#if only i had my drawing tablet and stylus.... | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

factual-fantasy · 14 days

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23 asks! Thanks a bunch! :}} 🌠

@mimiocto

She does! Her name is Gloria :))

And if my motivation and health stays in my favor.. ya'll will learn a bit more about her and Bonnie soon... 👀👀👀

(Referencing this post)

The secret 9th eeveeloution, ghost type! <XD

@octonauts16

....Whelp, guess I'm canceling my Netflix account! <XD

(Monopoly post in question)

It was mostly a joke, XDD but none the less I'm sure no one would have taken it too much to heart! Its well known that Grim and V have a very strong bond so no one would have been surprised XDD

@candyglumboy

Thank you so much!! :DDD

AAAAA THANK YOU SO MUCH!! :DDD I'm glad!! :}}}

(Comic in question)

YOU!!! YOU GET IT!!!! WAHAAG THABK YOU!!! 😭😭💖💖💞

THANK YOU SO MUCH!! :DDDD💞

I just slap the watermark on the drawing as its own layer and lower the opacity :00 usually putting a back blob cloud behind it at lower opacity if more visibility is needed!

....If that made any sense at all--

@userplaysminecraft

This is amongst the highest compliments my fanart can receive. Thank you 🥺🥺🥺

:DD Thank you so much!! I'm glad you love it!! :}}

@minnesotamedic186

Alas, I do not have a good tablet or stylus.. :((

But that's ok! I think I'm getting better! <:D .. I hope so at least! <:}}

@holly-opal

I haven't really ironed it out yet.. but one thing stays consistent. It sucked.

I wanted to create a situation where Mario and Luigi both did not want to go back to Earth. Sure there are things that would undoubtedly bother them a bit that I couldn't just whisk away. Never seeing another human again, never seeing any animals again.. Never hearing human songs again.. never tasting the food from Earth again..

But what I could do is make their old lives so horrible, that they were both willing to give up what they had for this new life as the "Hero's of Legend."

I pictured Mario and Luigi both being very poor. Just barely making it paycheck to paycheck. No friends, no family. No sentimentals even. Perhaps their childhood home burnt down.. so no family photo albums or old plushies to be attached to..

I couldn't decide what kind of relationship they had with their parents.. but either way, they've passed on. They worked a crappy job as plumbers which they both hated. They lived in a cruddy apartment that was too small for them. Rotten neighbors, disrespectful customers..

I pictured them having this terrible company van or truck that always broke down and stunk of cigarettes thanks to the previous owner. They were drowning in debt and bills. Trynna pay off the van, trynna buy new clothes, trynna by food...

I even imagined some of their bills and debt were medical related. I imagined Luigi being very ill and them being unable to afford food and medicine.. So Mario stole food from his clients. Maybe even robed a store or two. Now they've got "criminal" added to their list of problems.

They hated their apartment. They hated the van, they hated their neighbors, they hated people, they hated the world. They hated their lives. The only thing they had the room in their hearts to love was each other. The only thing that didn't hurt them or make them cry was each other. The only thing that made living in this horrible world worth it, was each other.

Then the mushroom kingdom came along.. "Hero's of Legend?" Magical powers? Kind people who care about us and respect us? No more debt, no more bills, no more van or apartment, no more stealing, just.. adventure. And they get to experience it all with their most favorite person in the world?

Why would they ever want to go back?

@raven-bearden-the-interviewer42

Alas, I do not know of any. :((( But I can imagine that the crew is nerdy enough to make their own shanty! A theme song of sorts. And you can bet that Seafoam would take pride in that song and sing it loudly with the rest of the crew! XD

@neo-metalscottic (100,000 reblogs post in question) (Octo clarification post)

Awe! That's so kind! Thank you!! :DD And I've been very glad to see my condition improve too 😌 though I'm not quite out of the thick of it yet.. :(( I hope I can fully beat it soon! <:))

As for the Great green toad king and company, I have actually never heard of them before! <:0 Though it would be very easy to label them as some far off kingdom and not put much thought into it <XDD Perhaps some of the species found in that kingdom could have become wandering travelers like Wario and Waluigi? Maybe we'd see them that way? :00

Now I know mentioning Birdo was a joke XDD But I do have plans for the Birdo species! :00

I had this idea that Yoshi's used to be smaller, about the same size they are in canon. Back then they acted as these passive.. almost farm like animals..?? In a way?? The toads used them to haul carts and as a form of transportation. Like horses! But eventually the Yoshis discovered "Yoshis island". A fruitful island planted in the middle if a giant river. A large sum of the Yoshis migrated from the forest and began to live there. Eating the super fruits and veggies it produced and slowly transforming into the giant mega Yoshis that are there today.

However, not all the Yoshi's left. A fair amount of them were kept and somehow made their way to the coast near Daisy's Kingdom. After generations and generations of Yoshi's eating red cheep cheeps and living in the water, they transformed and are now called Birdos. In present day Yoshi's and Birdos are extremely closely related, though they look a bit different from each other. And while Yoshi's come in all different colors, most Birdos grow up to be different shades of red, Pink and purple due to their red cheep cheep diet. Just like flamingos! :D

Anyways- on to the Goombas. The Goombas start out as these very poisonous brown mushrooms and are brought to life by Kamek. They form mouths and the poison that they originally had becomes poisonous saliva. So when they bite someone the poison does its job.. Even if who ever they bite is somehow immune to their poison, their bites are still nasty. They're dirty creatures and they really shred you up.. So the chance of natural infection is there none the less-

And WHAAAT?? Illumination whyyyyyyy 😭😭I love Toadsworth you had no right to scrap him--

And wow! That last battle looks crazy! My only question is who's this guy?? <XDD I don't recognize him!

Anywho- thanks again for the ask! Feel free to send more Mario ones, or not, which ever you please! I'd love to read what ever you may send :}}}

8 0 0 0 P A G E S ? ? ?

@pink088

That is the most cursed creature I have ever seen- XDD

I wanna say Louis has the most wins, buuuttttt Seafoam is so much bigger than Louis.. I feel like he would have the ability to overthrow him just by using his own body weight XDD Its hard to say!

(Ask was sent in response to this post)

SKSKKDJH ACTUALLY THO XDDDD

Oh- in order to make these ask posts I take screenshots of the asks, crop them, and then compile them all together. Usually I put them together on Tumblr desktop, so they're all blue.

But recently I've been batting some health problems and have been stuck on the couch all day.. which means that I've been making my ask posts on Tumblr mobile. Which is all black themed for me :00

Aw, thank you! Though I advice eating it with a spoon actually! In order to scoop up the tears of the characters- XDD

@caronaro-flipaclip

:0 Sponchbop! :DD Its hard to feel down with him around!

@beryl-shade

I have written many stories where characters have lost family or friends to death... but as for a character that was in the main story and I actually drew them? ..Not that I can recall! :0

#my response #super mario bros #pokemon scarlet and violet #gardevoir #ampharos #cookie run #cookie run kingdom #cookie run ocs #my ocs

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mochinek0 · 4 months

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Daminette December 2023: 10-Defeated

Damian sat at his desk and briefly scanned the files of the new departments he was overlooking. One of them was the art department, which he was greatful for. The only thing that bothered him was the fashion department. He didn't agree that it was art. It was business. Clothing was a necessity, not a luxury. Clothes could be sold in stores. Art was meant to be displayed and shared. The Wayne heir scanned the file again.

'Head of fashion department was listed as Marinette Dupain-Cheng. I'm sure I can get rid of her and move the department. Nothing will get in Damian Al Ghul-Wayne's way.'

The Wayne heir approached the fashion department. He saw the office door open and observed the inside. There was a small woman with blue hair drawing on a tablet. He could see a gown forming under the movement of her stylus. Damian stood tall as he knocked on the open office door, but she never turned around.

'Brat.'

"Miss Dupain-Cheng!" he shouted.

To his surprise, the designer slammed her hand down on her desk and glared at him.

"You made me mess up." she snarled, "Who the fuck so you think you are to come in here and bother me?"

This wasn't the type of meeting he had been expecting at all.

"Damian Wayne." he answered, not use to people glaring at him, "I wanted to inform you that I will personally be keeping an eye on the department and see if it's truly necessary."

"Fine." Marinette snapped, "There's the door. I'm busy; you can show yourself out."

Marinette turned back to her tablet and began ignoring him, again. Damian couldn't believe that she didn't get scared by his name. She talked back to him! Damian walked out and slammed the office door.

'What a horrible person. I'm not just gonna get rid of her; I'm gonna fire her entire department! I'll just exploit her weaknesses and show that she's incompitent at her job.'

Marinette had noticed that Damian taking to lurking around her department. He had inserted himself into meetings and questioned everything: Is what you're buying necessary? How could it help Wayne Enterprise? Why did you choose this fabric? Why this shade? Why not vermouth?

It had been six months and she was ready to punch him. Mari had heard rumors that he was starting to neglect other departments he was covering. She couldn't understand his fascination and distaste for hers. After another grueling meeting, everything came to a head.

"Miss Dupain-Cheng, I highly suggest rereading the code of conduct." Damian stated, in front of the entire department.

Marinette could feel everyone's eyes on her, "And what have I done now, Mr. Wayne? I don't believe 'bow down' is a rule."

"Your behavior and attire are innapropriate in the work place." Damian commented, irked that she still went against his authority.

"Excuse me?" Mari shouted, "I am completely professional!"

Damian snorted, "You regularly seduce your staff."

"I wish." someone whispered, loud enough for everyone to hear.

"Mr. Wayne," Marinette spoke, "please, tell me how my business attire is innapropriate so that I may correct it."

Marinette knew she had him this time. She still made all her own clothing and inspected them the day before for any rip or loose seams. She wore button up blouses with short sleeves and a blazer. She made sure to wear pants as she didn't want to kneel in a skirt. Was this about her heels? Sure she didn't wear four inches like everyone else; she preferred something that was easy to move in. Especially if something had gone wrong and she needed to hurry to the other sde of Wayne Enterprise.

Damian's eyes roamed over Marinette. Her clothes were the same as they had been for the last six months, they hugged her curves. When she took off her blazer, he could see how her neck curved, especially when her hair was puled up in a messy bun or ponytail. He had seen her hair that way, too many times, when she was busy designing. Not to mention how her pants accentuated her when she yelled at an employee for ordering the wrong fabric. Those stupid tops that she crossed her arms under her chest when someone contradicted her.

"Well, Mr. Wayne." Marinette called out, "I'm waiting. Tell me which part of my outfit is the problem, right now. I'm buttoned up and tucked in. My pants go all the way down to my ankles or are my ankles distracting someone? I certainly can't be distracting someone with a foot fetish, as I don't wear anything open-toed. There are many more employees, here at Wayne Enterprise, that dress provocative."

"Are you sure?" the Wayne heir questioned.

"I can name five ladies on this floor alone!" Marinette growled, "Two are wearing corsets with a blazer. Another is in a mini skirt and if she sits, you can see the garter straps. Another is wearing the same outfit as yesterday and reeks of cigarettes, sweat, nd bad cologne. The last one is wearing last seasons Belmere cocktail dress with tulle bishop sleeves! Thy are sewing a collection and if that sleeve gets caught, we have to destroy that fabric and her sleeves will be ripped off. I am not losing product because someone decided to be stupid this morning, Carol!"

Marinette glared at Damian Wayne, "So, tell me how innapropriate I am or you can fuck off!"

"The clothes you wear demean you and suggest you are welcoming others to join you for a night." Damian stated.

Marinette felt all the rage bubble over and she punched him in the face, sending him across the floor.

"I quit!" she snarled.

Damian looked on as Marinette walked away.

'I won.'

What he didn't expect were the not so hushed whispers of the fashion department.

"I think Mr. Wayne had a crush on her."

"I wish she would seduce me."

"You and me both."

"Apparently, she was very popular in Paris with both genders."

"Wait, what?"

"Really?"

"I heard she dated Jagged Stone's only son."

"Wasn't Adrien Agreste trying to date her?"

"So was Zoe Lee."

"The actress!"

"Mmhmm and she's the second daughter of Style Queen."

"Damn! Why is she here then?"

"She could have gone with one of them and likely inherited a fashion label!"

"Marinette always yells at us when we dress innapropriate."

"Carol."

"I pushed my sleeves up, okay!"

"I think she wrote this years dress code herself."

"I wish that I could see what Mr. Wayne saw."

"Why?"

"Are you kidding me? Stuck up Dupain-Cheng as some sexy thing and not yelling a us? Talk about a perfect fantasy!"

Damian sat there blushing as the employees talked amongst themselves.

'Did no one really see what I saw? They hadn't seen the way her clothes accentuated her? They didn't see the way her body called out to others? Was I the only one who wanted to pin her down to gain control?'

Damian stood up, admitting defeat. Marinette Dupain-Cheng, the person who irked him for months, hadn't been at war with him or seducing him; he liked her. He couldn't tell until the evidence was stacked against him. As the other employees said, she didn't even need to be there. She could marry into money, likely immediately, and run a corporation against them.

'She's not going to get away from me that easily.'

By the time Damian found Marinette, Tim was already on his knees begging her to stay and his father was apologizing about his attitude.

"I can personally guarantee that Damian will be moved departments and you never have to see him again." his own father pleaded.

Tim noticed Damian out of the corner of his eye and stood up.

"You!" Tim shouted, stalking over to his younger brother, "What the hell? Marinette is dressed perfectly fine for her job!"

"Please reconsider, Miss Dupain-Cheng." Bruce spoke.

"I will work from my own home." Mari stated, "I will come to the office only for meetings; everything else will be paper trailed through emails and run by one of you."

"That is perfectly doable." Bruce answered, "We can send any equipment you need and-"

"I have everything already."

Damian looked on confused. He had never known them to suck up this badly, not even to board members.

"You don't even know who she is; do you?" Tim exclaimed.

"An employee by the name of Marinette Dupain-Cheng." Damian answered.

Bruce sighed. Apparently his son had never read her file and background information as to why she was the head of her own department.

"She is Jagged Stone's personal and exclusive designer." Tim snarled, "She designs for many different celebrities world wide. She is known throughout Paris! You can obviously see why we wanted her here."

Damian had no clue that the she was that well known or that his family was that desperate to have her.

"What can we get you to continue to work here?" Bruce questioned, "We can pay you how ever much you want."

"I'll bump your salary to $65,000 a design." Tim offered.

Marinette shook her head, "I only want one thing and I want Damian Wayne to apologize to me."

"80,000 a design!" Tim quickly shouted.

Damian could clearly see his family was horrified. They had zero faith he would apologize or admit his mistake. Damian swallowed his pride and bowed down, as he would to his mother.

"My apologies for making my own personal assumptions." He began, "They were baseless and you truly did nothing wrong. It was my own assumption that you were attempting to seduce me that caused this."

Marinette's cheeks turned red as she listened to his in shock.

"My parents did not conceive me naturally. My mother drugged Father. I was raised and taught by her, from an early age, that women will use any means necessary to seduce who they value as someone of interest; even wear revealing clothes. They will cling to those they desire. They will feign innocence when confronted." Damian continued, "I only observed what I was told, but my family is alos correct. Your clothing is appropriate for the work place. You have never touched me inappropriately. You also have never tried to suede me. You treated me as everyone else in your department and yet-"

Damian was smacked upside the head by Tim. Damian turned to glare at him, but when he looked up, she saw Marinette covering her face with her hands and her ears were bright red.

"Miss Dupain-Cheng?" Damian spoke softly.

Marinette looked between her fingers at him, nervously.

"Miss Duapin-Cheng?" Bruce questioned, cautiously.

"I-I don't understand how-how you can like me." She stammered.

"Well, for one thing, you have a killer right hook." Damian stated.

Out of all the things, he could have answered, that was not one of them. Marinette began laughing and her hands fell away from her blushing face.

The Wayne heir smirked, "I'm also not use to people telling me to 'fuck off'."

Marinette snorted as she thought back to the first day they met. Bruce and Tim nodded as they slowly made their way away from the young adults.

"Everyone back to work." Bruce commanded, "If I see this online, I'll personally make sure whoever posted it, is fired."

The fashion department was quick to get back to work, leaving Damian Wayne to confess to their blushing designer.

TAGLIST: @maribat-calendar-events@animeweebgirl@a-star-with-a-human-name@meme991001@vixen-uchiha@abrx2002@alysrose-starchild@fandom-trapped-03@dood-space@moonlightstar64@saltymiraculer@marveldcedits20@09shell-sea09@icerosecrystal@animegirlweeb@insane-fangirl-of-everything@blueblossombliss@nickristus-dreamer@megawhitleycalderonpaganus@missmadwoman@meira-3919@princessdaisysolosyourfaves@blep-23@fangirlingfanatic@darkhinauniverse@ravenr22@im-a-satanic-ritual@ravennm84@bianca-hooks123@a-slytherinish-gryffindor@starling218

#daminette december 2023 #daminette #damian wayne #marinette dupain cheng #fashion designer marinette #wayne enterprise #mlb x dc #dc x mlb #damian x marinette #marinette x damian #enemies #tim drake #bruce wayne #popular marinette #savage marinette #crush #lust #enemies to lovers #mochinek0

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frostfire-17 · 5 months

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What is cuneiform?

@ipsomaniac asked if I could explain the cuneiform system, and so I am going to give it a shot. Here goes! (Update: it got long! But there's pictures!)

Part I: What does it look like? How do we work with it?

This is the cuneiform script:

This is a first-millennium BC text of Sargon II, in Akkadian (specifically Neo-Assyrian). My user icon is a much older Sumerian text. In a second we'll see some Hittite. Just like the Latin script is used for English, French, Turkish, and many other languages today, the cuneiform script was used for lots of languages in the ancient world. It changed a bit over three thousand years of constant use, but it remains pretty recognizable because of the wedges. "Cuneiform" is just Latin for "wedge-shaped," because scholars love giving things banal names and then translating them into Latin or Greek so no one can tell.

This is a Hittite tablet:

This particular tablet is part of the royal funerary ritual (which has many many MANY tablets, many of which are way more broken than this one, and/or missing entirely). It's been pieced together from lots of fragments, all excavated separately. (You can see their excavation numbers written on the fragments, e.g. 39/c.) It's written on clay, like most of their texts were. This is a pretty good amount of preservation for a tablet this size - many are more fragmentary. I wish the picture were better, but tablets are not catalogued by how good the pictures are and it would have taken a million years to find a really hi-res one suitable for our purposes.

You can see that each symbol is made up of a bunch of wedges. These were pressed into the clay with a stylus while it was still wet. If you look closely, you can also spot spaces between words (more obvious at the end of a paragraph).

Here's a little slice of our tablet:

And here's a drawing of that same little slice. This is how scholars usually interact with texts on a day-to-day basis, because taking readable photos of tablets is difficult and going to see the tablets is more difficult. Drawings are made by experts in the presence of the tablets and published so that everyone can look at them.

Here the scholar who did this drawing (published in Keilschrifturkunden aus Boghazköi vol. 39, text no. 4) was working with only some of the fragments, and so has written in the transliteration of the left half, which they weren't copying. So you can see how each cuneiform sign corresponds to a written syllable, sometimes in lowercase, sometimes in all caps, and sometimes in superscript.

What does all this mean? How does it work? Okay. Cuneiform is a really difficult and frustrating writing system to read, for a few reasons. 1) It grew organically from a time before writing existed, so people were just kind of slowly figuring out how to use pictures to represent words; 2) it lasted for thousands of years, so there were all sorts of innovations tacked on without necessarily jettisoning any of the old stuff; and 3) it was borrowed through quite a few languages, almost none of which were related to one another, so it had to twist around and adapt to totally different sounds and word structures. So it's weird! And hard to learn, especially for us, because we are not native speakers of any of the languages that used it, and also we're not a single person existing in a snapshot of time, where cuneiform had a specific form and iteration - we're looking at its whole span of three thousand years.

THAT SAID. I can explain some stuff about it and how it worked! Here goes!

Part 2: How does it work as a writing system?

We start with a picture. Let's use a star. Like this: 𒀭

Or this:

(this is a student text copying the star sign over and over - ignore the leftmost column. I got it from this excellent thread here)

This is the cuneiform sign for the sky, or for a god. In Sumerian, the language that first used cuneiform, the word for "sky" is AN. The word for "god" is DINGIR. So this sign could be pronounced either AN, and mean sky, or DINGIR, and mean god. This sort of usage is called "logographic" - a sign equals a word. It started as just a picture of a star, and came to mean a couple of things associated with the stars.

Eventually, there reaches a point where it doesn't just only mean the word "sky," it also means the syllable "an." That is, you could use it to represent a part of a word, or a grammatical element, that was pronounced "an." (E.g., ma-ah-ha-an: mahhan, which is a Hittite word that means "when," and which is written with four signs, including our an.) This is called the rebus principle: like a rebus puzzle, a picture of an eye can also mean "I" because they sound the same. This usage supplements the logograms rather than replacing them: you could still use "an" to mean "sky." You know which usage is in play based on context. (Or at this stage, maybe you don't. Sumerian is real hard and we don't understand it perfectly.)

You can also use signs a third way, which is designed to make reading easier: as what's called a "determinative." A determinative tells you what type of thing a word is. So if you use the star symbol as a determinative, it comes before a word and indicates that upcoming is a god's name. It's not pronounced when it's used like that. Other determinatives include: male and female markers, plural markers, markers to indicate what something is made of, what kind of animal it is, etc.

So any sign you see could potentially be a word (logogram), a sound (syllable), or a soundless classifier (determinative). In practice, only some signs take on all three of these functions.

When we transcribe signs now, we write them in Latin script based on which function they're serving. That's why, in the above Hittite texts, some of the signs were written in all-caps (for logograms), some of them in lowercase (for syllables), and some of them in superscript (for determinatives).

So then Akkadian borrows the system. They like to spell words out a lot more than the Sumerians do, so more and more signs are used primarily for their syllables, rather than their meaning. The signs also take on more syllabic meanings, because Akkadian has different words behind the logograms, and also has different sounds than Sumerian. A lot of signs end up doing double, triple or even-more-ple duty (e.g. the sign for "ag" can also be read "ak" or "aq" in an Akkadian text). Once again, you know how to read a sign from context, and in Akkadian you usually actually do know, because Akkadian is a Semitic language rather than an isolate like Sumerian, so we understand it way, way better.

Akkadian keeps using the symbols as logograms, though, too. Sometimes they'll spell out a word, but sometimes they'll just use the logographic symbol for it - like how sometimes we write out "two," and sometimes just write "2". Sometimes there are full Sumerian words or combinations of words that have become logograms: that is, they're not loanwords. They're not pronounced in Sumerian. They're written as a symbol (like 2), and the Akkadian word would be pronounced underneath (like "two.") The Akkadians also keep using determinatives.

At this point, most signs at least have a logographic value and a few syllabic values. Also (to make it extra difficult) plenty of syllables have a couple of different signs that could be used to represent them. In total there's a bit over a thousand cuneiform signs, incidentally, but usually only a few hundred were in use at any given time and place.

Then Hittite borrows it! They actually overall reduce the number of signs used, and the number of signs doing double duty, so it's generally simpler to read. Hittite's sound system is totally different from Akkadian's, though - which is totally different from Sumerian's - so they do some weird stuff with which signs represent which sounds. (The result of this is that our understanding of Hittite phonetics is somewhat imperfect.) They do use a ton of logograms whenever they're talking about physical objects, especially ritual offerings. Ritual texts are A PAIN IN THE ASS to read because they're full up with obscure logograms, and so you pore over a signlist trying to work out what the bonkers twelve-wedge sign you've never seen before is, and then when you finally find it you're like, "oh ANOTHER kind of bread. cool cool."

Part 3: Let's Read Hittite! (This is probably excessive.)

So finally, let's read some together! This is two lines from the Ten-Year Annals of Mursili II, an account of the first ten years of that king's reign. It's mostly conquering, but this bit is calmer.

(ANNOYINGLY, Tumblr will not do superscript, or I cannot make it anyway, so I will put determinatives in parentheses.)

nam-ma (URU)Ha-at-tu-ši ú-wa-nu-un nu (URU)Ha-at-tu-ši

gi-im-ma-an-da-ri-nu-un nu-za EZEN4.HI.A ŠA MU.6.KAM i-ya-nu-un

That's the text rendered sign-by-sign. Everything that is separated by a dash, a period, a space, or a parenthesis is a separate sign. Words are separated with spaces. Here's a more normalized rendition of the words (still with the logograms, though).

namma (URU)Hattusi uwanun nu (URU)Hattusi gimmandarinun nu=za EZEN4.HI.A ŠA MU.6.KAM iyanun

"Then I went to Hattusa, and I spent the winter in Hattusa and performed the festivals of the sixth year."

The ú in uwanun in the first line is written with an accent because there are several signs that can mean "u" and this is the second one. Similar for EZEN4: there's more than one sign for EZEN, and this is the fourth. Scholars always write logograms and determinatives in Sumerian, because that's where the meanings were fixed. URU, used before Hattusa, is both the determinative for "city" and the Sumerian word meaning the same. ŠA in the last line is italicized and capitalized because it's a logogram that comes from Akkadian: "ša" means "of" in Akkadian, and the Hittites used Akkadian words as logograms just like the Akkadians used Sumerian words.

Anyway, that's how cuneiform works! If you made it this far you're a hero! <3

#hittites yay!#cuneiform

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extra-vertebrae · 1 year

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I am sorry for spamming your inbox so much recently, do you have any thoughts on technical side of drawing? I saw you mentioned that you draw light handed in few posts and I think we all heard the ,,draw from shoulder" advice. I have big issue with controlling my lines especially when working on details when drawing from shoulder. I started doing skeleton studies as suggested by you and maybe it's because i draw incorrectly but my hand starts hurting quickly because to keep lines stable i need to press harder against surface of tablet. Is drawing lightly something that can come with practise ? I had not seen anyone really talk much about stuff like that.

No worries, this is the kind of spam I enjoy!

It's been a long time since I heard "draw from the shoulder". You are definitely drawing incorrectly if your hand is hurting - drawing light handed is something you can practice and it is related to drawing from the shoulder, but before I get to that I want to go over what sounds like is happening in the background of your Ask. From what I'm reading here it sounds to me that you were just told to "draw from the shoulder" without being told what that is for or even how to do it, and that is putting your hand and art tools at risk.

The technical side of drawing does not get discussed nearly as much as "tips and tricks" do, and this is a big shame because the technical aspect is what will save your tools and your hands.

There are four points of control for when you are drawing: your fingers, your wrist, your elbow, and your shoulder. Each one provides an advantage while drawing and fulfill a specific technical purpose, but more often than not we only hear about the shoulder. Drawing from the shoulder and elbow is about fluidity and maintenance of line for large and / or fluid gestures and lines, such as drawing shapes that involve contiguous lines like circles, or fluid, long, sweeping gestures, like this:

This gesture / rough sketch was done primarily with my shoulder and elbow - the strokes are long, light and done very quickly.

Drawing from the wrist and fingers is for small, highly controlled lines for refinement and details, like this:

I drew most of these small circles with my fingers and wrist, rather than my elbow or shoulder, because they are both very small on the canvas and require a measure of placement control that isn't afforded by drawing from the shoulder.

You do not want to draw individual parts of a skeleton with your shoulder or elbow, that is not what drawing from your shoulder is for. Drawing from the shoulder is about large motions and fluid, steady lines over a greater area, not tiny details or brief flicks of motion. Small details and brush strokes require your hands and fingers. Understanding what part of your body to draw from is a technique all unto itself that requires practice and asking questions, and if possible, watching other artists draw. This video on drawing from the shoulder is extremely informative in this aspect, because all four points of control and what they are best used for are showcased here:

youtube

Teachers hammer "draw from your shoulder" into us because as young artists most of us started our journey hunched over small sketchbooks with our noses pressed to the paper - bad posture, bad technique, and eventually ruined hands (and backs). Drawing from the shoulder allows for big gestures, long strokes - making us use more of the canvas and develop longer, stronger, and more confident lines. Your hand is hurting because you are trying to enforce very exact control on a pivot (your shoulder) that isn't meant for that sort of control. You're probably gripping your tablet stylus like death itself on top of pressing really hard to get the tiny strokes you want - you'll want to stop doing that right away. Both of these - a death grip and a very hard press - will eventually ruin both your hand and your stylus and tablet (or any other tool for that matter). A harsh grip and a hard press make the tendons of your hands and wrist tense and tighten to maintain that control, and when held for long periods of time will lead not only to fatigue, but swelling and the development of scar tissue inside the wrist, which will lead to carpal tunnel.

How you hold your pen / pencil / stylus also counts and will affect your control. How your hold your tools is also affected by whether you are drawing from your shoulder or your fingers. Personally, I hold my tools very loosely while drawing to keep my hand relaxed and my movement natural / long / loose, even while drawing from the fingers and wrist. This helps keep my hand very light in regards to pressure and grip, and has helped keep my hand healthy. I learned to hold my pens and pencils very loosely long before I picked up a stylus, and I feel very lucky about this, because I firmly believe this is what has helped prevent me from running into carpal tunnel during my transition from traditional to digital. My art tablet and stylus is over 10 years old and is very small. Due to its size I can't really use my shoulder to draw, I have to use my wrist and fingers as my primary points of control to make my art. This puts my hand at risk because the work of drawing isn't spread out over all of my arm, and there are days where I am drawing for 8 hours a day (I also game a lot, but that's a different conversation). To keep my hand limber and healthy, I maintain a light grip, a light press, and stretch often.

You can practice developing a lighter touch with your hands and tools by practising the motions and exercises shown in the linked video, and by being more mindful of how you are gripping your tools. A loose hold will give you a lighter line, but it will require practice and working through things like shaky or unsatisfactory lines. Exercises like just filling a page - real or digital - with strokes and lines like loops, hatches, or things like this will really help (I was testing some new brushes and practising a new signature here):

I hope this answers your question!

#art talk

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sizzleissues · 1 year

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Drawing (so this is in the same universe as Bedtime story since half of it was written at the same time. Idea from @frostedpuffs)

Adrien scrolled through the Ladyblog on his phone, liking a fanart submission of Chat Noir and Ladybug kissing. Marinette found it strange to see them drawn together like that but Adrien loved it. He just wished they’d add Ryuko too. (Secret identities foiled him again!). He already knew without checking that him liking it with his Chat Noir account would drive fans wild. Last time ‘Chat Noir liked’ trended for several days. He chuckled dryly and continued scrolling.

Marinette shifted behind him, murmuring to herself as she lifted her stylus from the screen.

“Does this look weird?” She asked. Beside her, Kagami looked up from her own drawing to check it. Adrien smiled to himself as his girlfriends discussed something art related he didn’t understand. Today was just one of many drawing sessions Adrien wished he could join but his artistic ability was almost as bad as Marinette’s Chinese (she had been improving as of late with his help though).

“She has two left hands.”

“Oh shit. Thanks.” Adrien felt the furious movement of her correcting it, back pressed against hers. They sat on the floor in Marinette’s bedroom, their usual spot for hanging out. Sometimes he’d follow along to an outdoor art practice but he’d end up being disturbed by a fan and while he did love his fans, sometimes he just wanted to be able to watch his girlfriends unguarded. That said, he returned to scrolling on the Ladyblog, roasting someone for thinking Ladybug was Hawkmoth secretly.

The sound of a thud snapped him from his stupor, glancing down to see a marker fallen behind Kagami. He reached and picked it, intent on giving it back to her but changing his mind half-way through. She hadn’t turned around, so surely she wouldn’t miss it? He pulled the cap off with his teeth and rolled up his sleeve, doodling a chain of vaguely cat-shaped drawings.

(He hoped the marker wasn’t permanent. He had a photoshoot tomorrow.)

He finished on his right arm, creating a sick sleeve of cats in various poses, meowing puns he’d been workshopping. ‘Meow-sers’ one cat said that curled up in the inner part of his elbow. He laughed at his own joke and re-capped the marker, passing it back over to Kagami.

“Thanks.”

She went to take it but instead grabbed his arm, inspecting his sleeve of doodles. Her face was set so it was impossible to tell what she was thinking. Luckily, Marinette noticed too.

“This is so cute! You didn’t say you could draw, Adrien?” Marinette said. Adrien turned around so that his arm wasn’t being held uncomfortably behind his back. He held it back out and allowed Marinette to trace a drawing on his inner forearm. Her touch was electric.

“This is a clear demonstration of effective simplification. That can take artists years.” Kagami said and Adrien felt himself glow. They were just silly cat doodles, the kind he’d draw on the margins of physics work that was far too easy nowadays.

“I’m just doodling. You guys are the real artists.”

“No negative self-talk. This is really good and you should be proud.” Marinette poked his chest with her pointer finger and held his gaze, stern. Adrien blushed, looking down at his lap. They were just being nice, that's all.

“I can only draw cats. I want to be able to draw like you guys so I’m not always scrolling when you draw.”

“Then I’ll teach you. Tomorrow we’ll go to the gardens and get some real life inspiration,” Kagami said.

“Ooh, I’ll get Papa to bake us snacks. We can have a picnic,” Marinette added, grinning at Kagami. Kagami nodded, looking to Adrien for agreement.

“That would be nice. But what if I’m bad?”

“That’s the point. You weren’t good at maths immediately but you practised. Art’s the same.” Marinette tapped something in on her tablet and then passed it into his lap. It displayed a strange and boxy looking drawing of a person.

“What’s this?”

“My art from a couple years ago. Can you tell it's meant to be you?”

Adrien stared at it a moment then shook his head. He didn’t want to hurt her feelings but it looked more like a block-craft character than a human being. “Kind of.”

Marinette laughed and took the tablet back, gazing down at the drawing with a reserved sort of fondness. Kagami leaned in, her nose wrinkling.

“This is terrible. How is his body bending like that?”

Adrien waited for Marinette to clam up but instead she laughed harder. “I never noticed that. Where are his ribs?”

Their giggles petered off, the occasional hiccup of laughter passing Kagami’s lips. Marinette packed away her drawing tablet and crossed her legs, her head falling to rest on her palms. Her expression was painstakingly soft, plush pink lips spreading smoothly into a loving smile and her eyes crinkling watching Kagami.

“What are you looking at?” Adrien teased, startling Marinette who flushed an adorable shade of pink to match her lips.

“Nothing- I mean I was just thinking about kissing- NO! Um.” Her eyes grew wide while her pupils narrowed and she stared at the ground. “I was having perfectly normal thoughts.”

“Right.” He grinned and stood, grabbing his bag from the corner. “See you tomorrow then.”

.___.

A picnic had already been laid out when he arrived, pastries and lemonades packed into a basket by Marinette. She leant over a second box filled with paints and charcoal, rifling through it with an awed expression. Her hair fell over her shoulder under a giant summer hat, a pink ribbon tying it back.

Near her, Kagami fought with a portable easel, the other already set up against an oak tree. The tree covered the picnic ground, light fracturing through its leaves. A paint-stained apron covered her dress as she wrestled to unfold one of its legs.

She turned at the sound of him, waving him over and handing the easel to him. Adrien unfolded the leg and set it beside the other easel.

“What are we drawing?” He asked, taking the paper handed to him. He tucked it under his arm, following Kagami up the gentle slope to the tree.

“First off, what are you wearing?” Kagami interjected, looking him up and down.

“My disguise. So I’m not recognised.” He lifted up the sunglasses to demonstrate. Kagami rolled her eyes and snatched the glasses off his nose. He flinched back, frowning at her. “Hey!”

“You need to be able to see to draw. You can keep the ridiculous scarf.” Kagami ran her hand under his scarf (which wasn’t ridiculous), turning on her heel and walking away with his sunglasses. Adrien stuck out his bottom lip, in the hopes she’d pity him enough to hand them back. Unfortunately he’d forgotten Kagami didn’t pity anyone.

Marinette looked up from her rifling, smiling at him briefly and then offering him a seat beside her. Adrien jogged the little ways down to her and sat, accepting the cool lemonade handed to him. She’d already opened it and slotted a blue striped paper straw in and he sipped the sweet drink while she laid out a variety of art materials.

“Pick what you want. Kagami will be teaching you. I have to catch up on the summer reading.”

Adrien swallowed the last drop and let the taste linger for a moment before he responded. The choices overwhelmed him, pencils in a bundle at the far right, a palate of well-used water colours pushed slightly aside, charcoals resting in a cloth and more unknown materials stretching further. He knew that Marinette liked to use pen and then add colour loosely with thick nibbled markers. It meant her mistakes became a part of the drawing and that thought terrified him. What if he did it wrong?

“What do you recommend?”

Marinette smiled and shook her head, directing him back to the display she’d created. “Kagami said you have to choose. It's a part of the process.”

Adrien glanced back at Kagami, who’d already begun sketching on her easel. Her brow dipped slightly and her tongue stuck out in an endearing way as she applied a stroke of paint with her brush. Drawing took most of her concentration so the facial expressions she’d been schooled to hide peeked through without her realising.

She used coloured pencils first and they offered a level of forgiveness for mistakes but he didn’t like the feel of them in his hands. He reached across and grabbed the marker he’d used yesterday, gripping the familiar weight between his fingers. Marinette hummed gently, sipping at a ginger ale she’d opened while waiting.

“Good choice. Take an eraser and pencil too, Kagami will want you to do some warm ups.”

“What am I drawing?”

“You’ll see, buttercup.” Marinette smiled and leaned across to kiss him, leaving the taste of ginger to burn on his lips. “You’ll be great.”

“Farewell, m’lady.”

Adrien left with his paper under his arm and his supplies clutched in his other, joining Kagami behind the other easel. He attached the paper like she’d done, clipping it in and placing his materials in a small shelf provided. The picnic was visible over the easel, backdropped by the lush gardens that spread out for a mile around them. Marinette sat posed with one leg bent to rest her book on and the other stretched out. She looked simply gorgeous in the sun, like a princess from a fairy tale.

“Warm ups first. I want you to draw whoever passes by,” she said, snapping him out of admiring his girlfriend.

“What?- I can’t draw that fast!”

“Too bad, start.”

Kagami turned to her own easel so Adrien copied her, spotting a man walking his dog across the open green. By the time he’d laid down the first line the man was gone.

“I can’t do this.”

“Mari might be right with your negative talk. Here, let me show you.” Kagami stepped to the side so he could peak in at her drawing. She’d sketched the man and dog all while he’d fumbled to pick up his pencil.

“See that women jogging?”

He nodded and watched as Kagami struck a line down the centre of the page. He’d seen Marinette do this a thousand times, noticing how Kagami drew a little more stiffly but still accomplished something far better than his sham of an attempt.

“You capture the line of movement first. I want you to look for that and if there’s time, get in the rest.”

Adrien returned to his page and took in what she said. The next person who came along, another women running he found the line that best represented her movement and allowed it to guide the rest of his lines. By the time she’d disappeared behind a bush, he had something vaguely human.

He did the same with the next and the next until the page was full and Kagami smiled proudly.

“You learn fast. I think your read to tackle the next exercise.”

They spent the next hour drawing until his hand was numb. Marinette had ran up a couple of time with pastries to keep them going.

“You’re ready. What do you want to draw?” Kagami asked, taking a break from the drawing she’d been working on.

“What are you drawing?”

“Adrien. Stop looking to others for what to do. Art is expression. So draw what is in your heart.” Kagami stared at him with fire in her eyes.

“I don’t know what’s in my heart.”

Kagami sighed, grabbing his shoulders and spinning him around to look down at Marinette again.

“What there grabs your attention?”

Adrien realised she hadn’t pointed him specifically at Marinette and yet that is what he saw. Marinette in a shoulderless summer dress, chewing on her straw as she read a book he knew she didn’t like. Something was missing though. An empty space that gnawed at the base of his stomach.

He peaked at Kagami through the corner of his eye and smiled as he knew what he wanted to draw.

“Can you go sit by Marinette?”

Kagami cocked her head to the side, considering him for a moment and then let go of his shoulders, skipping down to join Marinette. Adrien repositioned himself behind the easel, picking up the pencil and began sketching.

He’d watched the girls long enough to pick up on some things. The sort of shapes they’d lay down first, the way they held the pencil, where they’d gravitate to first when drawing. Marinette drew in lines, boldly setting down her pen and conjuring a figure in minutes, decked out in a fabulous outfit. Kagami focused on faces first, the body a collection of constructions until she was happy with the face. She had perfected expression in the simplest turn of curves.

He applied that thought to his own doodlings. The marker still waited for him but he let the pencil guide him for now, getting down the basic shapes he could see. The swoop of Marinette’s hat, the circle of skirt folding at Kagami’s knees. If he thought about it, they were just made from various shapes and those were easy to draw.

The sketch done, he stepped back and chose the lines he most liked, setting about defining them in marker. The air was filled with the sound of the scratches of marker and the quiet mumblings of the girls on the picnic blanket. There couldn’t be a finer summer day.

“I’m finished,” He said after what seemed like an hour. Both Marinette and Kagami got up excitedly and hurried to see what he drew.

“I’ve drawn two images,” He explained, flipping down the first image. Marinette gasped and Kagami hummed her approval, finger resting to her lip in quiet thought.

“You drew us as Ladybug and Ryuko!” Marinette said, reaching out to touch the first drawing. He’d copied the comic book style of popular ladybug fanart but added in his own personal touches. Both heros wore Chat Noir t-shirts and a large black cat curled up at their feet.

“What’s the other drawing?” Kagami asked.

“I thought it would be a little obvious if I drew Ladybug and Ryuko so I wanted something I could display.” He lifted up the page and revealed an identical drawing, except now in their civilian forms and the black cat replaced with an approximation of himself.

“It’s beautiful Adrien.” Marinette wiped a tear from her eye and laughed at her own reaction.

“I just wanted a drawing of all of us. Since no one knows we’re dating as superheroes we don’t get any fanart of us all.”

Kagami sniffed beside them and they both turned around shocked to see her holding back her tears. “I’ve trained you- so well.”

“Oh, Mi.” Adrien and Marinette hugged her and burst into tears themselves. They sank to the floor, a crying hugging mess.

Hooray. This is cheesy ah. If anyone wants to draw Adrien’s drawing that would be cool *wink wink*. Sorry if it losses its way at the end, I can write cuteness for long or I’ll self-combust

#miraculous #miraculous ladybug #miraculous fanfic #ml fanfic #adrienette #marigami #adrigaminette #adrigami #kagami tsurugi #marinette dupain cheng #adrien agreste #Going into hibernation mode #No more writing for a bit so I don’t burn out

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monkiebois · 11 months

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FAQ

Proshippers are not welcome on my blog. End of story.

My Nezha oc

Boundries for my Nezha OC included--

just dont be fuckin' wierd.

No shipping. None at all. no

He's a child, forever. Mah boi aint growing- so respect that or its instant block.

I have my personal Nezha media interpretation/OC. I made him and he is eternally 12. That does not mean I believe Nezha the mythological god is twelve because he's not, that is a misconception

Nezha is a mythological god, and thier interpretations across different pieces of ancient lituriture, thier statues, their representations vary depending on where you are...

The adult side of Nezha is just as important as his child side and to ignore one is disrespectful to him as a whole. it is okay and valid to have Nezha as an adult in Media just like they've had him as a child.

But you cant just look at one and say that is his entire representation. That one interpretation is the only form Nezha can have within his worship.

My Nezha oc is just that, a media interpretation, so DO NOT refer to him for any completely accurate info on his mythologies. I have taken creative liberties.

so with that said because my Nezha oc is a child, please do not ship him with anyone. (he's also Aroace)

the child headcanon is cute but please remember it is a headcanon and anyone who thinks differently regarding Nezhas age is completely valid in doing so.

I would suggest referring to this user for some very good and useful Nezha info.

What programs do you use?

Clip studio-full illustrations/detailed comics/animations

procreate-doodles/low detailed comics

obs-streaming and recording

DaVinci-video editing

Whens the next part of _____ coming out?

No idea dude, life is insane so whenever i get to it

can i request___?

Nope i dont take requests if i end up writing or drawing something for an ask someone gave me its soley bc i wanted to and felt like it.

what tablet do you use?

ipad and stylus, gaomon 1311

what do you ship/ what ships are you comfy with?

No No ships that make me puke-

Mk/Mei/Redson x any of the monkeys/parental figures. just...just no.EUGH.

fave ships- i will go down with the ship for these pairings, i make content of them and enjoy content made for them

Spicynoodles

shadowpeaches

freenoodles

SIlktea

Cool ships- i dont dislike these at all, i think some of them are quite cute and plausible. i enjoy content of them but dont actively ship them/make my own content of them. Mostly bc my own hc's for the characters often negate these ships

Chimerashipping- very cute but i personally cant see red and mei in a romantic relationship. i see them as chaotic siblings

inkypages- its cute but i ship macaque with wukong and tang with pigsy

shadowvenom (is that the name for sq x macaque???)- its nice but doesnt really interest me

dragonfruit- cute, but i see them as chaotic siblings.

I also have no issue whatsoever with Oc X Canon with any of the characters as long as your not being wierd or illegal about it y'now XP.

Oc X Canon is fun. and i fully support it.

The same goes for selfshipping.

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upthenorthmountain · 1 year

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One nice thing about drawing the same character over and over is that it lets you see your progress. I feel like I’ve made a fair amount!

When I drew that first picture in September 2014 I was 32 years old. I’d always wanted to be able to draw, but just never got round to it or knew how to get started. Like a lot of people, fandom is what inspired me and gave me the push I needed. It’s the most amazing feeling to be able to draw now, to be able to get down what’s in my head, to make things I love and am proud of. I know I still have a lot to learn but that’s where the fun is!

If you’re one of those people always thinking ‘wow I wish I could draw’, here is how I did it:

I worked through the book You Can Draw in 30 Days by Mark Kistler, which a friend recommended to me (if I'd known then about the book Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain by Betty Edwards I'd have used that too, but I didn't. It's good though)

I filled up a couple of sketchbooks with terrible drawings, mainly figure studies from quickposes.com and bad drawings of my blorbos

Finally thought I had something good enough to post, posted it, received so much support and love that I carried on, and I honestly cannot thank all of you enough for that

Kept drawing and drawing, making myself do the things that were hard or that I thought were above my skill level (harsh truth: you will never get better at the hands if you don't draw the hands)

After a little while I thought 'I wonder if I can use my iPad as a drawing tablet', and started using the Procreate app (then about £4, now about £10 I think, still a flipping bargain), first with my finger, then with a stylus that came with my iPad case, then with a slightly better stylus I bought on eBay, then two years ago I got a better iPad and could have a Pencil which is AMAZING

I have also recently taken two Procreate courses on Domestika which taught me a lot of things about drawing in general and Procreate in particular and I should probably have sought this information out sooner! They were Atmospheric Scenes in Procreate: Paint with Color and Light by Ramona Wultschner, and Female Character Portraits in Procreate, by Natalia Dias, and I would recommend them both

And I kept drawing a whole bunch and my friends were super encouraging so I just kept going and didn't stop

I have tips! Things I've learnt along the way

If you use Procreate, look up and learn about clipping masks, alpha lock, streamline, liquify, Gaussian blur

Don't worry too much about brushes, I mainly just use the hard and soft airbrushes and two versions of round marker (one with low streamline for sketching and one with high streamline for line art). I have a spotty one for freckles and that's about it really for what I use 99% of the time. People will try and sell you brushes by making you think you'll be able to draw like them if you have the right brushes but you won't and you don't want to draw like them anyway, you want to draw like YOU

Use more layers than you think you'll need, you can always merge them later

You will suck at first. You will suck so bad you will want to cry. But you have to be terrible, it's the only way to get to not terrible. The only way you STAY terrible is if you give up

Just when everything seems awful and everything you draw is crap and you don't ever want to draw again, that is when you must KEEP GOING and PUSH THROUGH because you are about to level up. Persevere just a little bit longer and soon you will be staring at your own hands thinking 'HOW'

Drawing is a learnt skill. There is no such thing as Talent, just people who've spent longer learning and practicing than you have. Eight years ago I couldn't reverse park my car, either, and then I got a new job where it was really handy to be able to reverse park in the car park and now I'm really good at it. You can improve at anything if you're willing to put in the time! GROWTH MINDSET!!

#my art #drawing improvement #learning to draw #artists on tumblr #artblr #YOU CAN DO IT I BELIEVE IN YOU

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beaubambabey · 5 months

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Before I flew out to Japan I lost the pen for my tablet PC. This absolutely sucked. So hard. It was maybe three days before my flight. I was planning on doing some (not a lot but some) digital art during my down time just to get back into the swing of things. So I did some research and found that Yes, I can buy just about any Windows Ink compatible stylus and have it work for my Dell XPS 13 2-in-1, No, it doesn't have to be the Dell Premium Active XP Pen I'd been using since I got this laptop. This is the story of my quest to replace my tablet pen.

So I had my dad drive me to Best Buy to get my hands on a Wacom Bamboo Ink stylus. Tried it out in the car, worked fine, thought that would be enough for me.

I was wrong. About me, at least. Since I'm kind of a picky bastard.

The thing that I liked and got used to with the Dell Premium Active XP Pen was the rubber tipped nib. Pen pressure? That's variable and I can work around fewer levels or whatever. The nib though? I loved the slight drag and resistance of it. It helped make my lines smooth and I developed most of my current art style around the way I could make waves and curves work in my lines.

The Wacom Bamboo Ink stylus has a plastic tipped nib. It feels too slippery for me. I could mitigate this by getting a screen protector for my laptop, but that's a whole other story and not even the biggest problem I have with this. The biggest problem is consistent functionality. I often have to press buttons just to get it to stay working in the correct mode. Considering how it only draws on my tablet in one single mode, this gets kind of inconvenient. That on top of not feeling *juuuust right*? Guess it's getting relegated to a backup.

During my research on replacement pens, however, I learned that there's a rechargeable version of the Wacom Bamboo Ink called the Ink Plus. The Wacom Bamboo Ink Plus was not available anywhere that wasn't online prior to my trip. When I was in Japan, I decided "Hey, you're here, in Wacom's home country, during a time where the currency is weaker than the currency of your own country. Let's go to an electronics store!"

Big mistake. Because Japanese electronics stores are very different from American ones. They are terrifying.

Yodobashi Camera is a Japanese electronics chain store that is several stories tall and has many floors to get lost in. The walls are stark white and the lights are blinding as the speakers sing of the best deals possible while everything beeps around you. It probably didn't help that I went to the one in Akihabara but y'know. I went in, got help from like three separate employees trying to buy it, and spent 2/3 of what I would've to get it shipped to me in the states. Showing my passport off to get it tax-free probably helped too. Either way, it was twice the price of what I paid for the non-rechargable cousin of this stylus and the few Reddit posts I found about comparable alternatives to the Dell Premium Active XP Pen said that this one with the blue pen nib was the better alternative.

There's a very frustrating quirk about this one. Similar to its non-rechargable cousin, it also struggles with consistent functionality in a way that is even more unique. Specifically in that it wiggles. It makes my straight lines wavy. On top of how it will sometimes forget that I'm trying to draw with pen pressure and automatically pretend like I'm not pushing hard at all, which compels me to push harder on my screen. Which tends to put undue stress on a glass surface and can lead to cracking. I tried all three nibs and they all have the same issue. I even figured out how to connect it to Bluetooth which supposedly helps and it still did it.

Absolute pain in the ass. I miss my old pen. Yeah, the exterior was peeling and I had to tape it up just to keep the body of it protected, but at least it only stopped working once a year when I needed to change the AAAA battery.

#beau talks #rant

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dgdraws · 4 months

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My art year in review!

I learned so much this year and made a ton of cool stuff! These are my favorites from each month, but it was so hard to choose. A lot of stuff didn't even get posted--I'll be sure to at least post the ones that made it to this list!

It's amazing to see how much I've changed and learned over this year, and to see the things that are emerging as part of "my style."

Here's to another year of delight, creation, connection and fun!

Some monthly reflections beneath the cut, but here's the highlights:

I participated in 3 art challenges, Artfight, OC-tober and Huevember.

I made fanart for the first time!

I created a piece I conceived of before I started drawing

Made some big breakthroughs in techniques and skills in April, July and November

January: My first branch into full character design, Rodd is the culmination of training on Hero Forge renders to make dnd portraits! I was doing this cool thing with neon rim lighting, I should bring that back!

February: I saw a piece on here with this amazing glowing effect, so I color picked it and experimented to figure out what relationship between the colors was making it do that! The answer was saturation. This rose is meant to be glowing from within, and I think I did a good job for my knowledge level at the time! As Chuck Tingle would tell us, it's beautiful because only I could have made it in that moment on the timeline.

March: I spent a million years on every detail of this one, it has at least 5 clipping overlay/saturation layers for lighting, multiple line work groups and I want to rework that background but! I never felt more accomplished than I did when I finished this one. I learned a lot, especially about things I could skip or simplify. And the symbolism really pops off ngl

April: I read Gideon the Ninth for the first time this month and I immediately needed to draw Jeannemary Chatur, Cavalier of the Fourth House, the worst teen to do it. She's the first fanart I ever made and posted! I also discovered a new pen tool with this one, which CHANGED THE GAME.

May: This one is an idea I had written down before I ever picked up the tablet and stylus. I thought I might commission someone to make it, the image of it came to me so clearly during our VTM session I just had to make it real somehow. Well I did it! This is one I will come back to redraw in like 5 years bc I love the concept so much. Also rife with symbolism and inside nods to the Low Kings.

June: I made a bunch of ref sheets in the run-up to Artfight in July. Caleb hadn't even been in my plans to upload, but I had time and inspiration! I will be uploading this and a few more of him <3

July: This is one of my faves from Artfight! This character is Blueberry, by way of OrchidEatsBread on artfight. I have still never played... rainworld? But I love me a slug cat. In July I drew a TON of people, it really drilled anatomy basics into me and how to get clothes looking like actual clothes a bit more. Also solidified some things I would consider "my style" at the moment, like no irises, and my approach to noses and mouths and fingers!

August: Another fanart for the Locked Tomb series, I never posted this!!! Will be rectifying that soon.

September: I got really into javascript and css this month, and I made this to be a landing page image on my neocities website XD I'll get back around to that eventually...

October: At the last minute, I discovered OC-tober and the prompts from @/bweirdart, a worthy follow up to the rush of Artfight two months previous. I developed so much stuff for the Low Kings, including this drawing/character, Amayah/Girl-Z, who has been a figment of my pintrest board for 2+ years.

Huevember: Chasing that OC-tober high, I found Huevember! I did not expect to actually do every day, but it proved to be an amazing exercise! I learned so, so much about color, discovered amazing new brushes and techniques and found I really enjoy working in those one day capsules! I loved a lot of the stuff that came out of this month, including my highest note post ever!!!, but this one is still my phone background and I'm maybe developing an OC world around it. We'll see what happens in 2024.

December: I got hit HARD with the writing bug this month, so this was my only choice for this month but I WOULDA CHOSEN IT ANYWAY. I unlocked something here that I'm really excited to visit again, in fact I'm working on a companion piece rn! This is also fanart btw, prepare for me to get even weirder about this guy in the coming months.

If you've read this far, thank you so much! I have so much fun writing these little reflections and making my posts on here.

xoxo, wren

#my stuff #reflections #low kings #oc tober #huevember #artfight #year in art #year in review

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u3pxx · 11 months

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I feel like your art pays a lot of attention to the inking, so you definitely were a traditional artist for a while before you were a digital artist. Although I could have completely missed the mark

i guess you could call me a traditional artist when i was aged 2 to 9 bc i only really had paper, my pen, and some kiddy markers for drawing FDGDGF but if you're saying like inks and watercolor and all, i have not! all my love for inking comes from drawing digitally when i finally upgraded to a stylus and a tablet

#i did have painting classes but there was no inking in that just acrylic paint 6b pencils and oil pastels afdghd #sunnysideanswers #anonymous

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theredhairedbastard · 9 months

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I wanted to detail my experience with XP-Pen and trying to buy new nibs because it has been so dumb. and i want to vent about it because it has given me a headache.

So i lost track of my replacement nibs and the nib on my current pen has been loose for about 2 months now. And earlier today i was tapping my pen to the beat of the song i was listening to, and the nib was just suddenly gone.

After spending 15 minutes on my hands and knees trying to look for it i realized that it was gone for good this time. So fuck. Alright well, i guess i'll have to order more since i can't find the replacements that came with the tablet back in 2019.

So i try to amazon prime some replacement nibs, as much as i fucking hate the concept of giving jeffery bozos any of my fucking money. that two day shipping sounds way better then having to wait a month for replacements.

Wow these do not fucking look right, despite apparently being for my pen.

I'm not shelling out 25$ for a set of replacements that likely aren't going to work for my pen. so it looks like i'm going to have to go buy some from the manufacturer directly.

That's a lot of fucking options. That's fair, i guess they wouldn't make a new type of pen for every model. So instead of scrolling down to see if they had a way of finding out what kind of pen i had. i decided to look and see if the store page for my tablet said what kind of pen i have.

And i don't see a model number. Just "Battery-free Stylus"

Alright i'll just look up what Pens they have, and see which ones theyre for. and i narrow it down to two Pens.

Now obviously, its the PA2 pen, right? its for Artist 15.6 Pro, just like your model. Just pick that one. But what the fuck is that at the end.

V2!? WHat?! Where did the V2 come from. I go and check the page,

Just Pro, no V2. I even looked it up using wordsearch.

Theres no V2 here. So which Pen is it??? Is V2 one they sold recently??

I check their store page, Nope.

Also what is this red piece on the PA2, my pen doesn't have that. I'm checking my memories trying my best to remember if my pen came with that or not. or if its a separate piece you can take off. or something. But i guess thats not important since my pen doesn't have the black piece that the P05 has either

So i'm like "I got it, support will know. I'll call them." Their call center's bot tells me that they don't do phone calls right now (or something along those lines. the bot was really hard to hear for some reason.) and to press the green help button on their contact page for help.

Where? Are they closed?? its only 12pm. Well thats not going to help, And i really don't want to email them. Not for any good reason, i just don't want to do the back and forth and end up having a wait an extra day or two waiting for the nibs.

That's when i'm looking at the nibs to see if maybe i should just take the plunge and throw 20 bucks at nibs that might not work. and contact them during that period. Thats when i notice this.

The Pro IS the V2

WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS???? WHO ADDED V2 TO THIS PRODUCT BUT ITS ONLY THERE SOMETIMES!?

So i guess i'm buying the PA2 Nibs, and i'm hoping they work. Then hopefully i can start drawing again.

What a waste of an hour.

#XP-Pen #I'm in hell get me outta here #Red Rants

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virgilisspidey · 1 year

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My art journey in the start of pandemic til now through the eyes of how i draw my persona Nari

Very first iteration of the Nari sona lol

(ew boobs)

I used to draw on paper and trace it on ibispaint and color. I used to shade with black. Pretty much looks shitty and the colors clash a lot, i dont know how to do color combos yet. This was around February of 2021

Thus is where the whole arm warmers thing cane from!!

And the start of ne figuring out my identity!!

I also drew this on paper i think, and it's the start of my thin line art style. My sona usually copies what my hair looked like currently and this was the time where my hair was pretty short, but long enough to look girly.

The skin tone was fixed too

This was June 2021

This one had my real name in it so i had to edit lol.

This was the start of me drawing on my phone full time, i think. No more drawing on paper ans tracing it. This was legitimately drawn digitally.

i think i only ever mentioned it once or twice but i only draw with my fingers btw. A stylus and an art tablet is expensive so i only have mt fingers and phone.

This is also the start of the appearance of the signature striped hoodie as well as the return of the purple hair

This was in August 2021

I think this was also fully drawn digitally

Also the first appearance of the bat and the choker, as well as the purple bangs. And also the bandage on cheek (that i somehow forget sometimes)

The colors were definitely darker.

Not much to say about this. Tho i didn't like the way i did the blush.

Also cut my hair during this time for the first time ans changed my sona accordingly.

Made in September 2021

From here on out its all drawn digitally

Fully digital again and the start of a more stylized version of my hair.

This is the start of the fluffy hair era.

Not much to say here. Tried a new pose, it sucked, colors are still the same.

This was made in November 2021

Full body this time

Nari starts to look like a little shit. This is honestly where the smug cat personality came from, and i startes to sign my art using the name Nari too.

Still pretty much wonky with the anatomy but i'm proud!!

The hoodie became a croptop but i dont follow it lol, it's still a normal hoodie in some art.

Added stripes to the sleeves too.

The short remains plus differenr colored socks!!

This was January 2022

The era of the thick line art art style

This was also one of the drawings that featured fluffu hair Nari.

I deviated from the usual hoodie and gave them some new clothes since i drew them alongside two other ocs.

The story that my sona Nari is in requires them to have an eyepatch since red eyes aren't really that natural lol.

Still have that smug cat smirk.

This was August 2022

This is the latest drawing of Nari before i stopped using them as a sona and actually using one that looks closer to me. Nari is back to being an oc now but they're still my mascot.

I forgot the bandage here lol, but that cat grin is still there. I also added my beauty mark!!

This is January 2023

Lately my sona is just this funny little thing:

It looks more closer to what i actually look like irl.

I started drawing myself with my glasses more too, which i think i got in like 2022-ish.

I started feelong a bit jealous that my other artist friends had a cute style so i started making this little thing when j got bored during pur chemistry subject and it just stuck.

So this is my actual sona now, but i still use Nari from time to time and also took the name Nari as a pseudonym online.

The name cane from me misspelling the word Ocarina with Ocnarina, so you can see me use that name throughout my art journey.

Not really comfortable sharing my actual name yet tho, but it does start with an R since the people on my header (art made by a friend) is called the Toys R Us trio since out names start with an R lol.

As for my username, i used tumblr before to look at Sanders Sides art. It came from Virgil lol.

Virgil was confirmed to be connected with spiders and i thought

Virgil is spidey

And that stuck.

Plus he's purple lol, i love purple.

Anyways that's all

#my art #ART BACKSTORY LMAOO???

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pine-notebook · 8 months

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About Me

So, hey there. I'm Pine. I'm 13. I'm straight, if you haven't figured that out. Really overly romantic, but yeah. Straight. I am an artist and writer. Can't really call myself an author, because I really am crap at writing and my stories are unfinished. So, like everyone, I've been through some stuff. Light physical abuse, heavy emotional abuse, parents divorced, got involuntarily committed and went to a mental hospital last week, that sorta thing. Chaos is normal for me. Art, my girlfriend, my brothers, and my OCs are really my only coping mechanisms.

I'm a huge fan of The Owl House. To the point where, if I were to get a tattoo, it'd be an emperor's coven sigil on my wrist. So, of course, I want to learn to draw in the owl house style. I make a lot of fanart.

As I've said, I write stories. I'm one of three creators of The Linked Systems. Not sure Willow is really actively creating for it anymore, but he helped start it, so he counts. Willow's my younger brother, by the way. I've always explained TLS as being "a collection of universes." In truth, only two are really active anymore. I write for Konazel(basically furries but in the future and there's magic and shit), while my girlfriend writes for the Filesystem(A kingdom inside a computer basically. A lot of betrayal goes on there.) We help each other out with the writing, but recently we've mainly kept to our own stories.

By the way, my girlfriend is way better at writing than me. She's a year older than me, but you'd think she's a real published author by the way she writes.

I'm not really allowed to post on Tumblr much. The abuse I mentioned earlier? That was all my mom. My dad has basically stayed out of my life for the past 2 years. He's nice, but he's a drug addict, and I don't need that. So, as I was saying, my mom is a hell of a helicopter parent. She is paranoid and doesn't trust me at all. So I'm not allowed to go on the internet.

I go to an online school though, so I'm on a computer basically all day from 9 to 4, and sometimes a while after that if homework gets tough. It's easy to go behind her back and do things. Really easy.

Because I'm a dumbass and gave my mom my login credentials, my main account got confiscated. She changed the email and password, so I can't log in anymore. That's @ask-the-linked-systems, by the way. So, you can't really "Ask the Linked Systems" anymore.

So, now I have to use this. My side account.

I had to trade in a really good computer, by the way. It was touchscreen with a stylus, and the cheap, $30 drawing tablet I bought got taken away by my mom. The computer I have now is touchscreen, but without a stylus, so digital art is hard now. I probably can't scan my traditional art, since my mom stays in the house all day. I could take a picture of it with my computer, but I'd have to have my sketchbook in the room with me and my mom out of the room, and those two things don't happen very often.

My thing right now is I'm trying to build a fandom for TLS, so me and my gf can publish books when we turn adults. It'd be really nice to have a community like that to back me up.

Anyways, there's my introduction. Feel free to ask me any questions you'd otherwise be asking my ask tls account.

#personal #personal shit #pine tls #toh #the owl house #the linked systems #konazel #the filesystem #ask tls #Pine Guldan

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silima · 1 year

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Ik you've answered this/similar questions before but I've looked through some of ur tags and can't find it. I want to buy my sister a drawing tablet but really have no idea which ones are the best. Like I did look some things up, but I thought I'd ask for some people (who like draw on tablets) too.

no worries, for whatever reason my art advice tag is like 90% nonfunctional and it’s like, the only tag of mine that does that ☹️ i will say, i have only owned a couple different tablets (so obviously i’m not gonna be able to tell you if there are better models out there) but i’ve liked all of them!

i think this is the first tablet i ever used? it’s hard for me to be sure, because it was really long ago. basic wacom tablet with a black screen. it takes more effort to pick up the skill of putting your hand on a blank black surface while creating an image on the screen, but something cheap like this is nice if you’re not able to commit to something more expensive and aren’t sure how far you want to take the hobby.

(to be clear, it’s not like this kind of tablet necessarily limits you—ikimaru, who’s been a super popular digital artist for years, makes gorgeous art on a bamboo CTH-460 which is a model you can buy on ebay for $18. it’s just that it takes a little more getting used to.)

also, wacom is the brand i used for a basic tablet, and I didn’t mind mine, but i have heard wacom sometimes is a little sketchy with planned obsolescence type stuff 😵‍💫 like the pen nibs supposedly wear out way quicker than, for example, the huion brand, so you might want to check out what huion’s got. i will say: i used that wacom tablet for 1-6 hrs/day for several years and had no problems, BUT many people on the internet seem to prefer huion over wacom. up to you.

still, i honestly think you can do well with any tablet that has a stylus and pen pressure lol (which is basically all of them). like there are lots of different tablets with lots of different features out there, but the only feature that i found made a real difference to me was touchscreen vs. non-touchscreen.

non-touchscreen tablets are totally usable and usually way less expensive, but the touchscreen is really nice to have if it’s in your budget. it feels closer to traditional art and is easier to pick up.

I personally have never used a touchscreen tablet that was just a drawing tablet—i’ve used a surface pro 4 (a touchscreen computer) and an ipad pro. both were very nice. honestly, I didn’t notice a huge difference in the feeling of drawing on the screens of the surface pro vs the ipad—the biggest thing for me was the art programs. some programs are only compatible with computers and some programs are only compatible with ipads. here’s what I personally noticed:

krita (nice for painting) and ms paint (fun for dicking around in) are both NOT available on ipad, at least as far as i know

rebelle 5 pro (supposedly a very cool program for emulating real painting), which is currently on a huge sale rn (it’s $20, normally costs $150) and is also NOT available on ipad

paint tool sai, as far as i know, is not available on ipad

clip studio paint is available on BOTH ipad and computer, but is more expensive on ipad (it’s a monthly subscription instead of a one-time purchase).

procreate is ONLY compatible with ipad, and is, personally, my favorite art program i’ve ever used. there’s a brush or two from krita that i miss, but for the most part, procreate is solidly better than any other art program i’ve used.

most of the nicest animation programs seem to be incompatible with ipad; the ones that work on ipad are quite basic. this is the only major sticking point for me lol

one thing about ipad that you might’ve read about in your research is this feature that lets you tilt the pencil and draw as if you’re using the “flat” side of it:

this is sometimes cool and sometimes inconvenient, so it kinda balances out to neutral. if you’re torn between ipad and a different touchscreen tablet then don’t decide off this feature lol.

if your sister already has an ipad (or if you’ve got a family one that she has decent access to), it might be a nice thing to just get her a compatible apple pencil, so you can save money on the tablet.

but yeah! those are the models i’ve used and i’ve liked them all. even if you get her a relatively cheap non-touchscreen tablet she can still make really cool art with it and have a lot of fun. good luck!

#ask #anon #art advice

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