrie followed an aspiring paladin and their little buddy as they made their way to the shining capital of a theocratic nation, delving into a mirror world that reflected public perception of things along the way. it was a pretty fun concept.

anyway, it informed a lot of cat comic's original premise��it began with an ascent from belowcloud to a shining city in the sky. huh... sounds familiar. like eyrie, it also dealt a lot with divinity, mirrors, and perfection (as in: perfection in the eyes of society, not cat comic's current sense of it). it's fun looking back at these early drafts of cat comic because you can clearly see all the influences i was pulling on, big or small. i was pretty fine with doing this because, as it pains me to remember, cat comic was to be a "fun" and "short" project where i could "do whatever". haha.

cat comic's changed a lot since then and it's also hardly changed at all. a lot of the original ideas are still there in the batter, but it's also evolved into something pretty different and much closer to my heart. and it will continue to change and evolve! although perhaps not quite so drastically as it has over the last year.

what's the plan with this thing?

i had a conversation with a friend a while ago (hiii ardenna i know you're reading this. love you) about our respective story projects and our problems working on them as single creators. i don't have a team for art or writing—it's all me, babey—and that means everything about this project is going to take what we in the industry call a "long time".

this time next year, i want to have a comprehensive plot. that might sound like a lot of time for not a lot of work but believe me i need it—i'm doing a bit of a unique format for this story and i want to put the time in to make sure i stick the landing with it. my secondary goals for the next year also include finalizing designs for all of the main cast and making sure they're all fleshed out... basically, by next year, i want to be able to start actually drawing the comic. i don't want to start drawing it then but, just, you know, be able to.

as of last week, i've handed in my senior project (and passed with flying colors, thank you), which means i can start turning my attention to things other than that. i've already talked a bit in my 2024 blog post about my plans for the year and how i would like to devote the rest of the spring to exercising my comic muscles. i would like to stick to this plan, despite the fact that school is trying to murder me.

right now, i only have vague ideas of what those exercises will be. once i'm completely done with my senior project (report handed in at the end of this month) i'll start workshopping them. again, my priority with them is not telling a story so much as working on coloring, panelling and figuring out my workflow.

and, apart from my year-long goals and season-long goals, i just want to flesh out these pages a little more. i kind of rushed getting these up because i wanted to hit the birthday (and i didn't even manage that LOL). i want to get some more of my brain bits out on canvas! but they never tell you how hard it is to figure out how much you want to share and how much you want to keep to yourself for now. i'm making little lists and i think i'm doing a pretty good job.

final notes (SAPPY WARNING!!!)

thanks to my friends (hi again) who are very excited about my comic. it means an immeasurable amount. friendship forever

and to everyone else... remember: birds can't fly with wet wings. goodbye for now!

#blog #cat comic #webcomic

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theambivalentagender · 11 months

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I love your comic!! What inspired you to share Zekes story?

There's a lot to this answer so buckle up.

I've always been a writer, ever since I was a little kid telling stories has been my entire life's goal. But its been a struggle, and for a long time I've felt kinda lost in trying to survive taking soul sucking desk jobs. It honestly destroyed any desire I had to create.

And then at the beginning of 2022 I got abruptly fired (for what I don't think are honest reasons but that's another story). And then I found myself just not being able to land a new job no matter what I did - I worked in a tech-adjacent industry and know others in similar positions also have had these issues. Weeks turned into months, and my mental health took a nosedive.

That summer I noticed one of my long time close friends kept popping up on steam playing Stardew Valley at odd hours in the morning. I'd heard of the game before, I loved farming sims, and I really needed a distraction. So I finally bought it.

Long story short, several hours into the game this motherfucker hits me up with this line:

So you can imagine what that did to my psyche. I got so god damn invested in the game. Like I do with any game, I started modding the crap out of it, mostly to add more lines for Shane. And then I found myself imagining my own little story with my farmer.

For a good while this was just a dumb headcanon story I had every time I played Stardew. But then I found myself actually plotting things out, connecting different aspects of SDV that were "unexplained" or "implied" with the story I was developing in my head. And then I realized - I was making a story again. I was feeling the exact same way I used to feel when I would plan out and write a play, or a short story, or one of my many unfinished novels. It was such a good feeling, and I started coming around to the idea that I shouldn't just keep this story in my head.

I dealt with a lot of self doubt over it of course. The last time I wrote anything like fanfiction was when I was 10 and it was a HP fanfic where I misspelled Slytherin in five different ways. Some part of me felt like it would be wasting time because I wouldn't make money off of it. Another part of me worried I'd be mocked for writing an entire self-indulgent story about a borderline self-insert character romancing a grumpy pixel man, when I was nearly 30 living in an apartment with a long term partner and shouldn't be doing such *childish things*.

I lurked around the SDV fandom for a long time before actually posting anything, and seeing other people, often people close to my own age, doing exactly what I was afraid of because fuck it, we're adults and we get to decide what that means, really helped. It also helped to see a positive community praising and supporting creators of all skill levels.

As for the money thing, I ended up "justifying" it to myself that if I made myself draw just about every day working on the comic (since I had decided to make it a comic rather than a fanfic), that would help me bring my art skills up to par with my writing skills. And, well, it would probably help my mental health if I had something productive to work on while I still looked for a job, because there's only so many times you can rotate between various video games.

I honestly didn't expect the comic to get as much attention as it has. But I told myself even if nobody cared about it, I'd make it for the one person who wanted to see this story play out - me.

#personal #asks #valley echoes asides

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ryzies-ralley · 9 months

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YOU HAVE AUS?!?! THAT'S SO COOL!!!! WHAT ARE THEY!!!!!

IM SO GLAD SOMEONE FINALLY ASKED HOLY SHIT YES

I have one for about every Fandom i join, so it'd be hard to talk about all of them. but here's like 2/14(?)of my most worked on AUs (That don't have an Ask blog).

(AU's Undercut this got super long im so sorry-)

UNDERTALE: 2 PLAYER MODE

The 2 Player AU is one of my OLDEST AU's I've had, dating back to at least 2017? note, Its changed a lot over time and still might so.

The Concept is Essentially After Frisk plays threw a version of Undertale that is at their own fingertips & eventually, gets bored. Deciding to change course of the timeline & create a new starting point they share power over the Timeline with Flowey (this doesn't mean they share a soul, more so Determination & Stats), Which Sparing the lore dump eventually creates a new starting point/Save file & a new timeline with code to decompile.

this has probably been done to death but pbbtbgfncn I like writing depth to Flowey & giving Frisk their own personality

It features a lot more than just that including many personal head cannons, Theories & Continuing Arc interpretations. It's probably my second favorite AU I have (First is a We Bare Bears AU), despite being very simple with its arcs.

Hence why as much as I want to make this now, it'll have to wait so I can grow more as a creator & make it as best as it can be.

It may however be getting a short comic eventually that is the context behind this ^ drawing. Anyway ask me more about this AU though pleas-

MY LITTLE PONY: FRIENDSHIP IS FRANTIC

th-this was an au.. that started out with such a simple concept.

then it got so fucking Long & Complex with its lore- to the point i accidentally rewrote the entire show. I don't even dislike the show the only major story flaw I hated was the Grogar Twi-

Basically the Concept of this AU is about 2 things now; Everyone is based off Different Fan Works/Fandom Ideas within the MLP Fandom & it acts as a In between from the show - The last Problem (Also sometimes i joke that this au is just MLP but 13+)

Examples:

Flutter shy has a Shed for y'know. venting aggressions

Pinkie Has The Same Backstory as in Friendship is Witchcraft

That's all I'm going to say about this au, it's never getting an ask blog/Public lore dumps ever aside from this cause I don't want to deal with All the lore I made for this. I might post art i do for it though.

Twilight's Based Off the common fanon Idea of her not coming to terms with her immortality & Alicorn hood

Starlight Glimmer wasn't fucking reformed in one epis-

I was going to talk about a third Clone High AU but I talk too much so-

#pineart🍍#frisk undertale #flowey the flower #river person #undertale #Undertale AU #undertale fanart #mlp fim #Twilight Sparkle #rarity #fluttershy #applejack #rainbow dash #pinkie Pie #spike #sunset shimmer #starlight glimmer

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authoralexharvey · 1 day

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INTERVIEW WITH A WRITEBLR — @jasperygrace

Who You Are:

Jasper || She/he

I am an artist and writer, and I'm always pushing to do bigger and better things with my work.

What You Write:

What genres do you write in? What age ranges do you write for?

Adventure, Fantasy, Horror, Psychological. New Adult and Adult

What genre would you write in for the rest of your life, if you could? What about that genre appeals to you?

Fantasy because there's so much you can do in a fantasy setting. You don't even need to have a "high fantasy/ high magic" world for it to be considered fantasy. It's an extremely versatile genre.

What genre/s will you not write unless you HAVE to? What about that genre turns you off?

I cannot write contemporary.

Who is your target audience? Do you think anyone outside of that would get anything out of your works?

I don't have a concrete audience in mind-- I suppose my writing is for people like myself: those who enjoy experimental writing and those who've been disillusioned by everyday life.

What kind of themes do you tend to focus on? What kinds of tropes? What about them appeals to you?

My writing tends to focus on what it means to be human, and what defines the human experience. I don't know why I'm particularly drawn to this subject. Perhaps I simply enjoy exploring what others define as human characteristics.

What themes or tropes can you not stand? What about them turn you off?

I'm not one for "us vs. them" narratives; it's always left a sour taste in my mouth when I read works with that thematic framing. Other than that, I'm fairly open to different themes and tropes-- if you can tell a good story, I'll probably read it.

What are you currently working on? How long have you been working on it?

The current project I am working on is "An Immortal Laid to Rest" (or Project : Desert for those who've been around long enough). It's a story about freedom and reconciling one's past. Come the end of June, I'll have been working on the project for three years.

Why do you write? What keeps you writing?

I write because I want to share my thoughts and experiences through the lens of a fictitious world of my creation. It's an art that's become something very personal as I've gotten older, and it's my hope that my writing can help lift the spirits of someone who's gone through similar hardships.

How long have you been writing? What do you think first drew you to it?

I've been writing since the small, small age of 10, but I've only been writing seriously since I started college. As a kid, I got really into anime and manga, and I always wanted to tell a story like the things that inspired me. However, I hated drawing comics (I still do) and writing became the happy medium between my art and my knack for storytelling.

Where do you get your inspiration from? Is that how you got your inspiration for your current project? If not, where did the inspiration come from?

I get my inspiration from other pieces of media I enjoy; this becomes more obvious to those who are familiar with my likes and interests, and I don't try to hide that fact. For my current project, one of the big pieces of inspiration is the game "NieR: Automata". It explores many of the themes I'm interested, and I look up to Yoko Taro as a storyteller.

What work of yours are you most proud of? Why?

It would have to be "An Immortal Laid to Rest". I probably would have lost interest in the project were it not for my friends who've stuck with me during its development. I look forward to the day I will finally be able to publish it.

Have you published anything? Do you want to?

I actually do have a poem that got into a publication! I can't speak much more about it until it comes out, but it's my intent to publish more of my poetry in the coming year.

Do you have a writing process? Do you have an ideal setup? Do you write in pure chaos? Talk about your process a bit.

I have time set aside to write, and I try to write 3-4 times a week in short bursts. After a writing session, I will record what I accomplished that day and my current word count.

Your Thoughts on Writeblr:

How long have you been a writeblr? What inspired you to join the community?

I've been actively part of writeblr for about a year and a half, maybe two years. Frankly, I feel like I was absorbed into the community rather than actively seeking it out. I simply started following other writing blogs and before I knew it, I became part of the community.

Shout out some of your favorite writeblrs. How did you find them and what made you want to follow them?

@ashen-crest - I think they were one of the first writeblrs I actively interacted with, and it's been so awesome watching them publish two books in such a short time. @theboarsbride - It's been a ride watching them grow and I love it when I see their art cross my dashboard. The gothic romanticism is something I don't see often, and I'm here for it.

What is your favorite part about writeblr?

I personally enjoy the community events like Worldbuilding Wednesday. I enjoy the moments when I'm able to peak into the world of another writer as they're working.

What do you think writeblr could improve on? How do you think we can go about doing so?

This is more of a gripe with the tumblr community as a whole, but I think we could learn to reblog others' work more often. Tumblr thrives off reblogs; it's how we help our fellow creators.

What kinds of posts do you most like to interact with?

I interact with art more often than not.

What kind of posts do you most like to make?

I mainly post my artwork and excerpts from my project. Sometimes a meme or two.

Finally, anywhere else online we may be able to find you?

You can find me on Artstation and Youtube @jasperygrace.

#iwaw #writing community #writeblr celebration #writeblr event #writeblr

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bittermause · 5 months

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End of Year Review 2023

It is currently Christmas Eve-Eve at the time of this writing, which can mean only one thing; The End of Year Review for 2023. These past three years held a lot of significant changes and growth for me, most of which I likely wouldn't have experienced had I remained in that horrible part of the mid-west. Despite the mass 'rona pandemic and the constant mental health battles/challenges, 2020-2022 were very good to me and I consider them the best years of my life.

2023 is a welcoming addition to that train.

The first major reason were the goals I set at the end of 2022, all of which were achieved without fail (to a point);

I continued making animated shorts, but only produced 2. However, this was a good glow up year for The Boris Blobinski Show! I got to manage a smaller production team, consisting of my talented friends, and together we banged out a beautifully animated episode!

I got my contact lenses! However I haven't really worn them since I left the optometrist's office. I still intend on using these for when I go swimming or to the spa, but I can see why some people aren't crazy about this option.

I finally got my hair dyed, and it wound up being a vibrant cherry red. Had it done back in March, and most of my hair is still pretty red despite the roots coming in.

Been losing a small chunk of weight still, which means I was able to convert to smaller shirt and pants sizes.

I did a lot more exploring this year! I finally secured my Californian rite of passage by visiting In-N-Out burger, discovered a couple awesome local bakeries, and went to the movies for the first time in years. First major achievement was going to Universal for the first time ever and visiting Nintendo Land! The second biggest crowning achievement was the daytrip to The Ventura Harbor in April, where I got to board a small wildlife sea cruise and witness dolphins, whales, sea lions and seals.

I got back to working on comics again, and produced two short stories for a larger collective that is still in production. Second major reason were the events that weren't planned out of the gate, but were absolutely welcomed;

I saved enough money to get a new desktop PC built. My friend from Colorado flew down and spent the week with me, partially to help get the PC built to proper standards and to also spend some quality time together in person.

I started freeway driving practice mid-year; taking smaller steps to feel more comfortable driving in the faster/wider lanes without having my PTSD invoked. I have a long way to go, but even driving within a 5 mile radius is still worth celebrating, especially since I've actively avoided freeway driving for most of my life.

My best friend is finally coming to visit me at the end of December! I have not seen them in person since 2016, and it will be their first time visiting my apartment space as well.

As far as plans for 2024 go, here's what I have on the docket;

I will be going to an actual jury duty selection at the end of January for the first time. (Exciting, I know!) I'm curious to see what the process is like, but I hope I can dismiss myself from the proceedings. (Respectfully, of course.)

I plan on hosting another friend visit me around the Spring/Summer.

I will be working on a very ambitious episode of The Boris Blobinski show that will take up most of the first quarter of my year.

I will continue my weight loss regimen as I have started back in 2021. As of this writing I am now down to 186 lbs. This is actually pretty close to my first goal, but I want to continue this trend until I hit between 135-140.

I still want to do more local travel and discover new venues. I'm eyeballing Downtown Ventura and will likely add a few more intended places to my list.

Attend activity based events like Life Drawing and other art related functions. As an artist, it's important I find different means to shake the rust off of my skills, and as a human I need to start making efforts in social connections again.

Continue freeway driving practice to the point where I can actually go beyond 5 miles comfortably.

Continue working on my one shot comics, see if I can at least produce two more stories before building a website/platform to host them all.

Outside of Boris Blobinski, I want to be more active in the animation space again and make a few more originals outside of that project.

Lastly, I want to look into Toon Boom Harmony official Certification. I've worked with the program for over 10 years, both for traditional hand-drawn animation and character rigging, and I would love to have that piece of recognition. Hell, I am not against the idea of applying as an instructor if I can get that far!

Of course I don't think I'll be able to jump into everything as intended. I know 2024 will also be met with some unexpected surprises, but I'll gladly welcome them all the same. And lastly, before we pull the plug on this, I want to thank everyone involved in my life that has made 2023 a fantastic experience. You know who you are.

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nebulous-rain · 4 months

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Hello! My name is Moriah and I am a junior in high school. I was wondering if I might be able to get your insight on a few questions I have?

1.) If you are going to college for art, or went to college for art, what is it like? Do you think going to school for art or having an art major is worth it?

2.) how can I fit art into my everyday life? I’m sure you have work and other things to do in your life so how do you balance it out? (I just want to know how you can draw as much as you do!)

3.) do you do art as a hobby or a career? If it is a hobby how to you balance art, work/school, and home life? If it is a career or part-time career is it an alright source of income?

i am going to CRY this is the sweetest message ever. i'm happy you found your niche and i'm even happier that i could help inspire that!!! i'm not sure if i'm gonna be able to answer all your questions, but i'll try to squeeze in some possibilities where i fall short:

1) growing up i definitely figured i was going to end up in art school because that's what everyone told me i should go into. but as i got older in high school i was kind of panicking cuz i really didn't want to turn my hobby into a job, and i figured out that i wanted to go into education!

but that's just me- my wife is actually going to college for graphic design sometime soon because she loves what she does. if it's something you really enjoy, and that you think you can monetize while still enjoying it, then it's definitely worth it! money is important but you need to put you and your happiness first.

2) to be honest, i haven't had the time or energy to do much art lately (if you look at my post dates you can see how spread out they've been the past year)- but this entirely depends on how you manage your time and your workload. i'm horrific at time management! so that's my problem. BUT, i think sneaking in drawing time in little ways helps a lot, as i tend to sketch small panels of a potential comic or animatic on notebooks and papers while i'm listening to lectures. i've even posted ms paint doodles i've drawn during class

i always have plans for what i'd like to draw once i have the time. it's kind of motivating, but also frustrating, and it's hard to efficiently empty my brain of ideas while still keeping up with everything else. this might be something you'll have to wiggle around once you get settled into a routine each semester!

3) i really wanted art to stay as a hobby for me. the idea of drawing and creating art every day for things i wasn't inspired to do made me really nervous, because what i really wanted was to make fanart and draw my little guys all day lol

if you take anything away from this, i think the most important thing is that if you want to keep art in your life, you will. if you desire having time to make art just for yourself, you'll find time to work that into your life, one way or another- but in order to do that you absolutely need to have a positive mindset about what you're going into, and if you can't find that positivity, maybe it isn't for you

thank you for asking!!! i'm not sure if this'll be any help, but i appreciate the questions <:')

#ask #moriah-doodles #me and my wife are just meesly 19 y/o's #so neither of us have experience working in the art field unfortunately #i wish you luck on your journey though!!!!#art can be so rewarding

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ordinaryschmuck · 2 years

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What I Thought About "Thanks to Them"

Salutations, random people on the internet who are already scrolling past this! I am an Ordinary Schmuck. I write stories and reviews and draw comics and cartoons.

When it was announced that The Owl House's third season would get cut short to three hour-long specials, the fans fought as hard as they could to rectify this insane mistake. And...I really hate how I wasn't surprised.

I've seen this before. There have been many instances when a studio decided on something fans didn't like, and those fans did everything they could to fight back against it. The problem is that the fans rarely win, and it'll take a gosh dang miracle to make a studio change its mind about something. Studios don't care about how badly the fans want something or about a creator's vision. All studios care about is how much money they can make off a product. And it seemed The Owl House didn't have as big of a number as Disney's other shows at the time. It's an unfortunate pill to swallow, but that doesn't mean the situation is hopeless.

There are competent writers out there that, when given restraint, try to roll with the punches and still push out something amazing. Believe it or not, what happened to The Owl House is the best-case scenario, as the writers were told ahead of time what their situation would be, giving them the chance to adjust and make as satisfying of an ending as possible. And if you ask me, I have absolute faith that they'll be able to pull it off. The Owl House isn't my favorite show at the moment for nothing. The writers are outstanding, and the final product of Season Two proves that they know how to tell an overarching story while still giving the characters and the audience the time they need to breathe. The question is, did "Thanks to Them" reinforce this faith? Well, let's find out together, shall we?

SPOILERS BELOW

WHAT I LIKED

Starting Where the Last Season Ended: This was the best decision. The events of the finale are too big of a thing to gloss over immediately by starting with a time skip of them already working hard on getting home. Continuing the story right after the last season left things off works because the characters are allowed some time to establish this new normal and get started on their mission. While putting out some...issues.

Luz and Hunter’s Guilt: I'm still a little iffy on Hunter's guilt, mainly because I don't see him as the victim here, but I understand what Luz's going through. What happened isn't her fault either, as Belos could have tricked anyone instead of her, but I can see how she can believe it's her fault. Even though it could have been anyone else, Luz is still the one Belos tricked in the end, and her pain of knowing that she inadvertently caused so much damage is well within reason. So I'm glad Luz has Hunter with her to share some of the pain. If you think these two were siblings before, you'll get a kick at watching them bond over shared fears and anxieties, being each other's support and reassurance that things are going to be ok. Luz adds more to that last part (because, of course, she does), but it's still sweet seeing them go through this together. It makes their relationship grow stronger and more compelling, and I hope we get just the briefest moments between these two in the future. And I'll go over each character individually, but there are just a few things I want to get out of the way first.

Starting with a character who deserves way more love.

Camila: IF I SEE ONE MORE MOTHER F**KER CALLING CAMILA A BAD MOM AFTER THIS, I'M GOING TO LOSE IT!

Let me break down what this woman does for the dumb dumbs in the back:

Upon seeing these four new kids without a home or anywhere else to go, she doesn't hesitate to insist that they can live with her and Luz until they find a way back. Even if she doesn't entirely understand how they function and is a little freaked out by certain antics.

When Luz came out to her, Camila pulled her and Amity in for a loving hug, and Camila started to wear a pride pin throughout the rest of the special, an extra cherry on that sweet sundae.

Upon seeing Vee in her new form, Camila ran toward her daughter with just as much pride as she did when Luz came out.

She looked at Luz's quirkiness and antics with pride, and if anybody had the AUDACITY to call her daughter a freak, Camila was more than ready to throw hands.

Once she finds out that Luz is planning on staying in the human realm, which is what Camila wanted once she realizes where Luz was during the summer, Camila refuses to let that happen. Back in "Yesterday's Lie," Camila didn't know the context of why Luz wanted to stay. Now, she does. The context has been living with her for months. And they helped her understand why Luz loves the Boiling Isles so much and how it's more of a home than the Human Realm.

The woman even jumped into a dirty graveyard pond to save our precious boy Hunter!

The one misstep she might have made was going through her daughter's journal, but, like...what parent hasn't done that? If you think your secrets are safe, they're not. And they never will be. Just accept that right now.

Is Camila a perfect mom? No. No parent is perfect, as there will be mistakes no matter how good you try to be. And if your takeaway from "Thanks to Them" is still about how Camila's a bad mom, despite all the kind-hearted things she does for her baby and her friends, you're an idiot. There's no other way around it. You are an idiot who doesn't understand good parenting if it slaps you in the face. And I'm only partially joking about that.

Alright, now that I've got that rant out of the way, let's keep things chugging along.

The Montages: There are two prominent montages in this special, the first showing us what Luz and Co. have been up to the past few months and the second detailing the antics Vee and Luz's friends went through in finding the secrets of the puzzle they found. And this was another perfect decision on the writer's part. The Owl House's third season has a similar plot to Amphibia's, only that the writers are working with a third (Ha) of the run-time that Matt Braly and his team did. This means they'll have to speedrun through the same story beats Amphibia had while still providing a satisfying final product. So, seeing the characters adjust to the new environment is relegated to montages instead of dedicating entire episodes (and wasting time) of them going on a wacky adventure in the human realm. And I'm ok with that. This idea of keeping things moving forward but delivering the briefest of cute character moments makes The Owl House more different (and better) than Amphibia. While Amphibia will grind its stories and narratives to a halt so we can have a filler episode dedicated to stuff like Sprig being a superhero, The Owl House keeps things going while working these character moments in with the story. It's a reason why I think people get too bent out of shape when shows don't have filler episodes anymore. Yeah, I get that some of them can be fun when done right, but that doesn't mean characters can't grow without them. Maybe Luz coming out to her mom or the characters meeting giraffes would have made great episodes, but I'm not losing sleep over getting a few seconds instead. Besides, while "Thanks to Them" is still continuing the story, that doesn't mean it can't stand out on its own as something spectacular.

Or should I say spooktacular...?

It’s a Halloween Special: And I love that. I love that despite the writers having less time, they still went out of their way to deliver the one holiday special this series is perfect for while continuing the story. They just added the fun, filler-like stuff with it (see what I mean?). As for how well it works as a Halloween special...it's pretty good. Some solid imagery feeds into the spooky season with some creepy stuff that should be enough to scare the kids watching. Heck, maybe some adults might get creeped out given some body horror that happens later...and yes, we'll get into that...but first, let's talk about something wholesome.

I need something wholesome.

OH, MY GOODNESS, DO I NEED SOMETHING WHOLESOME!

The Kids Learning Spanish: You'll do.

This was sweet, by the way. It shows us just how much these kids care about Luz and Camila by putting in the effort to speak a language that they mastered. It's a small thing, but it fills up my heart.

(Also, that demonic Duolingo is perfect as an in-joke for the fandom. If you know, you know)

They Painted Hooty on the Door: This, on the other hand, is both funny and kind of tragic. Like, the kids miss the Boiling Isles so much that a reference to Hooty gives them comfort.

Hooty!

Man, they really need to find a way to get back home...

The Kids Finding a Way to Get Back Home: Oh...that was fast. But not too convenient. It's heavily implied that the house the kids set themselves up in used to belong to Philip and Caleb (or something like that), so it's not too hard to believe that the kids find their first real clue there.

As for the others leaving Luz out on the search, this does bring up my friend's complaint about how Luz doesn't have much agency as her friends. And, yeah, I can see that frustration. Luz doesn't get to do much in this special, with the most crucial story-driven moments going to the others. Luz is the main protagonist, and she should be able to do more than...relatively nothing. However, it does make sense in context. Luz is currently not in the right mindset and is going through a lot, so her friends are doing their part to chase a lead, wanting to surprise Luz with a win instead of letting her down with another failure. It's her friends' way of paying back all the kindness Luz has done for them by going just as above and beyond as she would in completing a task. It has the unfortunate side effect of letting Luz have little importance, but I wouldn't call it bad writing. Just...a slight mishandling of characters.

Besides, while Luz doesn't do much to advance the story, she adds a lot when it comes to character development.

Luz: This is the most development Luz has gotten through the whole series. Luz is weighed down by her guilt over accidentally helping Belos to the point where she believes things would be better if she never existed. That...hurts. It hurts a lot to see Luz think this way. And it hurts even more to see her heart not being in it when acting like her usual self. When Luz smiles, it never reaches her eyes. When she says something lighthearted and goofy, it almost sounds as if she's empty inside. This experience changed her, and it makes sense. To Luz, she caused so much damage that is unable to fix it for months. It makes sense why she's so emotionally numb throughout the special because...how would you react to all that? Something tells me it wouldn't be great.

This special also gave us more insight into Luz's life before the Boiling Isles. We get to see how isolated she feels, how miserable she is being in a world that doesn't understand her, and even why she loves The Good Witch Azura. We get bits and pieces of that in the past, but this is the first time it's a central focus, and that's great. We know a lot about Luz's friends and family but don't know much about her. So to finally get something about Luz is spectacular. If you ask me, having her go through the most development is a fair trade to her not having much agency in the first part of a three-part finale (besides, we've got two more parts to go through).

Although, she's not the only one going through a lot this special.

Hunter: Next to Luz, Hunter might be the one who grew the most in "Thanks to Them." He gets a hobby that allows him to find some self-expression, finds a book series that gives him comfort over his anxieties, and ends up crying tears of joy when he realizes he's part of a kind, loving family. Again, "Thanks to Them" worked all these great character moments into the story while still moving things along. Seriously, take notes, Amphibia writers!

Jokes aside, it is great to see Hunter happy for the majority of an episode for once. After everything he went through (and will soon go through. We'll get to that), it warms the heart to see my boy just loving life and getting everything he could have ever hoped for...This is why it does serious emotional damage to see it soon crumble to an end. And we'll get to that...but can we go through some more nice stuff first? Please?

Cosmic Frontier: Sure, why not?

I like Cosmic Wonder primarily for the help it gives Hunter and his issues, but it's also amazing how it gives him and Gus something to bond over. It adds more to that brotherly bond they've got going on, which is sweet to see.

Also...those books obviously belonged to Camila. The way she reacted to them and the fact that she got bullied in school over something is all the proof I need. And that's also sweet because it means she's as much of a nerd as Luz, even though she has bad memories of expressing it. Plus, now that we know that Luz's father is the one that gave Luz her first Azura book, a fact that breaks my heart as much as it makes it whole, that might hint at how Camila and Manny met. The boxes in the closet imply they went to conventions together, even saving old cosplays they've made. Really shows you how much Luz takes after her folks, thus warming the heart up in the process.

Masha: Do you want to know what else warms the heart? The Owl House continuing to excel at having such casual LGBTQA+ representation.

Here, we have a character that's non-binary but embraces feminity. There's an incorrect stipulation that to be non-binary means to not conform to either male or female genders, but (as far as I can tell) that's not true. Being non-binary means that you don't identify as either male or female. How you choose to express that is up to you. But if a man can wear makeup and have long hair but still identify as male or a woman can choose to wear no makeup and shave her head but still identify as female, why can't a non-binary individual choose to wear pride nails and wear long dresses?

For The Owl House to allow a group of people to feel that seen is fantastic, and I hope this series will be remembered for years because of that reason alone.

And, hey, it looks like they might be a potential crush for Vee. Isn't that just cute...Oh, yeah, VEE!

Vee: I'm surprised with how well Vee fits into the group. She doesn't do much, but she adds a lot of cuteness and charm, and I love that there are zero issues with the fact that she's a basilisk. She's just a part of the gang, and there are no questions or hesitations about it. And that's nice. It's great to see Vee happy and loved after all the crap she went through before meeting Camila. Also...at least someone had a happy ending...unlike others...But I'm not getting into that yet! There's still the, uh, um...OH! I know!

The Tale of Brothers Whittebane: They just...put it all out there. That's the story of Caleb, Philip, and Evelyn (who's obviously a Clawthorne. I mean, come on). This story is everything we could really need to know, and it's told uniquely by having it be a sort of puppet show. Any blanks in the story we might have can only be confirmed through the background paintings found in "Hollow Mind," which the Tale of Brothers Wittebane in "Thanks to Them" adds clarity towards. Would a flashback episode work better? Most certainly, yes. But, as I've said, the writers have no choice but to speedrun through these story beats while making it serviceable. And that's what this is: Serviceable. I would love to know more, but I'm fine with where we're at.

Belos–NO! No, come on, there's gotta be something else!

Uh...Luz making a light glyph? That was cool and effectively gave me goosebumps.

"Shmuck--"

Um, uh, Luz's journal entries are neat! It's probably the best scene in the entire series, showing us exactly the kind of person Luz is and the heartbreak she learned to deal with!

"Schmuck."

And how about Luz and Amity going as Azura and Hecate?! That's something I've always wanted to see, and I got it! And I bet it made you all happy, right--

"SCHMUCK!"

...

"It's time."

...*Sighs* Yeah...yeah, let's get into it.

Belos Possessed Hunter: This...might be the worst thing Belos has ever done. And that's saying something.

Hunter was finally happy and at peace with everything. He had friends who loved him, interests that gave him something to hold on to, and a family that accepted him. The sad part is that the stuff that made Hunter happy only led to his own downfall. His love of sewing caused a hole for Belos to sneak his slimy self into. His admiration for Cosmic Frontier led to him staying behind and finding Belos in the first place. It is beyond twisted and could potentially lead Hunter to think he's not allowed to be happy if this is where it gets him. Sure, we got a cool fight scene and some decent body horror as Belos took over, but it will never change how this is an experience that will scar Hunter far more on the inside than the out. Especially considering...

Flapjack’s Death: This stings.

No, screw that. This shatters.

Flapjack, the first good thing to ever happen to Hunter and what kickstarted him learning to be loved, is...gone. He's gone, and it's all for the pettiest of reasons: Belos' resentment towards a witch his brother fell in love with. Sure, he hates magic and palismans in general, but he clearly specified that he was doing it because of how Flapjack reminded Belos of Evelyn. And he did it while using Hunter's body as a vessel, adding more damage to the poor boy.

But, if there's one good thing to take away from this, Flapjack died on his own terms. Belos cracked him, and it was unlikely Flapjack would survive anyway, but in his last moments, he spent them saving Hunter one final time. It's not the sendoff we wanted Flapjack to have, but this showcase of true loyalty proves how endearing he can be and how badly he'll be missed.

RIP, you little rascal.

...Thankfully, it doesn't take long before tragedy fades and hope rises.

The Truth Comes Out: And everything is fine.

I'm not shocked that Belos tried to throw in one last manipulation by telling the truth to Luz's friends about the mistake that she made. Nor am I surprised that their reaction was to be stunned at first, but they were quick to get over it, reassuring Luz that there's nothing to be worried about and ashamed of. And you have no idea how much relief I felt when that happened.

Lesser shows would have taken the opportunity to milk this drama far more than what it's worth, having Luz constantly blame herself while others refuse to look at her the right way ever again. Meanwhile, the writers of The Owl House said, "F**k that!" and gave Luz the instant reassurance she'll need. I'm sure she's not totally over her guilt and that we'll get bits and pieces of it in parts two and three, but I'm glad that the writers gave us all the drama they could about Luz keeping her mistake a secret without it feeling like it overstayed its welcome. It's another case of phenomenal writing in this series that was more than welcome.

(Also, Amity echoing back the words Luz said when confessing to her is beyond adorable, and I will hear nothing of the contrary)

But while this wasn't much of a surprise, what definitely was is...

Camila Deciding to Go With: I mean...yeah.

A part of me thought this might happen, but I did not expect it to come true. Still, I'm excited. I cannot wait to see Camila join the fight and kick some butt in the Boiling Isles...That or die/sacrifice herself to save her baby...I mean, if Camila's the only thing keeping Luz in the Human Realm, her death would give Luz the excuse she needs to stay in the Boiling Isles forever with her new family and home...I'm not saying I want this to happen, but it's even more of a possibility now than ever.

And I'm gonna hate myself for calling it...

WHAT I DISLIKED

Get the f**k out of here--YOU ARE NOT NEEDED!

...No, really, you're not needed. I took the one complaint I had (Luz not doing much) and weaved it into the likes so I could rationalize why it still works even though it rubbed me (and others) the wrong way.

What did you expect me to do? Break the flow so I can do something that's not necessary? What am I, an Amphibia writer?

...People probably think I hate Amphibia due to me ragging on it even though I gave it a B- in my final verdict review. The truth is, I do like Amphibia. It's funny, Anne's character development is ten times better than Luz's, and this is a show that knows how to stick the landing when it comes to its finales. My problems are that certain ideas and decisions weren't executed well, with the primary issue being how poorly it mixed episodic storytelling with a serialized one. Other than that, it's pretty good. Check it out.

...What were we talking about? Oh, right! "Thanks to Them!"

Yeah, this is an A+ for sure.

IN CONCLUSION

"Thanks to Them" is better than anything that came out of the series so far. It proves that Season Three is going for the "less is more" approach, giving the fans everything they could want and ask for but not letting it distract from the few narratives left established. There's a voice in my brain telling me that parts two and three of this final season might not live up to expectations, but it is outclassed by the part of me that is reassured by how astonishing this season will be. I have high hopes for the future. And it's all thanks to the writers who really do know how to roll with the punches.

#the owl house #the owl house season 3 #the owl house spoilers #camila noceda #luz noceda #toh hunter #toh flapjack #toh vee #vee noceda #emperor belos #the owl house reviews #what i thought about

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randomwords247 · 1 year

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It's about time I address the elephant in the room: WHAT HAPPENED TO HILDA AND THE LOST FUTURE?

So, for anyone who doesn't know, in I believe early 2021 I started a comic called Hilda and the Lost Future, based off the episode the 50 year night. I haven't updated this comic in a while and I know I've had some people ask me when it'll come back

A tl;dr for anyone who wants the short answer:

It will be a while. It's not my current priority or main interest, but I absolutely want to get back to it at some point: When I do, it'll be from slowly working on multiple pages in the background which will eventually be posted every week when I have a big backlog.

For anyone wanting any more information tho, theres a number of reason's its been a while

A big one is burnout. I got really heavily burnt out I believe late 2021 and I haven't done nearly as much drawing as I would've liked since then

One of the factors for why I had so much burn out was university - For those of you who don't know, I'm currently a University student, specifically I just finished my second year meaning I have the Big Boy Dissertation coming up for my final year. I also had a job until late last year which I'd work during my uni breaks so I had like no real break.

Uni has taken generally just a lot of my time and energy away from me and it's because of uni that I haven't been drawing much. I'm still tryna get back into drawing way more regularly and it's a little disheartening that in some regards I'm a tad rusty, but I still enjoy drawing way too much to quit

Another issue that doesn't help is, as I'm sure a lot of you have noticed, I've been bitten by the minecraft bug quite bad. Or more that it's come back from the grave because I swear my minecraft obsession never truly left. And like as a result of that I've even been making my own videos! It's been really fun and I'm having a blast. I honestly have been finding making videos really fun and a nice escape from uni, plus a good excuse to draw (thumbnails). Outside of the game itself I've been very into a lot of mcyt fandoms, currently I am loving watching hermitcraft and I have loved bansmp (a series by my friend bantaro) and its been a blast being able to be a part of that series which I've loved watching.

I still like Hilda a lot, don't get me wrong. I'm just way more focused on other interests at the moment and with so little time it kinda leaves you prioritising, and I definitely lost steam with my strict schedule I put upon myself.

So, where does that leave us?

I know initally when I started the comic I had a lot of people offer to help out, help make it and things. I still am sure that I do not want this, as much as I appreciate peoples' offers.

One of the main focuses of the comic, outside of telling a story I have planned out, is to improve my drawing skills and make a comic from start to end by myself. I also know I'd be too particular with the way things would be done to want to pass it to someone else, and I don't want to like hand it off. It's something I want to do for myself, and again it's a way for me to improve my drawing skills. I mean heck, from the pages I've done so far I already vastly improved my ability to do backgrounds and perspective.

My plan is to work on pages in the background, not give any real estimation of when I'm working on them or not or when to expect them. Just a slow work on them every so often as I focus more on other things. That way, when I eventually get say (as an example), 10 pages finished, I'll do an announcement and I'll post the finished pages spacing them out a week at a time, to give myself a buffer. If this like makes me passionate enough to bump out one a week like I originally did, I'll do that, but if not then I'll repeat the process of slowly working on a bunch and posting them all after a lot are finished

So yeah! For anyone who read this far instead of just reading the tl;dr, I appreciate it! I know its a long and probably overdue talk on things, but I thought it'd be worth talking about because I've been thinking about the comic a lot lately and how I wanna get back to it. I just also know that like, I don't wanna burn myself out with it again so it'll be more of a slow project to chip away at.

Again currently my main focus has been youtube (link in pinned post), and if you're enjoying that then I'm glad to hear! I have another video that I'm hoping to get done before next week, though I've come down with a cold so it might be a little iffy on that front. Otherwise, hope you all have a nice day! :)

#hilda #hilda netflix #hilda and the fifty year night #hilda the fifty year night #hilda (hilda)#hilda and the lost future #hilda and the lost future comic #hilda comic #ramble post #randy rambles #update #update post #hilda and the lost future update

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desultory-novice · 11 months

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Ask game let's hear it for: 2,8,9

Wah! Thank you!

2 / Favorite Thing About My Style

Probably that it's fast? XD I remember worrying early on that I'd never be a really stunning artist because I didn't have as much time to devote to it as other people. A smart friend told me to just focus on making pieces I could call "complete" in a short amount of time.

Basically, adjust my view of what my "art" would be. And it worked! I have other artist's styles that I like more, but I realized too some of my favorite fanart back in the day was fanart that looked like it was pulled right out of someone's sketchbook. With big chunky lines and little marks and forms that tell you where their focus was!

[More Answers Below!]

8 / Most Fun and Least Fun Parts

I really enjoy the "concept" phase. You put just anything down, and because I'm a Kirby fanartist, that's usually a circle and then you just keep adding onto it. A pair of triangle horns ears? You've got a Magolor. Big eyes? A Marx. Draw a circle on top? A Meta Knight. Draw a circle halfway below it, a Dedede. Etc...

I'll often pick a perspective at random and then start filling in what the character might be seeing/doing from that!

Least fun is figuring out things like light and where my characters are in space. I've got a vision impairment that means I can't see "depth" in RL so perspective is hard for me. I found a trick for lighting that has you douse the object in shadow and then "carve out" the light, which helps because I can imagine what's on "top" easier than what casts shadows, but I still haven't gotten perspective down. I've even used 3D models but things just get more confusing somehow!! :cries:

9 / Finished Piece and Original Sketch

Here's two, based on the fact that I have two different brushes I use for sketching and that leads sometimes leads to two different styles.

The first one, for my Father's Day piece, I did the rough sketch in PaintStorm Studio, which is an under-appreciated little app (It doesn't work flawlessly on iPad but it's highly functional) and is my favorite app for concept sketches because it's like the FocusWriter of drawing apps. Then I imported it to Clip Studio, adjusted the size (I draw my concepts VERY small, usually starting with a box to help figure out how much canvas I want to use) and built it up from there.

The second, I did the sketch in Clip Studio using this soft painterly builder brush I made based on some other artist's brushes. This style of sketch is more "chisel-y" and I'm frequently carving out areas as I draw them by lowering the brush's alpha to zero. It's pretty easy to apply colors on top in this style (as opposed to the previous style, which requires cleaner line work.) I also started this piece as just a solemn, lonely Magolor looking "captured" and regretful. Adding the crown and then adding the reflection in the water came later on.

I was gonna have him be hanging by some Dark Matter looking vines originally, but then I remembered I'd seen someone on JP Twitter say that his magic circles in Soul form were almost like handcuffs restricting his actions, which is why I switched to those.

(You can't see it here from the sketch, but I knew from the beginning I wanted it to be color on a black background.)

One last thing because I think this is probably something weird only I do? (But maybe other novice artists will find it freeing??)

When I'm drawing sequential comics, even for the four-panel ones, because I can lose my train of thought easily, I tend to draw them completely OUT OF ORDER, going with whatever image is strongest in my mind first. Then I just scatter the rest over the page wherever there's room as I get ideas, finally using the lasso tool to re-arrange them later! You can see everything in the proper sequence here!

(You can also see that originally, Marx shows some barely concealed sorrow that Kirby doesn't recognize his childhood friend after all that he's been through. In the finished piece, I had him respond by going all fangs-out crazy instead. He IS a villain after all!)

#Dess Answers Questions #Dess Text Post #TYSM for the ask!#Ask Game #Dess Sketch Post

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zackpacklol · 2 years

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Omori X Undertale AU + Castings

I've seen people draw Omori WITH Undertale Characters, even an entire Comic based off Combining Omori and Undertale, but what about an actual AU of Undertale where it's Omori Characters instead? Buckle in, Boys & Girls. Cause this will be a long one.

Before anything, I should mention: I won't be explaining how Neutral and Genocide work in this AU (mainly because I would like to have functional fingerprints by the end of this) but I will mention how some Genocide Actions will function and maybe even some dialogue if you choose Genocide when we get to the Castings.

(Feel free to skip the story part, it has next to nothing to do with the Castings, Consider the Castings as their own separate thing)

(btw a little side note here: I'll address Frisk as They/Them for reasons I don't think I need to explain)

For the story of Pacifist? Well, let's say that Mt. Ebott was somewhere near Faraway, and after about...let's say 4 months since Frisk frees all of the monsters & Sunny confesses the truth, (yes, they both just by some coincidence do the same thing at the exact same time and date, don't question it) they decide to travel to Faraway with Toriel, because recently, Toriel's been hearing about a Bake off that'll include Monsters from all around the world, unfortunately, no Human contestants or spectators are allowed. Since she wants to go but doesn't want Frisk to be home alone at the same, what does she do instead of having one of her friends come babysit Frisk? Drop Frisk off at a random town called "Faraway" and come pick them back up when she's done at the Bake off, leaving Frisk all by their lonesome until then. What a responsible parent! Don't worry, Toriel leaves Frisk a Sleeping Bag, a portable tent, as well as some G so that they can both buy drinks and food forself.

With that out of the way, let's do some Casting already! Let's start with a HUGE one:

Hero as Sans: I know some people would probably interpret Kel as Sans (bc he's a short king compared to his brother) but there's actually a good few reasons why Hero as Sans would make more sense:

Both have a......charming smile? I wouldn't exactly define Sans's smile as charming, but I think Tumblr would hardly disagree with me.

Both are known for getting tired very easily. Mean, Sans spends most of his undead life asleep, and Hero can barely run for more then ten seconds without huffing and puffing all over the place.

That one scene where Sunny has to choose the taller brother. That whole scene made me wanna make a post like this, for good reason, too! That interaction had "Sans & Papyrus" energy written all over it.

Both can demolish you if you make them mad enough. If you have seen any artwork where Sunny confuses the truth & we get too see the friend's reactions, you definitely know what I'm talking about. There's a reason why RW Hero's only useable weapon is "Hands".

This.

I mean come on, do I really need to explain?

(looking back on this makes feel like matpat lol)

I think that's enough reasons, now here's some Genocide ideas for the "Hero" fight that I think could be cool:

Hero would dodge like normal, but instead of having dodging 50 times like regular Sans, he'd only dodge 10-15 times, meaning once he is tired & can no longer dodge, he gives the classic Sans friendship monologue and offers mercy. BUT BUT BUT-

hear me out

Phase 2?

Yeah, Omori!Tale Hero would have a Phase 2, but what that Phase has, I don't have an idea.

It'd be one of two things:

1. He would "Catch" the knife before it hits him, grabbing it out of the players hand and throwing to the side, resorting you to fight Hero Knife-less until he blacks outs. Once your able to finally black out Hero, you must regain your lost knife and finish the job. (very brutal I know, but hey! So is Omori, so it fits)

or opinion 2, another Brutal one, even more messed up then the first.

You actually stab him in the chest, but instead of instantly dying, he continues to fight you as he bleeds out. (this is thanks to him having the most HEART out of everybody in the main party, which in this context doesn't make sense This path also brings a new-ish mechanic: You can choose to infinity guard until he bleeds out and win, or you can risk it and choose "FIGHT" to speed up this process by literally punching the knife deeper into the wound. Just like how when Sunny was explaining the truth.

WHICH ONE WINS?!!? YOU DECIDE! /j

Anywho, here's some Omori!Tale Hero Dialogue (in only some particular order):

Omori!Tale Hero: Sunny...Aubrey...Basil...Kel...They're all Depending on me...

Omori!Tale Hero:

YOU'RE SUCH A NUISANCE, (PLAYER NAME)!

Omori!Tale Hero:

W-well, I'm g-g-going to GINO'S...

*Omori!Tale Hero walks off screen*

Omori!Tale Hero:

O-oh hey M-mari...want a p-p-pizza......?

(btw the stuttering is bc of the knife in his stomach)

Well, I think I make this multiple parts bc I think if I don't I'm somehow gonna find a word limit on Tumblr. (even if there is one) By the way, I'm hoping Part 2 will mainly JUST be castings, Genocide Actions & Dialogue, ect, I can't promise that.

Click This when Part 2 comes out

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lady--lioness · 1 year

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Last drawing of the year!

Traditionally, my last drawing of the year is usually for Lady Lioness, to make up for having worked constantly on Flower from another garden along the year. But this has been Flower's year, and next year this story will also be the protagonist of my days, so I've decided to end it with Amaryllis and Aaron.

This has been a good year, especially since I have achieved two key goals in my life: finishing a comic and getting published! Finishing a comic is a daunting task. It takes a lot of time, planning, a lot of willpower and effort. That is why I'm proud of myself, despite my peculiar circumstances -maternity among others- I have managed to make a story and draw it in 224 pages, which has been liked enough to get published in my country. I have no right to consider this a bad year at all! I'm happy, but I also feel a little small and overwhelmed.

Thanks to the comic I have also been able to notice an evolution in my art. It has made me very excited, because it means that despite the time passing, I don't get stuck and keep going. And it also means that over time I will evolve more and do better. I don't know what will happen in the future, but I'm excited to think what my art will be like then. Anyway, another year that I didn't finish chapter 2 of Lady Lioness. Will this be the lucky one?

Some of my goals for the next year, besides continuing Lady Lioness, are to start my 3D modeling and SketchUp online courses, which I hope will help me a lot with my future comics. I also want to finally find a coloring style that totally suits me, make a bunch of my own assets, and start working on The Silver Comb. And read a lot of comics! It's always said that the best way to learn to write stories is by reading a lot, and it's the same with comics. The more I read, the more open my mind will be and the better I will work.

Another different thing is that I want to work a little more on my physical appearance. Maternity and then work have made me neglect myself and I want to look at myself in the mirror again with joy. I want to be fitter and with prettier hair. And to contribute to this purpose, I am going to delve into a hobby that for the moment will be modest, but with which I intend to have a lot of fun: historical re-enactment! To carry out this hobby you have to be an ace at sewing and have a lot of money, but I go without pretensions, I just want to look pretty and have a good time. Perhaps in the future, when my son can have fun on his own without me fearing for his life, I can dedicate a little more time to sewing.

In short, many hopes and dreams for the future! I'm going to take it easy, because I think I've already done the most work this year :P

I'm very grateful to my husband, so wonderful, kind and supportive, my friends, who have been there for me and my rants :P and my publisher, who has been patient and encouraging, along with Arechimanga, for trusting my comic and giving me this great chance!

Happy New Year! Thank you very much from the bottom of my heart for your support.

----------

¡Último dibujo del año!

Tradicionalmente, mi último dibujo del año suele ser de Lady Lioness, para compensar el haber trabajado en Flower from another garden constantemente. Pero este ha sido el año de Flower, y el año que viene también esta historia será la protagonista de mis días, así que he decidido despedir el año con Amaryllis y Aaron.

Este ha sido un buen año, sobre todo porque he conseguido dos objetivos clave en mi vida: ¡Acabar un cómic y ser publicada! Acabar un cómic es una tarea titánica. Lleva mucho tiempo, planificación, mucha fuerza de voluntad y esfuerzo. Por eso estoy orgullosa de mí misma, ya que a pesar de mis peculiares circunstancias -la maternidad entre otras- he conseguido hacer una historia y dibujarla en 224 páginas, que ha gustado lo suficiente para ser publicada a nivel nacional en mi país. ¡No tengo derecho a considerar este un mal año en absoluto! Estoy contenta, aunque me siento también algo pequeñita y apabullada. Aunque ya soy oficialmente una artista de comic profesional, soy incapaz de que se me suba a la cabeza.

Gracias al cómic he podido también notar una evolución en mi arte. Me ha hecho mucha ilusión, porque significa que a pesar del tiempo, no me quedo atascada y sigo adelante. Y también significa que a lo largo del tiempo evolucionaré más y lo haré mejor. No se qué ocurrirá en el futuro, pero me ilusiona pensar como será mi arte por entonces. En fin, otro año que no termino el capítulo 2 de Lady Lioness. ¿Será este el afortunado?

Algunos de mis objetivos para el próximo año, además de continuar Lady Lioness, es comenzar mis cursos online de modelado 3D y SketchUp, que espero que me ayuden mucho con mis comics futuros. También quiero hallar por fin un estilo de coloreado que me convenza totalmente, hacer un montón de assets propios, y empezar a trabajar en The Silver Comb. ¡Y leer muchos cómics! Siempre se dice que la mejor manera de aprender a escribir historias es leyendo mucho, y con los comics pasa igual. Cuanto más lea, mas abierta será mi mente y mejor trabajaré.

Otra cosa distinta es que quiero trabajar un poquito más en mi aspecto físico. La maternidad y luego el trabajo han hecho que me descuide y tengo ganas de volver a mirarme al espejo con alegría. Quiero estar más en forma y con el pelo más bonito. Y para contribuir a este propósito, voy a adentrarme en una afición que de momento será de forma modesta, pero con la que pretendo divertirme mucho: ¡la recreación historica! Para llevar a cabo esta afición hay que ser un as de la costura y tener mucho dinero, pero yo voy sin pretensiones, solo quiero verme guapa y pasarlo bien. Quizás en el futuro, cuando mi hijo ya pueda divertirse solo sin que yo tema por su vida, pueda dedicarme un poco más a la costura. ¡En fin, muchas esperanzas y sueños de futuro! Me lo voy a tomar con calma, porque creo que el mayor trabajo ya lo he hecho este año :P

Estoy muy agradecida a mi maravilloso marido, que siempre me ha apoyado, siempre ha sido bueno y amable. Y a mis amistades, que siempre han estado ahí para aguantar mis tonterias xD Y a mi editor, que ha sido muy paciente conmigo y me ha alentado tanto, así comoa Arechimanga, por darme esta oportunidad increíble...

¡Feliz año nuevo! Muchas gracias de corazón por vuestro apoyo.

#flower from another garden

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