milky's way

Forgot to post it here

For the seventh year running, time to get the courier to bring you pens and paper!

As always, even if you aren’t participating, I’d be very grateful if you could signal boost by re-blogging!  I’ll also be cross-posting to my Twitter *here* if that’s more your jam, please like and RT~

What’s a Secret Santa?

(gratuitously copypasta’d from last year’s post)  For those who have never done a Secret Santa before, the way it works is you submit a gift request, which goes into a pool which is then randomised. The randomised requests are then handed out to the participants.

So basically, its Mystery Gift! Everyone draws/writes a Dota-themed gift for someone. You won’t know who it’s for, and you won’t know who is doing yours! Then at Christmas we hand out the completed gifts anonymously to whomever they belong, via email.

Sounds good, where do I sign?

Send your email applications right here!   ->  [email protected]

What do I write in my  application email?

1. Your name / tumblr tag - a link to your blog would also be helpful so I know who you are and can contact you if emails are not working or something. If you’ve never participated before, a link to examples of your work is appreciated!

2. Preferred gift rating.  NSFW requests are totally okay as long as they are not offensive/racist/sexist but if you’d like something NSFW, please also provide a SFW alternative request as not everyone is comfortable producing such content. If you don’t mind receiving NSFW but would prefer not to submit it, please tell me and vice versa.

3. Your actual request!  If you prefer shipping/non shipping, please tell me.

Examples of requests:

- [insert character here] all warm and toasty and happy by a fireside

- [insert characters here] exchanging Christmas gifts (sexily or non-sexily)

Your requests don’t have to be seasonal-themed, request whatever you like!

4. Whether you would be able to fill an extra gift if needed.  Hopefully I won’t need to call on anyone, but in case of emergency this would be very much appreciated.

———-   DEADLINES   ————–

Applications:  20th November 2019, 00:00 GMT

Gift submission: 20th December 2019, 22:00 GMT

GIFT EXCHANGE WILL TAKE PLACE ON 25th December 2019 (time TBC)

———-      RULES/GUIDELINES     —————–

- Don’t be a butt. (generally the best rule to live by)

- Complete the gift using your MAD SKILLS, be it drawing or writing fanfic! If you have other cool magic abilities like animating, you’re welcome to use those too!

- Please submit completed works only. Your gift should be fully coloured if it’s art, and properly formatted, spell-checked and at least 1,000 words if it’s a written piece.

- For written pieces, google doc links/word documents are fine for the email exchange, but if you want me to include your fic in the tumblr master-post please bear in mind you need to post it somewhere link-able such as AO3.

- if you are submitting NSFW art, AO3 hosts art too! With the recent tumblr restrictions, this is a good hosting option and I think they have anon options too.

- Please don’t post any completed gifts on your blog before the gifts are exchanged on Christmas Day!

- if the deadline is approaching and you know you won’t be able to submit in time, please tell me as soon as possible so I can arrange for someone else to fill it.

- if you’d like to remain anonymous, please tell me (there will be master-posts of all the submissions a couple of days after exchange)

- I’ll be tracking the tumblr tag ‘dota secret santa 2019’. If you have any issues, inbox me, email me or hmu on Twitter! (link above)  There’s also a Discord group (links will be sent to participants)

I have some hours before work so I’ll use them to actually detail why I’ve found CSPaint to be so efficient for bastard-aligned painters who like to take shortcuts.

This will seem familiar to most of you guys, but this functions a little bit different from Photoshop. It turns everything you draw on the layer into editable curves, but retains the aliased smoothness of an ordinary raster layer. Practically a cheat to access the whole suite of amazing tools CS offers for lineart. Such as:

The vector eraser is The Best™. You can be as messy as possible and this tool erases the excess. One pen-flick and it’s done. Much faster than cleaning it up by hand. You can also tweak the settings of this brush to encapsulate more/less lines as you erase but that’s getting a little more involved. Anyway, last thing:

Maybe the only thing better than the vector eraser. There are multiple settings, but these three are the most handy. You can smooth wiggly edges, connect broken strokes, and tweak the width/weight to exactly how you want it. This also has a ton of settings you can play around with. It’s great!

Wraith gets taken to solace for """termination"""

you know what else is in solace

Mirages BAR BABEY

I know im on my bullshit I just love finding excuses to make these 2 nerds interact and it's also 2am

Imagine like, it's a quiet night at the bar, almost closing time actually. Mirage is wiping the last of his glasses when there's a thump or crash outside near the dumpsters. He goes out cautiously to find out what it was, only to find a woman, shaven head. Passed out from exhaustion, cuts and bruises, wounds covered in crusty layers of blood. Her face is strewn with fear or anger, not even finding peace after collapsing from exhaustion.

Mirage has.... never seen her before (unsurprisingly) but her face is so beautiful, even covered in dirt and shit. He can't just leave her here though. She looks as though she was running from harm, if that's the case he should take her inside; and that's what he does.

He's no Lifeline but he admires his handiwork. He cleaned her wounds well, even included a free wipe down of the dirt and grime (on the house) and...now what? Bars closed, a woman laying on the floor of the staff room, he can't exactly leave her here either.

He examines her a little more clearly.

Her left arm has some crazy lookin' brace on it, kinda looks like it's glowing but at this time of the night he doesn't trust his eyes. He notices some kind of restraints, or what used to be of. Did she break out of them? The thought sends a tinge of anxiety down Mirages throat.

Hours pass without any sign of her waking up, Mirage let's sleep get the better of him as he passes out in the chair across from her.