#I have one other piece in there but you'll have to get the zine to check it out

[obscurelocalstranger]

My submission from the A to Z of Ed Teach zine!

B for Blackbeard

#ofmd #our flag means death #blackbeard #edward teach #ofmd fanart #printmaking #linoleum print #SO HAPPY I CAN FINALLY POST THIS #I've had to sit on it for ages til the zine was out and about #I have one other piece in there but you'll have to get the zine to check it out

[the-oscar-isaac-collective]

WE HAVE A THEME & MOD APPLICATIONS ARE NOW OPEN!!

Mod Application Form

After collecting the feedback from the interest check, there were some common themes and interests that you all have voted for.

(More below the cut)

The majority of you are chomping at the BIT for idiots to lovers in the SFW portion of the interest check, however, a good portion also wanted enemies, exes, and childhood friends to lovers. Additionally, the majority of people voted for a coffee shop au out of the aus available. So we decided to go with a coffee shop themed fanzine with an emphasis on "blank" to lovers for the trope!

We were going to leave the coffee shop part out, but the whores in the interest check (I say as though I'm not one myself) voted for creampies and breeding, along with things like one bed, loss of virginity, rough sex, e.t.c.

So, given the coffee shop au situation for the SFW section, we saw an opportunity to get clever with the name and make them kind of go together, and thought "people can write/draw about breeding and creampies AND add the one bed trope, loss of virginity, rough sex, e.t.c. if they want to!"

So as you start thinking up the things you want to create for the zine, keep these guidelines in mind...

!!APPLICATIONS FOR ARTISTS AND WRITERS WILL ROLL OUT NEXT WEEK!!

SFW:

You'll be assigned the characters you will work on after the applications have been concluded. WE DON'T SUGGEST STARTING TO WORK ON ANYTHING UNTIL THEN.

Must have something to do with coffee/tea but doesn't have to be exclusively coffee shop au. For instance, if you wrote about Poe and wanted it to take place in the Star Wars universe, it doesn't necessarily have to be at a coffee shop, but should at least involve coffee in some way shape or form.

Fics will be kept between 1.5k min - 3k max word count.

SFW does NOT have to mean fluff, you can have angst, action, drama, e.t.c.

No works may contain anything sexually suggestive, though light flirting or domestic fluff like kissing is allowed. Just nothing too heavy.

All pieces are x reader/x y/n. The gender of the blank reader/ y/n is at the sole discretion of the creator.

There is no skill or experience requirement to participate.

NSFW:

Must have something to do with creampies.

This is NOT a dark fanzine, therefore non-con, extreme dubious consent, and other dark themes are strictly prohibited. We may do a darkzine in the future but this ain't it.

Fics will be kept between 1.5k min - 3k max word count.

The work MUST contain sexual content, and a creampie of course <3

All pieces are x reader/ x y/n. The gender of the blank reader/ y/n is at the sole discretion of the creator.

No threesomes. I know I'm sorry, we're not against them, but in order to keep this zine organized the way we have it planned it just won't work out with more than one person.

No skill or experience requirement to participate.

I'm so excited for you all to join us in this fucking EXCITING project coming up!!! I can't wait to see what you all create for it!!

#fanzine #oscar isaac fanzine #moon knight #lightningface #oscar isaac #the oscar isaac collective #toic fanzine #toic 2024 fanzine #the oi collective #the oi collective fanzine #oscar isaac hernandez estrada #duke leto #duke leto atreides #basil stitt #blue jones #blue jones sucker punch #sucker punch #jake lockley #steven grant #marc spector #poe dameron #star wars

[mixelation]

more rotating on this post: kakashi dating a civilian OC who has no idea he's a ninja

original proposed concept is they "meet" via icha icha fanzine. i bothered @tozettastone and they suggested that OC be a cosplayer. what does icha icha cosplay even look like? you ever seen IRL naruto coplay that's like "naruko but she wears a miniskirt and fishnets and a lot of makeup." or like fanart of kakashi where he's wearing a bellyshirt for no reason other than to show off his abs. like that, plus some very over-the-top traditional clothing for undercover work and civilian characters. everyone has off the shoulder kimono that show off cleavage and magically stay up, etc

anyway, i can't really see young!kakashi (like 18-19-20?) actively participating in fandom. but maybe he finds a zine somewhere and starts collecting them, like a pre-internet lurker. it's his coping mechanism, okay. he likes fanart. he likes bad fics. and then our lovely OC who's also 19 and fresh to being allowed in the porn section is like: I MADE THE BEETLE WING HAORI HERE'S A PHOTO. there's a note about her sorting through thousands of beetle wings to get the right colors, and also what a nightmare they are to sew, and also what should she try next, mail me here??? and Kakashi is like: oh wow, this person is insane. i have just the challenge. <3

(OC's additional notes on the haori: no one should ever do this again. just don't. you'll regret it)

kakashi is not the only person to write her suggestions, but he IS the only one to suggest something that's actually technically difficult to make, which is what she wanted. so they start swapping letters where she sends him progress updates on this insane thing she is making. he finds this mildly amusing until about a month out from the next con when her letters abruptly turn insane. she WILL premier this cosplay there even if it kills her-- listen if her wig guy isn't up to snuff she'll just LEARN HERSELF--

and listen kakashi isn't going to FALL IN LOVE but this level of commitment is something he can appreciate.

OC sends him a letter about the con (her very first one!!) and going to a con is not something he has any interest in, but like. he is curious to know what they're like, and it's nice to like? have? a friend??

they trade letters for years without actually talking about their personal life much. kakashi is not creative (no writing fic, no fanart, no cosplay, etc) but he IS really good at analysis. you need every detail on naoki's civilian outfit in paradise? he's got you. you don't understand wtf the text is talking about when it describes a weapon? he'll draw you a diagram (and not mention he knows what jiraiya is talking about because it's based on a real thing that was popular for like a month during the third war).

this goes on for years. oc lives in a small town in a little border country with no ninja, and her family runs a clothes shop, and she's deeply bored of making and altering shirts. she has a frustrating life in a very mundane way-- she dates a few guys and doesn't marry any of them and her family gives her grief. she moves to a slightly bigger city and can't get a job doing what she wants (making high-end luxury clothes and/or just insane fashion) and ends up working at a general store and doing minor alterations as a side gig to fund her hobby. she doesn't get to travel around and do cool things as much as she dreamed as a kid. she skips some cons because she doesn't always have the money and also there's a weird guy who'd been low-key stalking her. she tries selling little pre-made costume pieces at a con and doesn't even break even. only a handful of these details make it into her very serious discussion with kakashi about how the many details the icha icha miniseries got wrong

kakashi is.... being kakashi. obviously he doesn't write to her about all the assassinations he's been doing or whatever. but he doesn't mind when OC hints at her own boring problems. it's kind of nice, actually, to know there's people out there having boring problems? anyway one day she complains her landlord won't let her get a dog and he mails her a polaroid of a random dog he met in a park.

i'm thinking around the time of just before canon starts is about when kakashi is at a place where he's like..... okay with sharing some personal details? like he doesn't say a LOT but he realizes it actually feels really nice to write to someone that he's annoyed the store stopped selling his favorite pre-rolled sushi. the letters get sent more frequently and the conversation escalates at a slow, tedious pace. kakashi sends more dog pics. he tells her that he was so exhausted after work that he considered eating dog treats instead of cooking, and this feels like a very big deal to him

her: PLEASE tell me it was at least the fancy kind that look like cookies

him: obviously i would only buy the highest quality treats for my dogs

her: dogS?

kakashi: (ignores this question in the next letter)

kakashi checks his mail everyday now and he's like. oh no my feelings. but also she's in a whole other country and only exists to him in letters and that feels.... safe, somehow.

they met via a club for porn books so they don't "get together" so much as one of their very academic discussions of kink in icha icha violence suddenly turns into deeply sexual letters that have nothing to do with icha icha. there's still their normal conversation but then it's also like "if you were here now, this is what i would do to you--"

OC has been pretty good at not prying into Kakashi's life and she's very understanding of team seven making kakashi's life insane (she's under the impression her got an apprentice for whatever his job is) but she starts bugging him for a photo. kakashi is very against this at first, but then sasuke leaves and naruto leaves and sakura runs off with tsunade and suddenly he has a lot of free time and a big gaping hole in his social life. and like. he DOES really like her. they MIGHT be dating? definitely they have a thing going. so instead he asks if she wants to meet in person

OC agrees but she goes into it VERY nervous. she figures he didn't want to give a photo because he's embarrassed about his appearance, and she doesn't care what he looks like, but what if he lied about other things? what if she walks a whole day to this resort town and he's a weirdo or gross or stood her up?? but she puts on her big girl pants and also her push-up bra and goes

she wasn't actually going to sleep with him for their first meeting but it turns out he is like. hot. and talks just like his letters. and also it's way cheaper to just share one hotel room-- kakashi are you SURE you won't couple cosplay--

#i guess i need a tag for this au #kakashi/cosplay!oc au

[entomjinx]

Hello all! This post has links to everything I made in 2023!

Happy new year and may 2024 bring more One Piece content <3

Also if you remember the poll where I was writing 250 words for every vote (105 votes+ one extra vote from the comments(106 total) = 26,500 words), then you'll be happy to know that I've written more than that for only 5/8 fics, though one remains unposted because Surprise! It's for a zine! The others I plan to finish this year, and I have 3/5 of the drawing requests done. They'll be posted all together soonish I hope. lmao

One Piece Fanfics:

A Mother's Love Doesn't Come From Blood (Luffy & Makino gen, AILAIF series part 1/14)

Banned Games and Beginner's Luck (Whitebeard Pirates gen)

I Won't Tell (Law/Luffy)

Rosemary By The Roadside CH1 (Law/Luffy)

Smoked Lungs (Law/Sanji)

Wishing To Be Wanted (Ace & Sabo & Luffy gen, AILAIF series part 2/14)

Oh-Ho The Mistletoe (Shanks/Beckmann)

One Piece Theories/Analysis/Metas/Ramblings/headcanon lists:

Entomology Majoy Luffy short

Strawhat Polycule + Vivi and Law

Luffy's Perception of Love (Version with the Lawlu add-on)

Nika and Luffy Seperate entity AU thing

Uta Analysis (why she's not a Mary-Sue)

One Piece Fanarts:

Sanji Birthday doodle

ASUL sketch

Sabo Birthday doodle

100 followers on twitter Luffy

Gear 5 Graduation Cap art Bad scratchboard memes

Luffy Selective Mutism vent piece (Ink)

Happy Birthday Corazon art

Uta Color study

Lawlu art I didwhile the internet was out

Original art:

Scratchboard bullshit 1, 2, and 3

And with that, my 2023 content comes to an end. If you made it all the way to the bottom of this post, then eat something, drink something, take your meds, and get some rest. I love you! Take care of yourselves!

#one piece #monkey d luffy #lawlu #asul siblings #2023

[cerinslair]

What Excites Me About Heart Heist

In which I gush about what excited me about making Heart Heist and why I think you'll enjoy it.

Part 2: Your Stats are also Dating Preferences

In Heart Heist, your stats are more about a vibe, reputation, or aesthetic than your thief's physical or mental characteristics. This led to two interesting developments:

One of the most common pieces of feedback from playtesters has been praise for how open character creation is. If you want to be an elf, a cyborg, a furry, a half-demon-half-vampire... go for it! As long as you maintain a fair and level playing field with the other thieves, you can be whatever and whoever you want.

Your stats are not prescriptions to your character's body. There are many different ways to be a jock, to be goth, etc. A thief who is a sumo wrestler might have the same Thicc score as a gaunt zombie thief, because both have a reputation for being able to withstand a great deal of adversity and get back up again.

During the heist, you're also trying to puzzle out your monstrous patron's dating preferences. While your scores in each stat stay the same, your Apperance in each stat can change over the course of the heist - bringing you closer or further away from suiting your beloved patron's tastes. Your stats are arranged in pairs of opposing aesthetics: Jock vs Nerd, Goth vs Prep, and Thicc vs Lithe. When your Appearance in one stat goes up, its opposite goes down.

Obviously in real life these traits aren't opposed axes - we each contain multitudes - but I'd argue that any game that tries to represent the human experience as a handful of stats is inherently reductive. So I just decided to lean into it for some tropey, genre fun. And the genre is part science-fantasy heist, and part dating competition!

Another aspect of this stat system I really enjoy is how it impacts stealth. Obviously stealth is important in a game revolving around heists, and in Heart Heist, every thief is good at it in one way or another. A heist-focused game cares about the way your thief tries to sneak around:

One aspect of Goth allows you to blend into the shadows, helping you move about unseen. An aspect of Prep helps you fit in with your surroundings, allowing you to hide in plain sight. And because they are an opposed pair, you'll either be particularly good at one, or decently average at both.

Heart Heist soft-launches via zine this Halloween!

You too can be a sexy, competent thief working for a hot monster this Halloween. Follow me on itch.io to be notified upon release! (link in bio) (Prep artwork by @malloart)

#Heart Heist #gamedev #indie ttrpg #ttrpg #indie games #cerinsposts #zine #malloart

[feidolzine]

Hello idols! Welcome to the question portion of the event! Are you ready to ready for the fan mail below the undercut! Art chibis were drawn by the lovely @virgichuu !

Q: Will mods have zine formatting done before preoders begin? I think it's important step for ensuring that fulfillment happens in a timely manner! I also think you should include FE# regardless of vote, it seems perfect for the theme of this zine. I'm looking forward to seeing where this project goes! <3

A: We estimate to finish zine layout be the end of POs! Based on prior zine experience, there tends to be an increase in contributor dropouts nearing final submission. We would like to give adequate to get pinch hitters to complete their pieces with minimal stress, even if it goes a little bit into PO period!

That being said, we are carefully reviewing IC results including write-in merch suggestions to plan a speedy production.

We would love to FE#! You're absolutely right that they are a perfect fit (some even say, the blueprint) for this zine theme. Luckily for us, the majority opinion wanted to include the wide range FE has to offer - including FE#. We hope to have excited applicants apply to create for it as well as all the other non-mainline games we'd love to feature!

Q: How will the representation of the various FE games work? Will the mods ensure less popular FE titles will be represented? Will representation be left up to the contributors who are accepted? A little concerned that the zine will feature only the popular FE games.

A: We would like to represent as many games in the FE franchise as possible! Our current plans include asking our contributor applicants to indicate which games they are interested in creating for so we can have a diverse range - however we cannot represent games if no one applies for them! Help us spread the word to FE fans and suggest guest specializing in our less-loved titles!

Q: Please provide Fates content in this, for both in merch and in the zine!

A: We would love to feature Fates content both in the zine and merch lineup! However, we can only do so if we have excited applicants for the roles - so please be sure to spread the word once our contributor applications open to all the Fates fans you know!

Q: Do you accept 1 times? I had a ton of ideas for this concept and I'd be excited to join you!

A: We would love to accept any first-time applicants to the zine! We do not require any prior zine experience for contributor roles; in our information document, you'll be able to find the contributor application guidelines. We will post on our social medias when contributor apps open, so be sure to keep an eye out.

Q: Tbh this zine makes me anxious because the head mod has a lot of responsibility on this zine or other ongoing or upcoming zines. Is there a is a reason this zine is moving forward now, instead at a later time when the head mod isn't busy with other zines?

A: We are sorry to cause your anxiety! The mod team only hopes to create a cheerful, fun zine experience for all and like to minimize any anxiousness.

The Head Mod like to assure you she is 100% committed to fulfilling this zine on the current schedule! That being said, she asked the rest of mod team to comment on their honest feelings on this question.

Our shipping/org/social media mod had said: "I've worked with the head mod on various zines before this one and know how she works: I know I can my trust in her when working with her in zines. She has been very communicative when working with me regarding getting her work done and telling me when getting it done, and getting them done in a timely manner. With her here I know this zine will be done very well and be completed in a timely manner."

One of our gen/writing mods have said: "In my experience working with Shi I have seen nothing besides good, reliable, and timely work. Shi is a really dedicated mod; she's constantly on top of deadlines and communicative as soon as an issues arise, if it does. I can assure potential supports that the project is in good hands with her!"

We hope these responses has relieved at least some of your anxiety! If not, especially considering recent developments in the FE zine space, the head mod welcomes and additional messages you have her to be directed her DMs (you may contact via Twitter or Discord) with any questions, and she will do her utmost best to answer. Thank you for your interest!~

Q: Love this zine concept I'm obsessed! Good luck with it! This really sounds really fun! :D

A: Thank you so much for your interest, we're obsessed with the concept too! We'll do our absolute best to make it a fun endeavor for everyone~ o(≧▽≦)o

Q: Is this idol concept specific to one type? I personally know more and interested in kpop idol culture rather than j-idol culture.

A: We are open to all types of idol cultures! This includes kpop, jpop, cpop, virtual idols (shout-out to our queen Miku), and animated idols (Love Live, IM @S), etc.! There are many types of idols and we love them all! o(≧▽≦)o

Q: Will you be considering have someone to just do small art assets for decorations for the zine? In case for the people who cannot make it as a page artist.

A: As of the moment, we will likely be not having someone come on only for spot merch! Page and merch artist will have the option to collaborate with a writer, but it is not required.

Q: If someone gets accepted, will they need to stick to their pitches, or can they come up with a new/modify it? Can a person also submit their check-ins before the due dates, and move onto the next stage.

A: Yes, your pitches will be used while assigning spots for the zine! Since our interest check expressed the desire to see the wide range of FE games, we will take in consideration getting a diversity of games via your pitches. There is a way to contribute something other than your assigned pitch, but that's a secret for now...!

Regarding check-in dates, you can check in and submit well in advance if you are finished! There will be final submission folder for you to put your pieces at any time, and public contributor tracker you can check to make sure the mods have correctly marked you off as submitted!

Q: Can I apply for more than one role?

A: You can absolutely apply for more than one role! We already have a couple of applicants already doing so - be sure to submit both (or all three) of the applications for the roles you were interested in. If you have a strong preference for one role over the other (ex. prefer merch over page), please write that in the notes!

#updates

[supercorpzine]

Hi! I'm curious what program you used to put the zine together? Did you use Abode InDesign? Do you have any tutorials/resources that you would recommend for learning whichever program you used? Thanks!

Hey there, this is Grace! Sorry for the delay I was out of town when we got your message.

Both I and Monica, who was the art mod before me, and Batten who tagged in on assisting with merchandise in later volumes, used Adobe InDesign. We didn't list any particular programs in our How To post (didn't want to assume skill level) but if you are hoping to have lots of text or go to print, InDesign will be your industry standard program for that. There are non-adobe alternatives, but I personally didn't use them because they often don't offer the tools needed for print production or meet my needs for a design program. This may be different for you! We unfortunately don't have any strong recommendation for a free program to try, but we do know of Gimp, SketchUp, and Adobe Spark. Take your time trying out different programs to see which one better fits your needs. If you can get InDesign free from a friend that may be worth it.

Should you choose to brave InDesign, Adobe's resource page for tutorials and trouble shooting will be helpful. They also have a forum community where you can connect with others and ask questions. You could also check out the reddit page if you would like to have another community option! A quick search on YouTube also yielded a bunch of different tutorials, so you'll just have to pick and choose which ones would work best for you for the task you're facing. I apologize I can't really give you more specific answers on InDesign tutorials, it's a large program (as are all Adobe programs) so I would suggest just learning about the pieces and parts that pertain to what you're trying to achieve!

#ask #mod grace #how to zine #supercorp zine

[hypnag0g]

Do you have examples of your web/graphic design-ish art on hand? I've caught glimpses and it's some REALLY excellent stuff

howdy! thank you so much for this wonderful ask, i very rarely get the chance to talk about my web/graphic design stuff, so seize any chance i can get! you'll have to forgive me for how scattered this everything is, my graphic design stuff normally ends up as a smaller part of illustrations, so a lot of it is gonna be cropped, haha.

my hypnagog header is probably the thing i'm most proud of, it was the first custom font i ever made that felt like i captured what i saw in my head. kind of a clunky way to put it but before this i'd change my header logo and general "branding" like once every three months, yet this one has stuck around for like 2ish years!! here it is in my classic colorway and my new green/orange one.

here are a couple of my older logos for a bunch of random projects (a comic about evil horses, a defunct community project, a bunch of little glyphs for hypnagog before i settled on my current aesthetic, and one for story about evil clones)

here are three posters i did for a couple of classes, they're more illustrative than graphic design but there's still elements that feel close enough to gd for me to post lol (a pitch poster for ANOTHER comic i was working on, an editorial piece about the recent HPAI surge, and a quick zine about my experiences with internet horror)

and FINALLY. here's my web design stuff. full disclaimer, i learned how to code on neopets, and i've never been able to break free of it's pull, so p much everything i've ever done for web design has all been on neopets, or on clone sites that emulate it pre-2007.

i'd love to link you these two but they're unfortunately behind a login screen on my current petsim of choice, so i hope the screenshots will do! these two are pet lookups coded from the ground up to look like social media profile pages (fun sidenote: Butch has a normal profile, Ransom is a silly hacker stereotype, and he had no choice but to "customize" his profile when faced with the insanely unsecured back-end of LUNET.)

aside from that, my other most recent web project was developing a really sleek character directory for my toyhou.se. i made all the graphics on this page and i'm super proud of it, haha.

oh i almost forgot. i also have a bunch of really dumb banners that my friends and i use in discord in tandem with a bot that posts them on command - most of them are intentionally designed to look bad, but some of em (especially the data "webba" banner) were made with a lot of care, haha.

i think i might be forgetting some things, but that's pretty much it! my next big project is building out my neocities - i'll definitely post about it when its finished because i wanna use it as a secondary posting location for all my stuff :o]

thank you again!!!!

#my art #artists on tumblr #askagog #graphic design and web design are like. the only form of art that i do that feels like a hobby to me #everything else is super intense work stuff #but building a silly little webpage? always fun. always exciting #i hope tumblr doesn't eat the quality on these

[marezablr]

for the fic asks, 30 39 and 41 !

30. Have you ever written something that was out of your comfort zone? If so, what was it, and how did it affect your approach to writing fic thereafter?

yes! i don't do it with every fic, but i often try to do something new when i write something so i can test out new skills.

"one three four three four zero": longest fic i'd ever written. i wanted to see if i could write a long fic at all. it gave me the confidence to go forward and try more long fics and helped me understand what i need for a long fic.

"forest fires": i had to pare down my writing for the zine word count. it helped me learn to cut the fluff/kill sentences that i like but that slow the story down.

"good loser": the first time i did outlining for a proper long fic. this has made the biggest change to my writing process in years. i am now obsessed with outlining! i still frequently shout at my beta while working, "outlining is so good??? how did i go so long without this???" what i learned from "good loser" has given me skills and habits that i know will help carry me through future work.

"per ardua": the first time really dedicating myself to trying to structure a bit of an action/mystery story. it gave me new skills to work with in terms of seeding information (eg learning when NOT to give exposition) and twists, how i can make descriptions more interesting to myself, how to pace action. i've been trying to use some of those skills to help with the more psychological pieces i'm working on now, and also to help with a body language/facial expression writing exercise i'm doing right now to develop my skills in those areas.

39. Is any aspect of your writing process inspired by other writers or people? If so, who?

i've done a lot of reading on writing over the years. one of the books i read really early on, like truly ages ago, was stephen king's "on writing." i had not ever read a single stephen king book, or watched any of the movies based on his books, and i probably never will (except maybe the dark tower?), but i read that book. and the thing i really remember out of that book was this:

stephen king talked about having an ideal reader. he said, if you write to everyone, you're not writing to anyone. you'll be paralyzed with doubt and fall into generalities. you need an ideal reader, one person you're writing to who you really want to understand the story. that will focus your writing.

i've tried to take that idea with me in my writing. i do my best writing, i find, when there is one person i'm focusing on writing to, one person i share the story with and get excited about it with and try to get certain reactions out of. i write lines and think, 'i hope this line will really hit for this person.' it gives me a clarity and focus that helps me block out the noise of wanting to make things more broadly appealing.

41. Link a fic that made you think, “Wow, I want to write like that.”

early in fe3h, i started reading metallic_sweet's fics, specifically the vicious calm and war dog. i was so fascinated by the style that i tried to do my own spin on it in "network effects." m_s remains an icon to me in having such a distinctive style.

#dreadark #asks #writing posts

[scumbag-monthly]

Meanwhile, on 9th November 1982...

Yes, it'll soon be 40 years since The Young Ones first aired on BBC2! Can you believe it!?

Naturally, we at Scumbag Monthly want to mark this important event - perhaps the most important event in 2022 - with a zine. Thanks to the Scumbags Discord, we've already got scumbags pencilled in to write reviews for 10/12 of the episodes, but the mindless violence doesn't stop there!

Please DM @neil-neil-orange-peel if you'd be interested in doing any of the following (you can do multiple or just one, it's up to you, but please please PLEASE be realistic about your free time/motivation):

*Drawing a portrait of your favourite Young One - we want at least one of each, so you'll have to get in quick to bagsy your fave. We're hoping for Vyvyan, Rick, Neil, Mike, and Balowksi, with possibly the Fifth Housemate and SPG too. If there's a lot of interest in this option, we'll be more than happy to double or even triple up!

*Writing a piece about your favourite Young One - why they're your favourite etc. Once again, characters will be dished out on a fist come, first served basis. We'd like one (though preferably two) for each of the main four at least yes we know Balowksi isn't very popular with the scumbags we know we're not gonna force you bastards to write about him unless you want to. 500 words minimum, no maximum.

*Tell us what The Young Ones means to you - in words, sentences, paragraphs, explosions of art, a kick up the bottom. How did you discover the show? What, if any, impact do you think it's had on you? Have you got any messages for the creators, if you had the opportunity to address them (we're not giving you that opportunity, but just ✨use your imagination✨)?

And now on to things that aren't just rehashes of the Rik zine... ✨

*Writing a review of either Demolition or Oil - we've got scumbags signed up to do the rest, so please get in touch if you fancy either of those episodes. Minimum 500 words, no maximum. Please don't sweat this if you've never reviewed anything before - we're not looking for expert, objective critiques. Please feel free to just gush. I mean, look at our Strip Teases. 😂

*Writing a piece about the relationship between The Young Ones and music - to be interpreted however you wish. We just need one scumbag for this and once this option's gone, it's gone. Musical scumbags, anyone out there? TYO is somewhat unique in its choice to feature musical artists in almost every episode (not Flood!) in order to get a bigger budget, so it's only reasonable we address this.

*A ruddy talented cover artist - the scumbags always produce bloody brilliant cover art for us! We're going to be a bit more picky than usual about what we want on this cover, but overall you'll still have free rein. Scumbag Monthly is going to hold a competition for this cover art in early September, so whoever's art is chosen will not only become our cover artist but will receive a prize too! Feel free to DM now to let us know you'll be interested come September.

*Writing a piece about your favourite guest star - there's a lot going on in your average TYO scene, but we've all got our favourite bits. Aside from the main quartet of Scumbag students, which guest star really stands out to you? Why is this? Here's a chance to witter on about something only a TYO fan would. No word count minimum or maximum; just one piece per guest star (so once someone's picked Jennifer Saunders, you can't have her!). Be quick in DMing if there's someone you want to talk about!

*Art, glorious art - as always, if you want to send us miscellaneous TYO art, we will always find a place for it.

We're also hoping to do a poll of the 12 episodes and create a page of TYO quotes, so let us know which episode and which quotes are your favourites!

Is that everything? Sounds like enough to get the ball rolling! If you've got any other ideas you think would work in PDF format, DM @neil-neil-orange-peel. Please, go crazy ape shit in our zine. Seminal works of comedy don't turn 40 every day, you know.

The deadline for all of this bastardly goodness will be 5th November - if you're late, we'll send Guy Fawkes after your bogey bum! The zine will be going up on 9th November as we tuck into Demolition for what is undoubtedly more than the fortieth time...

#scumbag monthly #the young ones #tyo #fanzine #calling all scumbags #rik mayall #40th anniversary #forty years of the young ones

[xxmissarichanxx]

✨XMACX Monthly✨ | February 2024

Happy February! Thank you again so much for voting for the Cover Model last month! March's Cover Model Poll drops tomorrow!

You may read this month's update as a public post on PTRN or below the cut! You can also see the previous issue here.

Last month went by way too quickly and now Valentines' Day is just around the corner! Then I'll blink and be another year older... This month, I'll be focusing on adding the final touches of Froot Basket: Dark Chocolate and prepping for a White Day (March 15) release. February is a short month, so I know it'll fly by... but we've got a lot of fun stuff including two OC birthdays!

Schedule

February 1 - XMACX Monthly

February 2 - Cover Model Polls

February 7 - Valentine Cards

February 9 - Cover Story

February 14 - Valentines' Day, Sidney's Bday

February 15 - Kurosaki Twin's Bday

February 16 - Art Process

February 23 - FBDC Voice Update released for Patrons!

February 28 - Sketch Dump

Cover Story Preview | Momo's Special Chocolate Recipe

Momo made some special Valentine chocolate for his beloved senpai. This month, he's sharing his special recipe!

Valentine Special

I'll be dropping some Valentine cards for everyone to download and send to your pals! I'm saving Valentines' social media post for Sidney because it's his birthday, so I'll drop the Valentine cards on social media before then.

February's OC Birthdays

This month we're celebrating Sidney, Ken, and Maya's birthdays! Sidney is an adorable red head from my project After-Party Chemistry! Ken and Maya are fraternal twins. They're not associated with any one project right now... But I'll be dropping some fun illustrations and OC lore about them on their respective days for everyone!

VN Development | Froot Basket: Dark Chocolate Release 

I'll be releasing Froot Basket: Dark Chocolate's voiced update for patrons this month! You can play before I drop it on Itch on March 15. Last month, I added a "recustomize Jordan" menu in case you want to swap between Jordan's voices or looks in-game. I also messed around with the Gallery and Achievements screen, but you'll have to see in the update.

Other than prepping for FBDC's Voiced Update Release, I have some marketing art for release to work on lol... I'm planning two different pieces: a new poster featuring all the characters and a piece which features the four different color combinations of Jordans. I don't expect to finish these this month because day job's looking pretty busy, BUT I'm hoping to at least get some sketches done.

Other Goals this Month

I'll be wrapping up some zine pieces and commissions. :^)

Next Month

March 1st falls on a Friday so the Monthly and Polls will drop all on the same day. I can't wait to see who'll make my birth month's cover!

Aloha nui~ Ari

#xmacx monthly #vndev #visual novel update #devupdate #original character art #original character #oc art #oc #xmacxart #xmacxoc #momo #froot basket valentine #furuta basketball club

[poxei]

hii i got some stuff at your table at fanime and wanted to say that I really love your art and merch!! I was rly taking in how well designed everything was (i esp love the graphic design on your pins and stickers) and i wanted to ask how you got into/how long you have been tabling at conventions? i want to get into it too but im overwhelmed with keeping track of all the applications, merch making, etc--do you have any tips for beginners that you wish you knew when u started?

Thanks so much!! I'm glad to hear you like what you got from me! and that you appreciate the effort I put into graphic design :'D

I'll answer your question below the cut since it got kind of long

My first time tabling was in September 2018 at Crunchyroll Expo! I only did 4 cons pre-2020, the last of them being Crunchyroll Expo 2019, so I tabled for exactly a year before the pandemic started. Then I stopped for two years and started doing cons again in May 2022 at Fanime. I've got at least 3 more cons planned for this year including my first AX 😳 But my last con as of right now is Fanime 2023, so I've been tabling for a little over two years.

Tabling was really overwhelming the first time I did it too, but I mooched off of a friend's table so at least I didn't have to worry about getting the table. It's really helpful if you have a friend who's willing to share their knowledge with you, but if you don't, you kind of have to learn how to table the hard way... I also have a bunch of friends who started tabling around the same time, so we all helped each other by sharing resources, tips, and manufacturers. I strongly recommend getting a buddy! Especially if you ever plan to travel to a convention to table, having a friend go with you takes off so much stress.

When you're first applying, I would suggest finding a convention or free-admission art market close to you (doesn't matter the size of the convention/market), or a big con where you're almost guaranteed to make your money back like AX, ANYC, or Fanime (though it's gonna be tough to get into these because of all the competition). Don't worry about tracking the apps for every single con, just pick a few deadlines to track. I think for your first con it's best to cut down on travel/lodging costs as much as possible because you never know how much you'll make back.

As for making merch, I wouldn't worry about making so much all at once. Well, maybe you have to produce a lot for your first con. But after that I just try to add at least one new thing for each con, even if it's just a sticker, so I slowly build up a catalogue that way. For my first con, I just printed zine pieces and illustrations that I already had, and the only new thing I drew was buttons.

For more specific questions, the blog @howtobeaconartist helped me so much in the beginning! You can also ask me off-anon, and I can try to help, but I can't guarantee that I can be of help.

#asks #anonymous #store

[shylittleoctopus]

Your pixel art is amazing!! Do u have any advice on how to start trying to make pixel art?

Oh man I don't even know where to start.

I guess for tl;dr lots of practice and aseprite

One of the biggest tips I can give someone just starting out: don't use PS or a comparable program

It would work, sure, and some people swear by it! But it's like trying to get rid of aphid infestation by using a fighter jet equipped with a flamethrower. Gets the job done but it's waaaaaay overkill, and you'll have to NEVER use certain features (like the paintbrush) and have to make a lot of adjustments and tweaks just to get started. It's not worth it.

Aseprite is what I've been using for years and it's pretty cheap (like $25 usd? I don't remember) but I've used other free programs like grafx2 and even the OG ms paint with success. Not the new paint with all the different brushes, has to be the old pixel based one. Graphics gale was really popular back in the day but now it's Aseprite I think. It seems like theres more options nowadays so whatever works for you.

There a bunch of pixel art tutorials out there, but I don't know if the ones I referenced while learning are even still online lol...

Pixelogic is a great little zine if you can afford the $9, but there's hundreds of free tutorials out there. Derek Yu is a big name in the pixel scene and he has some tutorials still online.

Also just browsing sites like pixeljoint really helped. I wouldn't advise posting there if you're just starting out (they're very much pixel art pros and critique is a big part of the culture. To even get stuff posted it goes through a peer review process), but look at some of your favorite pieces and try to analyze what they did. You can apply this to video games too, like old snes games and or even newer, more modern titles. Analyze the shit out of what they did and why.

Dithering and anti-aliasing are two popular tricks that can make a piece pop but they require a lot of practice. Manual anti-aliasing helps smooth out lines or shapes while dithering helps blend in gradients.

Go as small as you're comfortable, bigger sizes means more pixel pushing and thus more work. I usually pixel from 50 x 50 up to a max of 150 x 150 pixels. I size up everything when posting to tumblr, always use nearest neighbor when resizing and only resize in whole amounts! For example by 200% or 400%, never something like 47% or 65%.

Palettes are a big deal, the smaller the color palette the more street cred in a sense. It takes a lot of skill to make a small palette work, when you're starting out you can always use an another artist's ready made palette (aseprite comes with a bunch preloaded, including the nes palette).

That's all I can think of for now. This was a hyperfixation of mine a while back so uh. This got a little long.

#pixel art #long post #sorry for the long post lol

[fuzzyizmit]

Creative Stuff List

I thought that it might be a good idea to put all my creative endeavors into one place to make it easy to find/share when needed. I'll include little descriptions of each piece and some examples (in the case of visual art). This will include my fan fiction (including my OC website), visual art and fiber art patterns. I stream a lot of the creative process, as well as stream games on Twitch. I'll also include, at the very end, some places you can support my art if you feel so inclined. Check the tags before you dive into them!

FAN FICTION

I tend to write about Fallout (particularly FO4 and Goodneighbor) but I have a few other fandoms in there too

Out of The Desert and Into The Fire (series) aka Antique Champagne - (Fallout) This is how I began my fan fiction journey. This story follows Payne, a very unique ghoul from New Vegas, as she tries to make a new home in Goodneighbor and reconnect with her humanity. This is a long fic and has some very mature themes. There is more planned for this series.

Beastly Kingdom Sage (series) - (Fallout) Liz became the Overboss of Nukaworld though relentless planning, manipulation and force of her will. Her power is absolute and her vision final. The Minutemen general shows up and offers her the chance to an even grander vision. You can read about her rise and fall, both before and after the Great War. I also commissioned a wonderful artist to render part of the first chapter into comic book form, so that is up there too! This series is finished.

Absolute Zero - (Fallout) Finding herself between a rock and the business end of a gun, Angela is forced to use her skills as a chemist in Goodneighbor to pay off an insurmountable debt. Things go from bad to worse. Can she keep going? (on going)

Silver Linings - (Fallout) Growing up as a raider is tough, but Dust is finding life as a plain ol' resident of Goodneighbor just as daunting. (on going)

One More - (Fallout) A day in the life of Oswald the Outrageous. Written for the From Necropolis with Love fan zine.

Mixed Media - (Fallout/Dragon Age/Elder Scrolls) Rita, an avid gamer, wife and mother, find herself trapped in a strange jumble of her favorite game worlds. Can she figure out how to get home before everything collapses into madness?

Explicit One Offs - (Fallout, Star Wars) If you want mature fare, you'll just have to look through my profile. I hope you can find something you will enjoy.

VISUAL WORKS

Again, most of these are Fallout related, but not everything!

Deviant Art - I share both digital art and crafting projects here. Lately, it has been more digital art, including American Traditional tattoo designs, OC portraits, and emotes.

Examples:

The Strange are Quilting - I share free (both fandom and non-fandom based) quilting and cross stitch patterns here. I've even had people share some of the things they've made with them!

Examples:

SUPPORT

I'm just dropping these here if you feel moved to support me. Please, don't ever feel obligated to do so.

Twitch - Maybe some day I'll make affiliate! It's only been... 5 years...

Ko-Fi - Buy me a coffee (not that I actually drink the stuff)

Throne Gifts - If you really want to treat me, take a gander at my wish list! Oh, I have referals if you need one!

Red Bubble - Put some of my designs and artwork on stuff... then buy it (if you want, of course)!

#about me #master list

[lenasai]

before 2022 ends (for me) i'm gonna steal an idea from @thehallstara and do a recap of the stuff i wrote this year, with commentary because i feel like it...and also so it's not like. exactly the same thing lmao

first, go take a look at hir post if you feel so inclined. if you have the time, those twines are all bangers.

list below the cut because this will probably be long when it appears in the tag:

the splorts poetry series as it exists now. the first two sets were from 2021, but i started the series after realizing i was going to post more individual blaseball poems. turns out putting a bunch of poems in one work and waiting for those to be done before you publish them means a lot of stuff just goes unpublished, so i moved toward publishing stuff individually. if you wanna just look at the poems i wrote in 2022, start with lucky number 81 (what if)

the merry exit (un?)memorial dimension traveling club - a fun little exploration of the merry exit from the gamma 1 test circuit and the merry exit from the tutorial game

hold on, you'll live to play again - look i KNOW what's going to be in the second chapter. i just haven't written it yet. every now and then i go "oh no i abandoned the happy story about the kids" and stare wistfully at the pages document hoping the second chapter will just write itself. i will write it eventually. shoutout to the random person who left kudos on the first chapter like 50 years after i wrote it, knowing there's a nonexistent second chapter. anyway. i wrote the first chapter for the first anniversary of longest thursday. it's about the season 20 postseason and the moment we knew everyone (mostly ivy) was going to be safe. it's got more core lore than i expected to write. thank you mechs.

ashes, dust, and other reminders of what once was - for the garages fic exchange, about chorby soul and parker macmillan. HOO BOY this is the one i'm proudest of. if you read only one piece from this post, i hope you will consider making it this one...which is a huge ask because it's nearly 11k words. if i had a nickel for every time i wrote over 10k words of People In The Vault Being Sad About Things i would have two nickels. that's not a lot of nickels, but very funny it happened twice. this is also the first work i've written for another person, and they were an absolute pleasure to write for. anyway. i think chorby soul and parker macmillan should be besties.

what if the light at the end of the tunnel burns me again - for the firefighters fic exchange, about Agan Espinoza's Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Season 24. i love them. i curled up into a little ball of shrimp emotions when they fell in the last fall ball with parker macmillan. god damn.

end-of-the-world tour - i wrote 1.5k words about parker macmillan's roam to the (prehistory) crabs and immortals in like two hours. absolutely no proofreading went into it. i wrote it and tossed it into the void after my computer threatened to fuck me over at the deadline. written for the blaseball zine jam.

batting practice - yeah so i procrastinated until the week of the deadline, then got possessed by some kind of writing demon and wrote 5.5k words about wyatt quitter and jasmine mason. not to say it was rushed, but it may have a residual formatting glitch i may have missed when copying from pages into ao3. i went over it many times to try and get rid of those, but if you see a couple of paragraphs fused together, no you didn't. written for the lift fic exchange.

#blaseball #now if you'll excuse me i need to find that writing demon so i can finish my fucking flowers exchange fic #and then like. literally any of my other wips. i have so many wips. i am in hell.

[vannahfanfics]

Hiya! I apologize in advance if this sounds creepy, but I've seen your name in a lot of zines recently, and got kind of intrigued. As a person who got into like, 80 zines in the past 2.5 years, do you have any tips/tricks/reflections for people who are only starting out? from outsider pov, it seems like you're in a new zine every week or two, so i was wondering if there's even more zines you didn't make it into, or how long it took to get into that first one?

Haha, no, it's not creepy at all! I've been in over 100 zines so far and done a lot of bangs and events on top of that, and it's led to my name getting around. Fairly often I'll join a zine server and someone will have worked with me before or know of me 🤣 So don't sweat it! It's honestly nice to be recognized :)

So, as far as advice--the first zine I was involved in was actually free to join! You'll find several zine companies like that, @anizines in particular hosts a lot of them, and we're tight :) From there, I just dove in. I scoured my socials for zine and event trackers and followed them, as they readily retweet/reblog zine posts. I check my socials multiple times a day, and I follow any zines/events I'm interested in and also have my own zine/event tracking document that I routinely update. And I just apply to as many zines as I can! That's really what it comes down to. I have definitely been rejected by at least twice as many zines as I've been accepted into; it's just such a saturated market with so many eager creators. A big reason I am "successful" by zine standards is that I am active in way more fandoms than the average person, so I apply to a LOT of zines. Being rejected is not a result of lack of talent or anything; there's just so much that goes into zine applications, and luck is a good part of it. I just apply and apply and apply! Sometimes my portfolio isn't a "perfect" fit, but I'll still apply anyway with the best of what I have because it's better than not! At the moment, I just don't have the time to write new pieces for every zine I apply to, especially because I apply to so many. Applying is the key! Never be afraid to apply, even if you think that what you've got isn't the exact theme of the zine. Sometimes you get lucky, especially because mods judge applicants on a lot more than theme alone. And the more you get out there, the more your name will get around, and zine mods and other contributors will remember you! That's the best part of zines for me, more than the act of being accepted into them--the community that comes along with it. I've made a lot of good friends thanks to zines and events!

In summary, you just gotta get out there, keep track of the zines you're interested in, and apply, apply, apply! Keep practicing your craft at the same time, and you'll start making your way in. Don't get discouraged by rejections. Even the "best" zine people have a slew of rejections behind them far greater than their acceptances. It's not about getting into zines or not getting in--it's about celebrating the love of fandom and getting to know like-minded creators.

I hope this advice is helpful! I'm always happy to help, and that includes beta-ing or looking over portfolios :) Good luck to any zine beginners!