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neonthewrite · 1 month

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The Office Fae

The next prompt was Tangled, and I ended up with a brand new character for this one. He's fun so far. I'm enjoying his very gremlin energy. I hope you all like him too!

~~~

Life in an office building generally worked well for Simon, despite technically being a house fae. The rules could be fuzzy on that front, with so many humans coming and going every day. Sure, there wasn’t a singular family loving the place and cherishing their lives there, but a lot of humans from many families liked the building and their jobs there well enough to make the energy inviting. Something about flexible hours, good wages, and a solid benefits package made for a harmonious office with plenty of memories–some friendly, some dramatic, even some spicy memories.

Plus there was a vending machine. Simon came for the vibes originally, but he absolutely stayed for the vending machine. At a modest five and three quarter inches tall, he had easy access to a good variety of things in portions that lasted him days.

Another house fae rule he bent–it wasn’t precisely a bowl of cream left out for him specifically, but nobody could expect that these days. Keeping the vending machine stocked was close enough, and if the light bulbs and printer cartridges in the building all lasted longer than they should, well, Simon earned his keep. He probably saved them hundreds on the annual operations budget.

Work always slowed down around the end of winter, aside from some buzzing over in the accounting office. All the holiday parties were done and the potluck food all taken home from the break room fridges. Simon planned for it and handled it well, though things could get cold with the shorter hours and heat on less to make up for the emptier office.

To that end, Simon wintered in the ceiling of the server room. The servers, bulkier and taller than a human, stood clustered in a side room and were never turned off. Blinking lights of green and red and blue twinkled on each machine, colors filtering into the ceiling along with the ample warmth those hulking obelisks gave off.

With so much downtime, he found himself perched near an opening in the ceiling, a spot where the tile had broken off long ago, and watched the server lights flicker on the tangled mess of multicolored cables that ran between them. It was a game of his to trace each cable from end to end with his eyes, idly kicking his bare, grey-skinned feet (his skin had shifted to a tasteful, cool grey a few years ago after an office refresh had updated all the paint). Long, slender fingers absently braided silky hair the color of faded ballpoint ink while he scanned the cables with eyes reminiscent of the shocking, dreaded blue of a computer on its way out.

Most house fae took on colors in equal parts camouflage and defense. Simon would be tough to spot if he happened to be out in the open near a human, but if someone did see him, humans never liked seeing that blue. So his eyes would probably protect him.

Not that he ever intended to test that. As much as he liked his many many humans and their water cooler chatter, Simon was realistic. They wouldn’t like him much even if he shared their scale. All his features were a bit elongated, just enough to seem strange and other. He only wore flowing pants made of scrap fabric and he ate bugs sometimes. Humans would call him scary or freaky or any number of words they had for things they didn’t like, and if his eyes couldn’t scare them off he’d be in danger of a rolled up magazine or a dusty phone book.

He’d stayed hidden for a long time, and he anticipated many games of look-at-cables in his future, all without humans being a bother.

Of course, until they were a slight bother anyway. Simon paused his movements and tensed when the door opened abruptly. Light flooded in and he lost track of the cable he was tracing when he looked over, grateful for his higher vantage point and the human tendency to ignore background details.

Two figures stood there, one familiar and one not. One was Tom, a human whose limbs gangled a bit but whose middle had padded out after so many years in a desk job. His bald spot glowed with light from the hallway, and his rumpled t-shirt sported a band name Simon thought he recognized. From what Simon knew, Tom was every bit an IT master and a vital cog in keeping the office running smoothly. He didn’t have to dress any higher than casual.

The other human was a new face. A woman, probably younger than Tom by a couple decades. Her dark skin contrasted with his pale complexion. Her hair, coily and thick, grew longer atop her head though it was tapered close at the sides. She wore a smart blouse and slacks, which Simon immediately recognized as the sort of thing one wore to a job interview, or one’s first day at work.

Tom waved a hand at the servers whirring away in the room. “Servers in here. Probably not gonna need to be in here a ton, but y’know. If something needs a reset…”

The woman nodded and smiled faintly as she scanned the room. “What are the chances I can fix up some of those cables?”

She said it as a joke. Simon didn’t find it funny at all. Tom did. He laughed. “Now that I get someone to pass tasks like that along to, I imagine I can convince the bossman to let me schedule a maintenance day. Now, let’s get you some of your equipment…”

The door closed and the humans walked away, and Simon cared not at all for their conversation or the rest of the onboarding for this new IT interloper. She wanted to organize the cables, which simply would not do. Simon stalked back to his makeshift camp to get his pack.

This new hire was simply not a good fit, and he’d do what he could to stop her horrible plan.

#gtjuly #gtjuly2023 #mywriting #simon the office fae #gt #g/t #giant tiny

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upsidedownsmore · 14 days

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Hi!! I was wondering if its okay to ask what brushes u normally use in krita? I love your art!!

Thank you so much!!! I only use the ones available in Krita by default and I tend to jump around based on what I think will work best for each piece, but I can give a little rundown on which ones I use the most and what I use them for :)

Here's an image guide with each of the brushes I've used and that I recommend checking out:

I'll highlight my favorites as well with some examples where they were predominantly used! (though in some cases multiple or even all of these brushes were used)

Marker Details:

Varying opacity and size makes this one my favorites for sketching, especially since it can easily be nearly transparent or fully opaque which helps with value range.

I also like using it for silhouette sketches!

It can also be used for final linework, but it takes more work to get to a full opaque and its lack of texture makes it a little less interesting than Ink-7 Brush Rough imo.

Ink-7 Brush Rough:

Really good for linework, especially for comic styled drawings with it's slight texture, varying weight, and opaqueness.

Also good for just filling in entire areas with a single color as well as non-smoothed shading!

Wet Bristles Rough:

Actually just an amazing brush, its pressure sensitivity is crazy.

Blends strokes like paint and can vary in size and opacity.

Also has a nice subtle texture!

Amazing for smoother coloring and shading, especially if you want a more painterly style.

Watercolor Texture:

(hard to show examples of this, just assume that I've used it in any piece that has smooth shading lol)

Not the best for painting/drawing on its own, however I've found it to be really useful when set to white or black on an overlay layer for adding extra shading and/or highlighting on top of the shading I've already done.

I usually shade individual figures, objects, and parts separately, but using an overlay layer with Watercolor Texture (or even Shapes Square) on top of everything helps make the entire piece feel more cohesive.

Also adds a hint more texture!

Another thing to note is the importance of layer modes!

I know that you asked about brushes specifically, but many of these brushes (particularly those to do with effects and textures) work best when experimenting with different layer modes other than Normal. Overlay is generally a safe bet and most of the best for, well, overlaying multiple layers for interesting effects. But please try out all of them at any given opportunity, sometimes things like Burn, Color Dodge, Soft Light, etc can have more interesting effects!

In addition, mess with filter masks! You can even edit where they apply by drawing on the mask directly! HSV/HSL Adjustment (also accessible with ctrl+u) in particular is INSANELY useful for fiddling with the colors and balance of a piece, from individual layers to whole groups and drawings. I also really like blur filters, often times I'll duplicate a layer and make the bottom one blurred to add a glow affect to something without losing its definition.

While this latter stuff isn't about brushes specifically, its generally very important to how I use and experiment with all these different brushes!

Anyways I hope this helps!! I kinda went overboard with this post, but I had a lot of fun writing it! Thank you again for the wonderful ask!! :)

#krita #krita art #warframe fanart #art #artists on tumblr #my art #UpsideDownSmore's art #art tips #art guide #art reference #long post #ask #didn't mean to spend so much time on this but ngl i'm actually so thrilled to talk about my art processes #like man i'm so grateful to be in the position where i can make an art guide like the ones made by people i look up to #sorry if this response is a bit long winded i just had to get a bunch out there lol #love asks like this :)#scheduling this 9 hours from now cause it is currently almost 1am lmao

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bloodydeanwinchester · 28 days

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hi jenna gif questions for u 💜 what's your favorite part of making gifs? what's the most valuable thing/tip/trick you've learned? what's some of your favorite gif sets you've made?

hi ida!!!! sorry i took a couple days to answer this i wanted to wait until i had some time to think about it before i answer! i loooove these questions tho so thank you so much for sending them 💜💜

my favorite part about making gifs is probably coloring and like...that moment when i get the gif to look exactly how i want it to. i like to play around with coloring and try a lot of different things with it and that can be so fun! i think over the last like 6-8 months my coloring has really improved a lot and i've been having a lot of fun learning new ways to do things! but i actually had a really hard time coming up with an answer for this question because i mostly enjoy the entire process! the only part that i don't really enjoy is picking out the frames for each gif. i always start with way too many and then i have to cut stuff out and i hate that part. also it's reaaally hard sometimes to not end up with like 20 gifs cause there's so much i want to include!!!

okay im gonna cheat on this one and give a few things i've learned since i started that have been sooooo valuable to me. first is the importance of having a good quality download to start with. i think my gifs got significantly better when i finally downloaded all of the episodes in 1080p instead of using the screen recording on netflix like i had been before. second sharpening is so important! i did not do any sharpening on my first gifs i made! sharpening makes the gifs loook sooo sharp and crisp and pretty. third and kind of similar to sharpening was learning/figuring out how to use the camera raw filter. there's sooooo much you can do with camera raw filter (coloring sharpening lightening). and finally one thing i learned that i think made my coloring look significantly better was to try not to lighten the gif too much and/or to figure out ways to lighten darker gifs without it messing up the background too much (sometimes when they're lightened too much it will like pixelate the background and it looks awful)

and finally (in order of when they were made from oldest to newest) here are links to some of my favorite gifsets:

Bloody Dean Throughout the Seasons Set - this one actually came out really good considering the fact that it was made only a month after i first started making gifs! if i remember correctly it's the first set that i ever used sharpening on.

6x20 F+TM King Set - this one is a favorite mostly just because i love the song so much and tmwwbk is one of my favorite episodes. i think some of my favorite sets to make are the ones that i add lyrics to.

2022 Nov 5th Set - i was really happy with how this one came out! it's so hard to get gifs from episodes over different seasons to look the same! and this one had gifs from 12 different seasons! also i think this was the first set i ever made that got over 1000 notes which i remember being really excited about!

Laughing Dean Set - this one is a favorite purely based on the content of the set. it feels like injecting serotonin every time i look at it<3

1x12 Faith Set - another one based on the content of the set. i just love this episode so much.

Season 9 Dean Set - i LOVE the coloring in this set! and season 9 dean is so beloved to me. he is just so beautiful and bloody and sad.

2023 Cas Day Set - another f+tm lyric set! i love the space overlay that i added and the blue-pink of the coloring so much!

4x18 Destiel Every Episode Set - i loooove this scene so much! this gif series has by far been more popular than any of the other gifs that i post and this set is definitely the most popular in the series. no other set has ever even come close to getting 4k notes like this one did. also i really like the purple coloring a lot<3

#thank you so much for the questions ida ily<333 #jenna.ask #gif making things

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unclewaynemunson · 1 year

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Wingman Wayne - Ronance Edition pt4 :D | Read from the beginning | Read on ao3

It hasn't even been five minutes since Robin came home from work, when the phone in the hall starts ringing. And she has some suspicions about who the caller might be.

She squints at the phone like it's personally offending her, considers for a few moments to just let it ring – but she can't. She doesn't want to be a completely cruel person, this is already gonna be awful enough as it is.

'Hi,' says Nancy, sounding slightly breathless, when Robin picks up the phone. 'How was your day?'

'Um – gr...ay.'

'Gray?' Nancy repeats, confused.

Robin flinches. She had meant to say “great” but decided halfway that that would probably sound weirdly enthusiastic regarding the conversation they were about to have so she changed it to “okay” and – yeah. This is embarrassing.

'Yeah – I mean, the weather. Was. Very bad. Lots of rain and shit.' She cringes at herself, talking awkwardly about the goddamn weather, glad that Nancy isn't able to see how beet-red she has gotten so at least some of her dignity will stay intact.

'Tell me about it,' Nancy says, 'I got soaked at least three times today, it was the worst. But I was thinking...' There's a slight pause before Nancy continues, 'If we're feeling optimistic enough to believe the forecasts, it'll clear up by the weekend, so maybe we could go for a walk or something? There's this tea garden at the other side of the woods, I know a nice scenic route from Lover's Lake, what do you think?'

Shit. Shit shit shit shit shit. Robin squeezes her eyes shut. Why, oh why, did Nancy have to come up with the most fucking perfect date idea in existence? God, she can almost touch the scene in her head: walking side-by-side with Nancy, the sun filtering through the leaves and shining a golden light onto Nancy’s curls, her cute nose going slightly red from the early spring sunrays, their arms brushing together every other step until Nancy will feel brave enough to grab Robin's hand and lace their fingers together; the flowers blooming in all kinds of pretty colors in the fields surrounding the tea garden, the taste of mint or some herbal melange on her tongue, Nancy's hands wrapped around her mug as she laughs at something insanely funny Robin is telling her...

No. No. Her stupid brain should most definitely not be going there.

She sighs.

'I have to tell you something,' she blurts out, before weakness can overpower her and make her say something stupid like Yes, this is the best idea ever, I’d love to go with you, can I please kiss you already?

'Oh.'

And in that single word, she can already hear the disappointment dripping from Nancy's voice. Damn it, she hates this so fucking much.

'Yeah, it’s not good... So, um, remember that I told you how my best friend is the one who set me up with you? The one whose boyfriend is Mr. Munson's nephew?'

'Oh God,' Nancy says, sounding truly horrified. 'You're actually in a relationship with him and cheating on him?'

'What – no, God, no!' Robin exclaims. 'Why is that the first thing that comes to your mind?!'

'I don't know, you sounded so ominous so I just went straight to worst-case scenario!'

Nancy is perfectly mirroring Robin's own panicked energy and she realizes she has to keep her head cool now if she doesn't want this whole conversation to become even more of a mess.

She takes a deep breath and continues in a somewhat more collected voice, 'Okay, so maybe not worst-worst-case scenario, then. But um... He didn't actually know anything about you when he set us up. So we only found out today that he – Steve – had been trying to set me up with his ex.'

There's a silence. 'Steve Harrington is your best friend?' Nancy then asks.

'Yeah, crazy, right,' Robin confirms. 'I'm really sorry, Nancy. I had so much fun with you last night, seriously. And you're really cool and badass and generally amazing. But I'm not gonna be dating my best friend's ex. I can't do that to Steve. I mean, I basically know everything about what went down between the two of you, and it's not like he harbors any resentment – I actually think he still respects you a lot – but... It still feels wrong, you know?'

There's a sigh, distorted through the phone. 'Yeah, I get that,' Nancy says, in a small voice that's kind of breaking Robin's heart already. 'Honestly, that completely makes sense. And honestly, I wouldn’t want to add to his hurt either. I already did that more than enough, back when - you know.‘ She sighs again. ‘For what it's worth: I had a lot of fun with you, too, yesterday.'

Pt5

Taglist: @munsonsuccubus @messrs-weasley @shrimply-a-menace @booksandsience @sadcanadianwinter @mightbeasleep @theysherobinbuckley

#don't mind me rambling about stranger things #fruity ficlet #ronance #robin buckley #nancy wheeler #stranger things

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albaqae · 8 months

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TW: BRIGHT COLORS AND LOTS OF BLOOD :)

A I HAD SO MUCH FUN MESSING AROUND W PAINT BUCKETS AND FILTERS :D coloring normally is so tedious how do any of y’all get anything done omaiga

More blending modes and no-blood vers under!

Anyone ever think abt what if raph never had his brothers or never found a sense of balance and just went batshit crazy while actually massacre maniac mode?

Yeah me neither

#tmnt #tmnt 2012 #2012 tmnt #tmnt raph 2012 #2012 raph #raph 2012 #tmnt fanart #2012 tmnt fanart #tmnt 2012 raph #tmnt 2012 fanart #raph angst #gore #cw: gore #tw gore #blood #tw blood

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demonstars · 1 year

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hold me, carry me slowly (my sunlight)

one shot | 1.2k | Rated Teen

on ao3

And on the porch of their house, rediscovering summer in Dream’s skin, George loves.

“You have new freckles,” George says, touching lightly the sunburn of the skin of Dream’s shoulder. He can’t quite keep the amazement out of his voice and Dream scoffs, a lighthearted sound.

“Well, yeah.” Dream answers, shaking him off. George puts but keeps his hand away, aware of the pain. “I’ve not spent this much time under the sun for, like, at least two years.”

He remembers Dream, ever the cautious, had made the call to bring the sunscreen out to the pool and wait the recommended time before jumping in. In his excitement he must’ve forgotten to re-apply. He must be down horrendous, because that knowledge makes him melt. Dream was just so excited to be with him, they were having so much fun, that he could turn off that part of his mind that’s always thinking about what to do next.

“I see,” he wants to trace his fingers against the new marks again. But he doesn’t want to bring him any unnecessary pain. He wrecks his brain to solve the puzzle.

“I remember that, like, on vacations we would get awful sunburns,” George says. “My sister and I. And my mom would use this aloe vera thing to soothe our skin. We could go get some.”

Dream hums. “Yeah, I think I remember something about that.”

The light breeze moves the water, despite not seeing movement for hours. It was only the two of them on the outside, Sapnap fucking around in another part of the world. When George woke up to his absence, it hadn’t taken a lot to see the sky of the sunshine state, and not to be tempted to spend a day outside. Convincing Dream to raise from their bed hadn’t been exactly hard. And now they were here, cooling off in the shade, having a small talk because they can.

“I like them,” he says, because he also can. “The freckles.”

Dream’s eyes find his face, but he doesn’t really look at his eyes. His eyes are fixated somewhere in the general area of his jaw. “Yeah?” His eyes are wrinkled with unfiltered joy.

“Yeah,” the light breeze, not Dream’s intense eyes, make him shiver.

He hums. “Thank you. I like how your hair looks like this.”

George rolls his eyes. He could’ve said that without any prompting. “You just like to see it messed up.”

Dream breaks his staring and it’s beautiful, a gorgeous color appears on his cheeks. He’s flustered and his hands move accordingly, quickly to deny. “Well, okay, I mean–yes, but I don’t mean it like that.”

George nudges him gently to hear more.

“It’s more like… okay. So your hair is, like, fluffier? Since you got here. Even after you cut your hair it’s more, um, like it looks nice and curly. And I didn’t know what it smelled like, when you were there, but now you smell like citrus, kinda, and it’s good. It looks good. You being here—look good.” He says, bashful and sincere.

And on the porch of their house, rediscovering summer in Dream’s skin, George loves.

His smile is involuntary. He doesn’t mean to grin this clearly, but he can’t stop it, the utter joy that filters through his veins and lightens him until he’s filled with helium, weightless and free. And so he lets the smile grow and he lets his eyes go fond and soft —as if he could ever reign his expression around him— and he falls face down into the crease of Dream’s neck. He makes a scrambled noise of frustration.

“You’re such a—ugh. I actually hate you.” George says, not meaning it at all. Dream laughs and George feels it deep within his bones, moving in perfect tandem with him.

“Oh, c’mon. That’s not nearly the worst thing I could say.” Dream says, taking his arm and wrapping it around George. He holds on tighter, shaking his head harshly, and Dream sighs. “You’re actually so dumb.”

“No, you.” George says smartly, and before Dream can speak, leaves a tender kiss in the dip of his jaw. It makes the words die on Dream’s tongue and George giggles.

He kisses the place again, conscious of his irritated skin, making his lips tender and soft. The contrast is addicting: his cold lips from being too much time at the pool and not drying off properly meet his absurdly warm skin, and Dream sighs relieved. Or maybe he just likes George. Either way, he doesn’t stop him, so George works his lips up and down, touching every part of Dream he’s allowed to have now. He kisses his jaw, and his jugular, and the bones of his clavicle. Dream relaxes under his touch, white skin malleable and marked in ways that transcend a physical plane. Their first summer together leaves its mark on Dream’s skin. He kisses the freckles kindly. Dream is quiet under him, only little breathy sighs, until he touches the skin again and he can’t suppress a hiss.

“Does it burn a lot?” He asks, staring at the redness of it. It doesn't look bad, and Dream hasn’t complained, but he still thinks about it. He wants to do something about it.

“Not really,” Dream says. “I could use like, that aloe vera thing. I remember it feeling good.”

George hums. “Well, let’s go find that. Maybe we have some here.”

He stands up and offers his hand, out of habit. But Dream just looks up at him, eyes half lidded and brows furrowed, a frown making its way to his face totally unprompted. George is about to ask when he grabs the hand and yanks him back down, placing George in his lap.

“I want more kisses,” he protests, noses touching. George can’t believe him.

“You have a literal sunburn,” he says, fascinated, voice soft and delighted. He’s unable to even sound mad about his actions. “This is literally for your benefit.” He must be smiling like crazy.

“George,” Dream just noses his face a little, dragging their stubble together. He keeps the pathetic face on, protesting softly. His hands drag along the expanse of George’s back, slightly arched due to the position. “I wanna kiiiiiss.”

George sighs but, taking pity on him, offers him a kiss on his temple. “We can kiss more after you put on the cream, okay?” He’s willing to compromise. America has softened him to entertain this.

His face fucking lights up, as if kisses hadn’t been a possibility before, as if he actually believed George wouldn’t kiss him without a reason. As if George wasn’t willing to spend entire days doing nothing but kissing him. As if George hadn’t crossed the ocean on the possibility. As if the one that had won a lottery ticket had been Dream, and not George.

He squishes his face with his free hand, making him look even more silly. “Cream, then kiss. Okay?”

Dream sighs, forlorn. “If you insist.”

He presses a quick kiss to his puffed out lips. “I do. Now quick.”

They don’t manage to track down any cream. After a quick search, they realize the local CVS has some, so they get actually dressed and go track it down together. Even if George mourns Dream putting on a t-shirt, he’s pleased no one else gets to have that. They hold hands on the way to the farmacy, and back, and when they settle on their bed and George is able to cure the burns on his shoulders and back, he allows himself to love, love, love again.

By the flutter of Dream’s eyelashes, he knows he’s on the same page. And it's wondrous.

#it deleted itself :(#or at least i can't find it on the tag ...#mywriting #dreamnotfound fic #dnf fic #realized its tiny so i can post it here too #rb kissed blah blah

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comicaurora · 2 years

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Do you believe self insert characters are a good thing or a bad thing and do you have any in your comic

I think they're a difficult thing to write well. I also think there's a difference between "I put some of myself into this character" and "this character is supposed to be me" - the first is a half-step off from just "write what you know" and is pretty much the only way I know of to write actual deep characters, while the second is what I would classify as a proper self-insert.

In my experience, most people's image of themself would be utterly unrecognizable to the people who know them. It's just a matter of perspective - our view of ourselves is colored by the fact that we have limited omniscience of all our own thoughts, feelings, motivations and darkest impulses, while our view of everyone else is purely external. You may know someone as a stand-up, kind, friendly person who likes the same shows as you, but in that person's head they're an insecure mess who's quietly convinced they destroy everything they touch. You might know someone as a cruel, obviously insecure bully who lashes out at everyone around them, but in they're head they're the noble perpetual victim of a grand conspiracy designed to ruin their life. You may think someone is prickly, easily annoyed and dislikes you, but maybe in their head they're totally chill, like you just fine, and just have a slightly blunt attitude.

What we consider our own most important traits are most likely not what other people would think about us. And that's not to imply that there's any sort of consensus on that front. One person might think you're kind and reliable, another might think you're loud and obnoxious, a third might think you're beautiful, a fourth might hate you on principle. Ultimately we're all just people with our own perspectives and biases, and every individual person will have constructed their own image of you in their head. Your image of yourself is just filtered through a lot more internalized nonsense than anyone else's, so while person A and person B might be able to reach a consensus opinion about person C, person A and person B might have irreconcilable disagreements about person B's deal. Person A insists person B is good-hearted and fun, but person B knows every dark thought, crushing embarrassment and terrible day they've ever had, and thus disagrees with A's assessment.

So when someone starts making a self-insert, they'll usually construct a character that simultaneously does not resemble them in any meaningful way and inadvertently tells us far too much information about who they are as a person.

I'm reminded of this video about a book where the protagonist is described by literally everyone he meets, friend or foe, in every possible context and with little to no prompting, as "big", which is the number one way to make me suspect that the writer is, perhaps, not as tall or something as he would like to be. The character is also a college student described by everyone as having an "old soul" and, coincidentally, the attitudes and general vibe of a man who lived through the 1960s and thinks the world has gone downhill since then. This is the kind of thing that makes me suspect that not only is this writer insecure about his height, he is also insecure about his age. (The plot twist in this video is the book was sneakily ghostwritten - by a woman - and the author whose style and name it is emulating has been dead for nearly twenty years - but I feel like the point still stands.)

When we build a self-insert, typically what we do is we construct some combination of the character we think we are and the character we wish we were. Rather than showing off all our deepest, darkest insecurities about our traits by putting them in this character that is meant to be us, we bury those traits. Very conspicuously. Are we deeply insecure about our height? Every character our OC meets will comment, admiringly or snidely, on how tall they are! Are we worried about our looks? Everyone our OC meets will comment on their beauty, either in jealousy or admiration! Do we think our fashion choices make us incredibly sexy and cool and intimidating? Let's describe our OC's outfits in exquisite detail and highlight how everyone who dislikes them is just scared at how cool they are! Do we want everyone to respect our intellect with unquestioning admiration and stop ignoring us, calling us nerds or asking inconvenient questions? Our OC will be such a turbochad megagenius that nobody will ever talk back to us - I mean, them - because they'll be too busy picking their jaws up off the floor!

I think this makes sense, because an insecurity is like an open wound, and building a personal insecurity into a fictional character - one where literary criticism aimed at said character will feel personally targeted at you - is an exercise in self-flagellation. If I'm worried I'm ugly, and then I make a character who looks just like me, and then people call them ugly, that's a nice way to externalize all my worst nightmares and reinforce that evil little voice in the back of my head. But if I make a character who looks just like me, and everyone else in the story reaffirms that this character is beautiful and desirable and they're all falling over themselves to love this character and reassure them that they're beautiful, that puts a nice ablative emotional buffer around the insecurity I've baked into this self-insert.

But it's also incredibly obvious. One of the most unrealistic things that can happen in any story is to have every character agree on something. Even if half the characters in this story dislike the self-insert, if the reason they dislike them is they're just too gorgeous - it's just weird that every single character would have an equally strong opinion about this character's looks. Most people don't care that much. Even if someone likes how you look, in most cases it's a casual "cool that's broadly inoffensive to my eyes" assessment. It just feels weird. This is a hand-of-the-author situation where the author's thoughts and intent actively distract from the audience's immersion in the story and other characters.

And on a broader note, the hardest thing about writing a self insert is the urge to dictate how everyone else feels about this character. This is a natural impulse when you're writing a character with so much if your own ego in it. Ultimately we can never truly know how others perceive us, only how we perceive ourselves and how we hope others perceive us. If we want people to think we're cool or pretty or dark and brooding, our self-insert is liable to inspire those feelings from literally everyone else in their fictional universe. Writing about ourselves puts a filter over our senses, a whole mass of artificial blind spots we don't deal with when our own ego isn't in the way. We want people to see us one way, we fear people seeing us the opposite way, and it doesn't even occur to us that people might see us in a million different ways that have nothing to do with what we personally consider most important.

And that means the supporting cast is going to seriously struggle when interacting with our self-insert, because they're probably going to be trapped in a binary of opinion - love or hate, admire or fear. Maybe in real life one friend loves you for your sense of humor, another for your kindness in times of stress, a third for your skillful ability to plan outings and trips, a fourth for your 3 AM memes in the groupchat - but in fiction land, your self insert's focal traits are going to be what you think about yourself the most. Everyone caught in the gravity well of this character's personality is going to fixate on how attractive or strong or cruelly victimized or "cool" the OC is, because, as mentioned, this is a way to spackle over real insecurities, which is a kind of pain that almost everyone deal with. Rather than a diversity of opinions and intercharacter relationships, everything flattens, making both your self-insert and their supporting cast feel one-dimensional and hollow.

When the question in play is "how do people see me", the answer is going to be very emotionally loaded, and the odds that the author has enough ego to instead ponder "how should people see me" or "how do I want people to see me" are very high. When the question is "how do these characters see each other," the artificial emotional weight vanishes and the question can be pondered with clarity. The writer's own self-worth is no longer being pinned to the fiction they're writing, and without that burden, the characters can expand and become three-dimensional.

So I have nothing against self-inserts on principle. I think they're a fun form of escapism and exploration and people write them for a reason. I just think they're almost impossible to write well, and in order to actually write them well, the author needs a degree of separation from the character and from themself - an ability to laugh at themself, no points of crushing insecurity that they feel disruptively defensive over, nothing they desperately need fiction or reality to externally validate. And that's totally doable! There's a happy medium between self-aggrandizement and self-deprecation, and people in that zone tend to be good comedians and overall chill people. Everyone's got some ego and everyone's got some insecurities, but they can be worked down to manageable levels, and once the writer's in that headspace, they can totally have self-inserts. But they probably still can't put them center-stage.

There's a self-insert in Girl Genius that I think is a good example of how this can work. In-universe he is strongly implied to be the person telling this story way down the line, and he pops up every once in a while on the fringes of the story. While he's absolutely not plot-central, he actually has had minor impacts on the story!

For instance, in this bit of the story he cameos during a rescue mission, and it turns out that he is in-universe one of the character's descendants.

And in a brief cameo later on, a major character uses him to sneakily transmit a coded message that has major ramifications on the plot.

He's a joke character, he's a full-blown self-insert, he's absolutely hilarious and I love it every time he shows up. I think a lot of what makes him work where other self-inserts fail is that he doesn't feel separate from the story he's in. The plot doesn't bend around him, but he's also realistically integrated into the story, neither standing apart from it nor so far in the background as to be completely irrelevant. Whenever a wandering storyteller is needed, he can feature organically.

Anyway this got way longer than I meant, but. yeah. I don't have any full-on self inserts but I could probably work one in someday.

#asks #writing stuff

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tbcanary · 10 months

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do you have a guide to making your animated comic edits?

i don't, actually! in part because i'm relatively new to these parts and no one has asked for one, and in part because every gif i do is kind of a unique little adventure into teaching myself a new skill, so there isn't just one approach. but! i'm delighted that you want to know! so i'll try and walk you through a couple of them.

we'll start with this guy, because he's a favorite of mine and showcases a lot of the steps that i usually have to do:

tools you'll need: photoshop CS6; digital versions of the comics you'd like to edit.

(i assume you can use any version of photoshop or any editor capable of creating gifs, but CS6 is my preference. photopea is a fantastic free alternative, but figuring out timing and transitions is a lot harder there and requires more effort.)

step one: find your panels and elements

it's worth noting here that i cannot - and i mean this - cannot draw. at all. a lot of my life would be easier if i could, but here we stand. as such, nearly every element of these gifs is pulled from the comics themselves.

for this particular gif, which is admittedly on the simpler side, i needed two things: the initial panel, of jason leaping into the air, and a still image of jason as robin. preferably from the same run with the same artist, because that way, the art matches. i found these:

and that's all i needed for this one. sometimes i need to pull several panels for the vibe i want, or for specific things -- leaves to drift through the frame, magical elements, text and sound effects, speech bubbles, etc -- but adding those in follows pretty much the same processes either way.

step two: prep them!

easier said than done, really. what i needed to do here was make myself a blank canvas around the elements that i would be messing with. this varies from project to project, but for this one, it goes as follows: remove the narration box and jason from the first panel; create an isolated version of jason that can be pasted back in; create an isolated version of robin that can be pasted in the same place at a similar angle.

this is a lengthy process, because i work off my laptop and have a touchpad and no artistic skills. here, it requires drawing in a lot of building and making a successfully blurry, ombre sky. and, because robin!jason's toes are cut off, i have to draw those in and try to match the shading.

(there's also some work here with color balance and photo filters to match coloration; i had to add some highlighting and change the colors on robin!jason a bit to match the background lighting of the overall image, but not by much. sometimes, this step is more involved.)

after some fiddling, i usually end up with things i'm happy with. for this gif, those are as follows:

(this is done through the blur tool, the magic wand selection tool, refining the edges of a selection, or -- in many cases, because comic lineart is my enemy - erasing every pixel of the background or character by hand. yes, there are easier ways to do this, but i like my time-consuming methodologies. they're soothing to me.)

and now we're ready for the fun parts.

part three: assembly!

so we take that background we just made and we paste hood!jason back on it on a new layer. silly that we have to, but yknow. it's fine. he's in there. and now the goal is to find a way to successfully transition from hood!jason to robin!jason in a way that's satisfactory.

i follow a lot of standard gifmaking practices, i feel like? but i'm also self-taught, so i actually don't know how true that is. i create a timeline in photoshop and set it to have a delay of about 0.2 seconds to start with, just to see how the transitions go. i usually start with 10 frames, and then add or remove depending on what seems right.

(the variations here can be broad, by the way. i have a green arrow gif with 140 frames with no delay and a wonder woman gif with six frames on a one-second delay, for example, but those are for another time. starting with 0.2 seconds' delay across 10 frames is just a comfortable starting place for me, is my point.)

this is what the timeline looks like for this project:

(it's that bar at the bottom. you can see the settings and all that as they appear in the final product: 0.1 second delay over 12 frames, so not too far off from my default. nice.)

operating within that 10-12 frame range, i mess around with photo filters and the blur tool to both make hood!jason disappear and make robin!jason appear. this involved a heavy use of the "accented strokes" setting in the filter gallery and smudging and blurring until they looked how i wanted them to, which is to say, rather silly.

here's red hood vanishing:

and here's robin appearing:

there are a few additional versions of these, but i think you get the idea. these are all the bits and bobs, and i just have to lay them out in the timeline in order to get the transition as i'd like it to be.

so i start with jason as hood, and then i move through the timeline and click and unclick the little eye to view them. this is also a heavy process; this gif has about twenty layers, and i'm revealing/hiding each one individually. that is actually not as bad as it could be; one of the poison ivy gifs i've published has about 600 layers that i did that with, and i have a green arrow gif with about 800 layers and 70 frames that i didn't even end up publishing because i wasn't happy with it. c'est la vie.

the end product should look something like this:

which, when played at 0.1 second delay and looped, looks like this:

part four: in conclusion...

i recognize this "guide" is messy and skips over quite a bit, but that's because every gif really is its own beast. i am very familiar with trial and error, and with trashing things that don't end up working out. each gifset takes me about 10-12 hours, depending on complexity, without even counting the time to track down panels or read the comics themselves.

if you want to start with something simple, i suggest animating text bubbles. all you have to do for those is erase them from the background and then drop them back in over the top for about 0.5 or 01 seconds apiece for readability. this gif of mia, for example, was just isolating her from her background, creating a new background from a different panel, and then flipping the text on and off. it's got five frames on a 0.5-second delay.

basically... fuck around and find out. a lot. once you know how the gif timeline works and how to hide/reveal layers, the world is your oyster, because that's all this is.

again, i know this is messy and all over the place, but i hope it helps! have a little fun with it, and don't be afraid to mess up. it's fun either way. <3

#tbanimations #how to #ask.tb #elioherondale #i am always down to talk about how these got made so if there's a more specific one you had in mind...#feel free to ask about it #i am an open book i like discussing the things i make

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aquarius-stories-and-story-ideas · 11 months

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((I wrote a short story featuring @troolyart’s characters, Simon and Stanley. I had a lot of fun writing this! Hopefully I did a good job and everyone likes it.))

Music filled the room and birds could be heard chirping outside. The hour was afternoon and Starlla laid on top of her bed in her home. Her room wasn’t fancy. Her full sized bed was pink and white colored. She had a wooden dresser and desk. A small closet held all her clothes.

As for the sorceress herself, she was worse for wear. It had been a few days since she had been discharged from the hospital after that anomaly incident. It also left her temporarily blind. She could feel all the bandages on her body. She also had some wrapped around her head and covering her eyes. The clothes she was currently wearing were soft and comfortable. The sunlight could be felt on her skin as it filtered through her window.

She laid there soaking up the peaceful moment. Unfortunately, it was interrupted. She could hear Nathan peeking into the room. “You doing alright, sweetheart?”

Starlla huffed. “Yes, Nathan. I’m fine. You asked me that a few minutes ago.”

“I know. I’m just worried about you. I’m going to make dinner. Need anything?”

“Some quiet time for starters.” She sat up and heard Nathan rush over to her. This irritated her. “Oh, for goodness sakes Nathan! You don't have to hover over me like a mother hen!”

He sighed. “I know. But, I can't help it. Your sight hasn't returned yet and I’m afraid of you accidently hurting yourself.” He kissed her on the head gently. “You stay here and I’ll fix dinner.”

When he left Starlla huffed. She was starting to wonder if letting him stay at her house while she heals was a good idea. As much as she loved him, she needed some quiet time. Time to herself.

She carefully swung off her bed and felt around for her sandals. When she finally found them she made her way back to her bed and grabbed her guidecane.

Okay. A nice quiet place to rest. While her magic levels were completely screwed up due to the poison, she could manage a simple teleportation technique. After all, teleporting was easy if you knew where you wanted to go.

With a deep breath, Starlla pictured a place in a park she loved to go to. In a flash of pink, glitterly, light she vanished.

Unfortunately, things didn't go as planned for her. Instead of teleporting onto soft grass, she found herself falling. Before she could utter a sound she landed on hard concrete.

She yelped and groaned. Her guide cane landed somewhere nearby. That freaking hurt! Where the heck did she teleport to?

Shifting onto her knees, she felt for her cane. Dang it! Where was it?! It frustrated her to no end that her magic was all messed up. She couldn't even view a person's soul right now!

After a bit she stood up and moved forward a bit. She felt for her cane again and repeated what she just did. It had to be here somewhere. She heard it clatter.

When she moved forward again something wrapped around her waist and yanked her back. They were putting pressure on the area where that acidic parasite bit her. Add shock and confusion into the mix and you get what she was feeling right now.

Starlla screamed bloody murder. She screamed from the fact she didn't know who was touching her and they were hurting her.

“GET OFF OF ME!” She screamed. “GET OFF! YOU’RE HURTING ME! STOP!”

“Let her go! She’s away from the edge!”

Whatever had a hold of her let her go. She crumpled to the floor and tried to steady her breathing. She gingerly touched her side to see if she was bleeding. Thankfully, it didn’t feel like it. That freaking hurt like hell!

She heard footsteps running towards her. “Oh my! Are you quite alright?”

That voice. It sounded like Nathan. But, the tone didn’t belong to him. Not to mention it sounded like he never met her until now.

She felt a hand gently touch her shoulder. “It’s okay. You’re safe now. The Adventure Line grabbed you before you could walk over the edge. I’m sorry for the rough treatment.”

Yep. This guy wasn’t Nathan. His voice had an air of natural gentleness to it. Her boyfriends tended to be a bit rough. It also sounded like his Adventure Line had a mind of its own.

She carefully sat up. “Thank you. Where am I?”

The man paused for a moment. “You’re in my Parable. My name is Simon.” She felt hands on her shoulders and Simon spoke gently. “Do you remember how you got here?”

“I accidentally teleported here.” She answered. “I wanted to go somewhere quiet. But, my magic levels are completely screwed up. I didn’t mean to trespass onto your property. I’m sorry.”

There were a few moments of silence. She had a feeling he was looking at her in confusion. Honestly, she didn't blame him. Someone teleporting into your private space isn’t something you encounter everyday. Hopefully he was nice and didn't get mad at her

After a bit she heard him let out a warm chuckle. “It’s quite alright, my dear girl. Accidents happen. Tell me, what is your name?”

“Starlla.” She answered. Phew. He wasn’t angry with her. That's good.

“Starlla? That’s a lovely name. It suits you.” She heard him stand up. “Can you stand?”

As much as she would like to say yes and get up on her own, she was hurting. The fall and being yanked back irritated her wounds. Not to mention she had no idea where she was. So much for having some alone time.

She held out her hand. “Can you give me a hand, please?”

A hand immediately gently grabs hers. His hand felt bigger and thicker than Nathans. Simon must be heavier than him. That wasn’t a bad thing, though. It made her think that Simon must look like a teddy bear. She adored men who looked like that. It gave her a sense of security.

As she stood up his hand never left hers. He even used his free one to help steady her. “Easy now. There we go. Are you in any pain? Is there anything I can do to help?”

Starlla resisted the urge to sigh. Great. First she teleports into this man's domain, nearly falls off a ledge, and now he’s worrying over her. Wonderful! She sure was doing a great job embarrassing herself!

After taking a breath she shook her head. “Don't worry about me. Let me find my guidecane and I’ll be on my way.” Since she didn't want to lie to him she figured she would just leave. “I’ve caused you enough trouble already. I’ll take my leave.”

“Oh, no no. You’re not causing me any trouble.” A hand could be felt on her shoulder. “I believe you when you say this was an accident and it looks like you’re in pain. I can help you until you can return home.”

He could tell she was in pain? Maybe her color was off. That's the only explanation she could think of. In all honesty, she needed to let the pain ease up if she wanted to attempt to teleport again.

“Just let me rest for a few minutes and I’ll be on my way.” She said. “Do you know where my guidecane is?”

Someone clearing their throat behind her got her attention. She turned around and Simon spoke. “Ah. Thank you Stanley. He found your cane.”

Starlla held out her hand and she felt the wrist strap around her wrist. She had no idea he was there. Has he been here the entire time?

She gripped her cane and attempted to look at Stanley. “Thank you.”

“He says you’re welcome.” Answered Simon. “He’s not much of a talker. We can take you someplace to rest. It’s nearby. Do you need anything? Water? Tea?”

She shook her head. “No thank you. I’m already intruding. Give me a few minutes and I’ll be gone.”

Simon paused for a brief moment. “Alright. If you change your mind, please don't hesitate to ask.” She felt him gently grab her arm. “I’ll lead you to the break room.”

She grabbed his arm in response. “Thank you.”

“You’re quite welcome, my dear.”

Wow. This man was incredibly sweet. They just met and she already really liked him. Something told her he would make a great Dad. Men like him always made her day.

Even with that running through her mind she shouldn’t stay any longer than she should. She was in his domain without his permission. By all rights she should leave right away. She just needed to get her bearings first.

When Simon began slowly leading her she followed, keeping a firm grasp on him. Since someone was leading her she kept her guidecane off the ground. While she couldn't see into his soul, she had a feeling he wouldn’t let her trip or anything.

She suddenly felt him take a step up. “We’re at a small set of stairs.” She heard him say. “It's only a few.”

“Okay.”

As much as a small part of her wanted to be annoyed at the fact he had to explain to her where she was going, she knew that would be illogical. She had no idea where she was. She needed someone to guide her.

With a few taps of her cane she carefully took the first step. Simon stayed a step ahead of her and tightened his hold on her. Nervousness started to creep up on her. Climbing stairs in an unfamiliar place while blind was understandably nerve wracking.

Simon seemed to pick up on that. “Don’t worry. I’ve got you. Stanley is right behind you too.”

He was? Starlla resisted the urge to turn around. That guy could be quiet when he wanted to be, that’s for sure. She was so focused on Simon she didn’t notice Stanley right behind her.

Okay. She could do this. The first step was easy. But, when she tried to make the second her foot slipped and she fell backwards.

Immediately Simon grabbed her with both his hands and she felt Stanley place his hands on her back to stop her from falling. She felt both of them push/pull her forward and Simon steadied her. “My dear girl, are you alright?”

She let out a shaky breath. “Yes. I’m fine. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

She made sure to be extra careful this time. Simon kept his hands firmly on her and she could feel Stanley close behind her. It was obvious both men weren’t taking any chances and she was thankful for that.

When they reached the top Simon let one hand go off of her and slowly began leading her again. As she followed him she could feel Stanley staring at her. It kinda made her nervous. Was he mad at her for popping in uninvited? It wouldn’t surprise her if that was the case. He had every right to be angry at her.

As they walked she began to feel out of breath. The pain coursing through her body along with the stress she felt being in an unfamiliar place uninvited with two strangers was getting to her. The sorceress swallowed thickly.

“Don’t worry.” She heard Simon say suddenly. “We’re almost there. Just a bit more.”

Starlla could feel herself begin to tremble. Damn it! Why was it so hard to simply walk?! She’s fought beings ten times her size and been thrashed around roughly. She shouldn’t feel like this!

Her heart began to pound in her chest. She felt so pathetic. Her legs felt weak and she swore she was beginning to sweat a bit. In the back of her mind she bet her old bullies from her school days would be having a field day if they could see her now. After all, they still torment her to this day.

Simon suddenly stopped and she stopped as well. She was about to ask him if something was wrong, but his hands on her arms stopped her. He gently led her forward and her cane bumped against something.

“Here.” He gently said. “You can sit down. Do you need me to help you?”

She could feel her face flush from embarrassment. “I think I can manage. Thank you, though.”

She felt him let her go and she reached a hand out to feel. At first, she felt nothing. When she lowered her hand it made contact with something soft. It felt like a cushion.

After a bit more feeling she turned around and gently sat down. Since she was still uncomfortable in her environment she sat on the edge. She let out a shaky breath. Damn that acidic parasite and its venom! If she has been more careful on that mission she wouldn’t be in this situation.

As she tried to deflate the feeling of someone sitting beside her drew her attention. “It's okay, my dear.” Simon spoke gently. “We won't hurt you. You’re safe here.”

Starlla took a breath. “Thank you. I feel bad for intruding. I know how frustrating it is when someone tresspasses on your private property.”

He placed a hand on her shoulder. “There’s nothing to apologize for. This was a simple accident. We’re not angry with you.”

These men were being too good to her. They have every right to be angry with her. But, they’re choosing to show compassion and empathy to her. Sometimes it baffled her how kind some people can be.

She reached up and placed her hand on his. While she couldn't see right now, maybe she could get the general idea on what he looked like. She didn't know how to ask him if she could feel him. After all, anyone could take that the wrong way. Maybe if she started with his hands he would get the picture and tell her to back the freak off or not.

She scooted back a bit, set her guidecane beside her, and turned to him. As she felt his hand she reached her other out and tried to feel for his free one. He must’ve gotten the hint as he gently grabbed her hand. His hands felt a bit rough. It made her think he was a hard worker who used his hands a lot.

He wasn’t saying anything. Maybe it was okay to ask. “Um…if it’s okay with you. Could I…”

“Do you want to feel me?” He guessed. She nodded and he chuckled. “I don't mind. Go right ahead.”

“Thank you.”

He took his hand off of her and she slowly felt up his arms. The shirt he had on felt rough a bit. It made her think he was wearing a dress shirt. When her thumbs brush up against his sides she was met with the feeling of softness. He had on something soft over his long sleeve shirt. Maybe a sweater vest or something.

One thing was for sure, he was chunky. That fact alone made her want to smile. She resisted the urge to hug him. Full figured people who were kind like Simon made her want to give them a big hug. There were times she wished Nathan was a bit chubby. That way there would be more of him to love.

Her hands made their way up his arms and to his shoulders. She felt the edges of the fuzzy piece of clothing he had on. Yep. It was probably a sweater vest. She bet he looked so adorable.

After that she made her way up his neck and to his face. Her hands rested on his cheeks and she ran her thumbs across his soft skin. His face was full like she would expect. His nose felt a bit round and she could feel age lines.

As she moved her hands up a bit they bumped against something. They felt like glasses. It seemed that the Narrators wearing glasses was a common thing. She wasn’t too surprised she felt them.

Curious about the shape of them, she carefully ran her fingertips along the edges. They were large and round. When she got to the top she felt something unexpected. It felt like there was a third lense on top. Feeling of it confirmed her suspicions. He had a third lens in front of his forehead. Huh. Glasses with three lenses wasn’t something she encountered everyday. She bet they looked cute on him.

When she was done she let go of him. She even allowed herself to smile a bit. “You feel adorable.”

She heard Simon make a few noises. “Wha? Oh. Well, thank you.”

Starlla couldn’t help but to giggle a bit. Reaching out a hand, she tried to place it on his face. He ended up taking it and placing it on his cheek for her. She felt for his nose and booped it when she found it.

“You’re so precious.” She giggled.

He made a few more noises and she imagined he was blushing. She put her hand down, done feeling his face for now. So, he was a chubby man, probably about her height, who wore a long sleeve dress shirt, sweater vest, and had glasses with three lenses. She wondered if he had three eyes.

“Th-thank you.” He stuttered. “If you don't mind me asking, how did you get injured?”

Starlla lightly sighed and leaned back a bit more. “It's a long story. My main job is to neutralize dangerous anomalies. My last job had me investigate something that was trying to harvest energy. It was an acidic parasite. To paint a better picture for you, it’s a huge beast made up of acidic black tar.”

She touched the side it bit her. “I got careless and it bit me. Those things are known to be poisonous, so I didn’t last very long after that. It fed off of me for about a week before my boyfriend and Narrator, Nathan, rescued me. He had help from another Narrator, Devin, and his Stanley.”

The sorceress sighed and lightly touched the bandages on her eyes. “That poison and energy draining did a number on me. It’ll be a while before I regain my sight. It’s quite frustrating. Add the fact Nathan won’t leave me alone. I love him, but I need time to myself. That’s why I teleported. I was trying to go somewhere to be alone. But, I ended up accidentally coming here.”

There were a few moments of silence. She could feel both men staring at her. She almost jumped when she felt a hand on hers. “I’m sorry you had to go through that.” She heard Simon say. “I’m glad they rescued you. Tell me, how much information were you given beforehand?”

She thought for a moment. “Honestly, not much. I was told to look into an energy draining anomaly. That was all besides the location.”

“It sounds like to me you weren’t given enough information to work with. It’s not your fault that you didn’t know what you were getting into. They should’ve given you more information or assigned you to a team.”

“That’s what Nathan said too. He told me the entire thing mutated by the time I was found. Any longer and he would’ve found me dead.”

Simon gave her hand a gentle squeeze. “I’m glad he didn’t.”

Starlla resisted the urge to rub her bandaged eyes. “Same here.”

As she felt herself finally relaxing, exhaustion seeped into her systems. But, she couldn’t fall asleep here. She needed to leave. After all, she was probably already outstaying her welcome.

“Are you tired?” Asked Simon.

“A bit. But, don’t worry about me. Give me a minute and I’ll leave.”

“You’re more than welcome to rest a bit more. Your body has been through a massive amount of trauma. If you need to rest then rest. Stanley and I don’t mind at all.”

Ah, that’s right. Stanley was in the room as well. He was so quiet that she almost forgot he was here too. She guessed he was probably a strong, silent, type of person. That would explain why Simon was doing all the talking.

As much as she wanted to politely decline and leave, Simon was right. Her body was becoming desperate for rest. If she teleported now there was a chance she could hurt herself. Not to mention she could end up who knows where again. The most logical choice was to listen to him.

Footsteps approaching her caught her attention. She turned her head in the direction of the sound and she felt a hand gently on her shoulder. Knowing this was Stanley she attempted to look up at him.

“Stanley says you can take a nap if you want.” Simon said. “I think that’s a good idea. Taking a nap will help restore your energy much better. Not to mention the body does the most healing while it’s asleep.”

Okay, these men were making logical sense. Sleeping did result in the most healing. Her body was beginning to throb. If she didn’t sleep, at least resting a bit longer would be good for her.

She finally nodded. “Okay.”

She grunted a bit as she scooted back a bit more. She felt Simon place a hand on her other shoulder in an effort to help her. When she felt her back press against the back cushions she tried to relax.

“Stanley is asking if you want a blanket.”

She paused for a brief moment. “I’m fine right now. Thank you for the offer, though.”

“He says you’re welcome.”

When the two men let go of her she could feel herself actually beginning to drift off. Everything must’ve been more draining for her than she thought. It was baffling to her how much she was sleeping lately. She couldn’t remember the last time she slept this much.

She must’ve dozed off because the next thing she knew someone was gently shaking her shoulder. “Starlla?” She heard Simon whisper. “Stanley and I got you a blanket. Do you want to lay down?”

“Sure.” She muttered. What he said barely registered to her.

She felt two pairs of hands gently grab her and shifted her so she could lay down on the couch. Her head was laid on something soft and she felt a heavy blanket being draped over her. Someone smoothing out the blanket on her was the last thing that she registered before she fell back asleep.

How much time had passed was unknown to her. It was so peaceful in the room that she felt herself fall into a deep slumber. It's been a hot minute since she’s had the privilege to experience this peace and quiet.

When she finally woke up everything was quiet and still. Taking a deep breath, she laid still for a few moments before shifting. She sat up and stretched as much as she could.

“Finally awake.”

This caught her by surprise. The voice and tone was unmistakable. “Was it hard to find me, Nathan?”

She heard him sigh. “Yes. Yes it was. Your energy signature is still muddled.” He paused. “Listen. I’m sorry for smothering you. Almost losing you scared me. I’m…I suppose in a way I’m trying to make up for the fact I didn't reach you sooner. I’m sorry, honey.”

Starlla lightly smiled. “It's alright. I understand that you want to be near me after what happened. But, I need time to myself. We both do. Things are going to happen in our line of work. Any mission could be our last. It's what we signed up for. All we can do is be there for each other and respect our needs.”

Nathan chuckled. “One of the many reasons why I fell in love with you. You know what to say.”

“Not all the time. You’re the one who does most of the talking. I mostly talk a lot to you.”

“I’m glad you do.” She heard him approach her. “How about we go home and eat dinner? I can warm it back up.”

The sorceress smiled. “I would love that.”

With that said she slipped the blanket off and she felt Nathan slip her sandals back onto her feet. Simon or Stanley must’ve taken them off for her. He helped her stand up and slipped her guidecane around her wrist.

“Ready to go?” Asked Nathan as he gently grabbed her arm.

“Almost. I need to thank Simon and Stanley first.”

“You’re welcome, my dear.” Starlla lightly jumped at the sound of Simon's voice. “My apologies. I didn’t mean to frighten you. Nathan hasn’t been here that long. He was awfully worried about you.”

Starlla lightly sighed. “I bet. Sorry for worrying you like that, honey.”

She felt Nathan kiss her head. “It’s quite alright.”

She handed her cane to Nathan. “Before we go. Simon. Can you come here, please?”

“Of course.”

She took a few steps forward and heard Simon walk up to her. She held out her hand. When he took it she pulled him into a hug. Her arms wrapped around his chubby sides and she couldn’t help but to notice he smelled like paper and ink.

She let out a content sigh as she hugged him. It was like hugging one of her parents or relatives. All the stress and everything else seemed to melt away. His chubby figure made it all the more heart warming. Oh my goodness, did she need this!

After a few brief moments she felt Simon hug her back. She smiled and tightened her hold a tad. He was a wonderful hugger.

“Keep that up and I’ll start to get jealous.” She heard Nathan say playfully.

“It’s not my fault Simon is good for hugging. Maybe if you put on some weight I’ll sleep on you.” She teased back.

“You know it’s hard for me to gain weight in our line of work.”

She felt Simon chuckle. “You two stay active, I take it?”

“Very.” Answered Starlla as she reluctantly let go of him. “We both lead incredibly active lives. Thank you again for everything. Thank you too Stanley. That is, if you’re here right now.”

“He is and he says you’re welcome. That comes from me too. Let us know when your sight returns.”

“I will.” She turned around and tried to look at Nathan. “Let’s get a move on, sweetie.”

“Of course, dear.”

With that said Nathan led Starlla to the place he used to enter Simon's Parable. Before she knew it she smelled the familiar scent of her home. It smelled like lavender and food.

Nathan guided Starlla to the table. “Give me a few moments and super will be ready.”

“Thank you, Nathan.” She said as she sat down. “I love you.”

“I love you too, my darling.”

#oc #short story #story #written story #i had a lot of fun writing this #fan writing #the stanley parable ultra deluxe #the stanley parable #tsp #Nathan #Starlla #Simon #Stanley #the Stanley parable narrator #the Stanley parable Stanley #The Stanley Parable female Stanley

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maxbegone · 2 years

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hi! would you be able to show us how you did that comic effect on your lone star sets? it's super cool and i love how they're turning out!!!

hi, i'd love to!

it's actually a lot easier than it looks. there is a way to go about this using topaz clean (here’s a tutorial), but i personally couldn't get it to load into photoshop, so i had to play around a bit before i figured it out. that's what photoshop is though, right? trial and error!

then again, i always seem to take the harder route.

how i made this set

anyway! you want to start off by making and coloring your gif.

once you’ve done that, select all of the layers and frames and convert them to video timeline. from there, go to filter → convert to smart filters.

your layer and timeline will be automatically selected, so the next step is to go back to the filter dropdown, and select filter gallery. you’ll be brought into this space with a bunch of style options which are actually really cool to mess around with if you get the chance.

on the right in the artistic folder, there is a gallery option for poster edges. click on that and you should get adjustment options on the side like the screenshot above.

you’re going to want to play around with the adjustments here. i tend not to touch posterization or edge intensity too much, the main focus being on edge thickness. the amount i used is solely based on the scene i’m working with. for instance since the loft scenes have quite a bit of background, the edge thickness adjustment might differ from this gif of marjan with a mostly white background.

and that’s really it! super simple, easy to mess around with!

tip: i find that the gifs seem to look a little dull once the effect is added, so i always do another round of coloring just to breathe some life back into it. what’s fun is that, especially if you’re using this for a comic strip set, you can really amplify the colors! cherry reds, candy blues, etcetera!

if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask! i’d be happy to help!

comic book template

comic book font

happy giffing! ♥️

#tutorial #gif tutorial #coloring tutorial #for photoshop #photoshop tutorial #usergif #chaoticresources #photoshop #gonna tag some fellow gifmakers #usersteen #tuserjen #tusersilence #userlang #lookpetal #*#my edit

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sonicringbond · 2 years

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Sonic Ring Bond - Episode of Journey's Beginning 02

The following is a work of fan fiction by Joshua D. Tarwater and is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by SEGA SAMMY HOLDINGS.* *SEGA SAMMY HOLDINGS retains full rights over the Sonic the Hedgehog™ intellectual property and can terminate or take control of this work at any time.

~EPISODE OF JOURNEY’S BEGINNING 02~

★~One thing that hasn’t changed about Amnesia Island since the Overgrowth came and the Empire setting the forest ablaze are the views. My favorite is from atop of a spire made from an incomplete natural loop. You can see almost the entire island from there and have the most beautiful view of the ocean. Though you can see the great tree from almost anywhere, the view from Lookout Loop is still the best for viewing it too!

~Tempest the Black

Sky Ring like an eye in blue sky Watching rolling white clouds and island below Great fingerlike tree trunk growing from forest far below Swarms of stone eyes and flying great helms Hidden by light filtering canopy Cobbled roads dislodged by thick grass Giant mushroom caps now grass covered hills Buildings built below overwhelmed by ivy Floating statues wandering lost city

The Stone Ghosts that wondered Amnesia Island were an ample threat to any who would cross their path. From the intimidating Arms to the eerie Eyes, it was unlikely that any that crossed paths with them would do well. Fortunately Rings still hung about in groups offering a form of protection all around should one just manage to take hold of one. A boon though only to those who could see them. Though perhaps even visible as they were to only half of all people, they were still easier to see than the two hedgehogs and the fairy who joined them that raced down the overgrown and flooded forest roads.

“WEE~♥” Rosy squealed with delight as she raced along the forest road, not realizing she had managed to rise up above the ground atop the layer of water that covered it.

It was not long before Rosy managed to discover that she had endangered herself as her first step at speeds nearing half those of sound past the water was unprepared for the inch of difference. With a surprised “Oh” spilling from her lips as she stepped down further than she expected, Rosy tumbled violently and out of control, curling into a tight ball to keep herself safe.

Unfortunately for Rosy she was oddly squishy and bouncy while curled up and found herself springing along and bounding into the air. Fortunately, it was on one such bound that she came to a stop as a particularly strong branch blocked her path and she found herself suddenly wrapped around it. But it was not a groan of pain that escaped her but pure laughter.

“I can’t believe you,” Tempest sighed from below as he slid to a stop at the base of the tree from which Rosy dangled from. “We weren’t even going that fast and you still managed to lose your footing.”

“Sorry!” Rosy called down and laughed, trying to hold a smile to calm Tempest down with as she could see the light cast by his crystals were a pale red with cloud like swirls of lilac mixed within. She recognized the combination of colors as irritation and confusion but still couldn’t keep herself from laugh. “It’s just even when I mess up, I’m still running with you at speeds like Sonic! It’s just so much fun and so amazing! I want to find all sorts of ways to enjoy it and see what I can see at the speeds Sonic runs at.”

“I can run that fast too you, know,” Tempest smiled, flakes of blue light mixing into his crystals as the red condensed into a spark of electricity. Stretching his right arm all the way up to the branch Rosy hung from, Tempest pulled himself up and landed on it next to the pink hedgehog. “Though I can assure you it’s a lot more fun challenging yourself rather than enjoying your mistakes.”

“Phooey,” Rosy puffed up her cheeks before bursting into more laughter. “I think it’s great to be able to enjoy both.”

“Only so long as you do not bring yourself to harm,” Mote soured Rosy’s fun as she joined the hedgehogs. “Especially so while we still find ourselves trapped here.”

“Trapped? Rosy asked as she accepted Tempest’s left hand and let herself be pulled up onto the branch.

“Unfortunately,” Mote confirmed her choice of words as she looked off into the sky above the forest.

“Ooh~!” Rosy inhaled with amazed surprise as she looked out into a cloud of floating stone and metal.

Closer inspection revealed the flying, sword wielding, great helms, properly known as Armed Helms, that served the Empire were engaged with not rocks floating about the massive finger like tree trunk that reached into the sky, but Stone Ghost’s known as Eyes. While the arm and torso Stone Ghosts, Arms, were able to ascend by floating along the top of the reaching tree, they were less engaged with the vastly out numbered Armed Helms just due to the lack of full flight. Still, the Armed Helms seemed to have the advantage with their swords and flame throwers making quick work of the Stone Ghosts.

“I guess the Empire and the Overgrowth don’t get along either,” Tempest mused.

“Not when they’re both being jerks,” Rosy loudly harrumphed and placed her hands on her hips.

“Though I don’t see how their disagreement means we can’t leave the island,” Tempest avoided engaging Rosy’s opinion to question Mote.

“Because they have made off with the Ring Gate Beacon,” Mote answered as she looked off at something in the sky reflecting sunlight, her matter-of-fact tone missing that the two hedgehogs had no clue what she was talking about.

“Ring Gate Beacon?” Rosy queried alerting the stunned fairy to the ignorance she did not account for.

“Ahem,” Mote coughed as she regained her composure. “It is a type of Ring Machine, not unlike the one that powers the radio you keep with you. With it, portals opened by expending the energies of the Rings can be directed to where you please rather than left to the whims of the Rings.”

“Wait?” Tempest cut in surprised. “You can make portals from Rings? Then why didn’t we ever do so and just leave the island that way?”

“Because there is something wrong with the beacon. It is turning all Ring Gates made on the island back towards it. I had hoped that during my vassal’s daily adventures that perhaps she might have found it and I might try to repair it, but now it is in the hands of our enemies.”

“But Mote, can the people from the Empire even see you? Wouldn’t you still be able to fix it while Tempest and I find a way to get to wherever the Empire has it?”

“It is unlikely you can fly my Vassal,” Mote commented, her eyes narrowing as she focused more so on the flying metal vessel mixing steam powered naval ship with great steal balloon adorned in sails, wings, and propellers. “And as the Stone Ghosts which now infest this island can and do attack me as well, I would need your protection while I worked.”

“Stone Ghosts,” Rosy laughed and jumped onto a passing Eye as she mused about the name Mote provided for them. It was a name she was sure she had probably heard on her radio before though and didn’t linger as she shifted her focus to her proof of being able to somewhat fly. “But I don’t know. I think I can catch a ride to wherever it is you’re glaring.”

“Not through a cloud of that many though,” Tempest countered as he stretched out his arm and cut through the green gem that gave the Stone Ghost life.

Freed of its crystalline casing, a seed of pure light popped up into the air, and Rosy watched it for a moment before she was yanked back by Tempest’s arm to the tree branch. To make sure the Darkness that comprised his arm did not start to take hold Tempest turned to catch Rosy in a hug on his left side while stretching and whipping out his arm past his other side.

“You’re too clumsy to fight that many, no less in the air like that. We’ll have to find another way.”

“Phooey!” Rosy puffed up her cheeks again in frustration as Tempest let her step out of the uninvited hug as he put down her abilities. Her frustration did not last long however as an idea came to her and she conjured a Ring from her person that was immediately replaced by her small, wood case radio. “Maybe we can find a plane!”

“Have I not told you in the past that your imaginings that the shows you listen to on that radio could cause a Ring Shift to bring a plane are just that, imaginings?”

“But that’s how we know these really fast-growing plants are referred to as the Overgrowth, and it’s here now too when it didn’t used to be,” Rosy countered Mote with what she believed to be sound logic.

“She’s not wrong,” Tempest agreed with her.

“And I find your infatuated point of view ill suited in being unbiased in defense of my vassal’s daydreams,” Mote caused both Rosy and Tempest to flush in the face. “Besides, even if we could find a plane who here would fly it?”

“Well, if we found one it would at least give us a chance to learn,” Rosy stayed optimistic as she tried to be encouraging as well as distracting from the attraction Tempest had for her.

“Actually, I think I know how,” Tempest spoke up and drew surprised looks from Mote and Rosy both. Though Rosy had a much more positive follow up as her tail began to wag and she excitedly took hold of Tempest’s left hand.

“You can fly Tempest!”

“I think,” Tempest expressed his uncertainty as the light from his crystals was purely lilac now, but with specks of intense blue swirling through as Rosy demonstrated her amazement aimed at him. Scratching at his cheek with his right hand, he tried to explain. “It’s kind of how I fight and run. Like just a feeling that I follow. Something I knew before I lost my memories and woke up here.”

“Yet still we have no plane,” Mote again dampened the spirits of the group.

“Then we just go find one!” Rosy countered with her optimism and energy. “And I bet the best place to look is with the giant crabs that live here! If a plane showed up here they probably took it for themselves, so we’ll just have to go borrow it!”

“Absurd.”

“But better than standing here feeling trapped,” Tempest countered Mote’s disbelief. “Besides, Rosy has more experience with the crabs, so it’ll be a safer way for her to get used to having ‘his’ speed.”

“Then what are we waiting for! Let’s go!”

Excited to be off on a treasure hunt, and one that would see them from Amnesia Island, Rosy leapt from the tree and took off towards the edge of the island. Mote could only sigh but was forced to follow as Tempest took off after Rosy as well. ★

EPISODE OF JOURNEY’S BEGINNING 02 - END

-----

Fair Use Disclaimer

Sonic The Hedgehog and all affiliated characters and logos are the express property and Copyright© of SEGA SAMMY HOLDINGS used without permission under Title 17 U.S.C Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976 in which allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. “Fair use” is use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be considered copyright infringement.

The Sonic Ring Bond alternate universe (AU) consumer written work of fiction is a non-profit transformative work primarily for personal use and IP research which can and will be taken down without warning or prior notice at the request of the copyright holder(s) should it not be recognized under “fair use”.

The Sonic Ring Bond AU and Sonic Ring Bond story are the creation of Joshua David Tarwater/ynymbus/sonicfanj/@Joshtarwater and is to be, including all contents herein, regardless of creator, context, use/ function, intent, and time of creation, considered for all legal purposes without contest, compensation, employment, or offer of employment, liability, etcetera, the property of the Sonic The Hedgehog intellectual property (IP) and copyright owners, SEGA SAMMY HOLDINGS.

All story contributors via prompt, suggestion, written scene, art, and all and every other contribution acknowledge that all contributed material is forfeit for legal purposes to SEGA SAMMY HOLDINGS upon official request from SEGA SAMMY HOLDINGS regardless of having read or possessing awareness of this disclaimer.

#sonic the hedgehog #sonic au #sonic ring bond #sonic fan fiction #amy rose #au amy #ring bond amy #rosy the rascal #sonic ocs #tempest the black #mote the fairy

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taehyungfirst · 9 months

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HII AGAIN i did watch rainy days! (istg it's so annoying that it's only at 11M rn wtf army?? i thought it would be more popular than love me again because even i found out abt the mv's early like 5 minutes after it was released... and like armys in different timezones might've received teh news later or smth idk idk i think they should've promoted more tbh and announced the news a little while before the release date so armys could've been more prepared.) as to how it's doing on the charts... idk man. it's just a lil depressing at the moment. i feel like we as a fandom, like considering how big and coordinated we are, could've contributed more. and the fact that they released it on yt first was.. idk. you can't use playlists on yt for the first 24h i think? and streaming is kinda frustrating because you have to be online and keep watching other videos in between and other stuff so it doesn't get counted as bot behavior. and i feel like some army aren't really interested anymore in non-ot7 content? ANYWAY. the MVs were sooo different to me in a such a good way i loved it. love me again with the warm golden tones and rainy days with the cool, moody palette (someone said that it's in blues and yellows and greys because those are the colors that dogs see, and that the mv is kinda shown through the eyes of yeontan, watching tae!). also, love me again has tae performing, and it's all so pretty that you don't even mind that there's nothing, idk, like cinematic? going on. i mean, that he's only standing and singing (my fav part so far is the pre-chorus, starting w "Fine, I will be honest with you"). cause the vocals, visuals, setting, vibe, outfit, etc everything just goes together so pleasingly and you can just focus on that and let loose. it's lovely on the eyes.

and then there's rainy days. to me, it's something that i can watch again and again for the details. it's visually attractive to me-- i love rain, i love 'gloomy' weather. the set has got an idk a kinda futuristic or sci-fi vibe to it, i like how unique it looks. and then you have tae just moving around, yearning, making some art (vante!!!) and just being very boyfie in general (that moment where he's lying in bed and smiling? asdhshfdjfhjkflhdsjf). at first, i liked love me again way more than rainy days but now it's really sneaked up on me and taken me by surprise lol. i went out today and i was craving it (i didn't have it downloaded so i had to wait to go home and listen to ;-;). so. i have a lot to say ofc ofc but it's getting kinda late so i should probably go to bed lol. -prev anon ⭐(https://www.tumblr.com/taehyungfirst/725456734868684800/i-freaked-out-bby-istg-it-was-so-good-like-the-mv?source=share)

hello ⭐️!

i think rainy days got low views because people are focusing on lma more, but i do agree with you i also thought that rainy days wouldve done better but even the streams for lma are higher 😭 i mean lma is a MASTERPIECE so i get it

regarding streams, the lack of teasers and build-up and the fact that it was a surprise drop really influenced everything, we’re doing our best but usa armys are not even trying rn like my tl is full of people asking for BUYERS because we have funds but not buyers and that’s crazy also it fell off us spotify yesterday yeah just kind of a mess… i hope they will be more prepared for september 8 and read guidelines, they’re lucky because they can use pandora too which is good for streams bc it got low filtering rates and it counts towards charts too

the mvs were so perfect anon 😭😭 i genuinely loved them both and the amount of details and interpretations of people (like saying that taehyung is dressed in flashy gold and red because he wants to be seen by his lover again… just beautiful) are so fun to spot and read! i’m so happy taehyung chose to create a visual album because it’s the perfect choice for him and for his art… can’t wait for the other mvs

also!! i actually thought i preferred rainy days more but then at random times i find myself singing “lost without you baaaby”… i can’t choose i fear

#thank you for sharing your thoughts it’s always a pleasure to read #ask

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jeffreyhobbs01 · 1 year

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Blog #4: My Color Filter Pictures (Composition)

I realized I had never shared my color filter studies pictures, and so I thought this would be a perfect opportunity to share them and discuss their composition!

For the first image, I wanted to use the blue filter to emphasize the water and land and contrast with the trees in the water. I like the balance in this image between the trees, because they may not all be the same size or width, but the trees create an overall balance to the composition.

For the second image, I saw this foreboding and eerie looking Cathedral with a bunch of birds circling above it, and I thought using the red color filter would highlight this eerie feeling. I like the repetition of the many birds circling overhead, and the contrast between the dark, dense trees, and this lighter colored Cathedral makes it seem like it comes out of nowhere, and it's lurking in the distance.

For the third image, I wanted to photograph the top of a staircase from the bottom to create a near liminal space. I wanted the railing to extend outside the image so that there is this movement of beginning to go up the stairs. I also enjoy the reflection of the filter at the top, as it adds this nice film effect.

For the fourth image, I saw the contrast between the light of this lamppost hitting the tree trunk but only shadow falling on branches of the tree, and I thought using the red and blue filters would highlight and emphasize this negative space between the branches and leaves.

For the fifth and final image I wanted to emphasize this bird I saw by the water. I like how it is slightly off center, and the shore wraps around it. I also like how the grass contrasts with the dark water and tree roots. I enjoy the proportions of the bird in this image too, because I feel it's not too big or small, and it almost blends into the background but the white stripe on its head makes it stand out.

I had a lot of fun messing around and experimenting with the color filters, and I really like how my images turned out!

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iceprincess129official · 1 year

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Art Block and Never Completes

Hi everyone, I finally got over being stuck on an artwork and thought I'd share how it went. I had posted the sketch of this one drawing awhile back to show my art process, but as soon as I posted that sketch. I wasn’t happy with the hands and just couldn’t fix them at the time. SO I put that art on the back burner and it fell into the abyss of incomplete art projects and drawings that every artist has I am sure. I loved the pose and the body that I was able to do and I didn’t want to throw it away or never finish it.

In order to move forward I had to overcome my anxiety about everything needing to be perfect. I will admit that hands are very hard for me and they never look right, I will try, give up and move onto another drawing that doesn’t have them in frame. But in order to improve as an artist I have to overcome this. It took quite awhile for me to think over how I should move forward with this project. And after like what? 2 months ish? I just decided to use the incomplete second sketch as my line art and use this as an opportunity to mess with colors and shading and new brushes I never touch. This slowly became a “Fuck around and find out” kind of process.

I always color the line art to match the colors inside the lines, so I still did that, I then went around and tried different brushes and filters for the background layers. I wish I had saved what those looked like during the process but oh well.

I then added the purple colors from the bottom of the frame to the colors inside the lines and shaded the line art to match a bit. I thought I was done with my experimenting but then I got a the idea of making my own FX brush effect and I experimented with making a glass look. Using different brushes and a lot of Alpha Locking layers I got it to look a little like glass.

Again, all of this was just to experiment. I always see finished works or the beginning parts to other artists works and honestly, I wish I saw more works being posted where they weren’t all perfect and see the artist having fun with the process and testing new things out more. I think the reason why I and a lot of other artists struggle and give up on most projects is because we compare ourselves to others far to often and because we only see the beginning and end, we falsely assume nothing went wrong and they draw their art without any issues. That’s not true mind you, but it can seem that way by mistake on our parts I think.

I hope by sharing this forgotten project and the experiments I did, help others break out of the pressure of being perfect all the time. It’s okay to be messy on the internet and in real life.

#art #digital art #oc artwork #art experiment #fuck around and find out

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bordemm · 3 years

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𝐵𝑅𝐴𝑇(𝑈𝑆𝐻𝐼𝐽𝐼𝑀𝐴 𝑊𝐴𝐾𝐴𝑇𝑂𝑆𝐻𝐼)

ᴡᴀʀɴɪɴɢs:sᴍᴜᴛ,ғᴀᴄᴇғᴜᴄᴋɪɴɢ,ᴍᴀɴ ʜᴀɴᴅʟɪɴɢ,ʙʀᴇᴇᴅɪɴɢ,ᴅᴇɢʀᴀɢᴀᴛɪᴏɴ. ʜᴀʀᴅ ᴅᴏᴍ ᴜsʜɪᴊɪᴍᴀ

ᴜsʜɪᴊɪᴍᴀ x ʀᴇᴀᴅᴇʀ

sᴜᴍᴍᴀʀʏ:ʏᴏᴜʀᴇ ʙᴇɪɴɢ ᴀ ᴡʜᴏʀᴇ ᴀɴᴅ ᴜsʜɪᴊɪᴍᴀ ᴘᴜᴛs ʏᴏᴜ ɪɴ ʏᴏᴜʀ ᴘʟᴀᴄᴇ

ᴡᴏʀᴅ ᴄᴏᴜɴᴛ:2672

ɴsғᴡ ᴜɴᴅᴇʀ ᴛʜᴇ ᴄᴜᴛ

Large would be an understatement. There was something that lit a fire in Ushijima that he didn’t know he had, there's something about the way you looked so small standing next to him that made his pants a tad tighter than they should’ve been. Ushijima was not a small or gentle man by any means but when he was holding your hand as you two walked down the street his hand would cradle yours like you were made of glass. The stares you would get when seen together were obvious and anyone could read their faces. You looked like a small lamb next to the big bad wolf. You didn’t care for the stares they didn’t bother you or ushijima, the both of you were content in the small bubble you had.

“Toshi” you said looking up at your boyfriend tugging his sleeve a little, he looked down at you without a word waiting for you to tell him why you called for him

“Can we go home?” you asked looking around the packed venue, it was a party for the national team and of course Ushijima was invited and he spent all day fighting with the people up top to allow him to bring you, it’s not that you were unable to care for yourself or that you couldn’t stand to be apart from ushijima, no that wasn’t it at all. Ushijima knew he wouldn’t be able to get through this night without you by his side, you were an anchor to the giant. Something that brought him comfort, you could read Ushijima well because you had no other choice. Wakatoshi was a man of few words in front of others but with you he felt as though he couldn't stop his lips from moving, it was ironic truly, such a small thing like you couldn provide so much comfort to the tree of a man.

Ushijima looked down at you shaking his head no, you let out a sigh before trailing behind him as you guys walked through the crowd getting to the table. The organizers of the party let you come under one condition; you and wakatoshi would have to wear matching outfits. You didn’t mind but you weren’t expecting Wakatoshi to look so good in red. The dark crimson clashing perfectly against his tan skin and olive green eyes lit a fire in your belly. You wanted to go home not because you were bored, no you were wet embarrassingly so. The way his shirt was too tight showing off his muscular chest and his broad shoulders made you cross your legs trying to relieve the ache. Ushijimia wasn’t completely clueless, you two have been together for some time now, though he isn’t much of a talker it gives him the advantage, Ushijima can read you like a book.

You watched as Kageyama bounded over to you adjusting his suit jacket, you went to whisper one of the many dirty thoughts you were having only for wakatoshi to grip your thigh,dipping his head down to let his warm breath fan over your ear.

“Behave” is all he said but that six letter word made your pussy become even wetter than before. You squirmed in discomfort your panties sticking to your vagina like a second skin, ushijima squeezed your thigh harder as another warning as Kageyama came and took a seat at the table

“Hi (y/n) it’s good to see you” Kageyama said politely you nodded back giving him a sincere smile

“It’s nice to see you Tobio, how have you been?” you said making small talk with the setter to distract yourself from the oozing mess that you were sure is ruining your panties. Ushijima didn’t say anything or chime into your conversation as more people from the team came to the table, everyone sitting and talking.

“You know it (y/n) you’re spoiled!” Bokuto exclaimed making you giggle shaking your head

“I’m not! It’s not my fault toshi takes care of me” you said leaning into ushijima who just draped his heavy arm over your shoulders.

“Oh you take care of her ushiwaka?” atsumu teased making you roll your eyes

“I provide for (y/n) in any way she needs, as a partner should” he said taking a sip of his drink

“Well (y/n) if ushijima ever doesn’t provided for your more ‘personal’ needs i’d be more than happy to” atsumu said at this ushijima snapped his head back toward the conversation just in time to hear your response

“Oh really? How sweet of you Miya, i might have to take you up on the offer” you teased, wakatoshi knew what game you were playing and you knew just as well as him that if you didn’t cut it out you were really going to be in for it.

“Yeah? There has to be a closet round here somewhere” Atsumu said

“Watch it Miya” ushijima’s dark voice sliced through the conversation making Atsumu nervously chuckled and you sank in your seat

You didn’t let that stop you though, you continued to shamelessly flirt with Atsumu. Ushijima didn’t stop you wanting to see how far you’d dig your grave, deciding you’ve had your fun and now it was his turn, he stood up before standing you up from your seat by your arm with ease.

“We are leaving, let’s go brat” he said his voice uncharastically harsh, you became flustered strutting over your words as Ushijima dragged you away from the table, his grip nearly bruising. As you guys were making your way to the exit wakatoshi’s PR manager stopping you guys at the door pleading him to stay

“No i can’t stay, i have to teach this brat manners” he said, jerking your arm little as he openly referred to you as a brat in front of his manager, you knew you were in trouble by the lack of a filter he had right now. His poor manger stunned just stepped to the side letting you guys through

Timeskip

The sight in front of ushijima was delicious, you were sprawled over his lap your asscheeks an angry red color as his large left hand came down swatting you again making you yelp

“13, thank you daddy” you said placing your hand flat on the floor because of the force of ushijima’s spank sent you forward.

“Stop squirming slut” he hissed bringing you back up on his lap

“M’ sorry daddy” you whimpered hoping he would have mercy

“No you aren’t, not yet” he said spanking you again this time on the right asscheek

“14, thank you daddy” you said gripping onto his thighs to steady yourself

“Did you enjoy behaving like a cock hungry whore in front of everyone?” He asked, his voice booming off the walls of your shared bedroom. You shook your head no, earning you another spank.

“You can’t be that dumb, use your words slut” he said, his words going straight to your sopping cunt

“No daddy just missed you” you confessed which wasn’t a lie this was ushijima’s first night home in 2 months. Ushijima let out a sigh sitting you up so you were straddling him. He hand came up cupping your cheek his calloused thumb wiping away a tear

“So that’s why you were acting like a bitch in heat? Missed daddy?” he said his voice sincere you nodded sniffling nuzzling your head into his hand

“I’m sorry princess, i know i’m gone a lot” he said running his large hands up and down your spine making you shiver

“But you know better, and if i don’t punish you now you’ll keep thinking with that pussy instead of your head” he said gently before shoving you off his lap onto the floor in front of him. You looked up at him with wide eyes as he stood above you, if you felt small before, you were truly dwarfed in this position. The 6’4 man towered over you before giving you a nod allowing you to reach up to his dress pants with shaky hands unzipping them and pulling them down along with his briefs, his thick cock coming up and bobbing against his muscular abdomen.

“Now make yourself useful,” he commanded. You immediately took the head of his cock into your warm mouth and quickly enveloped him as you suckled on his tip, never taking anymore than that into your mouth. Ushijima rolled his eyes before cradling the entirety of your head with one hand slamming his length down your mouth the tip ramming into the back of your throat, you squealed around him sending vibrations up his cock making him groan.

“suck” he said, you followed his instructions hollowing your cheeks around him bobbing your head around him and pumping what couldn’t fit in your mouth in your hands that dwarfed around his thick cock. Ushijima allowed you to keep this pace for a while before placing both of his hands on this side of your head making you look up at him your swollen lips around the middle of his cock

“Don’t forget to breathe, and tap me twice if it becomes too much. Blink twice if you understand me” he said dominant persona dropping for a second. Your heart swirled with love over his tenderness with you. You blinked twice letting some tears fall.

Ushijima regained his dominance snapping his hips forcing more of his thick cock down your raw throat. His pace was relentless as he spewed filth telling you how much a good whore you were, asking if you had gotten what you were begging for. You couldn't respond only allowing a stream of whimpers to leave your throat.

Ushijima finally pulled out, leaving a string of saliva connecting your bruised lips to tip his heavy cock, you gulped down the air greedily huffing and puffing. Ushijima allowed you to collect yourself till he picked you up easily before tossing you down on the bed.

“If i were to put theses fingers” he said suckling on his fingers before pushing two of his thick digits into your pussy making you moan

“In here and press here” he said curling his fingers to effortlessly pushing against the spongy spot inside you making you moan even louder

“Would you cum for me?” he asked, taking his other hand rubbing your clit making you writhe and squirm under him the white hot pleasure building faster and faster leaving you unable to catch up cumming all over his fingers.

“Looks like you will,” he smirked, his ego stroked by how easily you came undone for him. Your legs trembled as you came down from your high.

“Shh shh it’s all good little one deep breaths the fun hasn’t started” he said laying down and pulling you on top of him, your dripping cunt lubing him up without trying as his cock laid heavy on his toned abs

A quick smack on the ass brings you back down earth letting the gravity of the predicament you put yourself in weigh on you

“You were so desperate to get your needy little pussy filled, take what you want” he said resting his head back against the plush pillows watching as you lined yourself up with cock with shaky hands. You let out a groan, feeling him stretch and fill you to the brim, your pussy feeling impossibly full.

“Atta girl” he praised smacking your ass again making you jolt forward

“Now bounce” he commanded and you followed his orders not wanting to push him more than you already have you grounded your hips against him feeling his cock stir inside you till you got up and began bouncing on his cock.

Ushijima watched closely as you began to shameselly bounce whining and moaning about how full you were and how good he felt. He gripped your hips slightly, guiding you brows furrowed in pleasure.

“Daddy s’ too much!” you exclaimed hands coming up to tweak your hard nipples with a moan that turned into a scream feeling ushijima slap your clit

“You can and will take it,I'm giving you what you asked for no?” he said, giving you a harsh thrust in particular making you throw your head back. Ushijima loved this, loved the way you shamelessly used him to get off, no regard for his pleasure just yours it made him feral. Before you could cum he flipped you guys over remaining inside of you. He lifted your legs putting them on his shoulders before he began thrusting into at an unforgiving pace making you scream

“Just like that baby so fucking good for you, daddy gonna stuff you full is that what you want?” he asked as the tip of his penis kept tapping your cervix

“Yes yes yes yes daddy so good so good” you mindlessly babbled as you began to cream around his cock a white ring of cum forming at the base

Ushijima looked down at you as your eyes rolled into the back of your head and your tongue lulled out of your mouth the pleasure overwhelming your brain.

“Your brain oozing out of your sloppy little pussy too?” he said referring to your fucked out state, he asked but didn’t expect a response knowing you’ve been fucked stupid

After you came for the third time without a break overstimulation began to set in making you push your feet flat against his shoulders trying to push him out with weak legs

“Too much daddy!” you screamed as he continued to mercilessly fuck you. His big hands swatted your legs off his shoulders before wrapping a hand around your throat

“Whos. pussy. Is. this?” he asked punctuating every word with a thrust that sent you to your building orgasam

“Ts’ yours toshi all yours!” you shouted knowing your neighbours could hear your boyfriend fuck your brains out.

“Then let me use MY pussy as I please” he said his thrusts becoming inconsistent as he came close to cumming. Knowing your boyfriend was close you began to clamp down around him wanting to him cum hard inside of your fluttering walls

“Fuck you keep squeezing me like that im gonna cum, but that’s what you want huh? You cum slut” he said thrusting into you. You nodded looking up at ushijima like he was a god, tears freely flowing down your cheeks from the immense pleasure your boyfriend was giving you. That face. That’s what sent him over the edge. There is nothing more he loves, eyes glassy with tears, lips red and swollen, little hiccups and moans leaving you as your pussy shamelessly sucked him in more.

“Gonna fill this pussy with my cum, stuff you full” he said thrusting so hard like he was trying to funnel his cum directly into your womb

“Yes yes yes yes yes” you chanted like a bitch. Wanting nothing more than your boyfriend’s hot cum spilling into you marking you in the most lewd way possible. With one final thrust and a throaty moan ushijima came inside of you painting your walls white with cum.

You moaned at the warm feeling of his cum filling you to the brim, you whimpered as more of his cum came out overflowing from your pussy on to the sheets of your shared bed

“So full” you whimpered as ushijima slowly rocked his hips fucking his cum into you before pulling out

“Your such a good girl” he praised stroking your hair lovingly looking down at you like you hung the moon and stars in the night sky

“Thank you toshi sorry i was being a brat” you sniffled his cum still flowing out of your pussy

“Shhh it’s okay baby just relax i’ll go get your bath ready” he said placing a sweet kiss on your temple on your temple walking to the ensuite.

You dreamily sighed tilting your head to the side ignoring the ache in your legs and focusing on the love swirling in your heart.

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