#I do sit on some neat art tutorials though for when I do want to portray something | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

sjofn-lofnsdottr · 6 days

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Hey! I love your gposes, and I was wondering if you had any tips on how to get better at making them.

Oh, thank you! You're kind to say so!

I'm gonna approach this like you're super new to it, so I'm sorry if I'm telling you shit you already know! And if you have other questions about something specific, you can DM me if you like, I don't mind. Honestly, that goes for anyone reading this!

I can sense this is going to be stupid long, so I'm also gonna hide a bunch of it behind a cut.

So starting off with vanilla gpose advice, in a general sense I'd say play around with lighting a lot. I usually try to get at least some light spilling onto people from the side (ideally where a light source would be anyway) in order to give them more definition. I know there's gpose lighting tutorials out there that can probably explain it so much better than I can (like this one? maybe?), but it really makes such a huge difference overall. Even when you're taking a picture outside in the sun, a little bit of extra lighting can make stuff look more interesting.

(I might be a little biased, I was a theatrical electrician for a while. I think lighting is neat.)

Another vanilla-applicable thing I'd say is get really, really, really embarrassingly familiar with the in-game emotes, and practice your timing for when you want to freeze them. And don't forget that the 'expression' emotes will override an emote's usual face, which can change the vibe in some fun ways:

And the third piece of vanilla gpose advice I'd give is to mess around with the filters the game has on the 'general settings' tab. Honestly, you've probably done this, but mess around with ALL the things in the gpose menu. Push every button, waggle every slider, just to see what they do.

I'm currently loitering at an art party, so let me show you a little bit what I mean.

So to start, I go into gpose and see what's what. I let all the background people stop facing the camera, and move the camera a bit to an angle I like. I'm sitting in a corner, which is going to mess with the camera more than usual, but in this case, it's messing with it in a way I like, getting me nice and close to Dusk:

Dusk could stand to look friendlier, right? So I head to the emotes tab in the menu, and pick 'beam' for his expression, because it's the smile I like best on him:

Still kinda bleh. Things look a touch murky, and flatter than I like. Before I do ANYTHING with the lighting though, I go here:

And then I save the hell out of the camera position. Saving the camera position has saved me so much pain. This is because placing lights in gpose requires you moving the camera, since they drop exactly where your camera is. But I like this angle, and I don't want to lose it. So I save it! It'll also save lighting settings, which I find handy occasionally, but not nearly as often (it's a lifesaver when I accidentally hit the hotkey that turns off lights though).

I've taken a lot of pictures in this venue, and the pink/white color scheme is uh ... tricky for me, sometimes. But on the upside, white walls and floors bounce light really well! For this picture, I think I want some light coming from the left of the frame to give Dusk slightly more interesting shadows, and a blue light much further away and above to soften the harshness of the white and pink:

My next step is to use the gpose-provided color filters to see if there's anything I like, just in case:

Bright 1 is one I've wound up using a lot, even though it ruins my eyes and makes everything look dark as hell once I come out of gpose.

Now, the white coming from the left is hitting Dusk pretty much exactly how I want it to, but it's lighting up his moogle sundae more than I'd prefer. The way I usually deal with this is using the 'limb darkening' slider. What it does is darken the edge of the picture, to varying degrees. It even has different colors, although I use black pretty much always:

I only used one tick, but it's made me much happier about the sundae! My one complaint now is that I had to turn off depth of field in order to keep Dusk from being blurry (it's a slider, but by the time Dusk looked focus, it might as well have been shut off anyway), but it's something I can live with for a vanilla gpose.

I have reShade installed though, so let's mess with that for fun. I tend to stick to presets that don't stray too far from what the game itself does unless I'm doing dumb vampire artsy things:

But honestly, in this case I don't think it was really necessary.

As for getting better with crimes, I would again stress getting familiar with the game's emotes and attack animations, because they are often a fantastic starting point to modify into something you're wanting to see. Also, this sounds weird (probably) but when I first started out, I did a lot of throw away pictures that no one besides my Discord knitting circle will ever see because everyone is naked in them. I did this for two reasons. Wait, no, three:

I was high when this idea came to me and therefore I lacked my usual shame.

Clothes clipping was driving me crazy and I wasn't good enough to handle it yet. Stripping everyone naked took that out of the equation, so I could focus on actually moving the dollies in peace.

However! It also meant I couldn't depend on clothes to mask some of my worst shortcut sins as far as moving limbs and what it did to their joints went. This meant I got a lot better at knowing how to move the dollies I was working with in the way the models want to be moved and still look right.

Obviously a saner thing to do would be ~beach pictures~ with everyone in swimsuits. Good thing Dawntrail is coming!

Some of the things I learned during this naked process:

While I try to make a pose look good from multiple angles, because I rarely know what angle I'm going to ACTUALLY want until stuff is at least roughed in, if I know for absolute certain I'm only going to take it from one particular angle, it is best for one's sanity to make sure it looks good from that angle and ignore everything you can't see otherwise.

If you ARE taking more than one angle of the same pose, it is not a crime to make little adjustments after you change the angle! This is extra true when you're doing something like a kiss, because noses are the worst. Go ahead and nudge something that looked right from Angle A but a little off from Angle B. No one will know your dark secret.

Somewhat related, sometimes little tweaks are really all you need! This is especially true when it comes to faces. Try not to overthink what you're doing too much.

Very often, if you want to move, say, an arm from position A to position B, you should start by adjusting the clavicle and work your way down. At first this was kinda slow and annoying and required a bunch of passes, but it resulted in way more natural looking results without asking people to politely ignore wonky elbows and such. Like everything else in the world, this gets a lot faster with practice and is 1000% worth getting halfway decent at.

Hands are the devil, but they also really make or break a pose for me a lot of the time. The more natural you can make hands and fingers look when touching something, the better, I feel. On the whole, I find FFXIV hands are a lot better at gentle-looking touches than rough-looking ones, but that may be my own limitations talking here. Spend time just messing with hands to get familiar with them, just like the rest of the skeleton. Eventually it'll start to get easier and easier to move stuff to where you want it without having to do a million little adjustments on the way to where you're aiming (I'm down to about half a million these days).

Eye contact is fucking hard too. I try to get the models to do as much of the work for me as possible as I go into gpose. For example, I'll make sure Dusk has Farron targeted, so he'll already looking down at him, but most of the time I'm going to be moving their heads or bodies too much for that eye contact to still look right. The way I usually do it is put the camera behind the person being looked at, and then make that person disappear and adjust the looker's eyes from there. Then I check from the angle I actually want to shoot from and make tiny adjustments to make it look more 'correct' to my eyes. Sometimes when I post Camera A/Camera B angles? It's because the eye contact only looked right from those angles no matter what I did and I'm making you all just have to deal with it.

Double check everything! It's easy to rough something in and then go blind to it being not-quite-right.

It takes me about 5 minutes to stop noticing nakedness because I am too busy swearing about elezen necks or something.

Once you start letting your dolls wear clothes and armor again, you have to start thinking about clipping and physics and such, which will also take practice, but I feel like people on the whole are a lot more subconsciously forgiving about that, because we all play this game and we all got trained to ignore a certain amount of clothes being weird because of it (this goes for most clipping, really). Which is good! I try to minimize clipping without actually having to touch any of the clothing bones if at all possible and only really mess with those if I absolutely have to because, say, the entire tail of Dusk's coat is clipping through the chair he's sitting on.

I suppose that's another thing, sometimes ... sometimes a glam is just a nightmare to work around and you just wear something else.

I hope this was ... helpful at all, I know it's long but hopefully not full of shit you knew already, or overwhelming to read. But I wanted to say more than just 'practice,' since that's hard to do if you don't even know what you should be practicing! And again, if you have a more specific question (or follow up questions?), definitely send a DM or something!

#ask and i will answer #long post

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geminid · 8 months

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The other ask about college reminded me, I just brought a physical copy of superbright to my college professor, I took digital painting with him and now he's letting me sit in on his life drawing class. He did a quick flip through and he liked it! He also immediately said "yeah if you like this art get into the history, who did they learn from?" I've only been following you for 2ish years? And it's just been what's landed on my dash. But I looove your pieces, the coloring on the backgrounds versus how Leo and Takumi are drawn, and then the pieces like the mainly pink diner.

So yeah mainly wanted to say you're super cool! Things that you learned from would be neat to see but no pressure.

hi i was honestly very shocked to read that you would show this to your professor who is probably a really great artist but im glad he liked it? ???

i answered the rest of this under the cut

as far as my art history goes, i have no academic background in art so i'm just making stuff up. i think like a lot of kids I got my roots in wanting to draw like shoujo manga, particularly the big eyed round faces of the early 2000s. I would just try to copy the eyes or something. To this day I honestly don't really look at tutorials or watch speedpaints i kind of just look at finished art and try to emulate the things I like about them. It's very simplistic I think and perhaps means I don't make art that's as clean or efficient as people who actually go out and try to learn how pro artists actually draw.

i went on pixiv a lot as a teen and followed like 1000+ artists and looked at a lot of art all the time. I was really enamored by people who could draw characters and backgrounds, like fuzichoco. (this is a super weird fun fact but one of my favorite artists in like 2011-2012 who specialized in like drawing beautiful girls with beautiful backgrounds ended up getting into leokumi under a different name/account and i was their mutual! and i didnt realize this until rather recently. im too shy to share the name tho. my teen self is throttling me btw). I Really wanted to learn how to draw backgrounds so i had to go through the struggle of teaching myself perspective and later on downloading 3d software so i could see boxes on the same plane at angles lol.

When I see art I like I try to capture the essence of what it is I liked about it in a piece (maybe one time its desaturated colors, and the next its dramatically long legs, or adding blur to the foreground), and i decide if it worked out and I want to keep doing it. Some stuff i definitely continue to use is i draw upper eyelashes the way i do because of Sata (touken ranbu, feh artist) and i started drawing leo with weird non-blond hair colors because of Araki (the jjba mangaka, who often colors his characters in alternate palettes than their "canon"). Even though i think there are stuff im a bit rigid about, like i always kinda stay in the realm of anime style, I'm still trying to keep trying out stuff I see in other artists, not just even anime artists but everyone's favorite Leyendecker or Mucha, or I'll take photos of random stuff to file away as an idea. Like I have a photo of leaves my coworker collected that have a nice green to pink gradient that I took for inspiration.

As far as the diner picture goes I think to pull off that piece I needed to practice making art with less colors and also less contrast. Similar shades of pink take up most of the picture with teals being a secondary color and avoiding adding other colors in large amounts. I think the linework is doing a lot of work in that piece. I had to google a photo of a person sitting at a diner table for the perspective.

idk if this answers anything but it was fun to think about?

#nids replies #team-indigo

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yeochikin · 4 years

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nail polish. | k. yeosang & j. wooyoung

a/n: phew this is probably a long one? but i really enjoyed writing this aaaa ;; thank you @lilvoncat for requesting this! i hope you don’t mind if i added both of them into this fic aha. i hope you enjoyed reading this just as much as i enjoyed writing it! 💖✨

“on a scale of one to ten, one being the lowest, how much do the two of you trust me?”

at the sudden question, wooyoung and yeosang looked up from their phones to look at their childhood friend, y/n. the two boys merely looked at each other in question with a brow quirked up at the same time before deadpanning at their friend.

“a close three.” yeosang nonchalantly answered.

“a four for me.” wooyoung chimed in, earning a snort coming from yeosang which caused a low groan to be emitted from the one questioning.

feigning a hurt expression, y/n placed a hand over her chest where her heart was located dramatically alongside a low moan out of disapproval, bringing her free hand up to wipe a fake tear away, much to yeosang’s amusement at how exaggerated her act was.

“oh, come on. you guys have been friends with me since we were- what, since kindergarten.” she whined and pouted down at the two boys in front of her, who remained unfazed by their friend’s act. totally been too used to see through the puppy-ish act of hers as they knew too well that she would pull that look whenever she wanted something from them.

to a stranger’s point of view, the three of them were simply an odd combination. yeosang being the quiet one of the group, yet would not hesitate to send a snide comment or two when things weren’t right in his place. though it wasn’t his fault really, he has always been looking like as if his gaze would freeze someone in their place but really, it was just his face. beneath all that monotonous exterior, lies a prankster. yeosang would sometimes consider his silent nature a boon considering how he was able to get away with his little pranks but don’t worry, all of his pranks are merely harmless. from giving sour candies to drawings his own little character he created (hehetmon, was what he called them) on someone’s notebook with a little message in them.

next there’s wooyoung, the loud and most energetic out of the three. he has always been the social butterfly, even if he passed by the hallways on the way to his classes, you could expect a few students would send him a greeting or a simple fist bump as they rushed to their classes. other than being a social butterfly of the campus, everyone would recognize the sound of his laugh far too well, even when you are at quite a distance from him. it was endearing really, everyone somehow found it contagious as they would soon find themselves elicit a chortle along. when either yeosang or y/n were not around, you could always see him hanging out with his other friend, though for some reason his friend had a quite similar laugh with wooyoung’s.

and then there’s y/n. she's a bit odd really. from one person, they could describe her as the soft spoken girl with a laid back attitude yet would always seem like she's holding herself back from talking about a certain topic. and to another person, she was the ball of energy with an interesting humour. considering how people have seen her mostly hanging out with yeosang or wooyoung, or even with the both of them, they would always think that the attitudes from the two boys somehow rubbed off on her. but in all honesty, y/n preferred to say that she is her own person whenever someone confronted her with the certain question.

surely, the three never minded with all of their quirks and habits. of course a few harmless teasings here and bickers were present yet it was never an issue to the three. besides, what's a close friendship without any teasings and making fun of each other?

wooyoung released a low sigh and leaned forward, resting both elbows on his knees. “fine, what do you want?”

the question was enough to make y/n clasp her hands together and bounced on the balls of her feet excitedly, “can we.. can we paint our nails?”

silence suddenly hung over the three, save for the occasional doors closing from y/n’s neighbours in her apartment floor along with the passing of various vehicles outside. y/n could only bite down on the plush muscle of her lower lip as she waited for the answer from the two boys.

yeosang looked unbothered, as per usual, while wooyoung suddenly bursts out laughing his high pitched laugh, “i'm sorry, i think i heard you wrong. i thought i heard you saying you wanted to paint our nails? together?”

“that's what i just said.” y/n deadpanned.

“oh, you’re actually serious.”

“i'm gonna have to sit this one out, i have to go for a presentation tomorrow and you know how much of a neat freak professor park is. who knows how many marks he'll deduct from me if he sees it.” yeosang reasoned, resting his arm over the couch and leaned back.

“and what made you wanna paint your nails all of the sudden? i thought you weren't into, what, nail art?” wooyoung added, amused at how the girl in front of him formed a little pout with her lips with her hand rubbing the back of her nape.

“i just saw a few vids. you know, the diy kind of vids, and i thought they looked easy to try so..” she trailed off.

“and i'm guessing since you can't really do it on your own, you want us to be your involuntary volunteers huh?” wooyoung concluded, watching as y/n completely disregarded the way he sounded reluctant and instead, showed him her best puppy eyed look.

wooyoung stared at her for a few seconds before groaning to himself. “you better make it look good.” he grumbled underneath his breath, the frown that was playing over his lips soon being replaced by a little smile at the sight of y/n fist pumping the air while cheering.

of course, until a certain blond objected.

“i'm not gonna do it, y/n. professor park will have my he-”

“i'll buy you chicken after classes.”

“say less.”

so, here they are. seated on the carpeted floor just so they could be at an appropriate height in front of the coffee table, spending the rest of their rainy afternoon listening through a nail art tutorial video. for someone who objected to it strongly at first, yeosang sure was paying close attention to the video, admiring at how the person painted the nails so smoothly, occasionally letting out ooh’s and ahh’s every time the top coat was applied.

“no, no, i want red and black stripes!” wooyoung whined with a childish pout plastered over his visage upon seeing y/n pulling out a navy blue coloured nail polish.

“okay, how about we make it navy blue and silver on one hand while the other red and black?” y/n asked, to which wooyoung reconsidered the negotiation with a purse of his lips.

“okay not bad, but only if you'll let me paint your nails in black and white, like zebra prints?” he added, eyes focused on how carefully the female painted over his nails.

“and me painting hehetmon on your other hand?” yeosang chimed in, brows all furrowed in concentration at the little circles he was painting on his index finger, tip of his tongue peeking out the corner of his lips in the process.

“well, i don't really have a choice, do i? i mean, i did ask you guys to do this with me.” y/n simply said, gently blowing onto wooyoung's fingers and leaning back afterwards to admire her work.

after an hour of the occasional bickerings being shared with a touch of inner jokes thrown in here and there, the trio were finally done with their own little work, wooyoung letting out a yawn, yeosang releasing a groan from the stiff muscles on his back that was aching due to being hunched for too long, and y/n stretched both of her arms out to ease the knots in her muscles. the female’s eyes glanced over at the coffee table they were sat at, and she couldn't help but to notice the little mess they made.

some of the nail polish had gotten onto the surface of the table, some of the caps weren't closed properly, cotton balls strewn in random spots of the table, and a few glitter flakes here and there. but she didn't care. instead, y/n looked over at their painted hands before grinning to herself. albeit a bit messily, y/n was actually liking how wooyoung had painted her nails in a simple black and white theme while on her other hand, hehetmon was painted on the nail of her thumb followed by a simple solid colour on her other nails, courtesy of the one and only, kang yeosang.

“huh, for almost rejecting me earl-” she started.

“for the record, we did reject you.” yeosang cut her off, only to be hushed by the female which caused him to roll his eyes in a playful manner towards his friend.

“you guys did a pretty good job painting my nails, i'm impressed.” she continued, holding out her hands in front of her with a wiggle of her fingers as if to show the two boys their results. wooyoung, being the cheeky one as per usual, puffed his chest out and nudged her side with his elbow.

“of course we did. gotta admit that this was fun though, we haven't been spending much time with each other now that everything's been hectic.” the raven haired boy commented, to which, y/n and yeosang could only agree in response.

silence hung over the three once again. though it wasn't awkward, it was comfortable.

that was, until wooyoung shifted around in his place to take out his phone. “let's take a picture, we know how our little y/n here loves to… capture the moment.” wooyoung laughed loudly upon hearing the groans of his two friends from the little joke he just made yet quickly getting into place.

y/n was squished in between the two with her hands cupping her cheeks, as if to proudly show off her freshly painted nails. yeosang was next to her holding up a bottle of one of the nail polishes y/n had brought out earlier, cheek pressing against the top of the girl’s head. wooyoung made sure that all three of them were in the frame before his lips stretched out into a wide beam, counting down until…

click.

the three looked down at the picture then at each other, each having a huge grin on their faces, only then taking a few more pictures. with every click, comes with a new pose. with every picture, comes with a few teasings and boastings.

and with every moment shared, comes with a precious memory to be treasured.

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currywaifu · 4 years

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𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐥𝐞: that’s pretty knit 𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩: rurikawa yuki/reader 𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠: sfw 𝐰𝐜: 1.9k words, 1 image

𝐚𝐧: yuki birthday month, yuki fic. ahaha i am very direct with my titles again. what’s new? because of the research i did, i’m probably gonna go order some knitting materials online now

Perhaps you spent too much time at the nearest arts and crafts store. For a dozen or so minutes you stood in one spot, unmoving unless someone needed to pass by you, your eyes flitting up and down, left and right as you debated over the different assortments of yarn.

You already had an inkling the different colours would overwhelm you— with so many different colours and different shades each, how could you possibly limit yourself to just one? You didn’t expect to be this troubled with choosing among different yarn weights, too. Why did the store give you 7 different choices? How were you supposed to know if choosing light yarn was better than choosing bulky yarn?

… you seriously should have done more research, but the prospect of finally having free time to visit the shop overshadowed any semblance of rationality you previously possessed.

Look at you now.

Alright, Plan A— scope out the area for the friendliest looking employee and muster up the courage to ask for help, plain and simple.

Except things don’t always go as planned.

When you hear your name come from a voice behind you, it was impossible not to figure out who it was that caught you. You’re just a little bit upset and a little bit tense because of all people to come across at this moment, it had to be Yuki? It’s not that you dislike him, rather it’s because the opposite is true that you found yourself more pressed than you should be.

It was like buying a surprise gift for someone and that exact someone seeing you buy that gift… actually, that was pretty much the situation— the only differing variable being that the gift hasn’t even been created yet.

Seriously, you just had to come across the very person you were planning on making something for?

“Yuki-kun! What are you doing here?”

He gave you a blank stare, as if waiting for you to realise how dumb your question was. Rurikawa Yuki? In a crafts store? Unless you wanted something specific, the answer should have been plenty obvious.

“Hah? I want to buy materials to make clothes, obviously,” he replied, tilting his head to gesture towards his shopping basket filled with various beads, lace, and… were those feathers? Was he just replenishing stock and were those all for one outfit? Curiosity was getting the better of you, mouth already poised to ask a follow-up question before he interrupted you.

“Shouldn’t I be the one asking you?”

To any deities out there, grant you a smidge of acting prowess, or at the very least the ability to make some half-truths and get away with it.

You awkwardly let out a laugh, your eyes leaving Yuki as they dragged themselves back towards the shelves.

“I’m supposed to make a scarf for someone,” an omission of information, but technically the truth, “but I don’t know which yarn to pick?”

For a few seconds Yuki stared at you with narrowed eyes, ultimately letting out a sigh as he placed his own items on the tiled floor, facing the same direction as you.

“Any colour you want?”

Taking the opportunity to resolve one of your main problems, you quickly told him that he could choose any colour he wanted. Haha, you were so slick getting Yuki to choose the material he’d like the most. If you somehow screwed up the knitting process, at least he’d like the colour, right?

“Didn’t you do any research?” Yuki asked, sifting through the pale pink yarns to look for the appropriate weight.

“Not really,” you admitted sheepishly, “I mean, I just saw the steps were easy enough and decided to give it a try.”

“I-di-ot~” he said in a sing-song voice, but despite the nickname you knew there was underlying affection there somewhere, “one skein of super-bulky yarn would be the easiest to work with, then you probably need a crochet hook and 9 mm knitting needles too…”

You follow the green-haired boy as he moves to a different aisle, picking up the supplies you inevitably would have had trouble choosing between.

“Really, you could have just asked me, if you’re so clueless. I’d help you out.”

“No way!” you suddenly exclaimed, earning yourself front row tickets to Yuki’s look of confusion, “I can do it myself!”

You hoped your sudden outburst didn’t come off as rude, but he seemed to just push the matter away nonchalantly.

“Suddenly getting so loud, what’s with you…” he muttered, dropping the things he picked up for you atop your waiting hands, “but that’s fine. The scarf won’t be as cute as if I helped you, but maybe it’ll turn out decent at least.”

You clutched the materials to your chest, already anticipating being able to prove Yuki wrong. How would he react the moment he knew the person you were knitting something for was him?

“I’ll show it to you when I’m done!” you promised, “I need your seal of approval, after all!”

He’d probably point out any issues regardless, so you just had to make sure you did your absolute best!

Knitting took a lot more effort than you anticipated. First of all, you had to do something called a cast on around the needle? Apparently the wrap cast on was great for beginners, but you weren’t gonna lie— it did take you one whole article from some “The Queen of Yarn” blogspot and one 5 minute YouTube tutorial just to make sure you were on the right track.

One. Slip knot: loop the yarn around your fingers clockwise, the yarn attached to the ball going under the loop, slid off your fingers and slipped onto the needle.

It wasn’t that the steps were particularly difficult. Rather, it was constantly making sure you weren’t accidentally skipping any steps or areas due to not paying too much attention.

Two. Open the loop to make a stitch: hold the empty needle with your dominant hand, and the needle with the slip knot in the other. Slip the empty needle into the first loop— from front to back.

Still, it was difficult to stop your thoughts from wandering— perhaps you should have chosen to listen to some kind of tea spill or podcast or comedy routine or anything with words instead of the LoFi ChillHop live stream playing from your phone. You were going to give Yuki a scarf— then what?

Three. Wrap the yarn: go counter-clockwise, the working yarn sliding between both of the needles.

You had a crush on Yuki, plain and simple, but it’d be embarrassing to just admit it! The amount of courage you had still needed replenishing, what with the amount you used up to just go up to him and try befriending him a couple of months back. What if you confessed, and he decided not only was your scarf ugly, he wouldn’t be friends with you anymore as well?

Four. Turn the stitch: slide the dominant-hand needle from the back to the front of the other needle.

But would it be enough to just pass off the garment as a, “thank you for being my friend” gift? Especially when there was no real occasion, and the hours you put in into making him something— would he question it?

Five. Finish the stitch: slide the dominant-hand needle up so that the first loop on the other needle slides off. Move on to the next loop, do the same thing, repeating until you are out of stitches.

Well, even with all of Yuki’s bluntness, he was still kind so he’d probably still be your friend! It’d still really hurt if he rejected you though, so maybe you should put off implying anything more than platonic between you two for… a while. Maybe it was too soon?

Looking at the progress you made, you were unable to hold in a groan of defeat. The pale pink yarn against the bamboo needle looked pretty and neat; there was an issue though.

One row. You were only able to do one row so far.

Your phone clock said it was still pretty early into the afternoon. Well, a few more hours wouldn’t hurt anything except your hands, right?

A hand therapy site told you that pain brought by needlework was probably due to repetition of motion, bad posture, and or general fatigue. Not gonna lie, you probably fit into all three— the last one maybe more so than others.

How long one took to knit varied— some dedicating days, while others were able to crank out 5 scarves a day. A part of you was proud to be able to procure something presentable and wearable in one sitting.

…

You’re just choosing to omit the fact that that one sitting lasted until 3 am, but what Yuki doesn’t know? Won’t hurt him.

Thanking your singular brain cell right now that you decided to do this project over the weekend instead of during a school day— you’re unsure if you’d even be able to survive at all if you actually had to do maths and stuff the day after.

Deciding to just go with the flow, you found yourself folding the scarf as neatly as you could, gingerly placing it inside a paper bag. After all, you agreed to “have him judge” your creation today.

In all honesty, you thought you had built up the confidence to confess your crush to Yuki. If he reciprocated, good for you! If he didn’t, well, either you take it cooly or go ‘I said I liked you as a friend thing, silly!”

Standing in front of him though, his orange eyes scrutinising the pale pink scarf, made you lose your words, hesitation standing in its stead.

“Garter stitch…”

“What do you think, Yuki-kun?” you asked, peering at the green haired boy curiously as you impatiently awaited his verdict.

“I’m honestly surprised you made something nice,”

“Hey—“

“But for beginner, it’s pretty good,” he complimented, “actually, I can see myself wearing it when it gets colder—“

Even with such simple words, you felt your heart swell in happiness. Not only did he say he liked it, but he even went as far as to say he’d wear it? There were so many ways to get your gratitude across, to tell Yuki your true intentions in ‘asking for his approval’. With all of your options, you went with

“If you like it, it’s yours!”

“Hey, you…”

He looked like he didn’t know how to respond. Actually, you can relate to that because even you’re befuddled by your wording. Didn’t it make it seem like you gifted it to him as an afterthought?

“I mean, well that’s not what I meant,” you hurriedly followed up, “I wanted to give it to you from the start? I didn’t know if it’d be nice though so if you said it was ugly I would’ve hidden it from the world? You said you would wear it though so—“

“This won’t do…” Yuki replied, interrupting your impending rambling. Before you could ask him what he meant, he pulls your hand to lead you inside the dormitories.

Unbeknownst to you, pink the same shade of your... his scarf painted his cheeks. If only the weather was fit for the garment you gave, he’d be able to blame the sudden colour on the cold.

“Come on, I need to get your measurements.”

It was difficult to keep the silly grin off of your face afterwards.

want to order again?

#a3!#a3! act! addict! actors!#yuki rurikawa #a3! yuki #a3! imagines #cafe: dessert menu #rurikawa yuki #a3! x reader #yuki rurikawa x reader

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goldeneyedgirl · 4 years

Text

Ficathon: Mad World

I’ve spent today on uni work and chipping away on Shadow to Light, so instead of a prompt fic, have a sample of one of my WIPs - this one is Mad World, a fic where Alice is the daughter of Charlie Swan’s estranged sister who goes to live with Bella and Charlie. It was an experiment in gothic horror/romance, tbh.

“If you don't know where you are going any road can take you there.” - Lewis Carroll

When I look up at the sky in Forks, I don’t see clouds. Or I do, but they’re obscured by leaves and branches; the forest stretches above me and it’s nice. Private and safe, even though it makes it feel a lot later and darker than it really is. It’s like we’re in a cocoon, and there’s no one else in the world.

I return to reality as his teeth rasp against my stomach, above my belly button, and I giggle, ticklish. I’m splayed across a rock, and it's scratching my back - my sweater is balled up in the dirt, and my shirt is pushed up above my bra.

My fingers twist in his hair and I smirk as he looks back up at me. Jasper Hale; who I sit next to in History and in Trig. His shirt hangs open, revealing a body that will be taking pride of place in my fantasies.

“You okay?” His voice is low and even, but his eyes are sharp. Dark, and watching me. For a moment, I see calculation and something I should react to. Something dangerous. Like he could kill me right here and now; fuck me and choke me; rip me into wet, meaty pieces; beat my skull into dust with a rock. This boy, this man, is dangerous, and I have invited him to get much, much closer. He could do whatever he wanted to me, and he wouldn’t be the first.

And I don’t care. That darkness, that rage, and potential for violence, I’m not scared of it. I haven’t been for a long time. It’s easier to consent than to resist. And more than that, I like that darkness. I like that sharp edge. And what I know of Jasper Hale, I like.

Whatever I am feeling twists and fades into the steady thrum of lust, of confidence and willingness.

“Absolutely nothing,” I say, and tug his hair to bring his face closer to mine.

And that’s how I spent my third afternoon in Forks; fooling around with Jasper Hale in the woods behind the high school auditorium.

—

It’s a rainy Thursday night when I finally, finally arrive in Forks. And in that moment, it is the most beautiful place on earth - the green of the forest, the grey of the rain, the fresh air. It is Shangri-La on Earth, and I am apart of it.

I left North Carolina on Monday, and since then have taken a bus, a train, another bus, another train, and a third bus. I have layers upon layers of deodorant and grime upon my skin; my phone is dead; my hair is greasy from the endless styling tutorials I looked up to combat boredom, and all I want is something to eat and a shower. Anything that isn’t itchy seats, never-ending road, or snack foods would be heaven upon earth at this moment.

In truth, I don’t feel human anymore. I feel like a transient spirit, a modern-day gypsy, a lost girl. That for the rest of time, this will be my life - dirt and fuel and waiting for an end that never comes. But somehow, I have made it to Forks; the red ‘x’ on my photocopied map is finally a real place, with buildings and streets and people. Forks isn’t home, but it is the most welcoming sight I have had in years.

I jump down from the bus; a backpack on my shoulder, a satchel across my chest and a duffle bag in one hand. For all intents and purposes, this is all I own in the world. Twenty-three dollars in my wallet, and my entire life in my bags. I could go anywhere I wanted, except twenty-three dollars won’t take me many places.

No one else on the bus carries as much luggage as I do, and no one is dressed alike either - I changed at the Seattle bus station into my second-to-last clean outfit, to try and make a good impression. Everyone else is wearing a jeans-parka-boots combination, which is probably smart with the horrible weather. Not that I will miss the hideous summers of North Carolina. But I get the sense that this bus is full of locals, who busted happened to be travelling from Port Angeles or Seattle. There’s something about them, like the green of the forest, the dirt and mud of the ground, the rainwater has sunken into their bodies and marked them invisibly as belonging to the town of Forks. I wonder if I’ll be here long enough to be marked too.

The bus station is the smallest I’ve been to on this whirlwind road trip - a tiny convenience store, a spinning rack of postcards, a payphone, and endless wooden benches.

Uncle Charlie is right there, waiting for me - sitting on a bench with a paper cup of coffee. Even if he hadn’t been wearing his uniform, I would have guessed he was my uncle. He doesn’t strictly look like my mother, but there is something in the way they carry themselves, the way that they fill space. I don’t know. I just know that he is definitely Mom’s little brother, one Chief Charlie Swan of Forks, WA.

My new guardian - saviour or gaoler is yet to be determined.

“Uncle Charlie!” I put a big smile on my face and march straight up to him - if life has taught me nothing else, it’s that first impressions count. And not to piss off the person in charge of your welfare. “I’m Alice.”

Uncle Charlie looked up at me, and for a moment, just stared.

So, my outfit wasn’t the best first impression I could have picked. But it was the only one left that I could wear in public - my beloved, holey galaxy leggings; ancient floral Dr Martens that I had laced with pink ribbons; a giant purple and black sweater, and a black miniskirt. Combined with the pancake make-up I had used to cover up my blotchy-skin and dark under-eye circles, my greasy hair knotted in two buns with my collection of dollar-store butterfly clips, and the fact that I smelt like four days of bus, sweat, and fried food, I definitely looked like the devil child my mother probably portrayed me as.

“Mary Alice!” Uncle Charlie recovered. “How was your trip?” He smiled awkwardly and stood up.

“Long,” I said ruefully. “But I’m here now.”

—

Uncle Charlie tried to make conversation as we drove back to his place, as if a truncated game of ‘Twenty Questions’ could undo the awkwardness of not knowing about each other for seventeen years.

And it wasn’t like I could abridge my messy, ridiculous life story into a fifteen minute car trip, anyway. Or that Charlie Swan could become a beloved uncle between the bus station and his home.

Who was I?

I was Mary-Alice Brandon, eldest daughter of Annette Marie Swan-Ackerman, the only child of the late artist Nicholas Brandon. Resented step-daughter of Stephen Ackerman. A granddaughter and a niece and a half-sister. Former prisoner of a remote reform school. Epileptic. A secret keeper, and an artist.

How could I tell Uncle Charlie all the tiny details that made up me, and the reason I was here with him now?

That my mother is no Swan, but a chameleon, a snake, a cuckoo in the nest?

That the last of my stitches came out last week, but the scars still itch like crazy?

That I used to love gas-station slushies, especially pink ones, until I was twelve? That now I love soda, so cold it makes your brain and teeth hurt, and tastes like static?

And besides, what do I know about Charlie and my cousin? He’s a divorced police chief, and his daughter Isabella is also seventeen years old - five months older than me - and lives with him full-time. She attends the local public high school. That my grandparents are dead, and my ex-aunt has since remarried.

That’s it. That’s all I really know. And I am about to live with them.

If I think about it too much, it just feels like another trap.

—

The Swan house was small, but then, so were all the houses on the street. It was old, too, but I’d always known that was a probability. It didn’t make it easier, though. I’ve never done well in old houses. It needed a few repairs - the paint was peeling off, one of the shutters was hanging at an angle, and the front garden was dirt, grass, moss and ferns. Uncle Charlie struck me as a neat and practical kind of person, so this was surprising. But maybe in the spring, I could coax some kind of garden to life, as a way to say thank-you.

We walked in the backdoor, letting it swing shut behind us with a bang. Inside, the hallway was narrow and dark, with stairs leading up, and a few aged pieces of art hung on the plaid walls - mostly landscapes, and several of fish that were very good, if hideously ugly.

The first thing my eye caught was the mantlepiece in the sitting room, above the fireplace - a shrine to a teenage girl who bore a startling resemblance to Mom.

“Wow,” I said, moving closer. The eyes, the smile, the brown hair - this had to be my cousin. “Is that Isabella?”

“Yeah, that’s Bells. She’s out with her boyfriend at the moment,” Uncle Charlie said, setting down my duffle bag.

“She looks just like Mom,” I said, amazed. It was uncanny - Bella looked more like Mom’s daughter than I did.

“I guess she does,” Uncle Charlie said. “Bells is much prettier than Annette was at that age - but that’s all Renee.”

Charlie sounded uncomfortable, and I had to admit to myself that I was uncomfortable hearing my mother’s name. Turning away from the photographs, I pasted a smile back on my face.

“Sorry, I’m easily distracted,” I said. “You were going to show me my room?”

“Yeah. It’s not much,” Uncle Charlie began. “It’s pretty small…”

“You’re taking me in. That makes everything else perfect,” I said firmly, grabbing my backpack again. “Lead the way.”

—

Well.

Uncle Charlie had warned me that my bedroom was tiny.

It was more than tiny – more like a large alcove with glass doors. The walls were off-white, and a square window looked over a tiny yard and the forest. A narrow bed was wedged against the wall, made up with a hideous yellow bedspread. A dresser was arranged against the wall between the bed and doors. Opposite the dresser was a tiny desk and chair. Jammed in the gap at the end of the bed, next to the desk, was an old laundry hamper.

I was betting I could touch the window and the door with my arms outstretched.

Luckily I was used to small living spaces. I wasn’t sharing with anyone; that was enough to make up for the fact that this room would have been a better closet. Or window box. Apparently, Uncle Charlie had used it as an office when he needed to bring work home.

I set my bags on the bed. This was going to be my home for the next year and a half. It felt overwhelming all of a sudden, that I would be living with an uncle and cousin I had never even met before. It wasn’t like school, where I had shared a room with seven other girls, and we’d all been strangers.

I could do this.

It was only eighteen months. I had been away at school nearly three times that long, and if I could survive school, I could survive living at Uncle Charlie’s.

I had intended to unpack and settle in before dinner, but in the end, I just changed into some pyjamas, shoved my bags under the bed, and fallen asleep nearly instantly. I didn’t wake up until much later, almost midnight, starving and disorientated. I crept out of my room, making a note to buy some kind of curtains for the glass doors to give myself some privacy.

Uncle Charlie and my cousin were clearly already asleep, so I got myself a glass of water. There was a note scrawled out for me, telling me to help myself to food, and that they’d see me tomorrow. I felt bad for vanishing without spending time with them or even meeting Bella, but there wasn’t much I could do about that now.

The house was quiet in the darkness, but I used my phone to carefully navigate - and look around. The shrine held a wedding photo of a much-younger Charlie, and the woman who was my ex-aunt; a sad memento when I knew that Uncle Charlie had been divorced for quite a long time. An off-brand recliner sat near a small, out-of-date television, the remote on top of a TV guide, with various sports matches circled in pen. Several pairs of shoes sat by the front door - my cousin was clearly a strong supporter of Converse sneakers.

The leftovers in the fridge looked kind of suspect – some luminous mac and cheese, a chicken that was nearly picked clean, and some greasy looking Chinese. I ended up slapping some peanut butter on some bread, and drinking nearly half a carton of milk, before vanishing back into my new ‘bedroom’ for some more sleep.

Peering out of the uncovered window into the night, I could see beyond the fence line into the black of the forest. The tops of the trees cut the bottom half of the sky off perfectly, like an old-fashioned silhouette. It was strange to imagine my mother living in this kind of town, growing up here. But then, I had a hard time picturing my dad and her being married, too.

Lying back, I stared out at the night sky, the slow movement of clouds over the stars lulling me back to sleep.

#fic: mad world #jalice #alice cullen #jasper hale #twilight fan fiction #twificathon2020 #twilight #my fic #my writing

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same-side · 5 years

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hiiii! i just wanna say, i adore your art. second, im teaching myself to draw and while i can draw simple basics (mouths and sometimes eyes if im lucky), im still a beginner. ive watched many art videos and im still a bit confused on wtf im doing. so i just came here to ask if you had any words of wisdom for beginners? could be anything from what tablets to buy to simple mistakes to avoid. ive read some of the other posts here and have found it all extremely helpful so far! Thx for all you do!!

Hey there! Thank you so much!

I would put a read more but tumblr is broken. I’m trying to cover a lot of varied thoughts in little points, so if there’s anything you would like me to elaborate on or otherwise have questions on, feel free to shoot me an ask or dm me!

General

I think the biggest thing to remember is not to compare yourself extensively to others. A little bit of comparison is healthy... But too much will destroy your confidence, motivation, and take the fun out of art. Particularly if you are comparing yourself to someone older than you (life experience and coordination come into play here) or that has been drawing much longer (practice).

Additionally... If you’re not having fun (and you’re not getting paid to do it), don’t force yourself. If you find yourself being frustrated or bored with art, don’t force yourself to do it. That’s how you burn out and get art block! This applies to parts of a peice, too! If you don’t feel like drawing a face or a hand today? don’t force yourself to finish it. Come back to it later when you aren’t as frustrated or are getting better results. Even if its a week or a month from now. Honestly, at any given time I have probably ten headless bodies in my drafts. That’s okay! I just come back to them when I’m ready to do the face. And don’t be afraid to abandon something if it doesn’t feel right!

Something that also doesn’t get said enough.... take care of your body! I never knew when I started art, but artists are supposed to do warmup sketches and stretches and muscle exercises! I didn’t do any of this, and i went through a period of a few months where I was drawing for 5ish hours every single day. I developed carpal tunnel from it! So remember to take care of yourself. Take breaks, stretch, remember to eat.

Practice

Practice!!!! Even if its just for fifteen minutes every day. Or twice a week. But if art is something you really want to get good at, you have to put in the time and effort!! You can’t expect to draw an hour per month and be on the same level as someone who draws an hour a day!

I know I say this a lot but I think the biggest thing is just reference! If you don’t know what something looks like, look at a picture of it when you draw it! To go hand in hand with that, though, don’t just copy what you see! Learn from it and apply it! So take, for example, a shoe! pay attention to the way the heel is shaped, the location of the eyelets for the laces... how large the toe is, how steep the top! While you’re at it, look at other styles of shoes as well, and compare them! See what makes it look like a boot versus a trainer! And then the next time you draw it, hopefully you’ll remember all the things you learned the first time around!

I do lots of studies that serve no purpose other than to teach me things! I use referencing/studies to learn about color theory, shapes, and anatomy in a real environment. For example, hands or fabric folds! Oftentimes I’ll do them timed (20 or 45 minutes) so that I don’t fixate on perfecting things, just on the process itself and what I can learn from it. This also helps with getting better acclimated to your software and more coordinated with what you’re doing. Repetitive learning, like with playing sports.

I’ve realized a lot of people don’t quite understand what a study is? Basically you just look at a photo and try to replicate it so that you can learn about lighting or color theory or textures or anatomy or whatnot. So here’s an example of a timed study.

Additionally, don’t avoid!! We, as humans, have a tendency to avoid things that make us uncomfortable or are difficult. But it will make you a better artist in then end. When I first started, I absolutely hated doing fabric. I felt like I wasn’t good at it. So instead of avoiding drawing clothing, I sat down and did studies and sketches of different kinds of fabric. By the end of this learning period, I became comfortable with it and grew to enjoy it. These days, I adore sketching clothes, and it’s why my pants and shirts and things tend to be detailed instead of stylized in line art. If you don’t like drawing hands because you feel like you aren’t good at it? Sit down, look at a bunch of pictures of different hands, and practice it. By the end, you’ll be more comfortable, you’ll have learned something. Even if you feel like the drawings you ended up with aren’t good, you’ll still have learned, and that’s what matters!

Style

I worked on basics before I tried to develop a style. I made sure to start with a very realistic method at first, so that I could be sure I understood how fabric folds, anatomy, and realistic expressions worked before I tried to stylize them. I think in the long run this approach really paid off for me. It also allowed me to be conscientious of what elements I was absorbing into my artwork. I hear from so many artists that they started drawing when they were younger and into anime or cartoons or things like that, and tried to emulate it. Because those styles became so ingrained into their artistic skillset, it becomes near impossible to iron out those influences and get rid of them later. So starting with realism is a way to ingrain proper anatomy and other good practice into your artwork.

One way to develop style is to take a look at the artwork of someone you admire, and try to list out the things you like form their style - perhaps the thickness of their lines, or the way they do eyes. Do this with several artists, take all those little details you like and try them out! See if you enjoy using them in your own drawing process! Think of it like a grab bag or a pick-n-mix, sprinkling in the elements you like here and there to create something new and your own - not just copying another artists style word for word.

Don’t worry too much about it though; don’t allow yourself to become anxious or fixated on “achieving a style”. Its a natural ever evolving process that comes with time and practice. I know a lot of people get hung up on style, but just take it one day at a time!

Also try to keep in mind what style you’re going for as you begin drawing. And I don’t mean that like sailor moon vs. ghibli. I mean that as in, is this piece going to be a painting, a lineart, a lined painting, cell shading...? It will help you in the longrun if you narrow down the broad kind of style you use, and refine from there.

Workflow

My workflow for paintings is very different from my workflow for lineart and cell shading. A full tutorial on how I do paintings can be found here! A process video for how I cell shade can be found here!

Everyone is going to have a different method that works for them! You just have to experiment and find out how you like to draw! For me, personally, I use color blocking for painting (see the tutorial above) and a spine method for lineart. How the spine method works is that I will draw lines that represent the legs, arms, back, etc. so that I can determine the placement, length, and composition. From there, I’ll add a dark outline that actually shows the shapes of the body. Then, I’ll use thinner lines to add details. This is the method I’ve found that works for me. Another commonly used method that I’m sure you’ve seen is representing body parts with cylinders and cubes. There are lots of good tutorials out there on breaking down bodies into shapes like this!

Something that I do is if I’m not quite happy with a part of a drawing, I don’t just erase it. I duplicate the layer so that I always have the original copy, and then I make changes from there. Sometimes I can end up with five or six different versions of the same arm or face that i’ve made minor changes to. And then I compare and pick the one I like best, or condense all the parts I like from each version to make a “best” version.

Tools

Currently I use Procreate and the standard Ipad with Apple Pencil. Prior to March I was using a Wacom Bamboo Touch and Photoshop Elements 2008. I find its harder for me to do full paintings in procreate, but its made my life a million times easier for lineart and cell shading. The pen pressure is phenomenal, and I also adore that its wireless / active screen instead of plug in like the wacom. The programme itself is intuitive and easy to get the hang of; it simply lacks a lot of the neat tricks that photoshop has, like rendering (lens flares, for example), gradients, and gradient maps. Try testing out different trials of programmes... firealpaca, photoshop, autodesk, whatever it may be! What works for me may not work for you!

#thegodbucky #asks for ts #t talks #long post #art reference

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phoenotopia · 5 years

Text

2019 October Update

Woops, I slipped by my stated blog date since I thought September had 31 days for some reason. So here's the end of September update, 1 day late.

--------------------------

Writing... And more writing.

That captures the majority of what transpired the last 2 months. The biggest cutscenes have been scripted as well as most towns, so we're really close... I estimate that the writing will conclude within the next 3 *weeks* and we will actually have a game that can be played from start to finish... Don't get too excited though, because then begins the game's vigorous playtesting phase and more polish. And since I've never launched a commercial game before, the next steps (PR, marketing, lot checking, ESRP rating application, trailers recutting, release date finding, etc) are uncharted territory. The only experience I have is launching a flash game 5 years ago, and that was a lot quicker and a lot less complicated... And so, I can't gauge how long it'd take nor give an accurate release date yet. However, as soon as I do know, it'll be sure to post it here first!

--- COMPUTER BROKE DOWN ---

Among the events that transpired in the last 2 months, my computer actually broke down. It would manifest as the computer shutting off about 10 minutes after turn on. And this was really worrisome because if my computer croaked, it would be a huge blow to the game's development. The time it would take to restore the specific dev environment I had set up would be considerable...

Luckily, it was repaired after 4 days of intense troubleshooting. I'll spare you the long list of events that transpired, but eventually my brother and I were able to narrow the problem down to non-spinning fans on the graphics card. I was able to zippo-tie two chassis fans together, and insert them below the Gfx Card's heat sink. Much cheaper than replacing the whole graphics card!

(please hold until the game's done)

--- MORE PLAYTESTING CHANGES ---

I'll discuss here some additional fixes/changes to the game based on my brother's previous playthrough (still going through that list, heh...)

F. Remember you can climb roots

I remember from a public demo I attempted (3 years ago?), that a lot of people got stuck at these roots, not realizing they could be climbed. Since then, we did a few things to ensure that the first encountered roots would be climbed. The roots' colors were brightened so they would stand out. A character, Ernest, comments that others have climbed the roots. And finally, standing in front of the roots will cause the "Press UP" tutorial prompt to appear.

So how did my brother fare when I did the playtest 2 months ago? He climbed the roots, thankfully. He climbed the next few sets as well. However, later on, in a dungeon, he forgot that climbable roots were a thing. Back to square one. So there's a lesson here... Even if you teach a player something, there's no guarantee that it'll stick.

So in the picture above, you can see my next attempt at an invisible hand to remind the player. In the red circle, notice there are 4 blue dots. These blue dots pulsate wherever there are climbable roots (They're a lot more visible in motion). The idea is to tie an unusual image to an action. I anticipate when the player sees 4 pulsating dots, they'll react by attempting a variety of actions, before eventually concluding that you can only climb them. And that this experience will be more memorable for it - to be conjured up whenever the player sees 4 blue dots. I look forward to observing what happens with the next blind playtester. (Btw, in reading this blog, you have disqualified yourself from playtesting :P)

G. Instant Food Eating

As stated in a previous blog post, the player can't eat from the menu. Food must be eaten in real-time. It's up to the player to find a safe spot to eat, away from interruptions. Some foods can be eaten more quickly, proving more valuable in a fight.

However, what about on the world map?

You can't use tools or items on the world map, which means no healing at all! I saw my brother opening the menu and tinkering around, confident that it could be done. Because why couldn't you?

Indeed... he didn't say anything, but I wrote it down as a feature to be added. And after adding it, found that eating from the menu was fun! After years of using the new system, to have the old flash system's implementation of healing again was refreshing.

And so I decided to add it as a possible new characteristic of food. There's now a special class of food, "candy", that actually can be used from the menu (world map or no). Rest assured, candy items will be balanced - costing more than regular food, and their healing effects will tend to be less than other more timely items.

(the “eat” subcommand appears for "candy" class items. The candy icon on the bottom-right denotes a candy class item)

H. Fishing Hud finally updated

This wasn't something discovered through playtesting, more of an unfinished task that sat around for far too long.

(Old fishing hud on left. New fishing hud on the right)

In the old fishing hud (perhaps an example of minimalism taken too far), the fish's health is represented by 10 white dots. In the new fishing hud, the fish's health lines up and mirrors the player's own stamina. Whoever outlasts the other wins!

I had actually been sitting on the finalized graphics for over a year. For some reason, the last 10% implementation of a feature tends to be the most boring. In game development, I find myself jumping around often, working on whatever can catch my interest. That's good for ensuring that the game's development is always moving forward in *some* capacity. But now at the tail end of development, only the most boring tasks are left...

--- WRITING ---

So I mentioned writing. One of the things written in the last 2 months was the entirety of the "monster" village's NPCs. This time I also roped in Pirate (formerly artist, now also writer), since she's quite familiar with their lore having drawn them and their town.

When I wrote trolls, I wanted to give them a unique speech, not unlike the Mr. Saturns from Earthbound. My idea was to capitalize all words and then strip away as many unnecessary words as I could, while keeping the meaning identical.

Pirate then took the result and improved upon it, establishing rules their language could follow to be consistent:

Simplified negatives (no instead of not/don’t/can’t/etc);

Object pronouns replace subject, possessive and reflexive pronouns (me/name instead of I/my/mine/myself).

No ‘be’ verb or it’s conjugations (am, is, are).

No verb conjugation.

No articles.

(A sample of troll language. Harpy language is similar, but no caps, and a few other variations.)

Another neat thing that happened naturally over the past two months was a construction of a "timeline". The timeline takes the form of a 2D chart, with the major players lined up on the left, and the years up top. There are new characters this time around, and having the timeline as a reference, helps to make sure the lore is on point.

(the timeline, blurred. An internal tool to aid writing)

--- FIVE YEAR ANNIVERSARY ---

Speaking of which, it was the game's 5 year anniversary this past August 20th. Thank you to Firana for reminding me!

Five years... Five Years... T_T (I thought I'd be done by now)

It'd be neat to do a longer in-depth retrospective on this game's long development, but I'll wait for the game to be properly finished first.

--- FAN ART ---

We have 3 lovely fan arts that came in the past 2 months.

(Art by Amaury Lorin)

I like how this picture selectively colors the night sky, comet, and fire. Very artistic! Amaury also submitted a poem (in French). Here it is!

Parmi cette clarté que la nuit seule émet, Au-dessus des radis géants qui s'épanouissent, Nonobstant sans souci les herbes qui frémissent, Sous un ciel calme et sombre, un village dormait.

Éprise de liberté, une puki part Là-bas, quelque part où des prés plus verts la tenant. "Oh, s'écrie un enfant, une étoile filante!" Veille, enfant : pour tes grands yeux curieux seuls, ce soir,

Indifférente au sol précipité sur elle, L'étoile tombe... Écoute, enfant, elle t'appelle; L'étoile : "Suis-je un ange, un messager du ciel?

Avec mes feux, suis-je augure, ou suis-je étincelle? Gloire d'un monde haut, d'une nuit éternelle... Et j'arrive!" --Dors, enfant, tes yeux ont sommeil...

...mais demain...

(Art by LittleLys Owo)

Gale smiling and flashing the peace sign. Nice! I like the skillful use of vectors to draw the lineart.

(Art by Shafiyahh)

Shafiyahh, who also drew fanarts in the last update, returns with this cool picture of Gale sporting the katana, a hidden weapon that... JK. I Love the composition of characters, and the flashy background - very anime-esque!

That's all for now. Next update will come at the end of November!

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mysticsparklewings · 4 years

Photo

SweetTarts Book

Is it candy? Nope! Better! It's a book! :D

Better/more pictures here: http://fav.me/ddpfvdp It was also a nice break from not worrying about tablet things. A small disclaimer that this isn't the only mini book I've made since making my Duck Tape Mini Sketchbook; this is just the most recent one I've made and it's going up first because it's the freshest in my mind. (The others are coming, I just have to take some time to sit down and remember the making-of processes for them and compile the photos together.) This book is also one of 2 that I made that strongly break away from my usual formula, most of which I figured out when I made the very first two Homemade Mini Sketchbooks, and you can pop over there (or to the Duck Tape book mentioned above) to read about it for comparison so (hopefully) I won't repeat myself too much going forward here. This break from formula was inspired by two videos by Sea Lemon over on Youtube; One on making a candy box into a book (www.youtube.com/watch?v=OcASCs…) and one for Painted Book edges (www.youtube.com/watch?v=ertzJY…). But my book does vary slightly from hers in how I made it, aside from just being a different candy box. In Sea Lemon's video, she uses a Junior Mints box and mint paper to match the candy theme. I don't have a whole lot of colored paper (at least not enough of one kind to use for book pages) but I liked the idea of the outer edge of the pages matching/blending with the candy box. That's when I remembered seeing her tutorial for painting book edges, and figured I could do that instead to get roughly the same effect. Aside from that, I also knew I wanted to try a different construction for the spine/how the book opens and closes. Sea Lemon's tutorial, much to my surprise, is actually pretty similar to the way I normally bind my books; Perfect Bound, a.k.a. the pages are attached directly to the spine via glue (or usually what I do ends up being via tape and the other pages & covers the block of pages gets attached to). Which does work, but my brain wanted to do different things based on the horizontal nature of the candy box. I actually thought pretty quickly of these tiny John Green books made by Penguin Random House which see the paper block attached to the back cover, but the front cover and spine can move freely. (I couldn't find a good picture of those books showing that off, but hopefully you can understand what I mean by looking at my pictures here, though the binding obviously isn't as professional and the back cover attachment method is a little different.) Now, given that usually, when I try to custom-cut pages for these little books said pages end up having at least one edge that isn't properly aligned because I cannot cut with machine accuracy despite my best efforts, I typically prefer to use either a page size that requires as little cutting as possible or that I have pre-cut pages for. In this case, I decided to check and as it turns out, normally 3" x 5" index cards fit relatively comfortably inside this particular candy box (which is just the one I had most readily available; I think there are other candy boxes out there I would've preferred to play with given the choice). The pages aren't flush with the box edge like in Sea Lemon's tutorial, but I don't think it's a dealbreaker. And besides, this was just a first attempt. I can potentially try my luck with custom pages and flush edge later. Of course, in hindsight, this means my insistence on painting the page edges wasn't super necessary because you can't really see them in the end, but at least this way I was able to test both the candy box cover method and how the edge painting actually works. (Which I'll address more directly in a minute.) Anyway. Once I'd figured out the main points of what I wanted to do, I started by cutting the box down as Sea Lemon shows in her video. Naturally, I would get the one candy box that has an opening flap for the candy on what was supposed to be the spine, so I had to decide what to do about that. In the end, I opted to just cut the flap off and cut the remnants underneath so there would just be a rectangular hole there, which I ended up "patching" with a piece of cardstock backed by tape. And much later I'd end up putting my signature there, as you can see in the photos. So then I got wild and dared to paint the inside of the box with acrylic paint to match what the book edges were going to look like. It just seemed wrong to leave it white for this color scheme. And it's funny; originally I thought I'd mixed way too much paint in trying to get the right color, but because it took roughly two coats (and it still probably could've done with a third but I'm impatient) for the inside of the box, and then one coat plus light touch-ups on the book edges I actually ended up using almost all of what I'd mixed up. In between waiting for the paint to dry, naturally, I worked on gluing the spine of the index cards--and I didn't count but for reference, as a rough estimate this is probably at least one full pack of 100 cards--together. Although this time I stopped at two coats of glue (instead of my usual 3-4) since I thought it might also be interesting to try being able to tear pages off/out. Which ended up being a good thing, because after I went around the other three edges (leaving the glued spine alone) with the acrylic paint, not only did I manage to get a paint mark on the top page of the stack but also the pages were pretty stuck together and the first 2-3 pages ripped in one spot along the edge when I unstuck them, so I ended up taking off the top few pages after the fact and it worked quite well; the pages are secure enough they won't just fall out, but I was able to pull those few off with enough effort. Take a tip from me, if you're going to paint book edges, I really recommend doing one side at a time and unsticking the pages after each. I made the mistake of painting all three sides at once and when I say some of the pages were really stuck together, I mean some sets of 2 took me ten minutes to unstick. And admittedly I think despite my efforts to keep the paint coating thin, it was still a little on the thick side, which probably didn't help. Anyway. After that low-grade torture, really all that was left to do was assemble the cover/box and the page block together. Now, had I thought this process through a little more, what I probably should've done was add 1-2 pink pages/index cards to the bottom of my page stack before gluing the spine. Then I could've just stuck the back page directly to the back cover. And if I used the tear-off method and ran out of pages, I could just make a new stack using the same process and stick it right back in. Instead, to keep the backmost page as usable as possible (since the index cards are lined on one side) I ended up painting an extra index card pink and folding it in half, attaching one half to the back cover, and the other to the back of the page stack. This way, the cover still hinges properly and you can still get to the back of the index card, or alternatively if I again end up the tear-off method I can simply leave the last page alone and use it as attach base for the new stack. All that said, despite the growing pains, I think it turned out pretty nice. At the very least, it's neat just for the unexpected cover. (Though I do think next time I'll try just gluing the opening for the candy closed instead of cutting it out; getting the paper to be the right size and lining the tape up was a bit of a pain.) The only thing I'm not crazy about is that the box/front cover doesn't like to stay closed once you've opened it. Though this might be remedied with more time spent with something pushing down on it or more use. (Alternatively, it could also be taken care of with some kind of book closure/elastic, but I didn't realize that was going to be a problem, so I didn't look into options for that this time around.) I gotta say though, for some reason this project has really lit a fire in the book-making part of my brain and I know it's not going to be much longer before I cave to that "let's make a book" voice in the back of my head once again because I've been putting it off since like the day after I finished this one. I just haven't had time to let it take over; too many other projects/things to worry about at the moment. That said, I'm hoping my next few posts will be a mix of new art and posts of those other books I've made but haven't posted yet. I do have a couple of Valentine's-themed pieces planned, along with a couple of other things I don't want to spoil ahead of time. I just hope I can get everything done by the time it needs to be done. ____ Artwork © me, MysticSparkleWings ____ Where to find me & my artwork: My Website | Commission Info + Prices | Ko-Fi | dA Print Shop | RedBubble | Twitter | Tumblr | Instagram

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blastthechaos · 5 years

Text

Light Hanging Around Dark - Prologue (maybe)

Lincoln & Maggie: The following is a non canon fanfic, regardless of how well you think it portrays the characters, please check out official material for getting a hang of them, enjoy

Maggie huffed as she stood in her personal hideout, away from most people, she had a laptop that she used to entertain herself.

She idly put both foots in the table while she was sitting on the couch, both stuff she found that other people threw out, so it was good for her.

She looked at her cellphone, as if she was waiting for someone.

"Hmpf" She muttered, then crossed her arms.

She then decided to try and doze off...before someone entered her place.

"Hey, sorry i'm late"

She looked to see a snow haired boy, who had a lot of stuff with him.

Maggie rolled her eyes, leave it to him to be late.

"What took you so long?"

Lincoln set the stuff down.

"Sorry, was making sure everything was alright at home before I came here, didn't meant to keep you waiting"

Maggie let out a sigh, Lincoln then proceeded to sit right next to Maggie.

The Emo girl leaned on him.

"So, what you watching?" Asked Linc.

"...Just anime" Muttered Maggie.

Lincoln smiled.

"Neat, want me to watch it with you, brought your favorite kind of food"

Junk food that is, hey, she got her own tastes.

She opened a bag and started munching Doritos.

Lincoln smiled and shrugged, then proceeded to grab some pizza she left to himself.

Both where eating the junk food, Maggie even put in something to watch while they did so.

"They...Didn't...got suspicious...Right?" She said between munching

"I...My best...to make sure they didn't" Lincoln took pauses while eating as well.

Even though the two were dating, they tried to keep it under wraps from everyone until...well, when they where int their late teens at least.

Neither of them wanted to deal with teasing, meddlesome siblings or some other bullshit, luckily Lincoln learnt from what happened with Ronnie Anne and this time both of them managed to get this system working from the get go.

They also had the help of their respective circle of friends, which where the only ones to know.

So far so good, no one outside of their group of friends suspected a thing.

As long as they don't do anything stupid like having unprotected sex (or well, considering how even protection is unreliable sometimes; Sex in general) and get an unwanted pregnancy, they should be fine.

Not like they where interested in having children anyways.

But leaving thoughts like that aside, the two just simply focused on watching the show Maggie put in the laptop.

It was a classic, "dark brooding character dating a happy, optimistic character", it's idea wasn't winning originality points any time soon but it was still pretty fun anyways, an idea depends on it's execution 9 times outta 10.

Besides, it wasn't like there was something original under the sun anyways.

As the two where eating, they mused on how they meet formally and their relationship eventually started.

Maggie idly sat in her spot in the burping burger.

None of her friends could come, so she was hanging around here on her own.

It was a bit boring.

She looked around while eating until she spotted a certain someone.

The white haired boy who almost ruined her birthday party.

She 'hn' in surprise, she had only seen him a few times since then, mostly tried to approach her for something only for her to ignore him or go away, eventually he stopped.

He looked bored out of his mind, had headphones on while he was watching something in his phone, while also eating a bit.

What was he doing here like that anyways? Doesn't he have a group of friends and crap-ton of sisters he can hang out with? Why was he alone?

As she wondered these questions, she didn't realize she was practically staring at him for quite some time.

Uh.

She was deciding on what to do, then she got the idea of approaching him.

She didn't exactly know why, just hat she was bored as shit and hey, she can maybe know why he wanted to approach her before...all right.

"Hey"

Lincoln was snapped out of his activity when he saw Maggie arrive here with her stuff.

"...Hi" Was his only response.

What? It's the girl that avoided him for two months and now she wanted to talk with him, what else should he say?

"Guess i'm not the only one who is alone here, huh"

"Um...Yeah, I kinda wanted to come here with friends to be in peace for a bit but at the same time not bore myself, but they couldn't come with me so i'm alone by myself...you?"

"None of my friends could come either, so i'm here to kill boredom"

"I can get that"

…

"What are you watching?" It was surprisingly easy to talk to the boy that almost ruined her birthday.

"...Art tutorials"

"Oh" Her flat tone remained like the rest of the conversation.

"Yeah, I kinda want to learn to draw better...even if someone of the tutorials don't actually help you all that much"

"Yeah, I can get relate when something like that happens"

…

"So, what did you wanna approach me before"

"Uh?"

"You where trying to talk to me about something before, I didn't want to deal with you, but i'm bored and I figured I give it a go"

"Oh, well I wanted to apologize to you"

"For what? My birthday party?"

"Yeah, I was kinda in a high because I was having a streak with making people laugh, all of them up to that point was for doing my dumb joke, you know the rest...i'm sorry for that, it was shitty from my part"

Maggie widened her eyes a little, so that was the context for why he acted the way he did...

"It's fine, I forgive you"

"Really?!" Lincoln asked in surprise, usually stuff like this didn't went swiftly unless he did something in exchange.

"Yeah...but you owe me a favor"

"Figures..." Lincoln muttered, it was simply too good to be true.

"Don't worry, I save it for later so you're free for now" Said Maggie with a smirk.

Lincoln rolled his eyes.

The two then sat there, exchanging words and eating food, they both seemed to have a good time.

"Hey, do you have anything else to do?" Asked Maggie.

"Not really, why?"

"Wanna hang out somewhere else? It's not like I have people I can hang out with today"

"You know what? Sure, sounds like fun"

The two went out of the burping burger, unaware of how their relationship would evolve...

#The Loud House #TLH #Maggiecoln #Lincoln Loud #Maggie #Fanfic #Fanfiction #Light Hanging Around Dark #Loud House

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idv-ask-servais · 5 years

Text

Basic tips on how to structure things in a short story

I had no time to write a 📖 ask today so let's do a basic tutorial on writing short stories because I like reading good fics and because I can:

1. The first sentence

Starting the very first sentence in the right way is pretty important, since it gives the reader their first impression of the whole story. Usually, when I do this first sentence, I do it by writing a short, simple sentence that either sets the basic image of the scene or hooks the reader in.

Setting the scene with the first sentence can give them an idea of what the feel for the rest of the story would be, as well as the general tone for the rest of the story. For example:

"It was raining."

This sentence is short and to the point, which will help keep the reader's attention long enough to get to the end of the sentence and already lays the foundation for setting the scene. The reader knows that at this point in the story, it is raining, and hence conjures up the image of rain. Now, rain bears plenty of symbolic meaning, but the usual atmosphere you get when you see rain in writing, is solemn, quiet, and sometimes melancholic. This can help set the scene for an angst fic, in which the reader's already got that sad feeling from the first sentence, and if you get the tone right, will continue to get progressively sadder during the process of the fic. Manipulation at its finest. I wouldn't suggest doing this for fluffy fics though, since (at least for me) it's hard to write up a suitable mood setting first sentence for happy stories without making it sound like a child wrote it.

For the fluffy sort, I'd suggest using a hook as the first sentence (honestly this works for all kinds, but the scene setting one reaps more benefits for writing angst). A hook is basically something that attracts readers to keep reading, to keep their interest there so they won't just give up on the first sentence. A hook is usually depicts something of interest, in which the reader would want to know more. It can be in the form of dialogue, or just a plain old sentence.

For example:

"'I never asked for this!'

She angrily threw her handkerchief on the floor and stormed out of the room."

The first sentence, a line of dialogue, is a hook. It raises questions such as "ask for what" and "what caused this person to say this". These questions cause the reader to be curious about what's going on, and they will automatically read on to the next line (which I bet you did). Now, for dialogue, I usually do the first hook to raise interest in a short, simple sentence, then a second hook that gives slightly a bit more information as a bridge to ease the pacing, before launching into a longer paragraph of context. For normal old sentence hook, however, just one hook should be enough and after that you can go directly into context. Hooks are pretty useful, since they can be an effective way of getting the reader's attention and raising their interest in the story.

2. The part after the first sentence

You could go two ways with this, depending on what your first sentence was.

If it was a scene setting one, you should begin the next part by describing the scene and the persona's actions, to follow up to that image of whatever it was in the first sentence already put in the reader's mind. Since you've already set the scene simply in the first sentence, the readers will probably want to gain more information to fill in that mental image of the setting of the story. This can be done by describing the scene. Usually, when I write in this way, I start off the description with the persona's actions before launching into the detailed paragraph. This way, you can both introduce our main character, as well as their current mood at the moment through their actions.

For example:

"It was raining.

He stood beneath the wide brim of the umbrella, his eyes closed as he listened to the sound of raindrops hitting the smooth surface. The rest of the park was empty, the winding stone paths and wooden benches void of any human figure."

So. First sentence, we have the impression of rain. The second sentence, we get the image of our main character, a man (or a boy) standing below an umbrella listening to the rain. Then we fill in the rest of the gaps in the setting with an empty park. It's efficient and helps set the mood while giving out all the essential information.

If it was a dialogue hook, then context usually comes next (you could put a description next if you play it well, but context is usually the easier solution). Context is important, because it allows your reader to know what's going on. Since you're starting off the story with dialogue, the first thought that might pop into the reader's head is "why did this person say this". Which is why it is important to explain the situation briefly using the form of the persona's thoughts/narrator's helpfulness.

For example:

"'I never asked for this!'

She angrily threw her handkerchief on the floor and stormed out of the room. She found it ridiculous that the boys had made the decision all on their own - it was HER life, wasn't it? She ought to have control over it."

With this context, while we still don't know fully what's going on (which might be useful to keep the reader intrigued) we get a bit more information on why she's mad. Using this method, we can keep feeding the reader bits and pieces of information to keep them satisfied enough to not be completely lost, but still interested enough to keep reading.

As for the normal sentence hooks, both context and descriptions are fine, just goes for what the emphasis is on. If you think that the mood of the story is more important and can't be set simply by using tone, then descriptions can help set the mood through imagery. If you think that the setting isn't all that important in this story, then context should come next.

For example:

"She sat on the bench listening to the sounds, the buzz of the city as it twirled and danced around her, like a neat set of mechanisms whirring in action. The low grumble of impatient engines, the hiccuping drone of traffic lights, the ear splitting screech as a long, metallic snake came screaming down the overhead bridge. For a moment, there was just the screeching noise, accompanied with the groaning of the tracks. Then it was gone, fading into a flurry of faint clacking. She could hear the sound of the people tramping down the road, the lightness of their shoes tapping against the rough concrete, millions of murmurs echoing like pinballs ricocheting back and forth off of invisible walls."

(This was actually a thing I wrote for a contest a while ago. I have the full thing on my DA.) So after the sentence hook here (which is longer than I'd suggest but yeah) we set the mood and scene by using a description of sounds. The description of the loud busy noises contrasted by this lady just sitting there can emphasise the loneliness and silence among the noise.

3. Tone

Tone is important too, because while the first sentence sets the mood, the tone keeps it going. Hence, choice of diction, imagery and literary devices are important to keep the tone just right. When you're going for a sad tone, the words you use should be less quirky and give off a more solemn feeling (like the difference between "strange" and "weird". While the feeling of "strange" is a bit more neutral, the word "weird" can give off more casual vibes, which might break up the mood entirely if used in a clumsy way). Same idea for imagery and literary devices. For sad stories, you want some poetic or depressing imagery, while for happy ones you want them more lighthearted. If you're writing to give off a more dramatic tone, the similes you use can be more strange and fun. Contrast is also helpful. Here's an example of tone that I'm particularly proud of:

"Tracy ignored my query and slathered a generous helping of jam on the bread, her gaze sad and noble over the sea of marmalade."

So here, the main setters of the overly dramatic tone are contrast and choice of diction. I used extremely dramatic and serious words to paint a sad atmosphere, and then contrasted it with the really common and not dramatic action of putting jam on bread. This contrast can help create a comical scene by setting an overly dramatic tone.

Tone is also helpful in painting a character's personality. What they see first, the words they use, the examples they draw and the comparisons they make, all these can be put into the narrative and portray what the persona is like. It's like what I'm trying to do with the hunters in my comic style, with the shapes I use for the characters trying to match my interpretation of what kind of person they are. By shaping your character through the tone, you can help the reader understand the character more through just the narrative alone, and get a better grasp on how they think and act. This one's harder to do because it requires a good feel for words (which I don't have) and plenty of practise.

4. Flow:

Flow in writing is like composition in art. It seems trivial but it's very important for making the writing flow well and sound pleasing when you read it to yourself. The point of flow is to keep the reader's in the dream, to keep them in the world of your writing, living through the main persona, all the way to the end of the story. Of course, there are many other factors needed to keep the readers invested, but flow is needed to stop the readers from tripping over the words and losing the incentive to read. Some ways you can improve the flow is to vary the length and sentence structure of each sentence. Another way is to use words that can fit into the flow. You can do the flow in many ways, and anything works as long as the sentences don't sound janky when read and keep on flowing, like a river. One of the things that can most seriously kill the flow (at least for me because I pay close attention to the words) is grammar mistakes and spelling errors. Now, I get that some of these are inevitable, I make these mistakes all the time too, but the flow of the story can very easily be killed off by just a word that's spelt wrong. Sort of like how you might be driving along a smooth road, and suddenly the wheel hits a rock. It's a small rock, it doesn't send the car flying off the road, but it's enough to make the driver feel the bump and be disgruntled by it. That's the same with spelling mistakes in a story. It's a small bump, but once you see it, the spell is broken. Yes, you can continue reading the story and appreciate it. Yes, you can ignore the mistake and get back in the flow. However, that bump has already had its effect, and readers won't be going back in with the same mesmerised feeling as they had in the beginning. If you have multiple spelling mistakes throughout the whole story, then the flow is frequently getting broken up. Your readers are frequently getting woken up from the dream, and while they can still enjoy the story, enjoying is not the same as being immersed.

5. Other not so important things that can make a story better

-Consistency

Make sure whatever you write is consistent with what you wrote in the beginning. Sometimes you can even use small details to throw back to that one point. Most people might not catch that detail, but it's still nice to have them there in case they do.

-Foreshadowing

Foreshadowing is one of my favourite devices to use because it gives small hints about what's going to happen, and can also give an "oh that was there all along" feeling to the reader after reading for the second time. You can do it in forms of imagery, the things the characters say, or think, as well as through the character's actions. Symbolism through the objects in the story is a good idea too, but people may not catch the subtler ones. In the contest writing, I think I did it pretty well through use of dialogue, but I won't post the whole thing here.

-The story line

I've...forgotten what it's called, but it's that line where you plot out the story's introduction, exposition, climax and resolution. Most people don't have too much trouble with this since it's a pretty standard structure, but it's still useful to remind yourself to add in the exposition and introduction. Climax is important and all, but it can be made a lot more impactful by just a few paragraphs of introduction and exposition.

Descriptions:

When you describe something, it's never a good idea just to state what's you want to describe in a list format. This is a description, not a list, so it's good to add some literary devices to spice it up. You are painting a picture with words, so that the reader can use their imagination to visualise their own version of your world. As one of the sayings in my culture goes, "In the poem, there is a painting, and in the painting, there is a poem." That's what makes a good description - something that can paint a vivid picture but still remains consistent with the mood and the flow. Sometimes literary devices aren't enough, because if there's a lot o stuff in your description, it will end up like a list sooner or later. A way to break up the list format so that it's a bit more pleasing to read, is to add small stories relating to the thing, sort of like when the character remembers something related to this thing, and is recounting the memory. For example:

"The room was old, very old, so old that he could feel the weight of age pressing down on his shoulders. There was an old dresser in the corner, the once glossy, wooden surface coated in a thick blanket of dust, the reddish tint showing through the grit in the way rays of light peek through thin silk curtains on a sunny day. He remembered this dresser, it was the one his grandfather had carved out of mahogany wood himself. He had been ten at the time, peering in through the door while his grandfather whittled away in his workshop, the scraping of the knife against wood rhythmic and soothing."

-The Ending

You can end the story in many ways, but the way I like to do it is through a short, simple sentence that ties back to something in the beginning. Gives a feeling of well roundedness, with the end back at the beginning.

Of course, there's a lot more to this writing stuff that can make it better, and I'm not exactly the best at it, but yeah. Here you go.

#(also I'm finally home again with good wifi)#(so hunter servais' deductions will probs start up again tomorrow)

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ultimatescenarios · 6 years

Note

Ahh, this blog is my life hhhh NDRV3 boys trying to braid their Fem! s/o’s hair, please?! It’s just because I’m a sucker for Kaito

YES!! I AM SO ON BOARD

This is what I’ve been missing in my life.

I’m very glad to hear you’re enjoying the blog! Though I’m sorry you gotta put up with my writing-I’ll just post this now before I go to sleep as an apology for making y’all wait for so long!!

- Mod Kaede

NDRV3 Male Cast trying to braid their Fem!S/o’s hair

Shuichi Saihara

Silence. He says nothing; he’s too busy concentrating on the parted sections of your hair.

He’s very careful not to pull or tug on anything that’ll lead to your distress. Which sounds sweet but he’s acting as if one mishap could lead to you shattering like glass.

He has no idea what he’s doing. There’s a reason why he likes keeping his hair short and not needing to style it. And the fact that he’s attempting a classic french braid isn’t helping at all. That’s what he thought you wanted, so he’ll do his best.

But is now lost in the strands of flaking hairs that just won’t stay put. “How do girls do this every day?” He now feels like girls are some superior being. He had no idea how difficult this was to do, “And you have to do this by yourself!?”

He asks so many questions, from “Is this okay?” to “This doesn’t hurt, does it?” and of course, “It’s not too tight, right?”

His fingers get tangled in your locks countless times during the entire venture. All you can hear coming from him is an amalgamation of winces and apologies.

And by the end of it, you’re given a sloppy, french braid that looks to be like you’ve slept in it for two days straight.

He’s apologizing profusely.

K1-B0

He insists you let him braid your hair. As long as you’re willing to, of course. He would appreciate the experience and chance to experiment.

If you offer to help or explain the basics he stops you short, informing you that he came prepared and has downloaded and analyzed many tutorials prior to this session.

He even asks what kind of braid you would like, even though he would like to attempt several.

Depending on how much static your hair collects, his electric-circuiting shocks you a few times.

It’s not unyielding irritating, more like an electrified jolt that pulses through your scalp and down your spine.

It’s a little relaxing after you get used to the feeling.

He takes his time and is acting very nonchalant about it.

It’s his first time trying this, he’s never had any previous experience. But you’re surprised to see it’s reasonably neat, nowhere near professional though, but considering the struggles he encountered using his stiff robotic hands, he didn’t do such a terrible job overall.

Before you have a chance to look at the entire finished product or even thank him, he’s untying your hair and brushing through it to try again.

You better grab out something to keep you busy. You’re going to be here for a while…

Kaito Momota

Either of you could have suggested the idea really, but after seeing how pretty you looked in braids he wanted to give it a try.

He’s a little rough but isn’t exactly ripping out chunks of hair, just indirect tugging here and there that makes your head sway in all directions.

His hands are fumbling and he’s so confused. Your hair keeps tangling within itself somehow and he’s not helping the situation with the loose grip he has on the sections of your hair.

At some point, he started sticking his tongue out of his mouth with the amount of focus he was putting on such a small task.

He even struggles with finishing the hairstyle. Yes, he continued until the last strands of your hair slipped right off his hands and ruined the whole braid. He was so close to finishing it too.

He’s a little annoyed since the two of you have been sitting here for almost an hour. Which was mostly him trying to figure out how to braid hair without any tutorials…he was beginning to get the hang of it. And proud of that too.

So proud, in fact, he tries again, brushing through your hair with his fingers, whether you try to persuade him to use a brush or not, he claims one of his most repetitive lines: “Kaito Momota, Luminary of the Stars, doesn’t need a brush OR tutorials!”

You must admit his energy and attitude towards what can be a tedious and annoying chore at times, is very cute, and admirable in a way. So you let him have his fun.

Even if he turns your once luscious and unique hair features into something that could be mistaken for a bird’s nest. He’s too much of an adorable dork for you to stay or get mad at. Just admit it.

Rantaro Amami

He knows a few tricks about braiding hair. He was never any good at formal braids but could basic and fishtail braid like a (not-self-proclaimed) pro.

It’s due to his 12 sisters who insisted him, specifically, do their hair for many years. Since he was closest to his sisters in comparison to his half-brothers.

So he’s decently confident with his skills and is sure he’d be able to style a braid in a way to compliment your features.

He gathers a few accessories to add to the mix or aid him in this quest. From bobby pins to decorative clips, he’s got some ideas already festering in his mind.

He brushes out your hair carefully and almost pampers you through the entire crusade as if you were in an overly affectionate beauty salon. Having placed you on the floor with him behind, you should have known some cuddles and kisses would happen eventually.

He’s very calm while piecing your hair together in two, over-the-shoulder fishtail braids. Talking to you like he normally would since it’s almost become a second nature for him to multitask like this.

When he’s finished… Well, you react to the braid however you do, but as much as you might hate to admit it, he does a better job at braiding then you do.But with added accessories accustomed to your skin-tone, preferences and physical features of course it looks pretty! Prettier then it probably should!

Kokichi Oma

He’s seen couples in relationships do this for fun online. You already know he wants to try it for himself.

He doesn’t even notify you of it happening. All you were doing was minding your own business and like a beauty ninja, he’s sitting behind you and brushing your hair thoroughly before parting it into sections…more than three sections at that.

If you dare question it… “Nee-hee-hee~ No peeking, S/O! My talents don’t just end with being an Ultimate Supreme Leader, y’know?” …or even try to get anything out of him about what he’s doing or plotting there’s no chance he’s going to spill. And if he were to, how can you be sure he’s not lying?

So whether you give in or are too stubborn he plays hard to get. “Geez S/O~ If you’re gonna react like that, what’s the point?” And after reacting however you do… “O-KAY~ You’ve persuaded me!” (Literally however you react, whether you remain silent, make a fuss, apologize, get flustered or death glare the brat with a ‘I’m-not-putting-up-with-your-shit-ouma-and-you-know-it’ attitude… god does he loves messing with you)

He’s not the most gentle about it. And you can feel a weight growing above your head…yeah maybe it’s not the best idea to let Kokichi try to braid your hair…

If you try to get a glimpse of him, he’s wearing one of those terrifying smiles that screams devil’s child.

He whines that you were trying to peek and is forced to start again. Blaming you. It’s entirely your fault. Sigh.

When he’s finally done messing with you, you finally get to see he decided to give you a waterfall twist braid.How he has the skills to do this is beyond you.And cough he may or may not have been googling how-to-braid the entirety of the previous night OR been practicing on himself cOUGH.

Korekiyo Shinguji

He’s surprisingly good at braiding hair. He’s had experience styling his own hair in the past. Whether it be for the sake of art, beauty, creative mind, experience or an understanding.

And from the fashion research he’s done in the past about human’s and their trends…let’s just say he knows a lot of different styles and techniques.

He asks if you had a preference and if not he will happily give you a style that will suit your face and frame.

He asks you to wash your hair before hand to get the best experience and outcome from this, whether you go through with this or not is all up to you.

And thanks you for the opportunity to braid someone else’s hair for once.

He takes quite a long time to prepare your hair. Brushing through it at least a few 10 times and clipping away parts he doesn’t wish to get in the way.

He has to pause during the session multiple times to take notes. On how you react, to how it feels being on his end, he even asks you questions during moments of massaging your scalp, tugging on the strands and so forth. “It’s for research, S/O. A passionate Anthropologist must get accounts from those within society to get a better outlook of the entire spectrum. And since this is a rare encounter I must document every precise detail.”

When he finally gets along with it, he doesn’t struggle as much as you’d think through his bandages. Over the years he’s grown accustom to their feel and how to utilize his senses.

It takes time, since he wanted to test his skills (and take so many notes). But once he’s finally finished and your neck and back are killing you from resting in the same position for over an hour. He outdid his previous attempts at braiding and gave you an inverted fishtail braid.

Ryoma Hoshi

How you got him to do this. I don’t know. But he’s braiding your hair anyway. Well done S/O.

He goes with the simple and standard braid. Whether he intended for it to be loose is for him to know and only him.

You have to do most of the work, like combing your hair. And while he doesn’t know why you want him to do this, he goes along with it anyway. Eventually confessing “It’s things like this I missed while in prison.”

Admittedly he enjoys fiddling with you locks. It’s a strange sensation he hasn’t really experienced since he prefers to keep his hair extremely short.

He goes silent at some point. You didn’t for the room to go quiet, but really he almost gets lost in the feeling of your strands of hair. You wouldn’t know it of course. The expression he’s gained after many years of enduring what happens within the walls of a prison has made it so he’s unreadable.

But the fact that it takes him about 30 minutes to give you a three strand braid gives away how much he was enjoying pampering you in such a way.

He’s talking himself down again, unsure why you wanted this in the first place.

But it looks nice. The amount of looseness around the back of your neck makes it feel like it’s not even there. It’s comfortable and because it’s tied together won’t get knotted or caught on anything.Oh and! It perfectly fits on both of your shoulders and doesn’t irritate your beck at all! Ifitslongenoughofcourse seriously, love this boy!

Gonta Gokuhara

He doesn’t know what he’s doing. You might think he would…but there’s a reason why his hair is so…natural.

His robust hands don’t help the situation either. He’s struggling to traditionally braid your hair. And apologizes for the amount of times he needs to start all over again.

Eventually he settles with giving the hair around your ear special attention and gives you a small braid that almost blends into your hair.

He asks so many questions. To keep a conversation going and to know what you would prefer.

He decides to add in some flowers he recently picked in the meadow. Just so the braid appears more apparent drowned in your locks.

He’s very new to this, so please have patience with him. He’s very glad you suggested this. And what kind of gentlemen would deny a lady of such a lovely wish?

It doesn’t take him long to finish the single braid. And he’s so happy with the end result. But the fun isn’t over yet. He gets a little carried away with tucking in pieces of flowers and natural greenery.

He wants to try again. He’s so eager about it too. You’re making him rethink his own hairstyle…maybe the two of you could match? Couples often match with each other, right?He’s not finished btw. practice makes perfect, so you know whenever you want/need your hair braided he’s gonna offer to do it for you.

also since the English localization is popular with a lot of the English fans I’ll just write my future prompts in correlation to the English localization to lower chances of confusion.

Unless some demand the Japanese quirks (Ouma using the honorific ‘chan’ for everyone, the original laughs {i.e Nishishi, Kyah-kyah-kyah, Kukuku}, Tenko’s pun of MENace, Angie/Gonta/Tenko’s speaking mannerisms, etc) feel free to lemme know! I’d be happy to add such details in!especially since the eng localization has been brainwashing me to the point where I almost forgot Tenko’s pun … her PUN

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ibblescribbles-archive · 7 years

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Can you say how to draw female and male hair? I really love your art, your style is so ... Fluffy? XD

@manekiesorry this took me so long to answer, ive been pretty busy and havent had time to sit down and draw some examples until now!I will start out saying that ive never formally studied hair, so all this will just be my knowledge on stylized hair and how i draw it!

Jumping right into it, the first thing I think about when drawing hair is where the hair is going to part. I decide on the point the hair will start from (represented by the red dot) and then decide what direction I want the hair to go. In this case I’m drawing straight hair in a side part + bangs. When drawing bangs, its important to take note of the hair line. In my head, I separate the bangs from the body of the hair since they don’t follow the main part of the hair but rather start at the hairline.

From here I sketch out the sections of hair, using the arrows as a directional guide. You want to think of hair in terms of sections rather than strands. Like any form, breaking the form into parts makes it easier to visualize and draw. I like to think of each section of hair as a ribbon when I’m blocking out the basic shapes. It’s much easier to figure out how hair will twist and turn, especially when in motion or as seen in curly hair, when you visualize it as a bunch of ribbons or streamers radiation from a central point.

Here, you can see the sections I divided the hair into more clearly. I use directional lines to give me a basic idea of how the hair is falling but most of the hair is still in chunks.

In this image I’ve outlined the two main sections of the hair (excluding the bangs which can be considered a third section). The line the blue arrow is pointing to is where the part of the hair is and the rest of the blue outlines how half the hair falls into a sheet over the shoulder. The purple outline is of course the other half of the hair that comes out of the part. The purple arrow is pointing to a “crease” in this section of the hair. I’m not sure how to describe this well, but still thinking in terms of a ribbon, the ribbon is folding over itself because it is not completely flat. Hair acts the same way; it will overlap itself, especially when the hair is parted to the side. Sorry if that’s confusing, but basically just know having lines coming out of the part helps emphasize it so your hair isn’t all over the place!

Lastly, I’ve separated the hair further into even smaller sections, though I personally don’t put a lot of detail into my hair so you can see I still have a lot of chunks left. It’s up to you whether you want to push further with this, it’s time consuming to continuously separate the hair, but if executed right it can make your art really pop! However, I prefer simplifying my hair both to save time and just because it fits my style better!In this stage as well, I’ve added strands of hair that go against the direction of the rest of the hair. Hair is almost never perfectly rounded or neat so having strands that stick out or move in an opposite direction can help make it look more natural over all! I also decided to make the part where the nape of the neck comes through a little more evident than the draft to make it clear that it is separating there.

As for the “fluffy” aspect in my style and more specifically the hair I draw (thank you btw that’s such a sweet compliment!) I use rounder shapes and curves to make hair look bouncy or fluffy! Actually, I can’t draw super short, straight hair well because I just love drawing floofy bangs and hair too much.. but its fine because short hair tends to lift away from the rest of the head anyway haha

I wont go into much detail for this hairstyle since its essentially the same process but some final advice: It’s always good to draw the head shape before drawing hair. In stylized art/anime especially, hair tends to poof out from the head but that doesn’t mean the head isn’t there. You still need to follow the basic shape of the head and consider how hair falls over it.

I hope this helped a little! I’m sorry this is such a simplistic tutorial and for the rough drawings, I’d like to go over hair in motion and hair when its pulled back/up or curly but I feel like those need to be in a separate post ;v; maybe i’ll do those at a later date if anyone wants to see those~you can find more of my tutorials/tips here!

#manekie #ibbletips #long post #hair tutorial #art tutorial #the second one's hair looks kind of like lark's it was an accident but i like it #so ill tag it as lark for my reference later #ibbleoc-lark #its a bit different but same idea

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kittehdoodles · 6 years

Text

Not tagged, but I saw it and thought it would be neat to do. Saw it from @ave-rice. I too am gonna put the stuff under the cut, and I too will not tag anyone. Not cuz I fear, but cuz I know less than 9 folks I can send this to lmao...

1ST RULE: tag 9 people you want to get to know better:

2ND RULE: BOLD the statements that are true

APPEARANCE:

I am 5'7 or taller - I wear glasses - I have at least one tattoo - I have at least one piercing - I have blond hair - I have brown eyes - I have short hair (short-ish counts, right?) - My abs are at least somewhat defined - I have or had braces

PERSONALITY:

I love meeting new people - People tell me I am funny - Helping others with their problems is a big priority of mine - I enjoy physical challenges (depends) - I enjoy mental challenges (depends) - I am playfully rude to people I know - I started saying something ironically and now I can’t stop saying it - There is something I would change about my personality

ABILITY:

I can sing well - I can play an instrument (play does not mean well ayyyy) - I can do over 30 pushups without stopping (sometimes) - I am a fast runner - I can draw well - I have a good memory - I am good at doing math in my head (also sometimes) - I can hold my breath underwater for over a minute - I have beaten at least 2 people arm wrestling (viva la physics) - I can make at least 3 recipes from scratch - I know how to throw a proper punch (thank you karate class ;w;)

HOBBIES:

I enjoy sports - I was on a sports team at my school or somewhere else - I was in an orchestra or choir or band at my school or somewhere else - I have learned a new song in the past week - I exercise at least once a week - I have gone for runs at least once a week in warmer months - I have drawn something in the past month - I enjoy writing - Fandoms are my #1 priority - I do some form of Martial arts

EXPERIENCES:

I have had my first kiss - I have had alcohol (soon...) - I have scored a winning point in a sport - I have watched an entire TV series in one sitting - I have been at an overnight event - I have been in a taxi - I have been in the hospital or ER in the past year - I have beaten a video game in one day - I have visited another country - I have been to one of my favourite bands’ concerts

MY LIFE:

I have one person that I consider to be my Best Friend™ (to this day i still dont know what coutns as one .w.) - I live close to my school/work (relatively) - My parents are still together - I have at least one sibling - I live in the United States - There is snow where I live right now - I have hung out with a friend in the past month - I have a smartphone - I own at least 15 CDs (Owning doesn’t mean using ayy) - I share my room with someone

RELATIONSHIPS:

I am in a relationship - I have a crush on a celebrity - I have a crush on someone I know - I’ve been in at least 3 relationships - I have never been in a relationship - I have admitted my feelings to a crush - I get crushes easily - I have had a crush for over a year - I have been in a relationship for over a year - I have had feelings for a friend

RANDOM:

I have break-danced - I know a person named Jamie - I have had a teacher that has a name that is hard to pronounce - I have dyed my hair (one day...) - I’m listening to a song on repeat right now - I have punched someone in the past week - I know someone who has gone to jail - I have broken a bone - I have eaten a waffle today - I know what I want to do in life (I know but I’m not able to execute ;w;) - I speak at least two languages - I have made a new friend in the past year

If you’re tagged (only if you want to do it!), replace the songs in the list with ones that fit the description for you, and then tag five more people.

A song that makes you want to fall in love: Coward Montblanc (DECO*27) (ironically, lmao)

Your favorite pump-up song: Megalovania (Undertale)

Favorite song to rock out to: Also Megalovania (Undertale)

A song that reminds you of summer: (Nothing pops up in mind except for this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4WGMTm8tyXA)

Your favorite cover of a song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ByDDauabaII (Less of a cover, more of a piano tutorial, and cuz I can’t think of any other covers I like. Pumped Up Kicks (Foster the people), covered by Piano Boss)

A song you sing in the shower: Demons (Imagine Dragons)

A song that reminds you of someone: Guns for Hands (twenty one pilots)

What you want your wedding song to be: Undertale (Undertale)

Your favorite 90s/2000s song: Is it bad if I unironically say Never Gonna Give You Up?

A song to heal heartbreak: Wilt (VerseQuence)

Favorite song from a girl group: If Love Live counts: トリコリコPLEASE!! (Aquors)

A song you know all the lyrics to: Trees (twenty one pilots)

Favorite oldies rock song: I know none .w.

A song from your favorite artist: Fresh Static Snow (Porter Robinson)

A song that you like to fall asleep to: A tie on Elevatorstuck (Homestuck), Pretty Nice Day, Huh (OneShot), Mitchiri Neko Marching Band (Mitchiri Neko)

A song that makes you feel invincible: Wow, Megalovania (Undertale) 3x in a row

A song that makes you feel better when you’re down: Sayo-nara (Doki Doki Literature Club) /slapped Every depressing song in existence .w. /slapped Though I guess the only other thing I can think of is His Theme (Undertale) o wo

Favorite holiday song: Feliz Navidad. Because I know of too little holiday songs.

A song from a genre of music you don’t usually listen to: In The Name Of God (Powerwolf)

A song you associate with your favorite book: Encounter (OneShot)

#this took an hour to do cuz i am very forgetful and indecisive .w.

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hibernianbok · 7 years

Text

Happy B-day Hetalia :D

Here’s a headcanon for every official character :D

African characters:

Cameroon: He enjoys going to schools around his country, he always tries to play a couple of matches against the kids. He lets them win to build their confidence in themselves.

Egypt: Someone when he’s sad he writes letters to his mother in hieroglyphics, he then puts it in the Nile hoping she’ll find it, one day.

Seychelles: Whenever she visits France's place she does her hair in a french plait. No reason, She just likes to plait her hair when she visits.

Asian characters:

China: Whenever he gets time off, he loves to ride a bike on the xi’an wall, he loves taking in the city. Sometimes he likes to think about how it has changed.

Cyprus: Whenever he is around Greece and Turkey he considers himself the “mature” one. With all their arguing who wouldn’t?

Hong Kong: Due to his fear of the dark, whenever he’s at a friend/family’s house he’ll refuse to let them leave the room he’s sleeping in till he’s asleep, he’ll hold their hand the whole night if that means they’ll stay.

India: His favorite pastime is drawing is hennas on people's arm, if nobody is around he’ll draw one on himself. Every single one he does is a work of art!

Japan: On trips to meeting or even on holiday he brings an emergency blanket to burrito in, he has been found on more than one occasion huddled up in his hotel room rather than outside enjoying himself.

S.korea: he knows how to K-pop dance, every time one of his many K-pop artist releases a new song with dance moves he’ll practice it till he perfects it.

Macau: Around new people he acts like a gentleman, he always offers the best of his hospitality, around his family he’s a lot more casual and tends to make jokes.

Russia: He is amazing at ballet, only his sisters and his teacher knows this though, he is way too embarrassed to tell anyone else.

Taiwan: She has lucky cats hidden around her house, when she is tired or bored she likes to flick the kitty’s arm. Sometimes she giggles at their movements.

Thailand: Bad hair days are horrible for him, the majority of his day will be dedicated to making his hair fluffy again.

Turkey: Sometimes he likes to go to the mills in his country and help the ladies there make carpets, he loves the detail that goes into them.

Vietnam: Her loves to a coracle around Ha Long Bay, especially at night. She loves to sit in the middle of the bay and stare at the stars.

European countries:

Austria: He can recite entire script of the sound of music. It's his favorite musical because it's from his place and actually happened!

Belarus: When she is around someone she truly hates she’ll stare at them and think of every possible way to kill them till they walk/run away. She always smirks afterwards.

Belgium: She has a habit of cooking when she’s not hungry, she’ll just start making waffles at 3am for no reason. Most of the food she makes is given to her brothers because free food = more money.

Bulgaria: He has an entire cabinet full of his cosplay outfits, he is very careful when washing and drying all of his outfits and rarely ever lets people try them on, for obvious reasons.

Czech: Her tolerance to alcohol is very high. It takes quite a few beers before she can be considered drunk.

Denmark: More than once he has decided to break into Sweden's house and made a sofa fort, he defends it like it’s his own castle.

England: His favorite tea is Earl Grey. He is open to trying other types though, his second favorite tea is PG tips.

Estonia: He will spend an entire day blogging stuff, sometimes Latvia or Finland will have to come over to make sure he is actually eating and sleeping.

Finland: He’s a lot stronger than many people give him credit for, I mean just think about his country's sniping history and how he was excited to fight against Lithuania and Poland!

France: On the short breaks (weekends) he likes to travel around his place to taste wine. He can name every vineyard and seller in alphabetical order.

Germany: He takes on more work than he can handle. The reason behind this is so at the end of the week he feels like he has accomplished something.

Greece: Sometimes when he is bored he’ll make mini statues of Greek gods and goddess. He’ll just get a bit of clay and mold it into a god.

Hungary: Her favorite pastime is to bathe in her hot springs. Not these new fancy ones, the original ones that were built during the old days.

Iceland: He has an account for nearly everyone social media site, most of which he’s too scared to actually post something because he fears of being judged.

Italy: I bet you he owns a book based on the different types of pasta, he doesn’t even need it he can name every single style of pasta.

Latvia: The reason he is often hanging out with the micro-nations is because it makes him feel more grown up, he likes being the oldest in a group!

Liechtenstein: She has more than one ribbon. The one her brother gave to her is very special to her, so much so that she bought herself more ribbons so that she doesn’t ruin the one Switzerland got her.

Lithuania: He has defended Latvia more than once, a lot of times when russia was about to punish Latvia, lith took it for him.

Luxembourg: Sometimes when he is feeling mischievous he’ll which the side his hair falls on, this makes ned’s eyes twitch and Belgium mentally scream trying to figure out what’s off.

Moldova: More often than not he’ll watch horror movies way over his age (Well not his actual age but his personified age), he is often scolded by his big brother Romania because of this.

Monaco: She’s made make up tutorials before, they are all very detailed and anyone can pull it off! She has never uploaded any though, the key to her beauty must remain secret~ (even though she’s prettier without it)

Netherlands: He lets his bunny sleep in his bed. As neat as he is having his little fluffy friend to cuddle up with helps him sleep.

Norway: He knows the names and address of every coffee shop at his place, he can also name the place where the coffee was grown. It’s his wine.

Poland: He is very religious, every Sunday he goes to church. As flamboyant as he may be he’ll thank god for all he has.

Portugal: He barely ever combs his hair, not because he doesn’t want to but because he is always doing stuff. When he does get the chance to comb his hair he’ll take a good hour combing it.

Prussia: whenever he is home alone he busts out the old shirt on trousers off moves. If Germany gets home early he’ll be greeted with his awesome brother in his tighty whities.

Romania: Sometimes when he wants to troll people he’ll dye his water blood red, people call him a vampire anyways, why not freak them out a bit more?

Slovakia: He is rather lazy when it comes to personal hygiene, he’d rather just get some dry shampoo and a couple of wet wipes then take an hour in the shower.

South Italy: He often trips over his own feet, so he’ll be walking down the street minding his own business and casually fall over. He plays it off very well though!

Spain: Sometimes when he’s bored he’ll put on his dancing clothes, he doesn’t need a partner, a broom will do quite nicely~

Sweden: Is one of the best dancers ever. Think about it, most of the music that comes from his place are addictive and have dance moves that everyone knows! (Caramelldansen)

Switzerland: Has a manual on how to win monopoly every time, it doesn’t matter if the others see it, so long as he wins he doesn’t care.

Ukraine: She really enjoys being around the micro-nations, especially if they enjoy her company too. She likes to mother the little ones, she’s very motherly.

Mirco-nations:

Hutt river: The main reason he is so fancy is because of Australia, he wants to be noticed by him so he sparkles~

Kunglemungle: He loves to be left alone to practice his art, even if it’s just for a few minutes it can mean the world to him.

Molossia: The only person that truly sees his soft side is america, he is the only person that he trust not to tell anyone

Niko Niko: Although he’s human now he still acts like a micro-nation. He was born as one and he will forever be one to everyone else.

Sealand: He is scared of fires, whenever fire is mentioned he feels tears falling from his eyes. (Sealand had a pretty bad fire a while back)

Seborga: Sometimes he likes to see how many people he can flirt with in one day, he makes it a little game for himself.

TRNC: He barley ever hangs out with the other micro-nations, he’d rather just hang out with turkey and his big brother.

Wy: When she is around the other female nations she asks if they can do her hair, she likes how Ms.Belgium does her hair the most!

North America:

America: He still cuddles with a stuffed animals when he’s asleep. He really likes to cuddle things at night and if nobody is nearby his bear is his lifesaver.

Canada: He really likes hiking during his time off, he’ll often go on holidays to mountainy areas so he can go on a nice, long, hike.

Cuba: He enjoys taking naps on the beach, if he could he’d lay there all day watching the waves roll in and out whilst having a cheeky smoke.

Oceania:

Australia: Sometimes when he’s feeling upset he’ll hangout in the bush with all the animals, he feels like he can connect more with the animals than actual people.

New Zealand: He is very aggressive when playing sports, he may seem like a sweetheart when talking but as soon as he puts his uniform on it’s game O N

HOLY MOLY THAT TOOK FOREVER I FEEL ACCOMPLISHED!

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sonreiv · 7 years

Note

Digital anon again, in ur experience what tablet works best?? Do u ever have problems with the whole connecting tablet to computer process, any warnings and advice for starting digital?? And (sorry for all the questions) what do u use to draw digital ??

Hey nony! I got a bit lenghty so I’m going under the cut.

I’ve only ever owned two tablets so I can’t say I know a lot-- I’ve had a Genius MousePen i608X which is fairly cheaper than a Wacom, but unnecessarily large with a tiny work space and the pen was battery powered and super fragile, so if you’re a clumsy idiot like me who drops his things on a whim, it doesn’t last. And I think they don’t even make Genius tablet anymore, so if you were to buy one it had to be via a third party site. But it’s cheap and the driver works fine, same pressure sensitivity as an intuos.

My current one is a Intuos pen small CTL480L by Wacom. It’s small but just enough for me. The cable is tiny on purpose so they make you buy the wireless kit, but I just bought an USB extensor. It comes with 3 extra nibs in a hidden compartment that no one tells you that exists, and the nib packs are ridiculously expensive and might not even ship to your country (they don’t ship to mine) but fret not, there’s tutorials online that teach you how to make DYI nibs with trimmer line and it’s super cheap and easy. The driver will sometimes randomly fail and not read the pressure (usually when you had the tablet connected for a while without using it) and you have to restart them via Services (if on windows) which is a bit annoying but it’s quick to solve. Wacom is the go-to for most artists sssso from experience and from what I always hear I’d recommend that but!

I came across this post about a tablet that’s fairly cheaper and pontentially superior than a wacom’s so it’s worht to take a look! The cheapness factor depends on where you live though bc the shipping turned out to be more expensive than a wacom tablet itself.

Now whichever you decide in the end, from my experience you probs don’t absolutely need a big ass active area and 2k pressure levels. If you get one that has that, neat!! But it’s less about the tool and more about what you do with it. I’ve never tried a more expensive tablet but I’m doing fine with the one I got now which is the simplest tier in wacom.

About the installing process, it’s chill. The same process as installing any programs in your computer. I’ve heard from other people with Genius tablets that the driver simply won’t work, but with Wacom you should be safe. The driver derps sometimes like mentioned before, but you just have to go to Services and reboot it, takes a few seconds. Once the driver is properly installed in your computer, you just plug in the tablet via USB and it starts automatically, get to drawing.

I use Paint Tool SAI for making art. It’s a paid program, but my cheap teen ass pirated it a few years ago orz others also commonly Photoshop, Manga Studio and Fire Alpaca (which is a free one). I’m set on SAI cause it’s simple enough and made specifically for making digital art. I use Manga Studio when I want to do effects like patterned backgrounds.

About tips on starting digital... Mann it’s an entire new world, I could sit and go on and on! I’ve been drawing digitally since 2014 and there’s still things I don’t know. The most basic advices I can give are (most of these applied to a SAI user):

Set your canvas to be 4000x4000px large and with a 300 ppi resolution. You don’t have to use the entire space, and you should size it down before uploading, but a larger canvas has better quality and minor mistakes are less visible.

When filling in base colors, use the magic wand to select an entire area and the select/deselect brushes to trim your selection. Saves you a lot of trouble. (ps works better if you’re doing a clean, “closed” lineart)

Try different brush settings! Sometimes what isn’t working is the kind of brush you’re using. Play around, look up what setting the artist you like use and you might find a brush that makes you comfortable when drawing (took me 12 years to realize the brush I used to sketch was making it harder for me).

SAVE. ALL. THE TIME. Set one of your express keys to be a saving button and soon enough it’ll become an almost unconscious habit.

Set a bunch of hotkeys to make your life easier! I don’t use them enough tbh, but it’s good to have some for flipping and rotating the canvas (I use tab to flip the canvas and Q+W to rotate counter-clockwise and clockwise). Always flip the canvas during the sketching process because when flipped you can notice mistakes more easily!

Try to avoid using black and white to shade and highlight your art. I mean, when choosing a darker/lighter shade for shadows/highlights, try moving the mouse sideways and changing the color a bit, rather than just choosing the same color but closer to white/black.

SAVE A FUCK TON OF TUTORIALS, EVEN IF YOU’RE NOT GOING TO USE THEM NOW, SAVE THEM SOMEWHERE AND LOOK AT THEM AND EXPERIMENT! There’s SO many things you can learn and you can only grow with digital art by experimenting. I struggle a lot actually to step out of my comfort zone and try new stuff which leads to my art style evolving faster than my digital process orz but I’m trying!!

It WILL feel awkward and you WILL feel like it doesn’t look good enough, and that is normal. You move to a whole new medium and it’s like you’re learning how to art all over again. You have expectations on how your art will look like, and you’ll be a bit upset because it doesn’t look how you wanted to yet. It’s normal. Might take months, maybe even a couple years for you to find yourself and what works for you digitally, but it’s because only YOU know what your expectations are, to everyone else it’ll be an awesome process of improvement. Look up a bunch of tutorials, watch speedpaints and see how people do their thing, try different brushes.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask again or DM me directly! I still have a lot to learn and experiment but I can share what I know! Hope this helped a little!

#sonrei answer #Anonymous

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