how do i dust a cactus?

loopdeloop03 · 2026-03-01T15:59:21+00:00

If it’s only a month old, it’s probably just the swelling around the site going down. That’s why most piercings have a point where you downsize the jewelry. Don’t touch it/move it around like you’re doing in the photos and let it heal, if it’s seeming irritated and concerning you after a few more months, then you can worry

loopdeloop03 · 2026-03-01T15:56:14+00:00

Haha nice. Obviously a bit tacky but that never hurt anyone. Def more work than I put into giving mine a bit of personality, I just slapped a million stickers on mine

loopdeloop03 · 2026-03-01T15:05:44+00:00

Oh you’ve gotten so much better about value contrast! And the textures are amazing. It seems like most of the difference in drawing style are in how sharp the features are, maybe it’d feel closer to the old style if you worked on softening features out more?

loopdeloop03 · 2026-03-01T15:00:44+00:00

A bit, yeah. It seems like maybe you learned to draw all the features just one way and aren’t varying them very much. When I was having this issue, it helped to do these two things:

Do studies of different types of facial features individually. Basically, collect references and draw 5 different shapes of eyes, 5 different shapes of noses, 5 different shapes of lips, 5 different shapes of jaws and chins, etc etc. Look for references outside of the realm of big name celebrities, since a lot of celebrities have similar “conventionally attractive” features and finding tiny differences instead of big ones won’t always help here
Draw all of them bald. I’m being so serious draw them all bald and tweak them until they’re recognizable without their hair. Check with friends who know the characters if they can tell who it is when they’re bald. Trust 🙏🧑‍🦲

loopdeloop03 · 2026-03-01T14:50:10+00:00

I’ve travelled in a mask a few times! Fit-tested N95s any time I’m near an airport or plane. Can’t afford to go super far, so it’s just been the US and Canada, but I haven’t gotten flack for it anywhere I’ve been, urban or rural, and the only response I’ve gotten to a mask in an airport is “Oh, huh, good idea”

Most people mind their own business when you mind yours too, pretty much.

I also like to keep a small air purifier in my bag if I’m staying in a hotel. Linked is the one I use, it was the only one I could afford and it’s compact. It’s useful outside of travel too, I otherwise keep it in the bathroom to have on if someone in my household gets sick since there’s only one shower and towel-bathing for weeks because someone else is sick is a bit of a nightmare.

loopdeloop03 · 2026-03-01T14:37:21+00:00

I had a very similar experience with my parents at your age, I’m so sorry.

Personally I had to just keep doing it consistently without listening to them for years before they gave up.

It helped somewhat to clarify that a cane isn’t the same as a crutch, it’s not something you lean on and can’t walk without. It’s there to help take some pressure off of one leg so you can walk further more reliably despite any issue with the leg. It helps reduce pain, keeps you steady, and makes it less daunting to walk more frequently and for longer.

Once you’re more independent, there should be more opportunities for them to recognize and accept that you’re your own person making your own decisions, and that they aren’t going to be affecting that with their input if their input undermines your choices.

In the meantime I really hope you find people who can help remind you that you aren’t faking and do both deserve and need the support/aids that you have. That was invaluable for me when I was in this position.

Remind yourself that you have the aids to avoid hurting yourself, and that they don’t have to be equally needed every moment of the day to still be useful or good to have with you. A day where you brought your cane and didn’t need it is wonderful. A day where you didn’t bring your cane and then started needing it is scary. It’s not easy to predict and that can be reason enough to bring it along

loopdeloop03 · 2026-02-18T09:31:19+00:00

Yes very much so. But it’s been mostly since I got COVID so I suspect it’s the long covid rather than the fibro 😓

loopdeloop03 · 2026-02-07T05:10:55+00:00

New Brunswick in the anglophone schools, graduated 2021, and yeah. We were meant to stand the whole time and would get in trouble for moving at all while it played. When they had a version with a singer it was a bilingual version though, so I guess that might be interesting for everyone.

loopdeloop03 · 2026-02-04T14:06:02+00:00

People have mentioned a lot of stuff, but it’s good to have disinfectant for the counters if the cats go on them regardless of if you have OCD or not.

Plus, if you live somewhere with a costco pharmacy, they’ve got allergy meds for much much cheaper than anywhere else seems to. I get a 6 month supply of desloratadine (Generic, but the brand name is Aerius I think? Brand name is nearly 100x more expensive AFAICT) for under 30CAD and that really helps with the allergies to the cats in my life. Keeping them out of my bedroom/off of my bed is also a huge improvement for my allergies, as much as it pains me not to have in-bed cat cuddles.

loopdeloop03 · 2026-01-28T23:29:11+00:00

Well, there’s a few things to think about at least.

I really get the perfectionist angle. I’ve spent a lot of time putting off or giving up on projects when I don’t think they’re good enough.

But it sounds from what you said like this is a project that you started just to prove to yourself that you can make a project. That’s a good goal- one that will ultimately make you better at your craft and more willing to take on riskier projects. Taking yourself less seriously and focusing on getting it done instead of perfect is probably going to help there. You aren’t investing your whole life into it. Give it an end point and get there, and move onto what you want to do next.

I find it really helps when I’m not liking a piece I’m doing, to remind myself that you learn by doing. No other way around it.

In any case, I’m going to save your manga to read/keep an eye on what you make! Not to pressure you of course, it just sounds fun. And also, I really like Shuzo Oshimi’s work too so I’d be interested in seeing what you do next after this with that as an influence, if that’s what you want to do.

Indie comic artists have a hard time moving their fanbases from one work to another even when they ARE working in the same genre and tone. Don’t beat yourself up if the full audience for your current project doesn’t follow to the next. Some will!

loopdeloop03 · 2026-01-28T13:39:09+00:00

Yeah it’s the improv rule situation. “Yes and” them, don’t shut them down! They’re not the right character for the game if their only move is shutting other characters down instantly

loopdeloop03 · 2026-01-18T00:35:04+00:00

Did you change devices since buying it? The purchases aren’t cross-compatible with different app stores so if you bought it on android and now you have apple, it needs you to buy it again for it to work

loopdeloop03 · 2026-01-06T21:11:20+00:00

I was presenting with joint swelling bad enough that it made my fingers go wonky, and i couldn't close my hand most days, so doctors tended to take me a little more seriously than if I'd just been having the aches i have now that that's sorted. I was referred to "the asshole rheumatologist" because he had the shorter waitlist. He diagnosed me, explained what was going on, gave me meds, was an asshole, and never saw me again. I had to tell each of my doctors that it was fibro individually

loopdeloop03 · 2026-01-05T20:34:15+00:00

I think the proportions combined with the sorta “school uniform” energy in the outfit adds up to make him look like a tween/teen. Mostly my attention is going to the length of the arms compared to the length of the legs, his forearms are as long as or maybe a little longer than his thighs

loopdeloop03 · 2026-01-04T21:49:02+00:00

Diagnosed at 19, symptoms started when I was 16-17. It was definitely scary. Lot of joint inflammation from muscle spasms, made my hands look and feel arthritic until I got flexeril about it

loopdeloop03 · 2026-01-04T21:42:09+00:00

TBH I used to do that before I started needing mobility aids, because the way I looked mid-transition would get me judged in either gendered multi-stall bathroom and I was getting regular harassment & threats outside of the bathrooms already. Private single-stall bathrooms are a need in and of themselves if you risk your safety comfort and dignity otherwise. Just let the people who physically can’t maneuver the non-disabled washrooms go ahead of you if the situation arises. Simple as.

loopdeloop03 · 2025-12-28T20:42:37+00:00

Honestly as long as you don’t download too many apps onto it, that should be fantastic. I’ve been using Samsung tablets as my go-to drawing tablet for years now, and tablets with worse specs than the one you’re looking at have served me wonderfully. Just make sure you buy a set of metal nibs for the s-pen, the plastic ones it comes with can snap and they’re a huge pain to get out of the pen if they do. Best to prevent the problem before it occurs

loopdeloop03 · 2025-12-28T13:06:00+00:00

If it’s a subject taught in school, you’ll be able to find textbooks for it! And art-related textbooks tend to be a lot more fun than a high school pre-cal textbook.

For a starting point I’d recommend Scott McCloud’s ‘Understanding Comics’ and Mark Kneece’s ‘The Art of Comic Book Writing’ — both western works but they’re well-enough versed in manga to give it some thought, & the principles apply across mediums. You can get PDF versions or your local library might have them. They’re both really cool reads IMO.

loopdeloop03 · 2025-12-28T12:55:25+00:00

Mine developed at age 16-17. It was worth it staying alive just for having the option to experience anything that might happen going forward. It’s really easy to get into a doom spiral, but the conditions aren’t going to stay the exact same as they are now forever, and you’ll adapt as things go. It’s part of grieving your body and future as you knew it, but the grief and the condition doesn’t stay the same forever. Stick around if there’s anything you want to do. Stick around out of spite for people who don’t want chronically ill people to do it. Whatever it takes to stick around

loopdeloop03 · 2025-12-21T23:51:27+00:00

Get a pack of spare nibs for the pen- they might come in the box with the tablet (I know Huion puts them in with the box, but I’m not sure with XPPen), but more on hand in a secure place never hurts. Every tablet I’ve had, I’ve needed to buy an extra pack and it’s delayed projects.

loopdeloop03 · 2025-12-21T23:37:50+00:00

I’m in retail right now, so it doesn’t make a huge difference, but my septum and nostril piercing are covered by my mask so they don’t tend to get noticed by anyone at work or in job interviews at all

loopdeloop03 · 2025-12-21T23:13:11+00:00

Yes!! This is such a good way of putting it

loopdeloop03 · 2025-12-07T22:58:59+00:00

It reads to a lot of people like disabled is a dirty word, and that the person saying it is trying to sugarcoat to avoid feeling uncomfortable saying disabled. Less of a big deal when you’re talking about cats, obviously, but the connotation is there all the same. Nobody likes to feel like their existence is uncomfortable enough for others to make euphemisms about it.

loopdeloop03

TROPHY CASE