The Serenity of Ashes

Soft as a motherfuckin' newborn kitten.

[solfirafira]

【✨Acapella VTuber Magazine April Issue✨】 Selected Pages

Full magazine can be read here!

---------------------------------------

Interview: Hirano Kokoro Ch.

Program: Adobe Illustrator Role: Designer

I was inspired by sports manga panels when I learned that Roro was a Hockey vtuber so that's the theme I went with for this spread. I looked at some Haikyuu! manga panels to see how the mangaka would emphasize heavy action panels and applied a few of those ideas here such as the diagonal speed lines in the bg of the first Roro image.

It would be a disservice if I didn't mention that in an original draft of this, the deco elements (exclamation marks, stars) were not coloured and in fact standard black and white in order to push the "manga panel" theme, but when sharing with the Acapella team, they wanted to see what it would look like with colour which resulted in a much more put-together version that better worked with Roro's visuals that we ultimately went with it. Shoutout to the Acapella Media staff!! Couldn't have done it without y'all <3

---------------------------------------

Article: Oshi Conbini / Lunalia Anniversary

Program: Adobe Illustrator Role: Designer

For this one, it was a bit of a last minute request and I was never supposed to design it this much but I ended up getting a bit carried away haha! With Oshi's article, this was easy as I pulled major inspo from their insta posts. Background, colour palette, it was easy to adapt the page to their branding. I originally had the idea of the quotes looking like insta comments but quickly realized that simple was best so I ended up opting for a simple border and solid red dropshadow.

One thing that was mentioned as feedback -- and that I now know I should have spent a little bit more time finessing -- is the column distinction, because I totally get how some people may first perceive it as sort of a Left, Right, Left, Right sort of orientation instead of a Left Column, Right Column sort of direction. I plan on taking the lessons I learned from this page onto future pages and take more care in making that distinction a little more easier to follow.

With Lunalia, I drew inspiration from the V4Mirai website that has an interesting techy green colour against a dark grey backdrop that made me lean towards a more techy, digital theme. If I had a chance to make one final change, I'd probably try to add some sort of techy background pattern or design as I realize now it feels a bit empty in that aspect. Oh well!

---------------------------------------

All in all, I'm so happy and grateful to have been part of this wonderful project and hope everyone can look forward to more posts from me as I use this place as a way to do a bit of a post-recap of the design process. There are two more articles in particular that I can't wait to post and speak about more (Roro's was one of them, so I'm glad I can talk about it here hehe), but until that gets released, it'll be hush hush from me 🙊

Please look forward to more editions from Acapella Media, as well as these recap posts. Do you guys like these? I hope they're informative to someone out there...

Anyway, that's it from me for now~

Go read the magazine!!

[solfirafira]

【✨Acapella VTuber Magazine April Issue✨】 Selected Pages

Full magazine can be read here!

---------------------------------------

Interview: Hirano Kokoro Ch.

Program: Adobe Illustrator Role: Designer

I was inspired by sports manga panels when I learned that Roro was a Hockey vtuber so that's the theme I went with for this spread. I looked at some Haikyuu! manga panels to see how the mangaka would emphasize heavy action panels and applied a few of those ideas here such as the diagonal speed lines in the bg of the first Roro image.

It would be a disservice if I didn't mention that in an original draft of this, the deco elements (exclamation marks, stars) were not coloured and in fact standard black and white in order to push the "manga panel" theme, but when sharing with the Acapella team, they wanted to see what it would look like with colour which resulted in a much more put-together version that better worked with Roro's visuals that we ultimately went with it. Shoutout to the Acapella Media staff!! Couldn't have done it without y'all <3

---------------------------------------

Article: Oshi Conbini / Lunalia Anniversary

Program: Adobe Illustrator Role: Designer

For this one, it was a bit of a last minute request and I was never supposed to design it this much but I ended up getting a bit carried away haha! With Oshi's article, this was easy as I pulled major inspo from their insta posts. Background, colour palette, it was easy to adapt the page to their branding. I originally had the idea of the quotes looking like insta comments but quickly realized that simple was best so I ended up opting for a simple border and solid red dropshadow.

One thing that was mentioned as feedback -- and that I now know I should have spent a little bit more time finessing -- is the column distinction, because I totally get how some people may first perceive it as sort of a Left, Right, Left, Right sort of orientation instead of a Left Column, Right Column sort of direction. I plan on taking the lessons I learned from this page onto future pages and take more care in making that distinction a little more easier to follow.

With Lunalia, I drew inspiration from the V4Mirai website that has an interesting techy green colour against a dark grey backdrop that made me lean towards a more techy, digital theme. If I had a chance to make one final change, I'd probably try to add some sort of techy background pattern or design as I realize now it feels a bit empty in that aspect. Oh well!

---------------------------------------

All in all, I'm so happy and grateful to have been part of this wonderful project and hope everyone can look forward to more posts from me as I use this place as a way to do a bit of a post-recap of the design process. There are two more articles in particular that I can't wait to post and speak about more (Roro's was one of them, so I'm glad I can talk about it here hehe), but until that gets released, it'll be hush hush from me 🙊

Please look forward to more editions from Acapella Media, as well as these recap posts. Do you guys like these? I hope they're informative to someone out there...

Anyway, that's it from me for now~

Go read the magazine!!

[fallen-jpg]

really liking batman and robin: year one so far

also i like how bruce pretends everything dick does as robin is perfectly normal but no way he didn't panic the first time this happened

no way he didn't panic the 3045th time this happened either, just learned to hide it better

[quasi-normalcy]

[theconstitutionisgayculture]

Can we maybe stop making shows for people who don't watch shows and writing books for people who don't read books and making video games for people who don't play video games and making sports for people who don't like sports and making music for

[chronocrump]

isn't that cruel

[lebedame-wegelagerin]

[zekedms]

Can’t believe you left this in the tags @thewitchywinnie

[theconcealedweapon]

[kuronekoartsblog]

He likes ‘em strong ☄️

I said I’ll draw them and I did😌

The intention here was making it look like a variant cover, I recently discovered my love for this field so I wanted to try something for fun sjksk

Hope you like it!

[syzygy-yzygy]

So sick of dog motif what about cat motif.

I love you but we don't love the same. I can't be near you when you want me to be. Your love is smothering and your need to keep me safe is trapping me. I'm my own person but I don't know how to show you that. I lash out and hurt you even though I don't mean to. I need you to move slowly around me or I'll bolt. I love you, even though I don't say it. If you stay still I'll sit next to you, and even though we don't understand each other we can be together like that.

[syzygy-yzygy]

@aspengrown this is the rawest possible addition to this post thank you

[mylordshesacactus]

and also:

cat love as in I am small and scared and all of my instincts and my experience and your vast power say you're a threat but I am choosing to trust in your kindness despite my fear. you could kill me with one hand but I know you won't.

cat love as in I can tell you are upset and I don't understand why so I will sit stiffly beside you and awkwardly provide the only reassurance I know how to give. I am uncomfortable with every single moment of this but it is what you would do for me.

cat love as in I am small and powerless but I will curl up back to back with you and stand guard while you sleep and I will mean it with every fiber of my being.

my cat Nepenthe was a former stray behavior case at risk of euthanasia because she kept mauling potential adopters. on her second week in my apartment--having already attacked me multiple times without provocation, I will add, I wasn't special, she needed genuine help--she slinked out of the bedroom yowling at me. when I went to check on her she kept walking back and forth until I followed her, where she insistently paced between my feet and her hidey-hole in the back of my dresser, increasingly distressed. about three seconds after she gave up and hid, an absolutely torrential rain front hit. she didn't understand yet that we couldn't get wet inside. she'd been trying to warn me.

she didn't know me yet, but she knew I hadn't yelled at her when she hurt me. she knew I hadn't tried to hurt her back. she didn't understand why she was attacking me; those episodes probably scared her more than me. she knew I "shared" food with her, and that I asked before touching her. and she went out of her way to bring me into her safe space, to protect her friend.

cat love as stiff hesitant uncertain acts of service that are devastating in their sincerity, as well.

[discount-supervillain]

[reveriememory]

˖ ࣪⊹ Doodle For Box ⁎⁺˳

I just drew based off where the inspiration wanted, so this appeared after 3 hours~

[reveriememory]

˖ ࣪⊹ Precious Present ⁎⁺ ˳

❤️ “Just a little mischief.” Astarion and my durge, whom I still have to decide a name for… but they’re adorable! See the progress and more about the art below.

Progress

I decided to be bold with my art, in terms of pose. Normally, I’m shy about how I draw characters interacting, since I’m nervous about weirding people out. Randomly, I realized how restricting that is, and also I’d rather lose those people and enjoy what I draw; if those people even exist to begin with really. Astarion has been my biggest muse, so drawing him with my characters has been helping out a ton! He’s still a workout to draw though, so I hope it gets easier overtime. I want to draw him faster;;;

This time I remembered to save progress images along the way! Since I allowed myself to draw these two as I wanted, I had a lot of fun with the sketch. I wanted Durge to have this playful but casual look? Like he was surprised but pretty nonchalant about it since he’s either used to Astarion and trusts whatever he’s doing. Astarion, just smug as usual. The no clothes thing was done because I didn’t want to cover my Durge’s legs, they looked too good. Astarion, I did not want to draw his shirt. Maybe I’ll do a version in the future where he does have it on lolol

The linework, I tried a more traditional textured pen, which I’m 50/50 on. I love the organic feel to it, but I’m still hesitant on it because I’m so used to the solid crispy lines of digital art, so using a rougher brush feels wrong? I did plan to redo the lines but I decided to keep it for this art piece.

Here’s an isolated version of this, just as a fun little extra. Also, that embossing effect for my signature is awesome! I learned it through another artist, one who did watercolor. If I can find them I’ll have to link them.

Realistically, sparkly ribbons would be harsh on the skin but… glitter. And who’s to say it’s not just magically enhanced ribbons? Or pixie dust? I’m sure Astarion would be sure to pick the softest material.

⭐️ If you’d like to support me on other platforms, you can find me on… Instagram, KoFi, Twitter, BlueSky, or Twitch! (More on Carrd)

Divider from here.

[enbyhyena]

Gonna be streaming Flight Rising on Twitch tonight starting at 6pm CST! Handing out free dragons to anyone new who signs up with me as their referral, and paying out 10kt for every $1 donated to the Trevor Project through my charity! Trying to raise $1,000 before the end of this year. Lets make it happen!

[discount-supervillain]

[discount-supervillain]

A pretty close Patreon Poll winner!

[eijiroukiriot]

this is the funniest tweet i’ve seen in months bye

[bigratbastard]

[fxr-yxur-amusement]

[chaos-storm]

[aaawunder]

[nomuru2d]

these are all the geek equivalents of Lovecraft’s Cat’s Name

[official-lucifers-child]

his cats name couldn’t be that bad!!!! it’s a cat, what’s the worst name?

[official-lucifers-child]

i am wrong, what the fuck

[world-heritage-posts]

world heritage post

[tallymali]

im always thinking about that post where someones grandma said “some people have never cleaned a bathroom and it shows” bc it does show

[cazort]

when i was a kid, in 2nd grade (age 7) i and some other kids made a mess in one of the bathrooms at school and the teachers instead of doing the normal canned "punishments" like having to skip lunch recess and sit still inside doing work, had us sit down with the janitors and they talked to us and the janitors explained the work they normally needed to do every day to clean the bathroom, and how what we did created extra work for them. and they took us into the bathroom and showed us what they do and how what we did made it more difficult.

and then they made us clean it all up (with help from the janitors because we were small kids and couldn't even reach everything, we had like thrown toilet paper high up and stuff) and they were very nice about it and there was no further punishment or mention of it again

and the things i took from this experience were:

i never trashed any shared or public space ever again in my life, even in the smallest way

i developed great respect for janitors which i have kept to this day

i think there are a lot of people who could benefit from this sort of experience.

our society often has so many problems not only because we insulate some people from the implications of their actions, but also because instead of facing them with those implications, we impose outside "punishments" that are often unrelated to the original wrongdoing.

like if they had not done what they did with us, and instead had just taken away our recess and made us do something boring and unpleasant, we wouldn't have learned what we did and we would have just learned that we need to get better at avoiding getting caught, which is generally how people respond to punishments that are divorced from explanations of how and why what you did was wrong and hurt people. if instead you confront people with those things, they will change of their own accord.

some adults out there are like full-grown children who never learned this stuff. but the solution isn't harsh punishment like putting them in jail and mistreating them there, the solution is that people need to be sat down with the people who are harmed by their actions and then they can work together to undo the damage, and see firsthand how hard it is.

it's transformative.

[solfirafira]

casual reminder that the japanese education system has a whole thing where students are required to take on roles where it is their responsibility to keep the classroom and school clean. i don't quite remember the full details, and of course there are other factors that come into play as to why japan as a whole is pretty clean as a country compared to others, but this sort of lesson starts right at the beginning and sets a precedent as to the sense of personal responsibility we all have in keeping the spaces we use clean for everyone else.