I also want nessie! But I think I want more. The little freaks, the unknown background monsters. What else is there to Scottish monster lore?
Oh you want monsters? Tag yourself.
There’s one main one that I can’t see on this map - the Wulver.
Wulvers are Scottish werewolves that live in Shetland. They aren’t aggressive and they often leave fish on the windowsills of the poor so they don’t go hungry.
The Ghillie Dhu is a Gaelic fairy covered in leaves and moss. And it spawned the creation of the Ghillie Suit which is pretty cool.
Bean Nighe is a banshee-esque woman who washes the bloodied clothes of those about to die in rivers.
I don’t have time to go through them all but those are my faves!
So... I technically drew this 3 years ago but forgot to post it. I think I was going to clean up the end and make a nice recap, but I ran out of steam and then just left it as a wip for years. I got reminded of it because I was talking to a friend about how to draw wheelchairs today.
This covers most of what I view as the most common errors when it comes to drawing characters who use manual wheelchairs. I hope it helps you a lot.
Image description is in alt text, but there is a back up image description under the cut in case that does not work for some reason
[image description: a 4 picture long wheelchair tutorial. the background is white and the text, when it appears, is black and in calibri. each step will be labeled with "Step #" and a description of the drawing next to it, and "text" and then the text that is written to explain it to follow.
Step one text: So, you want to draw a character who uses a manual wheelchair? Awesome! I can't approve more. Drawing characters who use wheelchairs is a bit different than drawing standing characters, because of obvious posing differences. But to start, you need to know what parts of a wheelchair you will draw. So, without further ado, here are 3 wheelchairs!
Step one image: a simplified drawing of a chubby woman sitting in a quickie GPV manual wheelchair and resting her hand on the handrim of one of the wheels. this is labeled "the artist"
step two: next there is a lineart drawing of three wheelchairs. one is a tilite TR series 3. this is an ultralight wheelchair with a bucket seat (the back is lower than the front), a big cushion and a short backrest that kind of contours to the back of the person who would sit in it. the caster wheels (front wheels) are very small and the footrest is just two little metal bars. next image is a quickie GPV. this is also an ultralight wheelchair with a low back, but its caster wheels are slightly larger, the back has regular upholstery (it does not look like it was made to conform to the back of the person who sits there) and the frame is boxier -- there is no bar underneath the seat where the wheels would attach, rather each wheel is attached to the side of the chair. the next wheelchair is an invacare tracer. it is how most people imagine wheelchairs when they hear 'wheelchair'. it has no cushion and it has a high backrest with handles. it has high armrests that would be comfortable to rest your elbows on if you were just sitting. the wheels are not bicycle wheels like the previous two but are rather plastic. it has big footrests and big caster wheels.
text: the wheelchairs on the left are the ultralight, sporty kind. I have one of them (the quickie). the one on the right is a more standard one you might find in hospitals or as the public wheelchair in grocery stores or the mall.
step three: first is text to accompany the tilite. "This wheelchair has a really thick cushion - it's pressure relieving, which you need if you use your chair ufll tiem and especially if you have a spinal cord injury. This wc has the smallest caster (front) wheels. They are hte most handy for turning in small circles." next there is text to accompany the quickie gpv: "This one has the one I use -- it isn't pressure relieving, but is still useful." next is text to accompany the invacare: "this wheelchair has no cushion - you do not want to sit on it for long. This one has the biggest caster wheels - they are useful for not 'tripping' when your front wheel gets caught on an obstacle.”
step four text: like with all complex drawings, you want to break it into simple shapes first. I normally have a box underneath the seat, a rectangle for the backrest, and a trapezoidal thing for hte area from the box to the footrest. these are the most important shapes, because your character will rest on them and they will move with your character.
step four image: the lineart of each wheelchair has been put on reduced opacity, so we can see the square representing the backrest of each seat (the square is the smallest for the tilite and biggest for the invacare), the box for each seat and area underneath it, and the trapezoid for the footrests. the next step labels the images of these simplified shapes as the lineart is removed. "Note the proportions of each set of shapes is not the same - just like how you wouldn't draw all your characters with the same proportions on their faces!"
step 5: we see the same shapes to form the wheelchair, but now with blue circles drawn where the back wheels would be.
text: next shape is the wheels - two circles
step six: next we see the wheels and shapes have been reduced in opacity and the basic structure of everything about each wheelchair: footrests, caster wheels, upholstery details, axles has been drawn on in orange.
text: the next stage is everything else that's structure - front wheels, handlebars, cushions, footrests.
Step seven: we see the lineart on top of the lowered opacity sketch.
text: you can then do detailing like axles, spokes, upholstery, etc and lines
step eight: next we see three drawings of different characters. there is patience, a skinny white woman sitting in a blue invacare wheelchair. kelley, a slightly chubby black woman wearing a stripey dress sitting in a red quickie gpv wheelchair and doing a wheelie while smiling. then luke, a white man with short blond hair wearing khaki pants. he is sitting in a tilite chair.
text: once you get your wheelchair basics, you need to find out which kind your character uses. here are three characters who each use one of the example WCs. patience uses the invacare. she needs one with a better cushion, but circumstance prevents it. Notice the chair is a bit wider than her hips - it's not custom fitted. Also notice she has to turn her elbows out awkwardly to move. the high armrests prevent a smooth push. her wheelchair has big caster wheels and far-back back wheels. it is made for stability and difficult to turn,but also difficult to knock over. Her chair indicates a lack of resources or temporary injury, and is primarily a transport chair
kelley uses a wheelchair like mine - it is fairly sporty, but has a box-y frame underneath. this makes it heaver than if it didn't.she has a mediocre cushion - it protects her, but only some. her back wheels are further underneath her body than Patience's, which makes it possible to do the wheelie (demonstrated here). her wheelchair is supposed to look line one you'd use full time, but it is a little old.
luke has a spinal cord injury. he has a very thick pressure relieving cushion for medical reasons. his chair is also ultralight, with no boxyness under the frame. his chair is the newest and lightest - it indicates his wealth/resources, but also that he needs to use on full time.
step nine: just a drawing of me sitting in my wheelchair holding my hands up to show fingerless wheelchair gloves. we're looking at me from above.
text: when you're choosing what wheelchair to give your character, think of both their disability and their resources and go from there. questions to ask yourself: is it made specifically for them or is it mass-produced or a hand-me-down (if it's custom, the seat will not be too wide or narrow in comparison to their body and their feet will rest on the footplate naturally). do they want more stability (further back back wheels, big caster wheels) or maneuverability (the inverse). do they need a pressure relieving cushion? how long are they using their wheelchair per day? how long have they needed a wheelchair? Do they have health insurance? do they have access to a lot of spending money? How much can they spend on their wheelchair? are they athletic etc etc
posing steps:
step one: a sketch of two people standing up. one just shows the outline of a person's body, with legs that are ind of triangle shaped, the other shows a sketched pelvis and rib cage to go along with the bones of the legs and arm. text: step one: Most people have this sketch anatomy they put before drawing their characters for real. I kind of scribble around like on the left, but some people use skeletons on the right.
step two: there are now too sketched pictures of people in wheelchairs. one shows lightly traced human form (arms articulated, curve for a stomach, legs that are kind of triangle shaped and pointing down) sitting in a wheelchair that is just the sketch of footrests and wheels. the other sketch shows the sketch of a body with a circle for hips and an oval for a rib cage and the person doing a wheelie (lifting the front end of the wheelchair off the ground and leaning back). their wheelchair is also sketched out and defined by a circle for their wheels and 2 lines, 1 of the seat and 1 for the backrest. text: you need one of those for your wheelchair character. important: they should have both the person's main anatomy features (Usually upper body and at least hips) and the wheelchair's. for me, these are the back wheels, footrest, and seat. why simplify to just those features? Take a look at this incredibly quickly drawn wheelchair.
step three: there is a lineart drawing of a manual wheelchair with slightly cambered (angled towards the seat) wheels, a backrest, and a footrest. the frame is light and there are no handlebars. there are labels pointing to different parts of the wheelchair: Backrest, handrims, wheel, axle, seat, footrest, and caster wheels (the ones in front). text: there are a lot of parts, and not all of them are essential to your pose. trying to draw the whole thing straight out of the gate will frustrate you.'
step four text: take a character in heavy armor: if you draw her pose without taking her armor into account, her armor will clip through her body. if you draw a wheelchair using character without keeping her wheelchair in mind from the beginning, the pose won't make sense.
step four image: next we see two lineart drawings of different characters. one is a bulky woman wearing plate armor. her hand is on her hip and she is trying to scratch her back with the other hand. there is the label "shoudlerpad clips through face" and "thumb clips through chestplate." the next drawing shows a woman in a wheelchair with one foot rested on her knee and her arms rested back, such that they would be rested on the back of a regular chair, but the back of her wheelchair is not wide enough for them to actually be resting on anything. the text here reads "elbows not resting on anything" and "foot not on footplate"
step five: there are two images, one is lineart on top of a 3d modelled apartment with sketchup, the other is a colored in version of that lineart with the background also colored in and no longer a 3d modelled screencap two characters, one old woman wearing a green jacket and one younger woman wearing a white shirt and blue undershirt, are sitting on a couch. the old woman is leaning forward and the young woman is resting her arm on the couch. behind the young woman is a bookshelf.
step five text: you may say you'll just draw the chair first and then the person, but while that works for regular furniture, it doesn't work as well for most manual wcs. take this comic panel with characters on a couch for example - I 3d modeled the room and then drew the characters on the furniture. it works because you don't move furniture in most poses - you rest on it. but your wheelchair needs to move with you, especially if it's an ultralight one.
step six image: there is a flat color drawing of barbara gordon in her wheelchair. she is wearing a black sportsbra and black shorts. in the first image we see she is doing tricks in her chair, zooming through the air (as if she has just launched herself off the ground in a skater park or somethign) while her left hand is resting on a structure and her right hand is heading towards the right handrim. the next image shows her right hand planted on the ground and her chair and body above her, such that she is briefly doing a one-handed handstand, but the motion line indicates that she is moving and this will not last. her left arm is near the handrim of her left wheel.
text: take exercise Oracle - she is doing tricks. Her WC is an extension of her body. That is crucial to getting natural looking manual wheelchair users after posing.
step seven: we see a lineart drawing of paula from young justice. she is sitting in a standard manual wheelchair with high armrests (goes up to the bottom of her ribs probably) and a high backrest (goes up to just below her shoulderblades). she is setting her hand on the armrest, leaning forward, and holding her other hand out.
text: of course, there are exceptions - if you have a clunky WC, it is harder to move with your body. Take Paula from young Justice - here, i drew her resting her hand on her armrest, because she has a clunker wheelchair. her pose is already mostly static - she's sitting down - and she poses around that.
i hate it when someone asks me what my favorite work of art is because i can't say "the one of the woman chilling on the rocks with a dragon lying in her lap and giving off powerful big dick energy" but how else am i supposed to describe it
The good news is, as you see, all of these things passed the house because Dems have the majority. The bad news is they might not pass in the Senate if this is indicative of how the GOP will vote.
Wulver: a werewolf in Shetland, that is said to have had the body of a man with a wolf’s head. It was reported to have left fish on the windowsills of poor families.
That is the nicest Werewolf legend I’ve ever heard of.
Perhaps the strangest monster reports to ever take place in Illinois began 46 years ago in April 1973 in the small town of Enfield. This tiny community in southeastern Illinois became the scene of bizarre happenings for a short period of time. and while the case has largely been forgotten today, it remains a part of the high strangeness of the region.
Henry McDaniel of Enfield almost became the first man to be arrested because of the Enfield Horror. White County Sheriff Roy Poshard Jr. threatened to lock McDaniel up for telling folks about the weird events that took place at his home in April 1973, but McDaniel stuck by his story and his initial report would begin what became a nightmare for the small town. According to McDaniel, he was at home on the evening of April 25 when he heard a scratching on his door. When he opened it, he couldn’t believe his eyes! “It had three legs on it,” McDaniel swore,” a short body, two little short arms coming out of its breast area and two pink eyes as big as flashlights. It stood four and a half to five feet tall and was grayish-colored. It was trying to get into the house.”
Description: Hawley Him is a Bigfoot seen at the Abilene’s Boys’ Ranch in Hawley, Texas. An employee of the ranch and two teen boys saw the monster lobbing rocks at the crew on July 6th, 1977. Other Bigfoot sightings have been recorded around the area prior to the sightings.
The Singular Fortean Society received the following email with “Sighting?” in the subject line on October 14th, 2021. It was around the middle of September 2021. I was driving on Milwaukee Avenue and had turned left on Hintz Road in Wheeling, Illinois. That road (from Milwaukee to Wolf Road)is pre
The latest ‘Reports from the Void’ describes the sighting of a weird, winged creature in Wheeling, Illinois.
Witch: That's all I know how to do. What do you need?
Maiden: I'm starting to see why you were shunned from the village.
Witch: Yes, I've killed a lot of people. What do you need?
Maiden: There's a pox in the village.
Witch: It wasn't me this time.
Maiden: I know. Can you fix it or not?
Witch: No. I'm not licensed for that.
Maiden: What do you mean you're not licensed for that?
Witch: I got kicked out of the herbalist's coven.
Maiden: For killing people?
Witch: For killing people.
Maiden: Great, now what do I do? There isn't another witch for at least three towns over.
Witch: And he's an enchanter blacksmith type. Makes protective amulets and beefs up swords. Makes really good horseshoes. Can't fix poxes. Makes a mean rabbit stew though. And...
Maiden: And is very good at sex and hard to kill, yes everyone knows that. You tell us repeatedly. Even though we kicked you out.
Witch: It's important. How are you not dead yet, by the way? You're an adult and you haven't bought anything yet so you should be dead by now.
Maiden: I'm not into people that way. Your weird sex based spells don't work on me. That's why I'm the one that came.
Witch: I would branch out but I'm barred from taking more classes at the guild. Because of the murder.
Maiden: Right, well I'm gonna go before you poison me.
Witch: What about the pox?
Maiden: I do have a mild form of it so you've been exposed too. Someone of your age is much more likely to die from it.
Witch: What?
Maiden: I'd suggest you find an accredited friend that hasn't been convicted of unnecessary murder.
Enchanter: One second. (throws a sword over his shoulder where it crashes into several metal tools and starts glowing)
Enchanter: Okay, what do you need?
Maiden: There's a pox in my town.
Enchanter: (pulls an amulet out of his pocket and holds it over her head)
Enchanter: You don't seem to have it, but it's touched you.
Maiden: I got better. Can you help?
Enchanter: I enchant swords. Why are you visiting me?
Maiden: Because the only witch in our town is...
Enchanter: Wait, don't tell me. Are you from Ravenfalls?
Maiden: Yeah.
Enchanter: Tabatha. Of course. That quack.
Maiden: She only kills people and does abortions.
Enchanter: Oh no she doesn't do abortions. She just drowns babies. I don't even think she knows what a fetus is.
Maiden: Oh.
Enchanter: Yeah. Terrible cook too. Normally herbalists are pretty good at cooking but she's just...
Maiden: The worst. I know. Do you at least know who can help? All of our elders and babies are dropping off like flies. People are strapping chickens to their arms. It's a mess.
Enchanter: (clicks tongue a few times) The nearest guy that specializes in pox is in the mountains. Not the coast range but the big angry looking pointy ones to the east. What were those called again?
Maiden: The Death Mountains?
Enchanter: Yeah, those. Unfortunate name, really. They're almost tolerable in the spring and summer. Don't know why they live there though.
Maiden: Can you teleport me there?
Enchanter: Why do people always ask that? Look I don't know what you've been hearing from Tabatha or traveling merchants but that's not safe for living creatures.
Maiden: Then what do I do? By the time I get back half the population will either be dead or still have birds strapped to their arms.
Enchanter: I hate to suggest this but you could like... with a shapeshifting dragon? And then ask for a wish?
Maiden: I'm not into people or dragons that way.
Enchanter: Then I guess I'll see if I can do something for your horse's shoes but that won't be nearly as fast.
Herbalist: Come a very long way to see me. I know.
Maiden: How did you...
Herbalist: Everyone says that. Come sit. Do you like tea?
Maiden: I don't have time for tea. My village has a pox.
Herbalist: Which pox?
Maiden: It's mostly affecting older people and it's... purple.
Herbalist: Oh. What shade of purple?
Maiden: Very bright.
Herbalist: Oh, that's not a pox. That's a curse. Or a curse mixed with a usually just annoying pox. Someone in your area has probably pissed someone off.
Maiden: I'm from Ravenfalls.
Herbalist: In that case I think we can both guess who brought forth someone's ire. Who created it though, still remains a mystery. In any case, you can buy this bag of weeds and instruct people to boil them in small batches and inhale the steam. It won't cure anything, but it will most likely help people breathe better, which may help them survive long enough to fight it off.
Maiden: What do I do about Tabatha and the people strapping chickens to their arms?
Herbalist: My dear, some things can't be fixed completely. Plant this all over your town though and Tabatha will most likely avoid you. You can have these for free.
Maiden: I'm not going to bring some magic plant into town unless I know what it is.
Herbalist: Oh, it's not very magic. It's a cedar tree I've enchanted to grow very quickly. She's deathly allergic to cedar wood and pollen.
Maiden: Oh.
Herbalist: I really can't do anything for the chickens though. People will do strange things when they're desperate.
Maiden: Will I ever know who cursed us?
Herbalist: You may or may not. Wile you're here though, would you care to buy a love potion?
Maiden: I'm not into people that way.
Herbalist: You wouldn't fit in at the witches guild then. That's why most of us go in. It's a very good profession for swingers.
Maiden: That's why I went into city government. Well, thank you for all that.
Herbalist: And thank you for visiting. Tell the enchanter that I said hi and tell Tabatha to take a hike for me.
Maiden: It feels weird to call you that. You're the magic blacksmith I met on my quest.
Enchanter: I understand. So do you know who I'd talk to about renting a lot here?
Maiden: For what purpose? Oh, right. Me. Talk to me about it. I manage Lord Raven's lots and do logging and hunting permits and collect rent and whatnot
Enchanter: I want to set up my shop here. Business is better here for weapons and ever since she moved out, well...
Maiden: Was she after you?
Enchanter: She was under the impression that we were still married.
Maiden: Yes, she definitely was. Well, I think I can set you up. The village will benefit from having a reputable witch nearby. I'll get you in contact with a carpenter and scout out a spot for you.
Enchanter: Wait, I have something for you.
Maiden: An amulet?
Enchanter: For keeping away unwanted romantic advances.
Maiden: (covers her mouth and starts crying just a little bit)
Maiden: Sir, I can't...
Enchanter: You drove away a person that made my life a living hell for years. You saved your town. You drove out a murderer. You went into the Death Mountains in the middle of the winter. Take it.
Maiden: (takes it) John, did I ever tell you when we met that I desperately wanted to become friends with you?
Enchanter: No, but once I'm moved in I think we can give it a try.
Maiden: I'll get the paperwork and meet you at the tavern. Dinner's on me.
