[haydendreaming]

art commissions open!

hello!! commissions are officially open publicly again! waow!

my TAT is typically 3-5 days. I check in at each stage (sketch, lineart, colors, shading) and you're always welcome to request changes, within reason of course.

I won't draw NSFW but blood is fine. OCs, fanart, humans, animals, etc. are all good!

payment is through paypal.

for more art examples, you can browse the #my art tag on my blog!

[haydendreaming]

Do you think in Step 2 Qiu or Tamarack ever sees a light on in the other's bedroom window across the cul-de-sac late at night and wonders what's keeping them up?

Do you think they hope the other's okay? Think about texting but can't bring themself to do it? Remember being friends as kids and wonder where it all went wrong to the point that even a simple "can't sleep?" feels impossible to send?

Separated by only one little house and an ocean of hurt memories too vast to sail across.

[haydendreaming]

Lately I can't stop thinking about the friendship dynamics in step 1... Like the Q&A where gbpatch said that even if Qiu is your Best Friend (mechanically), they won't actually consider you their best friend because Ren is their best friend. Compare that to Tamarack, who sincerely calls you her "favorite" on her second day of knowing you, and you can reciprocate or you can choose that you don't feel the same or that you don't think you deserve it. Qiu and Tamarack, the echoes of each other ever <3

So I'm imagining a situation where you consider Qiu your best friend, but their best friend is Ren, and Tamarack considers you her best friend, but your best friend is Qiu... The feeling of knowing you aren't your best friend's best friend sucks. It also sucks to know you are the cause of that feeling for someone else. But it's not like anyone can simply choose how they feel towards people.

Baby's first existential crisis for MC. Am I a bad friend??? Am I a bad person???

[haydendreaming]

Does Blue have a birthday?

kind of! it's the same as my birthday, so March 30th! :3

[haydendreaming]

so in their backyards, Qiu has their fort and Tamarack has her tire swing, but the MC doesn't really have anything. it's my headcanon that across the field/clearing behind their house, there's a giant old tree in the forest perfect for climbing, and that becomes my MC's special backyard spot!

still within earshot where Opal can shout them for dinner, but if you climb up into the branches, it feels safe and protected and far removed from Everything... I have a feeling they'd be seeking refuge there a lot in Step 2 especially.

[haydendreaming]

why is sending asks off anon literally the scariest thing. oh the horror of being Perceived

[haydendreaming]

10 people I'd like to know better tag game!!

Tagged by @cookiecutter5

Last song: Earthrise by Starset

Favorite color: blue!!! as if anyone couldn't tell

Currently watching: I've been watching The Pitt with my brother (he's a nurse!) but we haven't watched the last episode yet so no spoilersssss

Currently reading: rereading Song of Achilles

Current obsession: our life now and forever and lost in limbo, visual novels of never different vibes lmao

Last google search: "minimize synonym" because I couldn't remember the word "trivialize"

Currently working on: an interactive fiction story that's probably never gonna see that light of day x,D

I'm kind of too scared to tag anyone but I'm always happy to get to know my mutuals better so consider this your open invitation to answer if you wanna!!

[haydendreaming]

when your plushie is as big as you

hello @papalotesketches I drew this for your children's day scrapbook project if that's okay!! :3

[haydendreaming]

the start of something

[haydendreaming]

Giving you an excuse to babble about your MC. I want to know Blue’s likes and dislikes, how they are in school in terms of grades and did they join any clubs?

WOAH babbling about my MC is my favorite activity!! :D

Blue does very well in school, they're decently smart but mostly they just try really hard. Learning is fun! School is the worst. They're very anxious about keeping their grades up because they feel that's what's expected of them. It upsets them when people assume everything is easy for them, as if their grades aren't the result of hard work that often comes at the expense of a social life, free time, sleep, etc. They're a little envious of people who genuinely don't care about their grades, lol. Except when they have to work with those people for group projects. Then they resent them with a burning passion because what do you mean their grade is dependent on someone who doesn't care?!??

As for extracurriculars, I'm still not 100% set on what I want to do. When the full game is out, I'll probably play through multiple times before I settle on what's "canon" for Blue. As of my most recent playthrough of the demo, Blue does ballet (initially joined to have fun with Qiu, now really enjoys it as long as they're not on stage in front of an audience), plays in the orchestra (I, Hayden, in real life played violin from 1st grade through 10th grade so Blue gets to play an instrument too lol), and joined the writing club! No matter what combination of things I settle on, Step 2 Blue is the type of person who tries to do so many things and meet everyone's expectations of them all at once, and is definitely being crushed beneath it all a bit.

In general, Blue likes...

Drawing!

Stars, outer space in general

Critters (snakes!!)

Banana smoothies

Blue dislikes...

Strangers

Loud places

Different foods mixed together

Playing sports

[haydendreaming]

Item: The Secret Gem Rarity: ✶ Rare

Most underrated video game?

Feed your dashboard by answering my question, blogger.

this is what I get for playing tumblr snake game, I suppose? ahaha

anyway. if you like visual novel games go play the demo of Lost in Limbo by @ravenstargames next question

[haydendreaming]

tis my birthday today. here, have some cake. the great thing about digital cake is tis infinite, so you can all have some :3

[haydendreaming]

"Our family is me and them. It always has been."

sometimes I think about Opal and get emotional 🥺 Mama!!

[tumblr]

Reblogs in a chain now get their own notes

The reblog chain is one of the things that makes Tumblr unlike anywhere else. All the notes on reblogs are attributed to the original post, no matter which branch people actually liked or reblogged. We want to keep encouraging conversations, and give contributors the recognition they deserve. 

Soon, you'll be able to like, reblog, or reply to any part of a reblog chain, and that note will go to that reblog's author. Each reblog will have its own counts, instead of one aggregated number from every version of the post. And yes, you’ll be able to like multiple posts in one chain.

If a reblog doesn't add anything, the love flows up to the last person in the chain who did. Your post doesn't lose notes just because people spread it quietly.

Past notes will stay on the original post — we're only changing what happens from here on out. Retroactively re-attributing all of them would be... a lot.

This is just the beginning. More changes are coming as we keep building this out – stay tuned!

[changes]

It’s very clear that you all have strong feelings about Tumblr and about this change. We hear you. The passion people have for how Tumblr works is one of the things that makes this place special.

As this rolls out over the next few days and you explore it, we’ll keep reading your replies and reblogs, so please keep sharing your questions, concerns, and ideas.

Your creativity has always been the heart of Tumblr, whether you’re the original poster or adding something brilliant in the reblogs, and nothing about this change is meant to limit that.

If you’d like to talk directly beyond the comments, leave a reply and we’ll follow up with as many of you as we can. We want to work with you to make Tumblr better.

[haydendreaming]

I would absolutely like to talk directly. I left this comment on the original post, but I'll paste it here, too. You know, since you can no longer see it from within a reblog chain.

"I sent in a feedback form, and the automated email told me to comment here. So here I am.

It is vital to the tumblr ecosystem that all notes stick to the original post. This is what makes tumblr TUMBLR. You want to "give contributors the recognition they deserve" ? Then don't reattribute them to anyone who reblogs with something as little as "Hey, look at this neat thing!" or "Important info here ^^"

As an artist, I WANT to see all of the likes, reblogs, tags, and comments. Even if there is someone in between us in the chain. It's still my art they're engaging with, yes? Why wouldn't I want to see that? The same is true for any kind of fan content here: fanfiction, gif sets, edits, discussion posts, theories. The lifeblood of tumblr depends on this ecosystem.

As a small artist, I used to love it if a game developer or big fan creator reblogged my art. It gets way more eyes that way, people talk about it, I meet fellow fans, it's fun! But now I won't see ANY of that. I just stay stuck in my own little bubble while the reblogger gets all the notes. I have no idea if people like my art or are talking about it. That doesn't feel good. This change will only motivate creators to discourage their followers from reblogging their posts, or even turning off reblogs entirely.

I don't really mind if you want to track likes on reblogs or whatever. But don't intentionally hide notes from the OP. Or anyone else in the chain, really. I should be able to click on a post and find all of the comments, reblogs, tags, and other interactions if I want to. Not forced to go through chains of reblogs one by one.

Respectfully, please fix this."

As an example, here is a screenshot of what now happens when a game developer reblogs fanart. If I only saw the original post, perhaps because I follow the artist, I would think the art only has 16 likes. Not to mention the original artist wouldn't get any notifications about all those people who enjoy their art!

You say that "nothing about this change is meant to limit [your creativity]" but it already is. Reblogging someone's post with an addition used to be a supportive, positive interaction (showing something you enjoy to your followers so that they may enjoy it too) but is now a negative interaction (directing engagement away from the original post). Regardless of your intentions, it is clear your implementation is detrimental in practice.

Perhaps a less clunky way to do this would be to change it so that notes are still aggregated on the original post, but rebloggers get the notifications too. And maybe a "likes map" similar to the reblog graph that already exists.

Basically, "crediting" rebloggers for their "contributions" should NOT come at the expense of the original posters, who are the ones keeping this entire website alive.

[haydendreaming]

when your bodyguard and your fake fiance's bodyguard want to murder each other (featuring my MC and jove's LI OC Ingrid !! ;3)

[haydendreaming]

"Love you, always and forever." - From Blue <3

Choose your valentine!

Qiu! | Tamarack! | Renee! | Blue...?

[haydendreaming]

"Be mine, valentine?" - From Renee <3

Choose your valentine!

Qiu! | Tamarack! | Renee! | Blue...?