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foreverrunningfree · 7 months

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@czigonas wanted to see me answer those artist questions and I did them all so it’ll be under the cut

1. Art programs you have but don’t use?

As of rn I cannot draw on my laptop/tablet so technically paint tool SAI and photoshop(idk what version). But I guess I hadn’t used photoshop for /years/ back before my drawing hiatus. Sorry but SAI is so much nicer to look at and to use, for me personally.

2. Is it easier to draw someone facing left,right, or forward?

I flip flop my canvas a ton to a) look at it for wonkiness and b) to get specific lines in a direction that feels good, but the actual act of drawing I typically like to have them looking left cause most the the lines flow from top right to bottom left which is nicer to do since I use my right hand to draw even tho I am ambidextrous.

3. What ideas come from when you were little?

This question confuses me on what it’s actually asking soooo? When I was like 12 I had to write a story for school so I did a story about a plane crash in which the survivor came face to face to a rat/bat/cat/dog creature thing? I’ve always wanted to redraw the creature, idk if I have the original drawing I did and I don’t feel up to digging to see if I kept it during all my moves.

4. Fave character/subject that’s a bitch to draw?

My favorite animal color patterns aka brindle, merle ,roan, spots/stripes. So time consuming. In terms of shape, human faces for sure.

5. Estimate of how much of your art you post online vs. the art you keep for yourself?

Before hiatus, probably 90% /shared/. Currently, probably 75% /posted/cause I can’t post the porn to tumblr lmaoooo but I have shared them with like half a dozen friends.

6. Anything that might inspire you subconsciously?

I’m sure there’s a ton but if it’s subconsciously then how would I consciously know?🤔 ok serious answer, probably every single 2D animated movie or show I’ve ever seen, and all the various artists I follow. I mean, there’s parts of my style I can pinpoint you to what it’s inspired by.

7. A medium of art you don’t work in but appreciate?

I’ve never /seriously/ tried oil paint, acrylic paint, or pastels but that shit always looks so good. Also watercolor even though i have tried and enjoyed using watercolors but I am far far faaarrr from being proficient in them. Non drawing wise, I fucking love dioramas, especially those that are then filled in(?) with acrylic(?). I watch a lot of those videos on YouTube.

8. What’s an old project idea you’ve lost interest in?

Most of my old animal ocs I had in the same universe in my mind and had a comic planned that I never got around to. I still love and wanna revisit those ocs. But also my dragon age ocs who I’ve SERIOUSLY BEEN CONSIDERING drawing in @soaps-hoe-141 universe 👀

9. What are your file name conventions?

Before hiatus/ on my laptop, subject or character and whatever was happening in the pic. Now using procreate on my iPad? I don’t think I’ve named a single one lol.

10. Favorite piece of clothing to draw?

Nothing, no clothes, nude, nakedness please and thank you. lol but I guess I do sorta enjoy figuring out clothing in general, folds and shit, getting that practice in. Like how it hangs and creases in poses since I’m not used to drawing it.

11. Do you listen to anything while drawing?

I don’t usually listen to /only/ music while drawing, I much prefer having a favorite movie playing in the background and/or a show I enjoy rewatching/am actively watching. I also watch a lot of gamer YouTubers I put on as background noise/short watch breaks that their voice is just soothing to me even if I’m not /watching/.

12. Easiest part of the body to draw?

I’m not sure… maybe boobs/pecs for humanoids. General body shape for animals?

13. A creator you admire but whose work isn’t your thing?

Honestly can’t think of a single one. I mean, plenty of artists do work(or with a medium) that I can’t or don’t want to do/use personally but I read the question of “isn’t your thing” as “subject you don’t enjoy”. If that’s correct, then idk what to tell you. I don’t follow or remember people who majority does things I can’t enjoy on some level.

14. Any fave motifs?

Quite a lot of religious imagery I guess ex. Circles around a persons head. Less serious answer is drawing characters in meme formats lol

15. Where do you draw?

Please don’t tell any physical therapists I live like this… on my back on my couch with my head on the arm rest while holding my iPad propped up on my chest like 8 inches away from my face lmao

16. Something you are good at but don’t really have fun doing?

Idk???? I do shit for my own enjoyment so I’m not sure? Maybe perhaps backgrounds? Like I could do something decent if i wanted to but I’m not into it so I usually just don’t?

17. Do you eat or drink while drawing?

I take breaks… but while actively drawing? I often drink aka let the horny demons out while I enjoy whiskey lol.

18. An estimate of how much art supplies you’ve broken?

Broken broken? Next to fucking none? some charcoal sticks but otherwise…. None… I majority do digital art so really nothing to break there lol

19. Fave inanimate objects to draw?

Idk? I like doing life charcoal drawings? Of whatever, but particularly statues if that counts? I usually have living beings as my subjects.

20. Something everyone else finds hard to draw but you enjoy?

Ok, I hate this question, cause we are all good at different things. Maybe it’s just most of those I follow have different strengths than me???? But I guess if I had to pick, recreating from life(or picture) is a lot easier for me than some others(like making it life like/very accurate).

21. Art styles nothing like your own but you like anyways?

Yooo, anything I’ve reblogged honestly. Love everyone.

22. What physical exercises do you do before drawing?

Absolutely none, again don’t let the pros know cause damn. But I will do stretches or take breaks as needed.

23. Do you use different layer modes?

Absolutely. Mostly for lighting and shading but yes, if I’m doing digital imma take advantage of it.

24. Do your references include stock images?

Yes? I don’t really understand what it’s asking?

25. Something your art has been compared to that you were not inspired by?

Idk? I don’t usually get feedback of that sort.

26. What’s a piece that’s viewed a wildly different interpretation from what you intended?

Again idk? I guess my shit is straight forward?

27. Do you warm up before getting to the good stuff?

Almost never, again don’t let the pros know lol I do sometimes jump between pieces or start a new sketch before going to something farther along.

28. Any art events you have participated in, like zines?

Nope, wanted to and have tried before but I tend to NOT do something if I feel pressured to do it.

29. Media you love but doesn’t inspire you artistically?

Again I feel like this is a weird question or maybe it’s just my understanding of it but I can feel inspiration from all sort of artist shit even if it’s something I’ll never do(ex making a crochet animal or dioramas). I guess I can feel inspired to create from other creators even if it’s not direct inspiration/subject/medium.

30. What piece of yours do you think is underrated?

Underrated as in no one has seen aside from a few people irl would be my colored pencil pieces I did during afternoon naps when I worked at a daycare a few years ago.

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matthew5016512 · 2 years

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Week 6: Digital Concept Drawings

To date doing the digital concept rendering has been the part I was both looking forward to and dreading the most. Before completing this weeks work I had never used photoshop, and avoided any and all Adobe products like the plague (I rendered everything for BENV1010 in Rhino last term, for which I make no apologies). Fortunately (?) for me there was simply no way to avoid it this week.

The final product...

I found Rob's videos invaluable in creating my concept drawings, though there were quite a few points where I had to madly google things as A) I don't use a mac (therefore the shortcuts are different), and B) things did not always go to plan.

To begin with I drew in a very rough copy of the 3 bottle concepts I wanted to take further. They were very rough, but it was good to get something on the screen quickly and messily so I had a starting point.

Blocking in the base colours for the bottles seemed to go ok, and it helped me refine the profiles of the bottles. The symmetry tool was invaluable - I hated trying to free-hand draw symmetrical shapes last week so this was no small blessing.

My layers were a bit weird which caused headaches later on. If you look closely at images 2 onwards the block colour for the bottles either hasn't been erased properly, or I somehow managed to get 2 blocks with different shades of grey from each rectangle - I have no idea what went wrong, but I did it twice and the same thing happened again so I pushed on :(

After I blocked in the colour I tried something different and created another layout layer so that I could (roughly) trace the grey masses and work out where the edges were. I then locked this layer so I couldn't alter it and put it over the masses so that I could put shade and highlight in the appropriate places. This made it much easier to do the shading as my bottles were not purely organic shapes like was demonstrated.

After removing the rough layout layer I was left with some rather uninspiring blob-bottles. I had difficulty with getting the outline to generate on a different layer and it resulted in some weird artefacts that I couldn't figure out why they existed, but just had to manually erase from the new layer. Adding additional layers for the contours ad making it look a bit more hand-sketched and "open" as a concept took a lot of time but was well worth it. I think the shading could be matched up a little bit better, but overall I was happy how it cam out.

Adding in the background really elevated the sketches and made them pop. I'm quite proud of how it turned out, though personally I think it is cleaner without the notes.

Lessons learnt: 1) Photoshop is scary, and has one hell of a learning curve, but it's so much better than trying to draw on paper, so I'll take it any day of the week.

2) Sketching skills are transferable from paper to the digital realm, so I need to continue practicing sketching if I want to be able to effectively communicate and ideate rapidly. CAD has it's place, but I have developed a new appreciation for the artistic side of IDES.

3) The order of your layer stack is important and I feel like I have only barely begun to get my head around it at this point - the layers are soo much more than just different line weights and colours as they are in AutoCAD and Rhino.

4) I'm so glad I had the sense to get a touchscreen laptop with a pen at the start of this year - I cannot for the life of me imagine how much longer this would have taken be if I only had a mouse - and I am certain wouldn't have come out as good.

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garfieldbabe · 2 years

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#is this meme dead yet?#john lennon #yoko ono #this would have been much easier if I had my photoshop laptop #.txt

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not-xpr-art · 3 years

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Art Advice #4 - A Beginner’s Guide to Digital Art

Hi all!

This weeks entry into my Art Advice tag, where I offer various advice for artists of any skill level, is about digital art! Now, I am by no means an expert at digital (I’ve been doing it for nearly 8 years at this point and that is almost entirely self taught), but I have picked up a few pointers in that time which will hopefully help anyone just starting out!

(this blogpost is a little over 2000 words long btw)

A Beginner’s Guide to Digital Art

I know that the world of digital art has changed drastically in the 8 odd years since I started, but I’d still say that some of the options I started out with will be just as good for anyone who’s starting out now!

As always, I’ll be splitting this into sections to make it easier for you to navigate this post!

Part 1 - Equipment/Hardware

There are a lot of drawing tablet options on the market at the moment, and I’m not going to pretend that I know anything about half of them lol. But I think for a beginner, don’t worry about going for the most expensive option, even if the reviews are really good or your favourite artist uses it, especially if it is way above your budget!

An important thing to know is that there are two types of tablet. One is the plug-in kind. These are essentially a pad which you plug into your laptop or computer and draw on that whilst looking at the screen (they basically work the same way as a plug in mouse works). The other kind is the screen variety, which is a lot more like what most of us know as ‘tablets’ nowadays. And you draw directly onto the screen.

(a plug-in vs on screen tablet, both from Wacom)

Now, as for choosing between these, it is honestly a personal choice. But I’d say if you’re just wanting to try digital and you’re on a budget, a plug-in tablet can be really useful since it gets you used to the mechanics of what digital is like, and they are often significantly cheaper than the screen alternatives. I would say that plug-in tablets are a big learning curve, especially if you’re used to doing traditional stuff, but I do know a lot of professional artists who still use this kind of tablet when doing their work, so if it’s something you can get used to I would definitely consider it! Also, they’re often a lot more portable than some screen tablets! The first one I had was a Huion (a model so old that I can’t even find a link to it now lol), and I also know that Wacom are a well known brand that do some decent plug-in tablet. I’d recommend you do your own research on other brands and options, though!

Screen tablets are often a lot more expensive, but if you’re used to traditional art, they are a lot easier to get a handle of! But I know if you already have something like an iPad, or other general use tablets, then they offer apps that you can use to draw on (as well as things like the Apple pen, or other stylus’). The big difference between using these general tablets and ones specifically designed for drawing is pretty much purely a personal choice. I personally prefer the bigger screen of my XP-Pen tablet, along with a special screen protector that removes the shininess of the tablet screen and makes it feel more like ‘paper’ over when I used a general use tablet it draw. But if you already have an iPad, or something similar, then it’s honestly a really great starting point!

I think it’s important for me to mention that you don’t need fancy equipment to be an artist. The incredible Elicia Donze has revealed countless times how she has very basic equipment but still manages to produce the most stunning artworks! All you really need is some kind of drawing apparatus and a lot of patience lol! Getting good at any kind of art takes a lot of time and effort, but I would definitely say it’s worth it when you’re able to look back at your progress!

Part 2 - Software/Drawing Programs

Much like with the hardware discussion, choosing which program to use is entirely down to personal preference. I personally have never really liked Photoshop purely because it’s really complicated, but I know so many artists swear by it.

I think the main aspect to consider when you’re starting out is whether you want to pay for a program. Software like Photoshop, Clip Studio Paint and Procreate are some of the popular ones I hear about a lot of people using, but all require you to purchase or subscribe to them. So if you’re young or on a very tight budget, I’d honestly recommend the free alternative versions of these, such as Krita (Krita is quite a large program, but it has a lot of really awesome features and is very similar to Photoshop!), Gimp (this one is similar to Krita, but has slightly less options, I’d honestly recommend Gimp for anyone who does photo editing though!) or FireAlpaca (this is the one I use, by the way and it’s a pretty simple program, but has a lot of fantastic features and is perfect for how I work!). These don’t have as many features as some of the paid alternatives, but I honestly think all you really need to start digital art is some kind of ‘canvas’ and set of brushes!

Another great free program for beginners I’d recommend is MyPaint, which is great for doodling and just getting used to how digital art feels in comparison to traditional! It also has a bunch of ‘traditional style’ brushes, to make it look like charcoal or watercolour (which I’m sure the paid alternatives have too, but it’s always better when it’s free, I find lol...)

(this is an example of a drawing I did on MyPaint using the ‘charcoal’ effect brush!)

Most of the sites are pretty self explanatory, with sections dedicated to different brushes (I’ll go into the types of brushes later on in this post btw!), adjusting brush size, shape and opacity, a colour wheel, etc. You also have a section dedicated to ‘layers’ (another thing I’ll go into more detail later), and various ‘filters’ and editing options and effects you can add to your work to make it more interesting!

I’d really just recommend playing around with programs until you find your one!

Part 3 - The Pros of Digital Art!

I realise this section should probably earlier in this blog post lol, but I kinda wanted to go into what digital art can achieve in comparison to traditional art, and how beginner artists can utilise this!

I definitely didn’t take advantage of certain aspects of digital art when I first got into it, and they’re things that would have definitely made my life a whole lot easier lol!

Digital art allows you to tweak drawings as you do them. So if you accidentally drew the eye too far to the right, then you can easily move it to the right place. (I usually do this by selecting whichever area is wrong, cutting it out and then pasting it into a new area... And yes, there is probably a better and quick way of doing this but...I haven’t found that way yet lol...). And I honestly think that this has allowed me to look a lot more at a reference image in order to figure out where I’ve gone wrong with a drawing! Whereas with traditional art, I usually spend so long trying to get an eye right, that even if it’s slightly in the wrong place, I don’t want to completely redo that section. Digital allows you to completely rub out sections without leaving indents, which is honestly such a saving grace!

Another pro of digital is the Undo/Ctrl Z function! This means you can easily go back to before you made a major mistake with just a click of Ctrl Z... Though I have to say that this function has honestly ruined traditional art for me... Oh what wouldn’t I give for a real life Ctrl Z... But yeah, this is a great part of digital art and definitely something you will grow to love lol!

Another great thing about digital is that it allows you to flip and turn a canvas as you’re drawing on it. I spent a lot of time trying to turn my tablet around in order to draw certain parts of a piece before I realised you can turn the canvas itself without having to move yourself or your tablet!

Layers are another part of digital that can be super useful, and I have to be honest but I don’t really use them a lot. I know a lot of artists create layers for every section of their artworks (so, one for the linework, one for colouring, a separate one for the background, etc etc...). And there’s something really great about being able to paint without worrying about smudging into a previous section of the painting. This works well for my work since I do a lot of bright backgrounds. I also often create a lot of ‘versions’ of my works, so it’s useful to be able to change the background without affecting the main figure of the piece! (I have to say that I often work in one big layer when I’m doing paintings, just because I like how it feels more like ‘traditional’ art that way, but layers are such a brilliant tool, and definitely something you should play around with!)

The eyedropper tool is another one that is really useful! Although I never colour pick from my reference photos, I know some artists find this useful when they were just starting out (especially if you’re not sure what colour to make shadows or how to mix skin tones, etc etc). The eyedropper basically means you don’t need to mix your colours every time

Part 4 - Just some other things I wish I had known about when I was starting out lol...

This last section is just dedicated to a few things that I would have liked to have known when I was just starting out all those years ago.

First one is fluffy/textured brushes!

I spent most of my art life from 2013 until 2016 using ‘round’ brushes which are notoriously hard to blend with, so I’d recommend either downloading some fluffy/textured brushes (DeviantArt was where I got mine from a few years back, but there are probably other places you can get them for free too!) to your program of choice, since most of the programs I’ve used haven’t had fluffy/textured brushes as pre-set.

I may make another post about how I blend in my artworks if that’s something people would be interested in?

(this is an example of textured brush blending vs round brush blending... I usually opt for round brushes for rougher blending styles and the textured brushes for more smooth and ‘realistic’ blending... for a lot of pieces, though, I use both brushes (the round brushes are good for details!) in the same way that you use different sized brushes for real paintings!)

The next thing I wish I’d discovered earlier is the Brush Stabiliser option. Some programs may do this automatically, but the one I use (FireAlpaca) requires you to manually change the amount of stabilising you have on your brush. This is particularly useful if you want to draw neat lines or straight lines (the stabiliser essentially slows down the ‘ink’ as you’re drawing). I only recently started using the stabiliser, and although I still like having it mostly turned ‘off’ for doing sketchy work, it does make doing line work a lot easier, and also gives pieces a more polished look!

Next advice is to explore all the options you can in whatever program you use!

I feel like with certain programs, you can get overwhelmed by choice and you end up just using a few of the functions. But I’d really recommend just playing around with these programs, trying all the filters and editing options to get used to how the program works. You can often find interesting ways to adjust your artworks this way! In a way I’d recommend this way of working more than finding tutorials made by other people... Unless there’s a specific function you want to learn how to do, just having fun with digital art is a major part of it’s appeal to me!

There are probably a lot of other options I could go into, but this is already over 2000 words long, so I’ll leave it here for now lol! (I may do a part 2 though so... keep a look out for that!)

As always, if you have any questions to things I’ve said here, or are just looking for more advice, don’t hesitate to message me!

And if you like my work on here (art & blog posts) feel free to support me on my Ko-Fi! <3

#art advice #digital art #art advice for beginners #digital art for beginners #artist advice #digital art tips #artists on tumblr #just want to say again that i am not an expert at this at ALL lol #i just want to offer some really basic advice to anyone interested in starting out with digital!

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a-cupof-jo · 3 years

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Set Up My Heart PT. 11

Pt. 10 -- Pt. 11 -- Pt. 12

College volleyball player!Johnny Suh x reader

Rivals-to-lovers

Fluff and angst

Synopsis: Ever since that fateful day Sophomore year of high school, Johnny Suh had been an insufferable thorn in your side. Once you made it to college you thought the two of you would never have to see each other again. That is, until a sudden school transfer has the entire university buzzing.

Warnings: some language, food mentioned

Your foot had barely crossed the entrance way when a hand grabbed your wrist, "Take one more step and you're done for.” Your breath quickened as you couldn’t make out the face in the doorway. The thin hand tightened and you shifted further away, “Are you a friend or foe?” The female voice was pitched low in a hushed whisper.

“Um,” you gulped, trying to figure out what she was doing here. “Friend?”

“Good,” you were dragged into the dark apartment and an object was shoved into your arms. “We don’t have much time. Do you know how to shoot?”

“What,” you squeaked, feeling around the object until you realized, it’s a gun. “Why are you here? What do you want with me?”

“I’m out for blood,” you could feel the presence moving further away from you, down the dark hall to where you knew the bedrooms were.

“No!” you yell. You lifted the gun pointing it directly at the shadowy woman, “I can’t let you hurt them!” You pulled back on the trigger.

You waited a second. A yell sounded around the apartment, “Ouch, really right in the eye.” The lights flew on as Jaehyun’s laugh boomed through the apartment.

Jaehyun was knelt over by the light switch, his hand supporting himself while his laughter threw him off balance. “Serves you right,” his eyes lit up as he took in the girl standing at the opposite side of the hallway.

She tsk’d before dropping the nerf gun that swung in her hand. You watched as she jumped at Jaehyun wrapping her legs around his waist. He spun them around and around all the while laughing. He tilted his head up kissing her. They slowed standing still in the center of the living room.

“Can you two get a room?” Jungwoo’s dislocated voice caught you off guard. He crawled out from between the couch and the wall. “Everytime, seriously.”

“Hi, Jungwoo,” you watched the girl giggle and hop down from Jaehyun’s arms. She pulled Jungwoo into a big hug. “It’s been too long. How have you been? What have you been up to lately?”

“Hiding from a crazy girl that breaks into my apartment and tries to shoot me with a Nerf gun,” he glared down at the plastic toy laying in the hallway. He yelped when the girl hit his shoulder, “and I’ve just been focusing on school and tutoring.” He looked up at you, “Speaking of which. Y/n was here for tutoring before you coerced her into attacking you.”

“Oh,” the girl spun to you. “That's right!”

Jaehyun chuckled a smile on his face as he watched her, “Lila, this is Y/n. Y/n, this is Lila, my girlfriend. Y/n lives down that hall and is our friend.”

“It’s so nice to meet you,” she stepped out of Jeahyun’s arms and embraced you in her own. You responded with similar words, all the while you couldn’t help but think that Chonhee would get along great with her. “Well,” she clasped her hands together. “I would love to stick around and get to know you, you’re busy, and Jaehyun promised to take me to the on campus ice cream shop.”

“Oh,” you dropped your bag in the spot by the couch you usually sat on. “That sounds delicious right now. Make sure you try their new blueberry ice cream, it’s delicious!”

Jaehyun and Lila grinned at you, opening the door to let in a cool breeze. “Will do! Now get to studying,” Jaehyun gave a pointed look to the backpack. “I don’t want to experience the night before stress crying again. I don’t know how to cheer you up.”

You gasped at him, “I have no idea what you are talking about. I do not come over here to stress cry to you guys.”

“Oh, are you talking about Y/n’s test stress crying study sessions,” Johnny stood outside the front door.

“No!” you yelled as Jungwoo laughed out a yes.

“Ah, you see the way to handle that,” Johnny stepped inside the warm apartment. Jungwoo and Jaehyun leaned in slightly waiting for Johnny’s advice, “Is unknown, even in high school Y/n was this way.” He laughed as you huffed at him. He walked up next to you, “Do not worry,” he patted the top of your head. “STEM isn’t for everyone, and crying is normal.”

“I can’t tell if you're patronizing me or not.” You narrowed your eyes at his retreating figure.

He waved his hand flippantly, “Take it as you will. I am ordering Chinese. You want your usual?”

You nod at Jungwoo who had come up to join you at the couch, “Yes, please.” He called down the hall. You heard an affirmative noise from Johnny. It was weird. You and Johnny’s new found tolerance of each other. Insults were still through back and forth. Years of hurt couldn't be buried under smiles and buying food for each other, but you had found that it was much easier to be at Jungwoo’s apartment now. In the nearly two weeks since the “truce”, as Johnny calls it when he feels the need to remind you that you two were being civil with each other, Johnny had turned from a thorn in your side or a hindrance to a sometimes helpful hand or at least he’s not actively trying to kick you out of the apartment anymore.

“Should we get to it?” Jungwoo shifted closer to you. You groaned, opening up your backpack, “Hey, don’t give me that. We have to this now so that you won’t-”

You clamped a hand over his mouth, “If you say ‘be over here stress crying’ I will steal the crab ragoon I know Johnny is going to buy specially for you.”

Jungwoo shook his and you lowered your hand, “I was going to say. So that you will be fully prepared for your upcoming test.”

“Mhhm,” you gave him a disbelieving look. He grinned at you and you grinned back. You jostled his shoulder and you moved in closer, “Okay, let’s get started before the food gets here.”

30 minutes later, a loud knock broke you out of concentrating on the problem Jungwoo had you working on. “I’ll get it,” you stood from the couch and reached for the door. Johnny raced down the hall and stopped next to you. He pulled a couple of bills from his wallet before you opened the door. “Oh.”

“Kun,” Johnny greeted, surprised.

“Hey, Johnny!” Kun handed over the food. He glanced over at you, his eyebrows furrowed a moment before recognition lit his face, “and Y/n. Nice to see you both. How’s it going?” His eyes dipped back over to Johnny as they exchanged food and money. “I didn’t realize you were in town.”

“Yes,” Johnny's voice came out clipped.

Kun looked undeterred as if he didn’t pick up on Johnny’s shortness, “You still doing journalism?” At Johnny’s nod he grinned, “Man, you had some great stuff in high school, I’m sure you’re going to be great out in the real world. I still remember some great ones we wrote together. Like that expose on-” he cut off but you caught his gaze flicker to you.

Johnny’s face remained neutral, “I didn’t write an expose with you.” He glanced down at the cash in Kun’s hand. “You know I would love to continue catching up, but we’ve got things to do. You can keep the change.” Before Kun could say another word, the door swung shut effectively stopping the conversation. Johnny couldn’t look at you as he took the food to the kitchen table. Dread filled your stomach. Why did it feel like the progress you had made with Johnny had been dissolved all because of Kun? Watching him tonight with Johnny, he seems to hate you. You had no idea why as you had never spoken with him in high school. Was he holding old grudges? As you mulled over the thought, Johnny glanced up at you as he finished setting out food. He gave you a slight grin and suddenly some of the weight in your chest lifted.

“You’re here again?” Johnny walked into the living room with his laptop tucked under his arm. The grin on his lips said that he was teasing, but there was a look in his eyes that held something else. Something you didn’t want to find the meaning of.

You threw your legs over Jungwoo’s lap and spread out across the soft grey couch, “I live here now.”

“Rent��s due on the 15th,” Jungwoo quipped, not looking up from his notebook. You stuck your tongue out at him while Johnny laughed, motioning for you to sit up.

He sat down letting himself bounce on the sofa a few times before opening his laptop. You leaned over to see the pictures that were open in his photoshop app. The one he was working on, a black and white photo of Taeyong, you recognized as one he had taken back at the quad several weeks ago.

“It looks good,” you comment. He grins at you as he makes a few more adjustments. You watched for a few more moments before leaning forward and going back to the mock finance report you had been working on.

Soft music drifted up from the speaker Jungwoo had hooked up and the tapping on keyboards were all that accompanied it. You couldn’t help but feel at peace sitting in their apartment. The quiet ambiance gave the feel of a warm coffeehouse without the paranoia of some stranger watching what you are working on. Jungwoo stood up and mentioned going to his room for a virtual tutoring session. You nodded to him and Johnny sent him a ‘good luck, dude’ before the apartment was submerged back into near silence.

Jaehyun steamrolled into the living room, Lila following close behind him, “Johnny, I need help.” He yelped sitting down in the love seat adjacent to the couch. “Oh good, Y/n, you’re here too!”

“What’s up Jaehyun,” you lifted your laptop off yourself and down onto the coffee table.

He rolled his eyes as he glared at the screen, “My professor is a hard ass and I can’t seem to do anything right in this class. He says that my papers need serious help and I am just frustrated with all of this at this point. Would you guys look at them and help me out?”

He scrubbed a hand through his hair and Lila rubbed his back lightly. You and Johnny shared a look before nodding at the boy who looked two seconds away from crying. “Thank you,” he cheered, pulling a thick stack of paper from his backpack. “I seriously owe you guys.” You went to wave him off as he shot up from his seat, “I know. I’m gonna go get some food to cook for us.” He grabbed Lila’s hand and she waved as he dragged her out of the apartment.

“Okay,” you drug out the word as you raised your eyebrow at Johnny. “Well, why don’t you go ahead and read through it first and make some edits and I’ll look at it afterwards and then we can talk about other changes that need to be made. Johnny nodded, pulling out a red pen in a flourish. You shook your head at the grin he sent your way. He gave a light laugh before he brought the paper up and started to read through it.

Not fifteen minutes later, Johnny gave you a light nudge before holding the paper and pen out to you. You grabbed both calmly starting at the first page. As you read through, you caught sight of a few of Johnny’s edits. You were surprised to see some of the comments on things such as writing style and sentence structures were similar to ones you would have made.

The pen clicked as you set the paper down in front of both you and Johnny. “Well, he’s got a good start. It’s really not bad.”

Johnny nodded, glancing through the paper again. He pointed to the pen as he saw another error to fix, “His professor is being pretty hard on him. This paper has a lot of good content.”

You hummed in agreement, “I was surprised to see some of your comments. Based on what I remember from high school your writing was nothing like this. I mean I know it’s been three years, but I didn’t expect it to change so much.” You heard the door click and Jaehyun announced they were back and going to start cooking what they bought.

“I’m sure I mentioned it, but in high school our works were put through so many hands that by the time it was published it didn’t really feel like our own work,” Johnny shrugged as he circled a sentence with his red pen. “They changed so much stuff or arranged for them to say what they wanted. We didn’t even know what it was going to say until it was published.”

You swallowed, your voice came out soft and whispered, “Even the-” Eyes glanced up catching yours and your voice halted.

“Especially that one,” he spoke quickly, as if he couldn’t bear to hear the rest of the sentence fall from your lips.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

His eyes dropped and his voice tightened, “I tried. If you remember, you didn’t let me talk and smashed food on my clothes.

You ignored him, too many questions running around your head, but there was one that you had to ask, “Which part was yours?”

“The fact that you have to ask me makes me think you don’t believe me or you actually think I would write something like that,” Johnny shook his head, disbelief coating every word.

“Just,” his head jerked to you as your hand cupped his face. “Please, tell me.”

He sighed, “Y/n, I’m sure you know that- well that the time you should have- in high school I really-” he swallowed hard. His eyes searched yours for answers from the past. Answers you wouldn;t let him have. He tugged your hands off his face and lightly held them in his own. He took a deep breath, “Y/n, I adored you. I don’t know how you could have missed that. You didn't, did you? Everything I put in that paper in high school was to make you the star. I wanted everyone to see you in the same light I did. So, why would I ever think about putting that article out. Kun, he was the editor and he changed it, changed my words. Where are you going?” Johnny lunged for you as you shot up from the couch. Your legs shook as you tried to step away from him.

“I spent years Johnny, years, hating you. Thinking that you-” You panicked laced voice was heavy with tears. “I knew I couldn’t and then you- Kun - did this and I used it as an excuse. A way to tell myself that-” you tugged your wrist from his grasp. “I have to go. I can’t. I need some air. I’m so sorry.” You turned racing through the kitchen. Footsteps sounded behind you. Jaehyun and Lila looked up, shocked, as you passed them by the front door. Johnny’s fingers brushed your hand as you passed under the doorway. “I can’t do this. Now I’m so sorry.” You closed the door tightly. You were running away, but what else could you do? Johnny had just spun your perspective of him off axis. It wasn’t fair. He couldn’t do this to you, not when your world was already so off kilter.

You pushed thoughts of Johnny out of your head as you raced down streets and sidewalks. Your legs carried you far away from your apartment and down to the creek that was at least 45 minutes away. You drew in deep breaths as the water in front of you stopped your run.

“Okay,” Lila stopped behind you just minutes later. “I’m going to have to start training with you.” She bent over pressing her hands to her knees for a few breaths.

You gave her a tight smile, “You didn’t have to follow me.”

She shrugged sitting down on a large rock by the bank, “I know, but you left in such a hurry. You looked like you were about to pass out. Still kinda do.” She patted the smooth surface next to her, “Sit.”

You leaned back letting yourself lay out across the rock. Bright beams of light broke through tree branches coming to shine down on the two of you. You squinted using your hand to cover your eyes, “Are you going to know what all of that was about?”

Lila shook her head, “If you want to tell me, you can, but I won’t make you.” She looked down at you as she leaned back on her hands.

You gave a light hum glancing at her from under your cupped hand. “What would you do?” She threw you a slightly confused look, “If someone you thought you had figured out, someone you had a certain perception of, turned out to be different than that picture.”

She sat silent, considering your words, “To be honest, I don’t know. I’ve known Jaehyun my entire life and it seems like all of my close friends are pretty transparent with me.” You rolled your eyes lightly. She wasn’t being helpful. In fact, she was making matters worse, “but I think that, if it was one of them, Jaehyun or my friends, I would have reacted the same way. It’s better for you to be out here, clearing your head figuring things out, rather than trying to respond while the world is crumbling.”

With that comment the two of you were plunged back into silence. The sound of breathing and the creek was the only thing to reach your ears. The sun warmed you as the two of you laid on the rock. You had dozed off when you heard the crunching of gravel and a hand shaking your shoulder. Lila leaned over you as you blinked slowly at her. “Sorry to wake you,” her voice came out softly. “Jaehyun’s here to pick us up. He said that you were needed back at the complex.”

“I really don’t think I can face Johnny yet,” you whispered back.

She shook her head, “I don’t think this is about Johnny.”

You furrowed your eyebrows but followed her up to the small red pickup Jaehyun drove. He gave you a tight smile as you slid in the back seat, “Sorry.” His voice held a careful tone, one that said he didn’t know how to act. You returned the tight smile and he sped towards the apartment. You weren’t sure how long it took you guys to get back, but the orange hue of the sun allowed you to watch the front door of your apartment come into view. The figure of someone standing outside your apartment made you hesitant to approach. Jaehyun walked next to you as you stepped into the eyesight of the man. He looked back with a concerned look on your face as you breathed out a tight, “Dad?”

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#johnny x reader #johnny scenarios #johnny fluff #johnny fics #johnny angst #nct scenarios #nct fic #nct series #nct fluff #nct angst

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you-did-well-moon · 4 years

Text

Werewolf!Hongjoong meeting his mate

Type: werewolf au, all heart melting fluff

Pairing: Werewolf!Hongjoong x Human!Reader

Word count: 2,005

A/n: My first Ateez post, hello Atiny welcome to my blog!! This wasn’t a request I got here, but I got it from my friend and I’ve been wanting to write a werewolf au for some time now so yayy. You can all thank my lovely Luna for this, and excuse my horrible photoshopping skils. Don’t be afraid to talk to me and enjoy.

Song: Peter Pan - Exo

TW: None

Hongjoong sighed, his feet dragging along the concrete of the sidewalk as his tired form walked sluggishly through the small town. He was exhausted. Being the alpha of seven rowdy and slightly clumsy werewolves was no easy feat. They managed to get in a lot more trouble than the normal amount. Just last week he had to stop Mingi from walking straight into a werewolf hunter camp because Wooyoung bet him nachos he wouldn’t do it.

Hongjoon tiredly exhaled rubbing at his bleary eyes as he made his way to the music store across the street from the quaint little cafe called Light Illusion. After such a long time of coming to the store on a regular basis, the kind old man who owned the store greeted Hongjoong by name asking how he had been with a bright smile, the corners of his eyes wrinkling with laugh lines. Hongjoong responded with a polite smile and a slight bow of his head.

He fixed his hat already feeling some of the weight ease off of his chest as his eyes raked over the variety of CDs and albums lining the store aisles. Music was everything to him, his safe place.A comfort in a hectic and lamentable life. A source of happiness sprouting in the confines of his chest making him forget of the seedlings of suffering on the edges of his mind.

The owner came up to him with sparkling eyes, quivering hand offering him a CD. Hongjoong looked at it and furrowed his eyebrows, looking at the older man with questioning eyes.

“Classical?” He questioned, doubt evident in his tone. Sure, Hongjoong had listened to right about everything, but he never took himself as a classical kind of guy. He hesitated before taking the case and turning it this way and that, examining it with an uncertain kind of wonder. He was met with a knowing chuckle, “You never know kid, life can hit you in all kinds of unexpected ways. Give it a try, maybe it can end up becoming a nice memory.”

Hongjoong shook his head confused at the slight tilt of the shop owner’s lips before shrugging and digging in his pocket for money, but he was stopped by the old man’s waving of hands. “Don’t worry son, it’s on the house. You don’t look so good, maybe this will cheer you up. Hey, why don’t you treat yourself some? The cafe across the street has some pretty sick blueberry muffins.”

Hongjoong sincerely thanked the shop owner, putting the CD case into his pocket carefully making sure it wouldn’t fall out. He exited the shop being met with a fresh breeze, eyes falling on the cafe across the street feeling like it was suddenly easier to breathe. He truly thought he must be crazy as he looked both ways and started crossing the street, one destination in mind. He entered, the calm environment providing him with comfort in a place he has never been before.

The walls were made of murals, bookshelves covering the wall to the far right, and star-shaped lights hanging from the ceiling. Hongjoong studied the menu then made his way to the counter, softly stating his order and paying being told his order would be out shortly and to sit anywhere by an energetic cashier.

A table placed close to the bookshelves against a wall with a star dotted mural, surprisingly not feeling awkward or anxious in such a foreign place. There weren't many people, the few that were present busy typing away in their laptops or reading a book, caught up in both the struggles and luxuries of life.

Hongjoong was bought out of his stupor when the light sound of applause rang around the room. He abruptly sat up in his seat realizing the soft sound of a piano was not coming from the cafe speakers. The hunched figure sat on a piano bench, fingers flexing from the strain of playing for so long didn’t look up at the appreciative clapping, head bent as her hands traveled back to the keys. He felt his skin tingle and heat up as an intense and strange force began pulling him to you feeling as if time itself was slowing down.

You had to stop yourself from glancing around the room when you heard people clapping for you. You were too shy, afraid of messing up if you looked up from the keys. You had played the piano since you were a child, but you stopped when life became too busy for you to keep up with everything. College was expensive, and when the cafe a few blocks from your campus offered a job for a pianist, you took it.

Even after weeks playing in the same cafe,you were still too bashful to look at the faces of your audience. A stare was directed at you making a searing heat erupt in the back of your neck, and you tried distracting yourself by looking at the request sheet where people wrote down the songs they would like you to play. A gentle smile tugged at your lips when you saw the next song was a love song.

You cleared your throat taking a sip of water, and you brought your shaky hands back to the keys playing the starting notes. Your fingers pressed gently on the smooth expanse of the keys as you still did not lift your gaze, nervous of who was looking at you in such a focused manner to be able to send shivers down the length of your spine.

You felt the odd urge to look up, but you held firm keeping your eyes solely on the black and white keys of the piano.

A soft smile tugged at your lips at the sweet lyrics, and because you got distracted by the lovely words, you gave in to the temptation of looking up.

“The one person who made my heart pound. As soon as I felt you, my eyes shone”

A powerful and strong wave of shock coursed through you as you met a pair of wide warm eyes holding the same amount of surprise as you. Even when you made eye contact and his shone in a golden hue, you couldn’t look away while you continued singing the love song. You weren’t scared, if anything, you felt safe.

Hongjoong almost fell out of his chair when you looked up instantly meeting his eyes. He felt like the wind had gotten knocked out of him having to press his lips tightly together to stop the whine surging up his chest from spilling out his trembling lips.

His knuckles turned white from gripping the edge of the table having to control himself from standing up and plopping himself next to you on the small piano bench. He had always been a bit hesitant about mates. He was an alpha, and had so much to do on a daily basis.

But that all flew out the window when he saw you, your pretty lips quirked up in a small delicate smile that made his heart pound with words of adoration ringing around the small room as you didn’t look away. Your soft beautiful eyes captivating him in the most intoxicating manner. Hongjoong found himself not being able to focus on anything but you in the moment, and even if his duty as an alpha weighed down on him, he knew he would be okay if he had you by his side.

The last notes of the song broke you out of your trance, making you look down as your pinky bent down to pressing on the key with the last note traveling through the room. The customers momentarily breaking away from what they were doing to elapse into a soft round of applause that made your shoulders shrug up bashfully. Your eyes flickered to the clock realizing it was time for your break as you flexed your fingers licking your lower lip and scrunching your nose at the dry feeling. You were further assured of your break as Irene’s small hands placed a muffin with a coffee on the little table you had a foot away to the left of the piano. You smiled up at her thanking her, but she simply raised an eyebrow and winked at you, her eyes flickering behind you before she left with a snicker.

You were confused at her weirder than normal behavior only for your heart to lurch in your chest when you felt a presence behind you. Whirling around you were met with the boy you had made intense eye contact with while playing the last game, except there was no gold in the warm brown that colored his irises. Far away he had been beautiful, and up close he was just as breathtaking.

A kind face that ended in a sharp rounded chin with a cute rounded nose, and soft strands of silver hair peeking out from the beret adorning his head. The corners of his lips were slightly tilted up in a nervous smile, twitching as if wanting to break out in a bigger smile. His eyes an odd but endearing combination of authority and playfulness. Even being strangers, you felt an undeniable attraction towards him.

If you thought he was breathtaking, Hongjoong felt like he literally couldn’t breathe right now being this close to you. Even your chapped lips and tired eyes couldn’t do anything in his conclusion that you were absolutely gorgeous. He had never had to control himself to his extent, not when his pack endlessly got on his nerves, right now his hands were itching to reach out and feel you. His wolf racking up a storm making it all the more hard to control himself.

He laughed nervously, shaking his head. “May i sit here?”

You couldn’t help the smile that overtook your face at the high pitched but calming voice that was his. You don’t know what made you abandon your usual shy demeanor scooting over on the small bench to make space with him. “Go ahead, I don’t mind”.

Hongjoong shakily exhaled trying to calm the heat in his face at the sound of your voice, and the feeling of your thighs pressed together. Any worries that had been weighing down at him were forgotten at the comforting scent of your strawberry shampoo.

He turned towards you offering his hand in greeting, “I’m sorry for coming up to you so suddenly and not even introducing myself, I just had to tell you good you are with the piano. I’m Hongjoong '' You giggled quick to wave his worries away by taking his hand, his wolf practically howling in joy at the grin on your face in response to his well-deserved praise.

“It’s alright, but it’s really just a way of making money” You tried shaking off his compliment, and he was having none of it playfully scoffing. He gently bumped his shoulder against yours heart aching when he had to let go of your hand, so he didn’t make you uncomfortable.

“You have to be kidding, you’re a natural” You bumped his shoulder back eyes twinkling with mischievously, “You flatter me too much, I might actually just join the orchestra”

His chest filled with warmth at the playful banter between you, heart practically jumping up his throat when you gasped and took a hold of his arm. “Is that Piazzolla: Libertango by Alison Balsom?” His eyes flickered to the case in his pocket taking it out and showing it to you.

“You like it?” You looked at him, eyes crinkling with awe making his smile grow wider.

“Like it? I love it. You my good sir, have amazing taste” You excitedly bounced in your seat brightly smiling at him. Hongjoong tried shaking his head “I d-don't-” He cut himself off at the sight of your shining eyes and big grin making him swallow harshly at the effect you already had on him.

Maybe classical music wasn’t all that bad.

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dustofbrokenheart · 3 years

Text

The Covenant: Tech Guy

Reid Garwin x Reader

Word Count: 3,826

Summary: After renting a laptop from your campus library, you run into a download problem. A call to Library Tech Services for help introduces you to Tech Guy. Good at his job, but with questionable people skills, you learn to work with him. It certainly helps that he has an attractive voice.

This was not good, not good at all. It was less than an hour to midnight, the sun long since having set, and time seemed to pas faster, not slower, the later it got.

Now, you considered yourself to be pretty good with technology, perhaps not a computer genius but good enough to be able to troubleshoot most of your problems. It was pure bad luck that the night your capabilities failed was the night before you had an assignment due in Graphic Design.

Your own laptop had been ruined after an accident in the library had left the screen nothing more than a web of shattered fragments, but thankfully the library also carried laptops for checkout which saved you from having to fork out money that you didn’t have to buy a new one. You thought that checking out a laptop would be a quick fix to your problem, but you underestimated how high their demand was.

The librarian you spoke with at the circulation desk put you on a waiting list much to your disappointment and you left the building empty handed, unsure when one would become available.

The answer was six days later, the night before you had something due.

When they left a voicemail on your cell phone around seven o’clock to tell you that it was ready for pick-up, you immediately hopped on a bus bound for the library. The anxiety should have been somewhat alleviated because you could actually start to work on it now but when you got back to your dorm room and opened it up, another problem presented itself: the program you needed wasn’t installed.

Bad luck 1 – You 0.

Every time you tried to install it a message would pop up prompting you to enter an admin username and password in order to start the process. You had never seen that message before and innocently tried your own username and password. When that didn’t work, you tried three more times just to be sure.

Next stop was the internet, everyone’s favorite place to ask questions. You ran a quick search describing the problem and read through a couple of chat room threads. Disappointingly, nothing really applied to the situation at hand.

In hindsight, you shouldn’t have spent so much time trying to fix it because all that came of it was a lot of wasted time and you still hadn’t installed the program. You really didn’t want to take another trip to the library tonight if you could help it.

Frustrated and stuck you opened up the library’s webpage to see if there were any answers to be found. They didn’t but you did find the phone number for Library Tech Services, which was miraculously open even this late in the night.

Punching in the numbers you dialed and waited for someone to answer and when they did, it was short and to the point. “Library Tech.”

“Umm, hi… my name is y/n and I’m having an issue installing a program on my laptop rental.”

“Hmm. What’s the problem?” Again, not much to go on but the you could admit that tech guy’s voice sounded attractive.

“Well. I clicked on the install button, but as soon as I did a message telling me that I needed admin permission to continue flashed on my screen.”

“Did you try your university username and password?”

“Yes.”

“Did you double check that you typed everything correctly?”

“Yes.”

“Did you try Google?”

“Of course, I did,” you answered with exasperation. He snickered and you felt your hackles rise. You called the number to get helped, not to get laughed at. Attractive voice be damned.

“I promise I exhausted every trick I know, I’m not stupid. But I do have something to finish tonight so if you can help me out here, that’d be great.”

For a split second you felt bad for being short with him but the aggravation was quick to return. He was the one providing terrible customer service… why should you feel bad calling him out on it?

He must’ve gotten the hint because he cleared his throat and started being serious. “The library puts restrictions on its laptops because they don’t want people downloading stuff willy nilly. What do you need to install?”

“Just Adobe Illustrator.”

You heard him typing on a keyboard in the background. “Sounds okay to me. I’ll just give you the admin credentials so you don’t have to make a trip over here tonight.”

You started to say thanks until you processed the end of that sentence. “Wait, what do you mean by that?”

“Normally we require people to come in person to fill out a form. Once the request is approved, a person is supposed to enter in the admin stuff, but I’m going to give it out over the phone to save you some time.”

His words left you speechless. You had no idea there was a whole process to do something so simple as install a program; you should’ve asked more questions before you walked out with it. It was a good thing to remember for next time. And the earlier guilt returned, too. He was being so nice now, bending the rules so you didn’t have to make another trek on the bus, which was quite frankly a gamble after dark.

You thanked him profusely, the tension draining from your shoulders. Once you told him the laptops id number and he was able to confirm that it was rented out to your account, he shared the username and password with you.

With baited breath, you typed in exactly what he told you to and couldn’t help the happy noise that escaped you when it worked. It was impossible that tech guy saw your chair dance through the phone but he laughed again, making you question if he somehow knew anyway.

“Thanks, you’re a life saver!”

He cleared his throat and said “Glad to be of service.” Then he hung up without another word.

You pulled the phone away from your ear and looked at it blankly. What the heck was that about? Thinking back on the conversation left you feeling very confused but you threw yourself into getting your images drawn up on Illustrator and soon lost yourself in the work.

You ended up staying up late well past your normal bedtime but the deadline was enough motivation for you to push through the drowsiness and yawns. Around 3:30 you finally finished and emailed it to the professor so you wouldn’t have to worry about it in the morning.

Sleep came easy that night and you vaguely remembered dreaming about tech guy’s voice which was utterly ridiculous. He hadn’t even mentioned his name, for goodness sakes! Plus, he was so hard to read, bouncing between jerk and nice on a whim. Nope. You were not going to stoop to finding out who he was. Not a chance.

After yesterday’s incident, your first course of the new day was to go grab a cup of coffee. You weren’t an easy riser on a good day, even less so after being up until the wee hours of the morning and caffeine was going to be essential for powering you through your classes.

Your go-to place was a campus coffee shop two blocks down from your dorm. It was still winter but you found that as long as you bundled up, the walk over went quickly and the cold air worked wonders for organizing your thoughts. But the real reason it was your favorite was not its closeness, it wasn’t even for the coffee; it was because of the heavenly pastries they made daily. The croissants, the eclairs, the danishes… they were all excellent. None was above their banana chocolate chip muffins.

A little bell chimed as you opened the door and the blast of heat from inside the shop felt nice against your chilled cheeks. The familiar worker at the register looked up and smiled when they saw you. “Hey, y/n! Should I start working on your cappuccino order?”

“Yes, please!” You approached the counter, removing your gloves to make it easier to take out your card from your wallet. A gleaming dessert case also caught your eye and you tried to glance over discreetly. As subtle as you tried to be, the cashier knew you too well after serving you for the past couple of years.

“Oh, sorry. We’re out those again.”

“Again?” you questioned sorrowfully.

He gave you a sympathetic shrug. “They’re very popular, they always go fast.”

It used to be that you could get your hands on a banana chocolate chip muffin whenever you wanted one but the secret must’ve gotten out to the rest of campus because you’d struck out for the past weeks. With a dramatic sigh, you settled for a chocolate croissant. It was no muffin but it was something to tide over your stomach until lunch.

“You know,” you started conspiratorially, “How can someone be so talented yet stupid simultaneously? If that no-good-baker bothered to make more of them knowing how fast they sell, this wouldn’t happen.”

You had never actually met the baker that was the source of the yummy pastries. In fact, you’d never even seen him and only knew that he was good at what he did and that he never came out to the front of the shop. There was really no reason why you ragged on him that morning other than you had major plans for that muffin that now had to be put on hold.

The cashier chuckled as he rang you up and looked back at the door to the kitchen for a moment. “I’ll pass along the message.” He slipped the croissant in a brown paper bag and handed it, along with the travel coffee cup, over to you. “Have a good day. See you next time.”

You accepted it with a “You, too,” and were out the door to catch the next bus to your class.

***

Later that week, you ran into a familiar problem with the laptop. This time you needed to add Photoshop but figured that it shouldn’t be an issue now that you knew the password. So when you typed in the exact same thing as last time and the computer told you it was incorrect, you dragged a hand down your face and groaned. Well, you weren’t going to make the same mistake twice.

Swiveling around in your chair you grabbed your phone and called the Tech Services line again. The only thing that would make this even better would be if tech guy answered again, that’s how your luck was going that week. And sure enough, “Library Tech Services.”

You refrained from groaning again. Out loud anyway. “Hi, it’s y/n again. I was the one who called about the admin credentials Monday night?”

“What’s up?”

“I’m trying to install Photoshop right now and it’s telling me the username/password is incorrect, which is impossible because it’s what I used the last time.”

“Right. We had to change the password for our monthly maintenance, it’s a security thing.”

“You’re kidding,” you said surprise coloring your voice. “Any chance you can share the new one with me?”

“Technically, I wasn’t supposed to give that to you last time.”

It was time to turn on the charm and convince him like you managed to previously. As you pleaded with him to do you this favor he interrupted you.

“How bad do you need it?”

What was wrong with you that hearing him say that put your mind in the gutter? He definitely hadn’t meant it that way when he said it! He was much chattier this time around so you were able to appreciate his voice better and his voice just did it for you.

You cleared your throat. “It’s not an emergency this time, no impending next-day deadlines, but I do want to get working on this new assignment…”

“Okay, okay. You’re lucky I like you.” That was news to you because you didn’t get that vibe based on the last call. It was nice to hear though. Some clicks sounded from the other end of the line and you waited silently for a few moments before he was ready to say the new password.

“Whew, we’re good to go,” you updated him as the Photoshop installation started. Another moment of silence passed.

Finally, he said a quick, “Good.”

You weren’t caught off guard when you heard the click that signaled he had hung up. Unlike the last call, he hadn’t seemed rude and he did mention that he liked you. Maybe he was just an awkward sort of guy, despite his killer voice. That might explain why he worked an IT job, weren’t those kinds of guys supposed to have terrible people skills?

You worked with Photoshop for a bit and when you reached a good stopping point, you got ready for bed. That night you laid awake for a while, unable to drift off to sleep. Instead, you replayed the conversation with tech guy over and over in your mind.

He was very helpful when he wasn’t giving an attitude and he this was the second time he had bent the rules for you. That pesky word ‘like’ kept rattling in your brain and you started to wonder if that nice voice belonged to a nice face. Furthermore, was there a chance that he found your voice attractive as well?

***

Sunday morning on a college campus seemed like a smart time to visit the coffee given that most of campus wasn’t up yet, which increased the chances of you getting your hands on a banana chocolate chip muffin. Maybe even two or three if you were honest, to make up for the past several failed attempts.

The sun hadn’t been up long when you opened the door, the little jingling bell announcing your presence. A barrage of delicious aromas caressed your nose and to your extreme delight, one of the scents you detected was a banana-chocolate combination.

You walked up to the counter and the cashier smiled as he told you good morning.

“So… can I get three banana chocolate chip muffins?”

He merely smiled and started working on your cappuccino. “Of course. Reid just finished them so they still in the kitchen, piping hot.”

Reid must be the baker that was responsible for the muffins as well as responsible for never making enough. “Finally! This is a long time coming for me.”

“I passed him your message, I think he took it to heart.” He handed over the drink and turned to go to the kitchen. “I’ll be back with the muffins.”

He pushed the door open and for a split second you caught a glimpse of a side profile belonging to a blonde guy. He was too far away to distinctly make out any facial features but he had nice shoulders framed by his black tee and obvious blonde hair that was hard to miss. He looked cute to you, at least from a distance.

Those two details were the only things you took note of before the door closed, effectively blocking you from more staring. Too bad. It was totally ridiculous to think about but tech guy’s voice would be a good combination with baker guy’s looks.

You picked at the lid of the coffee cup while you waited for the rest of your order already anticipating how they would taste. Your plan was to only eat one this morning and to ration the rest, but you were honest enough with yourself to know that you might enter a feeding frenzy and have all three finished by lunch.

When the door opened up again your eyes searched for the seemingly cute baker but there was no sign of him. There wasn’t a chance to get down about it, however, because a smile lit up your face as soon as you saw the medium sized brown paper bag that held the muffins.

“Reid says these are especially for you,” the cashier said as he lifted the bag over the register.

You were quick to raise your hands to take it from him and made sure to thank him as you left, not questioning why Reid, a person you’d never met, would make a comment like that, figuring that he was referring to how you complained that the muffins were always sold out.

The morning air was especially cold as you trekked back to your dorm, your breath condensing into a fleeting, frozen cloud around your face and the only thing keeping your hands warm was the cappuccino you held between gloved hands. Still, the trip to the coffee shop was definitely worth it and you were hoping that it was a good omen to start the day off with.

***

Perhaps you were still experiencing the high of the morning victory at the coffee shop, but later on that night while you were working on homework once again, you started thinking about tech guy again. There wasn’t any need to call him; you now had both Illustrator and Photoshop on the laptop and there wasn’t anything else that you needed to install.

Still, you debated calling him. Not because you needed to but because you wanted to. Which was weird, even to you, but you had missed him the past couple of days, bad people skills and all. After the second call, you felt even more confident that he wasn’t as condescending a guy as you had first thought him to be. And you wouldn’t mind getting to know that awkward version of him better.

The hard part was you literally knew nothing about him other than he worked the night shift at the library. You didn’t have a name, a face, not even a work schedule to confirm whether he was working tonight or not. Reid must’ve been serious when he told the cashier those muffins were made especially for you because there had to have been a secret dose of recklessness mixed in there. How else would you explain this strange, and potentially creepy, call you were about to make?

The dial tone rang and you took a deep breath, not sure how this would turn out. On the fifth ring, someone finally picked up. “Library Tech Services.”

You laughed in relief. Tech guy was the on the other end of the phone. “Hey.”

“Hey, y/n. Having another crisis?” On one hand you felt a little embarrassed that you no longer had to say your name for him to recognize your voice but on the other, the possibility that he enjoyed talking with you, too.

“It may come as a surprise but I can get through a day without having a tech issue that needs solving.”

“Oh, really?”

“I swear.” You crossed your heart even though he couldn’t see you.

“Well, what do you want then?”

Time to be brave. “Actually, I called for you.”

“I would hope so, I’m the only who works this shift meaning I’m your only option.”

“No, um, I meant I wanted to tell you thanks for helping me out with installing that stuff on the laptop. You were a lifesaver.”

“I try.”

“Seriously! I definitely would’ve missed one graphic design deadline, potentially two if you hadn’t come to the rescue.”

That seemed to get his attention. “Is that your major? Graphic Design?”

“Yep. Don’t I give off bumbling artist vibes?”

“Hmm you seem pretty confident to me but there’s nothing wrong with that. My grandma was—” He started that sentence but abruptly cut off and you couldn’t help but laugh.

“Are you saying I remind you of your grandma?”

“Shit,” he grumbled. “My friends told me to stop bringing her up when talking to hot people.”

“Don’t sweat it, she sounds like she was awesome so I’m honored. But back to the part where I’m hot… do you really think so?”

“Obviously. Do you think I hand out library secrets to every person who calls? Your voice is strong and you sound super smart so I tried my best to be cool with you.”

“Okay but future tip: hanging up on people and not telling them your name is rude, not cool.”

His embarrassment was tangible through the phone and you let him sweat momentarily before speaking. “Luckily for you, I like dorks such as yourself and am willing to look past it as long as I get your name.”

“It’s Reid. Reid Garwin,” he rushed to say.

Now that was interesting. You fell back on your bed, your brain trying to make connections. The name while not super common, wasn’t rare either and what were the chances that you met two of them on the same day. If Reid with the nice body and tech guy, er, Reid with the nice voice were one in the same, you wouldn’t be upset. Quite the contrary.

“Reid as in Reid who bakes my favorite sugar fixes on campus?”

“One in the same. You seen me there before?”

“Only once,” you reveal. “When I went to pick up some muffins this today.”

It was his turn to laugh. “Wait. Are you saying that you’re that customer who called me stupid the other day?”

“…Maybe.”

“They don’t let me out front cause I’m ‘too much’ for people but rest assured that the door isn’t that thick. I feel like an idiot for not recognizing that it was you though.”

The revelation that Reid was baking a tech hero, a winning mix by the way, thrilled you all the way from your head to your toes. At the moment you didn’t even care that he heard you calling him names at the coffee shop although you were sure the mortification would set in later.

“Would you like to go out sometime—”

“You do want to go out with me sometime—”

The two of you spoke at the same time and when you realized that the other had read your mind, you both giggled.

“After you,” you assured him.

“Shit, would you like to go out sometime? There’s a restaurant downtown that’s really good and I promise not to bring up grandma Garwin again.”

The plan was to pretend to think about it but your excitement overrode your brain and you said, “Deal as long as you promise to tell me more about her, not less.”

He started to answer you but stopped suddenly and you could vaguely hear him getting scolded by someone, reminding you that technically he was still on the clock.

“Sorry,” he grumbled, “The librarian on duty told me to stop flirting and get back to work. Stop by the coffee shop tomorrow though and we can talk more.”

You said your good-byes and rolled around your bed, the comforter thoroughly rumpled by the time you stopped. It seemed that your luck may be turning around for the better.

_______________

Thanks for reading my most self-indulgent piece to date. Also my longest! Reid may consider himself to be mister cool, but he is also an awkward bean who would make a great tech guy. It's also my first time experimenting with moodboards, let me know what you think :)

#the covenant #reid garwin #reid garwin x reader #imagines

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wonnoy · 3 years

Text

roolllinggguu!

nishinoya is a big geek in my eyes - he collects pokemon cards (me too) full time and is obsessed with LOTR and the hobbit. you should see this dude.

no one can change my mind, because i love it.

__ warnings: none

geeks unite

You laid down next to Noya on the couch with half a mind listening to LOTR theories on the television. He, however, was not distracted at all. His body was even leaning forward and you don't even remember the last time that he blinked.

You turned back to the TV, trying to remember how you first met him.

It was a bright Sunday morning, and unlike any other day, today was the only day of the week you could visit the bookstore down the street. It was rarely busy on Sunday's and it was the only day where you didn't have work.

So, clad in your gray sweatpants and university hoodie, you were searching through the shelves of the tiny fantasy land at the edge of your campus. Every once in a while, a straggler would enter the store, pick what they needed and soon leave with a hushed goodbye to the cashier. You didn't pay them much mind, most people nowadays didn't understand the magic of coming to a bookstore like you did.

All type of dream worlds could happen here, in a space that seemed to be protected by time itself. Forever again yet forever young in the eyes of the holder - you held the most powerful weapon whenever coming in here. A fresh mind.

"Aw yea, they got new posters!" a voice sounded from the other side of the bookshelf. You lifted your nose from the book in your hands and rose off of the bean-bag chair. That didn't sound like anyone you knew who frequented this place, and let's be honest. You were just a little curious to see who it was that silently yelled in a bookstore.

You set the book down and then started to look through the shelves of books that separated the aisles. There was no sign of any life before you saw something shuffle to your right and so you turned. Bent over and inside of a tub of posters was a man whose belongings were all over the ground.

"I wonder if they have-"

"Excuse me?" there was a loud thud from inside of the tub and hissed ow as the man retrieved his head from the tub. He wasn't much taller than you, far from it by the looks of it. When he turned around, you had to cover your mouth in surprise. It was an obviously photoshopped picture of him in Lord of The Rings facing against Sauron (one of the evil characters) on his mask.

"Ah, sorry did I yell something?" he rubbed his head a little, his hair bouncing back up straight from being pushed back by his hand. There was a thunder bolt of yellow in his hair amongst the other brown locks on his head.

You shook your head explaining to him that he sounded new here. He only chuckled at you.

"Not really, they have the best merchandise," he pulled down his mask now revealing his smile. And by the gods was his smile one of the most beautiful things that you've seen. It made butterflies zoom throughout your body at the sight.

"The name is Nishinoya, kind of a mouthful so people normally call my Noya," and he extended his hand out to you. It took you no hesitation to give him a handshake as well. Who would've thought that you made a new best friend that day.

"Oy!" a loud shout brought you back to the present and Noya's hand was shaking in front of your face. You had to bring your neck back as he was so close to accidentally smacking you in the face.

When he saw you react he leaned back to where he was sitting, "I'd been calling your name for a bit a time but you never answered," he sighed. You looked over at the TV, the show was paused and he was right - ten minutes passed while you were zoned out.

"Yea, sorry I was thinking about the bookstore and stuff," you crossed your arms underneath your chest. You thought it would be easier the longer you knew him, that eventually the feeling of being high would leave you alone. But alas, it never did.

You were hopelessly in love with the blind fool.

"Really, what about the bookstore," Noya got up off the couch and made his way to the kitchen attached to his small apartment. It's only been three years, but it can't help but feel like forever that you've known him.

"Just some stuff," you trailed off watching him. He was in a white tank top with low hanging gray sweatpants - AKA irresistible. It was too bad that he was leaving you soon, he wanted to travel the world and you never had the courage to ask him if he wanted to travel with you. He didn't know that you would leave things behind to be with him, to be with him just a little bit longer. You don't know how you'd feel if he saw some Italian babe and forgot about you.

Noya chuckled from the kitchen, "what type of 'stuff' is that then," he then slinked from the kitchen to where you were sitting, "c'monnn y/n I really wanna know!"

There's the childish side of him. He's 22 and yet still acts like his childish self that you've only seen in videos from his old volleyball days. You leaned your head back to meet him upside-down and smiling at you. His hands shot out towards your cheeks and then he proceeded to mush them together.

"Thash not going to-"

"Tell meeee y/n, please," he mushed your cheeks even more now and you tried to stick your tongue out at him as best as you could. But to no avail, he had you.

You went to grab his forearms and pull them off of your face, "I was thinking about when you were leaving," you put your head back up and could feel the navel of his body touch the back of your head as he came up closer behind you. This feels like an intimate position, but Noya was just a touchy guy you guessed. You heard about his endeavors with Kiyoko.

He sighed behind you and took one of his arms from your hands, you guessed it. He probably doesn't want to be depressed by your depressing thoughts right now-

You nearly sneezed.

Something underneath your nose was tickling underneath your nose and hastily pushed it away trying to see what it was. You sputtered the moment you saw them.

Two tickets to Italy, two seats right next to each other, two tickets with yours and his name on them.

"I was saving them till the day I asked you out, but I guess right now will have to do,"

You never tackled someone so quickly before that day.

[][][

haha cute

i had to write this quickly because my laptop almost die

#nishinoya x you #nishinoya yuu #haikyu x reader #haikyuu!!#fluff #hq nishinoya

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freebooter4ever · 3 years

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Hey, I need some help and I hope you can help me with my (actual) despair..

I adore your art and I got inspired to try out drawing digitally. If I‘m not mistaken you use a tablet for digital drawing, right?

Anyways, I want to buy one and I have no clue what to search for. I tried looking up online what to watch out for, but I guess I thought it‘d be good to get some advice from another person on this. So: What do you think is important about such a tablet ? What works for you? (I know -of course- that what works for you might not work for others, however getting an opinion by someone experienced regarding this sounded like a good idea)

Thank you in advance, maybe you can help me :) and I’m so sorry if this sounds like I’m all over the place, which I think I am (as usually).. {:

This ask is very dramatic, haha! But digital drawing supplies is expensive as hell so I understand ^_^ ! I've actually tried quite a few of the tablets out there over the years so yeah, there's definitely differences to them.

Currently I use a Wacom 2017 Mobilestudio Pro with the highest specs money could buy at the time. I also have an ipad and an ipad pencil. Here’s a convenient photo of all of them from my print shop posts that i used to compare the colors:

Previously I have used a 2014 Wacom Cintiq and a 2011 Wacom Intuous Tablet and a 2007 Wacom Intuous Tablet. My favorite is absolutely my mobile studio. You can see in the photo how small it is. It’s heavy (but hey, free weight lifting!) but holding it feels like a sketchbook. I adore it! It runs some huge photoshop files. And it has 3D capability. I did the entirety of my 2018 portfolio piece INCLUDING RENDER all on this beast. And yes it runs slow if you are taxing its processing power and yes there are some things it just cant do, but for its small size its pretty mind blowing. Basically the Mobilestudio is a laptop replacement for artists, and I low key worship it.

(thats a full 3D scene with 160k poly character, lighting, AND fog all rendered real time on this baby)(in marmoset which sure it got to the point where marmoset was at 99.8% and i had to juggle the lights like crazy but i kept it running!)

I used to use my ipad more because jumping into digital color on that was easier than understanding photoshop. I’m much more comfortable with photoshop now, so I prefer that. But for quick color studies that feel like actually painting the Ipad and procreate definitely wins! The nice thing about the apple pencil thing is that all the functions are completely hidden. Unlike Wacom which is very customizable and particular, the apple pencil is just connect and go. It feels as natural as it can, and I think it would be the best option for a beginner or someone who doesn’t want to invest in something like the mobile studio. @ramilicious was trying out procreate so gonna tag her to see if she has any insight.

The cintiq is the most intense option lol! I loved my cintiq but the only reason we had one was because we were an educational research group at a university and got a discount haha. The small cintiqs are not worth it in my opinion. It’s just annoying having such a small screen and it means you almost have to have a second screen set up for reference. It’s also basically just a smart monitor so you will still have to have a good tower PC (actually wait are PC’s still towers? I haven’t been PC shopping in a minute) to hook it up to that can run all the programs you want to use. I’m biased here but I prefer the mobile studio. The screen is bigger on the largest cintiqs - so more room to draw, which is nice, but it also means you usually need two people to lift the darn thing. (my mobile studio on the other hand fits neatly into my fancy hipster backpack and travels with me everywhere - I used to work in museums and libraries and cafes and boba tea shops. it also serves as a conversation starter. and a way to wow curious kids bc im sitting here casually sculpting an entire 3D person on a screen! wow!)

The cheapest options are obviously the tablets. These are great! You can’t go wrong with wacom - and the Intuous med/large size is the ideal size in my opinion. Depending on your age hand/wrist pain can be a thing. And if you get the tiny tablets and have a big monitor connected to it, the tiny movements in your wrist can cause problems later on. However, my bff in college had a tiny wacom tablet and used it all four years! The only thing to know about the Intuous and other types of tablets with no screen is that the disconnect between hand/eye is something you are going to have to learn. It does not come naturally! I wish someone had told me that when I got my first one in high school. I was so discouraged by how hard it was to draw with my hand on the the table and looking at a cursor on the screen that I didn’t use it a lot. Now of course, decades later (ouch, old age), it’s as easy as breathing haha. It just takes practice. The other nice thing about the tablet is that if you already have like a laptop and a backpack, its really easy just to slip the tablet into the backpack with everything else. My 2007 Intuous got me through all of college, and is still in such good condition that I was able to give it to a friend’s daughter last year who just started high school and wanted something to get started in digital art on. Prior to getting the cintiq in 2014 I used the 2011 Intuous at my education research job - so basically I spent all day sculpting on it for 3 years, and honestly those were the years that really drilled in that hand/eye coordination for me.

I’m actually planning on buying a new mobileStudio pro sometime this year to replace my current one. There are a few drawbacks on this option: the technology is still new, so expect troubleshooting. Sometimes updates to the OS screw with my tablet settings and I have to fight with windows to get it to work at full functionality. It also overheats a LOT - I’m hoping the newest models don’t run as hot. Legit this computer would love me to remain in a 60 degree room at all times. :/ Tragically, I live in Southern California so this is impossible. (The heat was less of an issue in Pittsburgh and Seattle). Over the years my mobilestudio has overheated so many times that the screen actually has color damage in spots. I still find it perfectly usable though, and the computer’s benefits far outweigh the heating issue. But I am also someone who hates the idea of being “tied down” to a place, and the thought of investing in a full computer/cintiq/monitor setup scares the crap out of me when I want to be able to pack up and move wherever my job takes me. \o/

This was probably more information than you wanted, but I wish someone had helped me out with all this stuff when I was starting out <3 ^_^ Feel free to ask any other questions you might think of! Though if you have computer spec questions ironically I am not the person for that LOL I have my go to guy who tells me what’s what in the graphics card / monitor world and I just buy what Han suggests bc he’s obsessed with always knowing the new thing.

Also my dream PC set up is....

UNF. that is a thing of beauty. logo and lights and all. so extra. and so so unnecessary.

TLDR; If you already have an ipad, get yourself a pencil and procreate and try it out to start. If you want to use an existing laptop or computer to draw, get a nice Intuous tablet and draw draw draw till that hand-table to screen feels natural. OR if you want to go crazy like me get that expensive mobilestudio, take it out in public and bask in the oogling stares of everyone around you like you’re Shuri or Tony Stark and using some Unknowable Magic Technology. (one time my car’s tire popped during the days I was working on my hyper real Gas Pump for my portfolio and I had a whole room full of car guys looking over my shoulder in awe as I sat in the waiting room with my studio pro on my lap and poly modeled the base mesh while my baby fire demon was being fixed haha)

#Anonymous #Wip

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copperbadge · 4 years

Text

Replies regarding book covers

silentstep on this post

I'm quite surprised to hear you say that the first image isn't dynamic! to me it feels very much so. either way I like it better as a book cover than the cornstalk, though I love the cornstalk photograph as a piece of art.

It is possible I have lost proper perspective, I’ve been looking at a LOT of dust storm images lately :D There are some that are more dramatic but generally they’re rights-managed or difficult to source because they’re used so often (which devalues the drama a bit anyway, honestly).

msbarrows on this post

Love the dust storm image, but I also think the corn would be usable if cropped to the upper right 2/3rds or so, with an off-center title in the white space. Also wondering if the first image would work better as a full wrap if it was flipped left-to-right, so the dust storm is on the front cover.

Yeah, people seem generally to feel that the dust storm image would work best if flipped. I’ll have to do some experimentation, but fortunately my old laptop with one of the last installation-not-cloud versions of Photoshop on it is still functional, so I can do quite a bit of remixing.

chromatographic on this post

Asthetically I like the first picture better but my inner goblin is yelling at me to choose the Corn.

WE CANNOT ALL BE @seananmcguire :D (What a world if we could.)

froofie on this post

Too bad you can't superimpose the giant corn into the dust cloud in the first photo, like a watermark or something.

I mean, in theory I suppose I could, I have the technology. I’ll try it out, but I think it might be too much...imagery, somehow.

ponderosa121 on this post

I’d try the corn if you were willing to do some cutouts on a big chunky yellow or red font. i think you could get a pretty striking look like Harlen Coben’s Run Away

I had a look, and that IS very compelling as a cover, although I’m not sure it’s an appropriate vibe for the material. I might play around with it though, I think I could get a real “sixties cover design for a book you have to read in high school” vibe going and I do love that aesthetic.

noriannbraindripshere on this post

The dust storm one would be easier to use I think, but oh I am so tempted to go full *graphic design is my passion* with the corn one... may do that for my Ao3 epub actually.

Feel free if you want to! I should say, there will be an epub version of the final draft for sale (usually pretty cheap, though I need to consult with Lulu on what they’re charging now), and there’s always a free PDF version, just so you know you’ll have some options.

drownedinlight on this post

I can see why you're having trouble -- I would say, not yet having the chance to fully read Six Harvests, if there isn't a storm similar to the dust storm in the picture, don't do that one, because people do judge books by covers, whatever others might say. If there is, it is more evocative than the corn stalk, though I do enjoy its tall eerieness

Well, there are three storms in the book, two of which hit the town, so there’s that at least. Actually, fun if irrelevant fact, this storm photo was taken on April 18th, 1935, which is four days after Black Sunday, the generally-felt worst storm of the Depression.

odense on this post

I love the dust storm one! it could go across the whole first spread, so you don't need to crop as much out :D I feel like it would totally handle a nice serif font, what are you setting the body with?? I like palatino linotype or georgia :)

I haven’t looked at fonts for the cover yet, but the body is being set with Garamond -- Garamond or Georgia are my go-tos but I’ve generally found Garamond is a little more readable, at least as printed by Lulu, which is my self-pub site.

Thank you to everyone who gave feedback! Looks like unless I see something I like better in the next day or two, it’ll be the dust storm, but I do think the corn would be workable too. I appreciate peoples’ thoughts!

#reply all #odense #drownedinlight #noriannbraindripshere #ponderosa121 #froofie #chromatographic #msbarrows #silentstep

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neojeno · 4 years

Note

I really wouldn't mind you aiding me with some tutorials love

giffing tutorial/resources

hi anon! sorry it took me so long to answer. i figured this might be helpful for others out there who have asked me similar questions, so i’ve compiled a pretty comprehensive list of tutorials/resources. idk about others but when i was new to giffing, it took me a lot of painful effort to go around and look for resources, so i’m putting it all here to make it a little easier!

i download videos using 4k video downloader. it will download very good quality 1080p videos in .mp4 format. if you’re downloading a 4k video, make sure to change the setting option to .mkv so that you get 4k and not 1080p—for obvious reasons since you want the highest quality.

i rely on kpopexciting to get .ts files — which are basically raw, very high quality video files for live performances. they are much less grainy than .mp4 versions of live performances—which are the ones you’ll see uploaded to youtube. i’ve found that 4k videos (in .mkv) are just as good quality as .ts, but obviously you will rarely see live performances in 4k, so get .ts when you can!! you can also try to find .ts files on twitter, but you may have to do a lot of digging. i wish i could recommend you twitter accounts, but the ones i used to go to have been very inactive/taken down all their drives :( but this website is really nice and updated frequently so i would recommend it!

vapoursynth links + download. the reason you would use vapoursynth is to resize your gif, while maintaining the optimal quality of the gif. if you gif without vapoursynth (.ie only using photoshop), it will still be fine, but the image quality may be grainier. also, you will definitely need vapoursynth to gif .ts files —more will be explained in the tutorial i’ve linked below. i would recommend that you have a high processing/lots of ram/newer desktop or laptop to use vapoursynth so that 1, your computer isn’t fried and 2, your vapoursynth process will go a lot faster. i am using a 2017 macbook pro for all my work, and it runs pretty well, but my laptop still gets pretty hot so just make sure you’re not running a million things in the background while using adobe products and vapoursynth lol. i used a pretty old and beat up 2011 model macbook air back then, and i will say that yes vapoursynth worked and ran on it, but it took much longer, and basically fried the laptop’s battery (aka i had to get the battery changed twice and the laptop would die randomly) but issok it was a school borrowed laptop so i didn’t feel too bad lol. im just saying this as a precaution, to preserve the health of your electronic devices!! but don’t be afraid to use vapoursynth! you should still try it at least once.

thank you to @realstraykids for this super detailed, really nice tutorial! it includes how and where to download videos, how to gif using vapoursynth, using photoshop, comparisons, coloring, and pretty much all you need to know. 10/10 would recommend

thank you to @dreamcolouring for this lifesaver!!! the best and easiest way to blur out unwanted captions/objects in your gifs. i recommend doing this step after converting your frames to video timeline and before you do sharpening and coloring. another tip i’ll add is to feather the selection you’ve made right before you click on “add vector mask” —this will make sense once you’ve read through the tutorial. feathering it will make the blurred spot less noticeable and more subtle.

i use this generator to create gradient colored captions! copy and paste your text, then select the colors you want. generate the code, and copy it. change the settings of the text editor on your post to HTML. paste the code, preview, and voila! add elements <blockquote>,<b>,<i>, etc as needed. see more on colored captions in this tutorial by @kylos --i believe op mentioned a different and better color generator but for some reason it won’t work for me :( hopefully it works for u! basically same idea as the previous generator i mentioned.

my own mini tutorial/workflow process of making gifs. this includes working with a .ts file, vapoursynth, photoshop, coloring, watermarking, etc. and a few of my own tips below:

if you are working with an .mp4, you do not have to make any changes to the preprocessor/denoise filters/sharpening in the resizing part of vapoursynth—it doesn’t make that big of a difference if you do. but if you are working with a .ts file, definitely do make those changes,, that’s the whole reason you have vapoursynth. with an .mp4, i like to use vapoursynth to just resize, but i don’t add any additional settings. i use smart sharpen in photoshop to sharpen it, which is pretty good on it’s own (at least in photoshop 2020!).

my rule of thumb is to do add .02 seconds when i am setting frame delay. so if when you first import the frames, they are at 0.04 seconds, i usually change them to 0.06. of course, this is my personal taste—you can make all your gifs faster or slower depending on how you want em to look.

if you are on a mac, you can screen record by pressing Command+Shift+5 (it’s a shortcut to quicktime screen recording). I only screen record for things like the beyond live concert or other live streamed events. the image quality of the screen recording, in my experience, is actually pretty good. when you gif the screen recording however, you may notice that it adds extra frames that you don’t need. by that i mean duplicate frames. you could keep the duplicate frames but that just means the size of your gif is going to be much bigger (keep in mind the limit is 8mb). in order to remove those duplicates, my only solution has been to remove them manually (by holding Command while selecting), or when you are importing the video to frames, select the option to “limit to every 2 frames”—but this method will be less precise and still not as good as manually removing frames. if you remove the duplicate frames, this means you will need to set the frame delay even slower, to make up for lost frames. in my experience, fps(frames per second) and frame delay work in conjunction. so for example, if i delete every other frame because they are duplicates, but the starting frame delay is 0.02, i am now going to change it to something like 0.05 (so i added 0.03 seconds rather than my usual 0.02). if the duration length and the image dimensions of the gif are short/small, feel free to keep the duplicate frames in—i only delete duplicate frames in order to keep my gif under the 8mb limit. then, if you keep the duplicate frames in, continue with your standard frame delay preferences. now that i’m writing this im realizing this might not make a lot of sense lol.. but don’t worry about it for now and if you run into trouble w screen recorded gifs then you can come back to this for reference. again, this is only my experience recording on a mac—it may be a lot different if you use a screen recording program or are on a pc.

i don’t really use .psd templates because i like to give every gif/gifset it’s own unique coloring—so i remake the coloring every time, but if you get into a rhythm it’s pretty easy. there are a lot of nice coloring tutorials out there, too! my personal coloring adjustments in order: levels, exposure, color balance, selective color (if needed), vibrance, photo filter (if needed), color lookup (i use 2strip most often and i put it on ‘color’ blending mode). don’t forget to adjust the opacities and fills of the ‘color lookup’ adjustment layer in case it’s too strong. go back to correct each adjustment layer as needed. then, when you’re done and satisfied, group all those layers, copy the group (you can do an easy command+c), and paste it onto the next gif you’re working on for easy workflow.

if for some reason you can’t see the frames when you import your layers/video, it’s likely because your ‘timeline’ window isn’t showing up. just go to the window menu on photoshop, go to the bottom and you’ll see ‘timeline.’ make sure it has a check next to it.

i recommend watermarking your gifs because a lot of people like to repost tings these days 😠 - so make sure u got your brand on it! i keep my watermark saved to my ‘libraries’ in photoshop so it’s ready when i need it. i use the blending mode ‘overlay’ and adjust the opacity, but if you don’t want to do that you can also add a stroke/shadow to your watermark/do all sorts.

tag #nctinc for your nct creations and #jenonet for your jeno creations!!

here’s my own mini tutorial (well not much of a tutorial ig more like a work process vid?): took about ten minutes including the time to search and download the video (but i didn’t record that part i trust yall know how to do that), vapoursynth, and exporting. i hope this helps somewhat! feel free to ask more questions whenever :)

youtube

keep in mind that giffing takes a lot of patience, energy, and experience—so don’t worry if it takes you a bit to figure things out or if your gifs don’t turn out the way you want them to the first time around. we all start at the same place and all run into problems. i know giffing can sound intimidating and seem like a lot of work, but i promise, once you get into a routine, giffing is going to happen in minutes—and you’ll get beautiful gifs. have fun! 😊

#anon #answered #tut #tuts #giffing tutorial #should i make a tut/resources post on gfx? not rly sure if gfx can be taught.. it's like a lottt about personal style imo lol #hope this helps!#not just for anon but for anyone

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dottiechan · 3 years

Note

Hey!! I've been following your blog for a while and I love your style! I read you are self taught. I want to learn how to draw people too so I thought I'd ask: can you recommend some resources that worked for you? Thank you soo much! 😸

Hi! Thanks for the ask, and for your kind words!

A little something to consider though before I proceed with the rest of my answer - take everything I say/recommend with a grain of salt. “Self-taught” isn’t a mysteriously elusive concept, it doesn’t mean someone’s mastered a skill all by themselves, it simply means taking control of your own learning process and allowing yourself to find the methods and ways that benefit you. If something anyone recommends doesn’t work for you and makes you feel bad in any way, I say ignore it.

That being said, you can find the rest of my thoughts beneath the cut:

Find the right platform and tools

This is step 0. Nothing will feel right unless you find a form of artistic self-expression that resonates within you. I find digital art to be much more forgiving and not to mention cheaper than the more tradtional ways, but not every platform works for me. I’ve been using Autodesk Sketchbook for a while now because it is completely free, beginner friendly and has just enough tools to help you make more elaborate drawings as well, but I would break down crying if I had to learn how to use Photoshop (while some people excel at it!). As for tablets, I totally recommend the Wacom ones. I’ve been using my Wacom Intuos Comic tablet with my laptop for years and I’ve never had any issues with it.

References

I suck at human anatomy. There, I’ve said it. I’ve never learned it properly for drawing purposes, and every attempt I’ve made to do so simply left me frustrated, so unforntunately I don’t have many resources for you, per se. Whenever I try using anatomy guides or tutorials, my drawings end up looking weird. So I mainly only use references. IMO anatomy doesn’t matter much as long as the shapes look natural, and as long as your drawing conveys the message you want it to convey. References help guide you, while giving you the necessary freedom to make adjustments as you see fit (while on the other hand I personally find rigid anatomical “rules” restricting). Use references for everything - the lighting, the face, the hair, the hands, the clothes. I always have several photos saved to my phone while I’m drawing that I often look at.

(If you want to learn how human anatomy works though, more power to you! There is an great amount of drawing tutorials out there by wonderful artists! :))

Some of my favourite places to go to for pose refs:

Senshistock

SketchDaily Reference Site

Kibbitzer

Google images of celebrities or models (cliche, I know, but it’s a good way to get many references of the same body type, face, etc.)

Some tips I wish someone told me when I got into digital art:

If you find poses or faces difficult at first, practice by tracing. A lot. Get familiar and even intimate with certain recurring lines or ratios or curves, and eventually they will come back to you when you draw without tracing. Gradually shift to just looking at references. This will take time, so be patient with yourself. Tracing is a great way to warm up to a new platform and/or tablet too - this is how I got comfortable with my current setup 3 years ago. (Out of respect for the creators, do not claim traced refs as your own work.)

It will probably take a while, so practice as often as you can. Unfortunately, there is no way around this, but instead of setting a goal (i.e. “I want to learn how to draw people”), try to enjoy the journey. Even when you think your drawings don’t come out as well or as realisitc as you want them to, you’re drawing people. And you can find unique solutions once you let go of this “ideal state” you want to reach. That’s when your style will emerge. :)

Something looks wonky or out of place in your initial sketch? No problem. Use the Quick transform > Lasso tool in Sketchbook to outline and drag the part where it would look better. I have salvaged so many sketches like this, such an easy fix to when you mess up the ratios in for instance a face.

Find The Brush. The One Brush to rule them all. The brush that makes you feel the most comfortable, the one that accomodates your style the most. (Mine is the Dry Marker. I feel like I could conquer the world with it.)

Always change the background colour from white to something a little darker. That way it is so much easier to add white highlights and make a face or a body look more 3 dimensional. (Especially if you’re lazy like yours truly, and would like to get away with not adding any colours to a drawing.)

Put everything on separate layers!!! Otherwise making even minor tweaks will be extremely difficult.

#dottiechanart #dottiechan asks #anonymous #i hope you'll find something useful here nonny :)

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kamccormickhnd1b · 3 years

Text

Recycle Evaluation

The second brief of 2021 was one called “Recycle”, the idea was for us to use old and discarded objects within our home, anything that was old or had obvious signs of being well-used, and we were to paint them with light, section by section, and then put it into photoshop to bring out certain areas we like to create an image that is, to put it simply, made up of each highlight from our painting with light images. We were using old items to make one final result out of everything we had photographed.

For the most part, I absolutely hated this brief. Painting with light has never been something I’ve done much research on nor was it something I’d done much of, while in NQ, we briefly did some painting with light, but nothing to this extent, and even then, I thought I knew how to do it when really I didn’t as I was always getting light trails involved in my images. Thanks to this brief, I have a strong understanding on how painting with light works and the variety of it out there, but for this brief, we were to paint an object and light it up with a flash light, LED panel or any alternative light source of our choice.

Problem 1:

The very first problem I encountered with this brief was understanding what is being asked of me. While my lecturers were explaining it in detail and even showing examples of other results of a composite, I failed to truly understand what was being asked of me, I understood that we were painting with light, but I wasn’t entirely understanding why we were to put it into photoshop to bring out the highlights of the images we have. I spoke to Mark about it after one of the Thursday classes and I left the zoom call thinking I knew what to do, and in all fairness, I did have the right idea, I just hadn’t set things up properly.

I thought we were to photograph each object separately, like we did for Illusion, so I had photographed my objects item by item and planned on putting them into my set up image. It wasn’t until the Tuesday feedback class that Mark went over the images with me and explained it better to me, I then understood what I was to do but I was having a very difficult time putting it together.

Problem 2:

After I had my understanding of the brief, the next problem I encountered was my set up and lighting up certain objects, in particular, I had a porcelain doll wearing white clothing and a dark brown set of clogs, I had difficulty lighting up both objects well as one item was far too dark and required a lot of light painting to light it up to a point you can see the detail in them, and the other was too so bright that with a lot of difficulty, no matter what I was doing, I was creating shadows on it or it was becoming far too exposed and the white in the doll had become so highlighted that it was completely out of place and took away from the doll itself.

I also had the problem of trying to align my images, but when I did this the first time, I realised I had stupidly used different photos from my shoot, photos where I had the same items but they weren’t exactly in the same place enough for the images to align correctly. Either I had nudged the tripod or the camera fell a little and moved out of position or simply me setting things up wrong, the images were different. This led to my first reshoot, I fixed things up and tried to align everything, but as the shoot went on, I began to alter the camera, zooming in or moving my set up a little, so again, I had the same problem, just not quite as bad.

Problem 3:

A problem many of my classmates experienced was the scratch disc issue. From what I remember, no one had informed us that this project will use up a lot of space on our computers and on our hard drives or whatever storage device we were using to save our work. I found out the hard way about this: after a Monday class, I had spent the entire day last week working on my project only to discover I couldn’t save it because the scratch disc was full. I’m on a college laptop too so I couldn’t just clear out the build in storage because I’m not an admin, so I had to arrange with my lecturers to get an extension as this problem occurred days before the deadline.

I reshot my images again that night as I realised that again, my images weren’t in line or the same, so I reshot my images and I tried again, but with the scratch disc issue, I couldn’t save my work but I was still trying to understand what exactly I was to do. I was working on very low opacity and flow, so I had to go over things numerous times to get a result, which was infuriating me as it was taking so long to get one tiny result. I admit, I got frustrated and angry, and with the deadline only days away, I was stressing out and panicking.

My solution:

I took a step back and I thought calmly about things. I had emailed my lecturer about getting an extension, and after showing I really was having technical issues, I was granted that extension. I decided, without letting my lecturers know, that I was completely scrapping the idea I had and doing a brand new shoot. An issue I had was that I had too many items, for me personally, to work with, so I was getting confused and lost 7 seven layers in, so I remembered Mark’s words on pretty much every project I’ve ever done since NQ: “Keep it simple”. Mark is an inspiration to me when it comes to my photography, so I always value his opinions on my work and any advice he has to give, but that advice has been one that has stuck with me since the beginning of NQ photography in 2019. Thanks to that, I was able to take a step back, think about what I wanted to do, and do my reshoot with a strong understanding on what I want out of this shoot.

What I wanted was to capture items that had strong significance to me, items that belonged to my gran, grandad and items relevant to me in my childhood. The items I chose involved a German music box belonging to my gran, a broken dolphin that once belonged to a wind chime and my gran, a broken and old necklace belonging to me, a silver heart that belonged to me also, a small Sonic the hedgehog toy, and a silver locket that was given to me when my grandad passed away a long time ago.

My set up has never changed: I placed my items inside an old suitcase, the suitcase had a faded pink lining that, when light shone on it, gave off a very nice design of light patterns. With the suitcase, I added a blanket that is older than myself, the blanket acted the “floor” of my sett, while the suitcase’s lining was the background itself.

Once I had placed my items, I began my shoot and I focused on keeping my image count low, it helped me to stop myself from going overboard as I have the tendency to leave a shoot, college related or personal, with over one hundred photos as I get carried away and then have to go through them all, one by one. So I restricted myself with my images, to avoid this but also so I wasn’t having more photos for photoshop to struggle with when saving my work. This restriction helped me to have a boundary for myself and once my shoot was done, I waited until Monday’s class, this week, to speak with Iain about how to avoid blurring in my photos when I put them together. He was a big help and made me realise, after so long of stressing about it.......that I can change the opacity and flow to what I want it to be. With one simple relapse, I made myself stress out so much, I had forgotten that I could change the opacity and flow to what suits me, and that night, I put together my image and it was a thousand times easier and I could see results happening and I was able to really think and make choices on where I felt was a good highlight or shadow to add into my final image.

I spent all of Monday night working on it, I planned on doing it until I began to get tired or fed up with a computer screen, but I was so determined to get this project over with that I powered through. I know it’s not good to overwork yourself, but my project was, despite my extension, three days later by that point and I hated not meeting my deadline. The week long extension gave me the time I needed to think and redo my entire shoot and keep it simple for myself, it gave me the time I needed to really plan out better what I want from the shoot and how to get it. So in that regard, I’m thankful for the extension as I really needed it so I could get a hard drive to save my work and so I could re-plan my shoot and be happy with it.

I was sure that I would need to redo or change my shoot when I was showing it to Mark today, I was being so harsh on myself thanks to stressing on the project since the day we were given the brief that I was convinced it looked terrible and wasn’t right. Hearing Mark confirm that I did a great job and made some good decisions made me realise “Hey, I actually did a good job here, I can see that, I can be proud of this”, I have diagnosed crippling anxiety and Aspergers syndrome, so my anxious thinking tends to really blow things out of proportion and I end up panicking and stressing far too easily, so hearing advice from lecturers about my work really helps me and I value every criticism I get as it’s always constructive and not intended to upset me. I let that zoom call feeling ecstatic because I finally finished my Recycle project and I made something I’m absolutely proud of. It took a lot of pain and suffering, but I pulled through, submitted my project and was finally able to forget about it and move onto Lost and Found.

But, while I had many drawbacks with this project, the Recycle brief really helped me to get a good understanding and relationship with photoshop and how it works. In NQ, we used photoshop for the basic use of editing our photos and learning about layer masks, which completely baffled and upset me because I didn’t understand them despite how much Heather explained it to me. HND has helped me a lot with photoshop and understanding, and with me really diving into research and watching tutorials on how it all works as I go, I picked up what tool does what. I still have no idea what most of the tools do, but I’m familiar with most of them enough now to the point I was able to use the tools on my own without a guide or anyone explaining to me on what to do, I was comfortable enough to change brush sizes, colours, to zoom in and out or to use the tools when I needed them. I had become more comfortable with photoshop when we did the Illusion brief, but Recycle has helped me to really understand and become more comfortable with the software to the point I made my own creations, non-college related, and was able to really see what I was able to create and that, with more learning, I can really make some creative masterpieces in the future.

This project also helped me to really think and plan out what one action will do to my shoot or the objects involved, for example, it helped me to think about the effects my flashlight would have on an object when I’m painting with light long before I do the action. I’m thankful for this brief in the way of helping me learn, but I will not miss it!

Things I would do differently

If given the opportunity, I would do many things differently, in particular, I would speak to my lecturers more for help and ask my questions about being confused, what exactly is being asked of me and how I’m to do it. Instead, I spent weeks stressing, worrying and losing sleep because I couldn’t understand how to do the project or what was asked of me, had I asked more questions when the opportunity was there, I could have saved myself the stress, but now I know it for future reference.

Another thing I would do differently is my planning, I did plenty of research on this brief for inspiration and tips, but I feel my planning wasn’t great, I had an idea and I tried to shoot it, but then I was thinking of other ways to shoot it and put it into action instead of sketching it up and really giving it some thought. So I would do that differently.

Another thing I’d like to do differently is to have attended more Tuesday advice classes, I was terrified to attend because of my anxiety and I was scared to speak one-on-one with Mark, through zoom, about my ideas and images. When I eventually did attend, I saw that there was nothing to worry about and it really does help me, so much so that now, unless I plan to shoot my location shots, I attend the Tuesday classes for feedback on my work and so I can find out where I went wrong or how to improve my image.

This brief showed me many things, but regarding myself, it showed me how much I stop myself from achieving my full potential, by letting fear and anxieties grip me, I stop myself from doing things I know will look or turn out great, I stop myself from interacting in class sessions or getting some helpful feedback from lecturers and I stop myself from getting the help I need to calm my worrying mind and be gentler on myself.

I learned a lot from this brief and while I am thrilled to have made something I’m so proud of...........I really hope we don’t get another project like it any time soon!

#recycle #recycle brief #recyclebrief #evaluation #evaluations #recycle evaluation

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irisadielsart · 3 years

Photo

As anyone can attest, 2020 has been a rough year. A punctuated rough year in a string of rough years. My experience has been no different, but as for my personal artistic growth, 2020 has actually been exceptionally good to me. I went from thinking that doing a picture a month was asking way too much, to doing basically a drawing everyday. It’s a bit funny, I’ve been on tumblr since 2012, and i’ve posted some art here and there, but this year is when people finally noticed. I’ve had a couple of people say to me “I didn’t know you did art.” I don’t know how I feel about that, but I’m happy that my art is finally getting notes at least.

January - This is when i’m still in my dark phase. Drawing hurts, but I’m still trying my best to put something, ANYTHING on paper. i’ve spent 2019 drawing lines and squares on paper to just get used to drawing again. I’m trying to do people again. I had an idea that i was going to do a drawing a month for birth month flowers. January was carnation, and i had a sketch for February, but it never made it to completion. I’m still using traditional markers, pen and pencil.

February - This is where I found out that using a reference for art made things %100 percent easier. This is my very old OC Zora, made when i was in middle school. Using references cut out a lot of the initiation process i had when starting a drawing, all I had to do was trace, i didn’t have to think at all and the product was still good. Honestly pretty revelatory.

March - this is when i bought some really neat artists models that i could pose in any number of ways. They have proved their worth over and over again. Still doing traditional, but i did enhance this picture on the computer.

April - My markers were running really dry and I couldn’t afford to buy a new set, so I dragged out my laptop and drawing tablet to see if i could start drawing digitally. I was never really good at drawing digitally, though I got a little better in my animation classes. Colors aren’t true on the monitor and doing lineart feels odd and hollow. i can’t put it into words. but I downloaded Krita because i also couldn’t afford Photoshop. so on top of learning digital art again, i was learning a whole new program. So this picture was a culmination of a lot of things, and a really good first step for the rest of the year.

May - Here, this is when quarantine was in full swing, but drawing is no longer painful and i’m actually looking forward to it. Still learning digital again, so I decided to go with my tried and true love of fashion and clothes because that’s what i know best. Backgrounds suck

June - This month i was doing a lot of sketches and little doodle drawings. i decided that i wanted to try something more realistic, just to see how it would turn out. i think it is a bit of a mixed success.

July- July was busy, so i didn’t do a whole lot. This drawing was based off the designs of another artist that i loved a lot. I’m really big into character design, and I go crazy over a really good design.

August - My busiest month! I did so much in August! i wanted to take a break from all the Zelda art I was doing and decided to try doing an Alucard. Yoshitaka Amano is a big inspiration for me, and the way they do Alucard absolutely melts me. Someday i’ll draw Alucard as pretty as Amano does.

September - I dragged another OC out of the grave and thought to myself “How can i improve on my art?”. It’s amazing that in January i didn’t know if i would still be drawing, but here I am trying to not only draw as much as i can, but also trying to improve. I loved the way this picture came out, but the process that i used to color it took 3 days! I don’t have that kind of time to spend on my art, but maybe someday i’ll do that technique again.

October - This month was a bit of a low point for me. I was getting depressed again and was struggling to draw. I didn’t do a whole lot. But i didn’t want to go back to the way things were at the start of the year, so i just took a break for myself and reminded myself that low points were going to happen, but it didn’t mean that my progress was erased. i went back to trying a more realistic approach because with LOTR characters, i can use actual human models which is great for getting the subtleties of shading.

November - Busy month that i didn’t have a lot of time to draw for. but i did a series that I am very fond of, the picture shown being my favorite of the series.

December - the end of the year! and i’m still drawing. I’m drawing so much! December isn’t over yet, and I’ll have more drawings to show later, but i can’t show them here yet because a lot of them are presents. so, this picture is the one that everyone liked the best, or at least it got the most notes. instead of using my usual ultra saturated color, i went with greys and sad colors. but people liked it a lot, and i don’t know how to feel about that.

#artist year in review #irisadiels posts

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flowerpowell · 4 years

Text

Unexpected (Drake x MC)

PART FIFTEEN

A/N: So... Dani and Liam kinda took over this chapter but I hope it’s okay. I promise it is getting somewhere! Also, sorry for the delay in posting, I had a hard time with writing anything. Also x2, this chapter may suck because I think I forgot how to write in English. Pardonne-moi.

Rating: PG

Word count: 2256

Tagging: @gardeningourmet @delightfullypinkglitter @desireepow-1986 @hopefulmoonobject @dcbbw @kingliam2019 @the-soot-sprite @thequeenofcronuts @badchoicesposts @burnsoslow @annekebbphotography @alesana45 @axwalker @walkerduchess @ao719 @texaskitten30 @lodberg @cordonianroyalty @emichelle @siriusxxvideos @i-bloody-love-drake-walker @samihatuli @choices-lurker @i-miss-trr @drxkewalker @nikkis1983 @innerpostmentality @msjr0119 @bascmve01 @mind-reader1 @edgiestwinter @drakesensworld @queenjilian @princessleac1 @saivilo @yukinagato2012 ♥

“Hey, can you please pass the charger?”

Dani looked up from her bed and wordlessly threw the charger at her sister.

“Thanks.”

“Are you going to call Drake?” She asked but already knew the answer. It had been a few weeks since Riley moved out from Drake’s cabin and moved into Dani’s hotel room. She said she talked with Drake but decided it was better for them to stay separate. She still visited him when it was his turn with Bartie.

“Nah, I’m just looking at furniture for my restaurant.”

“Riley...”

“Please, Dani, stop. I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Ri, it’s been weeks. You’ve seen the lab results, Drake didn’t do anything wrong, he was tricked!”

“I know. And this is why I shouldn’t be with him.”

“That makes no sense.” Dani shook her head.

Riley swallowed hard before blurting out, “we both will be safer that way.”

Dani turned to her and sat down on the bed. “What do you mean?”

“I mean... It’s better for us if we’re not together.”

“But--”

“I tried to love my parents but they didn’t care about me. I loved my grandma and she left me. I... liked Drake and he got drugged. I just... I need to accept the fact that I should be alone.”

“This is nonsense! Riley, people--”

“Dani, please. I made my decision. I just wish Drake would hate me already. It’d be easier for us.” She said quietly. Drake tried to talk to her, call her but she wouldn’t answer back. She expected him to give up but he never did. Never... until this week. It was Thursday and he hadn’t called for the whole week. Riley wasn’t sure if what she felt was a relief or a hearbreak.

Dani shook her head. She loved her sister but couldn’t understand her. The only thing she knew was that she couldn’t fix her sister’s relationship. She had to do it herself.

Dani had been meeting up with Liam for the past few weeks, trying to figure out the way to bring Drake and Riley together but nothing seemed to work. Nothing because Riley was too stubborn.

She looked at her phone and read a message from Liam.

“You’re smiling like an idiot. Is it Liam?” Riley asked and Dani looked at her sister innocently.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I need to go though. And I might pick up some coffee to wake me up,” she added.

“What’s up with you and coffee? You always hated it!”

“I never hated it, it just always made me feel like I was having a heart attack. But I’ve been so tired recently that coffee is the only thing that keeps me awake.”

“Man, you must be pretty stressed,” Riley murmured and went back to scrolling.

“Yeah, well, my sister is now living with me because she had an argument with her husband, my brother-in-law was drugged and my father is sending me to law school. I guess I am pretty stressed,” she answered and her eyes widened in horror. “I’m sorry I didn’t mean to sound so passive aggressive. I’m just really tired.”

“It’s okay. I didn’t know about the law school. Why did you agree? You hate law!”

“Do you remember the last time I tried to disagree with father? This is why.”

“Dani... Maybe you should talk to him. And stop caring so much about everything. It only makes you sick!”

“Someone has to care,” Dani replied and. Riley sighed.

“You know... Not everything that’s weighing you down is yours to carry.”

Dani looked at her, surprised, but Riley was already focused on her phone. She shook her head and left the room.

~~~~

“I talked to Drake, he’s ready to give up,” Liam told Dani as they were drinking coffee. “He’s tired of not knowing why Riley is acting the way she is acting.”

“I know, I’d be pretty frustrated too. But he can’t give up. Riley... is a mess. She has many issues she needs to figure out but I’m sure she’ll finally realize she wants to be with Drake.”

Liam sighed, “I just hope it won’t be too late.”

He took empty mugs and put them back on the drawer. Dani walked up to Liam’s desk and looked at his laptop.

“Is that the footage from Savannah and Betrand’s disappearance?” she asked and chucked when Liam raised an eyebrow. “Riley told me everything.”

“Yes. The first one is what our police found and the second one was lost but Madeleine’s detective found it and she gave it to us.”

“Madeleine, huh. And it’s not fake?” Dani asked as she watched the two videos carefully.

“Nope. The footage is legit. No editing, no photoshop, no--”

“NAILS!”

“No nails?” Liam asked. “No, that’s not what I meant.”

“No! I mean, look!” Dani took Liam’s hand and paused the video. “The first footage, they go in. Look at her nails,” she zoomed in a little. “Perfect manicure. Love the color though. I wish my father let me wear dark polish too.”

“Okay, manicure. What about it?”

“Look at the second video, the one taken an hour later. She has pretty much no polish on! Either her nails grow extremely fast or she chipped it or...”

“Or?”

“Or the video was taken much later. Like, about three, four weeks later. Which would kinda explain why both of them look a bit stiff.”

Liam swallowed hard as he felt dizzy. He sat down and looked at Dani. “How did you even notice that?”

“I work in a bank, remember? Noticing the details is a part of my job. Plus, I’m kinda obsessed with dark manicure.”

“You’re wonderful, you know that?” Liam asked before realized he said it out loud. Dani blushed.

“Yes, well, umm, so that means... they were kept somewhere. And are alive. Or at least were so the video could have been taken.”

“Seems like it,” Dani nodded.

“And if you say her manicure was around a month old, it’s the time between us finding out they are gone and Drake’s outburst at Madeleine in the court.”

Dani’s face lit up. “That’d make perfect sense, she recorded the video so Drake would stop suspecting they’re still in Karlington!”

“I need to call Drake.”

“And I’ll call Riley!”

A whole thirty minutes later, Drake was watching the footage with his fists clenched and anger written all over his face. Riley was seated in the other corner of the room, comparing pictures of Savannah’s hand that Liam quickly printed.

“I hate them. I HATE THEM!” Drake hit the table, spilling the tea from his mug. “I’m gonna make them pay for what they did to my sister. THIS BI--”

“Drake!” Liam raised his voice. “Please. I know you’re angry but--”

“Angry? Just angry? I am furious and I’m going to show this little spoiled brat what--”

“Drake! She can’t know we know or everything will get lost,” Liam explained and Drake sat down, breathing heavily. “We need more evidence. Her manicure is not really gonna be enough,” Dani added, offering him a fresh cup of tea.

“So what, I’m supposed to sit and do nothing?”

“Not nothing, just acting as if everything is normal so we can gather more evidence.”

“I can’t do that, my sister might still be alive and she’s in danger!”

“Oh my gosh, Drake, just sit your ass down and stop making a bigger mess!” Riley yelled, stunning everyone.

“Why are you so mad? What do you want from me?!” Drake asked, raising his voice Dani flinched.

“A divorce,” she answered, quietly this time.

“Great then, because that’s exactly what I want too. Who needs a wife who doesn’t even care about her husband being drugged. Liam, divorce us now.”

Liam’s eyes widened and he looked at Dani who only shook her head ‘no’.

“I-I can’t can’t,” he said and Dani showed him a thumb up.

“What do you mean you can’t? You said you’d annul our marriage!” Riley inquired.

Liam looked at Dani again, panicking, and Dani started showing him some strange gestures. He shook his head to let her know he didn’t understand but Riley noticed that and looked at her sister as well. Dani quickly stopped gesturing and looked up at the ceiling, pretending to be admiring it.

“Because... a new law has just been introduced!” Liam lied and nodded his head as if to make it more believeable. Riley narrowed her eyes.

“New law? About divorce?” Drake asked, confused.

“Yes, new divorce law. It says that the couple has to be married for at least a year before annuling their marriage. Sorry guys, my hands were tied.”

“Aren’t you the King?” Riley asked.

“Umm, yes but... but...”

“The referendum!” Dani cut in. “Liam couldn’t do much, the nobles voted him out!”

“Exactly!” Liam nodded.

Drake looked puzzled and Riley was looking between Liam and Dani.

“Right,” she said. “Anyway, I gotta go. Let me know if you find out something!”

“The in-depth analysis of the footage should be tomorrow,” Liam told her and she nodded in understanding before leaving.

“Well, I should be going too,” Drake said and started heading out.

“She still cares a lot about you, you know,” Dani said and Drake turned to her. He looked conflicted.

“It doesn’t matter now, does it?”

“You two will be fine, I know it. Just give her time, please,” she asked and Drake nodded slowly, before exiting the office.

“That was close,” Liam whispered after a few minutes of silence.

“Too close. But good thinking with the new law!”

“Good thinking with the referendum! We make a good team, don’t we?” he smiled softly at her and she retured the gesture. He felt his heart skipping a beat a little.

Stop it. It’s not gonna happen, stop hoping for it like an idiot.

~~~~

“Are you sure you really can’t go?” Riley asked her sister for the tenth time that day.

“Yes, I’m sorry. I feel too sick,” Dani rasped. She was lying in her bed, feeling miserable.

“And this is not just an excuse so I’ll be there with Drake?” Riley raised an eyerbow.

“Liam will be there as well. I wanted to come, I promise. I just feel terrible.”

“Well... Okay. Feel better soon, then,” Riley hugged her sister and headed out, leaving Dani alone.

Dani groaned as she buried her face in the pillow. She was lying for a few hours, mindlessly watching funny videos of dogs online when someone knocked on the door.

“Come in,” she answered, assuming it was either Riley or her parents.

“Hi.”

She sat straight immediately after hearing his voice. Seeing Liam there, in her hotel room, while being in her pajamas, was the last thing she expected to happen that day.

“Hey! What are you doing here?” she asked, trying to cover herself with the comforter. Despite the fact that Liam had seen her naked before, she still felt weird about him seeing her like that.

“Riley told me you are sick so... I wanted to check on you,” he smiled at her sheepishly. “I also brought soup that my mom used to make for me and it always made me feel better.”

“Thank you, that’s so... thoughtful,” she smiled at him, trying to swallow a giant lump that was formed in her throat. There was a King in her hotel room. A King who just brought her a soup because she felt sick. And she was in her pajamas that had little Mickey mouse faces all over it.

While Dani was internally panicking, Liam took out the jar with the soup and heated it a little in the microwave.

“Be careful, it’s hot,” he warned her as she took the jar from his hands. He sat down next to her when she was eating the soup and filled her with everything he found out after the analysis. It felt almost strange. Nice but... strange. It felt cozy. It felt home. It felt dangerously good and Dani was scared.

At some point, Dani finished the soup and lay down for a bit and Liam joined her. They were lying on her bed together, on two different sides on her small bed, both silently looking at the ceiling, their index fingers intertwined.

No words were exchanged but the silence still felt good. And if only they could hear each other’s thoughts, they’d be surprised at how similar there were.

I know I’m not perfect, I know I made a lot of mistakes but please, let me stay in Cordonia with him. Let something happen so I can stay here with him. Give me a sign, anything. I can’t imagine not being here.

I’m so ungrateful, I know. I know I shouldn’t be asking for this but please. Please, make something happen so that she stays here. Anything so that we could be together. I know I probably don’t deserve this but I’ll do everything to make her happy. I can’t imagine being without her.

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