soporificlily

[soporificlily]

Haven't posted in a while. Have some more Romina! <3

[soporificlily]

Divest yourself of everything... And pray to the Lord... To melt away the curses, suffering, and despair. And the Order, entire. May chaos... take the world. - Kalé

I might be a big softie but the story of the Great Caravan and the Nomadic Merchants, as well as so many other peoples of the Lands Between, just breaks my heart.

That you would suffer so greatly as to wish death to all the world. Discriminated against, pushed to the fringes, forced to always be on the move… Can you blame the oppressed when you sow the seeds of hate in their hearts? Even so, violence doesn't justify violence; otherwise, the cycle will never end.

The world can be cruel, and people find any reason to turn against each other— be it out of envy, hate, discrimination, misinformation, or more. How many eyes does it take for justice to be served, and for violence to end?

Don't respond to hate with more hate. We are all people, all deserving of love. Some are simply misguided. Don't let yourself be dragged down to their level. Respond to hate with patience and kindness, so that you might in turn soften their hearts, even if slightly. A single act of kindness, a single sprout of love, can in time become a forest of compassion.

Of course, this topic is much more complicated than that. Love isn't always enough. Choose your actions wisely. Let go of hate, let it not consume you.

Hate is a maddening flame.

~ ~ ~

"If you intend to claim the frenzied flame, I ask that you cease. It is not to be meddled with. It is chaos, devouring life and thought unending. However ruined this world has become, however mired in torment and despair... Life endures. Births continue. There is beauty in that, is there not?" - Melina

[soporificlily]

Romina, Saint of the Bud

wife <3

(ﾉ´ з `)ノ I love her

Fill me with rot, Romina <3

[soporificlily]

expectation vs reality

[soporificlily]

The progress I made on Midra, after like... what? Seven days? ugh I need help (╥_╥) I couldn't decide on the skin cuz like, yeah, the grey skin looks cool but then I thought he'd look too much like Goldmask, but then my partner just told me that it looked better grey and i agreee aaaaahhhh after looking at this dummy's face in the game he looks way fleshier than grey. Plus, he bleeds so like... his skin has to have redness to it, right? I'm taking a break from this one though. I need to work on another project or I'm gonna lose my mind.

More thoughts under the cut.

I started this project on the 16th I think and since then I've just figured out how to shade and color better so like, I put so much detail into the brooch thingy and then I wanted to go back and fix everything else so it would all look consistent, but it's taking wayyyy too long and I'm struggling with skin tones and stuff. I have no proper art training, I've just been figuring it out on my own. I don't even have the patience to watch videos lol so... It's taking too long, I think. Too long for one project... Maybe? Is this normal? I don't know, I'm just so frustrated that I can't manage to make it look like I want. I need to figure out the whole shading thing and color theory or whatever, even some anatomy.

AHHHHH how do people do this? I loved every second of it but god damn. My brain is melting. Also feel so guilty for spending so much time on this and not with my partner smh I haven't even played Elden Ring at all except to take reference pics (ಥ﹏ಥ)

[soporificlily]

I took some pics of Midra, for reference.

I've been drawing him for a few days now, but I wasn't satisfied with having only one reference image. I realized I was getting a lot of details wrong and, being a perfectionist, I couldn't let that slip.

With that goal in mind, I also learned how to extract the assets from the game files and put them into Blender. So now I have Midra's modeI, and also got his textures and added those in too. Now I just need to figure out how to pose him and do a scene and stuff, and then I'll get much better reference photos, which I will share when I decide they're good enough. I won't share the files themselves cuz I figure that's probably illegal. But! if you'd like to know how to do it yourself, here's the video. It's pretty easy, everything is free (except the game, obvi), and... yeah. If I could do it, so can you.

More screenshots, plus Blender stuff, under the cut:

I know these aren't very good...

But yk its 3AM rn. I'll put more effort into it later. Also, I just thought of a post to write. Expect it within the hour. (cuz i need to go to sleep)

Also, I'm doing this:

What am I doing? I haven't the slightest.

Trying. That's all. Would love some help, but I'll settle for the kind people of the internet who take it upon themselves to create helpful tutorials.

So yeah, that's it. Something very interesting has been revealed to me, by way of the name of certain files... I'm not sure if anyone else has noticed it, so I'm still gonna write that post. Right... NOW!

[soporificlily]

oh yeah it's all coming together (๑˃̵ᴗ˂̵)و

I didn't know how to shade before but I might have begun to figure it out...

At least with the textiles, I'll have to go back and do the body. I still need to add the rest of the details to the cloak, like the worn out edges and the big clasp or brooch thing he wears right under his neck.

The cloak shading and coloring took me about 3 to 4 hours.

Also, the holes I added after the shading, so I'll need to go back and make sure the texture makes sense around those holes.

I still, also, need a background...

I think this is really the start of leveling up my skill as an artist. Before this piece, I had not put as much effort into anything. So far, it's been about 3 days of working only on this ugly mf.

This started after he beat my ass a few times. I have yet to kill him.

[soporificlily]

I don't know why I decided to do this for Midra, that mf. But I traced a screenshot from his cutscene and I've been shading it and stuff... I've spent like 9 hours on this already ;-; It's my first time putting so much effort and detail into something. I've never drawn anything like this or colored/shaded before so pls show me mercy.

its obvi a wip, i still have so much to do but it'll take me some time cuz i also have to study for school so i cant just be doing this all day (sadly) -screenshot under break, to avoid taking too much space on screen-

I have no idea what the consensus is on tracing screenshots for art, but obviously it should be known that this isn't my design, and that I just traced the above screenshot and then did coloring and shading myself. Credit to Fromsoft and all those involved. I have no intention on making money off of this, I just like drawing and making art purely out of my passion for Elden Ring. It's for me, but I like sharing :)

[soporificlily]

I was running around aimlessly in the Shadow Keep, past the Jars in what looked to be some kind of hospital wing of the Keep? and then I shot down this spicy red fire sorcerer Salza were the devs hungry? and found this place! the Ancient Ruins of Rauh.

As soon as I opened the gates, I saw this beautiful landscape. There's something truly magical and enchanting about this game. I've played so many open world games with beautiful lands, but there's just something about Elden Ring that has charmed me.

Maybe its the low-to-the-ground fog, the pastures and trees with animals peacefully going about their days, the tranquility amidst all the disorder and pain of the world.

The Lands Between are cruel and unforgiving, but on the way from one killing to the next, there are so many beautiful things to appreciate.

[soporificlily]

finally, after much anguish, i have found it.

[soporificlily]

madness is the amount of times i tried doing this. the Abyssal Woods are beautiful and all but... I hate this place. Aging Untouchable? I touched it plenty. just the first one... the timing on the parry is annoying and they kill you in one move, so... vigor check?, mine's at 60 In short, visions of madness ahead. Parrying required. And also: patience. so much patience.

[soporificlily]

I walked into the Shadow Keep and saw, once again, the decapitated statue of Marika. I wasn't expecting her to be decapitated here, in the domain of her son Messmer... which is interesting. BUT THEN! ...

All around, the floor is stained in blood, and I thought: "Wait... oh no." A GIANT PORCUPINE HIPPOPOTAMUS??? I died. But also, before that, I had seen that a rune was broken?? So i went and talked to the gang and I guess Miquella's spell was broken... Leda showed her true colors, that bloodthirsty woman. I dared not utter any of my comrades' names.

I got back to the Porcuhippo to find Freyja and Hornsent there wanting to help. That wasn't even the worst part of the Shadow Keep, so far. Maybe I just need to git gud, but Messmer's soldiers are ruthless. I ended up just running past all of them, up all the stairs, looking at every corner from whence new enemies stirred.

"Oh shit, not there- shit, there's another one! oh no, big guy! shit, shit, shit, shit- *sees slender figure draped in red approaching in the distance* WHO ARE YOU??! *turns around and walks past the pyre ship looking things* *sees the vulgar militia* why are you here...

Anyway, whats with Fromsoft and their rideable coffins?

I expected to see Gravelord Nito, after all these years.

[soporificlily]

me and my homie (the laws of physics don't apply to him)

[soporificlily]

hehe twinsiessss!!! but add frostbite to the mix!

now that ive beaten elden ring + SOTE with my shitty "jack of all trades" build that ive allowed to cross over into ng+, ive started an actual 'build' and it's just.. mushroom

get poisoned, rotted, AND bled boy

this fucking sucks. i love this. how is this actually a viable thing

(i know why it's viable. because any build is viable if you just dodge properly and learn the boss's mechanics and moveset kMFLKNMXfmn)

[soporificlily]

the usage of different types of english in elden ring

most human/tarnished NPCs we meet, like rogier, ansbach, and nepheli, use late modern english:

"a sorcerer, as you might have guessed. i'm looking for a little something, here in the castle. when i'm not hotfooting it from the troops, that is." - rogier, first meeting "general radahn. a pleasure to see you, after all this time. but those remains do not belong to you." - ansbach, upon summon for PCR

but older demigods like messmer, ranni, and morgott use early modern english:

"thou'rt tarnished, it seemeth. mother, wouldst thou truly lordship sanction, in one so bereft of light? yet… my purpose standeth unchanged." - messmer, pre-battle cutscene "thou needst not indulge them unduly, but they too wish to appraise thy worth. it hath been a passing long time since a newcomer entered my service, after all." - ranni, after agreeing to serve her

then there are the younger demigods, like miquella, malenia, and potentially melina, who use a later variant of modern english, similar to the tarnished NPCs we speak to:

"if we honour our part of the vow, promise me you'll be my consort. i'll make the world a gentler place." - miquella, post-PCR cutscene "the scarlet bloom flowers once more. you will witness true horror. now, rot!" - malenia, phase 2 transition cutscene

finally, the hornsent NPCs like the hornsent, hornsent grandam, and the hornsent spirits such as the one outside the whipping hut, who use late middle english similar to the english found in shakespeare's sonnets:

"fie, another? ... then, as that woman would surely say, we are in our purposes well aligned. but understand. your kind are not forgiven. the erdtree is my people's enemy. by marika long betray'd, set aflame." - hornsent, first meeting "all your resentment lingers yet... the raw stuff from which i shall surely forge a curse. upon the dastard messmer's head. upon marika's children each and all." - scorched ruins hornsent spirit

i find it interesting how different the usage of english is in the game, and i feel that it can be a hint on how to properly date an individual's occupation in the lands between/land of shadow. the hornsent, being a people much older than many in the lands between, use the most archaic version of english, while the tarnished and younger demigods use a form of english more closely related to our own in the current period. older demigods (and marika herself, as heard from melina's recounts of marika's spoken echoes) use a form of english more closely related to the period of transition from middle english to early modern english.

additionally, another interesting thing to me: mohg is almost certainly nearly the same age as morgott (since they're referred to as twins), yet he speaks a little differently compared to morgott:

"tarnished, thou'rt but a fool." - morgott, post-battle dialogue "dearest miquella. you must abide alone a while." - mohg, pre-battle cutscene

this makes me wonder if it's possible that, assuming that miquella's verbiage is indicative of his younger age in comparison to the older demigods (aka the demigods born before the marika/radagon union), miquella's charm altered mohg's perception enough to also alter his manner of speaking and carrying himself in some way. if his pursuit of finery (dressing in embroidered robes and handling himself with poise, juxtaposing his bestial growls and strength) was mainly done in an effort to fit into miquella's ideal of a consort. of course, mohg could just be as vain as he seems to be all on his own accord, but i find that it's interesting to entertain the idea that even his current state of being was due to miquella's charm.

i'd love to hear what others think about this. i'm not very learned when it comes to english (it's not really my first language), but i find this all very cool to think about.

[soporificlily]

If I am to flower into something other than myself, I would rather rot into nothingness as I am.

dw she's just an eepy girl <3

[soporificlily]

For Thio, whom I just met:

Your whispered words enraptured my heart. An offer soft as the breeze and dark as the night A sip of ebon potion, the last I'd ever taste, for I've been weary of life so take me in your embrace. In your arms hold me tight and lull me into sleep. Sing to me, let me hear your soft serpent's hiss. I love you, Thiollier, so please hear my plea: Taste my lips, our final kiss, and forever be with me.

<3