Figured it was about time I create a masterpost to pin on my blog.
Name: Kogarashi, Amanda, "hey you"
Editor, (fandom) writer, freelance artist
Multifandom geek and generally crafty jack-of-all-trades (master of none)
~ I Draw ~ I Write ~ I Craft ~
Outside links here, but the most relevant is probably my Archive of our Own page.
You can buy me a cocoa (Ko-fi) if you want to throw a tip my way, and you can buy things with my art on Redbubble (slowly adding to inventory).
I also have a side blog for reblogging art I like, and now a side blog for reblogging other people's fiction.
I have a tag list for things like tag games. Want on (or off) the list? Just leave a comment on the linked post.
Fandoms, collected posts, commission info, etc. below the cut to keep this shorter on my page.
Quick links to my OCs:
Castelin Cousland | Aelinn Hawke | Tyria Lavellan | Saadrah Mercar
There are a lot of fandoms I'm in (or at least consider myself a part of, even if mostly on the sidelines). The biggest three would probably be:
Sonic the Hedgehog
Dragon Age
Mass Effect
But you'll find me posting things from other fandoms from time to time. If you followed me for one specific fandom but it seems like my hyperfixation has shifted, if you stick around long enough I'm sure it'll shift back.
I've got some sets of posts where I've put together a masterpost to link them all in one place, or have a collective tag for useful things. You can find them here:
Writing Tips (mine specifically; you can find more under the tag "writing advice")
Art Resources (I may not have every resource post properly tagged for this one, but I did my best)
My fandom headcanons
My tumblr dividers - free to use, credit is nice but not necessary, don't claim them as your own work or use them in commercial works
Yes, I do take commissions for both art and writing. If you don't see a type of commission listed below that you're interested in, you can always send me a message to ask.
OCs or canon characters (or both)
No NSFW
I find mechs difficult but I'm willing to give it a fair go
Digital delivery
Payment will be handled through Ko-fi (if you don't see an option on Ko-fi, message me), or you can send me a DM to discuss alternate payment methods.
What you Get:
High-res digital copy of your commission
Limited personal-use print rights (no re-selling, but you can get it printed on media/merchandise of your choice for your own use)
Feeling dirty and grimy for extended periods of time is extremely draining on the mental well-being of humans. Psychological studies prove it is detrimental to our self-esteem and contentment. And no wonder; we are animals--homo sapiens, a kind of ape--that instinctively places high importance on personal grooming. Like monkeys and cats and birds in a zoo, one of the best ways to make us feel sad ... is to make us feel gross to ourselves.
So here's an easy saying from my therapist/zookeeper:
"If you feel like you hate the world, eat something.
If you feel like the world hates you, get some sleep.
If you feel like you hate yourself, take a shower.
1 & 7 for Saadrah and Lace Harding, please! Same questions for Saadrah and Davrin. :)
Thanks! For the friendship asks here.
#1: What were their first impressions of each other?
Lace Harding and Saadrah were a little dubious of each other at first. Harding hadn't seen Saadrah in action on the Nessus job, she just knew this very tall Qunari woman had been "kicked out" of the Shadow Dragons in order to help Varric, which indicated she could be a problem. She also moved too quietly, complained too much about the iconography of the Southern Chantry (and it took Harding far too long to realize Saadrah was teasing about that), and—the biggest offense—was scarily good at cards. Harding could never get a win against her, and Harding has a big competitive streak.
Saadrah, meanwhile, could appreciate Harding's skills but found her far too easy to tease at times. Also Saadrah had a low opinion of the Inquisition to start with, seeing the organization as responsible for her father's death. It took her a bit to realize that Harding hadn't known Saadrah's father at all, not even in passing.
Once they got past that, though, they quickly became friends.
As for Davrin, Saadrah isn't sure what her first impression of the guy was, because she was too busy being absolutely fascinated at meeting a real live griffon. Probably something about how he was being real short with people who were just there to help, and then something something good in a fight? That's beside the point. Griffon!
Davrin definitely didn't want to trust a Qunari wearing Tevinter-styled armor and a southerner surface dwarf, but desperate times. It was trust them or investigate the screams and the attacks on his own, and every blade counts to a Warden. Saadrah acquitted herself in battle well enough, and then he saw her have to make the tough choice between Minrathous and Treviso immediately after, with the fallout from that, and by the time all that was over he'd come around to solidly respecting her, even when they differed in opinion.
#7: Do they go to each other for advice? What about?
I think Saadrah is more likely to seek out advice from Harding (and vice versa) than from Davrin, but mostly due to knowing Harding longer. Both are generally good for it, but generally on different topics.
Harding has all sorts of camping and "roughing it" advice, and while Saadrah did grow up on the move with her family, they usually found places to stay that didn't involve camping. Harding also has so much advice on horticulture and animal husbandry, which isn't something Saadrah finds herself needing to do much, but does find it fascinating to listen to. Also archery pointers. Saadrah's been shooting a bow for a lot less time than Harding, and is entirely self-taught, so every little bit helps.
Harding goes to Saadrah for tips on dating a Qunari, especially related to the the Qunari half of Taash's upbringing and culture. Saadrah is more than happy to share what she knows.
Davrin gives great advice about fighting the blight and keep from getting infected (even more than Harding gleaned from helping the Inquisition). Also, less advice, but Davrin makes for a good sparring partner.
Davrin tries to ask Saadrah for advice about Assan, but Saadrah is hopeless when it comes to animals. She's good with the cats in Minrathous, but that's just because it's easy to get on their good side when you stop to pet them and slip them treats every chance you get, and that won't help so much with a griffon.
You know I consider Saadrah and Cara being friends and I hope you do, too. So I am curious about questions 1, 5 and 7 about the two.
For the friendship asks here.
#1: What were their first impressions of each other?
I'll definitely defer to you for Cara's side of this, but from Saadrah's side of things, she thought that Cara was small (everyone's small compared to you, Saadrah), scrappy, and maybe a bit scary (it's that whole Crow thing, but not like, "run away and hide" scary, more like "watch out for knives and poisons if she doesn't like you" scary). Definitely someone to keep an eye on at the start, but once they got to helping each other out in fights, Saadrah was very quickly won over.
#5: A time when one helped the other out of a tough spot
They were working together on a joint Crow-Shadow job that required infiltration to acquire sensitive information from a high-ranking noble. That part went fine. The problem is that when they were trying to slip back out, a low-rank minion happened to head to the latrine at the wrong moment and spot them, and the villa's entire garrison of soldiers was mobilized to deal with the two women. At some point, Saadrah was disarmed of her last blade, and Cara leapt in to strike down the two soldiers who were about to take Saadrah out, long enough for Saadrah to steal knives off of them to work with until she could get her own gear back.
#7: Do they go to each other for advice? What about?
Saadrah wants tips on unarmed fighting (wrestling or any other tricks Cara might have to offer).
We have plenty of ask games for romantic ship headcanons. This one is for headcanons about characters who consider each other friends or family. Send me any two characters and a number!
1. What were their first impressions of each other?
2. Is there a game or hobby they enjoy doing together?
3. Worst fight they’ve ever had
4. Do they have nicknames for each other?
5. A time when one helped the other out of a tough spot
6. What do they do to cheer each other up?
7. Do they go to each other for advice? What about?
8. A time they got in trouble together
9. What’s the kindest thing each one has said to the other?
10. Do they double date (if both are in a relationship)?
11. Habits they’ve picked up from each other
12. Gifts they’ve given each other
13. A place they like to visit together
14. What does each value the most about the other person?
15. How has their relationship changed over time?
16. Small acts of kindness they do for each other?
17. Any secrets either one is keeping from the other?
18. An inside joke they share
19. Have they ever teamed up to pull a prank?
20. Something they disagree on
21. How do they annoy each other?
22. What’s the stupidest thing these two have ever done?
23. How do they express affection physically?
24. What have they learned from each other?
25. Are either of them envious about something?
26. Is there a nickname that others call the two of them?
This has been my main argument against "AI" from the very beginning.
OpenAI scraped the entire web. All of which had been a labor of love from humans. Wikipedia is the backbone of a lot of LLMs, and that was volunteer human labor. They stole it and now they're selling it back to us.
And worse, they're trying to destroy the free sources that they stole from. It's destruction of human knowledge on an unprecedented scale. The burning of the library of Alexandria has nothing on this.
Come join in August for a little cinematic art challenge in the Mass Effect Fandom.
No list this time, more open ended, with the goal of trying to finish four cinematic art pieces. One per weeks basically.
Film grab is a great website for reference photos. You can find a ton of movies, even old or more esoteric ones with multiple shots. Challenge yourself and try a random movie, just be wary of spoilers.
Or go back and play the game and have fun in photomode for dynamic, interesting composition, color graded shots.
And if anyone wants to share screenshots, please do so in the reblog or the tag #masseffectcinematic
When posting please use the #masseffectcinematic tag or tag me @masseffectfanwork or @continuous-spec
I quit writing when I realized I had no desire to do all the steps to professionally publish a book. And I started writing again years later when I realized I was allowed to do things I enjoyed without a profit endgoal
You don't have to do a thing the way society says is correct
The Lord’s Lost Weekend is around the corner, and we met a lot of new Lords of Fortune with our Fancy Character Map™!
While we wait, here’s a bingo card with a three ways to play:
Block out any ones your Rook has
Block out any ones you’ve seen maps for posted in #lofweekend intro! Maybe send them a tag.
Block out any fan works you find as they come out!
Make sure you tag #lofweekend with any Bingos and Blackouts (or even near misses!) that you get. Special Thanks to @davrinsleftpectoral and @serialsforbellara for putting this together and @blackwall-my-tiny-husband for Itty Bitty Hiro and the Bingo Beach Background!
Don't mind me, just dropping several screenshots I like in a post because I wanted to share. (And because I didn't do DA Photo Week since I was doing two other event weeks and didn't have enough spoons.)
More below the cut.
Tags because I want to show these off. Maybe share some of your favorite screenshots with me? Especially if you don't usually post them. :)
We have plenty of ask games for romantic ship headcanons. This one is for headcanons about characters who consider each other friends or family. Send me any two characters and a number!
1. What were their first impressions of each other?
2. Is there a game or hobby they enjoy doing together?
3. Worst fight they’ve ever had
4. Do they have nicknames for each other?
5. A time when one helped the other out of a tough spot
6. What do they do to cheer each other up?
7. Do they go to each other for advice? What about?
8. A time they got in trouble together
9. What’s the kindest thing each one has said to the other?
10. Do they double date (if both are in a relationship)?
11. Habits they’ve picked up from each other
12. Gifts they’ve given each other
13. A place they like to visit together
14. What does each value the most about the other person?
15. How has their relationship changed over time?
16. Small acts of kindness they do for each other?
17. Any secrets either one is keeping from the other?
18. An inside joke they share
19. Have they ever teamed up to pull a prank?
20. Something they disagree on
21. How do they annoy each other?
22. What’s the stupidest thing these two have ever done?
23. How do they express affection physically?
24. What have they learned from each other?
25. Are either of them envious about something?
26. Is there a nickname that others call the two of them?
Hi, this is personal. I'm writing my university thesis on fonts (this is different from the Final Project but still extremely important) and I'm sending this questionaire to everyone I can think of.
The questionaire is on the subject of fonts. "The use of fonts in daily life." It is anonymous and addressed to absolutely everyone regardless of their education level, reading and studying habits, age, or education levels. I implore you to share this questionaire to as many people as you can for the biggest sample size possible.
Questionaire for the research paper "The use of fonts in everyday life".
Please take your time with this, it's a quick quiz.
Listing here whoever interacts with this blog on a semi-frequent basis (or that I interact with on a semi-frequent basis). GIVE ME ALL THE SAMPLES
And I mean it, share it with your non-writer friends, with relatives, with whoever.
Every single fic update there is an author trying frantically to find the right balance between a nonchalant aside of "leave a comment if you enjoyed =)" and clinging desperately to the coat tails of a random stranger, dragging along behind them on the street wailing "Please, please! I have to know what you thought! I'm desperate to talk to people about this! Ask me about the alliterative repetition! Ask me about the symbolism!"
