Imagining Solider Boy Calling Misha’s Character “angel” Or Something Stupid To Reference Spn Right

Happy Mermay! My first time participating 😊 . Please enjoy these manatee mermen running a turtle wash together 🐢

i really need to finish drawing the map for Arthur & Rusty's universe so I can flesh it out enough to let my friends mess with my lil guys but I really don't want to lmao. maps are hardddd.

(also like the universe isn't just abt Arthur and Rusty there are more characters (.. there aren't but there will be) they're just the only two I have tangible concepts 4 so far)

I'm procrastinating by drawing Rusty's ref sheet (finally) instead LOL. gotta love the classic 'avoid being productive by being productive'

where they got their names from =)

he’s going thru it if u can guess the reference image used ily

Russel ‘Rusty’ Sullivan, pleased to make your acquaintance!

This is Rusty, he’s roughly 96 years old (though he doesn’t look it)! He runs Midnight Fuel, your first and only option for fuel and trail-mix in the middle of nowhere, Florida! It’s been owned by his family (more specifically, just Rusty) for a very long time, and is a staple of the Bitter Springs community (though Rusty isn’t very jazzed to be included in all the warm fuzzies, he’s a bit of a curmudgeon) Rusty here made a slightly monkey’s paw flavored deal with Arthur Warren back in the 50s, and now he has locationally specific immortality. His gas station is as far as he can venture outside of town before Ye Old Stab Wounds reopen

His hobbies include repairing old radios, boxing, and trading possibly cursed and/or magical items under the table.

Changelings! Six legged insectoid beasts grown to the size of ponies, their target mimic species. Rather than evolving perfect physical mimicry, changeling imitation is a two-pronged process. In addition to a color-shifting carapace, magic distorts and twists the silhouette to match the mimicked subject. The spell is weaved with a rapid beating of the the wings, which creates a delicate network of invisible magic threads that tie the changeling's physical form to the projected mirage to make it move. After casting the spell, the changeling needs to recast it periodically, so if you doubt your friend's identity, listen for the buzzing of wings.

It takes a lot of concentration to keep the illusion in place, and changelings are naturally much taller than ponies when standing at their full height. Inexperienced or agitated changelings may forget to crouch, which breaks the illusion in a terrifying way. Because the features of the mirage are bound to the underlying insect body, moving wrong will distort the perceived form before it reveals what lies beneath.

The reason changeling bodies are so much longer than their target species is to allow a changeling to mimic creatures many times their size, provided they have the wingspan to reach the entire length of the target individual. A full wingspan is the sign of a healthy changeling, one that has enough magic to cast their illusions without much effort. Without sufficient magic, a changeling must constantly refresh their spell, and the ceaseless beating tears their delicate wings to shreds.

There is one changeling with enough magic to spare: The Queen. Drones store magic in their tails and bring it back to feed her. The queen of years past has been bleeding them dry and soaking up all their magic, leaving what should be a healthy reservoir in their tails as a withered pocket. This new style of ruling could possibly have started as a response to the ascension of the Goddess of Love, and the resulting magicification of feelings of romantic and platonic love.

For millennia, changelings evolved to feed on emotions directed at them (or rather the being they mimic) and convert it into magic. Positive emotions were the most stable, but any emotion worked. But when Love started to feel an entire meal, and gave the drones strength to subsist on their own, their queen demanded every drop of intoxicating love for herself, leaving them in a constant state of starvation and desperation.

Just a little love can go a long way. Changelings are forbidden from changing their colors or illusions to express themselves, as they must be seen as "mindless drones" and part of a single hive mind, despite their potential for individuality. Instead, they remain black unless imitating a pony or other creature. Each section of a changeling's carapace has a clear top layer with liquid suspended above the actual armor layer beneath. Microscopic grooves display different colors and shades based on how much of the liquid fills them, and how much pressure it's under. With the base colors set, wings spin the illusion of form to completely disguise the changeling beneath.

But what if they didn't have to save all their energy for disguises? What if there was enough love to go around?

The Changeling Revolution is an ongoing battle, but it has a hopeful, vibrant spark. Led by a mild-mannered former "drone," a growing faction are discovering peace, safety, and individuality by feeding off love directed not at illusions they cast, but to the people they truly are. It's a scary, vulnerable first step to allow others to see your true nature, but the rewards of loving and being loved are worth it.

Revolutionaries are not "reformed" so much as healed by embracing individual love. It turns out when each changeling allows themself to have their own color, preferences, and name, then the love felt from one changeling to another can be converted into magic, and a hive can become a thriving ecosystem within itself.

Nymphs, once destined for a viscous cycle of deception and starvation, are now able to bask in love given to them by hivemates, and they grow up stronger and kinder than any generation before. Though they can only shift into pastel colors until their carapace fully hardens and darkens, they still express by choosing their own look, name, and destiny.

The healing of the changeling population is as varied as their prismatic colors, and as beautiful as their glittering wings.

y is posting to tumblr so hard. cries

I still haven't finished this art whoops.

its the guys again

the lanky guy doesn’t belong to me I only own the short bisexual alcoholic

so like. i was like ‘i don’t post 18+ art of the steamy variety on this blog’ and like. that was bc i don’t draw any. 👍 HOWEVER now I draw it bc my friends are certainly some kind of influence on me. no idea what to do

for all of you who struggle to draw horse feet. :) You’ve gotta have those pasterns in there, as they are the horse’s main shock absorbers, as seen in the “bearing weight” example.

If you can handle an animal autopsy, here’s an interesting vid on how the muscles and joints work in the lower leg of the horse.