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someplayfuldreams · 2 months

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hidden shadow

pairing: rafayel x mc

genre: fluff

warnings: none

word count: 2.6k

summary: what i imagined while listening to the secret times "hidden shadow"

A/N: the majority of Rafayel's lines are straight from the audio, which is not my own writing, but everything else is from my delusional mind; this man and his secret times has me in a chokehold, so i had to write this out

also on ao3 under the user playfuldreams

enjoy!~

The loud sound of blades clashing against each other reverberated through the air. As soon as you block his swing, you jump back to prepare for the next blow. You adjust your grip on the handle, hoping it wouldn’t slip out due to the sweat.

Before you can finish catching your breath, Rafayel rushes forward, swinging his dagger up diagonally.

Your body tenses. Thankfully, your reflexes kick in time and you are able bring up your dagger to block the attack. But since you couldn’t get into the proper position, the force of the slash pushes you off balance on the sand and end up falling on your butt.

“Ah..,” you let out a soft yelp before looking up to see a dagger pointing at you. You glance back at the holder, making eye contact with burning purple eyes.

He spins the dagger, sheathing it, then holds out his hand.

“Let’s stop here for today,” He says. “A sandstorm approaches. We must return to our tent.”

You take his hand and get up. Handing him your dagger, you dust the sand off your pants and hands.

We start walking to the tent we had set up prior to the training session. Only the sound of sand shuffling beneath is heard, accompanying your thoughts about your bodyguard’s hidden past.

You look up to see him gazing over the horizon clearly in deep thought.

Your curiosity gets the better of you, and you speak up.

“I thought a skilled guard like you was invincible. Are you saying a sandstorm is enough to beat you?” You ask, teasingly.

“Huh? I’m not completely unaffected by the harsh environment” Rafayel responds.

Just as you are about to say another sassy remark, you watch as he walks closer to you. He stops right in front of you, leaning close enough you can see the pink highlights in his eyes.

“But a competent assassin can still fight despite the sand,” he whispers.

You blink a few times before looking down, unable to hold his strong gaze any longer. He steps back and you can almost see the smirk on his face. You clench your fists. If you had just kept eye contact a little longer, you would be the one smirking not him.

You give a little huff, stomping forward.

You feel Rafayel’s gaze on you, but you refuse to give in and turn around. After a few more steps, Rafayel grabs your wrist, pulling you to a stop.

He walks around to stand in front of you. This time you hold your head high, meeting his gaze straight on.

He tilts his head, giving a sly smile.

“Would Your Highness like to try? With your determination, let’s do it,” Rafayel proposes.

He unties one of the black ribbons tied to his arm, pulling it taut. As he walks closer, your heart skips a beat and feel yourself warm.

“Close your eyes and hold still,” He says softly.

You obediently listen to him. With your eyes now closed, your nerves are amplified.

His hot breath sweeps over your ears causing you to shiver. You hear him chuckle lightly. You bit your lip and resist the impulse of swinging at him.

You flinch when you feel something close to your face.

“It’s just the ribbon. Don’t worry, I’ll be gentle.” Rafayel assures you.

The smooth silk is cool over your heated skin. It slides over your eyelids and cheekbones before stopping in what seems to be the right place.

He carefully ties the ends behind your head, making sure not to get your hair in the knot.

Even after the ribbon is tied, you can still sense his warmth in front of you

“Now, Your Highness’s eyes are covered. How is it?” He asks.

With your eyes blindfolded, you are unable to read Rafayel’s face. You shift your weight and feel a little startled when the ground feels more unsteady than usual.

“It’s fine when I’m standing still, but I don’t know if I can move around like this. What if I..”

“Stay calm.” You hear him say.

Warm hands slowly hold your shoulders, comforting you.

“When sight cannot be relied on, the other senses must be utilized.” Rafayel advises.

He runs his hands down your arms, taking your hands in his. He gives a small squeeze before letting go.

You hear the sand shuffling in front of you and no longer sense Rafayel. He must have stepped away from you. You begin to feel more uncertain now that Rafayel isn’t there to support you.

“Try and catch me,” Rafayel says. And then, you hear nothing.

You stand in place, hesitating. How are you supposed to find him blindfolded?

Taking a deep breathe, you use your other senses like he told you to.

You feel the warm breeze along with the small pinpricks of occasional sand grains flying over you. The only sounds you can hear are those of sand swirling on the wind. Not knowing where to even go, you start walking in a random direction.

It takes a lot more concentration to walk on sand blindfolded. It felt like you would fall with one wrong step.

A noise to your right catches your attention. You change your direction towards it. After a few more careful steps, you hear more sand moving to your left. You spin around towards the new sound.

Then all of a sudden, there’s the sound of footsteps behind you.

You quickly turn around, trying to focus on pinpointing the exact location.

You begin to get frustrated, but take another breath to calm yourself.

You’re the one who asked Rafayel to train you so you could protect yourself better. You would follow through with it.

More footsteps are heard all over the place. Focusing in, you decide to take a leap of faith and begin confidently walking straight towards the last sound you heard, reaching your hands out to hopefully feel the rough cotton of Rafayel’s tunic.

After about 10 steps, the sounds disappear again, but this time you catch a light scent of the sea breeze that reminds you of home. You immediately turn around, swinging your arms in front of you.

Your hands hit something solid, causing you to lose your balance. You frantically move your hands trying to grab onto something to stabilize you.

You feel strong arms come around you as your hands grip the fabric of his shirt.

Rafayel moves his arm over your head as you both tumble to the ground, rolling twice down the dune. You feel yourself land on top of him, raising your head, wishing you could see if he was okay.

“Not bad… But it was only a matter of luck.” You hear him say below you.

You let out a sigh. Does he really have to say it like that?

You feel his abdominal muscles tense as he sits up. You shakily get off him, kneeling on the sand. Being unable to see and trying to be stable on shifting sand was not easy.

You feel his rough hand take yours as he helps you stand up. He dusts off the sand on your back as you shake your head, trying to get the sand out of your hair.

He laughs, clearly entertained at the sight.

“Instead of laughing, you could lend a hand,” you say.

“Apologies Your Highness, allow me to assist,” he says, before gently running his fingers through your hair, ridding it of any leftover sand.

“Alright, it’s gotten late. We should head inside now.” Rafayel says.

You expect him to untie the blindfold, but instead, you feel his hand entwine with yours.

“Are you not going to remove the ribbon?” you ask.

He chuckles, before saying, “Trust me, Your Highness. I will get you back safe and sound.”

Hand in hand, he leads you the rest of the way.

You hear the tent flap open as he leads you in. He lets go of your hand, and you hear what you suppose is him tying the entrance closed. You just stand in place, not wanting to trip over anything while blindfolded. You don’t remember if you both managed to clean up the place before going out to train.

Footsteps come up from behind you. You tense, unsure what would happen next.

Rafayel just takes your hand again, leading you further in the tent.

“Sit down,” he says. “Don’t remove the blindfold just yet,” he adds for good measure.

You let him guide you to sit on the bed. He lightly presses on your shoulder, telling you to move further back. The sheets ruffle from the movement.

You feel the bed dip down lower and assume Rafayel sat on it as well. Hearing the sheets rustle, you can tell Rafayel is getting closer. The movement stops once you feel his knee touch your thigh.

You suddenly feel his breath grazing your lips. Your caught between your desire to move forward to get a taste or backward to let yourself think more clearly. But before you can make your decision, you hear him speak.

“Even in darkness, one must be able to pinpoint an enemy’s vital points with ease,” Rafayel says.

He grabs your hand and places something cold in it. You grip the object. It’s smooth and relatively light. It seems the lesson was going to continue.

“With a weapon, only some strength is needed to wound the stomach.”

He must have handed you a dagger. Not knowing if it was sheathed or not, you carefully bring the hand with the weapon back to your side. Shifting your position so that you were kneeling before him, you hesitantly bring your other hand to lay over his body. Your breath catches in your throat as you feel his muscles ripple beneath your hand.

You have a fleeting thought of regret that there was fabric between your hand and his skin.

He said to wound the stomach, but you aren’t sure what part of him you’re touching.

“The chest?” Rafayel kindly gives you an answer.

You move your hand side to side trying to get your bearings. His chest was so wide you couldn’t tell if you were on the side or in the middle of it.

You hear him gasp and feel his muscles tense as you run your hands over a bump on his chest.

“Not there. Your Highness needs to go lower. It will be a fatal blow if you stab there.”

You reflexively tighten your grip, memories of Rafayel bleeding from his chest flooding your head.

“It ensures one’s victory.” He continues.

His warm hand covers yours, giving it a light squeeze before letting go, as if telling you to continue.

You slowly move your hand up, feeling the border of his tunic turn into smooth skin.

You hear him inhale deeply when your skins connect.

As if mesmerized, you forget the goal of the lesson and continue moving your hand up. Over his shoulders, his collarbone, and ending up over his adam’s apple.

You lightly feel his pulse beating beneath your hand. Telling you he is alive. No longer stuck between life and death due to your careless mistake. You mindlessly press your fingers further into his skin, hoping to feel his pulse more clearly.

“The throat is also a vulnerable area.”

His voice startles you. Realizing you might have put too much force in your grip, you loosen your hand but keep it hovering over his skin.

“Scared?” He asks.

You’re unable to say anything back. You try to fight any conjured up images of him being hurt.

Just as you try to think of something to distract yourself, you feel his hand cover yours once more.

“Never mind, Your Highness’s hand is slightly cold.” He says worryingly. He gently rubs his thumb on the back of your hand.

“Try to do what I just said.”

You let out a small breath, banishing the unnecessary thoughts. What were you supposed to find again? Right, the stomach.

You move your hand downward, going back over the rough fabric.

You hear him exhale right by your ear as you slide your hand further down. His muscles tense and untense, creating a rhythm with his breathes, following the trail of your gliding hand.

You get to a point where you can feel light grooves partitioning several muscles. You stop your hand, hesitating on your next move.

“It’s the correct spot, but Your Highness’s hand still hasn’t moved,” Rafayel says.

“An assassin wouldn’t be this slow.” He teases.

You rolled your eyes underneath the blindfolded. You adjust your grip on the dagger and move the hand a bit closer. But you still hesitate to make the final move.

Instead of bringing the dagger up, you move the hand on him, trying to find the best spot. However, you get lost in the feeling of his abdomen expanding with each breath.

Rafayel waits patiently and quietly, which is a first for him.

“Carelessness leads to an assassin’s death,” Rafayel says.

You clearly spoke too soon.

If that’s how he was going to play it, you decide to tease him back.

You move your hand to the side slowly. You feel the heat from his abdomen transfer to your palm. As you keep moving to the left, you start to feel a curve, stopping once your palm is at his hip.

“No, that is not it either,” He says, unaware of your purpose.

You give a coquettish squeeze, reveling in the movement of the muscles beneath.

Rafayel sighs loudly. You tense when you feel something tickle your ear. It’s almost feathery. His breathes are more clear as he has gotten closer to you.

You decide to get more bold and slide your hand back down

He gasps in your ear. Your desire to see more of his reactions builds your confidence, but before you can go any further, your playful touch is halted.

“Um… stop right there.” Rafayel grabs your hand tightly.

He chuckles, breathless.

“As a rookie, Your Highness’s courage is commendable.”

You can’t help but smirk at his remark.

“Yet does a simple blindfold excuse a person’s brazenness?” Rafayel says, his voice getting closer with every word, until he’s speaking right into your ear.

Startled, you move back to sit on the balls of your feet with your knees still on the bed.

“Your Highness didn’t do it on purpose?” he asks teasingly, still holding your hand in place.

“Of course not. All I did was listen to my teacher’s instructions,” you say innocently.

He lightly huffed in amusement.

“Your Highness’s acting is lackluster when it comes to being clueless,” Rafayel says.

He finally lets go of your hand allowing you to sit more comfortably.

You hear some shuffling on the bed, but can’t tell what Rafayel was doing.

You flinch when you suddenly feel a touch on your other hand. The dagger is taken away from you. He probably is putting it away.

You guess the “lesson” is over. But just when you’re about to ask for him to remove the blindfold, you hear him speak.

“It’s fine,” he says.

You tilt your head towards his voice. A hand comes up to your shoulder and before you realize what’s going on, you feel your back coming into contact with the bed.

The sheets rustle around you and you feel a presence over you.

“I forgot to mention. A good assassin must be able to counterattack.” Rafayel says laughing.

Shocked, you lie there for a second processing what just happened.

Then you start fighting back.

“Rafayel, you!”

You raise your hands and they immediately make contact with Rafayel’s chest. You put pressure on him hoping to take control of the situation.

He laughs as your weak attempts to push him off. Instead of getting off, he draws even closer.

“Is Your Highness prepared for the next lesson?” He whispers in your ear.

You swallow at his words, finding yourself heating up at the thought of what was to come next.

#rafayel #love and deepspace #rafayel x reader #rafayel love and deepspace #rafayel l&ds #l&ds fanfic #l&ds #secret times #hidden shadow l&ds #rafayel x mc #rafayel x y/n

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choicesficwriterscreations · 8 months

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September 2023 WOTM: lilyoffandoms

Each month CFWC highlights one of our talented fanfic writers, and this month’s writer of the month is @lilyoffandoms. We hope you will enjoy learning more about them and their work below! The writer is selected at random. More info can be found on the navigation page.

This month's Writer of the Month was selected a little differently than normal. We announced that we would be selecting the WOTM from the participants in last month's Writer Appreciation Event. But the eleven writers involved all agreed the honor belonged to Lily. Lily has been a staple in the Choices community for so long, and they continuously go out of their way to support creators and spread positivity while continuing to inspire and create themselves. We couldn't think of anyone better suited for the honor, so please join us in congratulating Lily... September's Writer of the Month!

Quick Links:

Tumblr Blog Name: lilyoffandoms Blog Masterlist

How do you want to be known on Tumblr? Lily is fine (they/them preferred)

1- When did you start playing Choices? What was the first book you played?

Best guess would be back in January of 2018. It was a joke at first since a friend saw one of their god-awful ads and said we should both try it. Next thing you know, we were both arguing over which books were better and regretting our decision to start. Though their opinions on what constitutes good books are almost as bad as the Choices ad that got us to jokingly play (and I say this most lovingly because they are awesome and I love them). I started with Most Wanted, and my friend started with The Freshman.

2- When and why did you join Choices fandom?

Oh gods! I joined back in March 2019. I know I’m a Tumblr baby by most everyone’s standards, but that feels like a really long time. I joined when Open Heart book one was released. I had lurked, reading fanfics, for a few months before biting the bullet and creating a blog and actually posting. Only joined because I was taking my editor’s advice and writing something entirely outside my norm to break a particularly bad case of writer’s block. Thought I might as well share those silly things if I was taking the time to write them. Maybe someone would enjoy them. Never did plan on sticking around, but found so many lovely people that I’ve come to call friends.

3- How did you pick your blog name?

It was lilyofchoices. My name + Choices because I am super creative like that with those sorts of naming things 😅 I changed it to lilyoffandoms when I left the Choices fandom for a bit. I’ve thought about changing it more times than I can count but I can’t bring myself to actually follow through on it. How do y’all’s change your blog name with each new book release? You are a crazy different breed of tumblr and you fascinate me.

4- Pull up the first post in your archive, and tell us about it!

I deleted the first one years ago. It was my first drabble. Currently, as it stands, the first thing in my archive is this post about Desire and Decorum, and it still makes me giggle.

5- How long have you been writing fanfiction?

I’ve only been writing fanfic since I joined Tumblr. I never really tried writing fanfic before that. Some nonfiction personal things before that but never anything like this world. It's been an adventure, to say the least haha

6- What is your favorite Choices book, and what is your favorite Choices book to write about?

My favorite book is probably Blades of Light and Shadow, book one, but there are plenty that are really close behind. This is also the book I’d say I enjoy writing for the most because it is my favorite book, contains my favorite LI, and has one of my favorite OCs (Maiele) in it.

Though recently, I’ve been writing more for Crimes of Passion because it's more of a challenge for me. It's a different vibe between the MC and the LI and it's one I don’t often explore so I’m here for that right now. But I have a sneaky suspicion once Blades 2 drops I’ll be back on my bullshit with that again.

7- Share the first fanfic you wrote with us. Do you still like it, or would you change it if you were writing it today?

I don’t think it exists on this site anymore. Maybe in someone’s reblog? I still have it in my files. It was an Ethan x MC drabble featuring my MC, Merida. I still like it. I’d not change it cuz I’m a firm believer in writing it and don’t look back haha.

This is it:

He swallowed the lump forming in his throat, trying to hold back the tears that were threatening to form in his eyes. There it was. He had told her. Dr. Banerji was dying and Ethan was at a loss as to what was ailing his mentor and friend. Ethan stared at the young woman in front of him and then to the floor. He cleared his throat and made a small motion to turn back into Naveen’s room but froze instantly the moment he noticed her take a step towards him.

She threw her arms around him and hugged him, wishing to take away all of his pain, all of his loneliness. Silently willing him to understand that she cared for him. Cared deeply for him and much more than she should. “Ethan. I’m so sorry,” she whispered, one hand stroked through his hair while the other grasped his neck and slowly bent his head toward her shoulders as she raised herself to her tiptoes to meet him halfway.

He tensed upon feeling her arms around him. Arms, he thought to himself, that he had imagined holding him for a number of weeks now. Ever since that night spent sitting up with her watching little baby Ethan. “Merida,” he sighed as he gradually relaxed into the embrace.

She didn’t let up on the hug, squeezing him to her just a bit more tightly. God, she had wanted to comfort him when Dolores died but she didn’t know how he would respond. Now, he was facing the possibility of another friend dying and she couldn’t help herself.

He responded to the increased pressure of her hug and tightened his own hold upon her. Finding himself tracing circles up her spine and imagining what it would feel like to move his hands to tease along the skin of her back where her pants met her shirt.

Her breath caught when she felt his hands move lower. No longer making gentle movements along her spine but increasing their pressure upon her body, nearly massaging their way lower. She brought one of her own hands around to his chest, lightly bunching his white coat in her fist to try and pull him closer to her.

A loud crash echoed down the hall. “Shit!” a construction worker cursed. The two doctors jumped back from each other both staring into each other’s eyes seeming to question if they had both felt the same in the other’s arms. She blushed slightly. “I should see to my other patients. Dr. Banerji’s condition stays between us. Understand, Rookie?” he stated, his eyes narrowing. She nodded and he turned and marched down the hall.

8- What is your favorite fic that you’ve written?

I love asking this question of others but don’t like it asked of me. I’m so bad at self-rep and advertising my wares 😂 But if I had to pick one, I’d say this one. It was so far outside my comfort zone when it came to writing that I almost abandoned it two paragraphs in. But I’m a stubborn person, and I refused to let it beat me. Plus, I had been wanting to write a noir fic for this book since it was released. Furthermore, I adore Hayden’s work too much not to gift a little something back for all the art he shares with us, so I knew I just had to make it work.

9- Do you have a fic that you didn’t expect to be well received, but it was? What about one you expected to be but found could use a little more love?

I didn’t expect last year’s Luck of the Draw fic to garner much love. Attention? Maybe. But not love and definitely not the response I got. I really enjoyed writing that one.

10- If you could write only angst, fluff, or smut for the rest of your writing life, which would it be and why?

Fluff. I’m a sucker for happy-ever-afters and an endless hopeless romantic. Give me the fluff. All the fluff.

I pull a lot of what I toss into my silly drabbles from real life. Always been a believer in writing, most often what you know, and sprinkle that all with a dash of the stuff you don’t as a treat. And my life is pretty fluffy thanks to my incredible partner.

However, I do so adore angst I’m just not able to write it often because it hurts more to write. But I’ll always always read it. That pain is *chef’s kisses*

11- Do you ever recognize yourself in any of your MCs or in your writing?

Maiele, my Blades MC, is most definitely me coded. His whole personality, his choice of partner when it comes to personality, his constant flirting with said partner, his sense of humor, his lack of a filter most times, it’s all pretty much me. Gabriel, my CoP MC, is me when it comes to romantic gestures and Valentine’s Day. I may be a romantic, but I get weird when it’s aimed at me 😂

12- What element of writing do you struggle with most?

Editing. I refuse to do it. I hate it with the burning light of a thousand suns. Those of you that manage to edit your fics have all my admiration. I honestly don’t know how y’all do it. Doesn’t it just bore you to no end?

13- Do you have any neglected work you really want to finish?

I have more drafts than I care to admit. I would like to complete a series I started long ago for Ethan x Merida, but I don’t know if I’ll ever do that. I’d settle for finishing one of my drafts 😅

14- If someone you know in real life (who isn’t involved in fandoms) asked to read your work, would you let them? If yes, what would you recommend they read first?

Nope, haha, I’d not be able to do that. If I were that brave, I’d recommend this one maybe. I do so love Flynn. Or this one, mostly because I do so love the idea of Gabriel just pouting on the couch.

15 - Are there any writers (published authors and/or fanfic writers) who influenced your writing?

Not really. I mean all of em probably. I read a lot of books in a lot of genres. Mostly I use my drabbles as morning warm ups for my day job.

There are definitely fanfic writers I admire around here that encourage me to share my silly things everyday. Especially all those queer writers out there that have a rather thankless existence sometimes around here but keep sharing their stories! They are all my heroes!!

16- Which one of your stories would you most like to see as a movie/series?

Any and all of my Maiele and Tyril stories. I just love them sooooo much!!

17- Do you write original fiction?

Yes, but until recently, I wrote mostly nonfiction.

I do have a fic I began a few years back when I was still teaching. I had a student who hated their writing class, so I promised to write a short story alongside them and read it to the class like all the students had to if they gave it an honest go.

They did and so I did too, and I was asked the following year to do it again by more students and so I continued the same story. I’ve since continued that same fic, and maybe someday I’ll actually go looking to publish it.

18 - What other hobbies do you have?

I love the outdoors. Hiking, spelunking, kayaking, gardening, camping, anything and everything outdoors. My other favorite hobby, which I've done for years and years, is fencing. I still am part of a club and teach a few levels.

19 - What’s your favorite emoji?

😅 because it’s legit my state of existence at this point in life.

20: BONUS - tell us anything you’d like (if you want to).

I want to send a special shout-out to all the absolutely lovely participants of August’s writer appreciation event I hosted. I still cannot believe y’all did this for me. 😘 These are each of my favorite fics you’ve written. Thank you for making our fandom a little brighter each and every day!

@aallotarenunelma Bathed in Sunlight @coffeeheartaddict2 Moths to a Flame @karahalloway A Leviathan Surprise @jerzwriter A Mother's Journal @ladylamrian Ma Cherie @mydemonsdrivealimo Run, Run @peonyblossom We're Gonna Get Married @petiteboheme Familia @storyofmychoices Passing Shower @tessa-liam All is Fair in Love and War @trappedinfanfiction What's In a Name? Lily's Top Three Commissions can be found here:

Crimes of Passion by @javsarts

A Year of Kisses by various artists: @lethendralis-paints @cashweasel @kundool @deheerkonijn @javsarts @weetlebeetle @kollapsar @mooreaux @rosefuckinggenius @/ArtbyAinna (IG) @littlestpersimmon @callmebeem

Trystan x Noel by @rosefuckinggenius

#cfwc writer of the month #playchoices #choices the stories you play #lilyoffandoms #choices fic writers creations #choices fanfiction #choices fanart

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shannankle · 4 months

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The Sign Episode 7 Thoughts

Showing abs is apparently necessary for good art (taking notes)

Okay but are they talking about having him paint him, make love, or kill him and make him a part of the art (they keep showing the art tools like torture tools)

That love scene was really beautiful, love the way it makes the art very visceral. The way it's framed reminds me a bit of Hannibal and the way bodies there are framed as art.

Ah so we are intentionally blurring the lines here between love making, art, and potential murder--cause the scene of him washing off the paint is pulled straight from a crime thriller. I like the contrast between the red paint and the blue lighting.

Interesting bathroom, the shot is really pretty, but logistically how do you shower without getting everything wet. The mirror is really interesting though. Practically it's a good way to make sure he gets all the paint off. But it also highlights how alone he is here, with only his own reflection to keep him company.

Yai why are you trying to stop Tharn from saving someone?

These guys are so bad at working, meanwhile Yai is telling Tharn not to get distracted from the job they're already all not doing

Oh I like the way the actor plays Mr. Montree. A lot of actors would overplay the sinister aspect to make sure the audience really gets it, but instead of any tension in his voice or body language, he comes across quite genuine and warm in his responses. We can still pick up the tension if we observe the captain and read between the lines of what he's saying. Nice!

Tharn, darling, maybe don't tip the guy off! I'm glad Yai told him that was stupid

Ah hello again Nat's abs!

Interesting that most of the guests are in black, white, or beige, but Mr. Montree is in blue and Phaya's grandma is in red. Of course those are the colors used in the painting and earlier with Art. It makes sense that Mr. Montree would stand out, but I'm curious why Phaya's grandma in particular. Will she become more important? Is she related to Mr. Montree in some way?

I'd love to know more about the artists and art they used for this episode. There's some really gorgeous pieces

Oh no a broken statue I'm getting Shadow flashbacks

Wait why would they detain Art? It was clearly an accident

Dr. Chachacha stepping up to say Art is his patient, what is this Hannibal? Dr. Chalecter over here! It's got to be an influence right? Cause I was getting similar vibes in the opening scenes too

I wonder if hysteria as a term has the same connotations as it does in Western psychiatry. Like is it still a term that's used medically? Or is it clearly outdated? If it's the later, why doesn't that raise any eyebrows? Either way it fits with his sinister role in the story and the way he riles Phaya up to cause problems and make it seem like Phaya is dangerous or hysterical. Say Art is hysterical and off his meds and you can discredit him. How much of that is Dr. Chalecter using some sort of power on people is hard to say.

Huh, even after that back and forth, I'm not quite sure what the show's perspective is here on mental illness. They aren't necessarily pushing back on the idea that it can make you dangerous, even if there's some nuance added. Though Dr. Chalecter did get in a funny burn telling Phaya: you're not mentally ill, your personality just sucks.

Okay I get that Phaya is acting like an idiot because he's scared, but my patience is a little thin. It's just not a dynamic I enjoy. I'm kind of hoping it really is Dr. Chalecter's doing.

Oooof Dr. Chalecter is over here distinguishing "normal" people vs mentally ill people. Rich and ableist! Despite the copganda the show is at least giving us evil psychiatrists.

No don't bring the charismatic psychiatrist into your police investigation! It's like the captain hasn't even seen Hannibal!

Did Kao's body get put into the art and that's why they can't find him?

Okay I guess I'm glad it wasn't portrayed as him killing out of madness or mental illness, that's a relief.

Tharn's visions are getting super convenient and helpful now. I like the touch of focusing on the clock in the flashback

Imagine being the poor cab driver. You pick up a guy with a bleeding neck and instead of going to the hospital he asks you to drop him somewhere sketchy

Why would you sit in the car to get evidence? Wouldn't that disrupt things?

These two have no chill, why are they bickering in front of everyone's salad. Also not sure why we needed a montage of the meeting.

Kitty Kitty Kitty Kitty!!!

Oh Phaya's little meow to deflect, adorable!

Huh the grandma's comments about not understanding people's motivations and everyone losing their minds are troubling. Feels in line with what the episode seems to be bringing up around mental illness. Even with Tharn's response, I'm not really sure what the show is trying to say about the topic. Kind of similar to last week's take on justice.

Kitty makes the perfect transition shot!

Interesting how the final scenes between Phaya and Tharn here mirror Art and Kao but with very different endings. Both begin in spaces where Art and Phaya make and display their art. Tharn and Kao are invited into these intimate spaces. But the couple's follow opposite trajectories--one betraying that intimacy (Kao) and the other (Thar) deciding to take a leap of faith and trust in it.

Art and Kao make love in a scene that may have just been a fantasy, but, real or not, the scene has a dream-like aesthetic that is edging into nightmare. We then learn they fought and separated.

In contrast, Phaya and Tharn talk, resonate with each other emotionally and come together. They then make love. Like, Art and Kao's love scene, there's a fantastic quality, but this one stays out of nightmare territory.

The mirrors are particularly notable. We end with mirror's capturing Phaya and Tharn together, intimate. While we began with Art in his bathroom, the mirrors highlighting how alone he is.

A final thought: It has been 4 weeks since Sand has graced our screens, now we must wait at least a week more and that is a true crime!

#thought i'd start writing some reactions to shows rather than just meta #though i definitely slipped into meta at the end there anyway lol #the sign the series #the sign #the sign episode 7 #the sign spoilers #my posts #my reactions

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st4rstudent · 4 months

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tips on how to draw cogs?

truth be told, I haven't drawn many cogs (mainly just one or two), but I will try to answer this as generally as I can!

This is a long post so I'll post this under the cut.

my biggest tip, as well as for anything, is to break down the shapes. If you try to look at everything at once it becomes really easy to overwhelm yourself. Examples will be drawn sketchy, but hopefully the point gets across.

Our first test subject is mouthpiece which I've never actually drawn before [marketable plushies post doesnt count]. as you can see, I tried to break down a lot of the shapes into much more simpler ones. A lot of cogs seem to share some very obvious shapes, probably because a lot of them are object-related (normal cogs included- first that comes to mind are pencil pushers).

You can do this with really ANY character. Here's our second test subject DOPA for another example.

now these are mainly references from the pictures themselves, which are great as a starting point. my other big tip is just to practice. you don't have to do big full pieces every day, but even just little doodles will help you. i think its very rare for anyone do to super good their first time and this goes with anything, even if you're a highly skilled artist.

you've probably also noticed but I've left out details in my examples, such as the little dots on mouthpiece's eye borders. If you feel that adding all the small details would overcrowd your drawing or just not help it, then I think it's fine to leave them out (of course there are always exceptions to this but as a general rule, its ok).

along with removing details, i think adding details also cannot hurt [to an extent]. if there's something you think would look nice then add it. who cares its your drawing have fun. As an example I'll use prethinker. I always add the little line in the middle, which his model doesn't have. But this is also based off of the 1.3 promotional art as well. Another example could be that when I draw misty, I add a line that connects their eyebrows to their eye. idk just feels more robotic to me and i like it

and again as you notice, my drawings are not model accurate. your style is most likely not going to be exactly like the game and that's completely fine. adjust to your liking, interpret as you will. enjoy the process of creation.

And finally, I'll add my little tip for metal coloring. One thing about metal is that usually the lightest highlight is next to the darkest shadow

The gif goes as base -> shadow 1 -> shadow 2 -> highlight 1 -> highlight 2 -> cleanup + extra

I like to add a few light marks to indicate scratches. although if you wanted more depth, you'd take the darkest shadow and lightest highlight and put them together like this

often the metallic parts are not the focus of my works so I leave it without. As for the random black marks on the lineart, that just also gives it more depth.

And finally, look at other peoples art. Look at the way they draw and pick out bits and pieces of what you like and try to interpret that in your own style.

ok I think that's all. Hopefully this helped!

#clemask #long post #sorry #these are kind of vague overall art tips rather than specific ones but i think its because a lot of my processes follow the same general ar #tips that i follow #but yeah my general rule is just to practice and observe. there will be things that you change and thats fine #sorry if you wanted a specific cog. if you did you can resend an ask and specify but either way i hope this helps you! or anyone else

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rosenkranz-does-things · 11 months

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Hey! I’m really enjoying your art and style (and also so sorry if your notifs are full of a bunch of likes from me!) Especially love the process videos. I LOVE process videos!

I was wondering if I might ask: how do you pick your shades when highlighting and shadowing your subjects? Do you start with an eyedrop of the local shade and then vary, or another method?

hi! oh thank you so much, glad you like it!! 🧡

you can kinda see it here, though it's too quick, so I'll make sure to post a part of my coloring process that doesn't flash quite as much next time. basically yes, I just spin the color wheel in various directions starting from the local shade, like cooler tones in the shadows and warmer light. I'm not sure how good of an example this is haha, basically it's just a lot of fucking around and finding out. i try the color, it doesn't work, i try a different one, etc etc

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salchat · 1 year

Text

Is this a bad drawing?

Well, yes, in a way, of course it is! I mean - poor Dean! What a mess! On the other hand, no, it isn't. In fact, why does it even have to have a value judgement on it? Did I enjoy drawing it? Yes. Did I learn anything? Yes - because I was trying to get a sense of shape and form and playing with how angles and planes and features work.

Anyway, it's on cheap newsprint, so it doesn't matter, which I think is important for playing around, which is when good learning happens. Also, I used crayons, which don't erase, so you can't get all 'ooh, I've done it wrong! I have to rub it out!' But you can scrub over the top, which is much more fun.

Here's what I did next (all my progress shots have shadows in because I sit facing away from the kitchen window):

Things have changed. But sometimes colour helps to see what works and what doesn't, especially putting in the light bits, so you get more 3-d sense. And colour's fun.

I used yellow for highlights and a dark grey to get more of a contrast on the deep shadows. And I like scrubbing over the top with a pink to get a bit more 'life' into it.

Here's the next stage. I used some white crayon:

And here's another - see if you can spot what I changed. Sometimes I improve things, sometimes they get worse! Which is fine, because I just keep going and messing about and scrubbing over the top. Only rarely, when I'm working on a drawing on the good paper and I've realised there are major proportional problems do I get all 'argh! It's wrong! @#£!££#%%@!!.' And even then, you'd be surprised how you can move a whole eye or the entire mouth and it's still fine in the end.

And then I did just a couple more tweaks and then moved around the table so I don't get a shadow (you can't sit there all the time because it's like a major family thoroughfare and you get bashed). I also edited to try to show what it really looks like, which my camera's not very good at.

There he is. A finished Dean - nothing special in the grand scheme of art, but I played and had fun and learned things, which is an important way of living, I think.

#dean winchester #fanart #my process #playing #crayons #spn

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whoreanghae · 2 years

Text

snowstorm ; chwe hansol

genre - friends to lovers, stuck together, theres only one bed trope (if u squint)

wordcount - 2.1k

disclaimers - lowercase was on purpose, fic under the cut ofc!

a/n - another friends to lovers sorry i just will forever love this trope so much, also the fts highlight medley is SOOOO good shadow is my song i think. i just finished this and its currently 5am so i apologize for any issues <3<3<3 enjoy

as draining as it was, you always found each day filled with classes to be somewhat rewarding at the end of the day, even if said reward was knowing it was your last class before the weekend. as you unlocked the door to your apartment, all you could think of was spending the next two days ignoring the pile of homework and assignments you have to work on. you made a beeline straight for your sofa as you toss your bag onto your kitchen table. you relax for 30 seconds, eyes closed, soaking in the artificial light from the lamp plugged in next to you. that is, until the trill of your phone ringing snaps you out of your trance. you pick it up, not bothering to open your eyes.

“hey,” you said, sounding more tired than expected. the voice on the other side sounded slightly more awake than you did. “are you done with your last class? if so what are you doing right now?” all the questions were enough to wake you up from your daze.

“i just walked in the door like 2 minutes ago, and i am actually free!” it was rare that yours and vernon’s schedules matched up. between his promotions and practicing, and your university lectures and assignments, it was proven difficult to find time to spend with eachother. thats why whenever possible, you would both be open to doing the most mundane of things together. whether it be running errands or just watching some random netflix show and eating popcorn. you both found comfort in the relaxed nature of it all. it was very you.

“wanna go get coffee?” he said, already expecting a yes. and of course, he got the answer he expected. “of course i do, and im buying this time! you paid for mine last time, now its my turn.” your smile could be heard through your voice. “fine, but im ordering the cheapest thing on the menu!” you rolled your eyes. vernon was always adamant on people not spending money on him, but you always evaded that rule whenever you could.

you groaned sarcastically, making vernon chuckle. “alright, im on my way now, be ready or else im never taking you anywhere ever again.” you giggled as you stood up, throwing your jacket back over your shoulders. “you’d never last a week without me.” you said tauntingly. vernon couldnt help but smile. your friendship had always been like this, constant teasing and sarcasm. “shut up, get ready. he said, trying to suppress the smile growing on his face. “i will, see you soooon.” vernon mumbled a bye as he hung up the phone and you grabbed your phone and your wallet from your bag.

you slid into the passenger seat of vernons car and brushed the snow off of your jacket. “god, was anyone expecting this storm? its crazy out here.” vernon laughed at how shocked you were that it was snowing in the middle of january. “apparently its supposed to get worse, but i wont let that get in between us seeing each other for the first time in a week.” he smiled over at you as he put the car in drive and left the parking lot of your apartment complex. you looked over at him and the small smile he has on his face whenever you look at him. he always looks so content in your presence, as you feel the same in his. you watched him maneuver around the roads, mesmerized by his actions. he soon spoke, breaking you out of your daydream.

“oh, i have to stop by the practice room really quick, is that okay?” you nodded. “im just tagging along, i dont care where we end up.” you said with a smile. vernon pulled into the parking lot of the building and opened his door, stepping out into the snow. he watched as you got out of his car and screwed up your nose at the fluffy flakes falling all around you, slowly getting more and more heavy as the snow piled in the streets and lots around you.

you followed vernon into the elevator as he pressed the button leading up to the floor of seventeen’s practice rooms. you had been there a couple times, just for visits or bringing them snacks and drinks for motivation. the elevator ride was quiet. it was a comfortable silence, the low hum of the elevator music filling the air as you and vernon basked in each others company. the elevator beeped as the doors opened and you both walked down the hallway leading to their practice room. it was growing late, and the worsening weather outside caused the building to be somewhat of a ghost town. usually bustling with people working and hanging out, it was quiet and tranquil. you reached the end of the hallway as vernon used his keycard to unlock the door.

with a beep from the keycard scanner, vernon opened the door and you followed behind him as he walked into the large open room. he walked towards the cabinet where they put all of their personal items as they practice and pulled out a navy blue hoodie and a black beanie. he held them in his arms as he spun around to face you. “ready to go?” he said, walking towards the door. you hesitate before speaking up. “maybe we can stay here for a bit? wait for the storm to die down a little.” vernon quirked an eyebrow before shrugging. “sounds like a plan. come sit.” he walked to the corner of the room, where two black beanbags sat next to each other. as you both sat down, vernon gasped and jumped back up and half-ran to the other side of the room, where the entertainment system was. you laughed to yourself at his urgency. after a second, vernons playlist was playing quietly through the speakers around the room. he smiled as we walked back over to where you sat, fondly admiring his every move.

you and vernon had sat in the practice room talking for over an hour. you had both honestly lost track of time. he checked the time, 10:27pm. you both quickly realized that your usual cafe had closed half an hour ago. he sighed, apologizing to you for not being able to get coffee like he had planned. “vern, i dont care what we do, as long as we get to catch up.” he scrolled on his phone, eyebrows furrowed, not replying to what you had said. you could tell he was trying to figure something out. you leaned towards him, furrowing your own eyebrows as well. “whats wrong?” he looked up at you as he turned his phone to show you an article stating that all roads in your area had closed due to the force of the storm. your jaw dropped as you made eye contact with vernon, and you both started laughing at the irony of it all. you dont see each other for over a week, and suddenly you’ll be stuck together for the foreseeable future.

the article that you and vernon had read stated that it can be expected for roads to stay closed until the morning, so you both decided that it was in your best interest to settle in to stay in the practice room for the night. “wait, i think it’s right… here!” vernon opened and closed cabinets in the practice room until he found the one he was looking for. inside the cabinet, there was a white blanket neatly folded and a white pillow on the shelf above it. “excuse me for asking, but why do you guys have a blanket and pillow in your practice room?” you couldnt help but laugh. the thought of someone needing a nap mid practice was the most seventeen thing you could think of. “well one time hoshi got locked out of the dorms so from that day on he kept supplies here just in case it happened again.” of course it was hoshi.

you both retreated back to the beanbags after finding the blanket and setting it aside. neither of you were tired, so you stayed up talking in the hopes that the storm would subside and the roads would miraculously open back up again. you talked and talked until the clock hit 2am and you both couldnt finish a sentence without yawning. vernon walked over to where he had layed the blanket and pillow on the counter, and brought it over and put both in your lap. “why are you giving it to me? you need to sleep too.” you picked it up and tried to pass it to him but he lightly pushed your hands away. “ill be fine, i want you to be comfortable.” you frowned at vernon, insisting on him taking it from you. vernon gave in, taking the stack from you and settling in. as he unfolded the blanket, he opened his arms. you quirked an eyebrow, confused as to what he was doing. “listen, im not gonna be the only one sleeping with a blanket. come here.” you stood up and walked over, inserting yourself into the space he had made for you under the blanket. the two of you had been friends for a while, but you had never been this close before. you expected it to be awkward, but it was surprisingly natural to both of you. your head rested on the pillow as vernons eyes fluttered shut, his long eyelashes laying softly on his cheeks. you admired his features, before closing your own eyes in case he feels you staring at him. soon, you were lulled to sleep by vernons soft breaths against your forehead.

you woke up with one of vernons arms lazily draped across your hip, and your legs intertwined together as an attempt to create the illusion of the beanbag you slept on having more room than it does. judging by his slow breaths and steady heartbeat, he was still asleep. there were no windows in their performance room, so you had to crane your neck to locate the clock on the wall and find out how early or late you woke up. 9:03am. it was still early enough to let vernon sleep instead of disturbing his peace. you turned your head back to his sleeping figure. the light snores coming from him would annoy anyone else, but to you they were endearing. everything about vernon was this way to you. everything he did was perfect. you adored vernon, but had never seen him as anything other than a friend. as you lay here, limbs connected and the fading scent of his cologne lingering around you, you wonder if you had ever seen him as just a friend. what if you had been repressing the feelings you had? what if seeing him like this, so peaceful and vulnerable, had awakened something? what if-

your train of thought was brought to an end when an arm squeezed around your waist and a face was buried into your neck. you smiled a wide smile. “good morning sleepyhead.” you ran a hand through vernons messy hair as he groaned a “morning” into your skin. you sat like that for a minute, even closer to each other, until he leaned back and rubbed his eyes. “what time is it?” he said, his voice deep and laced with sleep. “its 9 oclock.” you couldnt help but smile at him. you rarely saw vernon early in the morning, only on times when you both made all day plans instead of impromptu ones. he yawned as he asked, “have you seen if the roads have opened yet?” you shook your head. “i couldnt reach my phone, its over on the shelf and you looked too comfy, i didnt want to disturb you.” the tips of his ears turned pink as he rolled over slightly and stretched to reach his phone. he rested his phone on your hip as he tried to find an update. you let your head fall to the pillow again, lightly closing your eyes as vernon scrolled through news sites.

“oh, it looks like theyre back open!” vernon said, slowly waking up, “you ready to go?” you didnt bother to open your eyes, just shook your head. “lets stay here a little longer. this beanbag is comfier than i thought.” you smiled as you heard his phone hit the table and his arm returned to its previous place around your hip. vernon pulled you closer, not saying another word.

#seventeen #seventeen oneshot #seventeen imagines #svt #chwe hansol #vernon #vernon fluff #vernon fanfic #friends to lovers #stuck together #theres a storm #its the stereotypical #i guess we're stuck #vernon x reader #kpop fluff #whoreanghae

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helplesslypurple77 · 7 months

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Day 7-Atsushi/Fukuzawa with kinks Aphrodisiacs and Praise kink

Notes: Really Rare Pair lol. I dunno, it's fun(I'm a multishipper). ALSO DID YOU GUYS KNOW THAT BENTO’S IN JAPAN COST LIKE 3-5 BUCKS? I'M SO JEALOUS THEIR LIKE 15$ HERE!

It was a relatively peaceful evening at the Agency. And that was because he was the only one here. Atsushi doubted that it would be this quiet if they all had not abandoned him alone to do paperwork and went off on missions. Well, besides Dazai. No one knew where he was. They had their guesses. Kunikida had guessed, ‘off somewhere slacking off as usual,’ Ranpo had simply said ‘woman’ and Yosano and Kenji had guessed suicide attempt. Kyouka hadn't weighed in, and neither had Tanzaki and Naomi, but that was because they hadn't been there. Atsushi was sure that if they had been there, they would have had their own opinions.

But anyway, everyone was out and Atsushi was demoted to doing paperwork all day long in his loneliness. It wasn't too bad in all honesty. It was quiet, and the sun was just burning the horizon with orange and yellows. It was peaceful. The wind was gentle and smelled faintly of something sweet, and a street musician was playing faintly in the background. Atsushi was the only one here, as far as he knew. And he had gotten through a substantial amount of the work he had been avoiding, and he had secretly raided Ranpo’s snack drawer(although based on how it wasnt locked like it usually was, Atsushi wouldn't be surprised if the man left it open for him as an apology).

Atsushi leaned back in his chair, stretching. He might as well go to the corner store and get some dinner, maybe replace a few of Ranpo’s snacks while he was at it. The wind caressed his face as he closed the door behind him, tossing his hair gently around, letting the longer strands tickle his cheeks. It was a good temperature, not too cold and not too warm and the sun splashed a pretty sunset over the horizon. Golden hour light highlighted the world, casting it in a brilliant ethereal glow. It was nice to get out of the office for a minute, to walk through the streets, busy with people on their way home from work, and simply stretch for a minute.

He's turning the corner to the supermarket when he spots it, the cute little bento shop right next door, with a big red ‘buy one get one free!’ sign, and he’s never really been one to resist a good sale. The bell tinkles as he enters the shop, the only other customer, a giggly couple in the corner, barely pay him mind as he walks to the counter. The woman working the register smiles brightly at him.

“Hi cutie, what can I getcha?” Atsushi can't help the red that scrawled across his cheeks, he’s still not used to compliments. The woman is pretty too, and while these days Atsushi’s type is a little different, he can at least admit she’s pretty. Dazai would probably ask her for double suicide. “Um, I'll take the Katsu Bento please!” The woman, whose name tag reads Akiko nods, tapping away at the register with her long acrylic nails. “Oh yeah!” Akiko looks up. “We're actually offering a discount right now. If you try our new pickles we give 50% off! What do ya think, sweety?” Atsushi’s nodding before he can even think properly. “I'll take it. I also saw you guys have a buy one get one free deal right now?” Akiko nods, smiling. “Yep, so you want two Katsu bento’s with the new pickles. That’ll be 200¥.” Atsushi hands over the coins with a smile, and the woman slides his bentos across the counter. She tosses him a wink as he leaves. “Enjoy baby.”

The bell tinkles as he leaves, the breeze welcomes him back into the dusk. The sun has sunk a little more, but still peaks over the horizon, as if it longs to stay for one more hour. Birds chirp and leaves spin through the air and a little girl runs past him, chasing a runaway balloon. The afternoon is perfect, but almost two perfect and Atsushi’s almost waiting for Akutagawa to jump out of the shadows and threaten him with a few amputated limbs. But he makes it all the way back to the Agency without any notable accidents.

The Agency is no longer empty when he gets back, the president is sitting on the brown leather couch by the door, flipping through a book. And Atsushi hates how his heart speeds up a little bit when he sees him. He looks unfairly dignified and attractive as he flips through his book, looking up and meeting Atsushi’s eyes. “There you are, Atsushi, I was wondering where you had gone off two.” Atsushi pointedly ignores his flushed cheeks and speeds up heart rate and holds up the to-go bag. “Went out to grab some dinner. Would you like one sir? I have an extra bento.” The President closes his book with a nod. “I would like one, thank you.”

◈◈◈

The bento Atsushi hands him is lovely, with one side of rice with a rather generous piece of Katsu sliced across it. There are three different types of sides, including a lovely cucumber salad, a pickled leaf that looks a bit like perilla, and a little mochi for dessert. He gratefully takes the chopsticks Atsushi hands him, giving the boy a grateful smile. The little flush on his face is charming. “This looks delicious, Atsushi. Tell me how much I owe you.” Atsushi unwraps his own chopsticks, a bashful little smile curved across his face. “Oh don't worry about it, it was a buy one get one free deal. They also gave me a 50% off discount if I tried their new pickles.” He uses a chopstick to pick one of the leaves out, taking a bite. “Oh, these are good.” Fukuzawa takes a bite of one and finds he does not care for the taste at all. It has a distinctly mint like flavor, but strangely not and because of the pickling, kind of bitter. He scoops his into Atsushi’s bento. Atsushi sends him a grateful little smile.

The rest of the Bento is delicious, and Fukuzawa digs in as they talk. “You know Atsushi.” Fukuzawa starts out, “You have been doing exceptionally well with your jobs lately.” The flush that takes his cheeks is adorable, and Fukuzawa can't help the thought, exceptionally cute. The boy has always been susceptible to praise. “You don't have to say that, Sir.” Fukuzawa shakes his head. “No, I mean it. And your suggestion to team up with the mafia proved a very good one.” And, although he won't say this part, he likely would have not thought of it himself, or even if he had, he would have disregarded the thought. He didn't want to think too hard about the reason he even thought properly about it in the first place. The boy smiles bashfully at the praise, his whole body practically singing with joy, his ears and tail flicking happily—

Wait, a tail and ears? Fukuzawa looks again, just in case he hallucinates in his old age. Sure enough, two ears have sprouted on the boy's head, and a tail flicks behind him, wagging slightly. Fukuzawa frowns. While it's admittedly kind of adorable, and his hands are itching to stroke the soft white fur, he should probably tell him. But he really doesn't want to. Atsushi is sure to put them away then, and they're just so cute! Fukuzawa really, really wants to pet them, maybe run his hands through Atsushi’s soft hair while he’s at it.

Atsushi still hasn't noticed the ears, and is happily munching away at those new pickles. He seems to really like them, it's almost charming how he chomps away happily, a little smile curved across his face. Those leaves look strangely familiar though, but Fukuzawa just can't place them…

“Um Sir? Is something wrong?” Those eyes are looking at him, and Fukuzawa realizes he's staring. He shakes his head, clearing thoughts of petting Atsushi out of his head. He really should just tell him about the ears, as much as he doesn't want to. He opens his mouth, ready to tell all, but he never gets the chance because suddenly Atsushi is gone, replaced by a huge white tiger. The change is almost instantaneous, and although Fukuzawa should be scared, he really isn't because the tiger looks less fearsome and more just adorable as it pads around the table, pouncing on the couch and laying its head in Fukuzawa’s lap. Fukuzawa almost melts, because his lap is full of giant Atsushi kitty and he just has to stroke him.

The fur is as soft as he imagined, and a deep pur rumbles out of Atsushi Kitty, the vibrations rattling him and the couch. The massive cat nuzzles his hand, almost begging for more pets. With joy, Fukuzawa obliges.

The ring of his phone cuts through the calm of the room. Atsushi Kitty’s ears flick slightly as Fukuzawa removes one hand to answer. It's Dazai.

“Yo, Boss? Is Atsushi with you?”

Fukuzawa chuckles, “Yes, in a manner of speaking.”

“Uh, ok. Well, he’s not picking up his phone.” Dazai sounds like he’s barely holding back laughter. “I forgot to tell him that he should not get the Bento’s from that place down the street.”

Fukuzawa’s blood runs cold. “Why?”

“You sound panicked.” Dazai sounds far too pleased. “Don't worry, it's nothing bad. They have a few deals and you know how Atsushi can't resist those.”

Dazai says it's nothing but ice cold panic still runs through Fukuzawa’s veins.

“Anyway, they have a new pickle that he shouldn't eat.” He hears a commotion on the line, and then Dazai’s voice is replaced by Kunikida. “President? Yes, Dazai was dallying so i'll just tell you.”

“What's wrong with the pickles?” Fuuzawa tries to steady his voice, but an embarrassing tremor is still there. Fukuzawa can almost hear Kunikida frowning through the phone. “He ate them, didn't he?”

“Yes”

Fukuzawa can hear giggling in the background, probably Dazai. Kunikida continues. “Don't worry, they aren't poisonous. I talked to the lady down the street and she said it is a new strain of catnip they’ve developed.”

The panic is gone, replaced by amusement. “I see, well that's not a problem then.”

“Well, um, you see…” Kunikida sounds almost flustered, and then he's replaced by Dazai again.

“What Kunikida is too flustered to say is that the Catnip acts as a potent aphrodisiac.” Fukuzawa almost chokes, Dazai sounds far too thrilled as he continues. “Apparently, it has no effect on humans, but most cats almost immediately go into a heat of some type.”

“But what effect will it have on Atsushi? He’s technically a tiger.” Fukuzawa is grasping at straws here, desperately trying to tamp down any inappropriate thoughts. Dazai is replaced, but with Ranpo this time.

“Hey boss, did Atsushi eat all my snacks”

“Ranpo, I don't think that's our priority right now.”

“Yeah yeah, well the aphrodisiac should have an effect on Atsushi, because of the tiger.” Fukuzawa loves his members, but seriously, he just needs information right now. Ranpo continues. “I'd guess there would be like three stages. One, cat ears and tail, two, full tiger form, and three back to human.” Fukuzawa can faintly hear rustling in the background, and a few muffled giggles.

“He’ll probably go all horny when he’s back in human form.” Ranpo chomps on something, probably some chips. “This is good for you, Boss. you can finally stop lying to yourself—

Fukuzawa hears a commotion in the background again and then Dazai is grabbing the phone. “Don't worry Prez, I'd be happy to come back and take care of him, you don't have to do any—” There’s a smack, and then the line goes dead.

Fukuzawa is frozen for a moment, truly taking in the information. Apparently, the store down the road decided to mutate a new type of Catnip, specifically for pickles? In his old age, Fukuzawa has truly stopped being surprised by most things but this one, this one almost gets him. The massive tiger on his lap purrs, nuzzling into his hand as he resumes his petting, trying to come up with a game plan for when Atsushi returns to his human form and inevitably ‘goes all horny’. He has, to his knowledge, three options. One, he could call Dazai back and have him ‘deal with it’. This option on the surface seems like a good one, but the thought of Dazai’s hands all over Atsushi makes a weird feeling start in his chest.(he knows it's jealousy, but he can't admit it, even just to himself.) Option two is to take care of it himself. And, although it's the most attractive option, that one is out of the question. He has grown much too old to be messing around like that, especially with a much younger employee.

The third option is quickly looking to be his only option, to simply wait it out and do nothing. And in the end, its the only option he really has.(In the back of his mind, Fuykuzawa prepares himself for the battle of a lifetime, because he’s not sure what's going to happen when Atsushi returns to human form, but he can certainly imagine it. Atsushi’s pretty flushed face, his lips parting in moans and whimpers, his flushed chest covered in pretty hickeys, his voice panting out that stupid appellation the boy likes to use, “Oh, Fukuzawa Sir, it feels so good. Oh oh oh—)

His phone ringtone startles Fukuzawa out of his thoughts. Atsushi’s ears flick in displeasure as Fukuzawa removes his hands, answering the call.

“Yo Prez.” Dazai sounds thrilled. “We got some info.”

“I see.” The massive tiger in his lap is purring again, and Fukuzawa almost melts into a puddle of sappy joy. Dazai chuckles.

“Apparently, you have a couple options.” Dazai says. “One, pardon my french, you fuck it out of him.” Fukuzawa clears his throat, hoping to clear his mind of all the images that conjured up. Dazai continues, sounding much too amused. “Two, ask Lucy to do it. Or three, I'm still available to come home and do it for you.”

“Can I not just wait it out?” Fukuzawa hates the green monster of jealousy that rears its ugly head at the mention of Dazai or even Lucy ‘dealing with it’.

“Nope.” Dazai replies. “Apparently if you let it go he could get seriously injured. I dunno, I wasn't listening to the specifics.”

A small silence descends upon the two men on the phone, before Dazai speaks up once more. “So Prez, can I do it?” Fukuzawa doesn't like how excited he sounds, positively gleeful. “Put Ranpo on please.”

“Yeah, yeah. You know, maybe this is good. You can finally stop lying to yourself and we at the office can stop seeing Atsushi’s abandoned little puppy eyes every time you enter the room—”

A commotion sounds on the other side of the phone, but Fukuzawa doesn't really notice because it's at this moment that the fur on the giant tiger recedes, leaving behind a sleeping boy, head still nestled on Fukuzawa’s lap.

“Yo, boss? Did Atsushi eat all my snacks? I left to drawer open as an apology for leaving him there, but i only did it because i thought he would be too polite to eat them all—”

“Ranpo, is that really our priority right now?” Fukuzawa isn't proud of how his voice shakes slightly.

“Geez, ok. Did you need something?” Fukuzawa can actively hear Ranpo’s eye roll. “Cause we were just stopping at the store to get a snack refill.”

Fukuzawa is truly tempted to roll his eyes. “Atsushi is asleep right now. How long until the aphrodisiac kicks in.”

“I dunno, maybe ten minutes.” Ranpo says. “You should probably take him back to the dorms.”

“But i don't intend—” “Yeah sure, whatever you say.” And with a beep, the line goes dead. With a sigh, Fukuzawa gently hoists a still sleeping Atsushi into his arms, and starts the trek back to the dorms.

◈◈◈

Dusk has fallen, the sun has all but vanished over the horizon and a thousand stars paint the sky, He only gets a few strange looks on the way home, but it's clear that the people of Yokohama have long since grown used to the strange happenings around the Agency building and he gets back to the dorms, and into Atsushi’s apartment with no problems. It's only once he's stepped inside, when he’s set Atsushi gently on the floor and is rummaging around for the futon when he truly asks himself what he’s planning to do once the boy wakes up. And when he’s settling Atsushi gently on the futon, and is sitting beside it, he tries his best to think of a solution, any solution besides the one that's screaming at him. But he fails, and as he stands, ready to get Dazai and live with the jealousy, he feels a hand on his Yukata, pulling him to a stop, and he meets the hazy eyes of Atsushi Nakajima, awake but not totally lucid.

Truthfully, as soon as he meets those eyes, hazy with lust and slipping, he knows he's done for. But he still holds out hope that he can at least try to resist. He can at least tell himself that he’s going to stand up and leave the boy, and call Dazai. But he’s always been a stubborn man, at least to himself, and he does his best to shake Atsushi’s hand off gently. The younger boy has pulled himself into a sitting position, and is lazily undoing his tie with one hand, the other still hooked on the hem of Fukuzawa’s Yukata. “Sir, I feel so hot.” His voice is a calculated seduction, each movement, from the flick of his wrist as he pulls his tie from his neck, to the low lidded eyes and fluttering eyelashes is precisely calculated to wear down the walls separating his good sense from his dick.

And yes, Fukuzawa knows that most of this is likely involuntary, but it still works. Too well. Fukuzawa’s green hakama falls to the floor, knocked completely from his shoulders as Atsushi tugs especially hard, and in an effort to twist away, Fukuzawa trips, sprawling to the floor with a crash. He lands on his butt, his hands catching him on the way down, and Atsushi’s on him in a flash, crawling towards him along the floor. Frukuzawa grabs his shoulders, stopping him before he can do anything drastic. And puts up his last line of defense.

“Atsushi, do you, as well as you can, consent to this?” Atsushi is undoing more and more buttons, still gazing at him with those lust blown eyes. He nods, tugging gently on the hem of Fukuzawa’s Yukata. “Yes, Sir.” That address, that darn address makes his dick twitch in his pants, coming to life with a furry. Maybe it's because of the (substantial) age gap, or maybe because it's just Atsushi, but Fukuzawa knows he will never be able to hear it the same way again.

He wants to kiss him, he wants to press his lips to Atsushi’s own and caress him gently and take his time, but he feels like he doesn't have the right to. He feels, that he already has the privilege of touching Atsushi, because even though the boy seems to hold some affection for him, he’s still his boss, and a much older man, and its natural for Atsushi, a boy who had previously had no one to rely on but himself, to develop a crush on an older source of comfort in his life. And it should be Fukuzawa’s job to gently rebuke the boy's affections, and watch him fall for more suitable people like Lucy(and not Dazai, because that green monster of jealousy is rearing its ugly head once again.) He feels almost like he’s stealing something precious, something he can never return. And so, instead of kissing Atsushi, he flips the shorter boy over, letting him lay lewdly on his stomach, his ass pointed in the air. It's much more raunchy and dirty, and much less intimate, making him much less likely to get overwhelmed by his swiftly growing feelings and say something useless.

He takes the time to properly undo his Yukata and underlayer, folding them neatly if only to prove how sane and controlled he is right now, and when he looks back, he's greeted by the sight of a mostly naked Atsushi, grinding his hips down against the futon covering. Fukuzawa can feel his dick jump to hardness, because it's quite a pretty sight. The boy is thin, a small waist tapering into surprisingly wide hips and round little butt. Usually, he would take his time, maybe gently caress the boy and press kisses to those shoulders, but he just needs to fuck the Catnip out of his system, and hopefully avoid any awkwardly intimate things like hickeys and i love you’s(if only for his own sanity and integrity as an employer).

He highly doubts the boy has lube, and so he does the next best thing. He spits in his hand, lubing up his cock the best he can, under the circumstances. He lines his cock head up with Atsushi’s hole, stopping just one more time to check.

“Are you sure Atsushi? I could call Dazai—” Atsushi takes the decision out of his hands by gripping Fukuzawa’s cock, and gently shoving the head into his hole. Atsushi’s back arches, and a whimper exits his mouth, a whimper of Fukuzawa’s name and that stupid, sensual ‘sir’. Fukuzawa isn't proud of how he shoves the rest of the way in, gripping Atsushi’s waist with a groan. It's been a long time, too long, apparently. “Feel good?” He says as he begins to move, pulling out all the way and back in, in long, slow thrusts. “Yes, ohh Sir!” Atsushi’s hands are tangled in the Futon cover, head turned to the side, hair splayed across the blue comforter in a striking contrast.

He looks heavenly and sinful and Fukuzawa doubts he’ll be able to erase the image of Atsushi beneath him for a long, long time. His moans are pretty, just as pretty as his eyes, that beautiful vertical heterochromia, those gorgeous colores, the color of the sunset sky. A sunset sky overcast with the clouds of lust and devotion. His hole is tight and pulsing, hugging Fukuzawa’s cock in a warm welcome, almost telling him to never leave, to fuck this pretty boy forever, to love this boy forever. Fukuzawa can feel himself getting sappy, because he’s a weak, sappy old man and he can't help it.

Somehow, all his protests before have vanished all at once. Maybe he’s too far gone, too enamored with the boy and his pretty body to lie to himself anymore. Maybe, he considered as he leaned down, pressing Atsushi’s body into the mattress, letting his strokes speed up as the boy moaned his name once more, maybe this really was a good thing, a blessing in disguise as his colleagues had suggested.

“Ohh oh sir, I'm cumming!” Fukuzawa gives up on not being sappy, and tangles his hands with Atsushi’s, grinding his hips deep inside the boy as he cums, letting himself go not soon after. And, as he cleans the boy up a little and pulls the futon covers over his sleepy form, he lets himself seriously consider courting Atsushi, and gives the Bento box a five star review.

(And he never did hear Sir the same way again, every time Atsushi uttered the word it reminded him of that night, and made him flush in a business meeting. )

End Notes: Also, did you know that technically, catnip counts as an aphrodisiac when promoting cat mating? Well i didn't, and i learned it when i had to do research for this fic man. Also tigers don't really respond to catnip, but now they do because I said so.(and because i made up a mutation of it)

Taglist:@mulit05ho3st4n

#bungou stray dogs #kinktober 2023 #mariannacrxss #bsd smut #helplesslypurple77kinktober #kinktober #im so tired

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partyanimal167 · 1 month

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The Informant PT 7- Miguel x F!Reader

The end is near~ I wanted to return to kind of the original idea I had of the reader since things got hectic, but old habits die hard~ So why not stress our new boyfriend out 😉

Part One Prev Chap

CW: fem reader, mdni, author knows some Spanish, Afro-Caribbean reader in mind, cussing, smut, brat taming, sir kink

Things were good. The city's been safe. Other Spiders were joining the Society. You had a good thing going with Miguel...but well curiosity always seemed to get the better of you.

Miguel was...happy. And that was new to him. He wasn't necessarily sad or angry, but the stress of being what one may consider as the "Ultimate Spider-Man" could be draining. And somehow, he got thrown into keeping order on a multi-universal scale, so yeah. Life caused some mix emotions.

But. He did have you.

Despite you being thrown into the truth about himself, the relationship brought some type of "normal" to his life. Miguel did struggle with the balances of his life as a scientist and hero, but he couldn't give up his job. He didn't want to. It was another element of normalcy that also assisted him in his heroic life.

For instance, he could get into shady lounges on the pretense of sourcing chemicals and synthetic elements he had yet to get access to at work. There would also be whispers of wealthy weapon brokers and scheming villains. He could gleam some information for sure.

So after texting you that he'd be out late with work, Miguel dressed nicely in a cream colored dress shirt with a spread collar and dark brown slacks. He sprayed some cologne and took out a watch he received one Christmas. He appeared the part he played: a corporate scientist that was young and eager to get any and everything--one with money too.

...

The smell of cigars and other heavy scents bothered Miguel, but he couldn't pass up the opportunity when invited to a secluded room away from the party. A man went on about special dealings, booze, and pretty women, but Miguel only wanted in on one of those things.

So he barely touched his bourbon as he caught whispers of different conversations and noted who was there: an Oscorp rep, another from Stark Industries, others affiliated with the military. The official meeting had wound down, and now people were chatting. There were definitely updates to be made, but Miguel wanted to head out soon. He hadn't heard from you in awhile, and you were a night owl, so it was likely you were still up.

"Can I get you a new drink, sir? It seems you didn't enjoy this one." a smooth voice asked him from behind. He could smell something sweet and familiar, but Miguel didn't budge. He wasn't there for any sort of entertainment--strictly business.

"No thank you." he didn't even spare a glance. However, he tensed when a hand rubbed and pressed into the exact spot of the knot in his shoulder. He quickly turned to grab the offender's hand but paused when he saw their eyes.

Half of your face was covered with a black lacey fabric, but there was a well-known mischievous glint in your eye. "My apologies, sir. I just wanted to make sure everything was alright." Miguel couldn't hide the shock on his face, and it made you chuckle. Your eyes were highlighted with mascara and eye shadow. You wore a short cocktail dress and stood taller in wedges. Miguel knew you hated heels. What the hell is she doing here? "What are you doing here?" he whispered through clenched teeth.

You made a light gasp and covered your mouth. "I'm just working, sir. I do have another job you know."

Miguel knew what you were referring to, but he honestly hadn't expected you to get back into the underground game really. It wasn't that you were too scared, but he figured that you were going to let go of that drive concerning your childhood friend's death. But then again, he never asked you about it truly, so he wasn't sure.

However, for you, it was more than that. You were known and unknown, and this was your way of trying to keep yourself and others protected. Even with the way things turned out with Kingpin, there was always some criminal or shady business that needed information. Plus, your boyfriend did too. A pretty face and good talking skills could have you slip in to work and listen if you played the cards right.

Miguel grumbled. "I-,"

"Excuse me dear," one person called out to you, and you happily walked over to help the gentleman.

Miguel could only stare as you wooed men, laughed, and whispered before going away and returning with drinks. The scene replayed itself a couple of times before Miguel flagged you down. He gently pulled you down and whispered in your ear. "It's time to go home." he stated as he held on tight to your wrist.

You giggled and batted your eyelashes. "But sir, I'm not done with my shift yet." you replied sweetly.

The fiery look in his eyes turned you on, and while you were planning on that reaction, you certainly didn't mind where things seemed to be headed. Miguel only stood up before pushing a bill into the peek of your cleavage. "You have an hour; you better be home then." was all he said before walking away.

~~~

About 75 minutes later, you strolled into your home humming a tune while taking off your heels and coat. You continued on your way to get yourself a glass of water and sighed after the long hours. You didn't think much as you entered your already-lit bedroom and simply ignored the huge man sitting at the end of your bed as your started to let your hair down and undress.

"Hermosa, I told you to be home in an hour." Miguel simply stated.

"And I told you that I had to complete a shift." you matched his tone as you pulled an huge hoodie over before going to the sink to wash off your makeup.

"Tch, you really wanna play that game? What were you even doing there? And don't say work."

You continued to rub the face wash in circles. "I was trying to get some information. I know you had been looking for some updates and insights, so I went along."

Miguel rolled his eyes. "Okay, but did it require you dressing like that and flirting? I'm sure I got what I needed to."

You pulled the towel away from your face and grinned. "Wanna bet?"

Miguel didn't like the look in your eye, but he had to stay strong to prove his point. "I saw all the reps there and know there's a few shipments coming in next Wednesday."

You nodded before walking over to your bed. "Okay, but did you know that a weapons dealer is rumored to have gotten a lovely precious metal from Africa? Did you know that the cargo is being unloaded this Friday? Did you know that there's whispers of our old friend Kingpin making a return?" you chuckled as you leaned passed Miguel to reach for the scarf on your bed.

Miguel took your wrist before pushing you back to meet his eyes. "You're so difficult, sometimes." he grunted out.

You booped his nose and smiled. "But you love it. Now, let me put on my scarf."

Miguel pulled you into his lap before giving you a playful bite on the cheek. "No point. I'm going to fuck it off you anyway."

"Oh really?"

"Mmhm, plus you're in trouble. You're not allowed to go looking all pretty without me. It could hurt my feelings." There was a retort on the tip of your tongue, but you ended up on your stomach--hoodie rising up and ass exposed. "Now say you're sorry."

"What! I didn't do any-," you yelped when a firm smack was placed on a cheek. "Miguel!"

"You heard me. Say you're sorry."

You scoffed and rolled your eyes. "Miguel, I-," you felt a smack again.

"I can do this all night, hermosa." He rubbed a cheek and chuckled. "I'm waiting." You pouted before mumbling into the sheets. "What was that? Couldn't quite hear you."

That smug tone annoyed you, but you raised your head and threw a glare his way. "I'm sorry."

Miguel hummed as he leaned over you and kissed your lower back. "Good girl, what are you sorry for?"

Oh for fuck's sake. "You tell me Miguel. What should I be sorry for-" you gulped as you felt his warm strong hand hold your throat. You swallowed despite little pressure being placed. Your face warmed hearing how the man chuckled meanly. His teeth grazed along the skin at one side of your neck. You nearly whimpered.

"Bebita, tu sabes. You're sorry for teasing others with what's mine." he tightened his grip and bit down. The other hand crept around and rubbed your thighs. "These beautiful thighs are mine." his fingers traced around your mouth. "These sweet lips are mine." he rubbed his face against your head and took in a deep breath. "This precious hair is mine." you whined when he finally cupped at your core and teased your slit. "And this fat, wet pussy is all mine. Let me remind you."

It was always so hard to think that there could be too much of a good thing, but after how long Miguel had been pleasing himself between your thighs, you would definitely consider it a possibility. He brought you orgasm after orgasm; you gripped his hair unsure if you were trying to keep him there or push him away.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry! Please Miguel, fuck!" you pleaded and thrashed though with his grip on your legs, you barely budged.

...

Miguel groaned at your pleas and moved away to look at you. His eyes were half-lidded, hair tousled, face wet and glistening. "What's wrong, mami? I'm just making you feel good. I thought you wanted some attention." he entered a finger and moaned at the sound. "Hear how wet you are? Mierda, let me spoil you." and he returned like he was in a daze. He had to just give you some more.

"So you said, they're arriving on Friday?" Miguel typed away with glasses rested on his nose working away by the night stand.

"Mmhm," you groaned still recovering hours later. Your body thoroughly satisfied and mind barely holding onto the moment.

Miguel continued to read through tabs and check different hacked messages. One popped up, and he recognized the name of the port. "Oh that's going to be a lot to search. Might have to call in Jess and Peter J in." you grunted in response. Miguel chuckled as he turned over to kiss you on top of your head. "You're so good, amor. What would I do without you?" he beamed sweetly.

You hummed as you snuggled against him to finally get some sleep. "Yeah, I wonder."

~~~

FIN.

Thanks so much for reading! I don't remember the last time I wrote a multi-chap fic (definitely been a couple years with like...GrimmIchi?) I really enjoy this fandom and all the Spidermans. Besides being nerds, they can be quite relatable.

I think I'm gonna continue a couple one shots and possibly do some One Piece fics again, but hit me up on the inbox. I'm here to rant, vent, or gush over the favs.

Take care!

#atsv #across the spiderverse #spiderman #miguel o'hara #miguel x reader #fem reader #miguel ohara x reader #black fem reader #the informant #informer au #canon au #mineart #partyanimal167 #mine #marvel

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fly-sky-high-arts · 1 year

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i found you through your work on skurry's thumbnails and i really admire your art! i was wondering if you have any tips for blending/shading in your painting style since i struggle with that and you're pretty good at it. have a good day!

Hey thanks! I can try explain the best I can without loosing myself in what I'm trying to explain or confusing you in the process XD

I will be honest, and this isn't me being modest it's a general self critique but I am not very good with colors? (or backgrounds lol)

It's still something I'm trying to get to get a bit of a better hang of as well as do so in the way I will enjoy it and not make it too complicated and so far the simple rendering style seems to work out for me personally. Maybe something else could sit with you better but that's the joy of exploring the steps and methods in art, right? :3

Details bellow~

I'll try explain bellow what my general process is when making the slugcat paintings, as they seem to be the topic. I use different brushes for my other commissions and mix them around as I go but for slugcats specifically I used one brush (if not counting the pen tool I used to draw out and fill in the base color)

Detailed sketches help visualize the shape of what's being put down in base color but I'll use a simple one for this example:

With the base color in place, what I usually do is either: -Lock the layer like in this example and work on that single base where all the shaping and color will go on this layer -Create multiple layers of the base depending on what's closer to us or further (I used this for Gourmand and Spearmaster thumbnails), imagining segments like the arm closest to us as its own layer, then the body, then the back arm and so on, if the base shape has depth like that. (lock these as well)

The flat color then gets a gradient (gradient tool) that is worked with me shifting the hues and saturation on the color wheel to get more dark and colder shadow as well as warmer lighter highlight. You can play this in reverse and have cold highlights and warm shadows, depending what you feel like using for the piece

you can have the color palette somewhere visible if you want to reference these later on as you start to render shapes

Now, I have no way to personally explain shapes in detail so I will link a video on that, lighting and some more helpful stuff bellow the post.

What you have to think about is where the light is coming from. Based on the gradient made, here I kind of made it seem it's coming from the left upper corner or above the slugcat but how drastic it is will depend on stuff like what is actually around slugcat, where is it and how much light there is at all (if you look at the Artificer thumbnail, that is an example of little light but the source is also very dramatic red light of the ID drone thingy)

Note that you're allowed to make separate layer to make like a little guide I did above here on where the shadows will go and try base the render off of it.

This is the brush and its setting I'm using for slugcats. What's fun about this brush is that it's very soft but depending on the pressure means how much selected color it will apply to the area. (if you use paint tool SAI, the watercolor brush there applies this effect AND blending much better)

The brush works the way it blends depending where you set the tip and drag lightly. It took me a bit to get use to it but it will drag out the colors bellow it instead of applying color if not pressed too strong. You can use that to both add and blend colors BUT changing the size of the brush while doing so helps a ton.

What you mostly do next is "sculpt" the shape: You use darker color for depth and lighter to make things pop out.

You start of with most basic application on where the shadow and light are dropping by color picking the palette colors that were earlier applied for the gradient. The brush strokes should follow the shape itself (best way to think here is the same direction fur grows on cats and follow that haha)

COLOR PICK TOOL IS YOUR FRIEND~

You want to not just rely on the base palette colors but also color pick from shades and lights on the slugcat itself. Sometimes adding hues and tones between the already applied colors makes them feel more natural instead of using straight up shadow color. But this brush, as I mentioned earlier, is handy with blending stuff in, even if it's not super smooth.

Once you get the overall shadow and lighting done, you can start rendering with the same. What comes of the process is here is depending on how much time you want to spend shaping the look of the slugcat. I didn't had a lot of time but I got the gist of the slugcat down. Funny thing is that you can simplify this even more (and make it resemble cel shading haha)

What you can do after that is get more colors in, add more darker shadows and lighter highlights and like for this slugcat example, you can mix it up a bit. It's easier to stay consistent with colors but playing around by adding purples in blue shadows and light blues into warmer green highlights makes them pop out a bit more because now there are fresh colors in the mix.

(side note: You can use very dark and very light colors but it's prettier for the painting to not use any 100% black or white for anything like shading or highlights UNLESS you really want to have dramatic colors and negative space or such)

From this point on, you can basically adjust, shape, add, remove, work out the details etc. and mess around with how it looks. For practice purposes it's nice to keep it simple but trying to make more depth. I'm not the best at it, my work still feels rather flat but here is a tip that can help: Adding a layer above all layers, coloring it black and setting the layer option to saturation will make you see the colors in values. If you feel like they're too close to each other and too flat you can return to the base layer and add more depth with values to them, then recheck with the black saturation layer again by turning it on and off as needed.

(as you can see from my example, I am missing more darker colors around the neck and back arm haha)

What you come up with at the end again depends on you, what tools you trust using and how far you want to go with it.

At the end, I usually do adjustments to colors if needed. Say, the quick fix I can do to make up for missing shadows is to use one of the tone correction option, tone curve AND/OR color balance.

I usually use and play around with any of these (and sometimes level correction but not as often)

I adjusted base color (color balance and tone curve) and the background (desaturate it in shue/saturation/luminosity)

So uhhh

this isn't really like a tip of a sort, I can't really properly advice how to render since it's about tool preference and the personal process but I hope this was a bit insightful!

Here are some helpful videos that go into detail I could not work out via words or this process because they are multiple separate subjects that can help you learn about rendering colors:

youtube

#ask #about art #there is a bit more that goes on for the thumbnails themselves #like stuff about composition etc.#but hope this basic gist of the process is helpful still #as well as the videos linked

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midnightsilver · 7 months

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Artists Process Vid, Music Brother Let Me Be Your Shelter . (The art post on its own)

My Process: Migraines are not fun. Mostly I like to ‘trust the process’ and keep painting but this composition had several challenges that would be tricky at the best of times let alone with a marching band doing its best to pulverise my brain. So there are a fewl things I’d do differently if I did this again but I really liked the concept for this one so I thought I’d post the process vid and explain what gave me trouble.

I wanted this to be a dark moody picture lit by key highlights. It’s inspired by Sam in the cage in the Benders episode. But all the shadows and the cage bars obscured the shapes I rely on while drawing. (Things like head sizes, hair flow, jaw lines etc.) My initial sketch without any of the surroundings was fine. But you can see in my vid that once I start painting I move the hands and change the body shapes several times. Half way through I also have to flip my canvas. This was because I had lost sight of the shapes that I was aiming for in Sam’s head and features. So flipping the canvas makes my brain see the image from a new perspective and allowed me to correct some of the problems. (If you want to use this trick with traditional art, try looking at your wip in a mirror or taking a snap with your phone and flipping the photo.) It wasn’t just the shadows that were giving me problems with shaping the correct anatomy here though: Sam is also at a crouched angle and for Dean to be looking at him, Dean needed to be hunched over but looking up and away from the audience. These are both pretty unusual angles to draw from and even though I had an okay layout for the boys in my initial sketch, I lost several key lines as I was painting and so by the end their noses and chins are a little wonky. However I was so zoned in and hyper focused on the minute details that didn’t spot that until I had gone firm on my shadows and lighting and could see what the finished piece would look like. (Top tip: zoom out from your canvas or step back from you sketchbook every 5 or 10 mins to keep an overview of the big picture.) But that aside: I was busy ‘trusting the process’. Often a picture looks odd until all the shading is in the right place and even zooming out you can end up fussing over minor details when a bit more detail to the surrounding image will resolve the issue. So sometimes it best to just keep going. Sometimes not tho 😂 - Art is an art, not a science. In this case my trust was misplaced 🤷🏻‍♂️. By this time though my brain was dribbling out my ears and I didn’t have the will power to start over. Hopefully you can just enjoy the atmosphere and intent of this painting and forgive any anatomy issues. And we can all repeat together: “art doesn’t have to be perfect!” (And we will keep repeating that until we believe it! 👍🏻😁) ( - *Edit added a few hours later: actually it’s really not that bad a pic. No more issues than the rest of my art. Migraines make you cranky and frustrated and overly self critical. So don’t listen to the voices! This time I’m not going to repeat: art doesn’t have to be perfect. Instead I’m going to say: well done self! You made a new thing. Congrats! You rule. 😁)

Happy Arting my friends and have some heartfelt wishes for good health!

#supernatural #spn fanart #MidnightSilver #dean winchester #sam winchester #artists process #process video #digital painting #procreate

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choicesficwriterscreations · 8 months

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September MC & OCs of the Month - Special Edition: Ales Spencer Hunt

Help us in welcoming September's MCs and OCs of the month! That's right, plural! Most months, CFWC highlights one randomly selected MC or OC from our Meet My MC / OC List. (More info here.) But this month, we're doing something different.

In August, @lilyoffandoms hosted a Writers Appreciation Month, and we announced the September Writer of the Month would be selected from its participants. But all participants agreed - Lily deserved the honor! Still, we wanted to do something nice for the eleven writers who elected to participate to help uplift other writers in the fandom. So, this month, each of the eleven participants will have one of their MCs or OCs highlighted.

We will introduce each MC / OC individually, and once all eleven have been highlighted, a masterlist for the month will be created. We hope you enjoy getting to know all about them!

The sixth MC of the Month is @lovealexhunt's Alex Spencer Hunt.

Learn more about Alex below...

In your own words, tell us what you like most about your MC.

Alex was the first MC I wrote about in the PB universe. Alex got me writing again. She got me interested in fan fiction again. She brought this whole world into my life. I had lurked in the Choices fandom before, but it wasn’t until I started writing for Alex (and Thomas) that I really stepped out of the shadows to join. I love Alex and Thomas more than I can express. They have my whole heart. They inspired me to take a chance to join a community, to try writing again, and to make new friends. Without them, I probably wouldn’t be here today. What I love most about Alex and Thomas (because they go together) is they saved me and gave me something to aspire toward. The life she created is absolutely beautiful, and I hope that I can be even half as lucky as her! Alex gives me hope.

Do you feel your MC is like you at all? How are you alike or different?

Alex and I definitely have several similarities. Our biggest similarity is her love of coffee and all things caffeine. Alex sometimes carries 2-3 coffees with her just in case, and I may… also do that… I mean, can you really have too much coffee? No. No, you can not! Alex also loves animals, like I do. She rescued a black lab, Bogart, who is the most precious, goodest boy ever. I also have a black lab mix that I rescued. She believes in leaving the world a better place than she found it, even if it’s by doing small things, like picking up a piece of trash or pushing a shopping cart back. We both enjoy quiet moments at home with family. We also enjoy watching movies snuggled on the couch.

Alex is more outgoing and social than I am. I definitely struggle more with making friends and taking control of situations than she does. I am far more of an overthinker than she is. She can get in her own head, but she also knows how to get out of her own way; I definitely just get stuck in my head sometimes.

What is most important to your MC? What is their motivation in life?

Alex’s family is absolutely the most important thing to her. She loves Thomas, and her whole heart belonged to him until the day she met her twins. Felicity and Vincent are her entire world. She would do anything to protect them and keep them safe. Thomas and Alex decided that they would alternate projects between them so only one of them would work at a time so that they could be present parents. They love their careers, but with the demanding hours on set and the travel anywhere in the world, they never wanted to be apart or have their children raised by nannies, so this was their solution. The twins are their first thought in anything they do.

What are their biggest pet peeves/dislikes?

Alex has an irrational fear of frogs (another thing we have in common 🙈), so that is definitely her biggest dislike.

Some of her pet peeves are paparazzi (especially once the twins are born), bad coffee (it’s the worst), and unrealistic beauty standards. Alex refuses to have her photos highly photoshopped/edited because of the unrealistic beauty standards set by the industry. If a magazine does edit her photos, she always releases the unedited ones to show the world what is real, especially after the twins are born. She hates that mothers are embarrassed by their post-pregnancy bodies. Everyone is different, and everyone is beautiful!

If your MC could change one thing - anything - what would it be?

Alex would probably want to save her father. He died when she was 12 of a heart attack. He was in good shape, so it was completely unexpected. However, after years of wishing to change the past, Alex has realized that it is both the good and the bad that help define us. She desperately wished her father could have walked her down the aisle at her wedding, or met Thomas and their children/his grandchildren, but if she saved her father… then she may not have turned to acting as a source of comfort and to explore her feelings and then, she may never have met Thomas, and her world would be less whole without the life they built. So, in short, she wouldn’t change a thing.

What is your MC’s favorite quote or song?

Some of Alex’s favorite quotes:

“Nothing is impossible; the word itself says 'I'm possible!” ~ Audrey Hepburn

“Fairy tales are more than true: not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten.” ~ Neil Gaiman

“Magic is believing in yourself. If you can make that happen, you can make anything happen.” ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

“How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.” ~ Anne Frank

“Great things are done by a series of small things brought together.” ~ Vincent Van Gogh

"I can't stop drinking coffee, I stop drinking coffee, I stop doing the standing and the walking, and the words-putting-into-sentences doing." ~ Lorelai Gilmore (Also any other quote by Lorelai about coffee)

Is there anything else you’d like to share about your MC?

Hey there, my wonderful fans,

I just wanted to take a moment to send some love and inspiration your way.

Can you believe this small-town girl ended up on this incredible journey? Being a mom to Felicity and Vincent (and I can't forget Bogart,) wife to the one and only Thomas Hunt, and living my dream as an actress – it's like a whirlwind of amazing! On the outside, it may look perfect, but that doesn't mean it's without its challenges. Every one of us has our own struggles to overcome.

Remember, life might throw you curveballs from time to time, but that's just a chance to swing for the fences. I've learned that settling is like saying, "Nah, I'm good," to life's adventure. And who would do that? Not me, and I hope not you! Your dreams are just as important as mine! Your best life is out there. If you haven't found it yet, keep searching, keep fighting, and keep believing!

What you are hoping for matters! Your dreams matter. YOU matter! Don't give up on yourself or anything you want. You are a star in your own story. Embrace the challenges as they come, chase your dreams, and always remember that I am cheering you on every step of the way.

Hugs and dreams,

Alex

#choices fic writers creations #cfwc oc of the month #red carpet diaries #alex hunt #lovealexhunt #playchoices

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tothefiniteyou · 2 months

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Blind Sight - A Retrospective

Includes spoilers for the entirety of Tales of Leonardo: Blind Sight, as well as discussion of suicidal ideation, depression, and other sensitive topics. Some of the panels included might be considered gory as well. I'm also writing this with the assumption that you're familiar with what happens in the story.

I'd like to begin this little think piece of mine with a disclaimer; I'm going to be fairly vulnerable with this, as this is a piece of writing that impacted me greatly for a variety of reasons. Let's get into it.

The beginning to Blind Sight really begins with the 5th issue of the second volume to Tales of the TMNT - Blind Faith. I think it's very bittersweet that the story begins with Leo comforting a small Shadow who's still afraid of the dark, because it's a good way of setting the stage and tone for this story. Phobias and fears are typically irrational, and we're afraid not just of what we can't see, but what can happen because of that. They can control us because we let it fester and grow, losing ourselves to that fear.

When Leo loses his sight in this story, he has to be confronted with the fact that life won't be the same. He doesn't think he can lead or protect his brothers anymore, and he doesn't have control, either. He's very much someone that prefers information to be clear and concise with no punches pulled. He needs facts, and he relies on his senses and logic.

I know Jim Lawson has been praised plenty for making everything monochrome to show how Leo cannot see and no longer remembers what things look like, but his prose doesn't get enough attention, in my opinion.

There's a lot I admire about this entire story, especially the moment in which Leo believes he has taken an innocent life. There's nothing dramatic about it, as Leo isn't the type to have some over-the-top reaction. He freezes, mouth partly agape, as he takes in the fact that this could be permanent and that he has lost the ability to do the only thing he considers himself good at. It's such a subtle display of grief, and I love it.

Really, there's not much I can say about the actual event where he's blinded, and it's not what I want to focus on, either. I want to highlight the aftermath:

This scene really gets to me because we, as the viewer, only have Leo's perspective. There's nothing to see, just a black and white landscape of shapes. I think it's a good display of the dissonance between the brothers here. Mikey's trying his hardest to find some positives, or to at least not make his brother feel different. Leo, however, wants none of it; his grief is narratively blinding him in this story, and this scene is meant to show that. He's saying he still enjoys it up here, but it's a lie. It's a lie because instantly when he's alone, Leo begins to have Thoughts.

With these pages, it's clear that Leo considers himself to be his swords, in a sense. He's a weapon - his whole life has revolved around defending and protecting. After all, Splinter raised them with a single purpose; revenge. But revenge is what led to him losing his sense of purpose to begin with, so even then, what good is he? What purpose does he serve now that he can't fight like he used to? If something is broken, you throw it away; nobody has use for something that can't even do the thing you have it for. At least, this is the idea he's subscribed to here.

Now, Leo is definitely no stranger to depression in the original Mirage series. Hell, I'd argue that Mirage Leo was really the blueprint for IDW Leo, who has a similar goofiness contrasted with these types of melancholic monologue to him. He's so fixated on what he no longer has that he can't even get past it. To him, he's as good as dead. It's harsh to say, but I think he's having such a huge identity crisis that a part of him doesn't even want to try. He's just... So tired.

Of course, I'm sure he'd give everything to be able to fight again, but that's for his brothers. When it comes to people that need control, sometimes the scariest thing is realizing that your control wasn't actually ever needed. He fights for his brothers, but what if they don't need him protecting them? He could fight again, but he wouldn't forgive himself if it hurt and endangered them. He'd also be hurt if they did well without him, though.

After the incident in which they are forced to go to Northampton, Leo isn't in a coma at all. He becomes testy and goes out into the woods to hunt and be alone, scarcely seen by anyone else. He's more closed off here than in 2003 & 2012 and never seems to really talk. He sort of gets past it when Raph ends up being nearly killed by the Shredder, but my point here is that Leo seems to have a lot of identity problems.

He couldn't protect his brothers or April then, so he hunts. What's interesting about that is the fact animals are good at sensing enemies and tracking their prey, similar to how the Shredder herded Leo to where he needed him for the ambush (I wrote a little fic about this too teehee).

Anyway, it's clear that Leo prides himself on maintaining order. Any setback can cause him to spiral because of his need for control.

I think that's why this conversation scares Mikey so much, basically insinuating to their other brothers that he's genuinely afraid of Leo killing himself, directly or passively it doesn't matter. His fears aren't unwarranted, either.

Now, it's revealed that this ^^^ is just an intrusive daydream of Leo's, but still. Up on the radio tower, he imagines what it would be like to fall off, his own weapon piercing through him. This, to me, is very deliberate. He's the weapon, defending his family, but also ruining the lives of others, bad or not. His sword blinded the one that retaliated and blinded him back, which may as well have sealed his fate and killed him. Also, doesn't this seem a tad bit similar to seppuku? In that he's killed by his own blade? Seppuku is seen as the only way to regain honor in the afterlife...

The resemblance is meant to be there, I think, because what are the odds his katana is able to break through the concrete with the force of its fall and be blade side up long enough for him to be impaled by it? I suppose it can happen, but I think it just shows how Leo isn't his usual, rational self right now.

(I think it's also interesting in his little daydream that he doesn't imagine himself jumping off. He can't quite bring himself to do it, so instead of stepping off himself, he goes out of his way to picture one of the rungs snapping, leading him to fall. Now, on a meta level this could be a bit of a diversion tactic to scare you and make it feel real, but ehh. I think it can go both ways).

Anyways, he imagines his death in gruesome, visceral detail, to the point he wonders if his death would cause the death of his family as well. His leaps in logic are irrational. Because really, what are the chances there's a special mineral from the sewers embedded in his feet, leading to government agents finding the lair and killing his family?

This is the scene I really wanted to talk about, as I find it to be one of the most brutal and realistic depictions of depression. Later on in this series, Leo basically implies that there's plenty of ways he can die, and they're all preventable. All he needs is a reason to do so (keep them from happening), but he currently doesn't have one.

I think it's the same thing here.

He's looking for a reason to step off the tower - either to jump, or to walk away and go back home. He doesn't need some grand sign, he just needs a reason. So, he considers what it would be like, to die. But he can't even go through with it all the way because then he imagines Raph dying because of his decision. This is what finally causes him to snap out of it, choosing to abandon his katana.

Even when contemplating death, his family is still the reason he keeps going. He needed a reason to live, and imagining his brother(s) dying is what did it. He weaponized his own intrusive thoughts to live. His own death didn't scare him, but his family did.

Yet, a piece of him still clearly dies, as depicted by him throwing away his sword. He doesn't want to be the weapon anymore, but he's not too sure what he is without it. He wants to make a point that he's more than the weapon. However, you can read him dropping his katana as him giving up, thinking he only kills and is no longer worthy of trying to protect. Not after killing an innocent man.

He doesn't directly kill his brother, but I don't think that matters to Leo. Not when he internalizes mistakes.

Never before have I seen intrusive thoughts depicted this way, or even suicidal ideation, really. It's....not quite comforting, but makes me feel seen, you know? Sometimes it's not really the happy thoughts that keep you going, but your own fear twisted in a way that fits your narrative.

The fact the first issue just ends with this ^ page is also so.... We don't get to see him actually step off, because a part of him never leaves. It's still there, not sure which direction to go.

Self-blame is both a canon and widely fanon aspect to Leo's character. By that I mean the portrayal feels a bit fanon, as I don't think Leo's perfectionist personality is really explored until Vol. 2 of the original series (although there is the Northampton arc...) It's definitely there, don't get me wrong, but it's more like his self-blame comes from a place of grief and fear. I think this panel might make it clear what I mean?

These deaths were because he lost his autonomy, blindly killing without being able to do a thing to stop it. He blames himself for everything, but I don't think he trains relentlessly to be perfect or to necessarily protect people the best he can. I think he's scared of doing the opposite. It takes more control to not kill a person than it does to do so, in a way. Anyone can kill another, but having the skill to pull back and merely disarm an enemy whilst protecting yourself and others is marginally harder.

But he's having a hard time knowing if it was worth it, pulling his punches. If he had killed the Foot soldier that blinded him, he wouldn't be feeling like this now. He wouldn't be unable to help his family (as he has been blind for months by this point I believe?) like he currently feels like he is. He was trained since birth to kill the Shredder, just to suddenly have to save people. That's a very different thing!

Splinter literally started their ninja training the second they began walking and copying his movements. He trained them for revenge, just for them to have to be vigilantes as the time calls for it.

I think what I'm really getting at here is that he's more than just angst; he can be silly and bossy just because, too (Leo is such a bossy older brother). But his fear manifests in the urge to do his best, and really a lot of his angst is self-made.

It's not just "I have to be perfect", or "I'm trying to keep you safe." It's something more, though I lack the proper words to describe it... It's almost like he wants to bear the burden in the case a scenario just like this one happens. If being the best means facing the worst, so be it. Hopefully that makes sense...

I want to get more into how IDW Leo and Mirage Leo feel very one-in-the-same to me, but I think that's an essay for another time. It's just very important to me for you to know that Leo often questions his devotion to Splinter in the original comics.

Not only does he say things like this, but in this story, when Splinter pushes him down the hill in the woods and forces him to find his way back home while blind, all Leo says is: "I knew it." He didn't expect his father to outright help him or to offer sympathies. He just accepted that he was going to have to look inside himself and solve this psychosomatic matter. Just another example of Leo internalizing the idea that hurt is all in his head...

He stated "You think I'm crazy." when Splinter suggested he was keeping himself blind, as well. It wasn't a question, and that, to me, really showcases that all Leo's have daddy issues /hj.

Anyways, sorry that this was mostly incoherent and didn't serve too much of a purpose. I really just wanted an excuse to get people to read Blind Sight... well, and to talk about the scene in which Leo imagines endangering his family because of his actions.

#tmnt #tmnt 1984 #mirage tmnt #think piece #tmnt leonardo #tmnt blind sight #please heed the tws #im so #mirage leo makes me so emo #please someone talk to me about the original comics #long post #seriously #2u thoughts

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diezmil10000 · 9 months

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Hi hi, hope you're doing well!! Wanted to ask if you could explain how you pick colours! They're always so appealing to look at... (If you could also explain how you pick blush colours it'd be great! I never manage to pick good ones, no matter how hard I try :'))

hi anon, i'm doing fine!! it's summer right now where i live and that's healing all my problems (⁠◡⁠ ⁠ω⁠ ⁠◡⁠)

i have recorded the process of some of my drawings and everything is posted in my youtube channel (in twitter too), so i'll drop the link here and try my best to explain the coloring part to you. the short answer is that none of the colors you see in my drawings are similar to those i initially picked.

i try to keep my lineart loose but i pay attention to the outlines so i can quickly select the outer parts, invert the selection and fill it with the bucket tool. my base colors are all 100% opaque and i don't use any fancy brushes here.

as to how i pick colors, i never use the color picker tool, i eyeball everything. that's important for me because i tend to make all of them warmer: the greens are dark yellows, the pinks are light reds, and everything that's close to blue is very desaturated. i do this even for drawings that turn out much different later, unless i have a very specific vibe in mind from the beginning. i also never use pure whites for anything, and if something is black i make it part of the lineart.

then i always color my lineart!! there's no trick to that, the layer is in normal mode and i just paint it with a darker color than what's below it. i usually add the shadows and highlights at this stage of the drawing too. you're going to kill me for this but shade with gray set in color burn or linear burn (never multiply). i just don't want to think about color variety at this stage because it makes things more difficult for later. sometimes i add textures and some basic color correction here (curves, color balance, layers set in overlay, etc.) but i mostly leave that for the next part.

as to how i choose blush colors, i usually pick the base color and move it towards the saturated end of the color wheel, and a bit more pink. sometimes i add a multiply layer and airbrush hot red over the base colors at low opacity. coloring the lineart with hot colors surrounding the blush areas helps a lot too :)

i also almost always duplicate the lineart, blur it and set it in linear burn (i paint this layer in a light gray). this adds a lot of depth to the drawing, especially if later combined with the bloom effect.

the key to why the colors in my art pop so much is that i don't enjoy drawing as much as i enjoy postprocessing pictures 😂🤣😅👌✌️👍 once i'm satisfied with the "base" colors i merge everything except the background, open a new canvas and go crazy with filters and textures. that's why i use ibispaint X even if i do the lineart elsewhere (krita), and even if it works a bit wonky with big canvases.

i do something different for each drawing here, so first i'm going to explain my reasoning so that you understand my process: i used to have a problem of using very strong colors that overshadowed my beloved lineart into which i had put a lot of effort, so my goal nowadays is to make everything look less contrasted without losing the visual impact of saturated colors. that way the lineart remains a strong point and not just a way to separate one color from another.

what i usually do is duplicate the new merged layer, set it to exclusion mode, add a gradient map and play with the opacity. then i duplicate that and do the same thing with another gradient or another blending mode. i tend to add like 3-6 layers of bullshit over my drawings, including textures and other filters like "bloom" or "sharpen". i understand everything that's going on there but i don't think too deeply about it, i just pick whatever looks best.

for the final touches i always pull up the saturation and contrast (since a lot of it gets lost in the process), and i usually have to manually change some colors (ibispaint X has a filter to do that) or tweak the curves. then i add chromatic aberration, noise set to overlay and little polka dots set to linear dodge.

here are some comparisons of the before and after of recent drawings. the 1st one is very subtle, but you can clearly see how much warmth and depth it gains it gets after all the postprocessing. the 2nd one is so different that i understand why you're curious about how i pick colors. i don't think i can replicate that look just from picking nice colors, there's a lot more going on!! the 3rd one personally feels like it had potential lost (i liked the yellow highlights), but the colors were too strong and all over the place, so the finished result looks more intimate and calm and i like it a lot more.

thank you for the interest anon, i'm very happy that you like the way i color things and i hope i have explained myself. good luck with your own journey!!

#ask #anon #diez's art thoughts

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