#sovo answers

[sovonight]

do you have any tips for dealing with art insecurity/art envy?

i'm approaching this as someone who only interacts with art online & posts nearly everything i draw online, so i don't know how helpful this will be, but:

art insecurity: i think it helps to remember that you're the one who sees the most flaws in your art. sometimes if something didn't come out very well, i'll post it anyway, and usually i'll find that... no one really noticed?? like, you've spent several hours with it, and you're the one with a vision for how you hoped it'd come out in your head. meanwhile, your viewers are seeing your art for the first time--they don't know how it was meant to look, just how it does look. they're also likely scrolling over it in just a few seconds, so they're getting a brief impression of it where only key information stands out. sometimes if i still get positive reactions on art i was unsure about, it actually makes me see the art in a new light and change my mind about how i feel about it. also, if you're afraid of getting negative comments on your art, remember that if you haven't specifically asked for critique, they're the jerks for giving out unsolicited comments.

art envy: i feel like there are 2 responses for this... either it's the type of art envy that motivates you to improve your own art, or the type that just makes you feel terrible, full stop. if it's the former, cool, use that energy to improve (as long as it's still healthy for you). if it's the latter, i'd just unfollow and block that artist (i include blocking to account for like, algorithms showing you that artist anyway, or the people you follow reblogging their art, etc). if something's making you feel terrible and it literally does not benefit you in any way to endure it, why endure it?

#sovo answers

[gfdatingsim]

Hi! I kiiinda hate that I’m asking this because I swore to myself I wouldn’t do dating sims or stuff like that bc I’m asexual and not interested in dating, but I want to try the Grunkle Dating Sim you made bc it seems really cool. I just wanted to know, is there any 18+ stuff in there like smut or sex?

absolutely none! i'd say it's rated pg-13 at most, mostly on stan's route. i'm ace myself if that reassures you

#sovo answers

[memurfevur-archive]

The church is still active? Were you considering rejoining? Or did you just want to check in with some familiar faces?

"I..."

Her voice trails off, and she's surprised at herself for the hesitation in her answer. She used to be sure of a solid 'no,' but then again she used to be sure of a lot of things that aren't anymore.

Could she find purpose again in rejoining with the Hooting Ones? Would she be wanted? Loved?

She shrugs and turns her head away.

"Just tovo see ovold faces, and see hovow they're dovoing. They had lovost bovoth their leader and I, sovo whovo the hell is running the shovow? It's just ovout ovof curiovosity."

#Ptillo asks

[sovonight]

BG3 seems like hell for ace players can you not have a romance without sex or anything erotic is it pushed on the player ?

I’ve been wanting to try out BG thanks to your lovely art but I don’t want to deal with certain things

SO i'd asked about this before getting it, and it seems like the consensus was that shadowheart is the only one without a sex scene--

but that's the wrong question to ask. the entire game has sexual overtones. there's no avoiding it by strategically choosing dialogue options: it's baked into the encounters, the narration, the character interactions, everything. i thought i was just being really sensitive about it, but since other people have been bothered by it too i feel less bad for feeling so worn out and exhausted by it.

so in my personal opinion, it is hell. but at the same time, i hear that other ace players have been able to enjoy it perfectly fine, so maybe i'm just an overreacting oversensitive freak! i hate it here.

#sovo answers

[sovonight]

My cat enjoyed your packaging

im honored

#sovo answers #the many puncture wounds... entertainment bleeds from this card

[sovonight]

My mini Pines charms came today! I present to you my beloved collection of you wonderful merch and artwork!! Im excited to see more, is there going to be more Gravity Falls merch? Maybe a Bill range? 👀

i'm glad you like them!

i'm not making any new designs, but if there are old designs anyone would like to see made into merch, i'm open to suggestions ^^

#sovo answers

[sovonight]

Sovonight,

Your art is so beautiful! I was wondering if you have a method for choosing what colors you use in your art. I always struggle with getting my colors to look good together.

I'd really appreciate it if you have any advice (and time to explain ahaha). If not, that's okay!

Have a lovely day!

~Anon

yeah ofc! here are 3 things i do:

on days where i don't want to spend time picking a palette from scratch, i'll just reuse a palette from a past file (like i did here). if i happen to need different lighting from the original palette, i'll achieve that with layer modes. but the more different the goal is from the starting point, the more adjustment layers are required to get there, and at some point it's just easier to get the palette right on the base layers in the first place. so if i have a new specific lighting situation in mind from the start, i'll usually just create a new palette, and i do this with or without a reference photo.

when i use a reference, i almost never use the reference photo's colors exactly. not only are ref photo colors hard to pick accurately from to begin with (since the high level of detail in photos means that even adjacent pixels can vary widely), but matching a ref photo's colors exactly usually ends up looking lackluster and kind of underwhelming. so rather than trying to match the reference colors themselves, i choose colors that invoke my impression of the reference overall. i might choose colors solely by eye, or i might pick colors directly from the reference to start with and then adjust the colors individually from there, or i'll adjust the colors directly on the reference and then pick colors off the adjusted reference (i actually did that here). they're just slightly different ways to get to the same point, but i find that some days i need that slight deviation in the process in order for the colors to click for me.

when i'm colorpicking without a reference, i usually find it helpful to first fill the entire canvas with a color that isn't white/black/grey. i usually have a general idea of what the light situation is (daylight, evening, firelight, etc) and choose one color based off that for the background. from that point it's just a matter of using your color theory intuition / guess-and-check to choose the right colors for the lighting situation. i'll usually make my best guess on the color wheel, put it on the canvas, go "wow that looks really wrong," and then ctrl+u (hue/saturation/luminosity) to adjust the color to fit. a tip for making guesses is to start with the color you want to see when it's in the context of the canvas (say i have a dark nighttime scene that's pretty blue, and i want to color in a yellow flower, i would start with the shade of yellow i want on the color wheel) and then think about how the lighting affects it (i would drag the yellow somewhat towards blue on the color wheel, so that the actual color leans green, and i'd darken and desaturate it quite a bit since it's a dark nighttime scene). sometimes i also apply layer modes to "mix" colors and then just merge those layers onto the base layer to make it the new base color. like if i know i need the color to be darker and more blue, i might add a multiply layer with blue instead of doing the equivalent on the color wheel. if i need to brighten, i might use overlay or glow, and if i need to increase saturation in general i'll use linear light.

#i know it can be unclear without visuals but i knew if i waited to make examples i would never end up answering T_T #but thank you i'm glad you like my art! ^^ #sovo answers #art tips

[sovonight]

I've been considering playing Baldur's Gate because of you. Do you recommend it What is a good order to play the games in??

absolutely i recommend it!

first off, it's important to know that bg1 & bg2 are their own story, and bg3 is practically separate from them. bg3 is set a century after the events of bg1/bg2, and just has a few character cameos and references from bg1/bg2 (though from what i've heard some of the cameos aren't very good interpretations of the original characters). bg3 doesn't enhance the bg1/bg2 story in any way, and knowledge of bg1/bg2 doesn't matter when playing bg3.

i'd suggest starting with bg3 if you:

are used to modern rpg games, and 3d visuals are particularly important to you

know you don't/won't like infinity engine games (for a spoiler-free preview, look up walkthroughs of icewind dale 1 or 2 and watch a couple minutes of travel, dialogue, and combat gameplay)

i'd suggest starting with bg1/bg2 if you:

don't have a strong preference for starting with bg3 instead

enjoy the potential for mods to expand the game--not just in terms of gameplay, but in story/quest additions and companions, too

are interested in knowing the story that i'm drawing all my fanart of

have a limited budget (you can get these games for very cheap, they frequently go on sale)

if you want to start with bg3, you're all set! go ahead and get started. if you want to start with bg1/bg2, i have a bit more to add:

if you've looked into buying these games, you may have noticed that there's bg1/bg2, and then there's bgee/bg2ee (ee meaning "enhanced edition"). there's also a new dlc that's ee-only. so here's the original playing order:

baldur's gate (bg1)

baldur's gate: tales of the sword coast (tosc): bg1 expansion, adds new side quests and areas to explore during bg1

baldur's gate ii: shadows of amn (bg2, sometimes abbreviated soa to distinguish from tob below)

baldur's gate ii: throne of bhaal (tob): bg2 expansion, directly continues the story from soa and officially ends the series

and here's the enhanced edition order:

baldur's gate: enhanced edition (bgee): contains bg1 and tosc

baldur's gate: seige of dragonspear (sod): bg1 expansion released in 2016 to bridge the gap between bg1 and bg2 (i haven't played it yet, but if you're just testing out the series i'd say don't bother getting it yet, it was released 15 years after the story concluded so how necessary can it really be)

baldur's gate ii: enhanced edition (bg2ee): contains soa and tob

the enhanced edition also adds 4 new companions, an arena side adventure, and overall provides a lot of fixes/improvements/updates on the original games. obviously, considering all these additions and the ee mods that have come out since the ee series release, the ee series is where you should start.

side note--if you buy the ee series on gog (maybe on steam too, but i've only checked it on gog) you'll actually get downloads for the original, non-ee games as well. if you enjoy playing old games for the feeling of time-traveling into the past a bit, and you have the patience to fuss around with troubleshooting and mods, they're a perfectly fine place to start as well! (i personally am still playing the non-ee trilogy even now, but that's for a whole mix of reasons, including that i like using the physical cd's i bought them on lmao)

now finally, if you got this far and are thinking "okay, i'm cautiously interested in bg1/bg2, but which one of the two should i start with???"

start with bg2 if you:

just want to jump in and see what all the fuss is about

don't care about having context in the beginning (you'll gain some context as you play, though not all)

want vampires, technology, and more sewers in your d&d experience

prefer a story with darker tones and a lot of driving urgency

start with bg1 if you:

like starting at the beginning to have context for everything that happens

want a standard, classic adventure with camps, forests, and bustling cities

don't need the plot to engage you if your companions are there with conversations, commentary, and banter

are willing to install at least one mod, BG1NPC

i found bg1 to be kind of a slog to get through on my very first playthrough, but adding in character interactions via BG1NPC really livened the game up for me and made it my favorite game out of the series. (imo this works best if you're willing to do a romance though, bc unfortunately romanced companions tend to get the most interactions & care put into their conversations.)

you don't strictly need BG1NPC on bgee bc the ee adds those aforementioned companions who do have conversations with you, but iirc they don't talk as much or provide as many opportunities for interaction as some of the modded companions do. (for context, in the original bg1, companions don't talk to you or comment on events at all; that only became a thing in bg2.) playing bgee without BG1NPC means you'll have to get at least 1 of the 3 ee companions to hear any conversations at all.

anyway, hopefully this wasn't too long or confusing. i hope you try the games out!

#(*i recommend bg1/bg2 of course. we all know how i feel about bg3) #sovo answers

[sovonight]

any restocks coming soon?

i'll be restocking ddamd ford, and the mini pines set as charms! it's too soon to say when they'll be up for sale though

i also have an ebon hawk charm restock that'll go up any day now, i just have to organize some new mystery packs to list alongside them :)

#sovo answers

[sovonight]

So I'm going to replay Baldur's Gate 1 and 2 for the first time in like 15 years, and I really want to see more of Xan this time around thanks to your art! Are there extra scenes with him in the latest edition of the games or do you recommend any specific mods?

ooh how exciting! BG1NPC, Xan’s friendship path and Xan BG2 NPC are the only content-adding xan mods i'm aware of, so with those you should be set 👍

(and for bg2, i prefer to install Alternate Xan Soundset for BG2 as well to restore his bg1 voice, buuut you can listen to the mod's voice actor and judge for yourself)

#bg1 xan's voice is a classic that must remain untouched #of course we all know how i feel about bg2 xan but let's just pretend he was brainwashed in his time away from charname #sovo answers

[sovonight]

what's exhausting about bg3? I know me and a few others haven't been able to get it bc we're poor and I wanted your take on how it's exhausting if you don't mind

i called it exhausting for ace reasons so if you're not super ace you'll be fine. i do have other disappointments though:

visual character customization is lacking

like okay i'd bought the game blind so my disappointment is 100% on me, but can you blame me for assuming based on posts of people raving about the customization options and saying they 'made their oc' that there would be a fully-fledged cc with sliders for facial features and everything??

what you get is just a set of like 8 preset faces (for human/elf/half-elf/tiefling/etc at least) and 2-4 body options. there's an impressive amount of hairstyles at least, but what the fuck does that matter if i can't even really customize my character's face. there's not even much you can do with the textures--you only get a palette of pre-approved colors instead of a color picker, there's no option to flip or translate tattoos/facepaint, and you can't even layer makeup textures. the ui design here is very clunky too which just underlines how low of a priority it must've been

on one hand i get it, this all costs time and money and they clearly had a lot on their plate with the actual meat of the game, but on the other hand my character gets the most closeups on the camera in dialogue/cutscenes, so why can't i do more with their appearance?? the character customization possibilities everyone raved about really just boil down to class, stats, & numbers, so basically more like arpg character building, where it's more about gameplay than the character

don't get me wrong, the race/background/class you pick do influence dialogue options, but i can't do something as standard as sculpt my character's face?? are you kidding me?? like, if they're not gonna let me do that, then what the fuck are all these high res glossy graphics for?? everyone else in this game gets a unique look except for me, huh? if they care that little they might as well turn this back into a text-centric game and let me import a custom png for my character like in the old days

there are a few points in the game where i was like, they really took the trouble to write and pay a voice actor to voice responses based on player actions to that level of specificity… when that time and money could've been put towards the cc. like yeah it's impressive, but it's empty. i don't need this character to voice my exact actions--i KNOW i took those actions--i want something of worth to me.

navigating the map is kind of a pain

you use the keyboard to control the camera, and you use the mouse to click where you want the character to go. the issue i have with this is that the camera is SO frustrating to orient and zoom in and out sometimes--they go through great pains to try and not show the insides of any 3d models while you're moving the camera, and they'll cut away the rooftops and other levels for you, but sometimes the game just Doesn't Understand What I'm Trying To See. like they've made it so ~elegant~ and ~presentable~ that it gets in my way. i constantly feel like i'm fighting the controls--not just of the camera, but the movement too. tbf, i don't know how this could be made better so i think what they did was the best solution, but i do get very frustrated

there's no undo button if i click "hide" by accident

unlike literally every other button on the hotbar, there's no "click again to confirm" or "right click to cancel". they just instantly hide and that bonus action is WASTED

you can enable tutorial-like informative popups, but they forget to teach you some of the most basic ways to interact with the world

there's a heavy rock at some point that's "too heavy to throw" but is clearly meant to be interacted with. …you're supposed to click and drag to "drag" it away. i had to look up what to do with it and i'm not crazy because MANY people had the same question!! not to mention those small tunnels around the environment where your character's like "well I'M too large to fit in there" and i'm like "oh i'll summon my tiny familiar and have them scurry in there!" only for the tunnel to be like "uh your familiar can't interact with me actually". so i give up because i'm over it at that point and i go online hours later to look it up and SOMEONE SAYS YOU CAN SEND YOUR FAMILIAR THROUGH THE TUNN-- (at this point i have keeled over in rage)

you can press left alt to highlight interactable items, but they only highlight what they think is important based on their own mysterious criteria. you have to sweep around like it's an i-spy game to figure out ALL the interactables in the area

i would like this if the CAMERA WERE EASIER TO OPERATE and if--actually no! no! i would NEVER like this! either highlight everything or highlight nothing at all, don't waste my time! i understand that some stuff is left unhighlighted so that the characters can roll perception checks and go "OH! a hidden lever!" but JUST TELL ME OUTRIGHT WHERE THE CRATES ARE. i play with an unavoidable glare on my screen and also, frankly, i have better things to do than squint and pick out every item in the room. let me get my meagre satisfaction from looting and be done with it!

there is absolutely no firm indication of when you might be stepping into an exclusively romantic or sexual line of dialogue

i would like this if i could turn the sex off. like set sex to no. i'm a fan of not having too many dialogue indicators or visible approval bars, BUT ONLY when i know i can relax and feel comfortable in the game. this game loves suggestive wording so i can never tell whether a scene could just be played platonically or not. like (early spoiler) gale invites you to a private magic lesson that he says can only take place in an intimate setting, so you meet him after the party, alone. given the other conversations i'd just experienced (from the fighter & the vampire) i was like great this is going to be sexual isn't it, but i was weak and wanted character interaction so i gave in and i went--and then IT WASN'T??? in fact you could play it totally platonically?? so i almost MISSED a perfectly good companion interaction because of the overly suggestive way it was worded!

"sovo are you sure that isn't just gale's personality to say it like that" YES BECAUSE EVERY COMPANION EXHIBITS THIS. it's woven into the companions, into the narration, into all the word choices. it's just a suggestive game all around, the atmosphere NEVER goes away, even when it's just a false alarm. it's part of why it's so ABSOLUTELY exhausting--because i know every other person playing this and seeing this is having a blast, and i'm the only one out here with my guard up and 10 layers of emotional shielding because i CAN'T like any companions because they're GOING to proposition my character at some point and i WILL take emotional damage when my only options are "yes let's enter a fully animated sex scene!" or "no i fucking hate your guts". do you see?? do you see my pain?? where is the middle option--the compromise?? and oh yeah, the rest of the real life world thinks my complaints are baseless, ridiculous, and avoidable. "just don't fucking play, idiot!" but do i not deserve to have fun as well? can i not get a CRUMB of something in a world where i have to make everything myself?? just once, can i play a game and have it fit--not perfectly, but at least fit??

just give me the heart icons of da:2/da:i. tell me when i'm walking into a flag i don't want to raise. better yet, when the game asks whether or not you want nudity enabled, add an option there to opt out of romance too. i say romance even though all i want is to opt out of the sex dialogue options bc as we all know romance and sex can NEVER be separated--

anyway those are my gripes. the things i like about it are… well, there are a few fights where i was like, oh that's cool that it actually uses the environment and/or teaches you a mechanic about the game that you can put into use later. the environmental puzzles are interesting, but all satisfaction is lost when i have to look up the basic mechanics they rely on that i was never taught or made aware of in-game. but i don't play games like these for gameplay, i play them for the story and the companions and the romance, so given this specific game i guess i should just keel over and die

#sovo answers #kind of holding out hope that i can make it to sorcerous sundries to see it in 3d but since that's near the end and #i haven't even left the first map.. i'm not optimistic

[sovonight]

Hi will there be soon a restock on your shop of the two new Ford Charms/standee? Didn't know u were going to add them literally today and unfortunately me and a lot of people due to the different time zone (i'm european) and being so late night for us we were sleeping damn it 😭 if i did know it was today specifically I'd have sure stayed awake all night (like a real Ford person ahah) until the drop to get these pretties, I was waiting months for them and they got soldout insanely quickly :'( ty

yesterday was only part of the release! i've reserved stock of the standee/charm + love letter charm to list on my etsy. they'll go up on friday, 2/9, at 12 pm pst.

after that, i can do a restock if there's still demand!

#sovo answers

[sovonight]

I just wanted to say that I really relate to what you’re saying about Baldurs Gate 3. I was also really disappointed that almost all of the romances have to start with sex and build from there. It’s so disheartening to have all relationships in games be about sex, or have sex be the end point. I’m not sure if you have tried Interactive Fiction or text based games but there are some really inclusive and amazing games. Ones that come to mind are Wayfarer (Fantasy DND mechanics and complex story with Ace/Demi ROs, Ace author!), Shepherds or Haven (Fantasy/Found Family, two ROs start with FWB but for all the others it’s about an emotional foundation, very long demo and most romances haven’t kissed yet despite being in love!), Fields of Asphodel (Hades-Percephone retelling, found family, two ace Ros and again very emotions based romance), and the Fallen Hero series has an option to choose if your character is Demi or Ace, with flavor text change and beautiful and validating substitution scenes (especially romancing Ortega in the second book). All of these games have tumblr pages and demos available. Fallen Hero also has two books released! It’s a different format but I would highly recommend these games, they are so lovely, validating, and the character customization is so extensive. I found this genre to be generally more open and inclusive of Ace options, it makes it feel normal comfortable and lovely. Just know you’re not alone, that others feel this way, and there is content that is inclusive of (and tailored towards) Ace people if you know where to look. 💛💛💛

thank you ;_; and i appreciate the recs!

#sovo answers #i've known about interactive fiction but never took the leap bc back when i took a cursory look around it was like #theres One ace option. and everyone else is allo. so if i dont like the one ace im shit out of luck #from what youre saying it seems like its possible to tailor your experience even if the love interest isnt ace-- #--so maybe my hesitation was unwarranted after all

[sovonight]

I have an incredibly weird question, but who do you manufacture your 2-inch standees through? I've been looking for a place to make them for my dnd characters, and yours turned out so nice.

i'm guessing you're only looking to get 1 or 2 standees per design? my manu wouldn't be useful in that case since they have a higher MOQ--even i don't order OC merch with them because i don't know what i'd do with all the extras.

the most straightforward place i can recommend is zap!creatives (which is where i printed this charm/standee!). it's not going to have a double-sided base like my dipper standee, and it's probably going to take 2 months to get to you, but the process is pretty painless and you'll probably get an extra copy thrown in from their quality check. they should also be pretty responsive if you have questions or if anything goes wrong.

the second option is ordering off vograce, but their quality can be unpredictable and their customer service can be poor. third option is to go on alibaba and find a manu who's willing to print one-offs, but that's pretty involved, and i wouldn't recommend it unless you're planning on making and selling merch.

#sovo answers

[sovonight]

will you ever restock the medley sticker in this new starburst holo pattern again? i was going for a full completionist run of owning every gravity falls item youve released since i joined the fandom in every pattern and variant and i did the timezone conversion wrong and it sold out in 20 minutes. this is the worst thing thats ever happened to me </3

the pines medley sticker will be coming back! that one is in my usual starry holo, so don't worry, it'll be the same going forward ^^

#sovo answers #completionist run?!! Q_Q thank you!

[sovonight]

i was really hoping to get your original stan and ford charms will they be back in stock at somepoint?

i have a couple leftovers that i'll be able to list when the ddamd ford standee restock comes in ^^

#sovo answers #to make sure that everyone who wants one can order one im thinking about planning a preorder for the stan & ford charms #fair warning that the turnaround time is Not fast--which is why i've only offered things in-stock for the past couple years-- #but i really like the quality which is why i've been ok with the turnaround time personally #i'm still thinking about it and will have to time things out but if it does happen i'll post about it in detail 👍