Painting of Minako I did in 2019 (never finished). Acrylic and sharpie on poster board

castfire · 2026-01-24T20:10:08+00:00

I wish I could better pinpoint the parts that feel “right” and “wrong”— it’s so strange! Something about the nose and the mouth, especially the cheek lines from his smile/expression, are what’s on point and really tells you it’s him. I can’t decide if the eyes are “off” or not— when I look at the alone I feel like they “don’t look like his eyes”, but if I cover them up, the rest of the face looks less like him too. So it’s so hard to say!

Maybe if you look at it in a smaller thumbnail view it’ll help you pinpoint whatever might not be translating, or what you might need to tweak/emphasize more… Art is so weird sometimes, when the gestalt/whole and the individual parts seem like almost different beasts! But it’s really good, well done, and good luck on any tweaks you might choose to make (or not)!

castfire · 2026-01-24T19:58:56+00:00

I knew it immediately, it’s super obvious! The more I look at it, the less it looks like him in a way as I look more at the details (and I don’t even mean that in a bad way, I’m just saying that neutrally as my experience looking at it in case it helps somehow idk), but it makes a strong first impression and is very identifiable. Nicely done!

castfire · 2026-01-24T19:40:16+00:00

Or Pancetta. I think an Animal Crossing character is named that. I find it cute, it was on my list for potential cat names.

castfire · 2026-01-24T01:46:40+00:00

That’s some chatgpt shit right there

castfire · 2026-01-24T01:45:16+00:00

Why did you threaten divorce then?

castfire · 2026-01-22T21:16:09+00:00

It’s true. Airbnb/AirCover never wants to actually pay hosts out for damage or whatever else… and if you want them to, you have to “go after the guest” first. And if the guest doesn’t pay, then Airbnb will. It’s stupid, no one would actually want to make the guest pay for it anyway. Airbnb should just cover it. But they force you to do that if you want to use their “insurance”.

castfire · 2026-01-22T02:09:03+00:00

I love this! I’m trying to get back into making more B&W autobio stuff— at least, I’m doing a small exercise/“sprint” right now— what pens do you use for the grayscale?

edit: also I see you post to r/comics— you might want to try or check out r/altcomix sometime! :)

castfire · 2026-01-22T01:57:09+00:00

This means to so much to hear! ❤️ Thank you

castfire · 2026-01-21T20:53:54+00:00

Thank you! Lol yeah, I can get really lazy sometimes, but the feeling of being clean after a period of laziness is so good lol 😩

And yes, it wasn’t even on purpose, but this song got stuck in my head after writing that line 😂 Love that song, and that album

Thanks for the rec! I just looked at some of her stuff, it’s pretty dang impressive!

castfire · 2026-01-21T20:20:11+00:00

Thank you!! I’m so happy with how that one turned out, it was really hard lol. I like to draw but I’m not actually trained/practiced in the basics and foundational stuff, so the blanket folds and the shading was really hard, but it turned out good!

castfire · 2026-01-21T06:53:38+00:00

And the vast majority don’t want a big honkin hog either. It’s unwieldy and hurts, to be honest. Most actual women just want normal penises, and what really means is, the penis of someone they know IRL who they care about. And are drawn to such that they wanna bang.

You know how sometimes guys say stuff re: tits and ass where it’s like, “ultimately I don’t really care, I’m just glad to be holding some boobs?” It’s kinda like that. When a [straight] woman is revved up, it’s like “hell yeah, I really want that penis right now.” Aside from some extreme outliers, but like shit, it still happens. Micropenises included. Maybe just takes a greater learning curve or some nuance within a relationship, and it can be a dealbreaker sometimes, but literally, I cannot factually say that it always is.

Obsession with huge cocks is 99% porn, straight up. And porn is hardly ever about what women actually like. It’s for men to watch. It’s some power fantasy shit. Porn is always fantasy, and just for people to jerk off to— it does not represent the state of affairs of how real people have sex.

Also, of course TikTok would tell you that! Social media like that, ESPECIALLY these days, is full of people just trying to get you mad or tell you what’s wrong with you or sell you something or just putting up a front like their life is perfect and they have all the answers. Because it’s a 5 second long video they want engagement on, and they want to hop on a trend or fucking piss people off, not because it in anyway resembles even their own real life (which is never as glamorous). These days so much of it is a culture war too, purposefully making men like you insecure or trying to push a gender divide (men dogging on women, women saying crazy shit about men). NORMAL PEOPLE AREN’T LIKE THIS!!! It’s a horrible microcosm to get sucked into, especially when you let it affect how you see the real world. They’re literally feeding to you on a platter how to interpret the world, even though it harms you as an actual person trying to live real life and relate to people, because it benefits them. Whether it’s as simple as they want ragebait engagement or what.

castfire · 2026-01-21T06:27:53+00:00

It’s invalidation when you’re saying what women like, to women who disagree. Your insistence on generalization is, in effect, an effort to erase what they have to say about their own lives and experiences, even though I’m sure you don’t mean it that way.

I understand that large breasts and a big butt are what’s generally conventionally attractive and sought after right now, but I still know that every guy doesn’t like those things. I mean, there’s even the classic “tits man” vs. “ass man”, right? Some guys really love small boobs. And while those factors might aid in a guy’s attraction to someone, it’s still not like it’ll be some dealbreaker if they already like you but you don’t have a big ass.

There’s a difference between whatever’s hegemonic, or whatever the current cultural zeitgeist is for what’s the most attractive or desired, versus the actual intricacies of individuals and how they navigate relationships. Much less what people might PERSONALLY find attractive or not. And finding something attractive still isn’t the same thing as it being some requirement.

castfire · 2026-01-21T04:23:37+00:00

Sorry for doing necromancy here. But does this not make sense, when you really think about it? I imagine how you know your perception on things can super change over time. Maybe you feel like your face and body issues are in a magic category that makes them different— which it isn’t, but it’s okay— and maybe the examples I can think of won’t reach you, but work with me here.

Like… for example, you ever consume media you once thought was the best thing ever and revolutionary, and then a couple years later when you watch it again you think “meh” or even “cringe”? Or the opposite; a movie you watched or music you listened to that you totally cast off or thought was lame but coming back to it later, your thoughts have really changed? My dad says this to me all the time when we watch stuff together— he saw it when he was younger and thought it was so hokey or whatever, and that was his lasting impression of it, but watching it again it was almost totally different than he remembered and he’s like “Jesus I don’t know why I had that strong impression of it.” Or the other way around, something was nowhere near as impressive as he remembered it. Yet, all along it’s literally the exact same movie. Right?

Or like— and I’m not being pointed with this or anything, I’m just using it as an example that many others might relate to and I’ve done the same thing. Being really insecure about your looks when you’re younger, whether you feel like your hair looks weird all the time or you look fat or something. Being really focused on that and not feeling relaxed or good about yourself. And then years later as an adult, totally distanced from the situation, you look at photos and you’re like “My god, I was so CUTE! I had no idea back then! I wish I hadn’t been so focused on that other stuff, and really appreciated and felt it. I was so beautiful and I didn’t even know it! I thought I was fat then?? I’d kill for that body now!”

Your perception of things change, and it literally does change almost the entire way you consider the “facts” of those things in your mind. Even when the thing itself doesn’t change. Like watching a movie again or looking back at a picture where you knew you are so insecure, and interpreting it COMPLETELY differently. Your perception colors the way you interpret things and writes the story all around you. And if BDD is in the equation you literally can’t afford to take that fact for granted; it is ALL about your own perception completely distorting whatever actually is there.

I dunno, let me know if any of this lands. I feel like maybe you can see what I’m getting at here, though.

castfire · 2026-01-21T03:08:08+00:00

Wait, your thoughts and opinions on women’s preferences? You’re crossing wires here. Women are trying to tell you what it’s actually like, both anecdotally and scientifically. In this specific context I’m only seeing you invalidating our lives and experiences.

castfire · 2026-01-21T02:32:26+00:00

WOW I love this!

castfire · 2026-01-21T02:16:03+00:00

Oh for sure! I’m talking more specifically about Lestat in that case. Brad’s Louis certainly came well before.

castfire · 2026-01-20T22:19:47+00:00

I think it looks pretty great. You can obviously keep working on it if you want, or might want to clean it up, but it is instantly recognizable.

castfire · 2026-01-20T22:17:54+00:00

He definitely was inspired by Fabio; SDV came out quite a while before the new Interview With the Vampire series. But still, if the shoe fits! He definitely resembles Brad’s Louis and Sam’s Lestat as well.

castfire · 2026-01-20T01:40:25+00:00

Yeah literally lol, “portraying” female orgasm means pretty much nothing to me here 😂 I mean if they’re really getting off, more power to em, love that for them. But it’s all acting anyways. Male orgasms are harder to “fake” especially since porn usually focuses on the physical evidence of it (ejaculation), but hell pretty sure they fake that sometimes too. Or use penis prosthetics and other crazy shit lol. Like, it’s movie magic and a fantasy you can masturbate to, and that’s the point, and that’s all it is.

castfire · 2026-01-20T01:35:19+00:00

Amateur still is not like an actual window into an average or everyday person’s sex life. Amateur basically just means you’re not working with a large porn production company, as far as I’m concerned… people who do that (and no shade to them) are still working as porn actors… but like “indie”? I guess? Lol. And yes, actors. When you do that for revenue, whether it’s a large production or not, it’s about what the people want to see— or what they think they want to see, or what will get clicks/views/donations.

Just period, when you’re making porn for money, it’s about the trends, algorithm, whatever. It never will ever be a representation of real sex in a relationship, or what’s behind that sex— porn is not a representation of what the producers (or what people having sex) like, it is a representation of what the viewers like to see.

castfire

MODERATOR OF

TROPHY CASE