UPDATE!! He Has An Official Name Now!!! :D

UPDATE!! He has an official name now!!! :D

I was looking at the wikipedia page for the Goliath stick insect for inspiration, and I scrolled down to the many different scientific names it's been given by different people throughout the years. One word that popped up in three of the names was "Acheron", which is the name of a river in classical mythology. The word itself means both -death- and -hell-

I wasn't completely sold on this word as his name for that reason, since the meanings don't exactly suit his character, but I wanted to include it somehow to tie his name to the actual insect!

So, I decided to combine the word 'Acheron' with my own name, 'Robynn', which gave me 'Acherynn' ^-^

I think this name has a much softer feeling to it, which suits him much better! And as a bonus, it's really easy for me to remember since it was easy to come up with :]

He no longer has to go by strictly 'bug boy' bahahahaha

Alright, that's my rant over lmao

Stickbug (and Acherynn!!) out 🪲

He's finished!

Or well, his base concept bahahaha

And as promised, I'm also including his colour palette! The shadow colours aren't set in stone of course, that 100% depends on the style and lighting one chooses to use - should they want to doodle my bug boy -, but I wanted to include them because - why not? -

Nothing is set in stone tbh, if you wanna up the saturation, darken/lighten some colours, change a hue or two to make him fit your style a little better, you're more than welcome to do so ^-^

I haven't worked out a name for him just yet, but I tend to call him "Stick", "Bug", or "Bug boy", so I guess those are his nicknames so far! ^-^

And just to be clear, there are no set pronouns for this buggy dude! I tend to use he/him because it comes naturally to me, but this character is in fact genderfluid, with a majority of the time spent more on either the agender or masculine side of the spectrum

He basically shares my gender identity (and my eye colour, a fun little detail), which makes sense since he is my persona after all bahahaha

His height, which I now realise I should have included in one of the pictures :'], is 7'8". Yes, this is very tall. Yes, he is based on an absolutely massive insect lmao

Clothes are honestly up to whoever is doodling him, I drew him without them here since I wanted to clearly display his build (and he technically doesn't need to wear any clothes unless he's cold, since there isn't really anything to cover up lmao)

All of that said, I hope you have a wonderful rest of your day! 🧡

Yours truly, Stickbug 🪲

(and Stickbug's bug boy)

I have decided to give my good friend Pothead Larry (A plastic halloween candy container that once housed a singular hemp plant which I found had sprouted in the yard) a realistic make-over

Painting away those angry eyesockets is definetly a challenge lmao :']

Making said eyesockets - as well as the nasal cavity - look like they aren't just shallow indents has also been a journey to say the least, and why is the cheekbone so long???? And why are the teeth so small?????? 😭

Definetly turning this into a flower pot once again after this, gotta get me some plant lights though since my window doesn't get enough light TTvTT

A Spot of Cream: a short story

The man stared into his coffee mug, swirling the cloudy liquid absent-mindedly and observing how the thin layer of cream gathered in the center, a melancholy yet fond look on his paling face. The sun was beginning to peak through the kitchen window, as evident by the way the morning light was just shy of touching his hand where it laid idly on the kitchen table

Just under half an hour ago, he had returned home from the store, having left to get the very cream that was currently occupying his attention upon discovering that what little he had left had spoiled overnight.

He listened to the gentle pitter-patter outside, and breathed a content sigh, taking another sip of his morning coffee. He could feel the subtle warmth of the rising sun creeping up on his hand, having never left it's place on the table beside his favourite mug.

The man smiled to himself, - it was a resigned, barely-there quirk of the lips, just in the corners of his mouth, - as he took another sip of his now luke-warm coffee and ignored the steadily growing feeling of numbness stemming from his hand, now completely illuminated by the morning rays.

Pulling his eyes away from the coffee mug, he watched with fascination as the light gleamed like gold flakes in the scarlet that covered his, now limp, pale fingers.

His gaze shifted further up, settling just above his wrist, where the bite had begun to turn the surrounding skin a sickly greyish shade of what had been a lively peach just an hour ago.

The man sighed once more, and took yet another sip of his, now cold, morning coffee.

Soon, he would join the pitter-patter outside, all for a spot of cream in his coffee.

My prompts for this story were:

Virus, Sound, Mug, Result :]

Hello friends! ^-^

I just made an etsy!! I only have one listing up as of now, but I'm still really excited about it bahahaha

I tried my best to make it affordable without losing too much quality, so the main listing is 25USD, while there's another version with slightly better paper for 35USD, and a framed version of the first one for 75USD :]

(that last one feels a little unnecessary, but I figured that not everyone wants to go buy a separate frame for their prints, so why not? Lmao)

Here is the link to my first listing! There is no pressure whatsoever to buy of course, but I would appreciate a share if it isn't too much trouble ^-^

The printing service I'm using is Gelato, which is connected to my Etsy shop where the products will be displayed and avaliable for purchase!

Any and all feedback is welcomed with open arms, I'm incredibly new to this so I wouldn't be surprised if I've made a mistake or two bahahaha TTvTT

That being said, I hope you have a wonderful rest of your day!! 🧡

Yours truly, Stickbug 🪲

Have this mindless doodle!

I was very bored •>

The apprentice: a short story

The apprentice slowly backed away from her work, putting her spatula down and eyeing the sculpture thoughtfully. She had been working on it for weeks on end, almost obsessive in her dedication to form the clay just right, to stay true to her reference material; down to the subtle bend of each little eyelash.

They were delicate enough to snap in half with the most minuscule application of force, and had drawn many curses from her lips during the tedious sculpting process.

She knew very well that she could have used a wire armature to spare herself the trouble, but she was nothing if not stubborn in her approach, and real eyelashes didn't have any armatures.

Shifting her gaze from the delicate things, her eyes settled on the area where the sculpture's nose meets it's mouth, admiring the elegant curve of the cupid's bow which had taken her countless attempts to get just right. Every prior attempt perfectly decent, yet still inferior to the next.

Nodding approvingly, her gaze shifted further yet, settling on the juncture where the sculpture's jaw meets it's neck. It was well executed, - anyone could see that, it was plain as day. It didn't take a master to point it out. -

Except for one thing,

The neck was too short.

The apprentice clenched her fists at the discovery, cursing herself as she reached for her previously abandoned spatula. With a calm, yet almost frenzied look in her eyes, she began to separate the sculpted head from the neck of it's static body, taking diligent care in avoiding any and all unnecessary damage.

She would of course have mended any such damage with the same level of precision that had been applied to every other step in this tedious journey, but it would have been a waste of precious effort to sculpt what had already been sculpted to perfection, so she focused back on the task at hand; to fix the mistake she had already - foolishly - made.

Setting the head down on a small table to her right, she picked up some clay and got to work.

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

Once satisfied with her performance, she carefully retrieved the head from her right, scored and coated both it and the top of the neck in slip, and painstakingly joined them together as if they never had been separated in the first place.

Once again, she set her spatula aside and examined her work, her scrutinizing gaze unforgiving of even the tiniest inaccuracy.

Finally content with her handicraft, she breathed an appeased sigh before turning her gaze to her left, where her master sat as model for her ambitious project. It had taken quite a bit of convincing on her part, but she had eventually gotten her way, just like she knew she would.

Smiling at her master, she approached him, a fond look on her face as she spoke, her left hand resting gently on his stoic face:

"You sat so patiently for me, master. I hope I've done you justice."

Her hand reluctantly left his face, it's gaze unmoving from it's spot on the sculpture that depicted it's likeness, as it had been for the last few weeks.

Even in death, his piercing gaze betrayed not even the shallowest of thoughts that hid behind those eyes.

My prompts for this short story were:

Perfect, Separate, Sculpture, and Learn ^-^