What’s Better Than A Vampire? What’s Better Than A Horse. A Vampire Horse, Of Course. I Made This

ABCDMXTX - Day 20: Tianlang-Jun.

When not even your decaying body can prevent you from reading RPF of your own son (?)

Tianlang-Jun is so absurd, I adore him.

List of prompts.

ABCDMXTX - Day 12: Lan Zhan.

A friend gave me the idea of drawing Lan Zhan right after his punishment, and I ended up going a bit experimental and trying many new brushes.

List of prompts.

Yknow what while I’m here I know we as a website agreed to oppress the business majors but all the bullshit that comes around every April over ao3’s business practices makes me think we should’ve kept at least one to explain to people how nonprofits, despite their name, still need money to function and do not in fact run on rainbows and dreams alone

“Our culture suffers from terminal brainworms when it comes to artistic expression. We are under the impression that art is something ‘special people’ do, and to do it well makes you a genius and to do it poorly is embarrassing. This sectioning-off of ‘the art world, for artists,’ from regular life and regular people is completely artificial and it is bad for the soul of your society.

You see, for most of history and in current cultures that do not have this psychological disorder, you do not sing because you’re a singer, you sing because you’re a person—it’s fucking singing! Religious institutions are one of the last places that we still understand that singing is an innately human participatory social act, not the exclusive domain of fuckin’…Ariana Grande.

The result of removing this stigma and arbitrary qualification required to do something as simple as draw or dance isn’t just less self-hatred, less insecurity, less anxiety, better community, better connection to your body, more holistic communion with others and the world around you, and simple indulgence in your fundamental humanity—it also results in categorically better artists.”

CJ the X, 7 Deadly Art Sins

Thank you all very much for waiting!🦋🦋🦋

Now the electronic version of «The Star of Misfortune» can be purchased on my Gumroad!🙏❤️

ABCDMXTX - Day 18: Ruoye.

From all spiritual devices, Ruoye is the one that feels the most like an extension of its owner. In a way, it's Xie Lian main and last line of defense.

I used this photo reference.

List of prompts.

A note to all creatives:

Right now, you have to be a team player. You cannot complain about AI being used to fuck over your industry and then turn around and use it on somebody else’s industry.

No AI book covers. No making funny little videos using deepfakes to make an actor say stuff they never did. No AI translation of your book. No AI audiobooks. No AI generated moodboards or fancasts or any of that shit. No feeding someone else’s unfinished work into Chat GPT “because you just want to know how it ends*” (what the fuck is wrong with you?). No playing around with AI generated 3D assets you can’t ascertain the origin of. None of it. And stop using AI filters on your selfies or ESPECIALLY using AI on somebody else’s photo or artwork.

We are at a crossroad and at a time of historically shitty conditions for working artists across ALL creative fields, and we gotta stick together. And you know what? Not only is standing up for other artists against exploitation and theft the morally correct thing to do, it’s also the professionally smartest thing to do, too. Because the corporations will fuck you over too, and then they do it’s your peers that will hold you up. And we have a long memory.

Don’t make the mistake of thinking “your peers” are only the people in your own industry. Writers can’t succeed without artists, editors, translators, etc making their books a reality. Illustrators depend on writers and editors for work. Video creators co-exist with voice actors and animators and people who do 3D rendering etc. If you piss off everyone else but the ones who do the exact same job you do, congratulations! You’ve just sunk your career.

Always remember: the artists who succeed in this career path, the ones who get hired or are sought after for commissions or collaboration, they aren’t the super talented “fuck you I got mine” types. They’re the one who show up to do the work and are easy to get along with.

And they especially are not scabs.

*that’s not even how it ends that’s a statistically likely and creatively boring way for it to end. Why would you even want to read that.

Those years after the war hit Xie Lian hard…

Chapter 2: Games

Summary: “Nobody really knows who this person could be, or why Lord Crimson Rain is looking for them,” Yu Liling continued, coming close to the pavilion with Xie Lian and Hua Cheng in tow. “There’s lots of speculation, but my ancestor who travelled to Ghost City heard there from a good source that they’re a ‘noble immortal Taoist.’”

As people said: no winds, no waves. The only rumours that passed the test of time were those that hid a little bit of truth within. Hua Cheng felt Xie Lian’s eyes on him, but he kept his face schooled and his eyes on the cloth fox.

It took over ten days for Xie Lian and Hua Cheng to walk from the inn where they met with the emperor to the entrance of Mount Tonglu. What happened during that journey? And most importantly, what would've happened if things had gone differently during that journey?

Expect folk stories told by Hua Cheng worshippers, Xie Lian figuring out stuff he could've realised one hundred chapters ago, and a Ghost King simultaneously hating on his child-like appearance and getting the best out of it.

Canon divergence from chapter 143. Contains many spoilers from the book!

Read on Ao3.

Just finished the cover for 2024 MXTX Food Zine!

@mxtxfoodzine contains 55 recipes going along with art and fanfiction as well as a printable no-title version of the cover. Releasing this November.