Just Wanted To Let The World Know I Finally Watched Merlin For The First Time And I Am Furious At Everyone

This post is less Good Omens- related and more personal, but there's been a lot of arguing over "representation" in the fandom the past few days. The strong feelings people express are awesome but ALSO I really want us in the community to appreciate and listen to one another.

People want to KILL queer people. There are still many, many places where it is not safe to have any identity other than cis het. Fighting that means sticking together, not tearing each OTHER apart. Allosexual, asexual, lesbian, gay, cis, trans, nonbinary, gender queer, GNC... we're all part of this community and we're stronger together.

In Good Omens, Neil Gaiman gave us a glimpse of what a world could be if people got to decide for themselves how to present and who to love without the hate and prejudice that inevitably comes along with that in the real world. I know people are questioning exactly what Crowley and Aziraphale are and how they identify, which is fine (honestly I don't know that we'll ever find out for sure. It may be something private between the two of them). But saying things like "it's homophobic" (for them to be ace), or "it's acephobic" (for them to be gay) sort of defeats the purpose of "it's a love story", doesn't it? At the end of the day, maybe it doesn't matter what EXACTLY they are. They're unapologetically QUEER and their story is for and about all of us.

It's okay to disagree. It's okay to ask questions. I mean, that's the moral of Good Omens, isn't it? We don't have to be the same; we SHOULDN'T all be the same... there's strength and beauty in our differences. But even if we don't all agree with one another, let's support each other.

I see them as gay male coded beings who have chosen that identity for themselves and would enjoy sexual pleasure as much as any other earthly pleasure. If YOU see them as agender or nonbinary sexless entities who are QPR or ace or aroace and would never have sex, I SUPPORT THE HELL OUT OF YOUR RIGHT TO DO SO. I'm in your corner and I will fight for you.

Love you all. Love that we love the ineffable love story of Good Omens, whatever form that takes, and let's lift each other up rather than tearing each other down.

Okay but how fucking funny is it that Hunith gave Gaius literally zero indication of the shenanigans that 24/7 go down with Merlin. Like girl obviously sent letters back and forth with this man to coordinate sending her son to the sorcerer murder capital of the world and didn’t even warn him that he’d be harboring a sorcerer supreme who is fleeing home because he can’t control his abilities. Like girl 100% just banked on the fact that Merlin would be cute enough to immediately make Gaius risk it all and goddammit this wild bitch was right.

This is so interesting! I can‘t wait to check out the books listed above.

My legitimate surname is Merlin and I‘ve been wondering where it comes from for ages (I‘m not from the UK or france) and the whole thing just got more mysterious to me once I realized the mythological wizard isn‘t even named that, but Myrddin instead.

Maybe I‘ll do a DNA test at some point? At least my surname got me really invested in the arthurian legend and celtic mythology in general, which is a nice niche interest to have.

anyway just a reminder for the myth lovers out there

king arthur was welsh. merlin was welsh. camelot was in wales. the lady and the lake she pops out of; welsh. excalibur; magic inanimate welsh object. etc.

on the way to see family, i drive past a lake that in which is welsh legend, is the last resting place of excalibur.

i’m just saying in my experience a lot of these legends had been so anglo-fied in the past and it’s like, all this cool shit is celtic welsh legend.

Quick warm up sketch for our birthday boy :3 

Something interesting I just realized, because I‘m experiencing it pretty badly at the moment:

It‘s hardly talked about, but once you are making noticable progress in your recovery from depression the damage it has done on your life really starts to kick in.

Suddenly you‘re more aware than ever how much work/social events/life in general you missed, because the question „Why did you achieve so little over the past couple of years?“ is absolutely inevitable and people will think that you were lazy during that time.

I think this is the most dangerous point of recovery for relapses, because whenever someone asks you what you did or didn‘t do while you were sick the realisation hits like a train.

Me saying this could definitely be regarded as pretentious, since I myself haven‘t exactly found a way to cope with this feeling, but I feel like it‘s very important to drown out those voices of „you didn‘t do anything“ „you were just lazy“ and „you‘re a complete failure, look at you“ with thoughts of „I survived.“ „I made it through“ „I managed not to let myself starve, I showered“ „I fed my pets/watered my plants regardless of how terrible I felt“

I‘m mainly saying this to myself in this post, but figured maybe this makes it onto the feed of someone who needs to hear this as well. Stay strong guys, we can get through this!

Pepa is slowly becoming my favourite character to draw, I love how they designed her, she has just so many expressions!

plus she‘s super hot

So I‘m rewatching good omens with my mom and I‘m hollering because I just imagined the story of season 1 from Shadwell‘s point of view.

Imagine you scam a dude who you think is mafia into paying your rent for sixty years, to the point where the mafia mans son takes over his place as your sponsor. Parallel to that you convince some naïve old bookseller who you‘re pretty sure is gayer than a tree full of monkeys on nitrous oxide to also send you money every month under the guise of providing him with an army. (What in gods name would the pansy need an army for? Who cares, at least he pays amiright). This carries on for decades. Those two couldn’t be more different people. Until one day you walk in on the southern pansy performing what can only be described as a satanic ritual and promptly exorcise him with nothing but your index finger, then return to your landlady (?) who you‘ve been insulting despite clearly being quite fond of her for the better part of your adult years.

Said woman then suddenly becomes possessed by the gay demon you JUST exorcised with your finger, only it turns out he‘s actually a good guy and while still trying to come to terms with the fact that your finger is capable of expelling demons, the world is ending and the woman of your heart is possessed by an angel, said angel promptly orders you to rush to Tadfield on a flying moped to kill an 11 year old boy with nipples all over using a century old cannon that you cannot possibly be sure actually works.

And then, when the day couldn‘t possibly get any weirder, your other sponsor - the scary mafia dude - shows up IN A BURNING CAR (which admittedly isn’t even the weirdest thing that happened today) and isn‘t only acquainted with the gay bookseller but seems to be unmistakenly, hopelessly, ready-to-jump-him-at-any-moment, head over heals in love with him and now you have to third wheel the mafia dude and his boyfriend who‘s currently stuck in your future wife‘s body, only to witness the boy you were meant to kill make up a whole ass new body for the gay angel out of thin air, then tell off his dad - who seems to be satan in carnate - then get told off by his adoptive dad who has about as much of a clue as to what happened as you do. Also your new recruit dips to a small english village because he fell in love with a witch, despite you telling him to set them on fire on sight.

Like if he hadn‘t been utterly mad before, I‘m sure Shadwell would‘ve been at the very least institutionalised after all this.

hot artists don't gatekeep

I've been resource gathering for YEARS so now I am going to share my dragons hoard

Floorplanner. Design and furnish a house for you to use for having a consistent background in your comic or anything! Free, you need an account, easy to use, and you can save multiple houses.

Comparing Heights. Input the heights of characters to see what the different is between them. Great for keeping consistency. Free.

Magma. Draw online with friends in real time. Great for practice or hanging out. Free, paid plan available, account preferred.

Smithsonian Open Access. Loads of free images. Free.

SketchDaily. Lots of pose references, massive library, is set on a timer so you can practice quick figure drawing. Free.

SculptGL. A sculpting tool which I am yet to master, but you should be able to make whatever 3d object you like with it. free.

Pexels. Free stock images. And the search engine is actually pretty good at pulling up what you want.

Figurosity. Great pose references, diverse body types, lots of "how to draw" videos directly on the site, the models are 3d and you can rotate the angle, but you can't make custom poses or edit body proportions. Free, account option, paid plans available.

Line of Action. More drawing references, this one also has a focus on expressions, hands/feet, animals, landscapes. Free.

Animal Photo. You pose a 3d skull model and select an animal species, and they give you a bunch of photo references for that animal at that angle. Super handy. Free.

Height Weight Chart. You ever see an OC listed as having a certain weight but then they look Wildly different than the number suggests? Well here's a site to avoid that! It shows real people at different weights and heights to give you a better idea of what these abstract numbers all look like. Free to use.

Luisa and her poor hot chocolate

Some sick IwaOi headcanons that nobody asked for since I’m still feeling like crap:

Two idiots who deny the fact that they are sick to themselves but know the second the other is sick and will nurse them accordingly.

Contrary to a lot of hcs, I think that Oikawa would be a more quiet, sulky kind of sick person. If he’s sick, it’s probably because he’s exhausted himself and so he really wouldn’t have the energy to whine. He will argue with you though over his sickness and will deny it at all costs until it’s simply not arguable.

Iwaizumi doesn’t even bother arguing with him, either drags him home or piggy-backs him halfway when it’s less likely for people to see him because Oikawa refuses to show his weak side to anyone (except his mother, sister, and Iwaizumi, they are the only exception).

Iwaizumi is actually a pretty clingy person when he’s sick. No one expects it (or believes it when Oikawa jokes about it) but Oikawa knows for a fact his friend (boyfriend?) will practically leech onto him, even if he’s burning up with a fever. Mama Iwaizumi says it’s because whenever Iwa was sick as a baby/toddler, she would lay him on her chest and hold him to try and help him feel better. He doesn’t do it with anybody else but her and Oikawa, so she thinks it’s because Oikawa exudes a similar type of comfort to Iwaizumi that he remembers from babyhood. 

Continuing on with that, Iwaizumi likes to lay on Oikawa’s chest if he does latch on. He’s not comfortable unless he can hear the rhythmic beat of his heart.

I know it’s pretty fun to joke about either of them having a lack of cooking skills, but seriously, I think they can at least handle the basics enough that when the other is sick (and a parent isn’t around or they are off at Uni or something) the non-sick person is able to handle at least a simple soup or some rice porridge.

Oikawa is a big mama’s boy and does love it when his mother comes in to check on him and will sit down and brush through his hair with her fingers. When they go onto Uni, Iwaizumi also tries to do this for him and Oikawa really appreciates it.

It’s very rare that they are sick at the same time, but if it does happen they both sort of take turns as best they can to take care of the other.

Also, before they establish a relationship, it’s sort of an unspoken agreement that whoever is sick gets joined in bed by the other. (If they are both sick, the just huddle up together in either of their rooms.)

Iwaizumi will carry Oikawa out to the couch so he can huddle up and watch movies when he’s sick. He will watch them on the couch with him too, or at least stay in the room with him while working on homework.

Iwaizumi gets really bad chest-colds and Oikawa will put vapor rub on his chest even though he can’t stand the smell just so Iwaizumi can breathe a little better.

Oikawa gets sore throats often and Iwaizumi will go out and buy him a slushy or popsicle because it makes him feel better. He will also go look for Oikawa’s expensive, frilly tea so he can brew him some whenever Oikawa is feeling especially bad.

Oikawa does not handle throwing up well. He finds it incredibly gross and the feeling to be suffocating which always makes him panic a little and sometimes turn into a sobbing mess. Iwaizumi will always push his hair back with a headband and sit on the bathroom floor with him, rubbing his back and trying to keep him calm by talking with him.

Iwaizumi gets pretty delusional with a fever and will start babbling about the craziest things. Oikawa finds it cute, though he feels bad he’s sick, and he tries to answer back as much as he can because Iwaizumi likes to have someone to talk to. It’s more grounding for him in his mind and keeps him from feeling shitty and lonely.

Oikawa is notorious for getting sick after finals. He just goes through days of none stop studying, a habit Iwaizumi has never been able to break as much as he’s tried, and will essentially collapse after. Iwaizumi always nurses him better while gently scolding him.  

They will go and get notes for each other if one misses a day of classes. They will just grab the others phone, text the classmates saved in there and go copy down notes so the sick one won’t fall too far behind. Sometimes they even sit in the class for the other if the professor allows it.

Double standard Iwaizumi who will smooch Oikawa all he wants while Oikawa’s sick despite any protest just to prove that he won’t catch it. But will not by any means let Oikawa kiss him if he catches anything. Oikawa gets super pouty about that and complains every time.

After sick spells, they will always take the other out and treat the other to whatever food they are craving. It’s there silent way of saying, “I’m glad that you are better, please continue to take care of yourself.”

I have tons more, but this is long already so I might make a separate post another day.