SkunkyArt | MysticSparkleWings — Inktober/Drawtober Day 27: Beast Costume

I don't think "highlight" is to appropriate title for this, but it is EXTREMELY worth noting that the description was added after the fact tonight both due to time crunch (as usual), but ALSO because I usually write these in Sta.sh, and for some reason randomly tonight Sta.sh has decided I can't do that anymore. [Slightly more context on that problem here .]

This a very first-world problem but it really does throw a huge wrench in my DeviantArt workflow, so PLEASE let us all hope this is just a very annoying glitch that will work itself out by tomorrow.

That is also worth mentioning because I already wasn't sure I'd have much to say about this one, and now I'm extra distracted worrying if this is just something I'm going to have to live with now or not—It makes me want to just kinda be done with dA for the night and go get absorbed in something else so I don't have to think about it.

But I know if I do that and it does turn out to just be a temporary bug, future me will be upset with current (to-be-past) me that I didn't at least try to talk about the Inktober piece itself, and so...

I really didn't have a lot of thoughts on what to do for a background here; Literally the first half-baked idea I had was to make "beast teeth" with washi tape, and then something about one of the "classic" actor masks to tie back into "costume," and then I kind of wanted to use more pink since I haven't used a whole lot of it this year (compared to other colors, anyway).

So when I both metaphorically and literally smashed all that together, what we ended up with is a drama mask in the gaping maw of a monster...Which isn't the worst idea, I don't think, but it's uh...Possibly the most on-the-nose of this Inktober batch so far.

Although, since it is sort of a mouth and a "beastly" one at that, I couldn't help myself and brought a darker red into the background, which makes it look decidedly less pink and makes the whole package look rather uncomfortably like Day 22 and Day 24 .

I didn't really notice until I was already 100% committed to this background (it was dry and I didn't have time to start over with another), so we'll just have to blame my subconscious for that one. If I had realized it sooner, I think I could've avoided at least some of the similarity by making the mask blue or purple, which would've given the whole palette a different tone.

But alas, it is what it is.

I am however, very happy that with the way I did it, when the eyes and mouth of the mask were starting to get away from me, I found that taking a bit of plain alcohol to them with a paintbrush and dabbing with a napkin was able to save the situation—The mouth was almost twice as small as it's current size at one point, and you can't really tell in the final product thanks to that method.

Likewise, a lot of the tips of my washi-tape-outlined fangs weren't very sharp/clean, and though I didn't plan it that way, the words ended up covering most of the very tips so you can't tell.

Speaking of the words...I mainly wanted to do a play on how at this time of year you expect a "beast" to be someone's costume, not either just their true nature or a literal beast...Or how some "beasts" are only revealed when the person is wearing a "costume" of sorts...

I don't think I really captured the latter idea, mostly just the former. But I was struggling as it was so I kinda just had to let it go.

I cobbled together the first half, and went to the magnets really only knowing I wanted at least two more lines, one that ended in "costume" and one that ended in "treats." ["Come true" I thought worked as a near-rhyme for "costume," and "treats" for "beast"]

And this is one of those times where it's really only fair to say the magnets filled in the blanks and came up with the rest for me—The rest of the remaining two lines only came to me after I had the magnets staring me in the face. Though, usually that'll happen when I spot a magnet or two that inspires me...This time it appeared to be spurred by just being within touching range of them, with no specific magnets jumping out at me.

It was very welcome but also a little weird.

Also: I hope it comes across that I added the comma in the last line to try and stave off confusion—This is "find out" as in "locate outside," not "find out" as in "discover information," if that makes sense. I originally had no comma there and didn't like that even I as the person who wrote it read it more as the information version.

When I really think about it and remove this Sta.sh problem from the equation...For as slapped-together as this piece is, I do like it. Probably not a new favorite, but at the very least I know actual effort went into the background and the poem itself...maybe not my best, but I don't think it's outright "bad," either.

They can't all be winners, and given the circumstances, I think I'll take how I feel about this one over the many much worse alternatives.