#(<- i'm trying out these tags to keep track of my ramblings and random ideas)

[drawnecromancy]

I think, actually, that Vano is one of those places where marriage is just... some blend of moving in together and saying "yeah we're married now". People will just casually start referring to their partner as husband/wife/other term that implicates a lifelong commitment and that's about it.

The most ceremony Vanneans will have is inviting anyone significant enough in their lives to come witness them declare their partnership, usually in front of their ancestors and their birthplace's protective god. Small things that can be held in one's garden.

The only people in Vano who have large weddings are likely nobles that need some amount of paperwork to track things down and just take this as an opportunity to mingle. And by "large" I mean they're arranging things with a town temple to have more than 5 people in their backyard and do the usual ceremony there, and then there's a feast or something.

[mezzmerizd]

truely and utterly losing my care for polishing things up, this is tumblr. all of you are gonna have to sit here and listen to my dumb little ramblings because ALL of my art is inherently just another way to feed into my headcanons,,,

like i'm suffering trying to put a name on them?? to sort them?? because it's not like. "oh i headcanon Tango likes lemon icecream! :D" it's literally the entire way hermitcraft is structured, how Impulse & Tango met, how Zed got mixed up in the schenanigans, how Skizz then aLSO found his way to them- their traumas and dynamics and and and?!?!?

i'm playing puppets and idk how to explain the story i wanna tell :[

they're so dear to my heart, especially because this entire world i structured has been around for years by now, semi-starting during DSMP times and basically exploding with ideas and my love for it when i discovered i could make my Tango a netherborn and no one can stop me.

I want to name it, give it a sense of "personality", give it a title of importance but,,, at the same time i don't want it to lose that deeply personal touch it has. Just slapping my name on there is goddamn stupid though OTL

I used to be able to like,,, explain it to friends by simply calling it my "netherborn headcanons" or ideas, because I've got a deep love for making the nether a more hostile and interesting place, but it's since grown far beyond that :[[

there's a ""need"" for a title, for a tag to give it so i can freely throw ideas out there for others to find and for me to keep track of, but there's nothing that seems "good" enough, or doesn't feel temporary. It's an ongoing thing, a passion project mayhaps, so a title could even make it feel like just some random story.

It's like an AU to someone on the outside looking in, just another take on a story and characters ppl have done stuff tons of times before. but it's so much more to me than just an AU. It's how i see these characters, what i base them off of when I have ideas. There's always stories I keep basically just to myself because they're part of that setting. Most of my fanfic are also more "polished" and made easier to get without all of the previous knowledge. (Minus i think some of my ZIT(S) ones?? Though it's vague in those still.)

Besides that there's also ofc a bit of fear from my side that people misunderstand or just generally are weird about simply ignoring what they don't like, but that's pretty much a given :/

SIGHS man, so many thoughts and feelings and words to say and no idea how to throw it out there in a way that makes sense. And in some way, that shouldn't matter. I can be as cryptic as i want to be, do things just for ME but i know there's still other eyes on here,,, and honestly, it sounds goddamn exciting to get people hooked on a story i wanna tell. to be asked about it, be able to give my thoughts and opinions,,

is it easy enough to tell that i adored those "ask [insert crew of an AU someone made]" when i was younger?? still not in a place where i believe i could make anything similar, but the dream's there i guess

[louwhose]

Wow, your glass post is stunning! (Did you know that you fit in the weekly prompt 'glass' of @zelinkcommunity with this?)

Also, this is your enabling ask to rant. 😆

Ah! Yay! I'm glad you like it! (I did not know that was the prompt this week because discord scares me I have not been keeping up with the discord, but cool!)

Thank you for enabling my rant, it will go under the cut because... I really have a lot to say about this piece.

I'll begin with mentioning the approximate story (read as: as good as I can remember, which isn't very) of how I got the idea for this project. Back in April. It... took me a while to get to it, but back to that in a bit.

So, I had seen this youtube video about angels. That's important because, mentioned in this youtube video, was something about in artwork, a halo representing divinity. Which inspired me to make this piece (if you look at it please don't judge it as harshly as I did myself I've grown as a digital artist or maybe just gotten more meticulous about trying to do well with my art since then). Then, (the tags on that piece make me more confident about the story) I showed it to my sister and told her about the idea since she had seen the video too and could appreciate it. And she suggested somehow or other doing stained glass art, evoking a similar idea of holy/ divine scenes in-world or whatever.

It was a couple of weeks later that I planned out approximately what I wanted the pictures to be, with the idea to show them all in one photo together (as the final product was). It was... three? four? weeks ago that I planned out very rough pictures of the approximate layout for the windows.

And finally, last Sunday, I started.

Admittedly, I only got the roughest of drafts done before getting distracted by something else, but the rest of the week I kept working and agonizing over it until I finally finished yesterday, a week after I started. And now for the more rant-y part, I'll go over them one picture at a time, because they all had their challenges.

The idea behind this one is the irony of it all. These are meant to be works of holy scenes, or at least important moments leading up to the defeat of Calamity Ganon, right? But the artists (theoretical, in-world ones that supposedly made it and not me) would not necessarily understand everything that happened the way we do, seeing it in the game. They might just see it, and love the idea of her offering devotion to the Goddess constantly, even if the reality was that Zelda was hugging herself, feeling so useless and unheard by the Goddess that she never got her powers.

This was probably the easiest one to do, actually. But I can only say that in hindsight, because it was the first one I did each part for, so it never had the difficulty of the other ones to temper my opinion about it. But the Goddess statue and Zelda were fairly simple, so the hardest bit about the line work was figuring out what to put behind the Goddess statue and in the water. Even the border was so much easier and less repetitive to do than the other ones, but since it took me a little while to figure out what I was going to do for this one, it was actually the second one I did so I actually knew it was easier than the others. No crazy thoughts on the coloring for this one. It was only tedious, which is exactly just what I expected it to be.

The pairing of Zelda replacing the Master Sword on its pedestal to heal and Link drawing it the second time. Obviously, it is a big, momentous moment when the Hero draws it again on his journey as he prepares to fight off Ganon again. But I think it is just as important that Zelda replaces the broken and bruised sword to heal before she returns to the castle in preparation to hold off Ganon and let the land breath until Link comes back. I feel like those two moments, both preparing to go face Ganon, whether to hold him back for a century or to seal him away permanently( ? - permanently for this Princess and Hero, at least, I hope), are both important moments to both themselves and the story, that also beautifully mirror each other. It's no accident that in the picture itself, they are mirroring each other.

First thing to say about the drawing portion of this piece is that it was the research for references for it that I found that scene with the koroks acting out pulling the master sword. And, also, seeing as I had to watch and take adequate screenshots of not one but two cut scenes, that had a lot to use as potential references, it was by far the worst one as far as reference research goes. But once I got to the drawing... it took a little finagling to figure out the exact layout, and I had to convince myself to not include too many korok-related things since it's about the sword and not them, but it was fairly simple. Especially since I could just copy and paste the background and sword before making what little tweaks would be needed for each side. The border was the second-most painful, even with copying and pasting, because going in between the two different flowers was difficult, and I also traced any that I had to resize to fit. So basically a lot of stuff that was entirely my own fault. It is also the first to have any omission of details, but more on that later.

This scene was probably the first one I chose. It's just so obvious, when you're choosing religious scenes for Breath of the Wild, to choose the moment that Zelda awoke her powers.

This is the one that changed the most from what I imagined in my head. But that changed happened before I even sketched out the very initial ideas for this project, because between now and then, I did this sunshine piece (shameless self-promo), where I rewatched the blatchery plains memory and got all the reference I needed even for this project. It wasn't hard to say no, when I've seen it recently enough, that Zelda wasn't holding Link on her lap when she awakened her powers. Which is fine and great, because I love the way it did come out so much better. This was by far the simplest to draw and color, since it's largely so simple, though all the lines of the light beams shooting out or whatever you want to call it did get a little tedious on both parts. The worst thing about this piece (though my opinion on it is greatly tempered by how easy the rest of it was) was that the border was the worst. It was the first border that I did, because it was the only one that I had thought of ahead of time. But with a combination of I-didn't-think-about-it and it-would-work-as-well-for-triangles-anyways I didn't do any copying and pasting and was just struggling with the straight edge tool for a long time. Overall, still my favorite one to do, and I greatly appreciate how it came out.

Now, onto omission of details, because I feel like this is the one where it is most notable, even if it is not the only one. I omitted details for multiple reasons. One of the most obvious ones, I feel, is Zelda's bracelets. I've simply drawn them enough to know that I don't enjoy doing it, so I chose not to, though that specific detail was also partially omitted for the next reason as well. You may have noticed that none of the white lining on Link's Champion Tunic is showing, and that would be because of the (at least supposed) medium. I tried to include as many details as possible, but I felt like embroidery was too much for me/ stained glass. Would it actually be too much for stained glass? No clue, because I've never used that medium, but I tried to do a decent amount of research looking at stained glass pictures for this project, and that was the conclusion I drew. Those are the main two reasons, but there are also some details omitted for reasons of insufficient research/ forgetfulness/ laziness.

Simply put, the Hero of the Wild on his journey. To counterbalance the one of Zelda struggling for her powers. It's supposed to feel like he's still at the beginning of his journey, on the Great Plateau, looking towards Hyrule Castle. Not going to go too much into the thematic importance of this one, simply because I have a whole entire essay about this in my head that I hope to write someday.

Starting with the reference, I suppose: I pulled up Google, typed in "link botw" pressed search. Then it wasn't too hard to find a pic of him in his starter clothes. His clothes, which admittedly have a few details omitted. The drawing on this piece could compete with Zelda awakening her powers if it weren't for one critical thing: THE LEAVES. The tree especially. Let me tell you, I was so glad to be done drawing those. Coloring them was pretty ugh too but not as much. But the border as well. I suppose I would rank it middle of the pack, not as bad as triangles or floral, but still leagues worse than the two easiest. Copying-and-pasting wasn't too bad, both because of the limited variety of what I needed to do it for as well as doing it after the floral border and having some ideas on how to make it easier for that one. The biggest annoyance with the border, however, was the fact that I didn't save for a while when I was doing it and my art program crashed and didn't even autosave anything. So I had to redo a significant portion of the thing, which really annoyed me. All in all, feelings on drawing it land it pretty in the middle of the pack between easiness/ annoyance.

This is what the picture was supposed to be. But they hold the same thematic ground... is what I'd like to say, but the truth is that I didn't think all too deeply about the themes and reasons behind each picture while planning it out. But in hindsight I still hold that it is true that they cover the same thematic grounds, but since there was a window with only Zelda, I wanted to give Link the same courtesy to balance it out a bit more. Once I got the idea for this piece as I was starting to work on this project digitally (not that there were more than those very rough sketches traditionally), I decided to include it either way, knowing that the Link-and-Zelda-on-their-respecitve-journey/mission was the only one that made sense to replace it with. In fact, I even made a template for the final piece of how I would do it with six windows instead of five. But in the end, once I got to it in the course of the line work for the various windows, I saw that scraggly line that I knew was supposed to be malice and knew that I did not want to draw it. And I liked there being five windows better anyhow, so there's that. I still appreciate the general design and what-not for it, but I'm also glad that I didn't have to agonize over during all the agonizing parts like I did for the others, at least.

And finally, the centerpiece. The ultimate moment, the final showdown to close their story (we are ignoring BOTW2 for purposes of this artwork). Defeating Ganon. This would be the most important moment to them, the moment they finally won. The moment Ganon's influence is gone, no longer corrupting and suppressing Hyrule. Well, it's technically showing everything like a moment before everything was dissipated, but that's because you can appreciate the piece more in that context. But this represents when the Goddess' Chosen finally won over Hatred.

I chose this piece as the center for its representative, thematic significance, because in the final product, that is what people will appreciate, and no one will ever truly come close to appreciating all I went through while creating it besides myself, even if they are reading this. But, even if I for some inane reason chose the order of the pieces not on significance or artistic balance or anything like that but instead for my feelings on them after drawing them, then I still would've chosen this one as the centerpiece, solely for how polarized my feelings are on it. Zelda and Link were easy. The sky in different fragments came later, but not at all difficult. The border was easier than all the others by far, and no, it's not supposed to look like Navi, or fairies. It evolved from a couple of suggestions for that border from my sister, circles like the eyes and fire like the vague shape of everything Ganon, combined and sparing because that's what I needed at the time and that's what looked good anyway. Same for coloring on all of them. Even the reference was easy, because I already had the video I needed up for something else (that I was trying to work on but didn't really do it enough).

But Ganon. GANON. If I needed another reason to hate him, I have it now. Because he was so stinkin' difficult to draw. Every stage that I drew him. At first I drew a circle with tusks and eyes. Because I knew it would be. In fact, I didn't even complete drawing his body at all until the line art layer. I can't even imagine trying to do it well in a different style, because I feel like the limitations I had actually helped in this case, because I only had to draw his fragmented body instead of whatever mess that actually was. The only parts of it that were semi-okay were the eyes, tusks, and weird under-bitey teeth. Everything else was absolute misery. Coloring began with the teeth and tusks— the pure black parts. Pure black on glass? Would not have done it had I not seen it on some stained glass I actually saw in real life, as opposed to all the online research I did. But, at the same time, it was black, meaning there literally was no light getting through. Since I was making the color layer overall slightly transparent, I had to do it on its own separate layer, and it had all its own annoyances, all less worse than the rest of Ganon. To prove that it really existed, here's the picture I took of it:

Back to Ganon, for coloring everything else. Ugh. UGH. Ugh. That is the only word to describe it. Even after I figured out all the colors I wanted to use, which was a chore itself. Even after I figure out where exactly to put which colors before actually coloring the whole thing in, which was a chore itself. Just coloring all those small, finnicky, crooked little fragments... It was miserable and took ages. And I suppose here's as good as any place to mention how, to make sure the the colors were... perfect, I always went back, made the linework invisible, filled in any gaps or inconsistencies with it, and then put the linework up again to make sure it was all still in the lines. Horrible enough on the other pieces, but on this one... with all those finnicky fragments... let's just say I was very glad to be done when I was.

But then I finished.

I finished and the result was just so good, so satisfying beyond what the others were, that I almost don't care about any of that. It's my favorite part of the piece. It's my favorite, in spite of all the misery it caused me, or perhaps even enhanced by it. So, yes, I love this one. (Throwing what hatred remains after the product at Ganon because he deserves it and was the cause of most of it anyhow).

And the background ...could be better but this is what happens when I wait 'til the end of a large project like this to do the background. I've been working on everything else the past week and I don't feel like putting much more effort into the project. I wasn't even going to do the backgrounds behind the glass at first, but I wanted to show off the transparent bits more than just the sky. And I tried aligning what was behind each one to be fitting for the glass. The least obvious is probably the first one, meant to be ruins. And now my brain is kinda fried so I'm moving on to finish this.

And the final product. I had to patch up the background a little more than what was there from earlier, and copy the color layer while removing the area of where the linework is before transforming it and lightening it up for the reflection, which really wasn't nearly as bad as I made it sound just there, but it was absolutely the final touch this piece needed. And it really brought everything together, making it so satisfying.

I guess that's the whole point about this, isn't it? How satisfying it is? I may moan and groan and write this whole rant for hours about how these projects take so long and drain you so much, and that's true. But once it's complete? It's so satisfying. And that's why these longer projects are worthwhile.

[weiwuxian-lanzhan]

i'm sorry if i'm bothering you, but where did you learn the tumblr algorithm?

I have to laugh at the phrase “tumblr algorithm” since tumblr is too dumb to have an algorithm the way other social media sites have, which is why I love tumblr. I love that it is dumb and only shows me what I asked it to and doesn’t try to manipulate me to drive up engagement.

That being said, I assume what you meant is how did I gain enough followers that I consistently get hundreds of notes on my gifsets. When I was starting out it seemed like a complete mystery and I had no one to tell me how to do it, so I’m actually happy to answer the best that I can. There is no one right way to gain followers on tumblr, so I’ll just speak to the strategy I pieced together myself over the last year and a half. I am going to assume from here on out that you are talking about a blog that posts original Untamed gifsets, since I guess that’s why you asked me this question.

Gaining followers on Tumblr is part luck and part stubborn persistence. And time. It takes a long time to get started. Gaining followers is very slow when you first start a blog. But if you post consistently, people will eventually see your content and maybe even check out your blog and decide to follow you. I posted a new gifset every single day, sometimes multiple times a day, when I first started out. Posting new content consistently is key. Some will do well, and some won’t, and after a year and a half of this, I still have no insight into what does well vs what doesn’t do well. Post often enough and you’ll eventually post something that the fandom loves and it will be reblogged by people with much bigger platforms, which will bring in followers. Just keep striving to make better sets, post often, and be patient because it doesn’t happen overnight.

Some general things that I’ve picked up on over the last year and a half that I think have helped below the cut:

Properly tag your gifset in the first 5 tags. If you want to ramble in the tags of your gifset, feel free, but do it after the first five tags. The first five tags should be reserved for tags that will help your gifset get seen. I start all my tags with #The Untamed and #theuntamededit, then I usually use character names. There are also blogs that track certain tags and will reblog them, I believe #theuntameddaily is one of them. #fytheuntamed used to be a big one, but I haven’t seen them active in a while. There are probably more but I don’t use them. There are also some more generic tags you can use, like #mdzs, #mdzsedit, #cql, etc.

Do something new. If you are just starting out, especially if you are new to gifmaking and Photoshop like I was when I started, you aren’t going to get far by making gifs of the same moments everyone uses in every gifset. The entire reason I started making gifs was because there weren’t gifs of the scenes I wanted to see gifs of. There were also way fewer cql gifmakers at the time, so even though I barely knew how to use Photoshop, I saw a lot of people appreciating my gifsets because they were of scenes people loved but had never seen giffed. Some of my biggest gifsets are from my early days, and they weren’t well colored or sharpened, but people attached amazing meta to them, and I still see them going around to this day (even if I cringe at the coloring/sharpening now).

Blog consistency. If you have a multi fandom blog, it might be a good idea to create a sideblog. It’s one thing if you post The Untamed gifs along side Word of Honor or Guardian or other similar works, but if you post The Untamed gifs next to Supernatural, Star Wars, and Taylor Swift (as a random example), you are less likely to get someone to follow your blog if even one of those things turns them off.

Post timing. When I started I would post my gifsets as soon as I finished them, no matter what time of day or night. Through lots of trial and error, I have found that it seems to be better to post at a time when both Europe and the Americas are awake. If you look up tumblr statistics, the largest proportion of users are from the US, so posting mid-day in the US is usually a good strategy.

Reblog gifsets from other content creators. Personally, when I see another content creator reblog my gifsets, I am much more inclined to reblog their stuff as well. I should probably reblog more than I do since there are so many amazing gifmakers in this fandom. I do try to leverage my follower count to promote sets that I think are amazing, but aren’t getting the notes I think they should.

Self-reblogs. I used to be against the practice of self reblogs, because I spend way too much time on tumblr, and would get annoyed when someone would reblog their posts over and over all day because I felt like it was being shoved in my face. But I have come to the conclusion that not everyone is on tumblr as much as me, and they don’t always scroll all the way down when they do visit tumblr, and many people can miss your gifset that way. So I’ve come to a compromise. I do 2 self-reblogs the day of, spread out at least 3-4 hours between them, and another when I wake up in the morning so it reaches people in other timezones.

I hope this helps, I always love to see new gifmakers in the fandom succeed!