#I actually never studied art but this is fun so I might start looking up on how to art...

[kohhomaru]

... brat.

#pov: he saw your ankle #pov: he read your fluff/smut #that hand will slap you #hes a cutie patootie #not a feral guy #digital art #sketch #artwork #anime and manga #jjk #jjk fanart #jjk sukuna #jujutsu sukuna #sukuna ryomen #ryomen sukuna #shoujo #sukuna #y/n #jujutsu kaisen fan art #jujutsu kaisen #hes a silly little guy #jujutsu kaisen fanart #jujutsu kaisen sukuna #jujustsu kaisen x reader #I actually never studied art but this is fun so I might start looking up on how to art...

[nr1chaedickrider]

???

i got this idea MONTHS ago, i got finally motivation to continue this small drabble, read on your own risk, toxic!namochaeng (chae is kinda the nice one in this?), innocent!reader, idk if what happens here is 100% consentual, thigh riding, exhibitionism,use of drugs (im not an expert on this topic so dont cry if this is unrealistic) stay away from drugs pookies and also maybe this is the only time ill write something like this idk idk! im experimenting with my writing style

It was stupid, it is stupid.

Maybe you're just stupid for listening to Chaeyoung when she said "Come visit us in our apartment, I got something we can use. Unless you're scared."

And actually, the goal was just to make new friends at the university, but you didn't think you'd be standing in front of the door of an apartment that's quite far away from the university. A pungent smell hits your nose and you frown. Should you really be here? Was it really a good idea to be standing in front of an old apartment at 11 pm where three women you hardly know live?

But you can no longer think about it as Nayeon opens the door for you, a grin on her lips.

She yells through the apartment,

"Chaeyoung! She really came!" Nayeon lets out a giggle, the only thing you can make out is Momo in the background, you think that's her name, giving Chaeyoung $20.

"We made a bet, looks like she's about $40 richer now," Nayeon says, pulling you inside before slamming the door. She runs to Chaeyoung and gives her $20 too, you think you've never seen her so happy.

"Do you want to join us too? Or would you rather stand there?" she says and laughs, Momo laughs too, Nayeon takes a sip from her beer. You shake your head and walk over to Chaeyoung and sit down on the floor. Now it really hits you.

A joint, four lines of cocaine, and a few cans of beer are on the table.

"Oh," is your only reaction as you stare at the substances.

"I'm Momo, we're not in the same class but I study sports," she says, an actually nice smile on her lips.

"You already know Nayeon, you two have English together right?" Chaeyoung asks, you nod and Nayeon immediately starts laughing out loud.

"Don't be shy dear..." she holds the joint to her lips and slowly takes a drag, she exhales and a small cloud of smoke forms. She looks at you and holds the joint out for you to take a drag.

"Ehm... I-"

"Are you telling me you've never smoked a joint before?" Chaeyoung asks as she looks at you both, Momo just quietly sips her beer. You nod and look at the floor, Chaeyoung laughs a little, but then pulls you onto her lap and takes the joint.

"I can show you," she says, and at that moment it feels like she's the normal nice girl from your art class who you might have a little crush on. You nod.

"I'm going to take a drag and blow the smoke towards you, you inhale it, okay?" You nod again.

You watch as her plump lips touch the joint, she takes a puff, and as announced, she blows it towards you, you inhale it and cough, Nayeon pats your back to help, Momo comes closer.

Only now do you realize what the situation is actually like, you on Chaeyoung's lap, on her bare legs because she's only wearing shorts, Nayeon so close to your right, Momo to your left. You feel yourself blush and everyone starts laughing at the sight of you being so confused.

"Try it yourself now..." Chaeyoung says and hands you the joint, you look at her, then at the small joint between your fingers.

"I don't know..." you say and look away, Nayeon grabs your chin, but somehow so gently. She lifts it up so that you're forced to look atleast to one of them. Your eyes fall on Chaeyoung. Nayeon comes closer and whispers in your ear,

"You don't want to let us down, do you? We're your friends." she whispers, but loud enough for Momo and Chaeyoung to hear, both grinning and nodding.

"She's right, we don't want anything bad for you, a little fun never hurt anyone" Momo says, you look to the cocaine on the coffee table.

"What about this...?" you ask, Chaeyoung laughs.

"I don't know if we'll get to that today" she says, you nod slowly.

You take the joint between your fingers and bring it to your lips, slowly taking a drag, your eyes water slightly and you have to start coughing as little puffs of smoke come out. Nayeon caresses your back, Chaeyoung your thighs, her cold hands on your warm body sends a shiver down your spine.

"Well done," she says, you feel yourself getting a little dizzy, but you try to ignore it.

"See, it wasn't that hard," says Momo, taking the joint out of your hand as she takes the last puff.

You suddenly feel a finger on your skirt, you look at Chaeyoung and see her smile, again the one she usually only showed in class when you were working together. You smile slightly too as you relax (you're not sure though if its because of the smoking or because you feel safe..),

Nayeon's hands are on your waist, she moves you back and forth on Chaeyoung's lap, you hold a hand in front of your mouth to keep your voice down, Momo starts kissing your neck, her lips moist and soft.

"Don't hide your moans, pretty girl.." Chaeyoung says, taking your hand away, she lets you hold it as she tenses up her thigh, adding extra stimulation.

Momo's hands move down to play with your tits through your thin shirt, your nipples getting hard immideatly, making Momo let out a breathy chuckle.

Nayeon keeps her attention to rocking your hips back and forth on Chaeyoung's thigh.

"You're doing so good" Chaeyoung says as she watches you, the praise making your head even fuzzier than it already is.

You feel your body going a little limp, hoping that is normal while smoking. You moan quietly while holding onto Chaeyoung's hand, your body twitching when your clit hits her thigh in a certain angle.

"Are you close baby?" Nayeon asks, you nod as your grip on Chaeyoung's hand gets tighter, making her giggle a little. Nayeon begins to move you faster, like a little toy with no ability to move on its own.

You bite your lower lip as your moans get louder and you feel yourself getting closer, Momo praising you as she pinches your nipple and kisses your neck, biting it a little to leave marks.

"I'm-" you start saying uncohorent things as you cum onto Chaeyoung's thigh. Twitching and gripping her hand until you slowly stop moving and fall down on her chest, passing out immideatly.

"We should've been friends earlier.." she says and the other girls agree with a smirk, looking at the untouched cocaine.

#wlw #twice imagines #twice smut #twice x reader #girl group smut #twice ff #namochaeng #nayeon smut #momo smut #chaeyoung smut #dark content #feeling silly #twice drabble

[benkyoutobentou]

Beginner Manga Recommendations for Japanese Learners

It's time, you've done your due diligence in studying. Now it's time to jump into native material. But where to start? Here are a few manga series that I've read that I think would be a reasonable place for a Japanese learner to start their immersion journey.

Disclaimer: I haven't read every series, and the manga that's interesting to me might not be interesting to you. We also all encounter different words as we go along our language learning journeys. A series that I find relatively easy might have you looking up every other word. The trick is to not get discouraged and just keep on pushing through! As with everything, it gets easier the more you practice.

消えた初恋 - アルコ＆ひねくれ渡: This BL series follows a group of four friends and their experiences with love in high school (it also has a drama adaptation that I highly recommend! Available to watch for free on Viki). This series is so silly and just a fun time. The art has great visual gags and it's definitely a series where you can sit down and not even realize that suddenly you've gone through an entire volume and why didn't you buy more of this series to start with? It has furigana on everything, but the characters do speak pretty casually, so there's some slang and less standard language. This series is completed with nine volumes.

佐々木と宮野 - 春園ショウ: This is another sweet BL about Miyano, a high school first year, who catches the eye of an upperclassman, Sasaki. After asking to borrow Miyano's book, the two bond over a shared enjoyment of BL manga. The vocabulary is pretty simple in this one as well, but it does use quite a bit of otaku slang, which can be difficult if you've never encountered it before. It has furigana on everything, though! This series is ongoing with nine volumes and also has a spin off series titled 平野と鍵浦 which is also ongoing with four volumes.

月刊少女野崎くん - 椿いづみ: The first manga I ever read in Japanese! This series follows a high schooler, Sakura, as she confesses to her crush and classmate, Nozaki. However, Nozaki thinks that Sakura is just a fan of his shoujo manga series, and recruits her to be his assistant. This series is so enjoyably silly with a wonderful cast of characters that absolutely steal the show. There's a bit of vocabulary specific to the process of making manga, but it isn't too overwhelming. There's also plenty of casual speech and some great moments that can't quite come out in translation (bonus fact: I actually wrote a paper on this series and how humor is translated in one of my university linguistics class). It also has furigana on everything. It's ongoing with fifteen volumes.

加瀬さんシリーズ - 高嶋ひろみ: This adorable little GL series follows two high school aged girls, popular and athletic Kase and the shy gardener Yamada, as their relationship develops over their high school years. The vocabulary in this one is relatively simple with the exception of some more specific words, but those tend to pop up time and time again. This one doesn't have furigana but I think it's a great introduction to readying manga without furigana! This series is completed with five volumes, but there's an ongoing sequel series called　山田と加瀬さん that currently has three volumes released.

ささやくように恋を唄う - 竹嶋えく: This is a music based GL series about a high school first year, Kino, who tells an upperclassman, Nagi, that she loves her music. Nagi, however, misunderstands this as Kino confessing her love for her. The story follows both the relationship between Kino and Nagi as well as the trials and tribulations of Nagi's band. This is another one without furigana, but the vocabulary tends to be simple enough that I think it's still pretty accessible. It's ongoing with eight current volumes.

かけた月とドーナッツ - 雨水汐: Our last GL, this follows two coworkers, Uno and Satou, and their blossoming relationship in a society that pushes conformity and marriage on women. I really loved the way this series depicted coming into one's sexuality as an adult. Another one without furigana, but simple vocabulary regardless. A possible difficulty with this one might be the office vocabulary, though. This series is completed with four volumes.

#on one hand i feel like gls tend to be easier than bls but on the other hand i dont think i have any gls with furigana whereas i do with bl #things to think about things to think about....... #disclaimer i have not read any of hirano and kagiura #benkyou posting #langblr #language learning #studyblr #polyglot #japanese #日本語 #manga #studyinspo #studying #languages #i think im actually feeling the urge to jump back in to sasamiya...... #but no... i shant. #not until the new year #i have too much to finish before then

[eldstunga]

Hi! I really love your art! The lines are so bold but the colours so natural that it feels distinct but grounded?? I'm obsessed with the shapes in your work

I was wondering if you had any advice for drawing bodies? Whenever I try it either my proportions are off or an arm ends up looking like a calf or something.

First of all, thank you <3 That's so nice and I think "lines bold, colours natural" is some truly aspirational words to say about my art, I'll strive to be what you say I am <3 I do not, unfortunately, have any great tips on drawing bodies - it's a very wide topic and fundamentally just really bloody hard. I fail horribly 9 times out of 10. How to approach it I think varies a lot with like...HOW you are struggling, and who you are as a person. For proportions and anatomy there are definitely books to look at, and some rules of thumb that can help you - anything from "the shoulders are about 2.5-3 heads wide" through "feet are the same length as the forearm", "elbows are in line with the navel and the navel is two sternums down" etc etc. For me, realising just how big the ribcage actually is and learning how to use that as a unit of measure was a big event (the torso is about two ribcages long). Look at references, Draw over low opacity references and try to look for patterns that help YOU. Like... "Hm, do the shoulders line up with something useful?"

Having a good ref model to double check things helps too. The pen is pointing to about the bottom of the ribcage. But there's also stuff like maybe you're getting too hung up on construction and then it might help more to try to draw from references by ONLY blocking in a silhouette first. This helps me sometimes still:

Or you could be like me, struggle with all of the above and then some - like how to make poses look natural and/or dynamic? Weight distribution is a whole other topic.. gah, it never ends, but it's fun to learn.

Lastly, this took me way too long to realise and I think it should be said: Do not fret too much about STUDYING. The unfair thing is that the better you are at something, the better you will be at actually learning from doing studies and exercises or reading books. We accept this with many other disciplines and sports but rarely art. Mileage is king, and mileage is best gained from having fun and enjoying what you do. If you find studies suffering and frustrating you're probably better off just drawing what you enjoy and fuck it if it isn't "pushing your boundaries" or whatever. Eventually you'll get to the point where studies start to give more than they take, and then you're home free. I'm not gonna recommend a billion resources you likely won't enjoy but here are some things I genuinely found helpful lately: * a physical anatomy model, they're pricy and not necessary but being able to just look at it every now and then, turn it over etc helps. * The "Morpho" series of books, they do not teach anatomy, but they are very useful quick reference books and much more easily digested than most anatomy material. Just try to find a real anatomy book to read once your appetite is up as well.

The zig-zag/Lightning bolt method for arms and legs, fuckin' thing revolutionised how I sketch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCkmB030GpQ

Gottfried Bammes "The Complete guide to Anatomy for Artists and Illustrators" This thing is insane, it's from the 50's and like 600 pages long. You could absolutely kill someone with it, but a lot of the pages are more philosophical or art history you can skip and despite its age and fear factor this dude writes in a witty, clever and just wonderful way that I've seen nowhere else. Fantastic photos. By far, FAR the best anatomy book I've ever seen. It's not a book I'd recommend for someone starting out, I would not have been able to digest it like four years ago, but once you get to a certain point it's amazing.

That's a lot, uhhh, feel free to ask me for more specific tips this was a bit of a rant. Hope some of it was useful!

#art tips #.txt #asks #sorry its such a wide topic I dunno where to start

[goron-king-darunia]

Eggtober 6th 2023

"Splat" or "Fun with Colors": Raw Egg.

(Clip Studio Paint, Gouache Brush, Pencil brush for details and highlights. 12 colors, I think? 1 Hour.) I actually really liked the rough version I made, so you're gonna get that one at the end as well, for anyone who also likes the rough one better than the smooth one.

But first... I finally discovered a feature of CSP, so now I am unstoppable and I will NEVER AGAIN have to ask myself "How the fuck did I do that?"

Because now I have EVIDENCE. Now curious friends, followers, and my forgetful ass, can watch the full process of how I made a thing. Including what references I used so it's clear how much is iterative and how much I am drawing directly from the visual reference. Today I had to do a lot from imagination because I couldn't find an exaggerated splashy egg, but sometimes I really am just making a study and trying to do a one-to-one recreation of a reference. So now y'all get to know all my filthy little secrets. I was intending to grab footage starting with Eggtober 1, 2023 but OBS needs a version of an NVIDIA driver that will absolutely wreck my computer with BSODs because I own a junker apparently. But it turns out CSP (or at least V2, IDK if it was in V1) has a way to capture a speedpaint natively when you create the file.

Now I am unstoppable, powerful. No more taking a break from art when life gets busy and coming back to pieces I drew 10 years ago and wondering "How the hell did I manage that?" I can just check. It's over for all of you. Once I practice anatomy again and start being able to draw shapes and volumes perfectly from imagination, I will become all-powerful. I will ascend. Hell, maybe someone might even pay me if I learn to draw anything that isn't an egg or a meme. XD Radical self-confidence, baby. I can art now, and I have evidence. My horizons are infinite!

And now, hopefully, any baby artists that are just starting out can get an idea of how I do it from this and future pieces so I can pull you all up with me in a bid of apotheosis. For the EGGsthetic! (Aesthetic.)

I wonder which version of this egg @lady-quen's breadbugs will snap up?

And I wonder which one @quezify will like best? My money's on the sketchy one.

I can't tell which I like better honestly. The smooth one us much more "My aesthetic" because it matches how I render eggs but... The rough pencil-y gouache lines you get with light pressure really remind me of how the classic modern quezify eggs look, and I of course only started doing eggs because of the first Eggtober so, like. On the one hand, smooth and painterly look that goes with all but one of my previous eggs (Eggtober 1, 2023 was a study from memory of quezify's style, after all). But on the other hand... dramatic color changes! Textrure, shine! Colors that aren't in the actual references! EXPRESSIVENESS. Two different moods on the same egg art and I really dig both of them honestly.

#Eggtober 6 2023 #Eggtober 2023 #my art #art by GKD #Raw egg #style experiment #speedpaint

[raul-volp2]

Tabletop rpgs are a interesting case when it comes to game, not only it's a very social and open form of game but because it's also the most difficult game (tabletop or digital) for people to actually play it.

By nature a tabletop rpg require effort, time and a sizable group of friends. Digital games most of time requires only a single player to boot the game, if it's multiplayer you usually can play with random people online. Tabletop games requires a little more effort reading the rules, setting up the game and having people to play it (there is also solo games), but when compared to ttrpgs the reading is a lot smaller and even the players needed depending of the game is very small than a optimal group size for a ttrpg.

But the biggest effort that ttrpg requires is time, you and your players have to commit to a campaign that even if it's short can spam multiple weeks to finish, and being adults in this capitalist hellscape having time to join with friends to play for 2-4 hours is kinda rare.

But Im not saying this as something bad, while it requires effort ttrpg is a beautiful and unique experience, where players join together to immerse themselves in a world and have fun with the game. But looking this as a game designer I started to see a big risk of developing a ttrpg, and the risk is that there is great possibility that our game even if it's bought by people might never be used in a single session.

People are afraid to change, to try something new, and this include games, that's one of the reasons Dungeons and Dragons dominate the scene, they use this attachment people have with things and products very well, and people see the idea of play another game as a risk, they dont want to risk using their rare ttrpg time to play something new and be unsatisfatisfied, and that's makes sense. Even group of players that plays multiple ttrpgs have difficult to play all the their library because while they are able to play multiple campaigns, it's very difficult to play all the games that are releasing.

So rambling all this my conclusion is that a ttrpg game designer need to have in mind that they are making a game, and try to make a good one please, but also have in mind that a lot people will read their book as a book, they will have fun reading the lore, studying the rules, imagining the sessions they might play but actually never play it, and I am starting to realize that this is ok. But even being ok having a game no one will play even if they get the book and enjoy the reading, another skills that is part of a ttrpg writer and designer that I see most people not paying attention to it, is that the book have not only the job of explain the rules and present the world, but to convince the reader that the game they are reading is something they want to play.

Saying this sounds obvious, because in part we all must know that, but it's usually a skill that a lot of designers don't pay too much attention, and not only designers, look at Mork Borg, it is a OSR rpg like many others, but the book with it's unique layout, art style and writting does a amazing job to convince you to play. Same with Blades in the Dark, John Harper does an amazing job showing great examples of play when explaining the rules, showing the possibility of many cool things you can do in the game. This is not something easy to do, and ttrpg designers have to deal with so many things already, and specially indie ones, but it is something necessary.

All games have voices, and we need to find the voice of our games and make them speak and convince the readers and players that our games is something they want to play it... but also knowing that it's ok if in the end our games end up being just a good reading with cool art on it.

This might feel very confuse and wrong, I work mostly with game art and my game design methods are very confusing and my game (City Noire) will probably fly very unnoticed, so don't pay attention if you feel im talking nonsense.

Thank you.

Raul.

#rpg #roleplaying game #ttrpg #tabletop rpg

[wannaeatramyeon]

Hi, there it's so great to find an amazing writer who enjoys Lookism so much! Please keep at it, your HC's are so much fun to read! If it's not too much to ask for the boys like Gun, Samuel, and Vasco with s/o who is a foreign girl, a very capable fighter, and honorable in combat but outside the fight she is quite self-conscious and a bit naive.

Not me reading the first part of this and thinking you're being sarcastic af lol

Thanks for being so kind anon :') I'm glad you're enjoying it, I have SO much fun writing them and putting my stupidity out! Thanks for the ask! I had a little difficulty writing it.... this really isn't very good but hope this hits the spot.

Lookism with non S. Korean S/O

You're from somewhere vague and overseas. Scenario with your partner (Gun, Samuel, Vasco, Jake)

Gun

Your boyfriend was asking you to fight yet again. You're getting pretty tired of it.

You only moved to South Korea not too long ago and ever since he discovered you picked up your skills from overseas, all he makes you do is fight him. And he doesn't go easy on you.

What happened to dates? What happened to romance?

You thought your boyfriend was growing colder towards you, now always in his own head or just studying martial arts.

"...Gun?"

He peers at you over the top of his sunglasses. Your words are hard to say aloud.

"Do you ... do you not want to be with me anymore?"

"What makes you think that?"

"All we do is fight... Literally! I can't remember the last time you even asked me for anything else."

He pulls you into his arms, "You're actually challenging me. Do you know how rare that is? I'm more turned on than ever."

Samuel

You transferred from overseas after helping source partners to help grow Workers into the behemoth it is today.

Back in your field days, there wasn't anything that couldn't be solved with some violence, but your morals and fairness made you stand out amongst would-be enemies.

Even with the 3rd and 4th Affiliate President as your boyfriend, no one could deny your competence or throw around accusation of nepotism.

But you still had to get your head around the working culture in this country.

"Sammy, do I really have to call you Mr. Seo in the office?"

"Yes."

"Isn't that a bit weird? People have seen us together."

"No, I'm your boss. You need to show respect and address me properly here."

"Oh... Do you actually not want anyone to know I'm your girlfriend?"

Samuel pinches the bridge of his nose, can't quite believing he's going to give in on this.

"Fine. You can call me Samuel,"

"What about-"

"Not Sam. Not Sammy. Samuel."

Vasco

You had agreed to meet in the park for a date with Vasco.

The first time you kissed him, he nearly jumped out of his skin claiming that wasn't how dating worked in South Korea. You found out later it was just his eccentricities.

Vasco texted you that he was running late when a group of guys start harassing you.

You threaten to call the police, but when they put their hands on you, you weren't left with many options.

"Y/N?!" Your boyfriend was staring at you in shock.

"No! Euntae, I didn't want you to see me like this!" you hide your bloodied fist from him.

"What! That was amazing!"

"Thank? you?"His compliment made you blush, you knew it wasn't what 'ladies' do but he liked it?

"Y/N! I thought people only had street fights in South Korea! Do they fight overseas too?"

Jake

You think this might be the first time Jake treated you to a meal. A job well done, he had said after you beat up some thugs who were harassing the girls.

Jake's often running off to god knows where to get god knows what done, leaving you to look after the street.

Is this the supposed Girlfriend Privileges? You having to fight in his stead? You reckon you're getting the short end of the stick.

You stare at the violently red pot of stew in front of you, with some unidentified vegetables floating around

"Jake...? What is this?"

"Oh! You've never tried many Korean dishes, right! It's kimchi stew, my favourite. Here." He spoons some into a bowl for you.

With your boyfriend's loving gaze on you, you had no choice but to take a sip.

"ACK!" you spit it out immediately and grab your glass of water to wash the vileness out of your mouth

Jake rolls his eyes at you, "You've got no taste" and takes his own mouthful.

"I know, I'm with you."

#this is so badly written im so sorry #lookism #lookism headcanons #lookism hc #lookism x reader #lookism fic #lookism fanfic #gun park #gun park x reader #vasco #vasco x reader #samuel seo #samuel seo x reader #jake kim #jake kim x reader #wannaeatramyeon

[beekeeperspicnic]

What I've been getting up to without my computer

Since I don't have any game updates at the moment I thought I'd give you a look at my very analogue Sherlock Holmes related project!

As you probably know, the Sherlock Holmes stories were mostly originally published in the Strand Magazine which came out as floppy monthly magazines with hardback collections every six months.

A while ago I spotted a really beaten up copy of the July to December 1893 book on eBay for £8. This book can sometimes go for £200 in good condition because it's the one with...

I immediately decided to make repairing it a Project!

You can see here that the text block has totally come away from the boards.

Along the spine I was really excited to see something a little familiar being used to give some structural support! My initial thought was that this had to be a slice of a cover of one of the floppy Strand magazines.

But when I got it loose and studied it, although the paper and ink colour is the same, it doesn't actually follow the layout format of the Strand covers. It's lots of little ads, and they run off the bottom like this is part of a larger document.

Scrap of paper on left, a Strand Magazine on the right:

So yeah, that's still a bit of a mystery, but it's cool to see this scrap of paper the printers had lying around. I had to remove it, but I'm going to keep it safe.

I did some gentle cleaning of the cover using a putty eraser, just gently pressing and rolling, never rubbing. It picked up a little of the grime.

The cover had got some paint splotches on at some point in the past, and I tried to gently remove these. Part of me wishes I'd left them as I think I was starting to effect the blue colour in the area.

(Original on the right, my attempt at cleaning on the left!)

I also reinforced some of the parts of the bookcloth around the spine that were very worn with Japanese tissue, which is very thin but very, very difficult to tear.

Now here's a fun part, with some help from my cat Miss Malkin!

The spine of the book had a few problems.

The fabric which wraps around it and helps attach it to the cover/boards which is called scrim (or mull, I've seen it called both!) had totally decayed and turned into gross dust, I knew I'd need to replace it.

Although the sewn binding was sound, I could tell that the glue wasn't doing its job anymore. It was old 'animal glue' that had turned hard and brittle. I knew I'd need to replace it with something else, like PVA.

I needed to get that glue off, so I tried out a trick I saw online. I made a paste/gel out of methycellulose, which is a substance that gets used as a thickener in lots of food products. Of course I keep mine in a fancy little jar:

The gel softens the old glue without getting it dangerously damp, allowing you to gently scrape it away. I have a really satisfying video of me doing it, but Tumblr only lets you upload one video per post, boo.

Look at all this gnarly gunk!

But look at how good the text block looks with its new scrim and glue!

I got the black paper from Shepherd's in London which is a specialist Art & Conservation Paper shop (they have a book bindery too but it's closed at the weekends.) Buying it was so fun, I got to look through lots of samples and pick something which matched the original paper.

I then had to get it home half way across the country on public transport. Yaaaaay.

I was trying to think what I was going to use to replace the Strand Magazine page on the spine. In the end I decided to leave a little note, for some future person who might take the binding apart someday!

So, here it is!

I have to admit that this whole project has been a real challenge, emotionally more than anything! It's required me to be brave about messing with an old book, and to acknowledge that even where I've made mistakes, at least it's better off then it was when It arrived at my house.

#strand magazine #book restoration #bookbinding #old books #vintage books #history

[theplottdump]

Any tips for making a legacy, for lack of a better term, weirder? I've worked pretty much every occult possible into the family tree but I feel like I get too focused on just maintaining needs and normal daily family life for them, especially since I prefer to keep everyone more or less happy (i.e. no tragic early deaths). The most exciting things I've really done are turn one sim into a Global Superstar and marry off another one to the Grim Reaper, and sometimes I pause aging for a bit to spend more time on certain plots. Your legacy is obviously pretty wild so I wondered how you go about coming up with ideas like Michael Bublé Christmas Getaways and Charlie's Angels Spy Squads haha

This is a great question!! Let me see if I can dig up a good enough answer for it 😂

And I'll include pictures to break up the massive wall of text.

The reason Gens 1-3 are barely mentioned on here is because in reality there wasn't really anything interesting that happened in them. I wanted to hide away from the stress of a worldwide pandemic and watch my sims garden for a while. No real rules, just something to relax.

Gen 4 was a slight departure since I was getting a little tired of my sims doing the same thing over and over, and I decided to do the opposite and move them to a penthouse in the city as a refreshing change.

And as I started playing with more gameplay mods that added extra moodlets- the chance of hysterical death rose exponentially. My Gen 4 heir died when my Gen 5 heir, Hinoki was just a kid. So I decided to keep him around as a ghost while my Gen 3 heir worked on grinding out the ingredients for Ambrosia and Reed (Gen 4) continued to follow his political aspirations to become the first Ghost President of Simerica.

And this is where we find the nexus point of weird. And here's the biggest (not so secret) secret to it. The beginning of Gen 5 is when I started actually sharing my gameplay.

Not publicly, but with a small group of friends and simmers on a discord, like I've mentioned before here. Suddenly I wasn't just playing for myself, I was very slowly starting to play to make my friends laugh- to see how they reacted whenever I would leave little updates. And I found I really enjoyed that!

I started contriving little scenarios- what if Hinoki slept with her husband's band mate and had a secret child. And then someone would pop in and say she might have to run away for a while to Tartosa to have a baby. This independent toddler trait gives baby Val such a stink face- oh you should put him in a tiny leopard print robe to match. And it became this back and forth of - you know what would be funny?

I was started going off the rule from my friend @anotherplumbob that my first born would be the heir, so i had the fun task of figuring out how to get from point A to point B with Valerian, and what the hell point B even looked like.

We knew he was evil- he killed his dad as a toddler, and was just a full creep through his entire childhood- and so I started asking, what story do I want to tell my friends? I love romcoms, I love spy movies- what would be fun for me?

We're all influenced by our environments, the art, media, and music we consume, and that's all directly reflected into what we decide to put back out into the world.

And through exploring those characters, through playing the game, through my friends throwing the weirdest suggestions at me - what if he made a robot copy of his childhood Nanny? Okay, what mods can I use to reflect that in my gameplay? - What if he 3D printed a baby? - What if the Volcano gave them another baby? (this one is never happening shooby) - The whole thing spiraled out of control 😂

SO TDLR- How can you make your legacy weirder?

Find a community or even a couple trusted friends to bounce ideas off of. The amount of time I've spent conniving and scheming with @doctorsimcraft should honestly be studied. Write for yourself and like the 4 people you care most about. Enthusiasm is infectious. Find some good gameplay mods to add color to your gameplay- More Personality Please is an absolute game changer. Wicked Whims and Lumpinou's RPO are also fantastic additions if that's your style. Hopefully the game throws you some fun curveballs. Adversity and conflict breed interesting story - or something like that. Think about the types of stories that you would be excited to tell- really lean into your favorite tropes and themes. It's not a checklist, it's just like - I really love campy spies, I really love enemies to lovers - what do I do in game to make this happen. Find your story and let drive your gameplay- not the other way around. Or find a good balance and see what happens.

And to be honest I've very much lost that balance and fallen into a total rut of letting the story overtake the gameplay. So whenever I get too overwhelmed by my stupid large ambitions I just sit down and play and see where the game takes me.

I hope I can get back to not posing every single scene out for Gen 7 but I also love making poses, and breaking my game in every way to be able to tell the stories I want to!

It's why I'm so comically slow now. But I guess that just means we get to spend more time getting to know our characters, which I do genuinely enjoy.

I don't know if that was helpful or incredibly unhelpful- but it's what I got. Good luck! And above all have fun- in whatever shape that may take. (Hopefully it's a weird one)

xo, Anne

#mailbox #Anonymous

[adyophene]

Hello ! I just have a little question, how do we start drawing ? I want go draw but idk how to start- any suggestion ? Or, if for starting it's better to do it with tutos, any tutorial to recommend ?

Have a great day !

Oooh, this is a tough question to answer! I suppose one the best pieces of advice I have is to figure out, before anything, what you are hoping to draw. What style, what tones, what media.

I have a feeling this might get long, so I will throw the rest under a readmore.

For me, when I started taking my art a little more seriously (I never went to art school or anything) I just focused on finding both tutorials on the fundamentals, and finding tutorials that focused on the aspects of art that interested me, which were animation and cartooning!

They go hand-in-hand, after all, and you'll find you end up honing in on the tutorials that coincide with your interests! IE- I ended up doing a lot of figure, and expression drawing because they would help me express emotion and movement better! I also spent so, so long just training my hand to be a bit more confident with drawing steady lines just because I loved the look of clean line-work!

So try to identify what your personal draw towards art is! By doing both something you like, as well as focusing the basics, I found that, at least in my personal experience, it put me in a positive feedback loop where I could keep seeing results in exactly the type of art I was interested in! And, once you start to feel confident, that is when you start adding in little bits of study from fields you might struggle with! A 90/10 split on what you're comfortable with and then what is new is usually a good way to go about it! Weirdly enough, though I don't watch him, I saw that the youtuber pewdiepie actually had a really good set of videos where he started from being a complete beginner and improving his art over 100 days. I believe its an absolutely great watch for a new artist, because he really does a great job in showing what a brand new journey into art can look like, and explains what he thinks each day. I think my favorite line was, 'after 24 days, I was finally having fun' because that can really sum up the new artist experience. It will absolutely be a slog at times, and can be really disheartening, but when you start to see progress, becomes so, SO fun.

Here is the link to the first vid, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMLEudGbxQk and his second https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJDtQTTAogk

ALSO- this was just the first video that came to mind because I watched it recently. I would recommend finding other videos about people learning to draw, or doing 30-100-365 day challenge videos. As for my personal favorite channels for art tutorials (though keep in mind, I haven't watched them in a few years ;-;, I need to study again);

There were a number of others that I wish I could link as well, but I am struggling to remember them. I hope any of that is helpful. My own art journey has been very long, and non linear, and I have to say, I'm not even satisfied with my own art! Its a endless mountain to climb, but it is so worth it to do! And lastly, I want to say thank you so much for sending this ask, you've made me dig back in to artists I used to study, and made me want to really focus back in on my own improvement!

#not art

[capn-twitchery]

do you have any tips for drawing expressions? it’s one thing that I always notice about your art, I love how expressive your characters are.

thank you so much!! it really means a ton bc expressions are one of the things i've focused & worked the hardest on over the years :D ♥

which ALSO MEANS--HA, YOU ACTIVATED MY SPECIAL INTEREST TRAP CARD i am now going to talk at you all for far too long about it >:) buckle up!

prefacing this by saying i Love animation, this makes me biased as hell with where i get my sources + how i study art. anyway!

i think my biggest #1 tip is don't be afraid to get goofy with it--characters don't have to look cool and stoic all the time, they can be silly! if an expression reads better, but looks a little off-model, do it anyway! make that guy look weird!

i draw little thumbnail expressions a Lot, whether for actual art or for just fun doodling. i don't have any recent ones to hand-- but here's some from a while ago. they help a ton to figure out what works quickly without worrying about actual facial features

they also help to see if i can push an expression further, it's easier to test out weird things on a tiny round doodle and then translate that into an actual drawing later on. pushing expressions To The Limits is a really good exercise in itself!

gonna put the rest under the cut bc it's getting long & i have a lot more to say

ok this in itself is a whole topic i can go on about for hours, but i'll try to keep it semi brief--i Love considering how different characters would show emotions! how one character would express sadness, how that would be different to another, how one character would smile vs. another, stuff like that!

related, giving characters individual expression quirks. twitch's :3 mouth & lazy lidded eyes if you could see them anyway & Very Smug Eyebrows, while grace has heavy low eyebrows & sad puppy eyes & usually looks at least 10% unsure at all times. it makes every single twitch smile look slightly not genuine and makes grace look. well. you know. the quirks are really fun to think of, and it makes drawing expressions feel a lot more fun when you personalise them!!

expressions can be easier to think of when you put characters in scenarios & consider how they'd react. it can also help to think of the character Moving/talking, instead of as a static image. mini comics or just adding dialogue to art helps a lot with this, i've only just started doing it and i'm having a blast!!

ok this one is weird and hard to explain and might only be applicable to me bc i can't see images in my brain-- but i'll throw it out there just in case! lots of artists make faces in the mirror to reference their own expressions, but it's never worked for me

i Do still act stuff out in my brain & make faces irl, but instead of doing it in the mirror, i just make the expression & consider how my face is moving in Words? ok for example This Comic, last panel for twitch--i'd run through the dialogue in my head and move around how i feel like they would, and list it off in Words--raised eyebrows, closed eyes, tilted head, etc etc. then i have a framework to base the expression on! and i don't need to stare into my own face in the mirror for reference. no mirror needed at all, actually. win/win. i do this for body language too

(yes this makes you look insane btw. sorry. if you do it too long best case scenario you get very dextrous eyebrows and worst case scenario you might start making cartoon character faces irl (or both) (i'm both))

not sure how much it helps specifically with expressions outside of animation, but it's a fun exercise--learning the limits of a character's face, animation calls it squash & stretch. drawing a face in the two most extreme states. so on character expression sheets you'll see weird faces like this⤵️ that's what that is

another exercise, i always have a ton of art saved that i like the expressions of. usually a lot of concept art for films. i'll do studies of them & redraw them, and/or take ocs and redraw them with those expressions! it's a great way to look at how other artists do stuff and yoink bits you like.

you'll hear this a lot if you look up Any art tips, but references & studies are great. i get a lot of inspo from disney concept art bc their artists are very talented people, but currently i hope disney studios' own hubris eats it alive. i want to see mickey mouse buried in a hole, the rat bastard. anyway some places i personally take inspiration from:

i look at a lot of animation concept art, some good sources are characterdesignreferences, livinglineslibrary, there's pdfs of animation art books all over the place too.

specific concept artists i like are jin kim & shiyoon kim !! they do Great expressions.

outside of film industry, tealin and tracy butler of lackadaisy cats are some inspirations! tracy butler has a great expressions tutorial here

if you find this stuff interesting & like reading, the illusion of life by ollie johnston & frank thomas is an incredible insight into the thought process behind stuff like this! there's a pdf here, unfortunately just a scanned copy but worth a read if you like this stuff!! specifically chapters 'character development', 'animating expressions & dialogue', and 'acting & emotions'

sorry that was an essay and a half but hopefully it was a little bit helpful!! i always love talking about this stuff so if you want anything clarified/just wanna talk about it more i am Always ready to go off >:3

#inquiries #solreefs #i have no idea how to explain these things in a way that feels Tangibly Helpful but i do love talking about it #hopefully it helps a Bit!! ty for giving me the excuse to go off hehehe #i wanted to do doodles to go along with stuff but my arms are achey today #alas. words will have to do #fredspeaks

[miyuhpapayuh]

fifteen

Music’s playing, candles are burning, there's no light beside the sun peeking through the curtains, shining down on her prettiest subject.

Her glass of white wine is being babysat, cause knowing her and how much of a lightweight she was, a few sips were enough.

Leon definitely took a shot before they got started, since he'd never been a model for anything. His last minute nerves made him even more adorable to Zora.

Blk Odyssy had become one of her favorite musicians, thanks to Leon and his impeccable taste. Their new album, diamonds & freaks served as the soundtrack.

Sexy lady

Got me faded

I'm intoxicated

I been watching, baby

Sexy lady

Sweet Jesus, save me

Go on, and rock me, baby

Don't stop it, baby

“Love this song,” she comments, dipping her brush into the deep red paint, using it as one of her base colors.

“I thought you would.” He replies.

“Yeah, you knew.” She hums a laugh, tilting her head to the left, following the curve she's creating for her study of her boyfriend.

“Are you painting me just like I am?” He asks.

“Well, everything above the knees. That's all I can fit in the canvas.” She answers.

“Where'd you get this idea from?” He asks, curious all of a sudden.

“My sisters actually suggested it. They were really excited that I had started painting again, and since you're my muse, it seemed like something really fun to do.” She explains, poking her head out to look at him, snickering at the focus in his face.

“Quit laughin’ at me,” he mumbles.

“Sorry, you're just so still, like you might break if you move. Relax a little.”

“I thought I needed to stay still.”

“Yeah, but not that still.”

“Hm,” he hums, staring at the back of the easel and the sliver of her face that he could see. A smile graces his face as he watches her in her comfort zone.

Still singing along to the music, she takes another sip of her wine and paints another fine line onto the canvas, super pleased with how everything is turning out.

His green button-up covers her thick frame like a dress.

Her feet were tapping against the bars of the stool, her sloppy bun, flopping around with every concentrated turn of her head.

She was just as focused, but he wasn't gonna tease her. He loved seeing this new side of her. She let him into her art world, finally.

Taking her advice and relaxing, he falls into his natural trance of her, when she readjusts the easel, giving him more than just a peek at her beautiful face.

All the while, she was looking at him and back at the canvas, perfecting every curve, dimple, divot with striking blues and oranges, deep reds and browns.

Stealing glances at him, she tugs on her lip.

She knew it was gonna be kinda distracting, but he definitely wasn't playing fair.

Flexing those big arms of his, “stretching”, was already enough and too much for her. And every time he licked his lips, her left leg would tangle with her right. He caught it each time and smirked.

Once he got to readjusting the only article of clothing he had left, her eyes diverted to his lower region and hers began to throb.

Almost finished.

“Jesus,” she mumbles to herself, shaking her head like it would clear the explicit images swimming around her mind.

“You alright over there?” He asks, a hint of amusement in his tone.

“Yeah, I'm good,” she shakily answers, taking another sip, which looked more like a gulp from where he was sitting.

“You sure?” He teases.

She laughs, now looking over at him. His devious smirk does nothing to help the wet spot forming between her thighs.

“You done?” He asks.

“No.”

“I'm distracting you?”

“And, you know it.” She nods, making him laugh.

“You told me to relax. I'm just tryna follow the rules, dear.”

“Yeah, and now your friend is winkin’ at me.”

He simply shrugs. “That's your fault.”

“Mine? How?”

“Cause you're so fine. This happens every day, babe.”

“Every day?” She repeats.

“Yeah. A couple times a day.”

“Wow.”

“You've seen you, right?” He asks.

She scoffs, lifting the brush back to the canvas. “Boy, please. I can't even look you in the eye, right now.”

He snickers, moving out of his pose to further mess with her. Pulling his chair just a bit closer, he leans forward to stare at her and she keeps her eyes trained on her work.

“Zoraaa,” he drags out.

“I'm so glad I got all the details I needed, you play so much,” she laughs, trying her best to ignore his taunting.

“Come play with me,” he continues, almost making her drop her brush.

“Can you get back in your position, please?” She asks.

“Can I put you in a couple positions?” He quips, earning that eye roll that he knew was coming.

“If you let me finish… maybe.”

He holds his hands up in surrender, moving right back into his pose. Zora fans her face, no longer caring if he can see how flustered he's made her.

The next thirty minutes dragged on by and she was finally done, not even getting to sit her brush down good before being whisked over to the couch, him hovering over her.

Bruising her lips with his rough kisses, he quickly discards the scrap of lace that barely covered her ass, as well as his own briefs, before sliding into her with one fluid motion.

Gasping into the kiss, her hands cling to his broad back and shoulders, sinking her nails in as the feeling of him bottoming out with every thrust sends fire through her.

His mouth latches onto her neck, while she lets out every expletive she can think of, into the damp air of her apartment.

“Oh m— my god,” she pants, holding him so close to her body, shivering as his groans vibrate on her skin.

“You feel so damn good,” he rasps.

His tongue trails down her chest, nibbling on her breasts as he rips the shirt open, squeezing her flesh into his big hands, driving her crazy as she cradles his head.

Her feet are pressed against his chest and he leans up to do more damage, his hips rutting against her ass that's hanging off the couch. She looks up at him in disbelief.

His hands have her ankles bound, as she cries and writhes underneath him. Her hands move up and down his arms, back down to scratch his hips as it gets too good.

“Fuc– king me so— good,” she squeals, catching both of them off guard as she releases all over him. His thumb finds her clit, making matters slipperier.

“Yeah, gimme all that shit, baby.” He moans, encouraging another orgasm to happen right on the spot. Her edges were back curly by this point.

“C’mere,” she whispers, pulling him back down to her level to swallow his every breath in a kiss. Her cramped legs wrap around his waist, pulling him closer if that were even possible.

Pulling away, he smirks down at her, taking her in, breathless, sweaty, hungry for more as she stares back at him, ready for his next move.

“So beautiful,” he says, dragging his thumb across her parted bottom lip, “why don't you pose for me, now.”

✿°•∘ɷ∘•°✿ ... ✿°•∘ɷ∘•°✿✿°•∘ɷ∘•°✿ ... ✿°•∘ɷ∘•°✿

Once she got around to actually taking in her painting, she was super pleased with how it came out. So was Leon.

“Can I just say, I'm flattered.” He smirks, cracking up at the look she gives him.

“Stop it,”

“Seriously. That's literally me.” He exclaims, pulling her into his side.

“All of me.” He mumbles, hearing her disapproving groan sound through the space.

“Leon, please!” She laughs. “But, you really like it?”

“Love it, sweet stuff. I told you. Art gallery.” He says, smiling down at her.

She smiles back up at him, shaking her head. “Nah, not yet.”

He raises a brow at her, earning a brighter smile.

“Not yet, huh? So you're getting closer to putting yourself out there?” He excitedly asks.

“Yeah, I thought about what you said and it doesn't sound like a bad idea. I'm just nervous, ya know?”

“Why?”

“I feel stunted. Like, I gave everything up to be someone's doormat and.. I don't know. I just feel like the level of artistic ability has kinda dissipated? And yeah, I know. I look at my paintings and I see what I'm capable of so get that sad look off your face,” she pinches his cheek as he laughs, “I just have my doubts.”

He wipes the frown away, but there's still sadness there. He wants nothing more than for her to believe in herself. Fully.

“It's harder than it seems to cross some hurdles, I understand that. But if you really want this, that's what you gotta do.”

“No, I know. And, I appreciate you for putting me back in front of this here easel. It's been a while, but it's always so much fun.”

“Of course, baby. It's a pleasure watching you in your zone.” He says, leaning down to kiss her temple.

“I cannot show this one to the girls.” She snickers, before looking up at him.

“Yeah, nah. Maybe the top half.”

“Please. I can hear Nique fighting for the extra details, as we speak.”

“That girl is hilarious.” He comments, moving to stand behind her and wrap his arms around hers.

“Funniest person I know, besides myself, of course.”

“And me. Hol’ up.”

“Right, right. Can't forget about you,” she snickers, yelping at the pinch to her butt.

“It's what you get.. talkin’ shit.” He mumbles into her neck.

“Oh yeah, don't try and bill me for that shirt, since you were the one that ripped the buttons off.” She says, making him chuckle.

“One, I would never do that for real, it's an empty threat every time.” He admits, making her laugh. “And two, I can always get the buttons put back on. Or you can just add it to your collection.”

“Oh, I was gonna do that anyway, cause that's how I am.” She smiles like he can see her.

“Something else.” He shakes his head.

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“Why I can't see that one??” Nique asks, pointing to the covered canvas and stomping her heeled foot like a bratty child.

“Cause you play too much, man.” Zora waves her off, pointing to the painting on the easel. “But you can look at this one!”

Nique immediately gasps at how breathtaking the painting was. It's as if Zora had committed Leon's face to memory and captured him in five different lights so realistically.

“Girl, when I say talented doesn't even cover it.” She shakes her head, looking over at her best friend.

“Oh, girl. Stop.”

“Nah, man. This is on another level!” She swats her arm in excitement. “Like, that's his literal face, dude! How do you even do something like this?!”

She shrugs. “I honestly just sat her and did it. He came to my mind and I just let my paintbrush guide me.”

“Wow.” She says in response, making Zora laugh.

“Yeah, I said the same when I was done.”

Staring back at the canvas, she smirks. “So, are you gonna do anything with it?”

“Ah— I might. I don't know yet, really.”

“Cause you know, it would be really nice if someone invested in you snagging a spot at the mint museum to display such a piece.”

Zora squints her. “That's still something you'd do for me?”

“Zora, it's like you forget who I am or something. I'm highly offended right now.” She places her hands on her hips, reminding her of both of their mothers.

“Get your hands off your hips, Roberta! I know who you are! It's just.. I don't know. That was a long time ago and that was the biggest dream I've ever had to give up.”

“It's okay, I understand. But my offers are never conditional to you, dude. You could not even be my friend anymore and I'd still send you the money to do it cause I believe in you. That bozo of a boyfriend was a hater and he fucked everything up, yeah he did. But look at you, rebuilding it right now. Every time you get in front of the canvas do this,” she's eyes wide as she points back to the canvas, “you're getting so much closer to that dream of yours.”

By now, Zora is wiping tears away. Nique frowns and pulls her into a much needed hug. She wasn't expecting to get emotional today, but leave it to her best friend to pull a few tears out of her.

“Sorry, I didn't mean to make you cry. I know you hate that,” she softly laughs, wiping her cheeks.

“It's okay, I think I've needed to let it out for a while.” She smiles, covering her face for a moment to get herself together.

Nique heads into her kitchen to wet a paper towel, bringing it back to cool down her flushed face.

“Ugh, anyway,” she outright laughs. “I really appreciate you. That really does mean so much that you could hate my guts and still help me out. That's the kind of support everybody needs.” She covers her heart, Nique doing the same.

“One of a kind, I know.” She nods. “And it's nothing, seriously. You're my mother’s kid as much as I'm yours. I got you, you got me.”

“I love you, dude.”

“I love you too, man.”

“I've honestly been thinking about getting back out there for a while, but you and Neoma already knew that cause that's what y'all do,” she snorts, beating her to it, “Lovita is close to getting there, she all into Clyde right now—”

“You mean, he's all into her?”

“Right. Anyway, she'll catch on, but Leon asked me a while ago and I've just been sitting on the idea for a while. Maybe.. I wanna paint a couple more pieces and then maybe I can look into it.”

“Yeah, hey! Nobody is pressuring you. I promise. You know we just wanna see you do your best and you are  the best. Fuck him and fuck those negative voices he left behind. You're the shit, Jean. Let's ask his ass to come pick up a fucking pencil and see if he won't jam it into his eye, before tryna attempt what you did on this canvas. I'd bet you the air in this room and win. He's a bitch.”

“Okay, okay,” she cackles, “relax, relax. You hate him more than I do, at this point!”

“I could kill him,” she smiles, “because you deserve better and girl, look at god! Better meets you at your favorite place!”

“I know, I can't wait to tell everyone at the wedding, someday.” She giggles.

“Oh lord, that's gonna be the countriest wedding ever!”

“Stop! It's gonna be the most beautiful wedding you've ever been to, shut up!”

“Y'all gon be letting doves go, it's gon be a duck pond somewhere cause y'all love the ducks, flowers of every damn kind!”

“Nah, I'm pretty sure he's already got flower combos to present to me.” She laughs, remembering one of their trips to the shoppe this past summer.

“What?”

“He was asking me which flowers were which one time, and they'd just happened to be my second favorite flower, my mama's favorite and he asked me if I thought they would pair well with aster, which is his mama's favorite flower, and I just kinda looked at him like… I know what you're up to.” She laughs at the giant smile on Nique's face.

“Aw, that is so cute! He thinks he's slick, let him be slick!”

“Nah, I'm not gonna burst his bubble! I thought it was adorable. He's so cute, I can't take him sometimes.”

“Lord have mercy. So, I got a question.”

“No, I'm not having a maid of honor. Y'all ain't killing me, cause I'd make it all of you.”

“You can have three! It's your wedding!”

“Three maids of honor? That don't sound crazy?”

“Nah, not to me. I was gonna do that for mine.”

“Really?” Zora smiles, making Nique laugh.

“See, look at your face! Do it for yours, too! Wouldn't that work out better anyway? Three people to divy up your something old, new and blue. Might be something you've have your eye on.”

“Okay, okay! We're getting so ahead of ourselves, and what if I don't get married? Then I can't get that something new… or blue??”

“Girl,” Nique laughs. “You worried about the gift?”

“Yes, duh. Leon ain't going nowhere. We don't have to get married, honestly. It's just another dream of mine, but I'm not as traditional as I used to be. But, I'd love to get married, too. Don't listen to me.” She cuts herself off.

“No, no. I totally get it. What girl doesn't wanna confess her love to the man of her dreams in front of everyone they both love?! In a frilly dress! With a veil! Or no veil! Big poofy hair! A reception! We'd throw the biggest party, you already know it!”

“Yeah, we would!” She agrees.

“Right! Don't let go of your dreams, keep 'em close. Just in case. Hell, Leon seems like a wonderful suitor so far!”

“Yeah, he’ll do long,” she jokes.

“Now back to this canvas, over here.” Nique says, making Zora sigh super loudly.

“Dominique.”

“Let. Me. See. It.”

“No.”

“Whyy??” She whines again, adding extra syllables to the word.

“Because, you play too much!”

“I'll be good, I promise! I just wanna see it!”

Zora rolls her eyes, before moving to uncover it, watching the joy wash over her best friend.

“Behave. I'm serious.”

“I said I'll be good, girl! Uncover the thing already!”

She does so, waiting for her snarky remarks, but they never come.

Again, “wow” was the way she described this one, too.

“See? I'm lost for words, actually.” She shakes her head. “You've done it again, man. The detailing is beautiful.”

And with that, she covers it back up. “I knew it wouldn't last long.”

“Long, like—”

“Nique!”

“Okay, okay!” She holds her hands up. “But uh.. congratulations!” She puts emphasis on the end of her sentence, stomping her foot again.

“Thank you. I love it over here.”

“Trust me, I love it over there.” She winks, both of them falling into a fit of giggles as she covers the canvas back up.

“Do tell, since I basically just did.” Zora presses as they sit on the stools in her kitchen.

“He's big all over. He makes me dizzy, sometimes,” she laughs. “Baby is hung to the left, and you know how I feel about a curve!”

“Yeah, you love it over there!” She cackles, slapping hands with her.

“Wait, y'all ain't in love too are y'all??”

“Chile, no. As much as we be up on each other, he's my man and I'm his woman and that's good enough for us, right now. I really like him, but we can kick it just as long as I don't gotta kick his ass.”

“My girl.” She laughs. “I told you I'd find you a boo!”

“Thank you, Zora-Jean. My god!” She exasperates.

“You're welcome! That was so hard for the three of you to say! Why?!”

“Because,”

“Y'all are so ungrateful,” she playfully digs.

“Stop it! Personally, I was holding my breath for a while. I didn't wanna thank you too early and then all this bad shit would start happening, and knowing you, you'd think I'd resent you for it. I just wanted to make sure I wasn't waiting for the other foot to drop. I'm sorry.”

“I accept your apology, and don't feel bad seriously, I get it. Knowing me, I probably would think that, but I know better! It's one of those negative voices,” she shrugs, “but I'm glad this is a good relationship. You deserve it, honestly. Plus, I'd kill him if he ever hurt you.” She smiles.

“And you talk about Lovita!” Nique cackles.

@ghostfacekill-monger @sheabuttahwrites @thegifstories @blackerthings @cecereads209 @soufcakmistress @abeautifulmindexposed @harmshake @mauvecherie-writes @honestpreference

#mochaff #miyuhpapayuh #poc writers #blackwriters #black romance #yahya abdul mateen ii #zora x leon #smut #fluff

[changelingsandothernonsense]

Wips on Wedsdays

He kiddos, it's actually my Wednesday so imma post a few wips. tagging @thequeenofthewinter @archangelsunited @kookaburra1701 @rhiannon1199 @viss-and-pinegar @saltymaplesyrup @rainpebble3 @throughtrialbyfire @rosette-dragonborn @mareenavee @snippetsrus @snowy-weather No pressure, this is all just for funs <3

We got art and a smidgen of writing:

Starting with a close-up of the tat details in the render I'm working on. This redo that isn't purely a redo is coming along well. Just gotta add three more tattoos and alllllllll of his scars. Full art and a writing snippet under the cut.

IDK I think it's going well so far ;) and a snippet from Sleepers Awake chapter 7

Teldryn hated tombs. He hated tombs, the undead, the fucking bleached ash that covered the floor after centuries of recycling the same old fucking urns! He hated the way the tombs would wind like a maze. These halls had turned him around to the point of utter confusion! Teldryn hated having to enter the halls of the Dunmeri dead. It creeped him out, to put it bluntly. He had complained about this assignment, of course. It was the last thing he expected when Cosades sent him to go meet with a Blades informant who studied over at the Balmora Mages Guild. The old sugar-tooth had been vague about what this might entail. Just telling him that the notes he got from his last mission weren’t fucking enough and he had to go bother some mage about a fucking myth! The Nerevarine, how fucking ridiculous! The expectation with these missions seemed to be something along the lines of ‘a favour for a favour’ and the mage he’d been sent to, an orc named Sham gra-Muzgob was asking one hell of a fucking favour! She was after the skull of some poor sod named Llevule Andrano. That meant he had to break into the Andrano Ancestral Tomb out on the Bitter Coast. Shit was pretty much a one-way ticket to an execution if he was caught. When he’d mentioned that, the woman merely replied- “Then don’t upset the natives when you do it.” Cosades had said this would be a ‘silly little errand’. How the fuck is desecrating the remains of a member of a fucking hugely influential family in House Redoran a silly little errand? Then there was the justification gra-Muzgob gave him for all of this shit. Something about his people’s death practices being primitive, superstitious nonsense. Teldryn had held his tongue as best as he could. The last thing he wanted was to be thrown in fucking Fort Moonmoth again. The shit they did there…he was glad they’d only pulled out his toenails. Teldryn sucked in a deep breath, trying his best to calm his nerves as he stepped into what he hoped was the chamber that this skull was being kept in. “Look for the one with the ritual markings,” he murmured under his breath as he pulled down the old, silk scarf he’d taken from Suran. A keepsake he allowed himself amongst the things of his that his mother managed to save after his grandfather had thrown most of his belongings into the fire. Llaro had really tried to erase his existence entirely. He wanted to shake the hand of the guy who killed the miserable old cunt! Teldryn tapped his fingers on the rough chitin of his pauldron as her scanned the small, sand-coloured room. Carved into the earth thousands of years ago, the clay walls were smooth and rounded around the edges. His eyes fell on what looked like a small altar at the lip of a pool of ashes. An enchanted chitin dagger and a skull with something carved into its forehead, Daedric runes by the looks of it. Red pigment coloured the thin grooves in the bone. It made him shudder as he knelt down by the altar and stared into Llevule Andrano’s hollow eye sockets. He wondered if he should say something before he went and just took the thing. He knew that there was some sermon that one would recite when they visited the dead. Something that eased the ancestor’s spirit of some shit like that. He had never actually listened to what was said in those sermons. Never listened to the shit spoken by the temple priests either. Honestly, he found it boring, preferring instead to disappear into his own head whenever they started to rattle on. Shit was way more entertaining…until his mind became the enemy of course. He longed for that simplicity. Shit was folly. Teldryn wracked his brain for something appropriate to say. Sure, he might not have cared much for the Tribunal’s teachings as a kid but fuck if he wasn’t bitterly fucking aware of how wrong this all seemed. Teldryn sighed as he took the skull into his shaking hands, opting to mutter a simple “Sorry,” to the spirit before he pulled his scarf from around his neck and wrapped the skull in it before he carefully placed it into his pack.

#wip wednesday #my art #my writing #my wips #teldryn sero #danger!josh #dunmer #morrowind #skyrim #the elder scrolls #nerevarine #tesblr

[nothingtoseeherebyeexx]

number oneeee: your art style is so beautiful, it feels so comforting just looking at your art.

number twooo: i’m an absolute sucker for both marlene mckinnon and the marylily ship and your work on them is immaculate. favourite headcanons?

number threeee: i truly hope u have a lovely day night and rest of the week

thank you for all the compliments and i hope you too have a lovely week <3

here are some headcanons!

marlene

youngest of three children, by the time she started attending hogwarts her older siblings had already graduated, and were generally making their parents proud with brilliant careers. for this reason, marlene’s parents never seemed to care about her or have any expectations for her, so she also stopped caring about her studies and grew a rebellious personality.

despite her disinterest in studying, since she came from a family of powerful wizards, magic wasn’t hard for her, and she was actually rather talented. however, she didn’t really believe she was a good witch because of the lack of attention from her parents in her childhood.

her witty and rebellious personality matched quite well with remus’, and they became close: they have matching stick n pokes on their ankles (done rigorously while drunk, marlene’s is a poorly drawn guitar and remus’ a wobbly record), and in the summer of 1976 remus brought her to muggle london to get cigarettes to resell at school (i have a couple of drawings about this actually)

her favourite band was the runaways: she could sing the entirety of “dead end justice”, and remus started calling her cherry because of the song “cherry bomb”.

very chill about everything. she actually encouraged people to experiment with expressing themselves, (“do you think wearing make up is for queers?” “david bowie wears make up, sirius. it’s fucking rock n roll”) and she was be a good listener. might encourage chaos tho, always eager to get in fights.

another quidditch nerd. she didn’t enjoy getting up at 5 am for practice, but that’s what you get when james fucking potter is captain. loved discussing strategies tho.

never really thought about being a lesbian. she just was, never felt the pressure of getting in a relationship with a boy.

rivalry with dorcas, both on the pitch and in class. dorcas took it very seriously, marlene saw it as a sort of game between the two of them.

marylily

friends to lovers. but not the sweet, “realised-i-love-you-more-than-a-friend” kind of dynamic: both lily and mary were very jealous, when they still weren’t aware of their feelings. lily never liked mary’s boyfriends, and mary seemed to dislike snape even more than marlene. snark remarks and eye-rolls. the good shi.

marlene connected the dots before mary and lily. she wanted to slap both of them for being stupid and blind, but at least she understood the tension.

when they were younger, mary would help lily being less shy: they were both muggleborns, but mary had never been intimidated by snobby purebloods, and lily admired her for it. because she was a girl and a muggle born, she was an easy target for purebloods who made fun of her being “the teachers pet”. (“lily it doesn’t matter who their parents are, you’re much better than them, so even if they call you names, don’t apologise for being smart!”)

lily fell first but sure as hell she didn’t realise it. mary, however, didn’t find out she liked her until they both confessed their feelings during an argument in their room (marlene proceeded to flee to give them some privacy)

the first girl mary ever kissed was emmeline, when she was still trying to figure out wether she liked women or not. lily was fuming when she found out.

#nothing answers #marauders era #marauders #headcanons #marlene mckinnon #mary macdonald #lily evans #marylily

[kimbapisnotsushi]

oh please talk about kawanishi taichi i love that silly guy

OF COURSE ANON I TOO LOVE THAT SILLY GUY LET'S GET IT!!

(also i am SO sorry for taking so long oh my god i am back in action and catching up i promise!!)

i think he likes beanies in his casual wear

idk kawanishi feels like such a beanie person but not the douchebag slouchy ones he's got one that's a little snug and has something embroidered on it like a bird or something

okay that's a lie. he has ONE douchebag slouchy beanie that makes him look like how a high school romance shoujo mangaka of the mid-2000s would dress a flashy somewhat-delinquent teenage boy (honey lemon soda my beloved)

this, of course, could not be farther from the truth

the entire second year is scared of him bc they never somehow realize he's there until he says something and they're like "holy SHIT". this also means he knows a bunch of hot gossip

(the hot gossip miyagi group chat: kawanishi, watari, onagawa, and narita)

on the other hand. that means the students of 2-5 win the contest for "best cultural festival attraction" between classes bc they had the best haunted house the miyagi prefecture had ever seen

he's on really good terms with the school nurse because sometimes he sneaks into the infirmary to take naps during lunch or gym periods

knows how to lockpick BECAUSE he keeps trying to sneak into the infirmary. and occasionally the school roof for their "team bonding picnics" so that tendou doesn't have to keep swiping the key from the student council

i'm not just saying this bc i like enamel pins but i think kawanishi DOES like enamel pins. he's got a collection of these edgy sarcastic ones that he thinks are hilarious in a "started-ironically-and-now-i-can't-stop-pipeline" kind of way

he's got this whole tumblr-grunge-indie-hipster thing going on with his douchebag slouchy beanie and denim jacket with pins all over the collar and ripped jeans and converse sneakers and shirabu thinks he pulls it off unfairly well

i feel like kawanishi also really likes fantasy/sci-fi and is actually SUCH a huge secret nerd about it. and really likes cyberpunk and fantasyland settings you'd get from like idk snow white with the red hair or nivalis (i KNOW it's an indie game that's not even out yet but sue me i don't know cyberpunk all that well)

he and tsukki actually become friends while arguing about how much of akira is deep meaning and how much of it is actually just straight up bullshit because WHAT the fuck was that

also he's subscribed to a bunch of these small artists on youtube who make background music and fun art to go with them bc he can put together a great soundtrack for getting hw and studying done

likes getting lil gifts for shirabu, especially to add to his stationary collection. shirabu has sticky notes in the shape of whales and ice cream and paper lanterns and washi tape with fireworks and beach motifs and bakery stuff and it's all because of kawanishi

kawanishi just sticks to the plain solid-color square sticky notes that he uses to leave shirabu notes around his dorm. just small things, really, a reminder that this is a place shirabu belongs and it is a place he is loved. you're doing great. get some water soon. i'll bring you dinner, just text me. don't forget to sleep.

and shirabu will be hard pressed to admit it, but those might be his favorite sticky notes of all

#LMAO WAIT I REMEMBERED SOMETHING I COULD HAVE USED INSTEAD OF NIVALIS #not that i should have bc idk if it counts nor can i rec it in good conscience but. the aesthetic fits i think #anyways i googled a bunch of stuff for this and that's how i learned that final fantasy is apparently cyberpunk??? #this completely messes with the image i had of it in my head for like. the entire last eight years or so #also like. i'm assuming this came from my mixed inarizaki/shiratorizawa post where i talked kawanishi and kawashira there a bit #so pardon me for getting a lil bit sappy there at the end. bc i love them #ANYWAYS I AM SO SORRY THIS TOOK SO LONG TO GET OUT OH MY GOD I HOPE YOU ENJOY ANON TY FOR THE ASK <333 #kawanishi taichi #shirabu kenjirou #kawashira #honorable mention also goes to: #tsukishima kei #and #tendou satori #haikyuu #haikyuu!! #haikyuu hcs #sou says stuff

[benkyoutobentou]

（再）自己紹介 | Langblr Reintroduction!

皆さん　こんにちは！I recently hit a follower milestone and figured that it was time to reintroduce myself, as it's been quite a while, and I don't really have much information about me easily accessible on my blog. Additionally, I'd like to actually write stuff down about how this blog is organized. じゃあ、始めましょう！

Hi, my name is Nobody (they/them), my native language is English, and I like studying languages! Languages have interested me ever since I was a child, but I feel like I never knew how to properly learn a language until I started studying Japanese in 2020. Now, I also study Mandarin Chinese and German! Japanese is my main target language, and I would some day like to make Japanese my primary language. Yes, that means I'm interested in moving to Japan long-term.

Immersion is my favorite way to study, but as of right now, most of my immersion has been done in Japanese. Please tell me what you're reading or watching, or ask me what I'm reading or watching! I especially love talking about books and manga and would be more than willing to share recommendations!

Outside of language learning, my hobbies include horseback riding, gardening, and reading (in English). I also have a degree in music performance, but I don't really consider that to be a hobby since it's something I'm actively pursuing as a career.

As for my blog, I keep it mostly Japanese focused, mainly because I made this blog when I was only studying Japanese, but my other languages do show up once in a while, and much of the content I post/reblog isn't tied to a single language. Here are the tags I frequently use to organize my blog and what they all mean:

#benkyou posting - these are my own posts! These are usually tagged with at least one of the other tags, as this tag just denotes that I was the one who made it, not necessarily the content that it contains.

#languages - these are posts that are typically tied to a specific language or the specific study of languages. Resources for learning languages will also show up here.

#tips - these posts are general studying tips and may not be specifically about language learning, but are applicable to the study of languages.

#study - these posts are aesthetic posts of peoples' notes and study spaces.

#inspo - these posts are inspirational posts, for when you might have a bit of trouble getting into the study mood.

#art - this is just for Japanese art! Usually, it'll be traditional arts and I must admit that I'm a sucker for woodblock prints. If I reblog any sort of Japanese fashion (think more kimonos), it'll also show up here.

#culture - these are posts about the cultural aspects of Japan, such as explanations of festivals and the such.

#aesthetic - these are just beautiful photos of Japan, mostly temples. Again, these are just photos I like, and I really like shrines and castles (once someone called me a "temple weeb" and I'm still laughing about it).

#memes - this tag is for anything fun! Memes aren't the only thing that go in here- things such as polls and silly text posts will also show up here.

Things that I don't post or reblog include vocabulary lists and grammar explanations. I have nothing against them, I just don't particularly use them on tumblr and therefore find no reason to put them on my own blog. I've made a few vocabulary lists in the past, but have found that it's just not for me! Remember that language learning is a deeply personal journey and what works for you might not work for me and vice verse. Just because these things aren't particularly what I look for out of langblr content doesn't mean that they're not important to other people, but I would like to be clear about what shows up (and doesn't!) on my blog.

So welcome to my blog! I hope you choose to stick around a while! And for those who don't know Japanese, my blog name means "studying and lunch boxes."

#benkyou posting #language learning #studyblr #langblr #intro post #polyglot #japanese #studying #studyinspo #study blog