#i love making art and comics so i’m very excited to actually work on this

[pachimation]

redrawing my very first chiscara comic/art i ever did for chscr day!!

old comic under the cut!!

lol a bunch of sappy semi serious stuff below bc i cant help but be a bit genuine about this ship today :’3

i cant possibly put into words how important this silly little ship and its community mean to me haha,,,, this comic was made in 2021 but i didnt really get serious about chscr until late 2022 after a bunch of pretty bad interpersonal stuff happened and i needed an outlet,, COINCIDENTALLY a certain someone was announced to be playable around then and i was already thought chscr was Pretty Neat™️ so i ended up diving headfirst into the ship. it also gave me a good excuse to work on more comics too!! i’d done a pretty big zhongven comic earlier that year in the summer, but in terms of lore there was only so much i could have worked with at the moment.

childe and scaramouche have that perfect combination of silliness and angst and violence that could be explored or expanded in so many ways and i love love love seeing other people’s interpretations of their dynamic and relationship. they’re so complex,,,,they’re narrative foils,,,they’re narrative parallels,,,they’re trans allegories,,,they’re flies in the spiderweb of the games lore,,,they’re my stupid little meow meows,,, they’re just two losers i want to see make out,,,

in a nutshell, they’re everything to me. well, i hope i get that kind of sentiment across in my own comics,,,,

and i cant get started on all the people ive met through chiscara or the way that having something i can call “my thing”, as in, the thing that i like and that i will spend a lot of time and effort (and money, but lets not talk about that) to surround myself with because it makes me smile. its stupid to say, but being a nerd about these two stupid guys who have never had a single canon onscreen interaction in some random game has made me a much happier and confident person that i could have ever imagined back in my freshman year of college,,, when i say i dont know who i’d be if i hadnt gotten into chiscara, i really do mean it lol

i’m actually surprised i’m making it to over a full year of regular-ishly making art, especially for the same game and ship! thats never happened before and my art has improved so much over this past year!! more than anything else, i’m happy! i get to be excited talking about these characters with my friends and i love to see art of them pop up on the tl. i make stickers of them and decorate my phonecase with them and have little figures of them in my room that i look at when im up late at night working on schoolwork. sometimes just the thought of finishing a comic or daydreaming about a scenario or seeing what my mutuals are up to are some of the few things getting me through a tough day.

,,,,so believe me when i say, to both childe and scara and to everyone else as obsessed with these pathic losers as i am, thank you! i’m having a lot of fun!!!

(also i just found out tumblrs copy/paste doesnt work on my ipad??? idk if this ends up legible i may or may not have deleted smth by accident and im not in a mood to proofread haha)

#genshin impact #childe #tartaglia #scaramouche #chiscara #scarachilde #my art #comic #no super long rant in the tags this time bc i already made a chscr rant haha #happy chiscara day everybody!!

[cooketimm]

Hardboiled #10-25 (1990-98) cover artwork by Bruce Timm

Interview from Cool Stuff Magazine #1 (1995):

Gary Lovisi: Much of your work is characterized by raw, intense energy and action, or beautiful women in stylish, dangerous settings. Some is obviously influenced by the pulps.

Bruce Timm: I’m big pulp fan, have been since the early 70s, when I started reading Doc Savage and Avenger reprints. I can’t really say how they’ve influenced my artwork much, except when doing pulp-homage stuff like the Bob Price books. But I do sometimes wish I was born decades earlier so I could have worked for some of the old pulps, which was why it was so much fun doing the Price stuff, and the «mock 50s» paperback covers for your Gryphon Books.

The hero pulps — Doc Savage, The Spider, The Shadow, etc — did have a big impact on my approach to the Batman cartoons. It’s something I tried to inject into the show from early on, the atmosphere, danger and illicit excitement, and especially that Norvell Page-type feeling of impending doom — the «doomed city» mood. It’s also why I set the sense in a timeless, 40s-styled world of big cars, padded shoulders, gangsters, shadowy streets, etc. I only wish we’d gone farther with it.  

For instance, my original version of Batman himself was actually close to the Shadow: rarely seen close-up, speaking in short, clipped phrases, more mysterious, literally. I wanted to play him cold and remote, almost unhuman. But the network and our various story editors would have none of that!  «We need to humanize him», «He needs to have a sense of humor», «We need to more about Bruce Wayne, the person», etc! Whereas I could care less about Bruce Wayne! He’s much more fascinating if you don’t know what he’s thinking, or what drives him.

A few «Shadowy» touches did survive. Batman is rarely seen be the public, almost never on TV. Even when dealing with the police, he’s usually off in shadows conferring with Commissioner Gordon only. And when he’s in the Batcave, he’s almost always in costume. My way of saying he’s Batman, not the other guy, not Bruce Wayne. Like Lamon Cranston, his true, «legal» identity is a facade.

I’ d love to do straight-ahead pulp hero adaptation someday. Doc or The Shadow or The Spider, either in comics or animation, without the senseless updating and over-explaining «character development» like in the Alec Baldwin-Shadow-fiasco-film.  

Gary Lovisi: Your stunning covers for my Hardboiled mag are very popular with everyone who sees them. What are your feelings on hardboiled crime-related art?

Bruce Timm: It’s hard, actually, to define «crime-fiction» art. There’s pulp crime-fiction art, and digest crime-fiction art, both of which cross over with paperback crime-fiction art. Basically, I’m a fan of good illustration. Period. Regardless of subject matter. Composition, emotionally intensity, color and lighting effects are what I look for. And pretty girls, of course!   

My favorite pulp crime artist is H. J. Ward, hands down. Gorgeous gals in twisty curvy poses, painted in luscious, creamy, wet-on-wet oil technique. My favorite paperback artists include Robert McGinnis, Robert Maguire, and Mitchell Hooks, the usual suspects.

My approach to the Hardboiled covers is different from my earlier «homage» work. When the covers were black and white, I used to experiment with different b&w textures, coquille board, zip-a-tone, xeroxed newsprint, whatever worked. Now that I’m doing them in color, I’m trying to make them as exciting and eye-catching as possible, with loud color, sexy gals, exaggerated action, and simple, graphic, almost cartoony styling.

#bruce timm #pulp #cover #cover art #interview

[heilos]

Hello! My name is Moriah and I am a junior in high school. I was wondering if I might be able to get your insight on a few questions I have?

I am in my final years of high school and am starting to think about college but I have no idea what I want to pursue. I know I love art, so for a long time I have been thinking about getting an art major or going to an art school.

I’m reaching out because I ABSOLUTELY LOVE YOUR ART and I think you are a very talented artist! I have been in love with your art for so long and I am curious and wondering how you are able to fit drawing into your life?

1.) If you went to college for art, what was it like? Do you think going to school for art or having an art major is worth it?

2.) how can I fit art into my everyday life? I’m sure you have work and other things to do in your life so how do you balance it out? (I just want to know how you can draw as much as you do!)

3.) do you do art as a full-time career or part-time career? is it an alright source of income? If it is a part-time career, how do you balance work, personal life, and art?

Thank you so much! And sorry if these questions might seem personal. I just want to know how other artist manage to draw and create their work and still have an adult life. Thanks again, and thank you for being a huge inspiration in my life to create the art I love! Your art means so much to me!❤️❤️ ❤️

Hi Moriah! Thank you so much for your patience since it took me a bit to answer this. I'll do my best to be as honest as possible. 1) I think going to college can be beneficial even if I wish i'd done things differently. In hindsight I would have definitely taken more time to really look through all available options instead of gunning straight for the most "prestigious" looking colleges since the idea of having a big name school on your resume was pretty prevalent when I was growing up. I went to Savannah College of Art and Design or SCAD for short and while I don't regret the friends I made there, I do regret not understanding just how much an institution like that ended up costing in loans compared to what I got out of it education wise. It always hurts my heart to see other kids get chained to huge amounts of student loan debt that could have been avoided. And even then you don't necessarily need a college degree for every type of art job. Your portfolio is what really matters more to prospective work places if you're looking at a career related to art. I would also keep in mind that the field is very competitive depending on what your goals are. Do you want to get into animation? game design? illustration? comics? prop design, character design or environment design? ect ect. Always try and give yourself the best advantage you can with researched knowledge of what you might be getting yourself into. Also there is no rush to go immediately into college even if you're dead set on wanting to attend one. Please give yourself as much time as you need to really make that decision and, if you have the option, don't feel pressured into thinking you HAVE to make that choice immediately out of high school. 2) I do get quite a bit of production art done on my days off mostly since I'm very experienced in working on group projects like Mystery Skulls Animated. When you're doing art and production work with other people, there's a different mindset in that others are relying on you to keep decently productive so that you're not holding up the pipeline if you're dedicated to seeing a project through to completion. Now when it comes to purely fun art on the side, I've actually only recently started balancing my time out better with work to sketch since the draw back of working on a group project like this for so long is a certain level of burn out. I had about a 2-3 year period where I couldn't get myself to draw much of anything even if I was excited about something like a new game or animated series and it's taken awhile to come to terms with the time lost since my body and head needed that time to recover and that's something i'm much more ok with now. I'm not the absolute best on advice for time management unfortunately, but seeking out projects that might interest you and lets you collaborate with other artists is definitely one way to keep yourself excited and engaged when wanting to make art. Just know and/or learn your limits and you'll be better about not getting too burned out when trying to find that decent balance of art time and other life activities. 3) I actually don't do art full time even if that was originally the plan back in college. I personally found out that I didn't want to turn it into a job the closer graduation came, but that varies completely from person to person and plenty of up and coming artists have found fulfillment in having art be their job too. I used to make prints for conventions so that was a partial income source for a little bit, but again for me it got tiring and I ended up getting a different more physical job to supplement my income while still being able to have enough time to stick around with my friend group on our music video projects. And again there's no shame in taking some time in trying to figure out if you want to make art your job and coming to a different conclusion. Sometimes the things we plan when we're younger take a wildly different turn out of left field and education or job aspirations are very much included in that.

#personal #personal ramblings #long post #college #art college #I hope some of these answers helped with your questions!

[kkolg]

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Yippie! Any plans for the gang and of course Kklog themselves??

Enjoy 2024, best wishes!!

-🧸

My plans under the cut

Ok so 1, definitely slowing down on asks if you couldn’t already tell lol. I’m doing a bunch of college classes rn for my associates and next semester is looking very busy🧎‍♀️. Unfortunately I’m not getting many vigilante ones as I would like either so I’m not feeling as motivated for asks in general rn. I’m not gonna stop answering them tho‼️Asks are always open because I always love getting them, no matter what there about! But please expect I may take a long while to get to urs🙏

Alr 2, I wanna get back to writing/making the comic. Look at this point idc if most of my followers are here for md stuff or otherwise I do what I want bitches‼️ The unfollow button is right there. I’m pretty sure I only need around three more pages to finally finish the prelude and then start working on the actual chapters. I’m excited for this genuinely and I hope you all will enjoy it as well as me!

finally 3 erm I really wanna open commissions later this year. I would love to start doing art for you guys and I feel it would be really fun to! Unfortunately taxes are a thing so that’s the difficulty of it😔. I would really like to have them open in the summer or early autumn but no promises </3. My plan is to have three slots open and work on from there. So if anyone’s interested, look out for that!

I lied this is the last one- 4: make a carrd. I HAVE A WIP BUT ITS BEEN TAKING A WHILE. It’ll be for the comic specifically so all the pages could be viewed on there along with other art pieces relating to it :> i don’t wanna do webtoon cause like I have rly old art for the first pages and I hate them but I don’t wanna redraw them yet so🧍‍♀️

anyways yeah! That’s what I hope to do this year :3

#k’s rants #batim au #batim #vigilante batim au #ask #bendy #ink demon

[master-of-the-game]

seeing you make oil paintings of elim garak has changed something about the way i perceive art, both in what others make but also in what i am capable of making.

it’s probably due to learning mostly euro-centric art history, but i’ve always thought of oil paintings as like the peak of painting ability? like, it’s fancy and it takes a while so i thought that it must be the best (ignoring the fact that my artistic field is mostly in acrylic paints and 3D sculpting and yet i still consider it very good). and i’m still working on disproving this sort of mentality that there are mediums inherently better than others, because it’s incredibly limiting to my creativity to impose a higharchy, and also it feels kind of xenophobic.

i digress a bit. point is, i’ve viewed oil paintings as a medium only deserving of gallery-type realistic portrait stuff, which is very much not what i do. i don’t make the sorts of fancy art rich people would pay for- the type of art i thought oils were for. i make paintings of comic book characters and sculptures of my personal heroes, i make jewelry and clothes and stuffed animals. stuff that i enjoy. which is good!

but still somewhere lurking in my brain was this voice telling me that on some level my works weren’t as meaningful or creative because they were fan works or made from materials i’m not an expert in or because the only people i draw and paint and sculpt are queer and trans, like me. that because my art was self-indulgent, on some level i suppose i thought it lesser.

but then i see your art. and holy shit! you’re work is INCREDIBLE! at first i was excited because, hey, i’m a big star trek fan, and garak is one of my favorite characters. i love coming across fan art of him, and it always manages to strike a chord with me. but then. as i looked at it closer, i realized it was on canvas. as i scrolled down i realize it was oil on canvas.

before, i’d pretty much only seen fanart as sketches on paper or digital drawings. one that is really only meant art-wise for quick sketches or planning of what will become “real” works, and one that doesn’t actually take up any physical space in our world, and is stored away in a little digital file.

but oil on canvas? that’s not meant to be thrown away, it’s meant to be held in gloved hands, as it is precious, and it’s not meant to be hidden away in the “files” on a laptop. no, those hang on the walls of museums or houses, meant to be displayed with pride for all to see.

and with those too colliding thoughts, that of fan works as some lesser form of art but oil paintings being the art of the rich and talented… well i realized that both were wrong. fan works are not in any way shape or form lesser than original works. what makes my layered ink painting of dream of the endless any less important than my painting of the ocean during a storm? nothing! they’re both good works. and on the other side, there is nothing that makes my oil paintings more important than my acrylic paintings or my sculpture or my knitting. it’s all art, lovely art, in the end. and the only thing that really matters is that i enjoy it.

seeing your art has helped me break some (minor) yet harmful thoughts i didn’t really even realize i had. so thank you for that. also your garak art is fucking good, and it really makes me think about what sort of life he would have after ds9. anyways, thank you. that’s what i’ve been meaning to say (that’s what this whole thing is). thanks for changing my vision for the better.

Oh wow! You know, it is very important and gratifying to know that results of your work make person rearrange their thoughts and views on something. Thank you for your sincerity! Now back to subject. I personally believe that fan work can be something fine and vice versa something fine can be a fan work. One thing that is very important to remember and remind yourself is that most of fine art that you've mentioned - gallery and most famous works (at least in european tradition) - are, well, derivative. Of Bible, of ancient myths. Yes. All this stuff can be considered maybe not fanart - but it is a subject for discussion - but illustration at least. And it is still fine art. Book illustrations - oh well. Sometimes I want to hang them on the wall, especially old ones. So - why not? Fan work always has a connotation of something derivative, and it certainly is... But just as well as most of the most prominent works. Dixi :D So that's the matter. Medium of course matters but medium does not always define the subject of art (except for common sense), as you've said. It's just maybe the cost of medium (some watercolor brushes for some reason cost... ehm. Too much :D) that defines its price, but not necessarily. I like thinking about this issue and discussing it... Plenty room for ideas. Thank you!

#star trek #art #fanart #artwork #my art #fanwork #oil painting #oil on canvas #art mediums #painting #graphics

[ask-the-clergy-bc]

Kinda random, but can you do the papas/ghouls with a sibling of sin who crochets (preferably nonrimantic/platonic relationship but you don’t have to) also hope you have a good day/week :)

Never be afraid to ask for platonic/friendship/non-romantic requests! I’m always happy to do them :)

Also, crocheting is the BEST! I’m so excited to do this!

I hope you enjoy and have a good night yourself ❤️

G/N Reader

Platonic friendship

Era V Ghouls

Fluff/light hearted prompt

Papas and Ghouls with a Sibling of Sin who Crochets

Papa Nihil: One of his most prized possessions is a vintage styled blanket you made for him. It’s a granny square blanket with trim, and in the warm colors you’d find in someone’s 70’s inspired house. It reminds him of the ones he used to love and it stays on the back of his couch. You have been roped into being his movie buddy. So while you both are watching cheesy horror movies, you share the blanket as he watches and you crochet more!

Papa I: Papa adores your crocheting! Most of your time spent together is basically you both doing a quiet activity while lightly chatting. You with your yarn and he with whatever task he’s appointed himself that day. He has commissioned you for pot cozies for his favorite old plants. They comically break up his dark decor, but he adores them. You even picked a yarn that feels good sensory wise on his hands! Whenever he finds old books about yarn and needlework he gives them to you. It actually got you into lace making as well!

Papa II: He has a reputation for being a luxury goods type of man, and many wrongly assume he wouldn’t like hand made goods. But Papa has a deep respect for any skill based craft. Depending on what you make may or may not interest him, but he admires your skill. You once crocheted him some very tasteful doilies. Papa uses them under his favorite bottles of alcohol to really bring out his display shelves. He has gifted you high quality wool yarn before.

Papa III: Acts like everything you make is divine. Because to him it is! Papa also has a deep love of craftsmanship. But be aware, he LOVES getting hand made things from you! Papa will happily commission you for whatever pops into his head. Or if you’re making something he will go, “I want one too! Make it in purple?” Papa delights in being a friend and patron of you, no matter what you make. His favorite is the time you made him a sweater for his birthday! He wore it all day and bragged about having a one of kind piece of art from you.

Papa IV/Cardinal Copia: Copia tends to get lost in watching you crochet. Like, he intensely watches your hands as you work. He can’t help himself, it’s so mesmerizing! He won’t admit how much he really wants stuff you’ve made. But Copia knows from experience how annoying it is to be pestered for your skill. He’s absolutely delighted when you make him a toy rat! It stays in his office on his desk so he can play with it while he’s thinking.

Aether: You convinced him to take up crocheting with you… and he LOVES IT! It’s actually thanks to you both that the band had those gold sweaters for the Christmas pictures back in the Prequelle days! You two had worked your fingers to the bone for MONTHS to get them ready! Aether finds a similar peace in crocheting the way he does with guitar. When he stayed back from touring he had more time to dedicate working with you. You even have your own sweater he made just for you!

Phantom: You have this chaotic ghoul so enamored with everything you make!! You even made him a tiny yarn ghost that he takes everywhere (affectionately named Phantom Jr.) you have tried to help teach Phantom how to knit with very little success. Oh well! He’ll just sit and watch you do it instead. Phantom always has questions and is just happy to hear you talk about it! Phantom Jr is placed in his front vest pocket at all times.

Aurora: Constantly begs you to go yarn shopping with her. Aurora actually has a brilliant eye for color and flair, so she happily picks out combinations to use for your projects. She became addicted to your work when you made her a pair of fingerless gloves so her prized claws don’t get caught. She introduced you to the rest of the band as, “my amazingly talented friend who made the gloves you’re all jealous of”!

Sunshine: Thinks you’re some kind of wizard, because how else could you do something so amazing?? Sunshine loves to sit with you and hold your yarn as you work. Sometimes they like to help and just untangle your yarn or re-wind some back into skeins. Sunshine is just happy to watch you make amazing pieces while they practice or do boring paper work next to you. They won’t admit they would love a fun hat from you!

Swiss: Has worn everything you ever made him and immediately shows them off. Swiss has mastered doing a fashion show walk as he models the newest hat you made. “Oh, is everyone jealous I have the newest crochet couture?” If you sell these he will tell EVERYONE! Thanks to him the whole band owns one of your hats!! He’s so proud of your skill and vows to get everyone in the ministry to adore your work!

Cumulus: You both accidentally became good friends thanks to your crocheting! You were taking commissions around the ministry to earn a few extra dollars and favors (as chores only gave you so much allowance). Imagine your surprised when THE Cumulus approached you with a want for a scarf. You ended up knitting the most gorgeous bean stitch cream scarf for her. While chatting during the commission times you both found you got along splendidly. Cumulus hasn’t let you out of her sight since, and wears her scarf every winter!

Cirrus: The pianist has made it her mission to stop others from pestering you for free crochet pieces. Specifically her fellow band mates. But Cirrus won’t lie and say she has a lot of pride in being able to say she owns one of your little crochet animals. You once made her a tiny yarn cat just because, and she adores it! When you both are hanging around you nearly cried seeing the little plush cat rest on her practice keyboard. According to Cirrus, that’s her song editor. Awww!

Mountain: You weren’t sure what he thought of, he’s always so quiet! You were surprised one day when he finally seemed to acknowledge your hobby by politely showing you a pattern. A yarn cactus plushie attached to a plush pot. Mountain explains he really wanted to see if you would make him something but felt too shy to ask. The drummer assuming that you made so many projects because you’re obviously swarmed by commissions! He was so grateful you made it and praises you for how well made it is. You were so flattered when he immediately showed the rest of the band what you made!

Rain: Adores anything cute you make! His favorite are the little animals you make from different patterns. Every time you find a new pattern he asks if you can make him one too! He has a whole shelf of small yarn animals and refuses to let anyone touch them. They are special because they are from you, one of his best friends! He especially adores the jellyfish with long yarn trails you made for his summoning anniversary.

Sodo/Ember: Thinks crocheting is badass but it’s a little low energy for him. He can’t watch you do it or it calms him down enough to want to take a nap (everyone begs you to keep doing it.) if you crochet around him and he’s tired enough he will just rest on you and sleep (with permission of course.) you have made him a hat to cover the time he broke his horn and Sodo refused to let anyone touch it. He has commissioned you to make gifts for the band many times!

#the band ghost #ghost headcanons #ghost bc #ghost fluff #ghost reader insert #ghost reader #papa nihil #papa emeritus i #papa emeritus iii #cardinal copia #papa emeritus ii #papa emeritus iv #platonic reader #friendship #reader insert #nameless ghouls #era v #Aether #phantom #cirrus #cumulus #aurora #swiss #sunshine #sodo #ember #rain #mountain

[hd-wireless]

📻🎶 H/D WIRELESS 2023 - WEEKLY WRAP-UP #1

🎶  Just a perfect week Read fanfiction in the park And then later When it gets dark, look at art. Just a perfect week Reading at work in the loo, And then later a podfic, too And then home.

Oh it's such a perfect fest We're glad to share it with you Oh, such a perfect fest It just keeps us reading on, It just keeps us reading on.   🎶

🎤 Welcome to our 8th round of H/D Wireless!

The time has finally come to start posting all the fantastic entries we’ve received this year!

We’ve revealed 14 top hits so far, with many more to come. The mods have been working non-stop since December to make this happen, so we’re beyond excited to finally be back 🤩

As always you can listen to the prompted songs for the works we post on two playlists:

Click here for Spotify (many thanks to @evaeleanor for helping us out there) ❤️

And here for the YouTube playlist.

And now without further ado, our Wrap-up for the first week of posting:

🎶 H/D Wireless Art 🎶

📻 Why don't you like me? [T, digital comic]

🎵Song Prompt: Grace Kelly by MIKA 🎵Summary Failing to ask Harry out, Draco deals with his feelings in a very dramatic fashion.

📻 Alive [E, Digital comic]

🎵 Song Prompt: 'Alive' by 'Sia' 🎵 Summary Harry is lost after the final battle, but he finds comfort from an unexpected source. 

🎶 H/D Wireless Fic and Art 🎶

📻 Before the Cold Sets In [T, 9,154, origami art]

🎵 Song Prompt: Cold Tea Blues, by Cowboy Junkies 🎵 Summary But if I measure the sugar To satisfy your expectant tongue Then that is love Sitting untouched and growing cold - Cold Tea Blues, by Cowboy Junkies Sometimes, the person you should be planning your life with is already in it. Or, how Harry realised that true love is at the bottom of a tea cup.

🎶 H/D Wireless Fic 🎶

📻 Everybody Hates a Tourist [E, 51,500]

🎵 Song Prompt: Common People by Pulp 🎵 Summary On a stag do in sunny Brighton with the Gryffindor lads, the last person Harry expects to run into is Draco Malfoy. After a glimpse of Malfoy’s Muggle life in Britain’s gay capital, Harry’s curiosity gets the better of him and he finds himself returning to the seaside again and again, drawn to the city, drawn to this new version of Malfoy that Harry barely recognises from school. Meanwhile, Draco’s just trying to live his big and best queer life: working for the weekend, chasing hot men, getting lost in Brighton's nightlife, and making friends with the neighbourhood cats. Why does his former school rival and crush have to show up and spoil everything?

📻 Take You Home [E, 26,333]

🎵 Song Prompt: Fuck the Pain Away by Peaches and Take You Home by Dido 🎵 Summary Everybody’s a little fucked up after the war, Draco especially. What starts as hate sex after a night out, eventually turns into something else, something more like comfort. And even though his friends all tell Harry he’s just being used, all Harry’s doing is making sure Draco gets home in one piece. He’s not falling helplessly in love.

📻 love is just a shout in the void [M, 4,489]

🎵 Song Prompt: i'm in love with u, sorry by j'san 🎵 Summary Draco accidentally texts Potter his biggest secret and he’s pretty sure the Chosen Prat isn’t ready to hear anything close to it. So he pretends he didn’t mean to. But the problem is: Potter is still as infuriating as ever, if not more than he was before.

📻 The Two Of Us In Sympathy [M, 5,782]

🎵 Song Prompt: Rent by Pet Shop Boys. 🎵 Summary Draco Malfoy is a sex worker. Harry Potter is the client who falls in love with him.

📻 Vipera Berus [M, 20,614]

🎵 Song Prompt: Just Pretend by Bad Omens 🎵 Summary Everything was fine. Draco resided at the Manor, made a decent living selling potions and most of his customers actually kept coming back despite his last name. Hence, Draco was fine. He really was. And so what, if he was still waiting.

📻 Don’t hate him when he gets up to leave [M, 2,226]

🎵 Song Prompt: 'Two-Headed Boy' by 'Neutral Milk Hotel' 🎵 Summary The linens are white and empty, sunlight slanting through the window illuminating a bed that has been deserted. Draco knew Potter would leave; he’s always gone by morning. Draco doesn’t even remember what he looks like in daylight.

📻 (you) find me when the lights go down [T, 1,839]

🎵 Song Prompt: 'save me from the monster in my head' by 'Welshly Arms' 🎵 Summary Harry can hear footsteps on the stairs behind him but doesn't bother turning to look. There's only one person likely to follow him out here at this time of night. "Potter," comes the crisp voice, easily recognisable as Draco. "You do know that most sane people, especially those who spend every waking moment complaining of being cold, would cast a warming charm. Or at the very least grab a sweater. Not spend every night attempting to turn into an icicle." - What makes someone a ghost? Because if it's dying, Harry's got that covered.

📻 If You Took the Time to Try [T, 18,169]

🎵 Song Prompt: "Go Like" by Fox Stevenson 🎵 Summary Last summer, Draco's impulsive decision to sleep with Harry Potter resulted in a bruised ego and a broken heart. Now he's looking for a fresh start- something that was absolutely not just an excuse for him to run away from his problems. Only it totally was, and while leaving London might have been easy, leaving Potter in the past was not.

📻 Title & Possession [E, 49,063]

🎵 Song Prompt: Misery Loves Company - Asking Alexandria 🎵 Summary Harry Potter’s life is going well in the aftermath of the war. Sure, his house is dark and run-down and might hate him (while his house elf definitely hates him). But other than that, things are good. Except, yeah, okay, Hermione and Ron are no longer on speaking terms. Worse, they keep trying to get Harry to pick sides. But otherwise, Harry couldn’t be happier. Well. Except for the fact that Ginny is being super weird about their relationship and never wants to have sex or talk about the future. But other than that, Harry is perfectly fine, thankyouverymuch. At least, he is until Draco Malfoy threatens to sue him for ownership of Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place, and winds up moving in until the issue is settled. Then Harry really isn’t fine at all.

🎶 H/D Wireless Podfic 🎶

📻 Inside These Walls [podfic] [M, 33 minutes]

🖋️ Original author: Jackvbriefs 🎵 Song Prompt: Black Sheep by Metric 🎵 Summary The year before Draco moves to Los Angeles, Harry Potter disappears. Draco doesn't mean to find him. He's just doing his job.

📻 Moldova's Magical Tea by aibidil - a Podfic [E, 2:46:12]

🖋️ Original author: aibidil  🎵 Song Prompt:  Clint Eastwood by Gorrillaz 🎵 Summary Neville Longbottom, Luna Lovegood, and—to everyone’s surprise—Draco Malfoy are opening a magical tea shop to revive wizarding tea culture and, hopefully, to bring the community together after the war. Harry, who is unemployed and trying to find his way in post-war society, wants to help his friends with their new business—but that means spending a lot of time around Malfoy. Featuring Muggle music from summer 2001, trips to the Muggle cinema, herbology and magical herbal infusions, and Draco trying to convince Harry that, while he’s still a snarky git, he’s no longer a bigot.

#HD Wireless #hd wireless 2023 #drarry #drarry art #drarry fic #drarry podfic #weekly wrap up no 1

[amageish]

Spider-Man 2 Post-Credit Spoilers

Time for some more signature Amageish overthinking!

Sooooooooooooo.

How about that Cindy Moon appearance, huh?

From this Gizmodo article, we do have a bit of insight into the decision to have her appear where they mention the challenge of making a Cindy unique to the GamerVerse specifically - though it's obvious they are keeping their cards close to their chest here as well.

io9: Along with giving Miles a promotion, you’ve introduced Cindy Moon, aka Silk, into your universe. Of all the Spider-heroes, I don’t think anyone was expecting her. What made her so appealing over someone like Eddie or Gwen Stacy? Arfmann: Cindy’s always been a really compelling character in the comics who, similar to [SM1's] Martin Li, hasn’t really gotten a ton of exposure outside of the immediate fanbase. There’s something really exciting about taking a character who we love, who not everybody’s had a chance to meet, and exposing her to a wider audience. Morris: I’m so excited to see what we do with Cindy. Arfmann: Exactly. That was the real drive with her, and figuring out who Insomniac’s Cindy Moon is a really exciting challenge. And we also have this interesting complication that [Cindy’s dad] Albert is dating [Miles’ mom] Rio, and we’re thrilled to explore how that creates a new iteration of this character that folks already love.

So this confirms that they will be changing stuff too! This is going to be a unique take on her, but they are also self-aware that this will be plenty of people's introduction to the character.

The main question on my mind is a pretty basic one: Does Cindy Moon need to be shoved into a bunker for 7-10 years in order to be recognizably Cindy Moon? Her father is already in the game, so we know the "parents are missing" story is probably off the table, but does she need to still spend all that time in isolation to be Cindy?

In the comics, her time in the bunker is credited in-text with being a source of so many of her defining character traits.

It is something that separates her experiences from Peter and the other Spider-heroes.

It's something that fills her with a drive to prove herself and is the experience that made her such a talented martial artist.

It informs her understanding of modern technology and the level of pop culture awareness she has - the former of which helped her develop her uniquely positive relationship with J Jonah Jameson.

And, lastly, the time she had in isolation is credited with causing her to develop her anxiety disorder and communication challenges.

So, with all that in mind, it feels like Cindy does have to be put into a bunker, right? As it's such a core part of her backstory?

Well, no. Maybe this will be a hot take, but I honestly don't think she does.

While I do think everything I've listed here is a key aspect of Cindy Moon as a character, I don't think they need to lock her in a vault for 7-10 years in order to explain why a Korean-American woman in New York city has anxiety or practices martial arts or feels a need to work twice as hard to have her accomplishments recognized. These are all very relatable experiences that do not require a fantastical superhero origin story to justify them.

Honestly, with how emotion-forward the Insomniac Spider-Man games are already, I think her being a woman who has had a depressive episode recently which she describes as having felt like being trapped would work just as well as literally having had her be trapped by a supervillain. I would not be surprised if the ability to tell a story about anxiety and depression was a factor in them selecting Cindy as the next playable character as well - the potential for a Silk game that incorporates actual mindfulness and grounding techniques into the gameplay is really high IMHO.

I also think that the final scene kind of supports the idea too? Cindy has no lines, but she does have a silent awkward wave. Maybe I'm reading too much into it, but her introduction makes me think she already has social anxiety - so unless she's already been in the bunker and we'll get a story about how she escaped, then I think she will probably jut be getting powers and moving forward from there.

Anyway, that's a lot of thoughts brought about by like 5 seconds of Cindy waving. I'm just really eager to see where things go from here and am hoping we'll get a DLC trailer or a Silk expandalone announced sometimes soon...

(PS: Having Peter already be in a committed relationship with MJ and Miles, who is also already in a relationship with Hailey, being in a psuedo-sibling relationship with Cindy is an excellent way of desexualizing the Cindy + Spider-Men relationship. I have no fears about Insomniac stumbling on that particular hurdle.)

(I do, however, have fears that I will be seeing unironic speculation about pheromones in reddit threads for the next 2 years until whenever Spider-Man: Miles Morales 2 or Silk: Cindy Moon is announced... but that probably cannot be changed, unfortunately.)

#spider man 2 spoilers #cindy moon #silk

[elvenbeard]

WIP WEDNESDAY

Yes I'm actually doing this on a Wednesday wooo :D

I just went back through all my tags of the last month and man, you guys ;__; <3 I'm not good at keeping up with tumblr atm and I don't have something to share every week, so I think once a month a WIP Wednesday might be a good compromise XD Thank you for all the tags!!

@theviridianbunny @dreamskug @ouroboros-hideout @lokiina @therealnightcity @chevvy-yates tagging you all right back!

So, with that off of my list of works in progress, as is answering all the tag games and quizzes, some projects I'm working on atm:

Writing: Love is stored in the olive jar (WT) - Chapter 13

It's done, but still needs a lot of editing, as it got very heavy on dialogue in the end and I want it all to flow more nicely and make it a bit more scenic XD Too many instances of "she looked up again" or "he paused for a moment/second" xD But I'm getting there! Here's a snippet from the already somewhat polished beginning:

“Alright,” Fuentes said as she finally caught her breath again, “I suggest we cut straight to the chase.” “Yes,” V nodded, “Thank you again for taking the time.” “Of course,” Fuentes nodded, “I have to admit, I have been thinking about you and your case a lot these past days. Even with the limited knowledge I have so far, I still believe I may be able to help. If you are willing now to tell me more about your condition now, of course.” ‘Willing’ wasn’t the word V would use, it was more a necessity at this point. “I will,” he said, “But only if you can provide me with a certain level of security.” Fuentes shifted in her chair slightly and frowned, then she opened one of the drawers of her desk and pulled out a tablet. She turned it on and began to search for something on it while maintaining eye contact with V as best as she managed. “You’ve come here today as my patient. As far as I’m concerned, everything, anything that we discuss, falls under the doctor-patient confidentiality. My contract with the Little China MedCenter binds me to treat your data and information with utmost care and discretion. All data we store is locked away securely, all in accordance with your Trauma Team policy. I can resend you the patient information papers and contracts, although I think most of them you should already have…” “I care less about the MedCenter than about what you personally do with the information I’m going to give you,” V said, and Fuentes stopped her search, narrowing her eyes slightly. “I’m not sure what you’re alluding to,” she said, still polite, but significantly more tense than before. “Nothing,” V shook his head carefully, “This is just not something I tell random strangers on the street… no offense, of course. If I have to play with open cards, I need you to as well.”

In which Vince hates doctors but has to trust one now, boo XD

Writing: Some drabbles :3

Inbetween the longfic I still have some ask prompt drabbles to fill that I'm looking forward to tackling soon! And in a sudden burst of inspiration I wrote out a long although not very serious convo between Vince and Johnny the other day xD I'd love to turn it into a (VP) comic maybe, but I'm not sure yet XD

Art: Nothing new since last time, slowly chipping away at some bigger projects inbetween

VP: Currently no concrete plans for a bigger project

Although I wanna do more "days in the life" for Vince!! And I wanna play around more with some poses though and have a very soft set to share that I gotta edit a bit still ;_; Tomorrow probably!

Also, I'd like to turn the interface thingies from my recent "V as NPC" projects into shareable templates, that is also on my wip/ to-do list! Just wanna gather some in-game reference shots first :D

Modding: 👀👀👀

I'm working on a little something maybe, and I'm so excited :DDD Just gotta relearn how to do Archive XL, it's been half a year xD And I fought MLSetup Builder so fucking hard, but now I know how to edit MLMask Setups, so that's a victory at least XD And I have a base for a very kitschy coat :3

But yes, so much to that so far! See you again in a month or so probably with an ever-growing pile of wips xD But maybe some more writing, maybe some more art, and maybe a finished mod after too long 👀

#wip wednesday #personal stuff

[shkika]

Hey hi and hello!

Quick question (I’m sure you have been asked this many times so you don’t have to answer)

On average, how long does it take you to make these comics? I’m quite curious as you pump them out like wild fire while you have me making comics twice a month XD

Love ur art btw❤︎︎

Ok I skitter away now

I actually haven't been asked many times! A few here and there and not in my inbox haha

Making all those comics was VERY time consuming with each comic taking up from 4-8 maybe hours to make flat out removing all breaks and such I've had. For example my Spearmaster and Suns comic was long so that one was haard to make.

I have to cut corners a bunch here and there in order to make it work with an ask-blog around as well. It does not mean I put less effort though, more so I don't go for perfectionism in my art as long as it sells the point. I make everything with a lot of love and excitement, but I am slowing down a little in order not to go crazy hehe

I'm glad you like them!

#my next moonie update is FIVE pages (which is why im taking so long..) #if i treated them with the care of an illustration ud get an update every blue moon (pun intended) #so the art isnt perfect but im glad people like it #not perfect is still good! #and most importantly its more fun #ask #weepinglilvessel #take your time with art! #rushing isnt good and im trying to take my advice here <3!

[inkdemonapologist]

How do you feel about the upcoming DCTL graphic novel?

Cautiously optimistic!

When I first heard the rumours, before Adrienne’s announcement, I had pretty mixed feelings. My background is in comics, like that’s what I went to school for and worked on semi-professionally for years, and I love it as a storytelling medium, so I’m really intrigued to see how they handle the adaptation…and I also really, really don’t envy whoever has to make decisions on how to depict these characters.

But the announcement is encouraging! I haven’t kept up with Chris Hastings’ more recent work, but I remember enjoying Dr. McNinja back in the day, so I have to admit there’s something exciting about seeing a name I recognise and can be hopeful about to do a good job with the adaptation. Checking out the artist’s work, I’m gonna put a lot of my poker chips on “Sammy will look really normal actually,” but I don’t think that’s a dealbreaker – like, Dober’s Sammy is a big fav as far as Sammy designs go, and I think he’s a good example of how you can still get great Sammy vibes in a more conventionally attractive face. (though i also think there’s a chance of “the artist will lean fully into his unhinged vibes and make Sammy look like a batman villain” so wE’LL SEE!!) Genuinely, the artist’s portfolio seems well-suited to this. I would’ve pictured DCTL with a rougher, more indie look if you asked me to pick a fitting style, but I think this artist's slick Western-Comic-Book style with its strong spot blacks could be a REAL good fit for the inky vibes this story demands, and they don’t have the level of “sameface” that I’d usually be concerned about with these kinds of styles; there’s enough solid variation in their character art that I believe they can handle all the characters needed, and also do a cool ink demon.

DCTL does have some design questions that are genuinely pretty fraught, in that there's no perfect way to handle it (Norman’s a great example; do you take someone that 80% of the fandom has been drawing as a black man for years and make him canonically white, or do you present the Weirdo Creeping Around In The Shadows Who Mysteriously Gives The Protags Supernatural Info And Then Dies At The End And Nobody Misses Him as canonically a person of colour??? ROUGH CHOICE I DO NOT ENVY), but I'm still so curious to see designs for these guys, and my big hope is that the fandom will be understanding of the huge task the creators have been given and that this won't be regarded with the pressure of getting “The Official Canon Design That I'll Be Mad If It Josses My Interpretation” – like, getting an official Henry & non-old-man Joey in BatDR just felt like, y’know, seeing anyone in the fandom make a new set of designs. It feels like drawing fanart of the BatDR AU; it doesn’t mean my henry and joey designs are Obsolete. And I hope these designs are enjoyed from that perspective, as a new DCTL Comic AU, and that the fandom takes whatever we get as less THIS HAS TO MATCH MY PERCEPTION OF SAMMY B/C ITS THE OFFICIAL REAL SAMMY and more just, a take on a design for Sammy Lawrence.

Though of course I can’t help but be a little more anxious about Sammy specifically, haha. He is my big fav after all, and as embarrassing as he is in DCTL it has become a part of his story I’m quite attached to. A lot of humanity could be added to him or taken away depending on how he’s drawn… I don’t want to get my hopes up, but it’s hard not to hope that he’ll have Good Sammy Vibes that Resonate With Me Specifically.

And in general, my expectations are still tempered – the comic could certainly turn out to be very mediocre, especially depending on how well the artist is paid and how much time the creators can afford to put into it – but tbh I’m super interested in how this turns out. I can’t wait to see Joey in this style and it’ll be SURREAL to see a comic of like……. BatIM humans…… I’ve wanted sincere visual content about the humans for a long time and I’m stunned we’re actually getting it, so I’m feeling kinda cautiously eager!! I’m also curious if the comic will make an effort to preserve Buddy’s “voice” from the original novel, and how that will be handled – like, the whole book is really strongly framed as being written by Buddy, and that’s not just an incidental detail; it fleshes out his feelings about Dot, ambiguously gives us info on Boris without directly revealing the ending, and shapes the way he presents some moments as unreliable and time jumping strangely – he even talks about the frustration of not being able to just draw these things and having to describe them! (RELATABLE) – but at the same time, just filling a whole comic with tons of narration boxes is not usually a great artistic choice. It’s a really interesting challenge for the adaptation, and I’m curious if they’ll shift away from the framing device altogether or look for a balance to keep it.

Anyway TL;DR I’m keeping my expectations low but I’m really intrigued!! I don’t know if I’ll, like, actually acquire it; I usually don’t buy JDS Inc. stuff, but I feel more wibbly about the books in general b/c of how strongly I appreciate Adrienne Kress specifically, so we’ll see how I’m feeling when it comes out, haha.

#i know you have questions you always do #dctl graphic novel

[ace-of-clubs-and-diamonds]

I’ve seen other artists doing a year-in-review, so I thought it would be neat to do one myself!! Looking at my art all lined up like this, I’m actually really proud. I feel like I’ve reconnected with my art this year and started loving it again.

The full pieces of each – plus the other art I’ve made this year – can be found in my "ace’s artwork" tag 💜💖

More ramblings under the cut:

I made 18 full pieces of art this year, 15 of which I posted to Tumblr. Of the posted artwork, 6 pieces were of my OCs (40%), 4 pieces were horror fanart (~27%), 4 pieces were Korn fanart (~27%), and 1 piece was DC Comics fanart (~7%). Additionally, I did 3 non-posted pieces of art as requests/gifts for friends. One was a fic cover I did for my beloved @spookyscaryslashy, and the other two were gifts for my darling @bisexual-horror-fan. I have plenty of other sketches, doodles, and half-finished WIPs that I didn’t post either, but I wouldn’t call them full finished art pieces.

I think I’ve progressed a lot as an artist this year! I started using way more references when drawing, which has definitely improved my art. I also started experimenting with colors. I think it makes my art look better in general, yes, but I also just had so much fun with it. And I feel like it’s helped me develop my own style. I feel so reinvigorated by just fucking around with the colors, and I’m so much more satisfied with my art because of it.

Some personal goals for next year: continuing to better my craft, obviously. Continuing to have fun with colors. I think I’d like to draw more creatures and monsters, as I did very little of that this year and really wish I had. And I’d like to work more on story art, both for the fics I post and the OG stuff I’m working on.

Lastly, I would like to say HUGE FUCKING THANK YOU to anyone who has ever said anything nice on one of my art pieces. Whether it was a comment, tags on a reblog, excited shouting in DMs or on Discord…… seriously. Thank you. You guys keep me going. I love y’all so, so much 💖💜💖💜💖

Here’s hoping next year’s a good art year too! 😊✨

#ace rambles #ace's artwork #2023 art summary #i didn't do shit in august in case u were wondering lmao #ALSO if any of my artist friends would like a blank transparent version of this template. feel free to hmu 💜

[caretaker-au]

you’re probably offline again, and I don’t know if anyone is gonna see this. but your au is genuinely one of my most favorite Undertale AUs ever. I have been in the Undertale fandom for a LONG time, but I don’t think there will ever be something as well written as the Caretaker AU again. the amount of research and love put into it is so cool. it truly does feel like something that could possibly happen in the actual canon and I LOVE it.

your version of Chara is also one of the most best portrayals of them I’ve EVER seen in the entire history of the fandom. when you began releasing the final chapters for the AU, I remember just sitting at my computer and rereading Chara’s lines over and over again. because their character was just so interesting to see in action. even when it was still a comic, their goddamn expressions and words are just so memorable to me. I still and always will have that little sadistic smile ingrained in my brain. (that also includes literally every character in comic even the background ones.) I love how you handle Chara as well, how you made them a horrible person but not totally unrealistic. like that one asker said, you feel bad for them, but just a LITTLE TINY bit. because they always screw up everything for themself and then go blame a 12 year old for it.

speaking of Frisk, your portrayal of them is definitely so very canon to me. I love their design and personality so much. they are so just relatable too, possibly one of the most realistic 12 year olds I’ve seen in a comic. they remind me a lot of me in a way, especially when I was 12 lol. I’m beyond happy they got a happy ending, they deserve it after, y’know, everything.

I wish you all luck on any other projects you may be working on. and I hope you are proud of what you have accomplished. :) you crafted a truly beautiful story. now if you don’t mind me, I’m just going to go reread everything again.

(take a shot every time I say ever lol, sorry for any spelling mistakes, thank you for reading it all)

Thank you so much for your kind words. Caretaker truly was a huge labor of love. I remember back when Ellipsis came up with the concept how it just gripped me like a bear trap. I couldn't stop thinking about it! Eruto felt the same way and was saying we should make a comic, and I was like, "no no, I don't want to do all that line art" but then she was like, you won't be alone we can draw it TOGETHER and then to demonstrate she took one of my super rough sketches and lined and colored it. And I was like, wow okay maybe this is feasible.

The resulting 3-ish years it felt like we were spending every waking hour working on Caretaker. I carried my sketchbook everywhere and would draw out thumbnails during my breaks at work, I'd be thinking about it on the drive home, and then we'd get on a discord call together to draw, line, and color for hours at a time. I could go on but the bottom line is that I LOVED IT. Each finished page (drawn or written!) fills me with pride and I look back fondly on the time spent creating and maintaining this blog together. It was exciting, compelling, and at many times exhausting, but worth it.

As far as the characterization goes, glad that you appreciate it! We reminded ourselves to never lose sight of the fact that Chara was still a human being--full of contradictions and ego and multiple-facets--but we didn't want to justify their behavior either. We all know people who are selfish, manipulative, and arrogant, but what happens when a person like that gets naïve enablement and never has to face any repercussions for their behavior? Without the correcting force that is LIFE, a cynical, angry, cruel child like Chara didn't have any reason to second-guess their worldview. Of course anything that goes wrong must be the fault of someone else!

This has already gotten kinda long, so all I'll say on Frisk is thank you and glad you agree! Personally, I knew some friends of the family who had kids about that age so I tried to reference their behavior in my mind when it came to writing Frisk. (Though most of Frisk's behaviors boil down to "RUN!!") Through the many discussions and occasional rewrites of this story, we always planned on ensuring Frisk had a happy ending. ♥

Thanks once again for the ask, and I hope you enjoy the reread!

#mailbox #spade-the-space-witch #minty says #you caught me online!

[godslush]

Hello again! hope your well! So I think I get the premise of this but correct me if I’m wrong so In your comic sunstar doesn’t technically exist therefore if he were to develop a soul like the other stardroids it would be a whole other issue of “being that never existed develops an existence?”(or something similar? I’m not sure sorry ;-;) and figuring that whole situation out (I’m guessing the stardroids have to do that [like babysitting? Kind off??? I dunno]

And in “escape the temple” Sunstar being freed and becoming complacent with his status as a god has the stardroids(terra in particular) having to keep him out of trouble especially with the traps made for the sungod lines. It honestly makes me think of like those child leashes except Sungod size ( that made me laugh a little with sunstar just wondering off and whoever’s holding the leash getting dragged along{however unlikely that he would let himself be made to wear that I just thought it was funny}). I’ll be completely honest with you I live reading oc info pages and seeing art and stories/ storylines for them just gets me excited! I tell you I read through your entire oc list before I got to the comics cause I just love reading them helps get the brain cells moving for ideas lol. Especially cause of how interesting and well written they were! Just really gets me engaged and interested in the stories :) honestly thank you for answering my asks ;o; especially cause your not as active on here as on twitter and this is my only way of really asking ;-;. I hope you’re doing well and I hope you have a good rest of your day/night! Thank you!

Hey there! Since these are getting long and a little specific, I’ll put it behind a cut, though I may opt to shift these to private answers if they start getting too spoily or personal.

---

The Stardroid comic is a “years later” followup on Gigamix, so I’m somewhat beholden to what Ariga-sensei has revealed, whether it be on TwiX or in lore-dumps like the Maniax books. Thankfully, he’s also VERY much a proponent of fans coming up with their own stories and headcanons (as mentioned when asked about hairstyles; since fans will frequently take his opinions and designs over the canon ones even when he’s not working in an officially-moderated capacity, and he doesn’t want to cause a rift with Capcom’s control over their own franchise and his own chances to work with them in the future).

That said, there isn’t MUCH 'canon' information on the Gigamix Stardroids, even in Maniax, with the bulk of it being focused on Terra and Mercury... but out of my own preferences, I’d still like to keep what’s available intact, and build off that, even if I end up building a LOT. In Sunstar’s case, he’s not even a robot, just a conglomerate of destructive energy and negative emotion. So trying to work with that and give HIM closure was rough. First, he needs a body and a soul...

Once he gets those, it's a bit rough on the Stardroids, too, but at the end of the day gets resolved by them (and a critical third party) realizing that what they understood of him was incomplete, and trying to figure out how to fix that...

---

Escape the Old Temple, in contrast, is technically built off the games (since it’s designed to be a game, itself), but presents a branch where Sunstar didn’t actually die at the end of World 5/V, merely faking his death and then masking the presence of himself and the other Stardroids (also miraculously surviving) so that they could rebuild at the edge of the solar system without further human intervention. The only reason Rock was able to defeat him in the first place was because he had just awoken from a who-knows-how-long slumber, and was essentially still booting up. Once at full power, he’s beyond pretty much anything human technology could throw at him in their current state.

He simply steps in when a ‘relic’ of the Stardroid’s ancient past (in the form of Antares’ trap-filled temple/tomb) shows up. On one hand, if Antares is still active, it could pose a threat to Earth. On the other, if someone like Wily decides to meddle, he could gain access to technology that could negatively impact what chances Earth has at a continued ‘peaceful’ existence. Rock proved that peace was possible, and Sunstar wants to do his part; whether or not the other Stardroids agree is another issue entirely, but their own stability is also threatened by the temple’s presence, so they might as well be the first line of defense (plus, they’d know what to do with the technology they loot, unlike some wacky mad human scientist).

Sun isn’t so much running off on his own, but when the others fail to return from scouting the temple, he and Terra dispatch themselves to get them back and end the threat personally. Sun’s approach to it is just... a little more haphazard and forceful (and frustrating for Terra). It’s less of a child-leash issue... but I will be honest, the mental image of that is hilarious and pretty much on-point. It’s definitely how Terra feels at times!

---

And thank you so much for the kind words on the OCs-! But it... doesn’t really change my feeling on the verge of giving up (likely temporary, but no less debilitating)...

Mental Health Dump ahead, feel free to skip, but it’s the gist of things as they stand:

My biggest success with the [REDACTED] fandom pretty much set me up for unfair expectations on engagement, and ever since the thing that made me fall out of that fandom (which involved getting into official development, only to have my soul crushed and disregarded and left to rot under an NDA until it was too late to salvage my emotional state, causing me to lose many friends and all of my self-worth), I’ve suffered from intense RSD. That - plus a constant stream of working myself to burn-out for little to no engagement - has made me more or less a wreck, who can’t maintain reasonable creative function without sufficient external positive reinforcement to keep up my energy. However, because of my past expectations and relative success when it comes to OC engagement, the threshold for what’s considered ‘sufficient’ reinforcement is a lot higher than most people, and not reaching it causes me to sink lower and lower each time I ‘fail’.

Couple that with my bad track record for being stuck in jobs I hate IRL, and you’ve got a recipe for frequent meltdowns.

I know I should be getting help/therapy for this, but attempts to do so have ranged from getting simply brushed aside put on meds that make matters worse, to literally being told by a mental health screener that there’s nothing wrong with me and that my ‘problems’ are all because I’m a woman and my hormones are making me miserable (I’m not joking).

I was able to get decent headway into the Mega Man fandom as an escape born of trying to return to my roots, but I also had, at the time, just gotten a job I actually loved, and seemed stable and fulfilling and it gave me life and energy and enough free time to actually dedicate to larger projects (like the comic).

...And then the boss of that job started loading most of his management work on me (while keeping my title as 'sales associate' so the experience wouldn't reflect for future job hunting/unemployment), before betraying me and throwing the company away to pursue gambling and crypto (presumably, due to his suspicious lack of communication when asked for details), which landed me back in Corporate Retail Hell, which is where I currently reside, living alone amidst rapidly increasing rent, utilities, and general cost of living.

I am once again reliant on engagement... engagement I’m just not getting because the Tumblr environment has changed since the [REDACTED] days to dissuade comments/replies/asks, and the TwiX environment has changed to be so painfully algorithm-dependent that I can barely get scraps.

To be honest, I’m not ‘more active’ on TwiX anymore... and if anything, I’m on my way out there, too, due to the way Stinky ruined everything and made the environment hostile and unstable. But I can’t shift my weight fully to Tumblr, either, because I don’t trust it to not eventually fall into the [REDACTED] trap of people only approaching me hoping I’ll be their friend so that they can get free art out of me (and a few people have already thrown up the red flags of that behavior, making me even more on-guard).

I also get the feeling that this is a community that prioritizes giving the time of day to people actively mingling with all the other creators; I can’t get away with what I did at the height of my drive, where I’d create characters and people would stop by and enjoy them with me. What little energy I have either goes to creating, or to maintenance, and unless I’ve got a reasonable stream of incoming energy to spend, I can’t feasibly mingle the way people seem to expect. It’s too big a space to spread myself so thin.

When I started my comic, I lived in a hole under a rock. The world I knew was small, and a small amount of engagement was enough. Then I stepped out from that safety and into the fandom and saw how large and expansive it really is, and how insignificant I am, and how effortlessly other people doing similar things to me can get all the validation in the world from 5-minute white-background line doodles of their own OCs, while I struggle to get full pieces recognized... and I’ve more or less become overwhelmed by a combination of fandom agoraphobia and personal futility.

If I can make something that looks okay in one go with minimal frustration, I might post it... but seeing how little that gets me unless it involves "popular fav" canon characters means that if I hit any snags in a larger project with original components, ANY frustration at all, I’m more likely to simply stop, out of fear that the energy spent to leap the hurdles won’t be recouped by the final product.

That's why the one Ask still sitting in the Remes box hasn't been answered; I wanted to precede answering it with a larger story (albeit an unrelated one, but I wanted to get that story into people's heads going forward), but hitting snags in that story and realizing I'd most likely post it and get 6 notes total made me just... not feel like it'd be worth it.

I thank you for your kind words, I truly do... but right now I am just one failure too far over the line to be anything more than an eyesore and a liability until I recoup...

#ask answer #onyxgladiolus #cw mental health #cw depression

[zahri-melitor]

New(ish) Comics (this is the best week of the month, no lie)

Batman – Santa Claus: Silent Knight #1: this is fun. I like the way Bruce and Damian are written together. I am annoyed Babs is out as Batgirl. I'm amused that Tim is very specifically excluded from the story that involves real Santa given he'd not be wondering 'ooh oooh is Santa real' like Dick is here.

Someone had better give Darkseid some coal, is all I can say.

Batman #139: …so we really are running Batman and Batman & Robin with contradictory plots right now. Cmon. There was even a way to finagle this so that Damian could be living with Bruce and have Zdarsky’s plot still work! Grump.

“I’m coming for you, Joker. I’m coming for all three of you. For the last time.” (actually there’s a printing error in this line and the letterer has ‘For the the last time’) I disbelieve this Zdarsky, sorry, though if you could figure out a way to get Joker out of the Bat books for a few years I think everyone would enjoy that.

Now that aside, I do want to note that apparently my decision to (re)read all of Henri Ducard’s appearances seems to have been prescient, given Zdarsky has just referred to ‘manhunting’, ‘training when I was young’ and ‘Paris’ all together. That’s Ducard. That trio is 100% Ducard. Sounds like I need to finish Henri Ducard’s post-2016 appearances, which I was delaying. So Batman: The Detective and Batman: The Knight are jumping up my reading list. (And a quick look at ‘Lucie Chesson’ says she’s from Batman: The Knight, so yep, gotta read)

Joker + dolls always makes me think of NML Endgame, personally.

Birds of Prey #3: Damn this continues to just be a solid read. Thompson keeps hitting yet another 'look I can be trusted' target every issue.

I could do with at least 30% less Harley commentary in this book, but I do acknowledge that at least half the team are unlikely to talk much in a combat situation. Future!Maps is cute and as I slowly approach Maps content I’m excited to meet her more. Also… SIN MY SWEETHEART. I have been waiting for this hug for SIXTEEN YEARS. (Literally. I was in DC fandom in 2007 when they were torn apart). Also loooooooooool Ollie got curbstomped by Diana, sucks to be you Ollie.

Blue Beetle #3: Oh I couldn’t help myself (in terms of how many panels I already posted), but Blue Beetle is doing such interesting things right now. Victoria’s finally being acknowledged on page as being super sus and villainous (rather than just slinking around being sus and concerning me deeply). I’m getting more and more worried about the identity of the Red Beetle. We got Traci back! Which from what I hear means that Trujillo is glossing over some of Traci’s recent characterisation, but we’ll see how this tracks (and in any case, re-establishing Jaime’s connections to the magic/dark side of DC via Traci is helpful if we’re about to do a Dan Garrett story).

Free my girl Dani Garrett if we’re doing a Dan Garrett storyline, she’s an autistic mildly amoral archaeologist and I desperately, DESPERATELY want to see her arguing with Victoria Kord over who ‘owns’ the scarab while Jaime’s standing in the middle going ‘excuse me nobody owns Khaji Da, it’s its own being! And my friend!’

Fire & Ice: Welcome to Smallville #3: hello Jimmy Olsen! Hello Turtle Jimmy lore! (I love how silly this book is. I do enjoy JLI stuff that doesn’t take itself seriously) I’m getting attached to a few of the new villains, particularly Linka Grodd.

Shazam! #5: MARY SIGHTING. Darla remains tiny and adorable and I love her too. This comic remains committed to ridiculous fun villains (and Waid and Mora have apparently been off raiding the ‘underused weird Silver Age villains’ list). Mr Dinosaur is an amazing addition to the canon. (And yes. Billy rebuilt the moon. Oh Shazam!) Also I see we are still back firmly in the ‘jealous Freddie’ plot that’s been hanging around for a while.

Warlord #25: this week we check back in with Tara, Mariah and Machiste. Grell’s done some fabulous art for the splash page that I really really like.

Travis is fighting *checks notes* snow giants as he's still too ashamed to come hang out with his friends and partner after the whole 'I killed Joshua' incident a few issues back. He's also cutting all sort of things with his Damascus Steel sword which I have to remind everyone and note is highly suspicious damascus steel, because it's made from a RIFLE and there is no way the type of steel used was able to be worked as damascene, given it likely was alloyed wrong.

I love Ashir here (the guy actually wearing clothes) as firstly, look! A rare appearance of someone with most of their skin covered! Secondly, Travis' burn of "I didn't know you had character".

Anyway, Travis is moping a bit here about being a lone warrior. You could go and hang out with your friends any time you want, Travis. You're the one who left, not them.

#z canon read throughs #newish comics #tuesday spoilers

[paging-possum]

So one of my friends who makes games (here’s her itch.io, she’s made some REALLY neat stuff AND is currently making some even neater stuff right now that I may or may not be helping with) recently told me about the concept of developer logs. And I heard that and immediately was like… “Well I love talking about my projects…and I’m currently working on a comic.” So I'm making the Milwaukee Protocol devlog! Which will hopefully keep me on track with working on it! I’ll also throw in smaller updates about other side projects at the same time, just for fun. 

Milwaukee Protocol is a horror comic about- you guessed it- rabies. It follows Lyssa (named for everyones favorite virus, lyssavirus) after she gets bitten by a weird animal in the woods and starts experiencing rabies-like symptoms despite the fact that medically, there’s nothing wrong with her. It’s about losing control! It’s about changing in ways nobody understands! It’s about suffering the consequences of completely avoidable choices! It’s about instilling the sheer terror/fascination surrounding rabies that I’ve had since I was a child in other people! I’m not sure how coherent it is, but it’s still being written, and at the very least I’m excited about it.

I’m still writing the script and working on actually figuring out what everything and everyone looks like (something I skimped on for the last comic I made, which I think made it suffer), but I’m hoping to put my all into this one! I’m hoping to have the script done by mid-November, and this is where we are now. 

Thrilling. I know. God I love Notion. I'll hopefully have actual drawings of them next week but it has been a very overwhelming 2 weeks and also im sick so things are going very very slow.

While I figure out how to put this beast together, I'm also trying to put together some search and find pages just for fun- I started one for the Fool tarot card, since it felt like a fun theme to start with. That said, I'm not a huge fan of the composition so I might go back and redraw it. I'm also making a comic for college using a rubber duck as an allegory for having a crush on someone because they make you do weird stuff in art school sometimes.

I'm also listening to a bunch of stuff this week! A lot of Parkdale Haunt, which is a horror podcast about two women and the creepy old house that one of them inherits. Probably not the best when my only roommate right now is a fridge that makes sounds like human breathing, but that’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make for a good horror podcast. 

#comic update #im aiming to do one of these a week because I so deeply want to stay on track with this #also I looooove talking about my projects