Turning Darkness into Light

how it ended:

Goodness is not goodness that seeks advantage. Good is good in the final hour, in the deepest pit. Without hope, without witness, without reward. Virtue is only virtue in extremis.

When the young people dance, they do not dance forever

It is written in sand with the softest of feathers

It is not writ in stone like the walls of a chapel

And soon it is gone, like the soft winter's apple

“Ill i hevib a-thannad i garathab ilú i annen aphen”

“All we have to decide is what to do with the time given us.”

I’m about to turn 40, and the last several months have been spent thinking about what that means… understanding my reaction to my own mortality. This quote had helped me through the existential angst.

Sindarin translation is by Elaran from the Vinye Lambengolmor server on Discord.

Also: WHY IS THIS INK SO PRETTY!? 😭✨💝

I believe it’s DeAtramentis shimmering magenta or something like that. I only have a sample and i lost the label! Look at the copper shimmer!

EDIT: the ink is DeAtramentis Magenta Red-Copper

C-1 dip nib

keep fucking going

Life has been….So Much recently. But that’s alright! Good things are on the horizon.

I’m still working on “no love, however brief”, but this quote ended up grabbing my attention first, mostly because it’s short and easy. I used this to practice coloring and bolder stylization, since I want to get more color and special effects into my portfolio. The end result isn’t perfect, but I’m vibing with it tbh!

I plan to put this on my Redbubble eventually, and possibly my Etsy as well. I’ll reblog with links whenever they become available.

–

do it scared

I've had to do a lot of scary things lately, and it's been helpful to remind myself that you don't have to stop being scared before you do the scary thing. And you know what, no one has killed me with hammers yet!! So that's pretty neat.

--

virtue is only virtue in extremis

Another tattoo commission, this time in Sherman’s. It’s been a while since I designed a tattoo in Sherman’s. This piece was a lot of fun to work on, even though when I first started sketching it out, I completely forgot about the word “in” until 45 minutes in and had to redo the whole design from scratch. This phrase gave lots of opportunities for stacked letters + illusions of continuity, both of which I love playing around with. Can’t wait to see the finished tattoo!

“Planets come and go. Stars perish. Matter disperses, coalesces, forms into other patterns, other worlds. Nothing can be eternal.” - The 6th Doctor, Doctor Who (in Gallifreyan).

romance author kj charles has me in a chokehold!!! i just reread band sinister, which is such a comfort read btw, and i can't stop thinking about when guy says he'll "get better" from being in love with philip, and how "we get better" is the root of sooooo much miscommunication and gay panic in the book. and then no one ever gets better and instead everyone gets a happy ending and they all ride off holding hands towards london amen. c:

...anyway.

it was fun to experiment with effects to get a more vintage-y handwritten look for this one! i liked the idea of guy jotting this down on the back of a letter or a page from one of amanda's manuscripts, as a reminder to himself.